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DEAD STATESMAN.
COME HICH AND CONGRESS RE¬
FUSES TO CHEAPEN.
Faneralfl and Obituaries—Senate and
Home Decline to Omit Them—Growth
of the Scandal—Commissary Supplies
—Some Recent Extravaganceg.
(Special Correspondence Globe-Democrat.)
Washington.—Senator I’effer has 500
newspaper comments on his congres
sional funeral bill, Not one of these
comments is unfavorable. The bill has
come before the senate three times and
been sidetracked three times on parlia¬
mentary pretexts. It. will never pass.
Statesmen cling to their perquisites, in
death as in life. Congressional eulogies
are as farcical as congressional funerals
are scandalous, In the house a few
days ago a heroic effort, was made to do
away with the congressional eulogies.
It commanded just thirty-one votes.
Those voting in the negative numbered
130. This division took place on the
heels of a statement from the former
chairman of the committee on printing
that in a single congress the hill for
printing eulogies of deceased members
had cost over $100,000. The.house had
a funny time in discussing the, proposed
reform.
Mr. Lacey, of Iowa, told of a constit¬
uent who had written asking for “some
memorial addresses, because, as he said,
there was nothing he read with so much
pleasure as the obituaries of congress¬
men.” (Laughter.)
“The whole country is about in the
same mind.” commented Mr. Walker, of
Massachusetts, and there was another
roar of great laughter.
Mr. Curtis, of New York, told bow one
of these memorial addresses “had
transformed a venerable bachelor of
mature years Into a married man with
wife and many children. (Laughter.)
1 need hardly say that this account of
the deceased member somewhat dis¬
turbed his friends at home, who had al
ways supposed that their distinguished
representative at Washington had pur¬
sued an entirely different course of
life.” (Great laughter.)
Having had their jokes, the statesmen
voted down the proposition to stop de¬
livering eulogies to empty seats and in¬
dorsed the continued printing of them,
with steel-plate engravings, In somber
colored books, at a cost of $50,000 or
thereabouts annually.
The eulogies will be delivered and
the funerals will go on after the old
plan. It has cost us up to date over
$100,000 lo bury dead senators. Senator
Peffer’s bill does not propose that sena¬
torial deaths shall lie ignored. It pro¬
vides that when u senator or represen¬
tative dies at Washington, the branch
of which he is n member shall appoint
a commit* . “to properly prepare and
incase the body Hit' <1 «<*<•. » ti ».* .*1 for
ward it in charge of a sergeant-at-arms
to the home of the deceased and deliver
It to his family or to his relatives.”
This is to ho done at government ex¬
pense. but. "no action or proceeding re¬
quiring the expenditure of public
money other than is herein provided
for. shall be taken.” Tills is the pro
posed legislation which the press so
unanimously Indorses. Senator Haw¬
ley of Connecticut, Senator Mills of
Texas Senator Faulkner of West Vir¬
ginia and Senator Mitchell of Oregon
have in turn found parliamentary ob¬
jections which have prevented a vote
on the bill. Doubtless some other sen
ators will be ready tho next time the
bill comes up as “unfinished business”
to shunt It out of the way. One day
tho hill was to he considered at 2
o'clock. That day the senate adjourned
at 1:48.
Where Senator I’effer finds an unan¬
swerable argument is in thegrowlngex
travagance in attending these funerals.
Up to 1847 there had been forty-eight
deaths of senators, and in only eleven
of these cases was the senate called
upon to spend any money, When sena
tors died at their homes or during a
recess of the senate, it was not deemed
necessary for the government to turn
undertaker, Now, however, no sena
torlal death is allowed to escape the
contingent fund. Down to 1847 no sen¬
atorial funeral cost as much as $1,000.
Since 1877 every senator hut one who
has died has been buried at government
expense. It Is perhaps worthy of men
tion that the last senatorial death be¬
fore 1877 which did not cost the govern¬
ment anything was that of Lewis \
Bogy of Missouri. Mrs. Leland Stan¬
ford did not permit the senate to pay
any of the bills of her husband’s fu
neral, but the Hearst obsequies cost the
government $21,322.55.
