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A * r IJtrtJil i'p \ \[ P’C O OPINTON Ul liUOll.
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A KNICHT OF THE ROAD WHO
IS AN ACITATOR.
lie Says: “A Thief or n Cut-Throat in
More Highly Respected hy Society than
a C ringing IWfrHilrant" llnw Will It
i.iniv Will u.c lVopie HaveThem»civ«»?
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Cleveland Citizen: One evening this
week, while waiting for a car on the
Public Square, the editor of this paper
was approached by a man of respectable
appearance, as the world looks at it,
and solicited for a contribution with
which to pay for something to eat. Un
doubtedly nine men out of ten would
say that such an occurrence is n*t
worth noticing. And they are right, for
the streets of this city swarm with
beggars after nightfall, and every citi
zen is accosted for aid on every hand.
But this particular beggar was an ex¬
ception to the general run. He was a
philosopher, a fine
and a man who, under ordinary condi
tions, would command respectful atten
Uon anywhere.
"It is not a pleasant task,” said he,
“for me to solicit aid from strangers.
My soul revolts against it; but an hon¬
est man’s natural pride is unable to
withstand the horrors of hunger. 1 real¬
ize that I am a beggar; a social outcast;
a butt for the ridicule, the sneers and
the abuse of those who never knew the
meaning of an actual want. It is a
bitter pill to swallow, but it must be
forced down. Sometimes, when I look
hack over my past life, and when I
think of the happiness of others who
art; no more honest than I am, I become
desperate enough to commit any crime;
and let me tell you that I do not intend
to follow the life that I am now leading
much longer. A thief or a cut-throat
is more highly respected by society
than a cringing mendicant.
“A dozen years back,” said the out¬
cast, in answer to a question, "1 owned
a small business in a town in South¬
ern Ohio. I am a ropemaker and had
a good trade. But the cordage trust
was organized and very soon the weak¬
lings, as the newspapers and big cap¬
italists call the smaller concerns, were
driven to the wall, and I among the rest..
We simply could not compete with the
trust, with its very latest improved ma¬
chinery and abundance of working cap¬
ital. Well, to make a long story short,
I quit, scraped a few dollars together
and landed in Chicago, where, as a rec¬
ommendation that I have will show, I
worked over six years as a collector.
But I could not get ahead of necessary
expenses, and two years ago the firm I
worked for failed. Since then I have
been knocking about from place to
place, working a day here and a day
there, starving, bogging and freezing in
turns. Would you believe it, 1 walked
almost the length of your Euclid avenue
offering to work for my hoard i(*'d
couldn’t got a job! The rich won’t tyj
anybody that they don’t Want. T)
are even more economil# 1 in that ®
spec! titan (lie poor.
“Now, why is it that those who mi
willing to work for their ltving are jj u e
vented from doing so? and what Id,, A
this coming to? These are the quest! $
that I think about and propound \o
everyone l meet. You sny the reason
men are deprived of the opportunity to
make an honest living is because of
monopoly. That is true. I don’t pre¬
tend to bo well up in economics, but i
know that those who enjoy special priv¬
ileges. such ns bankers, railroaders,
landlords and those who hold securities
prosper while the common people suf¬
fer.
"How will it end? Stranger, go down
along your docks; go down into your
slum districts; go into the poorer lo
ralUies; talk with the idlers upon the
streets; talk with the poorly-paid labor
era who are but one degree remove j
from homeless, hopeless wanderers,
and talk with the vagrants and tramps
who are chased from place to place like
wild beasts and who are thrown into
prisons because they will not sit down
and starve -men for all that, made
after the image of their God- talk
these people, who are being hemmed in
n'l every side bv laws, passed by
damned ignorant and corrupt
tors, restraining their liberties
driving them to commit all the crimes
in the catalogue talk to these people. I
say, and you will find that there
growing a sullen, deep-rooted hatred for
all law and for the rich. Can you con
ceive of a natural, human or divine law
that decreed that the many should suf
fer while a few rot in luxury? No, sir.
