Newspaper Page Text
2
THE PEOPLE’S PARTY PAPER.
Established October 15, 1891.
VOL. 6. NO. 26 - - WHOLE NO. 838.
OUR PUBLISHING COMPANY.
THOS. E. WATSON, - - - President.
MACKIE STURGIS, - - Secty-Treasurer.
Office 84 1-2 South Forsyth Street.
SUBSCRIPTION :
One Year #I.OO
Five Copies to One Address 4.00
Six Months 50
Always in Advance.
Advertising Rates and Contracts may be ob
tained through any regular Agency or by
addressing
AUSTIN HOLCOMB, - Advertising Manager.
Money may be sent by Express Order, Post
Office Money Order or Registered Letter. Do
not send stamps. Orders should be made
payable to
THE PEOPLE’S I’AKIY PAPER.
Subscribers desiring to change the address
of their paper will please give the old ad
dress as well as the new. We must have
your old address to find your name on the
mailing lists.
Official Organ People’s Party
State of Georgia.
OUR BUSINESS PLAN.
The People’s Party Paper gives no cliro
mos, puffs no Swindlers, inserts no humbug
advertisements, and does not devote one-half
its space to telling how good the other half is.
It is published weekly and is furnished to sub
scribers at one dollar a year, postage prepaid.
Terms, cash in advance.
THEY ARE RELIABLE.
We believe through careful inquiry, that all
the advertisements in this paper are signed by
trustworthy persons, and to prove our faith by
works, upon complaint of a subscriber against
an advertiser, that shows on its face an irreg
ular transaction we will use our best efforts to
protect the subscriber’s interests, and if the
advertiser proves unreliable, he will in future
be debarred from the use of these columns and
be promptly exposed. Rogues shall not ply
their trade at the expense of our subscribers,
who are our friends, through the medium of
these columns. Let this be understood by
everybody now and henceforth.
Note, (1) the above offer is to actual “sub
scribers” and only to them: (2) it holds good
two months after the transaction causing the
complaint, that is, we must have notice within
this time; (3) we do not guarantee a pig’s tail
to curl in any particular direction; in other
words, we will handle swindlers, but shall not
attempt to adjust trifling disputes between
subscribers and honorable business men who
advertise. Bear these points in mind hereafter.
Total Copies Issued 1896 - - 735,080
Average (Sworn) Per Issue - 14,136
McKinley’s Cabinet.
There is no suggestion of mugwump
ery about this new Administration. It
is stalwart to the core.
McKinley has not obtained his elec
tion as a Republican with the purpose
of antagonizing Republican policies.
He is not posing as the big chief, who
is bigger and better than all the other
chiefs, and who is, therefore, above all
party shackles.
He is a Republican of the strictest
sect, and'he brings all the weight of a
lofty character, superior intellect and
amiable disposition to the maintenance
of his party’s creed.
The Cabinet he has chosen is as de
cidedly positive in its make-up as the
President himself. No Democratic
Gresham holds a place in it. No Paim
erite secures recognition. The Cabinet
is rigidly Republican, and those who
compose it are all men of strength, ca
pacity and partisan natures.
Group the whole official Presidential
-fStaily together, and you get an impres
sion of a most decided character.
A CABINET OF THE “PRIVILEGED.”
These men do not represent the com
mons. There is no hint of the “third
estate” whatsoever. In McKinley’s
Cabinet the privileged orders are rep
resented as they have never been be
fore in any American Administ.ra*. m.
With John Sherman as centrepiece,
the grouping harmonizes perfectly with
the political size, shape and color of
that eminent spokesman of privileged
combinations of wealth. The country
at large knows Mr. Sherman well, and
the public opinion concerning him has
crystalized.
He commenced his public career
without money. He has been continu
ously in politics; he has drawn the
small salary of a Congressman and of
Secretary of the Treasury; out of this
he has had to support his family, and
to-day he is a millionaire.
This fortune was made honestly, no
doubt, just as Cleveland’s was made,
but the world believes that Sherman
made his fortune (as Cleveland did) by
using the advantages his position gave
him.
SHERMAN’S USE OF OPPORTUNITY.
As Secretary of the Treasury he had
larger opportunities than any other
Secretary ever had. There were greater
sums of public money to be handled.
There were millions upon millions to
be handed over to favorite banks to be
used, without interest, at a time when
the banks found no difficulty in safely
lending it at large profits.
There were huge bond deals to be
manipulated. Hundreds of millions of
the national debt had to be refunded
and heavy commissions were paid,
amounting to millions. In these trans
actions Mr. Sherman found himself
breathing the opulent atmosphere of
the Belmonts, the Morgans and the
Rothschilds.
immense fortunes were made by pri
vate persons in these colossal transac
tions, and when they were ended Mr.
Sherman was a rich man. The coinci
dence is worthy of attention.
Not only is Mr. Sherman held by the
public generally to be the very embod
iment of the poor politician who gets
rich by doing what the corporations
want done, but he is a.so regarded as
the especial representative of the dead
ly policy of contracting the currency.
He is held responsible for the destruc
tion of the paper money which the
people believe was so beneficial to the
country.
