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BILL ARP’S LETTER.
Discourses Interestingly On the
Sins of Lying and Sttalmg.
CORRUPTION IN PRESENT SAY POLITICS
Public (Jrib Offers Temptations that
Otherwise Honest Men Find It
Hard to Resist—Liars of
High and Low Degree.
Wc are not distressed at the over-
tfcxaw of Tammany in New Yora. Sev¬
enty years, is long enough for a party
®r a political power to rule a great me¬
tropolis. Corruption breeds more mag¬
gots as the city grows, for, as Thomas
Jefferson said: "The growth of great
cities is pestilential to good morals.”
The public treasury is a thing to be
thundered, whether it be municipal,
Mtate or national. There are thousands
et men who would net steal from me,
lwt would steal the money I pay into
toe treasury, for there it becomes so
mixed up that nobody knows whose
money it is. It is just as. it was two
fasratired years ago, when Swift wrote:
"Great fleas have little fleas upon their
backs to bite ’em,
Aai little fleas have lesser fleas, and
so on ad infiinitum.”
There is one comfort about all this
public plunder. The money does' not
*<» dead. It has to be invested and
p*es employment to labor. A million¬
aire can’t eat nor wear out much more
ttaa i can, nor will he lock up his mon¬
ey and let it rest. Not long ago I ask¬
ed a clever northern man why it was
that rich people who pay the most of
tba taxes let the pension steal go on
so long and get bigger every year? He
welted and said: “Why that pension
»osey goes mostly to the poor and we
jpit it all back sooner or later. It is
•w cheapest way of supporting them,
specially when we have your help.”
.Voor Garfield. In his last message he
lacRiented that the pension rolls had
got to the alarming sum of $30,000,000,
1 mt said there was comfort in knowing
■kat it was obliged to decrease from
itaral causes, tor death was the corn-
man iot. and the pensioners were rap
itty decreasing in number. He was
Mistaken. They have been multiply¬
ing ever since he was killed, and now
BL takes $150,000,000 to pay the roll.
Public plunder would not be sio bad
Bf it was done in the open. What ag¬
gravates us is that it is done on the sly
through corruption, through bribes,
finruchises .charters, licenses, salaries
tkzrA schemes. It always vexes me to
wens the cook hiding something or her
daild carrying off a bundle on the sly
sad hiding it under her apron as she
fis going home. But they are all so
fated and so willing and so good to the
«fei!dren that we saw wood and say
■■thing. They remind me of what a
fettnd phrenologist said of a public of-
facial in Rome while feeling the bumps
oua his head. He did not know him at
■ft, but said. “This man is kind-heart¬
ed and good-natured and would do you
■ favor if you were in distress, but he
■Sli steal. If he found a man asleep
atone in a room at night he would slip
fats purse from out his pocket, but
■»uld kiss him before he left him.”
Be diagnosed the man correctly, for he
wms turned out of office soon a-.~er for
•Mbezzling the public money, and ev¬
erybody was sorry for him because he
was so generous with hia plunder.
Stealing from the public crib seems to
be a higher grade of crime than lying,
though it takes lying and hypocrisy
mi deceit to accomplish it. I have
eCbea wondered why lying was not for-
bhftden in the Ten Commandments,
"fhou shalt not steal” is there, but
“thou shalt not lie” ia not there, and
jet it is accursed all through the scrip¬
tures and is the last sin recorded in
last chapter of Revelations and in
■early the last verse. “For without are
faegs and sorcerers, and whore mongers
murders and whosoever loveth and
iketh a lie.” According to David,
that sin did not leave very many to
cater heaven, for he says, “I said in
Mine haste all men are liars.” The old
Scotch preacher took it for a text and
faix first remark was, “Ah, David, me
i*. if ye had waited until now ye
light have said it at your leisure.”