Such a condition cannot last long, and
especially in this enlightened agt No
doubt you have read of popular upris¬
ings in the past, and you arc far-seeing
enough to understand that-clouds are
gathering for another storm. The vio
lence of miud will bo met and overcome
by the violence of muscle..because tab
ent has been used selfishly) to do injury
rather than justice.
“You talk of educating the masses.”
concluded the wanderer. "Your time is
too short. Men are grown children,
They would rather play than learn les
sc ms, aud trust to luck to adjust matters,
Reside who to ucate the people
upon i< science of government and
right living? Your schools don't do it;
they teach fables and fiction, to a large
extent ignore sound principles, and turn
out ed\n ated but dissatisfied men and
women. The preachers don't educate:
wiey are afraid to speak out. They talk
glibly of ust and immorality,
do not i vises How
about poll! Mans? No one will accuse
them of meat yont They are
st unprit 4 and selfish class
on tear ©f a presi
Sent tan or governor
■who co the com
mon pt Xa tmvea
Tl f
business men, lawyers, office-seekers
and office-holders. City and county con
ventions are composed of bums, ward
heelers and others ignorant as droves
of swine, and ruled- by a few powerful
local bosses who supply the boodle,
And now, honestly, do you expect that
c ] asgeg w []] gave themselves from
th{jlr QWn f()Uy? Not muc ^y
. Bidding a hearty gootl night, the talk
a tive knight of the road started toward
the docks and was soon lost to sight.
"ONSLAUGHT” ON CONGRESS.
1 ° Relieve tlie Central and Union
Pacific Railroad*.
It is said W. K. Vanderbilt and George
Gould have made a deal by which they
will obtain control of the Central and
Union Pacific lines, which, with the
Northwestern and eastern lines, will
give them a through line from New
York to San Francisco. If the govern¬
ment had sense enough to foreclose the
mortgages it has on these roads it could
prevent a huge railroad monopoly get
ling possession of them, and at the
same time demonstrate the practicabili
ly of government ownership of rail
roads.
But our government is in the interest
of corporations and not In the interest
of the people, for what corporations
ask for they get and what the people
ask for in the way of legislation they
can never obtain.
The dispatches which announce this
monopolistic deal close with this very
significant paragraph;
"Before any action is taken a deter¬
mined onslaught will be made upon
congress to secure some action that will
relieve the new company from the bur¬
den of the government debt,”
An “onslaught upon congress” by a
railroad monopoly under the direction
of Chauncey Depew and MarvinHughitt
means that money and influence with¬
out limit will be brought to bear upon
each individual congressman to secure
the passage of an act extending the
mortgages on the Pacific roads, fund¬
ing the Indebtedness at a low rate of
interest and making them payable in
99 years.
As our congress Is composed mostly
of lawyers accustomed to taking fees,
the Goulds and Vanderbilts (Goths and
Vandals) will probably get all they
want.
This mortgage which the government
holdB against a monopoly should be
treated just as Shy locks treat a farm
mortgage—foreclose it and take pos¬
session.
If we had a populist congress and a
populist president this thing would be
done.
But wait, the populists will get there
yet.—Chicago Sentinel.
THE COLD STANDARD.
First Set U|> by the Children of
Israel.
A korrespondont doun in Kalntucky
wants tu kno when the gold standard
wuz furst introdoosed. The gold stand
wu» fwrst tatrwdvooefl lu the tnurd
munth after the childurn uv Ishreal
kum up out uv the land uv Egypt. Tha
had got so used tu bein in bondige that
tha coodent git over the habit. Az the
Egyptians had aul bin dround in the
Red Sea overilo, and Moses wuz up in
the mountain so fur awa that he coodent
boss ’em, tha biit a golden calf tu wur
ship. This iz the furst akkount uv the
adopshun uv a gold standard. Now
Moses wuz up in the mountin watin fur
(ioti tu stamp the law ou sumpthin that
hadn’t enny intrinsick value—a stone.
