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4 The Weekly Tribune THE WEEKLY TRIBUNE. One year SIOO. Six months BO ISFTaymentß required in advance. THL RSD IY, DECEMBER il, 1893. * '■ ■■■'- - " - AGENTS FOR THIS TRIBUNE, Armuchee-Miss Lillian Watts, Crystal Springe—Mrs. P M. Storey. Cave Spring—T. J. Davis. Silver Creek—George Porter. Van’s Valley—B. B- Sanders. THE ALABASTER BOX. We are in receipt of the following communication from our esteemed fellow citizen, Mr. J. B. Hill: Editor Tribune: If I had thought of it in time I would have appealed to our merchants not to have brought on any Toys and Eire works this season. I' know how the little ones enjoy these things and it does seem hard to deny them this pleasure, but these are exceptionally bard times and I do think it is wrong to waste so much money in Fire works and Toys and drink that cannot possibly benefit any one, while there are so many poor women and children in our midst, without sufficient food and cloth ng to make them comfortable. I am not finding fault with any’ one, because all have a right to spend their own money as they please, but I do know that hundreds of dollars are burnt up and wasted on Toys every Christmas, that ought to be applied ; to debts already made or for something use- ! fill tor themselves or some worthy needy j person. lam not in favor of giving to the j lazy ones who will not work, or who spend : their earnings on useless things, but there I are unfortunate ones in our midst who are doing their best, who would be greatly helped if the amount thus wasted was in vested in meal, meat, clothing, shoes, etc. My Sunday School usually spends about twenty five dollars on a Christmas tree in ' toys Ac. which are not of any real benefit! and generally result in hurting somebody’s I feelings. I shall be in favor of spending this amount this year in helping our worthy poor, in a system tic way, and believe all will feel happii r after the holidays are over if we will deny ourselves, and take the money that we usually spend for toys fire works and drink, and try to relieve the wants of our really worthy suffering poor. J. B. Hill. We fully sympathize with Mr. Hill’s purpose to help the needy and we think this community is in a hu mor to join heartily in systematic work of that kind, but we think; he goes too far in proposing to cut oft’ the childish joys of Chistmastide. We do not think a single parent will be less liberal to the poor because he has made his own children hap py. The... amount to. such purposes'is shall percentage of a man’s income, and the saving of a few toys will cut off an immense amount of childish glee without making the parent or the poor any richer. Indeed, we think a man who sees happiness in his own home will ieel all the meaner for not helping to bring smiles to the desola', e. There is a profound philosophy in this, going down to the depths of the human heart, and these depths were sounded centuries ago in a beautiful way by the Divine man whose coming is celebrated by this Christian festival. To those who censured the woman for breaking i the costly alabaster box in his hon or, saying it should have been sold and given to the poor, he replied: Why trouble ye the woman? for she hath wraught a good work upon me. For ye have the poor always with you; but me, ye have not always. How many sweet cherubs who gladden the homes of this Christ mas will be in another world before the next? Let him who would aoate : by one single rippling syllab.e the ‘ childish glee of this season stop and think what anguish might be his in looking back a year hence upon the sad face of a disappointed child. FREE ORE AND FREE COAL. The Manufacturer’s Record pub lishes this week a striking paper by Edward Atkinson, who predicts that great prosperity will follow the placing of coal and ore on the free list. He contends that labor is cheaper in America than in Europe, counted by what it produces, which is the true test rather than the amount paid per diem. “My first reason for desiring the removal of taxes upon the import of coal and iron in all forms,” says he,” “is that we have in this country in this branch of industry 1 he cheapest labor in the world. That is to say, if the cose : of labor be computed and charged to the unit of product, there is no country in the world that can nut I a. ton of coal at the mouth of the mine, into the coke oven or into the ir > ’’’"’’uace at so low a cost per unit of ton as we can. There is no country in the world that can ap proach us in the low cost at which we can deliver coke of the best qual ity upon the cars or at the convert ing works in which it is to be useci in making steel. Whatever the price or wage of our labor may be, it is, nevertheless, the cheapest. There is no delusion so mischievous as that which leads to the rate of wages being treated as the standard or measure of the cost of labor. There is no labor so dear as “pauper labor.” “As a general proposition it may be maintained that the labor of this country, in its application to nearly every product to which machinery, improved tools or modern inventions have been or may be applied, is cheaper than that of any other country. That is to say, the cost of the labor in a given unit of pro duct with a few exceptions, mainly on fine and fancy fabrics, which de pend on fashion for their