Newspaper Page Text
PAGE EIGHT
the JEFFERSONIAN
PUBLISHED BY
THOS. E. WATSON and J. D. WATSON
Editors and Proprietors
Tbmplk Court Building, Atlanta, Ga.
SUBSCRIPTION PRICE: - SI.OO PER TEAR
Advertising Rates Furnished on Application.
9nurad at Piitifu, Atlanta, Ga., January st, IQD7, at mind
tian mail matttr
Atlanta, Ga., Thursday January 23, 1908
'Reflections.
Not long ago, Brother Seely, of the
Georgian, wrote this for his paper:
“The whole world is changing —is get
ting better. Thought is healthier —life is
longer —homes are happier —men are
richer —all goes more smoothly because
men know! themselves better. Twenty
years ago the United States had 82,000
men in prisons—today we have twenty
million more population and only 81,000
in prison. The world is getting better
—and why not all help it along?”
When you hear, or read, that Mr. So
and So is an optimist, don’t search the
dictionary to find out what an optimist
is, but simply re-read the above para
graph.
“The world is getting better.” Even
Decatur Street, Atlanta, has a Sunday
School look. I wonder where are the vi
cious men and women who made De
catur Street notorious? Have they un
dergone any change? Have we not sim
ply driven the bad people from one place
to another?
“Life is longer.” Is it? Averages
prove nothing, save the simplicity of
those who pin faith to them. The aver
age wealth of John Rockefeller, F. L.
Seely, and the man in the Poor House
may be truthfully stated in millions, but
that doesn't keep the man in the Poor
blouse from being a pauper. According
to the “average,” he is a millionaire! In
actual fact, he hasn’t a dollar.
“Thought is healthier.” Whose
thought? The streams of foul literature
never were at a higher water-mark than
they are today; and in the play-houses
the appeal is to the lusts of men—not to
their loftier natures.
“Homes are happier.” Whose?
In the dwellings of the rich are such
orgies of adultery, double-living, and di
vorce as the world never saw before; and
in the homes of the poor is the cold
hearth and the empty plate. Why preach
of happy homes when the rich are so
bestial, and when the wolf of hunger .
howls at the door of a million breadwin
ners?
“Men are richer.” Yes—some are. A
few have had the making of our laws.
THE JEFFERSONIAN.
and have used the irresistible powers of
Government to confiscate the property
of the unprivileged millions in order that
they themselves should amass fabulous
wealth. Our Privileged few are richer:
our unprivileged millions of producers
are poorer. The wine-line grows more
brilliant: the bread line longer and more
wretched.
“All goes more smoothly.” Where?
In the cities there are riots, and mutter
ings more ominous than riots. In the
country there are, slowly gathering, vast
clouds of angry discontent. In three dif
ferent parts of this Union, soldiers are
on duty to repress disorders. Such
a thing has never happened before. In
Nevada, in Indiana, in Kentucky, “Law
and Order” needs the soldier in arms.
As it is here, so it is, the world over.
In Germany, in Russia, in Hindustan, in
Persia, men are cutting each other’s
throats; in Great Britain, France, Spain,
Portugal, the Transvaal, the Congo
Free State, Belgium, Spain, Italy and
South America statesmen move warily,
as they step over the ground which trem
bles under their feet.
“Twenty years ago the United States
had 82,000 men in prisons—today we have
twenty million more in population and
onlv 81,000 in prison.” _____
Alas, that it should be so. We have
at least a million who ought to be in
prison, but we cannot send them there.
Paul Morton said that he was a criminal.
But he did not go to prison. He went in
to Roosevelt’s Cabinet, and from there
to an SBO,OOO job as President of the
Equitable. Perkins, of J. P. Morgan’s
firm, admitted that he stole $48,000 of
the Insurance Co. funds, but as he gave
the money to the Republican Campaign
fund the Courts decided that he hadn’t
done anything wrong. McCurdy, Hyde,
Peabody and all the other criminals who
had been fattening on the trust funds of
the Insurance companies, went free.
Harriman, Ryan, Belmont, Rockefeller,
Rogers and hundreds of others of the
same stripe commit all sorts of crimes
in financial deals, and cannot be pun
ished. The California Court has just de
cided that Schmidt and Reuff didn’t com
mit an "unlawful injury” when they le
vied blackmail upon saloon and dive
keepers in San Francisco. Pat Calhoun
will escape by the same route —to wit,
a bribed court.
The story is the same everywhere. We
can put a few of the lesser criminals into
prison, but the crimes which really do so
ciety the most harm cannot be punished.
The most injurious criminality from
which America suffers is that of such
financiers as Harriman, Morgan, Rogers,
Rockefeller, Stillman, Schiff, Kuhn, Loeb
& Co., and the Wall Street gang, gener
ally.
They cheat, they swindle, they forge
false stocks and bonds, they conduct
gambling operations which unsettle val-
ues, disturb markets and precipitate pan
ics. They set an evil example which cor
rupts youth and encourages imitation in
every city of the Union.
Are we putting any of these criminals
in prison? *
Their crimes are notorious. The evils
they inflict upon the country are nation
al in their sweep. The law is plain, the
evidence accessible the public prosecu
tors provided; yet nobody lifts a finger
against them. Morgan, Ryan and Pat
Calhoun came down here and stole the
Central Railroad from its owners —and
not one of the stockholders who had
been outrageously robbed ever appeared
to have thought of taking out a warrant
against the robbers!
After stealing the Central Railroad, un
der flimsy legal forms, Ryan then stole
the Seaboard Air Line —watered the
stocks and bonds until they could hold
no more, and then stepped from under.
Send such a rascal to prison?
Why, he gave the Catholic Church a
million dollars in a lump, and he carries
the Virginia delegation to the National
Democratic convention in his private
car!
* * n
Mr. Hearst ’s Declaration of
Independence.
The Independence League (copyright
ed by William Randolph Hearst) held
a state meeting in Indiana on January
11. This collection of the faithful was
made by our genial and astute friend, Mr.
A. C. Walsh. In a letter addressed to
that gentleman, Mr. Hearst states, at
length, his views on national affairs.
The document, like everything put
forth by Mr. Hearst, indicates his great
ability. Also, his great shrewdness. The
tone of the letter is one of self-restraint
and calm. Adjectives have been elimi
nated with unsparing severity. Urban
ity and placidity prevail. The great pub
lisher manages to say, first and last, that
he does want a considerable amount of
revolution, but he is careful to say that
he is in no hurry for it, is willing to move
along at an easy gait that will not alarm
anybody and, upon the whole, prefers
rose-water to blood, and will take his
omelette without the breaking of eggs
if the thing can possibly be managed.
Our young lion still has much of his
strength, but has swapped his roar for
a note of flute-like melody.
Mr. Hearst starts out by saying, mild
ly, that “the right to issue money should
be inherent in the government.”
Why “should be”?
Proceeding, Mr. Hearst declares him
self in favor of having the Government
issue the money (paper money, evident
ly) to the national banks which, in turn,
shall pass it on to the people. The na
tional banks shall pay the Government
something for the use of this money
(amount not stated) and then the nation-