This wuz the law which God- intended
n , hav observed, and he proberty thot
it would be a waste of material tu stamp
i, on gold Az there wuzent enny paper
them daze tha just took the clibepcst
thing tha rood git. and it ansered the
purple az wel az a sheet uv gold. Now
when Moses kum doun out of the Mount
an ,i saw the golden calf, and hiz breth
via Bingin’ and dansin around it like a
passel uv heethlns, it maid him so mad
that he dropped the stone on which the
law wtiz engraved and broke.it. He jist
walked in aniung them fellers and
knocked that golden calf intu the mid
die uv next week decaflzed it, az it
wair. Then Moses drawed a line on the
ground and said; Aul you fellers that
wood rather worship God than gold
step over here with me. And the sons
uv Levi kum over tu him. And Mazes
toid ’em tu git thair sords and hack the
stuftln out uv the gold-bugs, which tha
did: and three thousand gold-bugs dido
that day by the edge uv the sord, Tie
< oz tha wanted sumpthing tu worship
that had intrinsick value in it.—Tube
Spilkins in Buzz-Saw.
—
Senator IVflfor** View.
Senator Peffer. in an interview with
,) u , Washington Dost, says: "I take it
that the republicans will elect both a
president and house of representatives.
'phen their troubles will begin. They
W U1 soon be in the same predicament
of the present administration. A break
ing up is sure to come; it may be we
w lll see a collapse of both the old
parties before 1900. A great deal de
p^uds on the action of the Incoming
congress. 1 think it quite possible that
legislation will be passed withdrawing
the greenbacks and treasury notes from
circulation and funding them in a bond
issue. If such a policy is to be pur
sued, the sooner it is effected the bet
ter and the sooner will the voice of the
people be beard. In a few years more
the conflicting elements in the old par
ties will separate for all time. About
75 per cent of the democrats who believe
in free silver and equal treatment of
both metals will break away from their
plutocratic gold-standard coadjutors iu
he east. About 25 per cent of the re¬
put mans will do the same thing. These
$e iers will go over en masse to the
no pulists. It's easy to predict what will
bc the result. The populists will come
nt troi in every branch of the gov
i and it will t linistered in
terect of tht p n t c?
ylocks and speculators’*
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THE WAY IT WORKS,
IT WILL NOT W0I1K.
BANKERS’ PLAUSIBLE AN D SE¬
DUCTIVE ARGUMENT WEAK.
How the Government Should He Believed
of the Burden of Borrowing Gold to
Support a Financial Systejn That
Ueuefits the Hankers Only.
The organization of national bankers
is already at work upon ityv*’ r 'incial
aoiic* .,—n lr;TTrrr nopes to iitflafe. upon
an over-burdened, suffering people by
Undue influence with the incoming con¬
gress.
Their plausible and seductive argu¬
ment runs in this way: The govern¬
ment is called upon to maintain a re¬
serve of $100,000,000 in gold, because
the government has issued legal ten¬
ders to the extent of $346,000,000, which
are redeemable in gold, and when re¬
deemed are again put out. The prac¬
tical working of such a system forces
the government to issue bonds to main¬
tain the gold reserve; therefore, the
$346,000,000 legal tenders, or greebacks,
shou,d bp retired by issuing bonds for
‘hem. The government would then no
‘°nger be required to keep gold on hand
for redemption purposes; the confidence
in business circles would be restored
and i be ca use of business depression
w °u Id be removed, says the Brockton,
Mass., Diamond.
This is the argument from the side
of the banks, Incidentally, the banks
are to be authorized to issue their notes,
based on these new bonds, and these
bank notes are to take the place of the
greenbacks, but the bankers do not
say .so much about this.
That the government should be re
lieved of the burden of borrowing gold
to support a financial system that bene
flts onl J’ the bankers is a very merito
Nous proposition; but the method by
'which it is to be accomplished, as sug
Rested by this bankers association, is
'icious in e\ery sense of the word and
will be opposed by populist congress¬
men and others, who will endeavor to
protect the interests of the people.
