Newspaper Page Text
VOL. VI.
LABOR AND INDUSTRY
some: items of interest to
UNION WORKMEN.
fob it r, Tanner Breaks Record of
American Governors by Aiding Strikers
with Troops—Declined to Place State
Guard at Disposal of Aline Owners.
Something Lacking.
I.
His boss went dead an’ his mule went
lame:
He lost six cows In a polcer game;
A hurricane came on a summer’s day.
And carried the house whar he lived
away;
Then a earthquake came when that was
gone,
An’ swallowed the land that the house
stood on!
An’ the tax collector, he come roun’
An’ charged him up fer the hole in the
groun’l
An’ the city marshal—he come tn view
An’ said he wanted his street tax. too!
ii
Hid he moan an’ sigh? Did he set an’ cry
An’ cuss the hurrieane sweepin’ by?
Did he grieve that his ole friends failed
to call
When the earthquake come an 1 swal
lowed all?
Never a word of blame he said,
With all them troubles on top his head!
Not him! ... He climbed to the top
0’ the hill,
Wliar’ standln’ room wuz left him still.
An’, barin' his head, here's what he
said:
”1 reckon it’s time to git UP all’ git;
But, Lord, I hain’t had the measles ylt.’’
—Atlanta Constitution.
An Eastern Opinion of Tanner.
(Pennsylvania Grit.)
Today Gov. John R. Tanner of Illi
nois is the most conspicuous state ex
ecutive in the land. He has met a con
dition not altogether unusual in man
ner decidedly unusual. Hence his cel
ebrity. There was—and is yet—a min
ers’ strike at and in the vicinity of
Pana, Ill. Operators insisted on a cer
tain wage-rate; miners Insisted on one
different. Miners offered to arbitrate,
operators rejected offer. Feeling ran
high. Operators built stockades and
announced a determination to import
colored miners—some of them ex-con
victs—from Alabama. Miners threat
ened bloodshed if attempt was made.
It was made; there was bloodshed and
death. Then Gov. Tanner did the
thing that has given him temporary
fame. He dispatched troops to the
scene of the disturbance to prevent the
Importation of ex-convict negroes from
Alabama and not to protect the proper
ty.
In similar cases the hitherto un
broken record of governors of states
has been to dispatch troops to protect
property and to prevent interference
With any laborers employers might
bring from anywhere to do anything
under any conditions. Gov. Tanner’s
departure from the usual course has
been as wide as possible. Consequent
ly some men and newspapers proclaim
him a demagogue, an anarchist,
traitor to American institutions; other
men and newspapers see in him a saga
cious statesman, a respecter of the
rights of the people and a genuine Am
erican. Gov. Tanner Is free to state
that he has gone outside of the lav/.
That is, he has disregarded the legal
rights of the operators to hire whom
they pleased, because the hiring they
contemplated would in his opinion
bring into the state a lot of undesirable
citizens, likely to become public
charges either in almshouses or jails.
He further contends that under the
unusual conditions prevailing at
den It was for him to say what course
was to be taken to preserve the peace
and conserve the interests of the state,
rather than for one party to the dis
pute to insist on its legal right to dic
tate what should be done, regardless of
consequences. Mi - . M. D. Ratchford,
president of the United Mine Workers
of America, and a member of the Na
tional Industrial commission, express
ed himself as follows on the governor’s
position toward the labor it was in
tended to import:
“Gov. Tanner has taken the right
stand in the Pana strike. The men he
has to stand out against are mainly
ex-convicts who learned to mine coal
In the penitentiary mines of Alabama.
No man has a right to import such a
class of people to take the place of
honest workingmen. If such a right
exists, the governor of Alabama would
doubtless be willing to parole every
convict in his state, on condition that
he at once go to Illinois.
"There is not a good citizen in the
state who would not call upon Gov.
Tanner to resent such an action with
force, if necessary. And as this Is true
.will It not hold good In the present
case? This criminal class is being im
ported now, and Gov. Tanner is justi
fied in taking decisive action. The
union miners were driven to desperate
straits by these negroes, who made
their holding a peaceable meeting im
possible, and in view of this their ac
tion is excusable."
There can be no doubt that in the
end the operators will win out. They
will import any kind of labor they
please at terms agreeable to them and
those they employ, and the state of
Illinois will have to protect them, no
matter how much It costs, or how
many citizens of Illinois it distresses.
An injunction has already been obtain
ed forbidding Interference with im
ported laborers, and in this respect it
Is really not very material what Gov.
Tanner may do or not do.
But he has called attention to some
THE RECORD.
