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PAGE TWO
Public Opinion Throughout the Union
CHRISTIAN INJUNCTION AGAINST
SOCIALISM.
An effort to make the teachings of
Christ and the Bible sustain the
tenets of Socialism was expressed in
the form of a series called “Antiso
cialistic Don’ts,” quoted in our issue
for March 30. The author, Mr. T. H.
B. Bodenhamer, has succeeded in call
ing out an antagonist in Mr. John
Douglas Gordon, who also goes to the
Scriptures to prove the falsity of the
Socialist propaganda. His series of
Christian injunctions are printed in
The Catholic Standard and Times
(Philadelphia), from which we quote:
“If you stand with Christ against
Socialism, follow his example of sub
mission at all times to lawfully con
stituted authority.
“If you stand with Christ against So
cialism, quit crying out against rank in
authority, for he always likened his
rule to a kingdom, promised that his
apostles should ‘sit on twelve thrones
judging the twelve tribes of Israel’;
also recall the degrees in the heaven
ly kingdom—of angels and archangels,
cherubim and seraphim, etc.
“If you stand with Christ against
Socialism, take to heart the parable
of ‘the lord of the vineyard,’ who said
to those who complained because, al
though they had borne the heat of
a whole day’s work, they received the
same pay as those who worked but a
few hours in the evening, ‘Did I not
bargain with you for a penny?
“If you stand with Christ against
Socialism, obev injunction of St.
Paul, ‘Exhort servants to be obedient
unto their masters, and to please them
well in all things, not answering
again.’
“If you stand with Christ against
Socialism, be loyal to rulers and su
periors, temporal and spiritual, for St.
Paul doth thus exhort Titus, ‘Put them
in mind to be subject to principalities
and powers, to obey magistrates, to
be ready to every good work.’
“If you stand with Christ against
Socialism, take not away the rich
man’s wealth, for since all that we
have comes from God, if he deem it
proper he shall deprive him of his
wealth in his own good way.
If you stand with Christ against
Socialism, remember to ‘seek ye there
fore first the kingdom of God and his
justice, and all these things’ (i. e.,
temporal necessities) ‘shall be added
unto you.’
“If you stand with Christ against
Socialism, do not be deceived by those
who would have you believe that all
war is wicked. The whole Bible, from
Genesis to the Apocalypse, upholds
and encourages war in a just cause.’’
—Literary Digest.
TWO-GENT RAILROAD FARES.
In view of the announcement that
a demand for a fare of two cents a
mile on all the railroads in Louisiana
is to be made an active issue before
the State Legislature at its next ses
sion, it is interesting to note the ac
tion in that direction which has been
taken by other states. So far they
are as follows:
Pennsylvania —Two-cent bill passed
by the house only.
Ohio —Two-cent law enacted last
year.
West Virginia—Two-cent bill passed.
North Carolina Two-and-a-quarter
cent bill passed.
Alabama Two-and-a-half-cent bill
passed.
Arkansas —Two-cent bill passed.
Kansas—Two-cent bill passed.
WATSON’S WEEKLY JEFFERSONIAN.
Nebraska —Two-cent bill passed.
North Dakota —Two-and-a-half-cent
bill passed.
South Dakota—Railroad Commission
authorized to order two-and-a-half-cent
rate.
Indiana —Two-cent bill passed.
Illinois —Two-cent bill passed the
House.
lowa —Two-cent bill passed apply
ing only to roads earning $4,000 a
year gross per mile.
Minnesota —Two-cent bill now - pend
ing.
Wisconsin —Rate of two-and-a-half
cents fixed by Railroad Commission.
Texas —Two-cent bill killed.
It will be observed that more Re
publican than Democratic states have
reduced railroad fares, so that there
is nothing partisan in the movement
against the railroads. It seems to be
the result of a general popular feeling
against those corporations.—The Daily
Picayune.
THE QUANTITY OF MONEY AND
PRICES.
The day when trade instinct alone
would pilot the business craft to suc
cess harbor has passed and keen
watchfulness of the world’s trade
channels as illumed by the economic
and other shoal lights, is the today
requisite to the safety of the business
barque.
This and other countries have had
what is termed great prosperity and
are reaping its fruits. We have seen
the value of commodities rise and thq
compensation of labor enhance. In
analyzing the causes, crop reports
have been dissected and special con
ditions peculiar to the several indus
tries pointed out, that prosperity’s
probable continuance might be fore
casted. The special conditions pecu
liar to the leather market and indus
try have been quite thoroughly set
forth. But it is plain that the rise in
prices has proceeded from some
cause common to all countries and
commodities and is not con fined to
special cases.
And that cause is without doubt the
great augmentation of the quantity
of the world’s money through the enor
mous increase in the production of
gold; not alone through the discover
ies of new gold, but by new processes
of ore reduction.
The annual production of gold in
creased from $95,392,000 in 1883 to
$404,649,000 in 1906. and the increase
in 1906 over 1905 was $22,400,000. In
addition to the portion of this in
crease in gold that has swelled the
volume of money in the United States,
there was the enormous augmentation
of “credit money”—bank notes —which
in the ten years from 1895 to 1905.
amounted to $328,031,787, and has
since been materially increased.
That commodities rise or fall in
price in proportion to the increase or
diminution of money, is now accepted
as an incontrovertible fact.