Some of the more recent congres¬
sional funerals illustrate the elasticity
of the expense accounts. When Repre¬
sentative Houk of Ohio dropped dead
during the last congress, he was given
a casket that cost $350, to which was j
added a copper lining at a cost of $100 j
more. A brick grave and a marble
slab were put in by the thrifty ceme- I
tery management in Ohio. It cost j
$937.24 to take the committee from
Washington to Dayton and hack, and ,
feed them route. When these !
to en
hills were audited it was found nroes
sary to disburse in addition $74.60 for
meals en route. Dayton is about fifteen ;
hours from Washington. The commit- j
tee was evidently composed of good ;
feeders. 1
Another recent congressional funeral
was that of Representative Chipman.
whose body was taken to Detroit. Here
are a few of the queer items in the Chip
man funeral account: I
One-half dozen glasses. $18
Six professional bearers IS ;
Shaving ............... 5 | 1
Pall-bearers' invitations 5
Canopy at grave........... 10
Soloist and male quartet... ... 35
Four clergymen's fees...... ... 40
Choir and organist......... .... 40
Mr. Chipman was put into a $550 cas-
THE TARIFF FRAUD.
Revenue Last Year of McKinley Law, m $199,784,991
Revenue First Year of Corman-Wilson Law, 179,350,000
The Difference Between the Two Systems, 20,434,991
Per Capita Difference Between Them f 30^ cents
And Still Our Republican and Democratic Friends Insist that
a Paltry Difference of 30 Cents to Each Perso^ in this Republic
is Great Enough to Make Humbugged an Issue in by this the Campaign. Tariff Fraud. More
A Pointer—Don’t be
Money is the Issue, and Neither of the Old Parlies Are in Favor
of it. Get into Line for the Populist Ticket.
ket and taken to Detroit in a special car
at a cost of $669.39. The committee
that went with the casket spent $492.51
for Pullman berths and "commissary
supplies,”$145.76 for “rooms, hoard, por¬
ters’ fees and transportation”—another
case of healthy appetites on a sad er¬
rand.
Here is a compilation which shows
how the scandal lias been developing,
and in which is found the inspiration
for the Peffer bill :
Deaths of representativesdur
ing the years 1890 to 1894
inclusive numbered........ 21
Their obsequies cost the gov¬
ernment a total of......... $26,792 67
An average of...... .... 1,275 84
During the same four years
eleven senators died, and
the average expense of their
funeral ceremonies was.... 4,542 02
Total for senate......... $49,962 22
Total for last two con
gresses $76,758 89
The first senatorial funeral at which
government expense was incurred was
that of Francis Malbone of Rhode Is¬
land. Among the items charged to the
contingent fund in connection with the
funeral of Senator Malbone were:
Sixteen pounds of crackers.......$3 00
Eleven and a quarter pounds of
cheese 2 81
It appears from the record that the
committee to audit and control the con¬
tingent expenses allowed the item for
crackers but rejected the bill for cheese.
Senator I’effer had his attention
called to the. congressional funeral scan¬
dal when he, as chairman of the com¬
mittee, was called upon to look over
and approve the bills for the funeral of
bis colleague. Senator Plumb. He cut
down one charge of $500 to $150. But
even after the scrutiny which the sena¬
tor gave the items the total was
$3,082.75. This was more than $1,000
less than the average for the last ten
*» O^vut t» orr.ls ’ ut J* was “equal
to the estimated value of au average
American farm,” as Senator Peffer puts
It. In the funeral expenses of Senator
Plumb, paid by the senate, it appears
that after paying $400 for a casket and
$55 for embalming the body in Wash¬
ington, the committee employed an¬
other undertaker at Kansas to re-em
bnlm the body and to attend it two
days, for which $150 was paid, Tho
sashes bought for the twelve members
of the committee to wear cost $46.48.
It appears that after reaching Emporia
the members of tho committee scattered
in various directions to their homes,
and then put in individual bills for
what they spent in getting back to
Washington by various roundabout
ways. "Commissary supplies en route”
for those twelve gentlemen cost $153.41.