He is held responsible, more than
any living man, for the legislation
which disturbed the harmonious rela
tions between silver and gold, made
trouble between two allies and fettered
silver with’unfriendly legislation in
the interest of gold.
He is also regarded as the especial
sponsor and champion of the national
banking system, which system is de
tested by all those whp understand it
and who do not belong to the class
which fattens upon it.
To the masses of the people, there
fore, the selection of John Sherman as
Premier of the Administration is a
significant and ominous fact, and Mr.
McKinley has made this impression in
dellible by grouping around Mr. Sher
man other political magnates of the
like faith and order.
WHAT GAGE STANDS FOR/
Mr. Gage stands for antagonism to
the greenbacks, friendship to the na
tional banks and hostility to the in
crease of the currency by silver coin
age or otherwise.
He represents the kind of bimetallism
which ail the metropolitan bankers
want —the unanimous-European -agree
ment sort —which everybody knows we
cannot get.
Mr. Bliss goes into the Presidential
family redolent of the New York Cham
ber of Commerce and the peculiar no
tions about patriotism and government
which emanate from that unselfish re
gion, colored in his views by his local
environment, as most of us are.
Mr. Bliss will appear to the country
at large as an ideal representative of
the Wall street interests. Having been
treasurer of the McKinley campaign
fund, he, of all men knows which cor
porations contributed, and what those
corporations were promised in the way
of legislation friendly to corporate
wishes.
His going into the Cabinet will ap
pear to mean that the McKinley Ad
ministration intends to keep faith with
the said contributors to its expenses.
Mr. Bliss is a millionaire banker, just
as Mr. Sherman was and Mr. Gage is.
. Gen. Alger is also a millionaire, and
his views harmonize with Sherman s.
Then comes Gary, another millionaire;
then Long, of Massachusetts, attorney
for trustsand corporations. Then there
is McKenna, of California, one of Le
land Stanford’s confidential men,
known on the Pacific slope as a corpor
ation lawyer and corporation judge.
These are the strong men of the cab
iuet; and of the commissioner of agri
culture. Mr. Wilson, it is safe to say
that he is in line with the others. It is
a distinctly corporation cabinet—a cab
inet whose members are identified in
principle, in purse and in purpose with
the privileged classes. They not only
favor corporations and trusts and com
binations of capital, but they are a
part of the system. They are cogs in
the wheel.
CABINET AS A WHOLE.
McKinley’s cabinet, therefore, is
made un of those who feast on class
legislation; those who claim that the
laws should be framed in their special
interest; those who preach the gospel
of legal and political equality, but
whose practice tends to concentrate all
wealth, all privilege and all power into
the hands of a few, thus revolutioniz
ing our republic into an aristocracy
based upon wealth alone.
Even Mr. Cleveland allowed repre
sentation to the people in the selection
of his cabinet. Gresham may not have
been an appropriate choice, but he was
honest and poor and had proved to the
corporations that he was incorruptible.
He was, therefore, a man of the people
Hoke Smith was no tool of the banks,
the railroads or the trusts. He was a
man of the people—honest, fearless,
open to the appeal of popular wants
and interests.
If Herbert was especially identified
with corporation interests, no one
knew it then; indeed, it cannot beeven
now said that he did not go into the
cabinet honestly intending to act for
tne best interests of the people at large.
Here then, were three men of Cleve
land’s cabinet who seemed to be inde
pendent of corporation entanglements
and who might reasonably be expected
to guard the welfare of the masses.
The peculiar distinction of the Mc-
Kinley cabinet is that nobody need
nourish any hallucinations concerning
it. There is absolutely no room left
for guessing. The cabinet is a corpora
tion cabinet, and nobody can doubt it.
If the trusts which put up the money
to elect McKinley had been asked to
select their own preferences for the
cabinet, they’ eould not have chosen a
lot of men more eminently qualified to
give them satisfaction.
MCKINLEY’S PROBLEMS.
The problems which confront Mr.
McKinley are these, mainly:
First —How to run the tariff rates up
high enough to satisfy the manufac
turers who paid for his election with
out arousing the discontent of the con
sumers, who will be compelled to pay
higher prices for manufactured goods.
Second—How to continue to spend
more money than the revenues amount
to without having to issue bonds, and
without letting the people know that
taxes are increased.
Third—How to give the national
bankers a new system still better than
the present one, so that they shall have
the sole prerogative of issuing paper
money without letting the impression
go out that this is done to enrich those
who run national banks at the expense
of those who do not run them.
Fourth —How to fasten the gold
standard permanently upon the coun
try and.yet keep the supporters of bi
metallism in a state of happy expecta
tion. In this delicate experiment he
will be materially aided by a calm and
conscientious study of the manner in
which the Democrats have managed it
in the south.
Fiftff—How to be blind to the re
morseless march of the trusts and mo
nopolists and stock exchange gamblers,
and yet create the impression upon the
laborer, farmer, retail dealer and gen
oral consumer that the administration
is the relentless foe of all illegal combi
nations of capital and stands ready at
all hours to rush to the rescue of any
unfortunate citizen who may have dis
cov. red that a monopoly or trust is
picking his pocket.
This task is not so difficult as it
looks, because Cleveland has shown
how to do it. Mr. McKinley will have
to content himself with being a tame
copyist of Cleveland’s method.
