Weekly Jeffersonian. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1906-1907, March 07, 1907, Page 11, Image 11

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SENATOR BAILEY’S SELF-CON DEMNING DEFENCE. Senator Joseph W. Bailey, of Texas, has confessed to practically every charge made against him. His own statement before the investigating committee of the Texas legislature condemns him. He admits that he borrowed $3,300 of Henry Clay Pierce, then president of the Waters-Pierce Oil Company. At a later date he drew on Pierce for sl,- 500. He had to confess these charges. They had been proved by this news paper. Bailey likewise confesses that after borrowing the $3,300 he returned to Texas and urged Attorney General Smith to reinstate the Waters-Pierce concern in Texas, from which it had been expelled. Having convicted himself out of his own mouth, Mr. Bailey offered a de fence so feeble that it will excite de rision. It was, first, that the president of the Waters-Pierce Company had convinced him that that concern was not connected with Standard Oil, and, second, that he had paid back the money. In., auch as the state of Texas had excluded the Waters-Pierce Company for a specific and proved violation of the law, in which it had shown itself connected with the Standard, Mr. Bailey seemed most easily convinced. As to the claim that he paid back the money advanced by Pierce, Bailey’s statement is refuted by the fact th a/ the amounts are charged off to “profi/ and loss” on the books of the com* pany. Such entries are not made on accounts that have been settled. They are made only on debts that are hope lessly bad or for any other reason are not expected to be paid. Two of Bailey’s associates in this nefarious deal have already suffered some punishment for their acts. Thomas Smith, the attorney general who was persuaded by Bailey to move for the reinstatement of the Waters- Pierce Company, was politically ruin ed by his connection with the case. Henry Clay Pierce was recently in dicted for perjury by the grand jury at Austin. In 1900, when, by Bailey’s help, he deceived the people of Texas, and was again permitted to do busi ness in the state, Pierce swore that his concern had no connection with Standard Oil. It is for this oath that Pierce was indicted. It is for this also that ex tradition papers have been applied for to the governor of Missouri. Much as Pierce would like to go to St. Louis and testify before the sub committee in behalf of his friend Bai ley, he is hardly likely to do so under the circumstances. The Standard Oil’s agility in dodging subpoenas will naturally be increased in dodging ar rest. Smith and Pierce have been con demned. Is Bailey, who is more guil ty than either, in that he betrayed a higher and more sacred trust, to be permitted to escape?—New York American. H M PRESIDENTS OF STATE RAILWAYS JOINED IN BAER’S SNEER AT PLEDGE. Presidents of all the railroads operat ing in this state who indorsed the let ter to the Pennsylvania legislature urging that its members violate their pre-election pledges to pass a 2-cent-a mile law received an emphatic answer yesterday in the unanimous passage of the bill by the house of representa tives. Not until yesterday was it known that George F. Baer, president of the Philadelphia and Reading Railway, and famous for his “divine right” and “trus tee of Providence” utterances, was not solely responsible for this remark able document. The story of how the letter was com- piled was given out yesterday by a railroad man, who sought to mitigate the offense which all now agree was committed* in the paragraph of the Baer letter which reads: “We are given to understand that election promises were made which have committed the dominant party to the passage of a law limiting passen ger rates to 2 cents per mile. I as sume that these pre-election promises —while well enough intended —are subject to reconsideration by men who have assumed official responsibility.” Many Baerisms Cut Out. From the same source, it was learn ed that, as originally drafted by Mr. Baer and submitted to his confrers, Baer and submitted to his confrerees, more rabid, than the text which was finally given to the legislature. It was fairly bristling with Baerisms. One president cut out a paragraph here; another toned down a sentence there; a third advised further modifi cation or omission, until, at last, they all said it would do, and the letter was sent to the printer. So the earnest request to the mem bers of the legislature that they per jure their souls and trample underfoot their promises to the people was not the effusion of one man, for whose sincere but pronounced bias the public has always made more or less allow ance; it was the serious consensus of opinion of the great railroad leaders of Pennsylvania, sitting in calm judg ment and putting their theories of “vested rights” into the most plausible and attractive form. —Pennsylvania North American. H H H THE TWO-HOUR DAY. Replying to one of Mr. Mallock’s lec tures on socialism Gaylord Wilshire repeats the stock argument that “un der the socialistic method of distribu tion about two hours a day is all that would necessarily be required to give a man a fair living.” The cliff-dweller and the cave man by compelling the women to do most of the work managed to gain what they considered “a fair living” by as little effort as the socialistic millen nium will require. The time spent in the chase by the North American Indian probably did not average more than two hours a day, but he was for tunate in having an industrious and well-trained squaw. Certain inhabitants of the banana belt have likewise realiz ed the socialistic two-hour day, but it is gravely to be doubted if Mr. Wilshire would be satisfied with their standard of living. Many of the gen tlemen who have apartments In the Bowery lodging-houses have already adjusted their affairs to the socialistic maximum of productive effort, but they represent the only type of white men that has ever been able to do It. Like all socialists, Mr. Wilshire as sumes that the great mass of the peo ple have to work eight and ten hours a day because capitalists seize most of the products of labor. But If Mr. Rockefeller’s annual Income of $60.