"Commissary supplies” cover a mul¬
titude of expensive habits. In the old
contingent expense accounts of con¬
gressional funerals were found wine,
brandy, cognac, almonds, raisins.
syrup, soda water and so on. These
items never appear now. ‘‘Commissary
supplies” sounds better. When con¬
gress footed the bill for the nation’s
hospitality to Louis Kossuth, the Hun¬
garian patriot, one item in the official
expense account was:
Champagne, sherry, madeira,
postage, cigars, lemonade, bar
bill, washing, medicine, post
office stamps, porterage, and
messengers, hack litre paid at
different times, telegrams, su¬
gar, brandy and whisky in
room, porter and ale, envel¬
opes. barber’s bill.............$65S.S2
Brandy and whisky were called
"brandy and whisky” In those days,
and not “commissary supplies.”
One curious discovery, resulting from
Senator l’effer's industrious Investiga¬
tion is the fact that distance usually
has little to do with the cost of a con¬
gressional funeral. Senator Plumb was
buried at Emporia. Kan., and Senator
Kenna at Charleston, W. Ya. Emporia
is more than 1,000 miles west of
Charleston. Senator Kenna's funeral
cost $34.75 more than Senator Plumb's.
“Commissary supplies, meals and
lunches" for the Kenna funeral cost
$432.48—about three times the cost of
the same for the trip from Washington
to Emporia. Charleston. W. Ya., is
eleven hours’ ride from Washington,
Besides this $432.48 for ‘“commissary
supplies, meals and lunches” on the
Kenna funeral trip, there was a charge
of $76.50 for room and board while at
Charleston. A Washington undertaker
went on the trip and received $45 for
his funeral services, while the Charles
ton undertaker got $56 more for his
funeral expenses. The two items al
ready mentioned for “commissary sup
plies” and for "room and hoard,” aggre
gating over $500. do not include $29.75
for breakfast at an eating station en
route. The car which carried the body
of Senator Kenna was draped at a cost
of $55.
"Besides, undertakers,florists and ho
telkcepers all perform their work and
make their charges on the same grand
scale,” Senator Peffer observes.
How little distance figures in the ex¬
pense, accounts is shown by two sena¬
torial funerals. The bodies of Senator
Miller and Senator Hearst were taken
to California. Senator Miller’s funeral
cost $3,532.34. Senator Jlearst’s cost
$21,322.55. Senator Vance was buried
in North Carolina, a little more than a
day's ride from Washington, but the
expense account was $4,438.00.
The first senatorial funeral that cost
over $1,500 was that of Senator John C.
Calhoun, for whose interment in South
Carolina the government paid $3,106.47.
That same year the contingent expense
account was drawn on for another sen¬
atorial funeral in South Carolina, and
the amount was only $1,726.10. The
very next senatorial funeral was Henry
Clay’s. It cost the senate $5,447.02.
The minuteness with which the gener¬
ous accounts are kept is striking. No
pennies escape. In the case of Charles
Sumner of Massachusetts, the items
charged to the contingent fund
amounted to $4,687.99. Not in so much
as a single cent was the government
wronged.
The funeral of Senator Hearst leads
all others in costliness. Henry Clay’s
comes next, and after that is Charles
Sumner’s. Senator Beck’s body was
taken to Kentucky at a cost of $4,453.45.
The custom of drawing on the contin¬
gent funds for funerals of statesmen be¬
gan, as already stated, with cases where
deaths occurred at Washington when
congress was sitting, it now extends
to senators and representatives wher¬
ever they die. The last senatorial
death was that, of Senator Stockbridge
of Michigan, which occurred at the sen¬
ator’s home. A committee of senators
was appointed and sent to the funeral
at a cost of $1,171.92. Representative
Myron B. Wright died during recess in
the last congress. The sergeant
at-arms made up a party to attend the
funeral and charged the expenses,
$1,414.80, to the contingent fund. It
„i]( 1. HU fcd lU-.at .tips;
bling a committee to witness the burial
of a dead senator or representative at
his home when congress is not in ses¬
sion is much greater now than the cost :
of giving a funeral in Washington and
of sending all the way home with an es¬
cort was a fri\v years ago.