sale, is less than it is in any other country. The beneficent result of these con ditions is that, with few exceptions and with scarcely any exception affecting any of the necessaries of life, the products of the country are produced at the lowest rate of labor cost, from which products the work ing people derive the highest rates of wages or earnings.” As evidence of this he quotes from the manifests of outgoing steamships which carry cotton goods, hardware, machinery, loco motives, etc.,, to all parts of the world. He pays that with free coal and free ore, we can make iron cheaper than Engiand and pay our present rates of wages. Furthermore there are a billion people in Asia, Africa, Australia, South America and Mexico who are hungry for iron products and cotton products. “Is it not folly, says he, for the producers of iron and steel in this country, who can cheapest labor in the world, when measured by the unit of products, and who can deliver their products at thedowest cost of labor, coupled with the highest wages per unit of product, to permit the government to obstruct and retard their own progress and to impair the pros perity of the farmer by taxing the crude and partly-manufactured materials with which these great continents can pay, and only in which can they pay ? All commerce, with the exception of small balances, is but an exchange of pro duct for product.” “IMPATIENCE DRIES THE BLOOD.” We are sorry to see some Demo crats disposed to be very impatient with the administration. We once saw on the menu card of a popular hotel this q"otation from the Bard of Avon : Impatience dries the blood sooner than age or sorrow. Another authority of still greater weight says: Possess your souls in patience. Judging from the amount of im patience manifested by some of our friends, they are in danger of losing their souls, and may find themselves figuring in a fertilizer advertisement as dried blood. How does this strike you: DRIED BLOOD. ; • From the Richest Bourbon Veins. Warranted to Make Wheat Grow. Is this the inscription you want on your tombstone I If you die kicking it would be the truth. The trouble is that people not in author ity cannot realize the difficulties and dangers that beset the path of those in power. They are obliged to go slow in order to be sure. So far as they have gone they have done well. Let our friends not be too hasty to believe every idle rumor circulated by the enemies of the administration. Let them not jump to the conclusion that our leaders who have always been true and loyal are about to sell us out to some unknown hobgoblins. We are not all gone to the bad. Things are improving. The country is safe. Don’t tear your shirt. Wait for the wagon and we'll all take a ride. 1 THE WEEKLY TRIBUNE, THURSDAY, DECEMBERS!, 18»8 The mills of the Gods grind slowly. 1 You can’t hurry them. You had better not try. The most satisfac tory plan is to be contented to get your grist when your turn comes. The turn of the masses has co ne at last. After years of agitation and hope deferred, the Democratic party is about to pass a tariff bill with important reductions which will give substantial relief to the overtaxed people. This is the most important legislation in a quarter of a century. It is the goal of the people’s desire. Why are you kick ing? You are like the balky horse that reaches the fence which con fines him and refuses to jump over. We have all got to the tariff fenc“ and the Democracy is ready to pull it down. Why do you turn off at this critical moment and go to grub bing sprouts ? You can do that next winter. Come back now and quit “cussin” and help us pull down the tariff. "Possess your souls in patience. AN EXTERIOR VIEW. Prof. Gold win Smith, one of. the ablest men on the continent of North America, if he does write from Can ada, has been telling the people of England how things go on at Wash ington. His article in the Nine teenth Century is an exceedingly able and interesting one. He says that “Cleveland is the most power ful President since Lincoln. * * The nation wants reform. It feels that of late it has been going astray. It desires to be led back into the right path, and believing Mr. Cleve land to be strong and patriotic, it is disposed to give him a free hand. Very remarkable was the uprising of the silent vote, that index of re serve force, in his favor at the elec tion. It baffled the calculations of politicians, none ot whom, I think, expected anything like such a ma jority for This way of giving i» at a nation al crisis ade without prejudice to the constitution, is an advantage to be set against all the evils of Presidential elections.” The Professor states the cause of this popular upheaval admirably in a few words : “The nation wants reform of the tariff, retrenchment of expenditure, and restoration of the currency. The tariff was the principal issue at the election and the result, if I mis take not, is a death blow to the system of protection on this conti tinent.” ARMAMENTS AND IRON. There never was a time when the prospective demand for iron was so great. For several years the rail roads have been renewing as little and buying as little as possible, and through the temporary decadence of building, the demand for struct ural iron fell off. The long period of abstinence and economy is draw ing to a close and renewals