.faring is no doubt the most universal
among mankind, but it is graded
■aid not always a sin. Stealing is al¬
ways a sin, but lying must be malig¬
nant or harmful. Paul sent Titus to
Crete and wrote to him that he would
lucre a hard time in establishing a
trch -there, for the Cretans were ail
liars. Crete is Candia now, an island
■f the Mediterranean, inhabited by
■Lahammedans chiefly; and travelers
■ay that they are no better now than
•hey were in St. Paul’s day, for they
are not only liars, but thieves. Eng-
tead used to have laws to punish com¬
mas scolds, common drunkards and
caramon vagabonds, but none to Pun¬
jab common liars’, for they are gener¬
ally harmless. Every community has
tme or two and they keep us amused
at their Munchausen exploits in kunt-
ing and fishing and their narrow es¬
capes. Then there are some uncom¬
mon liars—liars of the first magnitude
as Shakespeare calls them, such as
Baron Munchausen, Joe Mulliatton and
some Chicago editors and preachers.
Some of these get into the pulpit and
make up pathetic stories and thrilling
incidents to emphasize their sermons
and create a sensation. And there are
thousands of little white lies., society
lies that have to be told for civility’s
sake—lies that flatter and please the
visitor, the customer or the patient.
All these are spoken lies, but there are
as many acted lies in trading, such as
concealing the truth and putting the
best on top. In fact, everybody lies
more or less except children and fools,
thought most of us mean no harm by
it. My old partner used to say that
some mighty clever men would be shut
out of heaven for swearing a lie to
their tax returns, for David says,
“Gord, who shall abide in Thy taber¬
nacle; who shall dwei. in Thy holy
hill—he that speaketh the truth in his
heart and sweareth to his own hurt
and cliangeth not.”
Withholding what is due to the stats
is as bod as stealing from it. And
withholding what a man ought to give
to the church he Delongs to is almost
as great a sin as that of Ananias. It
is stealing from cod. Nothing that a
member of the church can do so read¬
ily fixes hi& character as a Christian as
his willingness to give all that he can
according to his means. Tithes and
offerings have come down to us from
Cain and Abel in an unbroken line.
Cain was a bad man, but he paid his
tithes. He was the first liar on record
—the devil excepted.
Then there are the lies, published ev¬
ery day in the great daily papers—po¬
litical lies .commercial lies and medi¬
cal lies to catch the ignorant anu un¬
suspecting; some reporters lie to show
their diligence in business.
High coloring, veneering, varnishing
are essential qualities in a reporter,
whether his journal be white or yel¬
low. He must lie a little, even though
it has to be taken back or modified the
next day. And so the world wags on
and the people have become so accus¬
tomed to lies that they make allow¬
ance for everything they hear or read.
When-the historian wanted to cap the
climax of General Washington’s noble
character, he wove in that little story
of the cherry tree and made the boy
to say: “Father, I cannot tea a lie.”
And so I hope that all our little boys
will grow up to be trutmul men. Don’t
go behind the barn and smoke a cigar¬
ette, for that is telling a lie to your
father. You can tell a lie by winking
your eyes or pointing your finger or
concealing what you uo from your pa¬
rents or your teacher. If you do wrong
own it like a gentleman and you will
have their respect as well as your own.
But the downfall of Tammany was
no defeat oi the New -ork democracy
—for there were as many good demo¬
crats as republicans on that fusion
ticket and they will help Low T to clean
out the Augean stables.. So let the
procession proceed.—Bill Arp in At¬
lanta Constitution.
LEASE IS EXTENDED.
Southern Will Continue to Operate
Line From Cincinnati to Chattanooga.
The annual dinner of the Commer¬
cial Club of Cincinnati Thursday night
was an unusual event owing to the
ceilebration of the extension of the
lease for sixty-five years of the 340
miles of railway from Cincinnati to
Chattanooga to the Southern railway
and the launching of an active move¬
ment in the interest of the St. Louis
exposition.
ATLANTA MARKETS.
CORRECTED WEEKLY. —46
Groceries.