"The average congressional funeral, ’
says Senator Peffer, “is nothing more
than a party of goodnatured gentlemen
having a good time at the public ex¬
pense.’’
In tlie fifty-second and fifty-third con¬
gresses there were twenty-one funerals
of representatives; that is twenty-one
funerals in four years from 1891 to 1895.
The cheapest was that of Representa¬
tive James Phelan, of Memphis, who
died in the Bermudas, and was taken
thence to Tennessee at an expense to
the government of only $345.80.. The
most expensive of these twenty-one fu¬
nerals was that of .1. L. Chipman, of De¬
troit, which cost $2,30S.40. The bod>
of the Hon. J. W. Kendall was escorted
to the mountain home in Eastern Ken¬
tucky at a cost of $2,156.56, and one of
the members who went with it wrote
for the papers a very humorous de¬
scription of the expedition on his return
to Washington. W. B. S.
SOUND SENSE.
Eternal Vigilance In the Trice of Lib¬
erty.
Missouri World: This paper has re¬
peatedly advised the silver men of the
old parties who could not see their way !
clear to poin the people’s party, to with¬
draw from the goldbug parties and form
a party of their own, and expressed the;
belief that if they would do so nothing
could keep them and the populists from
coming to an understanding. We said
that when old party ties were severed
they would not see so much in the popu-i
list platform that was objectionable to
them. When the single plank platform;
was first advocated we asserted that;
the money question in its broad sense'
was alone worthy of a dozen cam¬
paigns. But we opposed the one-plank
move. The party was advancing rap¬
idly on the Omaha platform. The rail-'
road and government loan and postal;
bank propositions were dear to many
of our people. These principles of the,
party had gathered to us, we had reason
to believe, a large per cent of our
strength. They were concrete anJ
caught the attention of people whose
attention could not be attracted by tars
abstract money question. They were aj
great aid to the party instead of a hin-J
drance, as the one plank men thought.!
While the question was up for discus
sion the bimetallic party was formed,
at Washington City. In its platform;
there was none of the alleged objec-i
tionable planks of the Omaha platform
We hoped this new party would be abie; otj
to gather round its banner millions
voters. But from all appearances it,
proved a complete failure. One trip
aeross the continent by Mr. Sibley andj ’
little was heard of it afterward.
The silver men—most of them—who
had abandoned the old parties found a
suitable place in the people's party and
this left no room for the bimetallic
Ptjrty. Our national committee by majority
a
vote of those present, decided, last
week, at its meeting in St. Louis, to ask
those desiring financial reform but who
are not ready as yet to join the people’s
party, to hold a national convention at
sa/iie time and place as the populist
convention with the view of getting to¬
gether.
’Months ago this paper suggested that
tie silver men of the old parties form a
party, if they could not come to us, ap¬
point their county, state and national
committees and call a convention at
same time and place as the populist
convention, and expressed the belief
that the two bodies would agree, It
would seem that we had no room for
Complaint at the committee’s action.
i3ut the silver men have not withdrawn
from the old parties. They have not
formed state organizations. It is pos¬
sible that the bimetallic convention
will have no constituency, That the
delegates will not be appointed by the
people. That the bimetallic convention
will represent a very few people. That
it will simply serve to give the one
plank men a strength much larger than
the one plank sentiment, in case the
' bodies together, and that with
two go a
part of the populist convention and all
of the bimetallic, they will be able to
dictate platform and candidates.
, On the other hand, there may be a
bolt from the republican convention
and there is pretty sure to be one from
the democratic convention, and it may
turn out that the bimetallic convention
will represent millions of voters. We
hope so. But let populists bear in mind
that “Eternal vigilance is the price of
liberty.”
ONE CLEVELAND ENOUGH.
•Je/Ter-iou City l’aator Would Pray the Lord
to Send No More Like Our President.