The congressmen who oppose this
scheme of the banks will be denounced
as obstructionists; and upon them the
bankers and their cuckoos will en¬
deavor to place the responsibility of
retaining the present system and forc¬
ing another bond issue.
To expose the insincerity of this
banking clique, and to place the ques¬
tion in such form that the people can
understand the principles involved,
calls for constructive statesmanship on
the part of our congressmen who repre¬
sent the people. They should agree
with the bankers that it is worse than
useless for the government to be forced
t0 keep $100,000,000 in gold of the peo¬
ple's money locked tip and drawing in¬
terest out of the earnings of the wealth
producers, and should point out a very
simple, feasible, practical plan that
would place the responsibility for such
1 condition just where it belongs.
That one simple, feasible, practical
plan is an amendment to the National
Banking act, providing that the reserve
dollars held by the national banks as
the basis of their “wind" dollars, shall
be constituted of these legal tender
greenbacks.
The last statement of the comptroller
of the currency shows that the national
banks have issued a\>out two thousand
million dollars of bankers' wind—calied
credit—and the reserve fund upon
which this volume is t u is about
four hundred million dollars of money.
Sixteen hundred millions of their wind
is utilized by the wealth producers as
an exchange medium, because there
isn’t money enough issued by the gov¬
ernment for that purpose.
As an offset to the bankers’ proposi¬
tion that the government legal tenders
should be retired, our popuiist con¬
gressmen should suggest that this re¬
serve of the national banks should be
made up of greenbacks. That will not
only retire the greenbacks, but it will
make them more valpablg.±p the,bank#
than gold, and will send the gold now
held by the banks into circulation, be¬
cause for each dollar in greenbacks
held by a bank it could loan three dol¬
lars—in some banks four dollars of
bankers' wind; and the loan of its
would be restricted to the amount of
greenbacks in issue, or the amount it
could corral. No greenbacks could be
spared to seek redemption in gold, be¬
cause it would be the symbol of four
wind dollars, each doing duty in trie
business of exchanging labor’s products
and each confidence wind dollar absorb¬
ing interest out of the wealth produc¬
tion.
We need not enumerate the many fa¬
vors enjoyed by the banks—all of them
special privileges created by law. The
scheme they now propose is merely an¬
other law in their interest. What we
propose is a law in the interest of the
people’s rights.
We hope that congressmen who are
true to the people will not be content
with mere opposition to what the bank¬
ers propose. Meet them with a counter
proposition that will give additional
value to the greenback by giving it a
special privilege under the law and de¬
priving gold of that privilege. The re¬
sult would be an instructive object les¬
son to those that cannot now under¬
stand that money is created by law,
and the bankers would soon be asking
for more greenbacks.—Progressive
Farmer.
A Warning to the United States.
Recently the United States consul
at Cairo made a report to the State
Department showing the deplorable
condition of the Egyptian government.
From that report, the Topeka Capital
selects the following facts:
Egypt's bonded debt reaches the enor¬
mous total of 509 million dollars. The
population being only seven millions,
this is a debt of about $72 per capita,
or the equivalent of a national debt in
the United States of five billion dollars.
At present the productive area of Egypt
is only five and one-quarter million
acres. From the product of this land
must be gathered a revenue of eighteen
million dollars a year to pay the inter¬
est on the public debt, which amounts
to an average tax of $4.56 per acre.
The consul's report does not dilate
upon the most important fact connect¬
ed with this sad story, which is:
Egypt depended on foreign capital to
carry on her government and her pub¬
lic enterprises.
English capitalists were always on
hand ready and willing to advance gold
and take bonds bearing high interest
The Egyptian statesmen were either too
ignorant or too dishonest to issue their
own money before it was too late. They
were sound money statesmen. Now
their people are reduced to such a state
of degradation that the fiat of their gov¬
ernment w T ould be of little value. The
Egyptians are slaves. The United
States should take warning.—Topeka
Advocate.
BONDS AT BOTH ENDS.
How Grover Has Fattened the Pocket
Rooks of the Bondholders.