DEVOTED TO THE INTEREST OF JOHNSON COUNTY AND MIDDLE GEORGIA.
WRIGHTSVILLE. GA., TliUllSDAV, NOVEMBER 21, 181)8.
conditions that are not recognized in
our laws, but may be, either by judicial
interpretation of existing laws or leg
islative enactment of new laws. It
should require no particularly acute
discernment to perceive that the whole
trouble* in reality rests upon a condi
tion fundamental in the relations of
miners and operators. The truth Is
that when an operator who treats his
employes as the Virden miners were
treated is censured for his course he
has but one answer to make. It is that
this is a free country and any one has
the right to employ as he pleases, with
out dictation; if the laborer does not
like it lie also is free to go somewhere
else. But this answer, be it ever so
plausibly stated, does not and cannot
suffice in all cases. When a corpora
tion employing men in such numbers
that -they form a community of them
selves misuses those men and refuses
their appeals for arbitration, the affair
ceases to be a private matter.
It is the false notion that large cor
porations may regard their affairs as
wholly private, no matter how large a
community, how big an element in the
body politic is made to suffer, that lies
behind such actions as those of the
operators at Virden. Every large em
ployer has particular duties to the pub
lic; so has every large organization of
labor. The fact that state boards of
arbitration are In existence is a recog
nition of this condition. It is time
that the fact be impressed upon people
who, like the Virden operators; refuse
to recognize the public character of
their connection with labor. To ad
mit that labor sometimes makes extor
tionate demands in no way relieves the
employers of their obligation to the
public. The public Itself will lend its
influence to oppose extortion on either
side.
If the result of Gov. Tanner’s unique
way of dealing with a strike situation
shall be that the duties owed to tile
public by the managers of large Indus
trial operations shall be more clearly
ascertained, and enforced, he will have
helped to Win a battle far greater than
the one he set out to win. And the
fact that the specific point he tried to
make cannot be made under
laws, will not materially detract from
the weight of'his achievement. Wheth
er his radical and unique action
have, such result the future must de
termine.
National Industrial Commission.
The industrial commission
by President McKinley in
with an act of Congress has held
first meeting in Washington, D.
preparatory to organization.
of the scope and objects of the commis
sion Mr. Phillips, the father of
measure, said:
“Its purpose is to investigate differ
ent phases of the labor situation, ex
amine the statutes of the states as
as they affect labor, and review
vast amount of information that
been collected in various quarters bear
ing on industrial problems, with the
purpose of making recommendations.
Some of the states are much more ad
vanced than others in labor legislation
and I am told that England is much
further advanced than any of our
states. That Is the information a gen
tleman gave me the other day. France
and Belgium have had higher labor
councils for several years, and each
country is reported to have excellent
industrial legislation. The commis
sion will also afford representatives of
labor an opportunity to be heard, for,
besides Investigating the laws of differ
ent states, and, perhaps, of European
countries, we shall hear those who
have suggestions to make regarding
industrial conditions.”
The commission is made up of five
United States senators, five members of
the house of representatives, and nine
persons from private life, who, accord
ing to the act, shall fairly represent the
different industries and employments.
The senators of the commission are
Messrs. Kyle, Mantle, Penrose, Mallory
and Daniel. The representatives in
congress are Messrs. Gardner, Lorimer,
Otjen, Livingston and Bell. The other
members are Messrs. A. L. Harris of
Ohio, S. N. D. North of Massachusetts,
A. A. Smythe of South Carolina, E. V.
Conger of Michigan, T. W. Phillips of
Pennsylvania, J. M. Farquahar of Buf
falo, N. Y.; C. J. Harris of North Car
olina and M. D. Ratchford of Indiana.
Chief Sargent of the Railway Firemen’s
organization has declined to accept a
place on the commission, and the va
cancy caused by this action has not yet
been filled. The commission organiz
ed by the election of Senator Kyle as
chairman, ex-Representative Phillips
of Pennsylvania as first vice-chairman,
and Representative Gardner, chairman
of the house committee on labor, as
second vice-chairman. There was a
strong contest for the secretaryship,
and an election to that office was de
ferred until November. The commit
tee on procedure will he given until
about Nov. 10 to draw up and present
its report. When they reassemble
after the election It Is thought the
meetings of the commission will be
continuous. Several members of the
commission, not members of the sen
ate or house, will remain in Washing
ton during this interval, and will occu
py themselves In reviewing work of
the general character to be performed
by the commission that has been done
by other governments. The commis
sion has been appointed for two
but there are many who think its work
will not be completed’ within four or
five years.
A SCENE IN CHICAGO.