Jefferson City (Mo.) special: At the
virst Methodist church in this city
last evening prayer services were
for “Our Rulers.” There was a large
audience. The pastor of the church,
in announcing the subject, said: “Let
us pray for our rulers. Let us not for¬
get our president, Grover Cleveland
Let us pray that God in His mercy wil.
make him a wise and good man, doing
right for tho sake of right; shunning
the wrong because it is evil. Like the
Englishman who prayed for George III.
let us ask God to assist him in wisely
guiding the affairs of state, bless him,
be merciful to him; but in Thy mercy
give us no more like him.”
The Great Man.
The great man was so great that he
held thirty million two-legged animals
in his left hand and thirty-five million
in his right, in perfect balance. At the
same time a great eagle appeared at
Washington. When the eagle spread
out his wings they touched Boston and
San Francisco at the same time. The
great man took the great bird on his
hands and named the great eagle “Con¬
gress.” He decided to break the eagle
to be a gentle servant for his private
service. In his boundless wisdom he
decided not to use physical force but
to starve nearly to death, and it was a
success. The great man then said,
“My little country is not fit for a great
man; guess I will take a trip to Jupiter
and give that little glote an object les¬
son, and my eagle will fetch me there.”
He then cut a large piece of meat out of
a farmer’s heap, put the meat on the
point of his sword, seated himself on
tl'.r eagle's neck, holding the sword in
his right hand, with the meat twelve
inches ahead of the bird's head, and a
black-snake in his left hand, whipping
the bird all the time in order to make
his meat tender. The eagle, flying for
the meat, shot through the air like a
cannon ball. As the air was full of
road dust from below and meteor dust
from above, the great man's eyes be¬
came of no account. For the sake of
producing light he put a gold piece in
his mouth, but still the Egyptian dark¬
ness prevailed; he then swore by his
graetness that gold was of no account
at Jupiter. Presently the eagle col¬
lided with a great wall, and the great
man touched solid ground, but dark
nes - <! prevailed. M here am I at ?
Perhaps in hades! I desire a better
place. I have changed my friends and
my party, and I took my nation by tho
throat and choked the life out of her:
but if I am in hades it is a step in the
right direction. I will meet the rich
man here, * • Presently the rich man
appeared, plated with gold and powder
ed with diamonds. Seeing a little ani
mal crawling on the ground with a vel
low speck in its mouth, he picked it
up with his right hand and put it in
the palm of his left, looked at it but
could not tell what it was: he put it
under a powerful microscope and pro
nounced it to be a genuine American
“gold bug.” Well, the rich man charge !
ten million dollars for entertainment
and a return ticket. The farmers paid
the bill.—J- Fatland, Newark, III.
A §4,000,000,000 BALL
IN A $3,000,000 PALACE, WITH
4,000,000 IN THE COLD.
Forty-Fire Thousand Dol ar Diamond*
Shme ami Glisteii Around a 850,000
Fountain — Opening of Vanderoilt'a
Residence.
An exchange says: “Last week Cor¬
nelius Vanderbilt’s new residence was
opened at Newport with a ball, The
palace cost $3,000,000. More than 200
choice guests gathered around the $50,
000 fountain by the grand stairway. It
is estimated that these 200 guests repre¬
sented $4,000,000,000, and if that does
not entitle them to be termed the ‘creme
of the creme,’ simmed milk ought to be
good enough for most people."
The Atlanta Constitution comment¬
ing on this says:
“There is a touch of ill nature in
these comments. Ours is a country for
ail classes, the rich and the poor, all
colors and races. A billion dollar ball
is just as much in keeping with the
spirit of our institutions and the tone of
our society as any gathering would be.
It is a good thing for the people at large
that the rich are pleasure seekers, and
their extravagance is in many ways a
blessing.
“The Vanderbilt ball turned an im¬
mense sum of money loose, and it di¬
rectly and indirectly benefited thou¬
sands of tradesmen and toilers. Every
state in the union would be better off
if it had Vanderbilts building palaces,
giving balls and scattering millions of
cash in every direction. This is the
way to look at it.”
The Richmond, Va., Star replies:
“We do not believe that a billion dol¬
lar ball is in ‘keeping with the spirit of
our institutions.’ A billion dollar ball
represents thousands of homeless and
destitute people, made so by the rob¬
bery of theowners of the billion dollars.