ItoRSted coffee, per 100 pounds, Arbuckle
$11.80. Lion $11.30, Green coffee, choice
10c; fair S cents: prime 7 Syrup, cents,
sugar, standard granulated,
New Orleans open kettle 30® 45.';
mixed, choice, 20 (S) 28c. South Geor¬
gia cane syrup, 40@i2 cents. Salt, dairy
-uots $1.30 @ $1.40; do bids, hulk $2.50;
lee cream $1.25; common 60:2)70. Cheese,
fancy, full cream 1 ® 13 cents.
Matches, 65s 4t%@55e; 20Os $1.50@1.75: 300s
$2.75. Soda, boxes 3.45. Crackers, sodaOJi’c:
cream 7%c; pringersnaps C^e. Canny,
common slick 5%C; fancy 10®i4c. Oysters.
1°. W $2.00: L. W. $1.25. Fancy head rice,
8c; head rice, 6>jc.
Flour, Grain p.nrt Meal.
Flour.Diamond, first patent, $4.75; second
patent, $4.30; straight, $3.85; extra fancy
$3.65; fancy, $3.55: extra family, $8.20
First patent spring wheat, $4.75.
Corn, choice, white, 80o; No. 2 do,
79c; No. 2 mixed, 78;. Oats, white
54c; mixed 52u; Texas rustproof 65c. ltye,
Ga., $1.10;Western $1. Hay, No. 1 timothy,
large bales, $1.10; No. 1 small bales, $1;
No. 2, 90c. Meal, plain, 78c; bolted meal 73c.
Bran, small saok* $1.10. Shorts $1.20.
stock meal, $1.15 per one hundred
pounds. Colton seed meal $1.10 per 100
pounds. Hudnut’s grits, $2.00.
Country Produce.
Eggs,19@20c. Butter,fancy20®22J^c; fan¬
cy Jersey butter, 22j,£(£'25 cents;
Tennessee butter, good sale, 18@20c;
Live poultry, lien-, 30.®32c: fries, Ia ge,22'a>
23c: small, 17(2)18. Ducks, puddle. 20c;
Onions $1.25 @ 1,40 per bushel.
Irish potatoes, No. 1, 95®.$1.00
per bushel. Peas, white $1.75@2.0Q;
lady, $2.50,2'3.00; field $1.25@1.50.
Provisions.
Clear rib sides. boxed 9)^o; ribs
8% r rib bellies 9%(3>10 }{; ice-cured bel¬
lies lOJ^c. Sugar-cured nams
Lard, i'%c.
Cotton.
Market closed steady, utidding 7 1-lGc,
■%
Georgia.*.Callings
Brief Bat Interesting Summary
of Happenings in the State.
Recruiting Station at Rome.
A recruiting station for the Unite..
States navy has ueen opened at Rome,
and will enlist men for a week or so.
The station was moved from Chatta¬
nooga, where a large number of enlist¬
ments were secured.
New Road Chartered.
Secretary of State Phil Cook has is¬
sued a charter to the Fitzgerald, Oc-
mulgee and Red Bluff Railroad Com¬
pany, to run a railroad from Fitzger¬
ald, in Irwin county, through Telfair
county to Red Bluff, in Montgomery
county. The company has a capital
stock of $200,000.
* * *
For the Hall of Fame.
The adoption of a joint resolution by
the house and senate providing for a
commission to suggest the names of
two distinguished Georgians with a
view to placing statues in them in
statuary hall in the capitol at Wash¬
ington has called to the mind of some
of those who were in the legislature a
score of years ago the fact that a reso¬
lution was then auopted making a
somewhat similar provision and nam¬
ing General Edward Oglethorpe, found¬
er of the colony, and Dr. Crawford W.
Long, of Athens, the discoverer of
anaesithesia, as the Georgians upon
whom this honor should be conferred.
* • •
No Immediate Change Probable.