During Grover Cleveland's first term
as executive, there was a surplus of
money in the treasury. How the gov¬
ernment officers happened to le% this
money slip through their fingers, is
something that has never been fully ex¬
plained, yet there was actually a sur¬
plus so big that it was a burden. ,
The question came before congress,
and measures were urged to dispose of
this money. Some suggested one
scheme and some another, hut our
Roger Q. Mills finally presented a bill
providing for the expenditure of this
surplus in buying bonds of the govern¬
ment not yet due. In order to induce
the holders of these bonds to surrender
them, a premium was paid on the bonds,
and in fifteen months seventy-two mil¬
lion dollars found lodgment in the
pockets of the bondholders, in addition
to the principal and interest due on the
face of the bonds. Thus, the bond¬
holders succeeded in getting in a bold
robbery by tbe belp of Senator Mills, to
the tune of $72,000,000. This was the
initiatory term of Cleveland.
When Mr. Cleveland came in on his
second term a deficiency in the treasury
occurred very soon, and how to dispose
of the deficiency was a* matter of much
moment. Of course, it must be dis¬
posed of in some way to the financial
benefit, of the'bondholders and money
thieves. So instead of buying bonds,
Grover went to selling bonds, and did
the-same as he did in buying bonds,
that is, paid the bondholders a premi
um. The bondholders must have a
steal out pf the bond deal no matter
whether the bonds are' 5 %-cctoitf’ or a
gwine.” The money gang succeeded
in fleecing the government out of from
fifteen to thirty millions on the bond
sale designed to procure money for the
deficiency in the treasury.
Thus Grover has fattened the pocket
books of the bondholders at both ends
of his executive service. When there
was too much money, the' bond holders
were paid to take it out of the treasury,
and when there was a shortage of
money the bondholders were paid to
put money into the treasury, It is
down hill both ways for the bondhold
ers and up hill both ways for the peo
pie. that
There is not the least doubt but
some one received a bonus for this
scheme of feeding the bondholders fore
and aft. As Grover has developed
from a poor man to a millionaire in a
few years on a moderate salary, it is
reasonable to conclude that some of the
fat went his way. Senator Mills is, of
course, an honest man, but honest men
rarely father a bill in congress designed
to rob the people for'the-benefit of the
bankers and bondholders. - If Senator
Mills did not receive a share of this cor¬
ruption fund, it is- not because he was
not in position to do so.—Southern
Mercury,
Hero Worship.
We give too much importance to the
high officials of the United States.
They are just common people like the
officers of your county. Their, minds
are about of the same calibre, and
their morals might suffer in comparison.
The United States government is a big
town or county government. Look on
its officers as you do your town or
county officers. Rub up against a -presi
dent, cabinet officer, senator or . con
gressman and you will find that he is
about the size of the leading men in
school district.—Missouri World.
LABOR IN THE SOUTH.
A CORRESPONDENT TELLS OF
THE PRINCELY WAGES.
Farm Laborers Getting Six Dollars a
Month.—Facts Regarding Reports of
“a Revival of Prosperity"—Starvation
Has to Compete with Cheap Living.
Atlanta, Oct. 10.—When I reached
this city and the grounds of the Cotton
States and International Exposition,
about three weeks ago, I found every¬
thing in dire confusion. Two days be¬
fore the opening there was only one
building really ready, and that was the
government’s. Thousands of workmen,
however, were rejoicing in hope that
their present condition would continue
and'were free to talk of their wages, as
workmen generally are when they are
doing a little better than common. And
verily I was astonished at some of their
statements. Thousands of negroes have
flocked in from the farming regions and
were getting $1 a day for common labor,
where before the exposition boom the
rate was but 90 cents. One year ago
painters and carpenters in Atlanta got
but ?1.50 per day. Now they get $2.50
find call it princely pay. Country ne¬
groes tell me that on the farms they get
$10 a month and rations, but that is
only in this middle section, while south¬
ward and eastward wages are lower.