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There arc at least 100 .applicants for every situation. Yet Re
publican blatherskites prate about prosperity being- with us.
—Chicago Democrat.
THE WAY THEY DO IT.
GOLD STANDARD RETIRES
MUCH PAPER MONEY.
And Replaces It with Interest nearing
Bonds—Gen. Warner Assails the Great
er Infamy of the Brltlsh-Ainerlcan
Money System.
How Can It Be Maintained.
The gold standard can be main
tained in this country only by limiting
the paper currency to an amount less
than we would have if there were no
paper, to which may be added our dis
tributive share of the gold that would
be displaced by the paper, and then
making the paper vary as a purely gold
Currency would vary. In that way the
gold standard can bo maintained, if a
debtor nation can maintain it at all,
but In no other way. Such a currency
would not be elastic In the sense In
which that term is now generally used,
but it would be as elastic as a purely
gold currency would be, and its action
would be practically automatic. I may
add here that if an elastic currency, or
a paper currency of any kind, will pre
vent the outflow of gold at such times
by keeping up prices, then the stand
ard will go down. It would he at such
times, too, when prices are rising and
speculation rife that the demand for
currency would be greatest, and If cur
rency were supplied in answer to bus
iness demands and to sustain rising
prices, then payments abroad would
have to. be made in gold, and sooner or
later a collapse would come. In other
words, to maintain the gold standard,
prices must be allowed to fall, indeed,
must be made to fall, when necessary
to prevent the outflow of gold, so as
to permit the payment of what we owe
abroad with commodities, Instead of
with gold. And if the issue of currency
ati such times tends, as it would, to
prevent a lowering of prices, then it
would help on the export of gold and
hasten tb collapse that must follow
any considerable export of gold. An
elastic currency, therefore, of the kind
proposed is inconsistent with the gold
standard. And in this connection it
ohould be remembered that as a debtor
nation we are liable to be called on for
gold when otherwise we might be se
cure from such demands, and the
lower prices go the more commodities
it takes to pay debts abroad. Never
theless, to maintain the gold standard
prices must be kept at the gold level.
There is no other way.
A. J. WARNER.
Law of Gresham.
“The Gresham law is that bad money
drives out good -money, but that good
money cannot drive out bad money.”
The Gresham law—that “bad money
will expel good”—was named after Sir
Thomas Gresham, an English mer
chant who died some three hundred
years ago. Of late there has been con
siderable said about the Gresham law,
and as It Is not generally understood
by the public, I shall offer a few ob
servations explanatory of It. W.
Stanley Jevons in his work “Money and
the Mechanism of Exchange,” says:
“Though the public generally do not
discriminate between coins and coins,
provided there is an apparent simi
larity, a small class of money
changers, bullion-dealers, bankers, or
goldsmiths make It their business to
be acquainted with such differences
and know bow to derive a profit from
them. These are the people who fre
quently uncoin money, either by melt
ing it. or by exporting it to countries
where it is sooner or later melted.
Some coins are sunk in the sea or
lost, and some are carried abroad by
emigrants and travelers who do not
look closely to the metallic value of
•he money. But by far the greatest
-art of the standard coinage Is re-
moved from circulation by people who
know that they shall gain by choosing
for this purpose the new heavy coins
most recently issued from the mint.
Hence arises the practice, extensively
carried on in the present day in Eng
land, of picking and culling, or, as
another technical expression is, garb
ling the coinage, devoting the good,
new coins to the melting pot and pass
ing the old, worn coins into circula
tion again on every suitable oppor
tunity.” It will be eeen that the
Gresham law applies to monies of one
kind of metal. There is what is called
an extension of Gresham’s law that
applies to all money. But it was a
principle recognized for years
Sir Thomas Gresham was born. It
simply means this: that where there
are two forms of legal tender money,
the one that can be obtained the easiest,
if it will perform the same functions
as the other, will come into general
use, and the dearer money will go out
of circulation. To make the Gresham
law applicable to the financial ques
tion, it Is necessary to assume that
silver is bad money which Is not a fact.