A Washington dispatch says: At
the white house and at the treasury de-'
partment the statement is openly
made, and it is. of a positive character,
that the president has no intention of
making an immediate change in the
office of the collector of internal reve¬
nue for the northern district of Geor¬
gia. This does not indicate, however,
that Henry A. Rucker, the present col¬
lector, is to be reappointed. On the
contrary, it is probable that after the :
Christmas holidays there win be sever¬
al changes in the federal offices in
Georgia and a successor to “Tony”
Rucker may be named.
To Advance Minder's Case.
Attorney General J. M. Terrell has
gone to Washington to appear before
the supreme court of the United States
to ask that tribunal to advance on the
docaet the case of I. Minder, of Ma¬
con, convicted of murder and sentenc¬
ed to be hanged, who secured a stay
of execution by appeal to the supreme
court on the ground that he could not
secure important witnesses from out¬
side the state
Under the present status of the
United States supreme docket it is
said it would take two years to get the
Minder case to a hearing. Mr. Terre.,
will show the court tne importance of
having the case finally determined as
soon as possible.
* * *
Work Will Begin at Once.
Vice President James U. JacKson, of
the Charleston, Augusta and Chatta¬
nooga Railroad Company and general
agent at Augusta of the k-eaooard Air
Line, has just returned from New a ork
and Philadelphia, and announces that
he has signed up a contract wuh John
Blair McAfee, railroad contractor of
Philadelphia, for ttie construction of
the line between Charleston and Au¬
gusta. Work is to begin at once and
the contract requires completion in
eighteen months. Work will begin
where the Seaboard A.r Line crosses
the proposed line at uiar, S. C., and
proceeds toward both ends at the same
time. Completion of this line will
bring the Seaboard to Augusta and
Charleston over its own tracks.
* * *
Brute Driven From Home.
In Sandtown district, Campbell coun¬
ty, near the Fulton county line, J. E.
Estes, who has had a good reputation
in his neighborhood, where he had
been justice of the peace, attacked his
own daughter, a girl nearly grown.
Estes then threateneu her life if she
told of the assault. The girl informed
her mother, who had the father arrest¬
ed. A few conservative heads took
matters in charge and conferred with
the family, the result being that Estes
agreed to make a deed to his wife and
children for all his property and leave
the country never >to return. Estes
went away through the woods to avoid
indignant neighbors, as well as. the
danger.
* * *
Lanier Is Extradited.
At Newnan last Saturday Will La¬
nier .alias J. W. Bennett, was tried be¬
fore Judge Alvan D. Freeman on ha¬
beas corpus proceedings with the rq-
suJt that he was ordered placed in
charge of Deputy Sheriff m. G. Ridinga,
of Aberdeen, Miss., to be carried back
to that state to be executed for mur¬
der. Lanier’s father and bis two broth¬
ers are in the penitentiary of Missis¬
sippi, serving terms as accessories to
the same murder, and Will Lanier was
under conviction to be hung. Six days
before the time of execution he es¬
caped from jail, ana was never caught
until last we&k, when C'nief of Police J.
D. Brewster arrested him as he alight¬
ed from a Centra, railroad tran, having
come from Carroll county. The great¬
er part of the summer Lanier spent in
the neighborhood of Sargent, a sta
tlon six miles west of Newnan, where
he had had a sister living.
Won Everything In Sight.
The Liberty county boys carried off
the prizes in the cavalry tilt at the
fair grounds in Savannah, winning ev¬
erything offered for teams and for in¬
dividuals. Rich booty goes, to Liberty
county, as .acre was $lud5 offered in
prizes.
The first team prize, $300, was won
by the first team oi tne Liberty Guards
on a score of 227 out of a possible 300.
The second prize, $20a, fell to the
first team of tae Liberty Independent
Troop, which made a score of 223 1-2.