THE CUBAN QUESTION.
Sixth —How to let Spain have all the
license she wants in Cuba, and yet
keep up the pretense of being shocked
by the savage atrocities she has com
milted, is now committing and will
THE PEOPLE’S PARTY PAPER: ATLANTA, GEORGIA: FRIDAY, MARCH 12, 1897.
continue to commit upon innocent
men, virtuous women and helpless
children. Here again Mr. McKinley’s
task will be reduced to the mere imita
tion of Cleveland’s example.
Seventh —How to settle the Pacific
Railroad question without collecting
the money or seizing the roads or dis
satisfying the country with an unrea
sonable extension.
To enforce payment of the debt would
distress many eminent thieves who
have not yet satiated their appetite
for plunder; to seize the roads would
be giving too much countenance to
Populist doctrines; to unduly postpone
the day of payment might offend more
voters than the Republicans can afford
to lose.
In his dilemma Mr. Kinley will, per
haps, cut the knot by following the
judicious course now on trial. Collec
tion of the debt will be talked of, but
no collection made; seizure of the roads
will be discussed, but no seizure at
tempted; postponement of the day of
payment will be debated, but no defi
nite postponement voted.
By this judicious manner of proce
dure the eminent plunderers keep the
property and are satisfied, while the
people are kept in the hope that some
thing will be done and are likewise
satisfied.
Eighth—How to increase the taxes
on the food, clothing, tools, furniture
and other necessaries of life and yet
keep the income-tax question from
bobbing up again. To tax the many
poor to enrich the protected few from
the income tax is a policy which may
cause trouble if not very tenderly
handled.
To this Populist—unrepentant and
unreconstructed the foregoing appear
to be the problems confronting Mr.
McKinley. That he will deal with
them adroitly, intelligently and cour
ageously is not to be doubted. That
he can solve them to the satisfaction. of
a majority of his fellow-citizens is most
uncertain.
In legislating to satisfy the protected
classes he will run the risk of alienat- 1
ing the unprotected masses.
T. E. W.—in N. Y. World.
Editorial Notes.
In view of the fact that not a single
Republican, either in Committee or in
the House, voted in favor of.seating
Mr. Watson, the charges which Mr.
Butler continues to make are hav
ing a rather lonesome time of it. If
there was a “corrupt deal” between
Watson and the Republicans, why did
no Republican take his part ?
Political slanders have been known
to do a good ■ deal of damage, but in
order for them to have influence, they
must have plausibility. Butler hates
Watson because he feels that he did
that citizen a foul wrong in the late
campaign ; and his silly pratings about
“corrupt deals” with Republicans dam
age no one but himself.
Everybody knows that Mr. Butler is
in the Senate now, by reason of a deal
with the Republicans, and everybody
knows that had Watson chosen to take
himself into the market, he could have
made his bargains with either one of
the old parties.
Mr. Butler seeks to make the impres
sion that the Republicans were un
grateful to Watson, and that Watson
was turned down by them after he had
gone to Washington pleading for his
seat.
It may be worth while to say that
Mr. Watson did not go to Washington
at all; and that he left the case entire
ly in the hands of the jury to be decid
ed upon its merits.
The Republicans have been guilty of
no ingratitude, simply because they
had nothing to be grateful for.
We of the Tenth District (both Dem
ocrats and Populists) know how Mr.
Black got into Congress, but we Pops
have found it very hard work to get the
outside world to realize the situation.
Hon. Frank Burkitt, President of the
Reform Press Association, sent a polite
telegram to Chairman Butler, asking
if that official of our party would call
an advisory conference, if requested
by our people. Mr. Butler replied by
saying that he would call a meeting
whenever the interests of the party
demanded it. In other words, he re
fused to answer Burkitt’s question, or,
rather, his answer amounted to a snub.
Who is to decide when the interests
of our party’ require a meeting ? Have,
the people no voice in the matter. Is
Butler the whole thing ?
If the matter be left to him no con
ference will be called until his Demo
cratic allies touch the button.
Butler is nty? playing Democrat, and
every move that he makes will be se
cretly dictated by the Democratic
bosses.
That’s the reason lie will not pay any
attention to what the real Populists
want
Hon. Frank Burkitt has the confi
dence of the whole country—all parties
and all sections—why is he not in
position to start the ball rolling ?
Why could not he, and Washburne
and Reed of the National Committee,
take the initiative ? Why could they
not poll the National Committee, and
ascertain how it stands, as between
Democracy and Populism ?
Why could not a list be started of
the Populist editors, and state commit
tees, and state leaders, and private
representatives of our party in all sec
tions who favor a conference ?
In other words, why should we allow
Butler and the Democrats to paralyze
our party by non-action ?
Why cannot the original Populists
take the matter in their own hands and
call a conference ? By what rule or
law are we compelled to await the
action of Butler and his Democratic
allies ?
# * *
If a general conference is brought
about in this way, and set for some
time in the months of July and August,
it will be hugely attended, in our
judgment. It will afford to waverers a
rallying point. It will serve to show
how much is left of us, and what kind
of stuff it is. It will be a sort of inven
tory of our political effects. It will be
a “taking of stock,” to see what we.
have on hand, and to find out whether
we are solvent or not.