If both metals were coined by the
government at the legal ratio and given
equal opportunities before the law, sil
ver would be as dear as gold. For
eighty years in the history of this
country gold and silver were practical
ly on a parity at the ratio established
by law. During all those years there
was no talk of the “cheaper” money
driving out the "dearer.” The standard
was self-adjusting. If either metal
went up in price, payment was made
in the cheaper which tended to estab
lish the parity. The Gresham law is
true but not applicable. It is natural
to keep, the coins containing the most
pure metal,, because they are worth
mgre to their possessor. This is true
especially if they are going to the
melting pot to be converted into jew
elry or leaf. The worse money a man
can pass upon his neighbor, the greater
tljp profit to himself. The Gresham
law is understood by its author, ap
plied to one metal, some of the coins
of which were debased by abrasion
or clipping and thereby reduced in
value. But it has no application to
two different metals, one of which has
been purposely forced down in price
when they are again to be placed on
a legal parity by wholesome legisla
tion. It is unfair and unjust to speak
of silver as “the cheaper money” com
pared to gold as long as it is discrim
inated against. It cannot be regarded
as the cheaper metal until an honest
effort is made to restore it to its for
mer rank. .When this is done, it will
be time enough to apply the principle
of the Gresham law to our condition.
DAVID PIERCE.
Ovcrproduction.
The claim so familiar to us all that
'^overproduction” has been the cause,
is itself an admission that the condi
tions have been bad. And think of the
absurdity of the claim that great na
tions have been thrown into distress by
producing too much of the things that
are necessary for the sustenance and
comfort of mankjnd, and especially
when the suffering has been among the
very classes who do the producing. It
that be true, we stand face to face with
an utterly hopeless future. If overpro
duction is the trouble, then the remedy
must be to check protection. And how
can production be checked without
throwing more people out of employ
ment, adding to the sufferings of the
poor, and aggravating the evils com
plained of. In the name of heaven has
the gold standard nothing better than
that to offer us?
* Dodged Ills Way to Millions.
William Rockefeller, h multi-mil
lionaire and tax-dodger, is fighting
the flew Jersey officials for a reduction
of ifcixes. He is the fellow who re
fusefi to pay a poor tailor for mend
ing his breeches.
FARMER
IS COMPARATIVELY
VERY SLIM.
A Kansas Farmer Analyzes the Alleged
Prosperity as Proven by the
can Campaign Statistics and
Up the Sham*
Last year a Kansas farmer did
dissecting of Republican statistics
a manner that will bear
now. He said:
Some very good people are
their heads on the prosperity
This applies to the gold standard
ple generally and to a few
Republican politicians and
writers in particular. The former
jump about like boys when a circus
announced because, they say,
ity is here sure, here to stay, and
business of the Populist and
is at an end; while the latter class
fo the house-tops and cry, Kansas!
Kansas! with her enormous crops
high prices, for people out of debt,
her farmers reveling in wealth, 99
cent of them with big bank
and picnics the order of the day.
sas leads the world, they say, and
this glorious year 1897, with a 54
cent tariff on foreign goods and a
publican administration to direct
expenditures of expected
Kansas Is beating even her own
did record. And as for the
farmer, these untamed and
politicians declare him to be
fiedly prosperous.
Let us look this subject full In
face and see It as it really is. The
peka Capital contains an
article prepared by Hon. P. I.
brake, a careful' and painstaking
once auditor of the state and now
ident of the Central National bank
Topeka. Mr. Bonebrake reviews
material history of Kansas and
shows her present resources In a
capitulation of one year’s
tions,” referring to the year 1896 as
all products except wheat, as to
he takes the present estimated crop
1897, valued at 60 cents a bushel on
farm. Here Is the showing:
Live stock products........
Corn products ............
Wheat products...........
Sundry agricultural prod
ucts ....................
Cow products .............
Helpful hen products......
Coal products.............
Salt products .............
Minerals .................
Manufacturing products ...
Total
Of these items, of course, coal,
minerals and manufacturing
cannot he credited to the
Taking the six items of
productions, and the year’s
amounts to $157,253,320. To
items, however, must be added
orchard, vineyard and other
rated products, which Mr.
thinks “make up half the living of
farmer and his family.” Say we
the value of these Items at
which is very liberal. That gives
a total of $167,253,320 as the
or gross value of what was
in one year by 166,ouO farmers,
average of 007.55. This is the
age value of the whole crop,
everything produced on the farm.
Now, what would oe a fair
daily income for an average
that he might keep up the farm,
and purchase tools, implements
machinery, pay hired help, taxes,
other usual and necessary
besides maintaining his family of
five persons? Would $5 a day be
reasonable? You say no. Then we
it at mat. Omitting Sundays, we
313 days in the year, whie^, at $5
day, amounts to $1,565, or $557.45
than he gets according to Mr.
brake’s showing.
Instead of $5 a day, the actual
shows only $3.21 a day. And this
the wonderful prosperity of
farmers that is going into history.
TEN GOOD REASONS.
A few years after the British
ment had purchased and operated
telegraph system in that country,
carl of Montrose sent to the house
lords a report, from which the
ing is a brief extract:
1. It is the government’s business
transmit intelligence; and that
ness includes the use of the telegraph
and all other appropriate, means
transmission.