The third prize, $150, was- won by the
second team of tae Liberty Guards, on
a score of 192. The third team of the
juioerty Independent Troop won tne
fourth prize, $100, on a score of 182,
and the fifth prize was won by the sec¬
ond team of the Liberty Independent
Troop.
Sergeant J. T. Chapman, of the first
team of the Liberty Guards, made the
highest possible score, 60 1-2 out of a
possible o0, winning the firs-t prize of
$75. Private R. H. home, of the same
team, was second, wim a score of 50,
winning a prize of $50. Captain A.
Gordon Cassells ,of the first team of
the Liberty Independent Troop, was
third, W'ith a score of 49 1-2, winning
$25. Lieutenant R. F. Cassellsi, of the
same team, was fourth, winning $20,
on a score of 49. and Private W. C.
Martin, of the first team of the Liberty
Guards, was fL —, winning $10.
Nine teams were m the tilt.
* * *
House Favors Dispensaries.
After an interesting debate by the
house, by a vote of 9o to -±o, passed by
substitute the so-called anti-barroom
bill by Mr. Wright, oi Floyd, giving to
all the counties of the state tne right
upon petition of one-fifth of the quali¬
fied voters to hold an election to deter¬
mine whether or not a dispensary or
dispensaries shall be established m
such counties.
The bill provides for an amendment
to the local option laws as found in
sections lu41 and 1544 of the state coae
of 1895. An important feature is that
it makes a radical change in that law
so that if the bill finally goes through
as. it stands, it will take the signatures
of one-fifth of the voters to a petition
in order to bring about an election for
prohibition in a county as well as for
a dispensary, instead of only one-tenth,
as the law now stanus.
The second section of the bill pre¬
scribes the form of the ballot to be
used in case of a dispensary election.
Section 3 provides for the appointment
of three dispensary commissioners for
a term of three years each. In section
4 it is prohibited to establish a dispen¬
sary in any town of less than 700 in¬
habitants. A dispensary manager is
also provided for at a salary of not less
than $2,000 a year, and subsequent sec¬
tions prescribe his duties and the man¬
ner in whicn the dispensary shall be
operated.
The bill is modeled very much after
dispensary measures of other sections
and other states, provides that nothing
but the “pure stuff” shall be sold and
arranges for a division of the net prof¬
its between town and county in propor¬
tion to population. The bill prohibits
the licensing of liquor dealers in coun¬
ties adopting the dspensary plan.
* • *
To Honor Governor Montague.
Governor-elect Montague of Virginia,
who has just carried his state by 35,-
000 majority, will be given a banquet
in Atlanta at the Aragon hotel January
20, 1902, by the Society of Virginians
in Georgia.
The invitation to the function has
already been sent to Mr. Montague and
has been accepted. Several commit¬
tees have been appointee to take the
arrangements in charge and to carry
out the plans for the entertainment
which have been decided upon.
January 20th was selected for the
banquet because of the birthday of
Robert E. Lee, which is January 19th,
falls on Sunday.
An invitation to be present at the
banquet is given to all the . irginians
in Georgia who are all regarded as
members of the society. All Virgin¬
ians who expect to attend are request¬
ed at an early date to send a postal to
that effect to the secretary of the so¬
ciety, John Gilmore, 601 temple court,
.-tlanta.
Every effort will bo made to make
the future governor’s short stay in At¬
lanta pleasant. He will arrive curing
the afternoon of January 20th, will be
banqueted that night, and win leave
the following day at noon.
Do you want an up-to-date, live
newspaper—one that will keep you
posted on affairs at home and abroad?
You will answer the question affirma¬
tively by sending us your name and
subscription for this paper fora ye&r
or at least six months.
A VICTORY FOR FARMERS.
BUI Passed In Legislature Will Save
Agriculturis . %d, , uch Money,
Representatlv i of Taylor, lias
succeeded in do m, more for the farm¬
ers of Georgia the passage of his
fertilizer rax hi than any member of
the present leg—ature has yet accom¬
plished. Mr. S ed’s bill went through
the house by t| vote of 109 to 0.