on a large scale must be accompanied a revival of construction. At the same time an immense de mand is growing in another quarter. Though there is more iron afloat than ever before in the world’s his tory, the great nations are putting forth extraordinary efforts to in crease their armaments. Alarmed by the increase of the American and European navies, England is deter mined to outdo herself. Thenalion is aroused and even excited over the situation. “The sea power of Great Britain is distinctly challenged in away affecting its natural existence. The challenge must be met. The safest and most economical course in the long run is to end the competition of foreign powers by proving it hope less. “The government is alive to the magnitude of the issues and will ask the House of Commons for whatever sum is required, however large it may be.” It is understood that Mr. Glad stone will ask the Commons to vote forty or fifty millions for this pur pose. Meantime the construction offloating fortresses goes steadily on in the United States, and we are about to embark in the work of building costly coast defences. Those who sa v samples of the Krupp guns and armor plate at the World’s fair have some idea of the immense demand for iron and steel this arma ment building is likely tc create. MODERN STATE BUILDING. The settlement of Oklahoma and the settlement of the original thirteen states is as irreat as the difference between the eighteenth and nine teenth centuries. The slow and painful process of gaining a foot hold on the stormy shores of New England or the wilds of Georgia are in painful contrast with the peopling of Oklahoma with 250,000 souls in three years. This is the more remarkable when it is shown by the official records of the Interior Department that 100,000 of these people entered the territory in a single day. The Secretary of the Interior reports wonderful progress in this incipient commonwealth. There are six national banks, twenty four private banks, eleven millions of taxable property, a public school system ana a territorial university. The secretary concludes his report on the new commonwealth by ex pressing the hope that at an early day it may be admitted to the union as a state. It is not unlikely that one of the first senators from Okla homa will be Robert Weston Patter son, who went there from Macon. THE BACON RESOLUTIONS. There can be no question of the Hon. A. O. Bacon’s ability as a pol itician as well as in his profession of the law. His resolutions intro duced in the legislature several weeks ago and adopted in the last hours of the session by an over whelming majority, are adroitly and ably written, and a perusal of the document itself induces much more respect than the reading of first i;nT pressions by-newspaper correspond ents. After reciting the financial dis tress prevailing throughout the country, the resolutions say : We hold it to be to the interest o£ the people of the United States that the gov ernment of the United States should coin both gold and silver as the money of final payment without discrimination against either metal, the dollar unit of coinage of which shall of equal intrinsic and ex changeable value. The second resolution invokes at the hands of those upon whom it is laid the re sponsibility of its decision, the speedy de termination of the future coinage of both gold and silver coin as ihe money of final payment to the end that the future pros perity and development of the country may be assured. The resolution on state banks says: “We hold it to be the constitutional right of the several states to enact their own banking laws by which banking corporations within their borders shall be empowered to issue bank bills for circulation among their peo ple tot the necessary transaction of busi ness and that there is no constitutional right in the general government to lay upon the states a prohibition against the exercise of such right or to restrict, regu late, or control the exercise of such right. There is a declaration for an individual income tax and a tax for revenue only. The last resolution requests Georgia's sen ators and rep i esentattves to do all they can to make effective the principles contained in the paper. The first paragraph of the above is almost identical with a similar one in the Chicago platform, but there is a subtle softening of the limitations, which are nevertheless expressed by the words “the dollar unit of coinage of which shall be of equal intrinsic and exchangeable value.” The next paragraph urges speed in reaching this desired end— desired by all factions ot the Demo cratic party. We think the ablest and most statesman like of the resolutions is the one on state banks, wherein he says : We hold it to be the constitutional right of the several states to enact their own banking laws, by which banking cor porations within their borders shall be empowered to issue bank bills for circula tion among their people for the necessary transaction of business, and that there is no constitutional right in the general gov ernment to lay upon the states a prohibi tion against the exercise of such right, or to restrict, regulate, or control the exercise of such right. In p rinciple we believe Maj >r Bacon is right, and if the question were to be decided de novo in these times of peace, we believe the courts would so hold, but the question has been adjudicated for twenty-four years. It was decided in 1869 at a time when the pendulum of public sentiment had swung to the farthest, extreme of centralization, and the states rights idea was at a discount. It was in vain that Caleb Cushing, I with his great legal learning ami his encyclopedic scholarship, pressed ( ' ?