So far as we are concerned, we really
have a curiosity to know whether we
are dead or living. We want that point
decided scientifically before the funeral
proceeds any further. If Butler and
his crowd are burying a party which is,
really dead, then they are doing a very
decent and necessary work.
But if Populism is yet alive, bearing
only the semblance of death, —pale but
ready to flush with the ruddy glow of
health and life when the word of hope
is spoken ; sleeping, but ready to rise,
strengthened and refreshed, when the
bugle call shall sound again —then here
is one Populist who would like to see
the fusion-graveyard business stopped,
and the shroud torn from around the
party which is not dead, but sleeping,
only.
» w *
To some middle of the Road friends
in far off California, this editor is under
many obligations. They have sent him
a consignment of the most beautiful
and delicious fruit we have ever seen.
The man who can taste these Califor
nia oranges, grown on Populist
grounds, by Populist labor and sent to
a Populist at the other edge of the"
continent, is bound to believe that
there’s a flicker of light left in Popu
lism yet.
All the hands are not folded. All
the tongues are not silent. All the
hearts are, not yet cold T. E. W.
Editorial Comments.
Unlike the messages of Mr. Cleve
land, which were artfully constructed
with a view to confuse, mislead and
decieve the people, President Mc-
Kinley’s message is plain, to the point
and not to be misconstrued. His chief
remedy for better times is higher tar
iffs.
When prosperity is brought to a
people by compelling them to pay two
prices for the necessaries and comforts,
of life we may reasonably expect to
see a man lift himself to the roof by
his bootstraps. The.presidentdeclares
against trusts, yet he must know that
a high tariff is the prolific mother of
trusts. Besides he has already ren
dered himself powerless to war against
trusts, by filling his cabinet with
friends of the trusts. He declrres him
self an earnest friend to international
bimetalism, but his gold-bug friends
are too numerous and powerful to per
mit him bring about genuine bimetal
ism. He is silent about Cuba but de
clares that Americans abroad will be
protected. We shall look for a clean
administration, but for no return of
prosperous times. Mr. McKinley is
honest and patriotic, but he is no match
for the trusts and monopolies that have
placed him in power. They will con
trol him or crush him.
Militia officers think the present ap
propriation of 7400,000 by the general
government is altogether too small.
They say that $2,000,000 is about the
decent figure and it is likely that they
will contend .for that sum when the
next appropriation is made. As the
principal use of the National Guard is
to aid the corporations m beating'
down organized labor it might be’well
enough to leave their support to said
corporations.
W W *
New York women who go to church
and profess to be Christians are deco
rating the legs of their pugs and
poodles with bracelets costing from
$l5O to S6OO, while hundreds of children
are suffering from insufficient food
and clothing, within a few blocks of
their homes.
» * «
Either the laws of Georgia are inef;
fective or there is something radically
wrong in their administration-.
Recently Otis Smith was behind the
bars of Fulton cotinty jail, a proved
and sglf-confessed thief. Friends came
forward and paid up the amount of his
shortage, and he was at once liberated
by the officials who had him arrested
and imprisoned. After he has had
time to get out of the country, the
grand jury meets and indicts him for
his crimes against the law and another
official of the same law is instructed to
hunt him up and put him back in the
same jail from which he had been set
at liberty the previous week. If this
whole business is not a legal farce and
an outrage upon justice, what is it ?
» < *
Lawyer Glenn in speaking of his
client, Flanagan, who is in jail charged
with the murder of two helpless wo
men, is quoted assaying : I have never
suffered a client to hang and Flanagan
will prove no exception. Mr. Glenn is
an able lawyer and it is his duty as
well as his privilege to say all that
can be said and do all that can be done
in behalf of his client, but if it is true
as he intimates that a criminal who is
able to hire a first class lawyer, is in
no danger of suffering the penalty of
the law, then we should amend our
laws and improve our judicial methods
or we should simplify matters by turn
ing loose without further expense or
trouble every murderer who is able to
pay a fine.
If a simple matter of cash places a
criminal beyond the penalty of violated
law, let him pay down the money and
go his way, thereby relieving the peo
ple of the expense and worry of prose
cutions.
If the hangman’s rope is hereafter to
be used only on those who are unable
to pay lawyer’s fees, let us know it.
We dislike to believe that poverty in
Georgia, is a greater crime than mur
der.
On another page will be found a part
of a very salty arraignment of Cleve
land, elipped from the Atlanta Consti
tution. The arraignment is not only
severe but it is largely just, yet no
paper in the south did more to elect
Cleveland than the Atlanta Constitu
tion. The only injustice done Mr.
Cleveland is the charge that he went
back on his pledges. Mr. Cleveland in
accepting the nomination never prom
ised to stand upon the democratic
platform. The Constitution knew in
’92 just as well as it knows now that
Mr. Cleveland was and would continue
to be the friend of the corporations
and money power of the East. It
knew then as well as it knows now,
that when the East forced his nomina
tion and put up the money to elect him
that there was a complete and definite
understanding between Cleveland and
the corporations.
