Newspaper Page Text
Banks County Gazette.
VOL. III.—NO. 23.
PEOPLE S PARTY PLATFORM
ADOPTED AT THE OMAHA
CONVENTION.
Second Declaration of Indepen
dence Formulated by the
People July 4th, ISJI2.
FINANCE.
First—We demand a national cur
rency, safe, sound and flexible, issued
bv the general government only, a
full legal tender for all debts, public
and private, and that without the use
of banking corporations, a just, equit
able, and efficient means of distribu
tion direct to the people at a tax not
to exceed 2 per cent per annum, to
be provided as set forth in the stib
treasurv plan of the Farmers Alliance,
or a better system; also by payments
in discharge of its obligations for
public improvements.
\Ve demand free and unlimited
coinage of silver and gold at the
present legal ratio of 16 to 1.
We demand that the amount of
circulating medium be speed.ly in
cieased to not less than Bno per capita.
We demand a graduated income
tax.
We believe that the money of the
country should be kept as much as
possible in the hands of the people,
and hence we demand all state and
i ational revenue shall be limited to
the necessary expenses of the govern
ment economically and honestly ad
ministered.
We demand that postal savings
banks be established by the govern
ment for the safe deposit of the earn
ings of the people, and to facilitate
exchange.
TRANSPORTATION.
Second.—Transportation being a
means of exchange and a public
necessity, the government should own
and operate .he railroads in the inter
est of the people.
The telegraph and telephone, like
the postoffice system, being a necessi
ty for the transmission of news,
should be owned and operated by the
government in the interest of the
people.
LAND.
Third.—The land, including all the
natural sources of wealth, is the hen
age of the people, and should not be
monopolised for speculative purposes,
and alien ownership of land should be
prohibited.
All land now held by railroads and
other corporations, in excess of their
actual needs, and all lands now owned
by aliens, should be reclaimed by the
government and held for actual set
tlers only.
A Freak of a llull©i.
During the Nez Perte Indian war
I was running a race with some fif
teen or twenty Indians. The goal
was a small mound. Whoever
reached the mound first could hold
it. We had some friends coming on
the trail, which passed just at the
foot of the mound. The horse I was
nding was quite fast. I had got a
hundred yards or so ahead of my
companion and stopped to take a
shot at an Indian. After I had shot
1 jumped on my horse just as a
young fellow came up. We were on
the move when he said, “Lew, I’m
shot.” I asked him if he was hurt
badly. He said, “No; I have caught
the bullet.” “All right,” said I; “put
it in your pocket.”
I let my horse run and soon left
him, for I had the trail and the In
dians had the grass. I reached the
foot of the mound when the nearest
Indian was about 150 yards from the
foot'on his side. The mound was
tolerably steep and about 150 feet
high. I let my horse climb as fast
as be could. When I reached the
top I jumped off, and the Indians
were on the run to get out of the
reach of my long range Remington.
I opened fire and kept it up as long
as they were in sight. When the
excitement was over the young fel
low showed me where he had been
shot.
The ball had just grazed his arm,
making a blue streak about five
inches long, and had struck his gun
barrel (where it screws into the
frame) and had raised a dent on the
inside of the barrel as large as a pea;
it then glanced and fell into his left
hand. The gun was ruined, but it
saved his life.
The shot had been fired at me, as
the young fellow had not been in
sight for an instant. —Cor. Forest
and Stream.
If the Pinkertons did not go to
Homestead to kill why were they
armed? If they went there to kill
why are they not guilty of murder?
If they are guilty why are not the
men who hired them equally guilty ?
Arrest every mother’s son of them
and execute the law, or let us swear
we have no law worth mentioning,
and the people take justice in their
own hands.—New Forum.
Frank Criticism.
Not many years ago in Paris at
the first presentation of a tragedy
that had for its closing scene the
murder of a Swedish king, which
had taken place nearly half a cen
tury earlier, all went well till the
murder scene came on, when a very
dignified old gentleman in the stage
box showed signs of strong dissatis
faction and at length called out an
grily;
‘ ‘Absurd! they’ve got it all wrong!”
The manager himself heard this
plain spoken comment, and being
naturally disturbed by so sweeping a
condemnation, he sought out the
critic, and politely begged to know
what fault he had to find with it.
“Why, my good sir,” cried the old
man, with an air of authority, “the
whole grouping of the scene is incor
rect. You have made them kill the
king to the right of the door, where
as we murdered him on the left 1” —
Harper's.
MKs Precision** Explanation.