- 000,000 were distributed pro rata the per capita Increase In Income would be about a cent and a half a week. If the combined Incomes of Mr. Rocke feller, Mr. Carnegie, Mr. Morgan and Mr. Harriman were confiscated and distributed each Inhabitant of the country would have about three cents a week more than he Is getting. Even this princely Increase would hardly justify the head of the family In work ing half-time while he devoted the oth er twenty hours to sleep and the Im provement of his mind. If Mr. Wilshire or any other socialist actually believes that a standard of liv ing approaching civilization could be maintained If nobody worked more than two hours a day we should like to see him try It. No farmer was ever able to do it, even In pioneer THE WEEKLY JEFFERSONIAN. days when he paid no taxes, no inter est to capitalists, and had neither rail roads nor trusts to oppress him. If Mr. Wilshire thinks he could do it, no doubt there are plenty of benevolent plutocrats who would be glad to stake him to 160 acres of government land. There is no better test of any man’s personal productive capacity than the sort of living he is able to dig out of the soil with his own hands. —N. Y. World. * * * WAS IT NOT MADNESS? Much has been said about “the strenuous life” and “the simple life.” Not long ago the newspapers were full of these two extremes. It remains for a new author, not necessarily of eith er the presidential or theological va riety, to write a book about “the crooked life.” After that “the straight life” could be made a very effective subject. The crooked life, as it appears to the Tribune, Is the life that is grow ing into great prominence these days, and is ever apt to wind up with a jolt against some very thick, hard wall, af ter circulating into an unclean and confusing cul de sac. It is hard to conceive of men, and women too, who so far lose all sense of those general obligations owed by everyone to society, as deliberately to make up their minds to forsake alto gether the straight path of rectitude and honest living laid out by all the wis dom of the centuries, and determine to live by their wits tn the exercise of every available illegitimate scheme to swindle those with whom they come in contact. They scorn the voice of conscience, the still, small voice that calls from the image of God that is in them, and hearken Instead to the strident cry of that rebellious, self assertive, diabolical spirit that fell from Heaven to the fires of Hell. — Tampa (Fla.) Tribune. M r, MR. ROOSEVELT STANDS PAT. 1. By the needless ta*es on the ne cessaries of living. By the taxes on lumber and its products, which act as a premium on the destruction of the forests he is trying to save.. By the taxes on fuel, which protect the coal mine owners in the extortion which inspires him with the notion of government ownership. By the tax es on hides and on meats which bol ster up the beef trust he has so vigor ously assailed. 2. By the taxes on the ma* .-rials of home industry, from the metal for tools and machinery to the thread of the sweat-shop sewing girl. By the taxes that enable foreign capital to fatten on the needs of American work ingmen, while domestic monopolies ex act from American industries prices 30 per cent and 40 per cent higher than they offer to foreigners. And he stands pat by these curious ly unreasonable and extortionate ex actions solely because they are not so unpopular as the evils —real or imag inary—which he prefers to attack. It is easier and simpler to assail “swollen fortunes” than to attempt a practical reform of taxation which helps, at the expense of the common people, to produce swollen fortunes. We are far from accusing Mr. Roose velt of conscious preference for the ways a demagogue might naturally choose to follow. His experience, his somewhat one-sided education, his de votion to politics and relative unfa miliarity with practical business on the economic side of legislation, Incline him to the path he pursues and di vert him from one more difficult and statesmanlike. The real results are a marked waste of energy on hts part and an unwholesome security for or ganized and unscrupulous monopoly.— N. Y. Timer "So Easy to Fix** Pumps A For Wells J any depth DUNN MACHINERY CO. 54 MariettaZStreet ATLANTA, GA REAL ESTATE. Those desiring to move to South Georgia, the most prosperous section of the state, can secure bargains in city property, farm lands, saw mill or turpentine sites, by writing to C. C. TYLER, Box 272, Moultrie, Ga. Davison and i ‘ Fargo COTTON FACTORS AUGUSTA, GA. LARGEST AND FINEST WARE HOUSE IN THE CITY. PROMPT AND CAREFUL ATTENTION TO ALL BUSINESS. e.Hjjßh, Typewriters AT Half Price We have a large assortment of all standard machines, which have been slightly used, that we will sell on guarantee, viz.:— Fay-Sho or Rem-Sho ..$25 to S4O Williams (All Models) ..S2O to S4O Remington (All Models) sls to S6O Densmores (All Models) sls to S4O Smith Premiers S2O to S6O Yost (All Models) sls to SSO Write for special prices on any other machine made. We have them in stock. Atlanta Typewriter Exchange Seventy-one North Pryor Street. ATLANTA, GA. References: H. M. Ashe Co., Cen tral Bank & Trust Corporation, R. G. Dun & Ca. 11