It cannot even put up the extenuat
ing plea that Cleveland was not the
choice of the Constitution for the nom
ination, because the course of Senator
Hill in sustaining Cleveland, though
his political enemy, in every act of
which it complains has demonstrated
the fact that he would not have given
the country . a better administration
though he would not have used the
the government vessels to go off on
sprees under the pretense of hunting
ducks, nor would he have left the
whitehouse with immense wealth
which he had never earned and the
possession of which he could not ex
plain. If the Constitution is honest in
denouncing Cleveland why did it sup
port Sewall, a man after Cleveland’s
o wn heart, in the recent elections.
The Constitution has wielded a more
powerful political influence than any
Southern paper for a dozen or more
years, but that influence is on the wane.
While a campaign is cn it belongs to
the strike-your-wife-or-little-child-but
don’t-strike-the-dear-old- party democ
racy and is ready to support a yellow
dog if he has the party nomination.
It must hereafter re! use to lend its
support even to a party nominee, un
less that nominee is a patriotic and
clean man or it had just as well leave
off playing to galleries between acts,
in the role of friend and champion of
the masses.
The Constitution must be consistent
if it expects to maintain its influence.
It has no right to help place dangerous
men in office and then assume an air of
righteous indignation because they do
what they were elected to do.
* * *
Citizen Cleveland is some improve
ment on the president, in the matter
of using government vessels as private
property. Plain untitled Grover, after
discarding his official robes, only used
a government vessel to convey him from
Washington to Norfolk, where he was
transferred to another vessel to be
taken to Ocracoke inlet where he was
to find the yacht of his friend Benedict.
By the way, history does not record
another just such friendship as that
existing between Grover and Benedict.
It is nothing uncommon for one friend
to put another in the way to line his
pockets, but this particular friendship
has resulted in a reciprocity arrange
ment by which the pockets of each
’have been equally well lined.
D. N. S.
No More Fusion.
Mr. P. D. Ewell, of Garfield, Wash
ington, wants to go on record as hav
ing had fusion enough to last him the
remainder of his natural life. As every
other populist who is in the party for
principle instead of fire, he plants him
self squarely in the middle of the
road. He need give himself no further
uneasiness about Mr. Bryan. When
that gentleman telegraphed Senator
Jones at St. Louis that he would not
accept the nomination unless Sewall,
the banker and monopolist, was kept
on the ticket as his running mate he
made an impassable gulf between
himself and all true blue populists. It
is true the telegram was suppressed at
the time but we have it now and will
not forget it in the year of grace 1900.
Died of Starvation in Minneapolis.
Victor Lund, who was taken to the
city hospital Tuesday night, evidently
nearly dead from starvation, is worse.
The doctors have been unable to se
cure much information from him, but
are of the opinion that lack of food has
caused his present condition. It is not
probable, they say, that he will re
cover He is 37 years of age.—Minne
apolis Journal. 4
The poor fellow died that night.
Doubtless he voted for McKinley.
He belonged to that trusting and hon
est race that believes what is told.
Died of starvation,—in a Christian
city of over 200,000 inhabitants! Died
while “the Advance Agent of Prosper
ity” was buying his inauguration suit.
Died while Mrs. Bradley-Martin of
New York, was preparing to give her
$200,000 ball. Died while the pre
parations were in progess for the
grandest and most royal inauguration
ceremonies on the 4th of March, ever
seen in this nation.
Died of starvation! Think of the ten
thousand pangs those words imply!
“Was it not pitiful.
Near a whole city full —
Friends he had none.”
—The Representative, Minneapolis,
Minnesota.
New Discoveries.
A method by which electricity may
be obtained from coal without the use
of steam has been discovered. If all
that is claimed for the new discovery
proves true it will prove of immense
economic value, as five times the pres
ent amount of power will be developed
from a ton of coal.
According to the New York Medical
World the germ of membranous croup
has been found to be identical with
that of dyptheria—that is the two dis
eases are one and the same, anil re
quire the same treatment. Hence the
anti-toxin which overcomes the deadly
poison of dyptheria will also cure mem
branous croup with equal certaintyj
This discovery means the saving of
thousands of lives of little children.
■ Parvin Wright, of Los Angeles, has
taken out patents for a wave motor,
which he claims will develop one horse
power lor every foot of ocean front
age used and at a cost of sl(4 per year,
which is about one third the present
cost of power on the Pacific coast.
A hosiery trust has been formed
which will put stockings “onto’ sight.’
—Blue Ridge Post.
War of the Sugar and Coffee Trust.
A fight is on for industrial supremacy
between the aggregations of organized
capital known as the sugar trust and
the Arbuckles. Such a war is a mat
ter of immediate public concern, to say
nothing of economic significance. W’e
give two editorial accounts of the fight,
the first alleging that the public bene
fits by it, the second denying this.
• The Chicago Chronicle thinks that
the story of the war shows that “even
trusts get into competition, and that
their war makes cheaper prices for the
people.”