I was spending a week or two at a
quiet but delightful country board
ing house, at which there wore about
a dozen guests, all exceedingly nice
people. Among them was a very
“superior" young miss of seventeen,
who had just been gradual- 1 at a
certain college of renown, a 1 she
was too utterly precise and proper
for anything! She was especially
strong on words and their uses, and
a mispronunciation mado her nerv
ous for an hour.
One evening at supper we nil began
telling jokes and asking conun
drums. When my turn came I
launched that old, but really good
question about the barber and the
sculptor.
“What is the difference,” said I.
“between the death of a barber and
the death of a sculptor ?”
Strange to say, it passed around
the table with no “takers.” and I had
to give the answer myself.
“One curls up and dyes and the
other makes faces and busts.”
Miss Precision stared at mp blank
ly for a second or two and then
turned to her nearest neighbor with
this delightful explanation of the
joke:
“Oh, yes, one curls up and dies
and the other makes faces and
bursts!”—Detroit Free Press.
VL*it:d by His Friend** Ghodt.
When attending school in Ger
many I had a roommate who was a
firm believer in spooks. I was a
scoffer, ami he sometimes became
quite vexed at me. One day he de
clared that if he died before I did
he would haunt mo until I became
convinced against my will. 1 begged
him to do so, and made a special re
quest that he would appear to me
at the earliest possible moment after
death. Three years ago I got a let
ter from him saying that he was
dying of consumption, and bidding
me watch out for his wraith.
He was still in Germany. Shortly
afterward I went on a business trip
to Milwaukee. I hurried up to my
room in the hotel one evening to
write some letters. The moon
streamed in through the open win
dow, and on the edge of the bed sat
my old schoolmate. He looked j ust as
he did when we parted in Ger
many. I rushed forward with a
glad exclamation of surprise, hut he
waved me back. I spoke to him, but
he only smiled. I lit the gas, but
when I turned again he was gone.
Then our strange compact occurred
to me. I examined the bed where
he had sat, but there was no impres
sion. I looked at my watch and
made a note of tho hour and date.
In about three weeks I received a
letter notifying me of his death. I
compared it with my notes and found
that by allowing for the difference
in time the spirit had appeared to
me immediately after the body had
drawn its last breath.—lnterview in
St. Louis Globe-Democrat.
A Good Way to Pack Floiver*.
It will not do to wet cut flowers
themselves. This causes them to
wilt early. The best way, or one of
the best, is to wrap the stems in
wet moss and cover the flowers with
waxed paper, packing the flowers
closely. Violets, acacias and chrys
anthemums have in this way been
successfully sent to Seattle and New
York.—San Francisco Examiner.
Bergman the man who attempted
to assassinate Frick has been sentenc
ed to the pen for twenty years. The
trial was a curious one. Bergman,
although entitled to an attorney re
fused to have one. He pled not guil
ty but said that he did attempt to kill
Frick; was sorry he didn’t, etc. The
IIOMER, BANKS COUNTY, GEORGIA: OCTOBER 11, 1882.
trial was short and if he was guilty
the sentence was not severe enough.
Suspicious people though ask the
question, why he did not have an at
torney when such was his rights; also
if there had been one would not some
disclosures have been brought out
that would have thrown some light
on this mysterious affair. As it was
no light was shown on the subject
further than that Bergman attempted
the killing and was pleased to go to
prison for it, so pleased in fact, that
it suggests the idea that being in
prison on salary might possihly be
the cause of his jubilancy. It is a
case that should be watched in the
future to understand its full meaning.
Salina (Kan) Union.
What til© Boys Don’t Know.
Professor Roberts, of the Cornell
experimental station, was one of tho
speakers at the seventh annual meet
ing of the New Hampshire state
board of agriculture, at Hampton,
N. H., and incidentally said:
Many boys come from the farm to
Cornell who do not know a ripsaw
from a crosscut, and to whom the
; sharpening of a saw or auger is as
the dead languages. Think of it!
We are compelled to keep a shop in
which to teach farm boys in the
courses of agriculture how to drive
nails, saw boards, lay out braces, get
tho pitch of roofs, and many other
simple and necessary mechanical
operations of a well conducted home
stead. All this the boys should get
before they come to college, because
only oue out of every 800 of tho
farmers’ children ever get to college,
so if they get this training it must
be secured at the primary and sec
ondary schools.
Thousands of farm boys who are
going back to the farms are studying
| French, astronomy, chemistry and
I possibly Latin in the academies,
j who are wholly ignorant of tho
I botanical structure or characteristics
of the corn plant, of the root habit,
| of how it feeds and of how best- to
| cultivate it.-—New York Times.