Their holdings are representative not
alone of wrecked homes, but of crazed
minds, despoiled virtues, of prisons and
poorhouses, of thieves and felons. They
are representative of hundreds who
were well-to-do to-day and to-morrow
are homeless through the scheming and
rascality of those who watered and
manipulated the stocks of railroads and
mines and other properties, which were
turned over from the hands of the many
into those of a few rascals who knew
the outs and ins of thievery, and often
became the possessors of great proper
ies without the expenditure of any
money. No, the billion dollar ball is
lot in keeping with the ‘spirit of our
nstitutions,’ unless cheating, stealing,
nd lying are in keeping with the spirit
if our institutions.
“We deny most emphatically that
wery state in the union would be the
better off for having a few Vanderbilts
•’or every Vanderbilt that every state
bould have would have to count its
aundreds and .9.ocaands of idle and
lomelesss and the few millions they
urned loose would not restore those
vho have been robbed and ruined to
heir own.
“Tramps and paupers were unknown
o this country until the millionaire
aade his appearance. With the coming
■f the millionaire has come the increase
f crime, of tramps, of paupers, of idle¬
ness and anarchy. For many years this
ountry moved steadily forward and
he people were prosperous in the larg¬
est sense of prosperity without the
presence of a single man with a mil¬
lion. With the coming of the million¬
aire have come all the ills that are
known to the body politic. As the mil¬
lionaire increases his wealth the peo¬
ple and the government have become
poorer, until today we are told that but
for the generous action and liberality
of a few domestic and foreign million¬
aires our government would be without
credit in foreign countries. When the
government kneels at the feet of the
millionaire it is no wonder that one
part of the people uncover their heads
and shout their praises while another
and feebler part of the people are rid¬
den over and trampled underfoot.”
There is another feature of this “spir¬
it of our institutions.” About the same
time that Christ was born, and lay
sleeping in a manger, the shepherds
had a presentiment, and held a mass
meeting, and started out to find relief;
and that made Herod so mad that he
killed all the boys under two years that
he could find. While this billion dollar
debauchery, one of the most profligate
carousals that this nation has ever
seen, unless it was a congressional orgie
in a “Washington bazaar” or a pres¬
idential inauguration ball, 1,500 tramps
held a mass meeting in Kansas—an
other proper presentation of the “spirit
of our institutions.” It was a very quiet
and orderly meeting, with no special
provision for the debauchery of women,
no parade of drunkenness; and the Ar¬
kansas river took the place of the $50,
000 fountain, the earth was the carpet
and God's blue skv was the covering.
These were the representatives of the
producers (owners) of that three bil
lions upon which the thieves were riot
ing. And congress sits idly by, while
the nation is plundered, more openly
than when the British red coats
marched overland to burn down the
capitol at Washington.—Pueblo Inde¬
pendent.
According to Mulhall there is just
$1,040 in money and property for every
man. woman and child in this country.
Now if these 200 persons who attended
Vanderbilt's ball had $4,000,000,000 then
there must be 3,846.184 persons who are
paupers. or a much larger number who
have much less than $1,040. In other
words nearly four million paupers must
exist in order that a four billion dollar
ball may be given. If, as the Constitu¬
tion wishes, we had a few Vanderbilts
and billion dollar balls in every state
what would be the result? There are
45 states. Now a few billion dollar balls
would not leave a cent for the rest of
the people, as the nation's wealth is but
$70,000,000,000. It is easy to see from
this that the Constitution did not know
what it was talking about. There are
many more people who believe million¬
aires can be made without making pau¬
pers. It can’t be done. There is not
enough money and property to go
around.
Mo man every honestly made $1,000,
000. Many persons must be robbed to
enable a man to get a million dollars.
Here is the pace. There is $1,000 per
capita. To make $10,000 one must
make 10 paupers; to make $100,000, 100
paupers must be made: to accumulate
$1,000,000 necessitates the reduction of
1,000 persons to beggary, This rule is
as inexorable as the laws of nature.