“The coffee trust, represented by the
Arbuckles, originated the scheme of
selling coffee in one or two-pound pack
ages or in packages of greater weight,
already prepared for customers at the
grocery counter. The plan gave the
customer full weight; his purchase was
ready on demand, and he lost no time
by the delay of the grocer in weighing
out his purchase. The Arbuckles had
procured machinery, invented and con
structed for the purpose, working au
tomatically, by which coffee and spices
were turned out from the hoppers in
their mills after the grinding process,
weighed in small packages, dumped
into paper bags, and sealed up for de
livery at the grocers’ counters to pur
chasers. This system worked so well
as to coffee and spices that the Ar
buckles bought vast quantities of sugar
that was weighed by their automatic
process and placed in sacks of various
capacity to be delivered by grocers
selling both coffee and sugar. This
trade of the Arbuckles became enor
mous in amount. They were selling Jn
this way to their own customers for
coffee and spices a large proportion of
the output of the sugar trust. They
sold sugar at retail at very near the
barre.-rate prices.
“The Arbuckles then demanded a
rebate from the sugar trust’s whole
sale prices. They were handling so
large a proportion of the sugar-trust’s
output that they wanted to buy at less
than wholesale prices. The sugar
trust refused to make the rebate. The
Arbuckles then, having nearly as much
capital as the sug'ar trust, determined
to go into the business of refining
sugar. They bought up a half-dozen
independent refineries and began to
sell all grades of sugar at lower than
trust rates. The trust met the cut.
Other cuts were made, which were met
on both sides. The result is that the
people have been buying sugar for the
last few weeks at from half a cent to a
cent a pound below all previous rates.
Then the sugar trust had its inning.
The coffee and spice works of a firm at
Toledo were purchased and the sugar
trust began to cut prices on coffee.
[The Arbuckles secretly secured stock
in the firm (Woolson Spice Company)
and have applied for a receivership on
the ground that the sugar trust is ruin
ing' the business.—Ed. Literary Di
gest. ] The Arbuckles met this cut, and
lower prices for coffee at retail have
resulted.
“So witli the sugar trust operating
coffee mills and the coffee trust oper
ating sugar refineries, the competition
has produced lower prices for the
prime elements of an enjoyable break
fast table. Os course, the quarrel will
be arranged and previous prices res
tored. But the public has had the
benefit of reduced prices during the
progress of the fight.”
THE OTHER SIDE.
The Hartford Courant prints a very
different moral to the story :
“The Arbuckles, big dealers in ground
coffee, spices, etc., understood to be
millionaires on a large scale, have de
cided to go into the sogar-refining bus
iness. The sugar trust, however,
known as the American Sugar-Re fining
Company, doesn’t propose to have any
body else in that field. It controls the
business and is supposed to fear only
Congress, which could hamper it. Per
haps that fear isn’t very serious. It
will be remembered that a certain
broker declined to tell an investigating
committee what members of Congress
were speculating in sugar through his
house. The route from the Capitol to
Wall Street aud the sugar offices is not
circuitous.
’ “When the sugar trust found the
Arbuckles were in earnest in their
wicked scheme of going into sugar
refimng, they the sugar people, bought
the control of a large spice company in
Toledo, and started in to smash the
Arbuckles. Coffee has risen, but the
sugar people, through the Woolson
Company, are selling roasted coffee
two and a half cents a pound lower
than before the market began to rise.
This is said to mean a loss of SI,OOO a
day. As the Arbuckles do their own
coffee-importing, all the little folks,
who roast and grind coffee, have to
sweat, and, as these are the customers
of the importers of green coffee, against
the Arbuckles who import their own,
that importing trade is in trouble,
too. .
“To finish the story, it is given out
that after the sugar trust has broken
the Arbuckles, then the coffee-roasting
industry will be turned over to them as
the price of peace. The trust is after
several other roasting plants, and it is
expected that when, after exhausting
war, a settlement is effected, all these
kindred concerns will be handed over
to the Arbuckles as the price of peace,
and then the little grinders and roas
ters will be in the hands of the Ar
buckles, who can roast them.
“And there are intelligent people
who say these things are benefits!
What is the fluctuation of a cent or two
a pound on coffee? It may mean
cheaper food for a time, but it means
also the extinction of independence in
trade, the disappearance of the small
trader, the wiping out of ambition and
enterprise. People who are pushing
this sort of thing are cutting down the
very tree in which |hey are perched
and are preparing for a grand smash.
The country will not always be ready
in a docile way to ask which million
aire it sides with. More likely, far. it
is to ask why millionaires are at all.”
Tolstoi Sees the End of Wai- at Hand.
In the reasons given by a Hollander,
named Van der Weer, for refusing to
join lite national army last year. Tol
toi discovers “ the little drop at work
undermining lhe proud fabric of mili
tary despotism.” Van der Weer resisted
the conscription laws, says Tolstoi, on
the ground that these laws are contra
ry to the universal reason and con
science of man. “The reason of the
human race is developing” Tolstoi
says, “and the power of error grows
weaker day by day.” He continues:
“The immorality of militarism (like
that of American and Russian slavery
in the sixties) is so clear and manifest
that its destruction is only a matter of
time. As was the case with slavery, it
is only human inertia that keeps mili
tarism on its legs. The little drop is at
work, and the little drop of water has
been known to bore through strong
dikes and undermine houses and cities.
When the number of Van der Weer’s
imitators increases, we shall find that
those who yesterday were the defend
ers of militarism will to-morrow change
their tone and proclaim in a loud voice
that war is the fruit of ignorance and
immoral in its essence. When that
comes to pass, armies will speedily dis
appear and leave behind them nothing
but a poor memory. That consumation
is now not far distant.”
