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A * r IJtrtJil i'p \ \[ P’C O OPINTON Ul liUOll. - 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«»? - 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’* \ til r" fcO. ; ;t(vSj f ml (i yjj! tv i. I l ) 1 Vli v V I i\ i 57 u i* <w V’ % R. ML V j >|k \ * * r j rm m =^§8P|p§r 1 m 1 ./T B |1 v r 101 iVz =5T # A r k •uV 1 ft w* \ 8 mm % V mm If i i INDUS sp i I m / 2U ifi 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!”