Two men can not own the same dollar
at the same time. Mrs. Vanderbilt
wears a diamond worth $45,000. The
annual report of the coroner of New
York shows that 4,500 -women are bur¬
ied in pottter's field every year. If there
were not 4,500 paupers Mrs. Vanderbilt
could not wear a $45,000 diamond.
But we have overlooked something
production. If a man produce a mil¬
lion dollars he has not made one pauper
and would certainly be a blessing to
any community. But how much of the
wealth of this country is in the hands
of those who produced it? Practically
il one. The farmers of the agricultural
states have produced billions of dollars
worth of agricultural products in the
last 25 years and are poorer to-day than
they were in 1874. The same is true of
all other productive industries. Mil¬
lions of dollars are only aggregated
into the hands of one person by rob¬
bery — railway robbery, Standard Oil
trust robbery, national bank robbery,
interest robbery, rent robbery, and
other robberies too numerous to men
tion.
Some day the people will have sense
enough to stop this, but how long will
it take the people to see these things?
Come now, old boy, get a wiggle on
yourself and help us along, Are you
doing your share? If not, try and do it.
Be a man or get out of the way.
WAYLAND’S WAILS.
Paragraphs Clipped from “Appeal to
Reason.”
The most disreputable, scoundrelly
occupation that man can be engaged in,
is that of pulling strings to place him¬
self in office. To wish a party to suc¬
ceed because it represents certain ideas
is right, but to scheme to put himself
forward is the action of just what I
have called him.
The common people get punished for
doing the very things in a small way
that the office-holders and monopolists
do daily on a gigantic scale. Just as
kings and nobles could kill, rob and
outrage womanhood by wholesale, but
for doing which the common people
were executed, The present state of
affairs in the United States is just the
old state of oppression in another form.
Newspaper postage is to be increased
to 8 cents a pound instead of one, if
congressmen dare do it. Like the tax
on whisky, it will aid the big dailies
that are almost wholly carried by ex¬
press companies, and the county pa¬
pers are free inside the county. This
8 cent rate is the English standard.
Anything to ape England and prevent
the people from getting any benefit out
of the government. Millions for whole¬
sale murder, but not a dollar for the
intelligence or benefit of the people.
The poor farmers feed the world,
yet go ragged, live in poor houses and
are in want.
The fabric workers clothe the world,
yet are ragged, hungry and houseless.
The builders shelter the world, yet
are houseless, ragged and hungry.
The people who furnish none of these
have abundance of them and the many
vote for the system that produces these
effects and are too silly to see the cheat.
We are solemnly informed by the
bankers that the withdrawal of $100,
000,000 in gold and locking it up for the
bonds will cause a stringency! And we
are solemnly told the government must
get that gold and lock it up or the na¬
tion will go to the demnition bow-wows!
A case of heads the country loses and
tails the bankers win. And men who
dress well, eat three times a day, who
can read and write, gulp both these
statements down without salt! We are
surely the greatest, wisest people on
earth!
Why do you hug poverty so? Are
poverty and want and anxiety so sweet
you will not give up your silly notions
aboat pr ivabe proper ty ^ fM ^rseR
of tbem , ^ ou see lf f a ) 1 tbe P r °P ert y
'
were pubhc . n0 °f e could draw an in
come from it . unless they worked. It
would have no rent roll, deeds of trust,
mortgages, interest, etc., to get hold of
and live in luxury on. Not a bit more
than the postoffice or the public streets.
l T nder such a system work would be
P rGV ided for all and if they -would not
wcldi they could starve. Houses better
than 99 men out of 100 now live in
ecldd he had for $100 a year if the
wa S es were $1,000. If you don’t like
poverty why the deuce do you vote
for it?
Secretary of Agriculture Morton is
not distributing any seeds this year,
and the assets of some of our congress¬
me n who have been selling their por
tion to seed venders will he cut down bv
that muc h, while the constituents of
other congressmen who have been re¬
ce iving them will also be losers. Things
have come to a pretty pass when noth¬
ing can be put in sight of our congress¬
men, or In their care, that they won't
steal.
Of course the Populist platform of
the coming campaign will be called the
“St Louis” platform—but it will em
brace the true and eternally right prin
ciples of the old Omaha platform.