The text of Van der Weer’s letter
we find in the English edition (The Far
East) of the Japane-e review, Koknmin
no-Toma. Van der Weer begins his
letter, declining to appear for enrol
ment according to law, by quoting
‘ Thou shalt not kill.” ’’Conscious of
the rightfulness of my position,” he
writes, “I do not hesitate to put my
self into opposition to the law of the
country.” He continues:
“I do not make any special profes
sion of Christianity, nor claim to. be
any bi tter than the generality of
Christians, but I understand that the
commandment which I have placed at
the head of this letter is one that is
agreeable to the reason and nature of
man. I renounce the military profes
sion, which from a boy I have learned
to consider as the. science of murder. I
abhor the idea of killing men in obedi
ence to orders, without having any de
sire or cause for doing so—a proceed
ing against which my conscience re
volts.”
Facts that Shoiild be Considered.
Bills of credit (treasury notes) made
a legal tender are the best money the
world ever saw. —Benjamin Franklin.
Bank paper (bank notes) must be
suppressed, and the issue of the circu
lating medium restored to the nation,
to whom it belongs. * * Banking es
tablishments are more dangerous than
standing armies.—Thomas Jeffersen.
Bonds and banks I never approved.
* * Our whole banking system I ever
abhorred, I continue ■to abhor, and
shall die abhorring.—John Adams
No paper (like the bank note) whoss
credit rests upon a promise to pay is
suitable for currency.—John C. Cal
houn.
Coin is the money of barbarians.
Half civilized people want coin and
convertible paper. But people who are
fully civilized prefer irredeemable pa
per money. —Herbert Spencer.
Gold is the instrument of gamblers
and speculators, and the idol of the
thief and the miser.—Hon. John J. In
galls, of Kansas.
When all our paper currency is made
payable in specie on demand, it will
prove the most certain means which
can be used to fertilize the rich man’s
field by the sweat of the popr man’s
brow.—Daniel Webster.
The prime contrivance for producing
inequalities in human condition is the
creation of a paper medium (bank
notes) purporting to be convertible
into coin. From this invention sprung
the Barings, the Rothschilds an 1 the
splendid few who live at the expense
of the many. —Hon. R. M. T. Hunter
of Virginia.
Some of the colonial governments,
that of Pennsylvania particularly, de
rived a revenue from lending legal ten
der treasury notes to their subjects at
an interest of so much per cent.- A lam
Smith’s Wealth of Nations, 1887.
Nothing,in the history of the world
was like the progress of our colonial
ancestors when the system Adam Smith
refers to prevailed,—Edmund Burke,
The irredeemable paper money of the
Italian republic of Venice commanded
a premium over gold from 1171 to -1797
—over 600 years —and made the pros
perity of Venice and the happiness of
her people the Wonder of the world
until the country was conquered and
her financial system overthrown .by
Napoleon Bonaparte. The people of
Venice had no nse for coin. Paper
money was at a high premium over
metal money, and at length the gov
ernmental made a law for the protec
tion of coin which provided that no one
should demand a higher premium than
20 per cent for paper money.—History
of Venice.
If we establish a money which has
no intrinsic value, or whose intrinsic
value is such that it will never be ex
ported, and the quantity of which shall
never exceed the demand in the coun
try, we shall have reached wealth and
power.—-John Law, Financial Minister
of France in 1720.
While Law’s system prevailed man
ufacturies increased,beggars found em
ployment, industry had wings, inter
estfell, usury was crushed, and smiling
plenty reigned upon every hand. Eng
land perceived with terror the lever in
the hands of France which she used to
raise the world, and it was England
that overthrew Law and his system by
means of her agents in thy Council of
the Regency. —Louis Blone, French
Historian.
Imprisoned for Debt.
New York, in the opinion of many
good people, is not only the financial
center of the United States, but the
head center of civilization and progress.
A recent transaction in that state, pub
lished in the New York World, wherein
a man was jailed for debt, shows what
will result from permitting New York
to dominate our politics as well as our
finances. In referring to the imprison
ment of Win Fenn by a recent order of
the court, the World says :
“William Fenn is not accused of any
crime. His sole offense is that he owes
money which lie cannot pay. Yet un
der the barbaric law of imprisoment
for debt which still survives in an oth
erwise advancing civilization in New
York he was arrested last spring and
thrown into jail. He got a bondsman
and was released on bail. He went to
Pennsylvania to earn a living and fail
ed to answer the suit of his creditor,
except in so far as his bail bond an
swered it Thereupon his bondsman
sent to Pennsylvania, had Fenn arrest
ed and lodged in jail and brought him
to this city handcuffed like a danger
ous felen with murderous proclivities.
All this because Fenn owed money that
he could not pay ! —Southern Mercury.
For Chief Justice.
The middle-of-the-road Populists
have nominated John O Zabel, nation
al executive committeeman of Michi
gan for Chief Justice.
Pingree on Lincoln.
At a recent banquet in Chicago, Gov
ernor Pingree of Michigan, was called
upon to respond to the toast, “Munici
pal Reforms,” and among other things
said:
“I assume that we all love to draw a
prize in life. In our private capacity
we figure, I will assume, for a contract
with a city and get it by paying the
price. This assumes that the city fath
ers pocket the price. Os course if the
contract is for a street railway, the
rates of fare must stand very high, be
cause if they do not our watered stock
does not go off our hands very easy.