■ The Talk of Rome Is Our Big Stock for these Panicy Times. We say Hard Times and High Prices must go. High Prices Have gone and Hard Times are on the run. We broke the prices and you can come With a Small Pocket Book and Buy Your Winter Goods Nearly at your own prices. That is the way we bought them and we only A Small Profit on New York Prices Fancy Goods, hoes, Hosiery, Dry Goods, Hais, Gloves, Dress Goods, ai'G?, Corsets, Wool Jeans, Drawers, Zephyrs, Jeans Pants, Cloaks, Yarns, Factor Sheeting, Jackets, Flannels, Cotton Checks, Shawls, Quilts, Cotton Flannes, . Skirts, Blankets. These goods and all others throughout our large stock will be sold at Marvelously Low Prices. Don’t buy your fall goods untill you have seen eUF stock of dressgodds, boots, shoes, hats, milli nery, blankets, jackets, etc. Our low prices «re the talk of Rome. See Our Goods and Get Our Prices. H. B. PARKS & CO. upon the United States Supreme Court the views above enumerated by Major Bacon. After elaborate argument on both sides, it was held by the court that the congress, under the taxing power conferred by the constitution, could levy a tax on state bank bills, whether such tax had the effect of being prohib itory or not. There is, however, an appeal to Caesar. The appeal was made a year ago when the Demo cratic party went to the country with a platform which recommended the repeal of the ten per cent, tax on State banks. The people gave the platform as a whole their over whelming endorsement, and it is the duty of the Democratic party to carry out its own recommendation. MAKING GOOD INDIANS. Secretary Smith’s annual report for the Interior Department is one of the most concise public docu ments we have ever read. In speak ing of the Indian problem he says a great deal in a few words. Under the head of Oklahoma we find this: Indians.—The allotment of lands in severalty is earnestly recommended as the best solution of the problem of civilizing the Indians. This is all he says in that place, but there is more in it than there is in whole columns of newspaper ar ticles and resolutions. Under the head of Indian affairs the Secretary takes the matter up more in detail and shows some in teresting facts not generally known. Contrary to the general opinion, the Indians are not decreasing. Tribal wars and wars with the whites having ceased, the red man begins to multiply and replenish the earth, and the census shows 250,000. “Slowly but steadily,” says the report, “these wards of the nation are being advanced to a condition suited for citizenship. The expen- necessary are large, the labor required is great, but the responsi bility cannot otherwise be met. “Much good is being accomplished bv the allotment of land in severalty. True, some of those who thus accept homes are careles-, and fail to properly utilize the benefits con- ferred, but others are working suc cessfully upon their farms, and are adapting themselves to the changed conditions. “The school house is beginning to have a marked effect upon the race. Over 21,000 children were entered as scholars during the past fiscal year and have been carefully trained in the habits and cu atoms of civilized life, as well as instructed in those branches taught in common schools. “It should not be expected that all these children will retain, when returned to their savage parents, the habitsand manner of life which they were required to adopt while attend ing school, but the education and the influence which they carry to their homes is having a gradual effect which will be certain in its result.” ONLY A PART. We find the following in the New York Herald: Education is the corner stone of happi ness, and if we cou d lift the under classes by teaching them to do better work we should relieve half of the distress which excites our sympathy. This is true if we make the term include moral education. Otherwise it is eminently untrue. A common school education without thorough moral training for a foundation is like a house built upon the sand. In the same issue which contains the above, we find this dispatch: Santa Fe, N. M.,Dec. 16, 1893.—Valiant, the Paris dynamiter, spent about three months in this city some fifteen years ago. He made a scanty living teaching French. He was taciturn, and little is known about him even by the French residents here. From this town he went to Mexico, and he had been forgotton long ago. Vaillantin those days had extreme political views, which he advocated in brilliant speeches. He was a tanner by trade and a man of ap parently a good education. It should never be forgotten, even for a moment, that education in the ordinary sense, that is to say the cultivation of the mental faculties, is only apart of character building. It is an immense aid to character building, for it lets in the light, but the moral faculty must be developed at the same time. We ma/ have God’s sunlight on the growing corn, but if we do not stir the ground and keep it clean, the weeds will take the crop.