. Tli© Moon and It* I.ack of Atnionpliere.
It is by indirect methods of obefcr
! vat ion mat scientists learn of tho ab
sence of atmosphere in the moon.
There are various arguments that
| can be adduced, but the most con
' elusive is that obtained on the oecur
. renceof what is called the occultation
lof a star. It some times happens that
I the moon comes directly between the
• earth and a star, and tho temporary
1 extinction of the latter is an occul
tatiou. We can observe tho move
ment when it takes place, and the
suddenness of the extinction of the
star is extremely remarkable. If tho
moon had a copious atmosphere, the
gradual interposition of this would
produce a gradual extinction of tho
star, and not the sudden phenom
enon usually observed.
This absence of air and water from
the moon explains the peculiar and
weird raggedness of tho lunar scen
ery. We know that on the earth the
action of the wind and of rain, of
frost and of snow is constantly tend
ing to wear down our mountains and
reduce their hard outlines, but no
such agents are at work upon the
moon.—Brooklyn Eagle.
UseleH* Sliavlng.
Southey, in that delightful store
house of quaint and useless informa
tion called “The Doctor”—from
which so many modern essayists
have helped themselves without
acknowledgment—makes a compu
tation to prove that if a man who
regularly shaves lives until he has
seen threescore years and ten he will
find that he has wasted upon his face
as much time as would suffice for the
acquisition of seven languages. A
hotel proprietor advertised yesterday
for a porter able to speak English,
French and German, and who must
be “clean shaved.”
Why this continual resort to the
razor should he insisted on is one of
the mysteries of the hotel business,
and if Southey’s calculation be right
must prove a serious drawback to
the successful applicant acquiring
any more languages or even keep
ing up a good style in those he al
ready possesses.—London Telegraph.
An Open Letter.
The following letter was addressed
i to Mr. Watson, and was published in
j the People’s Party Paper:
Wichita, Kan., Sept. 20, ’92.
lion. T. E. Watson:
I am astonished at your course in
Georgia!
Yon, who ought to be a gentleman
and an associate of gentlemen, and
attempting to lead the ignorant and
degraded laborers into a revolt
against the genteel and wealthy part
of society! Farmers and laborers
cannot expect to enjoy the comforts
and luxuries of life like the speculator
and capitalists, and any man who
teaches otherwise is only fit to occupy
a place in the grave-yard.
What does the lives of a few of
these pack-horses amount to when
packed in the balanco against the
ease and comfort of the refined and
aristocratic part of our people ?
Brawn must be ruled by brain, and
poverty by wealth, and the sooner
you learn this fact the better it will
be for yen, for as sure as there is a
God, such men as you shall not live
to teach these lower orders that they
are the equals of ladies and gentle
men. Change your course, and you
will find it conducive, both to your
health and finances, for wealth never
forgets its friends nor forgives its
enemies. I remain,
A Cleveland Democrat.
The Wagon of tlio Canadian Half Breed.
By preference ami from lack of
other timber tlio half breed of the
northwestern plains constructs his
cart of poplar, the characteristic
vehicle for all purposes in summer
and his sledge or jumper for winter
use. With his ax, fin auger and his
buffalo knifo for tools, in a short
time he builds a light, stout cart
singularly well adapted to his
circumstances. As ordinarily con
structed it contains, like the harness
with which it is attached to the
draft animal, not a particle of iron.
The wheels are well framed to
gether and are about five feet in
diameter. The spokes are well driven
into the nave, the pieces of the felly
are doweled together and the struc
ture dishes after the most approved
fashion.
Tlio pony or the bullock which is
to supply the motive power is har
nessed between two large, light
shafts, and upon the axlo of the cart
a light framework is built to contain
the packages which are to form the
load. It is lined find floored with
thin boards wrought out of trees with
the ax, or, moro recently, the whip
saw. On such a cart a load of 800
pounds can bo carried with safety,
as its strength is such that repairs
aro rarely necessary. —(J. A. Kenas
ton in Century.
No Maze for tho Indian.
I happened to be in a launch on the
river a few days ago with some red
Indians, who were attired—after
their habit—in paint and feathers.
As wo passed along, many of those
in boats and on tlio shore howled and
yelled. The Indians (lid not take the
slightest notice, but I could not lielp
thinking that if an Englishman vis
ited them on their native plains they
would have received him more
civilly. .
We got out at Hampton Court, and
as I had often heard of the unerring
sagacity of Indians in following up a
track in a forest I thought that I
would test it, and so I put them in
the middle of the maze. They walked
out of it without a moment’s hesita
tion, walking one behind the other
as though it had been no maze, but
only a garden path.—London Truth.