Orthodox party papers over in Tom
Watson’s district have been making a
great to do over the improvement and
revival of prosperity, and surely there
is an improvement if Editor (late Sena¬
tor) Pat Walsh tells the truth, for he
says that not long ago able bodied ne¬
groes could be hired in the vicinity of
Augusta for $6 a month, while the latest
comers from there tell me they can now
get $8. Of course these wages go with
rations—that is, enough cornmeal, pork,
coffee, peas, rice and black molasses to
keep a laborer in working order. And
even in this state I hear the familiar
statement that one great cause of hard
times is the extravagance of laborers.
Last year the rate for picking cotton
was forced down to 30 cents per 100
pounds. This year there was an at¬
tempt at a combine to force it up to 60
cents; the rate which prevailed in the
“good old times,” but I am told to-day
that there is a compromise by which
the pickers are to get 45 cents on “first”
and “scant” and 40 cents on the late or
full "boll. It takes a lively darky to
pick 200 pounds a day, but women occa¬
sionally do better, and one was pointed
out to me who could turn in 240 pounds
a day for a week. In view of such and
many similar facts I was not surprised
at seeing a very large chain gang with¬
out a white man in it, and when a resi¬
dent friend called my attention to the
model jail in the exposition grounds I
was moved to ask;
“Will you explain your model convict
system?”
iiNot this year,” -he replied, with a
dry smile, and we changed the venue.
Street car men have also had theif
wages raised and now get 12 cents an
hour, a part of the contract being that
they must “maintain a neat and re¬
spectable appearance.” That's a blamed
sight more than I could do during the
long drought, when a cloud of red dust
hung perpetually over the grounds. Ed¬
itor Martin of The Dixie Magazine tells
me that cotton mill operatives average
80 cents a day, and others put their
wages at “from $12 to $18 per month,’*
which does not seem to consist. I sup¬
pose the latter are only the poorest class
of workers. In the section where they
live board is phenomenally cheap and I
suppose correspondingly plain. I had
to laugh at one good old lady who told
me she “railly hadn’t the heart to
charge the poor girls more’n eight dol
lahs a month, though railly it’s wuth
more in these hard times.” In tha
nicer sections board is much higher,
and rents are simply awful.
Gas and water rates are said to ba
higher than in New York or Chicago,
while house service of some kinds is dog
cheap. Even among men there is a
great diversity, and much more so
since the' exposition company dis¬
charged so many common laborers,
who are bidding against each other.
The firm I am best acquainted with just
now gets the services of a preacher of
the gospel for $3 per week, and he is
there from 7 a. m. to 5 p. m., though his
duties as messenger do not employ him
all the time. He is 25 years old, a well
educated mulatto and a licensed minis¬
ter, but is on the pay roll as a “boy.”
Draymen and hackmen get $6 per week.
All these facts and many more of the
same sort I gathered in my first ten
days here, for really there was not much
to see yet in the exposition, and if it
had not been for the thousands of vet¬
erans who came down from the Chicka
mauga dedication and the ten govern
ors, including two candidates for the
presidency, and the generals here on
blue and gray day w r e certainly should
have suffered “ongwee.” I was particu¬
larly struck with the fact that the
speakers laid great stress on the rising
tide of prosperity and the advantages
to farmer and laborer. And all those
feliows profess to believe in a God and
expect to be justified in his sight!— J.
H. Browning, in Chicago Express.
All In One Parcel.
There is certainly no doubt that a
mother of social ambitions does a com¬
prehensive thing when she secures for
a son-in-law, by a single ceremony,
Charles Richard John Spencer Church*
ill, Duke of Marlborough, Marquis of
Blandford, Earl of Sunderland, Earl of
Marlborough, Brown Spencer of Worm
leighton and Brown Churchill of Sand
ridge, all in England, Prince of the
Holy.Roman Empire. Prince of Mindel
hein in Swabia, and Lieutenant in the
Oxfordshire Hussars.—Life.
Cbqrus of free “silver-inside-the»
party” Democrats: “I’d rather be 4
Democrat than be right!”