The game is to show in our contract
that we can pull millions out of the
public. Then we can get any amount
of watered stock in lhe hands of a gul
lible public. This, of course, is specu
lation aud not business. It is a kind
of lottery system. Almost everybody
knows it and admits it. We condemn
it in public and resOrt to it in private.
“Speculation seems to have put on
the mask of business in the United
States. The apparent rights of specu
lation have increased taxation, but
such rights are wore apparent than
real. The excessive rate of fare and
freight transportation, caused by spec
ulation, are slowly draining the earn
ings of this country, aud are also slow
ly crippling transportation because ex
cess reacts.
LINCOLN ON LABOR AND CAPITAL.
“When I say that all true capital is
earnings of the country, I do not say
anything new, I onlj’ repeat in new
words what Lincoln said, You can find
what he said in his first annual mes
sage. And this message can be found
in the Congressional Globe of 1861 and
1862. This is what he said:
“ ‘Labor is prior to and independent
of capital. Capital is only the fruit of
labor. Capital could never have ex
isted w ithout labor. Labor is the su
perior of capita], and deserves much
the higher consideration.’
“I do not know of a better way to
keep fresh the memory of the illustri
ous dead than to quote the words that
pointed to his work. I know of no
other way of keeping a party alive than
doing the work of the party. I know
of no other way of keeping capital
alive than by keeping labor alive. The
true words of a true man live forever.
The words of 1861 are true to-day.
The words live. The work lives. If
the work is shirked the party dies If
Lincoln’s words are sacred then the
work is sacred. Let us not live in the
mere fame of the words and work of
Lincoln. It is a nobler way to con
tinue that work.”
Refined Pugilism.
It is gratifying to observe piercing
and irradiating the murky atmosphere
of the brutality which envelopes the
prize ring, a ray of kindly light ema
nating from the stout heart of “Bob”
Fitzsimmons. In a public letter Mr.
•Fitzsimmons insists that his antagon
ist, Mr. Corbett, be subjected to a thor
ough medical examination in order that
Mr Fitzsimmons may in the approach
ing conflict plant his blows where they .
will do the' most harm without fear of
fatal results. He insists that he is not
satisfied with the reports, so far made
on the condition of Mr, Corbett’s vital
organs.
-Never before has the world
treated to such a touching spectacle of
magnanimity on the part of a profes
sional gladiator. Never before has a
professional slugger insisted upon hav
ing a certificate of the toughness of his
opponent, so that he may give full
force to the blows of his mighty arm
without the gnawing fear of bereaving
friends and relatives. One would never
suspect that Mr. Fitzsimmons’ fighting
face concealed such a wealth of tender
ness and generosity. He is willing to
put Mr. Corbett to sleep but not to kill
him.. It is the more remarkable be
cause Mr. Corbett has shown so much
ability in protecting his own vital or
gans and in jolting the livers and
lights of his antagonists. Viewing the
situation from any other standpoint
than that of the great prize fighter, it
would seem wise on the part of the
antaganist of Mr, Corbett to figure on
the ■condition of his own organs and on
ways and means of keeping them out
of the way. In the face of this inci
dent no.one can deny that pugilism is
on the high road to the plane of refined
art. Mr. Fitzsimmons has shown that
a pugilist may attain a degree of mag
nanimity that is exceeded only by his
“gall.”—San Diego Vidette.
A Hustling Organizer,
Hon. Chas. F. Howard, Windfall
Tipton count ,’, Indiana, sends a club
and writes :
The sow may return to her wallow,
the dog may return to his.vomit, but a
middle of tiie roader will never return
to the old party.
Let the People’s Party do as the pos
tage stamp, stick till it gets there.
The People's Party can’t expect the
people to stick to it till it sticks to
itself.
> So long as the People’s Party fuses
with the twin fraud, the people will
vote for the old parties.
Bryan and Pingree may be good men,
but we have men as good who belong
to a better party.
• Let us stay in the middle of the
road.
The Peop’e’s Party will not do any
good so long as Butler is National
chairmrn and Edgerton secretary.
I hope the People’s Party of the U.
S. will become born again with the
spiritual power of principle and patri
ism.
We must organize People’s Party
’ clubs in every precinct. We must sell
Peoples Party books and take subscrip
tions for People's Party papers and
take produce, etc., for pay. I want to
hear from every reader of the People’s
Party Paper, man, woman, boy and
girl. I love them all.
Please let me hear from you sure. I
am a young man, not ashamed of my
faith, not, afraid of my foes.
Shuck the Barnacles.
' The tone of tie Missouri People’s
party press is somewhat changed of
late. Nearly every one had tired of
the galling alliance with democracy,
and they are nearly a unit in demand
ing the calling of State Convention for
the purpose of unloading the barnacles
of the Rozelle Stripe.—Butler Free
Press.
For Attorney General, McKinley has
followed Cleveland’s example and ap
pointed a trust lawyer. It is absurd
; for the people to expect any protection
against momopolies and other unlaw
ful combinations from the incoming
administration. —Oregon City Herald.