People Wlio Commit Suicide.
Persons quite young or very old
rarely commit suicide. Those who
decide that life is not worth living
are generally in that stage of exist
ence known as “the prime of life.”
Women from eighteen to twenty-five
and men from twenty-one to forty
years of age are the most likely to
come to the conclusion that they
have nothing to live for and to hasten
their departure from a world that af
fords them more sorrow than joy,
more misery than happiness.
Poverty and suffering from want
or disease do not appear to be the
causes of many suicides. Compara
tively few suicides are committed in
poorhouses or in charity hospitals.
They are much more frequent in fine
hotels and elegant pinvate houses.—
Chicago Journal.
Use Your Eyett.
A bevy of schoolgirls about to sep
arate after graduation once sur
rounded their professor and asked
him liow they were to make their
new life interesting.
“Learn to see,” was his reply. “You
want to penetrate into things. There
is nothing on earth which when ob
served is not of enormous interest.
Youth’s Companion.
Equal rights to all, means that the
workingman’s right to form trades
unions should be regarded with the
same sacredness as the right of manu
facturers to combine for their protec
tion and advantage. But how r is it re
garded ? If the laborers consult with
each other the)’ are secret conspira
tors; if they form organizations for
their mutual protection they are an
archists. If the manufacturers con
sult, it is a commercial club meeting;
if they combine, that is an adroit piece
of financiering.—Tidings.
* Funeral Thieves.
Criminals havo as many grades of
respectability among themselves as
has the moral portion of tho com
munity. They, too, have their Four
Hundred, tlieir upper ten, their mid
dle grade lawbreakers, and then the
very dregs of the thieving class. And
way down in the scale, beneath the
contempt of even the humble bur
glar, the lowly pickpocket, and the
contemptible hatrack sneak, stands,
lone and forsaken by all evildoers,
the “funeral thief.”
The “funeral thief” is tho poltroon
of the criminal classes. Little con
science as most thieves possess, he
possesses the least. He shrinks from
no desecration. No superstition
causes him to recoil. He robs the
living as they weep over the dead.
Few criminals would stoop to so low
a crime; consequently there are not
many funeral thieves. But what
few there are are active.
Tlieir method of work is extremely
simple. Usually they go in pairs;
sometimes there are three or four to
gether. Early in the morning they
scan the death columns of the news
papers. From the announcements
of funerals for the day they make up
a visitiug list. They select those
where the victims-of the grim reaper
were men of about their own age.
They visit the home where the partly
open cask is resting while friends
gaze at tho features of tho departed.
Tlieir right to be present is never
questioned; they are taken, as a
matter of course, for friends of the
dead. They pass the coffin, pausing
for a few moments in pretended
tearful contemplation of tho cold
features, and in tho slight jam that
is sure to follow such a pause—and
whilo many mourners are in tears —
the thieves abstract the pocketboolcs
*f all within their reach. Women
are their subjects, and if tears are
not plentiful the thieves will them
selves pretend to weep. This is sure
to prove effectual.
Thus do these “funeral thieves”
work. It does not take them long to
go through the poelcets of half a
dozen persons, and then they are off
to the next house on the list, where
the mode of operation is repeated.
No wonder other thieves regard them
with contempt.—Chicago Tribune.
The Loquacious Barber.
The loquacity of a barber gives the
satirical Persian the opportunity of
many witty proverbs, and all at the
barber’s expense. The Hindoo has
as much dread of his tattling pro
pensities as tho European, but it is
currently believed their gossip saved
many a life during the terrible year
1857 8. The chatter of the bazaar
the barber has on his tongue tip, and
the slightest encouragement to un
loosen the bag wherein lie stores his
talcs is gladly seized.
The injustice of the petty native
judges, the exacting demands of the
cantonment magistrate, the mone
tary embarrassments of some young
sub in one of the regiments, the flirta
tion of a married belle are duly nar
rated, and even the contents of the
letters which pass between the pair
can by astute questioning become the
common property of an entire sta
tion. —San Francisco Chronicle.
A Kegal Dish.
Of course every one knows how
tho favorite English dish of beef
came to be called “sirloin.” It is
not, however, equally well known
that at Chingford, Essex, is a place
called “Friday Hill House,” in one
of the rooms of which is an oak
table, with a brass plate let into it,
inscribed v’ith these words, “All
lovers of roast beef will like to know
that on this table a lion was knighted
by King James I on liis return from
hunting in Epping forest.”—Million.