The bill promdes that fertilizer used
or to be used I’or agricultural purposes
shall not be returned for taxation
where the land on which such fertil¬
izer Is to be used has already been re¬
turned for taxes-, thus entirely reliev¬
ing the farmer of a very onerous bur¬
den.
Under a reecnt ruling of the courts,
fertilizers were held to be merchandise
and, therefore, taxable under the laws
of Georgia. The manufacturers having
sold the fertilizer to the farmer were
thus enabled to escape the payment of
taxes on their goods, while the farmer
was made to pay it as soon as it came
into his possession.
TEXT BOOK BILL DOWNED.
Educational Committee In Georgia
Legislature Disapproves Measure.
The bill recently introduced in the
Georgia house of representatives pro¬
viding for universal form text books in
tbe public schools throughout the state
was killed in the educational commit¬
tee of the house Tuesday afternoon by
a vote of 25 to 5.
There was quite a warm fight over
the report of the bill, and a number
of speeches for and against it were
made The fact that the bill was op¬
posed by State School Commissioner
Glenn caused interest to be centered
in the action of the committee, and a
large crowd was present when the
bill was taken up.
It was rumored at the capitol that
there were political influences back of
the bill. Its defeat is regarded by the
friends of Commissioner Glenn as a
victory for him.
MONEY IS STILL MISSING.
Negro Suspected of Robbing Paymas¬
ter Stevens Exonerated In Court.
An Atlanta dispatch says: The
theft of $4,000 from Major P. C. Stev¬
ens, paymaster of the United States ar¬
my, is still as much a mystery as it
was when Major Stevens first discov¬
ered that the money had been removed
from the valise. Indeed, th<- mystery
seems deeper than ever, for the only
man who was under the slightest sus¬
picion has been released from custody,
and, from appearances, is believed
even by Major Stevens to be entirely
innocent of the theft.
James H. Alexander, the negro por¬
ter, who has been held at police bar¬
racks under suspicion, was released
by Recorder Broyles Wednesday after¬
noon. The case against tne negro had
been transferred from the state to the
city dockt at the request of detectives.
RAISED MUCH “SAND.”
Remarks of Col. Breckinridge Causes
Trouble In Labor Ranks.
There was much excitement in Lex¬
ington, Ky., Tuesday night in the state
Federation of Labor convention over
the address of welcome by Colonel W.
C. P. Breckinridge, who stated that he
favored a combination of labor and
also a combination of capital, but he
did not believe a national federation of
labor would be possible because of the
conflicting interests of various sec¬
tions.
Wednesday the irritation became so
great that the delegates attempted to
expel the members of the arrange¬
ment committee who invited Colonel
Breckinridge.
AFTER THIRTY-SEVEN YEARS.
Government Pays for Destruction of
Property During Civil War.
The court of claims at Washington,
D. C., has rendered a decision allow¬
ing the estate of Hamlin Caldwell, of
Scottsboro, Ala., $10,760 for property
destroyed during the civil war. There
are four heirs to the estate, all of
whom live in Scottsboro.
Constructed a Model Road.
The good roads exhibition under tbe
auspices of the National Good Roads
Association and the Southern railway,
opened at Chattanooga Wednesday. A
long stretch of model road was built
in Highland Park, a suburb of the city.
RATHBUN MAKES CONFESSION.
Prisoner Reveals Attempted Scheme
to Rob Insurance Companies.
Newell C. Rathbun, who was sup¬
posed to have been found dead in a
Jeffersonville, Ind., hotel last Thurs¬
day, was arrested in Louisville, Ky.,
Monday. According to Rathbun, the
corpse which was shipped to Little
Rock for burial as the body of Ratli-
bun was the body of W. L- Ten Eyke.
The police say Rathbun has confecsed
to desertion from the United States
army and to having formed a plan to
fraudulently collect $4,000 insurance
on his life.