2. If rates remained the same, an in
crease of profit instead of a loss was to
be expected by reason of the economies
that would result from a united tele
graph in combination with the postal
service. The people could keep the
rates up and realize a large profit, or
put rates down, thereby increasing the
usefulness of the telegraph and taking
their profit in the form of more and
better service for the same money.
They did the latter, and, as a
of fact, they have saved at the low
est patimate $150,000,000 In
NO 37.
years. The telegrapbing they have
done would have cost them at least
$io0,000,uut) more than it has cost, in
cluding expenses of operation, exten
sions, repairs, interest on the capital,
wafer purchase and all.
3. It stands to reason that a servant
appointed and paid by himself, and
whose avowed interest and effort are
to line his own pocket with the ut
most possible “giltiness” consistent
with his personal safety, will not con
duct your telegraph or any other busi
ness of yours as well as you can do It
yourself or have It done by your own
agent. As a matter of fact, the public
telegraph service turned out to be vast
ly superior to the private telegraph
service, according to the universal ver
dict of the English people.
4. It was reasonable to expect that
the government rates would be lower,
because the government would work
at cost and would moreover secure an
absolute economy relatively to private
corporations in the conduct of the
telegraph. In fact, the rates dropped
at once one-third to two-thirds, aver
age one-half, and afterward the orui
nary inland rate was again reduced al
most one-half.
5. The use of the telegraph doubled
the first year.
6. The government service has
adopted new inventions and shown a
progressive spirit in respect to em
ployes as well as the service of the
public.
7. There has been no complaint of
violation of secrecy.
8. Nor the least suspicion of partisan
use.
9. The government can be sued and
Is sued. Claims against the govern
mei.. are tried judicially, the same as
other claims.
10. Interference with private inter
ests to accomplish a private good is
not arbitrary and unjust; it te the very
essence of justice and good govern
ment. The private interests of gam
blers, saloonkeepers, opium sellers,
ship owners, house builders, power
makers, bone grinders, grain elevator
men, etc., private interests both good
and bad, are interfered with for the
sake of public welfare. Telegraph in
terests form no exception. The com
panies had already received large re
turns on their investment, and would
receive full compensation for their
capital when the public took their
plant—more than full compensation,
as it turned out.
High and Low Interest.
The farmers in the Missouri valley
when they borrowed money, between
the years 1854 and 1872, on a farm
mortgage paid invariably as much as
12 to 18 per cent interest and some
times as much as 40 per cent per an
num. But in this issue of the Con
servative money to loan at 6 per cent
per annum on farm mortgages is ad
vertised and anxious to be employed.
—Morton’s Conservative,
Yes, and from 1854 to 1872 the farm
er paid that rate of Interest, made
money, paid off his mortgage, bought
more land and got rich. When the
farmers got cheap Interest he also had
cheap produce to sell and the produce
was so much cheaper than the inter
est that the poor fellow went broke,
his mortgage was foreclosed and he
and his family were turned out to
grass. Twenty thousand mortgages
have been foreclosed in Nebraska since
the era of so-called cheap interest and
hardly a single foreclosure was ever
made in the state before 1873. We know
many business men In the state that
paid 24 per cent interest and still made
a great deal of money and when the
interest reached 6 per cent those same
men became bankrupt. The reason for
this is that in the first period every
thing else was high, business was brisk
and profits were secure, but as interest
went down the price of commodities
went down also, people were doing
business on a constantly falling mar
ket, the merchants’ margins were all
gone before they could sell their goods
and of course they went broke. If
Mr. Morton can show nothing In favor
of the gold standard in Nebraska ex
cept 20,000 foreclosed mortgages and
10,000 broken merchants, he and *ds
Conservative had better quit business
and go goose hunting with Grover the
infamous.—Nonconformist.
Glass Distinctions.
How is it that the “lower classes” so
called are always composed of the poor,
and the “upper classes” so called are
the rich? Are there no low characters
among the rich and no higher charac
ters among the poor? Dividing society
into strata of upper and lower accord
ing to the wealth they possess is the
mark of moral degeneration In a na
tion.—Columbus Post.
Embarrassing to the Trusts*
The fight between the sugar trust
and the Arbuckles reduced the price of
sugar one week to 4% cents a pound.
This record will be embarrassing when
the trusts get together and want to
prove that the limitation of competi
tion is solely for the benefit of the dear
public.
Fallacious Qoldbug Speakers.
The Republican gold-bug speakers
have yet to learn that the advocacy
of sound money demands sound argu
ments.