How completely selfish the tariff
is! It is a clear case of devouring the
goods of your neighbor to gorge your
self. It is worse than that, for the
temporary advantage gained over our
neighbor cripples him so that he can
not come up as well or as hehvilv
laden the next time, and wo lose,
whether we forcibly take from him a
portion of his goods, or whether we
consent to exchange with him. We
oug.it to know by this time that it is
our interest that every nation should
be prosperous; that what injures our
nation commercially, injures the whole
commercial world. Bound together
oy steam and electricity, and a com
munity of interests, tlio nations of the
world are a community of common
wealths, and trade should boas free
between them as between the pro-
SINGLE COPY THREE CENTS.
vinees or states of a country. The
most lamentable feature of the tariff
tax is that it is made in the interests
of the few—those who manufacture,
and the many—those who consume,
are to that extent discriminated
against. This whole question is a
survival of barbarism. It is legal
looting, and ill becomes a nation that
claims to be the leader of the world.—
Progressive Age.
American Opals.
An opal, found and cut as a gem in
this country, was sold by a jeweler
in this city tlio other day for §SOO.
It was obtained from a newly dis
covered mine in the state of Wash
ington, near the Idaho line. At that
place, which has been called Gem
City, the volcanic rocks are honey
combed with cavities that contain
small nodules of this precious va
riety of hydrated quartz. Many of
them are of great beauty and value.
Speaking of this discovery of
American opals, Mr. George F.
Knnsi, the expert in gems employed
by Tiffany & Cos., exhibited to the
reporter the great Hope opal, one of
the most celebrated in the world. It
formerly belonged to Henry Philip
Hope, tho Dutch banker, wlio owned
the finest collection of precious stones
ever got together. He liquidated the
national debt of Brazil and took his
pay in diamonds from that country,
which originally inspired him with
his hobby. Among the well known
gems possessed by him was tho Hope
diamond, a blue-white stone of forty
four carats, valued at §100,000; like
wise the largest existing pearl, drop
shaped, which weighed over three
ounces, surmounted in tho setting by
a coronet of diamonds.
The opal inferred to, though of
Mexican oi'igLi, is said to have been
among the ornaments of a Persian
shrine in tho Seventeenth century.
It represents tho sun with a full face
carved on its surface, the rays being
supplied by the antique gold setting.
As is very common with Mexican
opals, it is badly flawed—in fact, so
cracked that it would probably fall
to pieces if the setting were removed.
It is oval in shapo and its longest
diameter is about an inch.—New
York Sun.
t
Made Too Much at Home.
A nearsighted lady, who lives on
Sixteenth street, across the Platte,
sent to an intelligence office for a
girl, and was expecting her all the
morning. It was raining a little and
the woman who lived next door
threw on an old hat and shawl and
came over to borrow a teacupful of
lard. She knocked at tho side door
and was greeted with:
“Go right up the back stairway to
your room over the kitchen. When
you are tidied up a little come down
here and I'll talk to you.”
The women are deadly enemies
now.—Colorado Sun.
An Innocent Question.
Standing on tiptoe Esther was try
ing to reach coveted articles on the
center table. At last her chubby
hands grasped a book which proved
to be a Bil k . Her mother said gen
tly, “Littk girl, you know that is a
book you n ist not play with?” Tho
child look and up sweetly and asked,
“Oh, is that your heaven book?”
New York Tribune.
Marriage in the Isles of Greece.
In Kaso, one of the most south
ern islands of Greece, the parents
upon both sides take upon themselves
all the responsibilities of courtship
and marriage. Courtship, as wo un
derstand it, is not in any way per
mitted to the hetrothed_eouple. No
moonlight walks or tete a-tetes are
allowed. Such a course would be
deemed highly reprehensible, and all
wooing, if there he any, must take
place in the presence of the elders;
but there is no great time for repin
ing at these decrees of custom, for
tho marriage follows the offer as
quickly as maybe.—E. M. Edmonds
in Eastern and Western Review.
The Widow liir<l.
Mrs. Ferdinand Clayton, of Marion,
Ind., owns a peculiar bird brought
to this country seven years ago from
Africa. It has beautiful plumage, is
Dot a songster, and is noted for its
combative and vindictive disposition.
It is called the “mue” or “widow
bijd.”
Tle Hirthplace of Michahou.
The Indians held Mackinac island
in great veneration because tradition
credited it with being the birthplace
of Michahou, the Indian god of
waters.—Rochester Union and Ad
vertiser.
God has reserved to himself the
right to punish those who oppress the
poor, and has said, “That nation
that oppresses the poor, I will judge.”
—Exchange.