Other conditions being equal: Dou
ble the volume of money; you double
the value of products. Divide the
volume of money; you divide the val
ue of products.
Under the monetary system in force
in this and most other countries, the
volume of basic money is dependent
upon the capricious output of the
mines and is not fixed by human agen
cy according to the requirements of
the trade of the nations. Therefore,
the volume of gold production be
comes an important factor in the
gauging of prices and prosperity.
As reports from authoritative
sources are generally agreed that no
decrease in gold production is immi
nent, the sources to look for contrac
tion are financial legislation and bank
note manipulation. The vociferous
and persistent wail for an. “Elastic
Currency” emanates from quarters oc
cupied by those otherwise engaged
than in trade, in its true sense. And
while the apparent purpose and al
leged necessity for “Elasticity” is for
expansion to meet the demands of
trade, all of the proposed “Elastic
Currency” measures are provided with
most ample provisions for contraction,
to be operated by those whose inter
ests might be benfited by curtailing
the volume of money and thereby en
hancing its purchasing power.—The
Glovers Review (Protectionist Organ),
“Who is ‘Fingy’ Conners?” asks a
neighbors who has just read that Fin
gy Conners has called a conference
of New York democrats to select a
candidate for president. Mr. Con
nors is the gentlemanly chairman of
the New York democratic executive
committee. A bit of insight as to who
and what Mr. Conners is may be ob
tained from a knowledge of the fact
that he it was who said: “Yes, 1 like
peas, but I can’t eat ’em; they will
roll off me knife.” Still New York
democracy has some good points and
may in certain contingencies devel
op some vitality.—Chattanooga Times.
It was very kind of 11. Clay Pierce
to suddenly agree to come to Texas
and answer the indictment pending
against him, after exhausting many
of the legal technicalities to avoid do
ing so. And President Pierce has
nothing to fear in Texas if he is guilt
less of the charges made against him.
The people of this state believe in
the same justice for millionaires that
is administered to cotton choppers. If
Pierce can prove his innocence while
the state is trying to prove his guilt,
lie will be able to pass through the
ordeal entirely unscathed. —Fort
Worth Telegram.
In this little ruction between Mr.
Thomas E. Watson and Mr. Marion
Butler the sympathies of North Caro
lina Democrats will of course lean to
Mr. Watson. They do not love Mr.
Butler and besides, wasn’t Mr. Watson
one of our men in 1896? Didn’t we
all —that is to say nearly all —vote for
him for Vice President that year? Os
course we did, and we cannot afford
to go back on him this early. It
would be no excuse to say that that
was thirteen years ago and that we
went back on Mr. Grover Cleveland in
less than four. The statute of limita
tions does not run in either of these
cases, in fact, unless Mr. Watson and
Mr. Cleveland had changed their
principles since we voted for them,
which neither of them has done. —
Charlotte Daily Observer.
BRITISH CIVILIZATION IN INDIA.
The horrified attention of the whole
world is likely soon to be centered
upon India, where steadily, week by
week, the plague spreads and the
death lists pile up.
In the last six weeks the record
ed deaths in all India from this ter
rible affliction have reached 451,000,
and if this ratio remain until the end
of the year the total will approximate
3,900,000.
Plague began in India in 1897 with
a total of a little more than 2,000
deaths. Since then every year, with
one exception, has shown an appalling
increase, and the disease originally
confined to Bombay has been carried
to every part of the peninsula.
Bubonic plague is purely a matter
of bad sanitation and bad government.
It can be suppressed wherever com
petent government makes an earnest
effort on radical lines to suppress it.
That it should have spread through
India in this awful fashion until it
has reached proportions that threaten
the country with depopulation is the
last indictment of Great Britain’s mon
strous mismanagement of her tri'
She has ruled India merely to extract
from it all possible revenue and trib
ute, and the inevitable results of her
greediness and selfishness appear in
perennial famine and terrible pesti
lence.
Our British friends have much to
say about the misgovernment of Amer
ican cities. No doubt we have done
ill enough; but the worst of our
achievements in any part of the world
shines like a halo beside the best
achievement of 150 years of British
rule in India.
Not in any spirit of vaunting we
may well enough compare the Amer
ican war against yellow fever in Ha
vana with Bombay or Cawnpore under
British management.
THE CASE OF ABRAHAM RUEF.
The sudden ending of Abraham
Ruef’s trial in San Francisco, pre
cipitated by Ruef’s plea of guilty, after
a stubborn legal battle in his behalf,
teaches a moral as simple as a nur
sery tale, and as old as civilization.
Rues had sinned against fellow men
who had esteemed and honored him.
Not only did his sins find him out, but
they crushed him on the return swing
of the pendulum. He had burdened
his conscience with wrongdoing until,
it broke under the weight of accu
mulated infamies, and forced him to
throw himself upon the mercy of out
raged law.
Thus ends the career of a man who
might have been, with his talent, tact
aggressiveness and genius for organ
ization, a power for good in the world.
But power misused has left him a
moral and mental bankrupt, a physical
wreck, with a spirit broken beyond the
hope of repair, and fit only for his
well deserved punishment.
The lesson of Ruef’s experience
should sink deep into the natures of
men who play politics for money’s
sake. Public honor and public es
teem are worth more in the long run
than all the fortunes accumulated by
all the grafters of the world. Rues
realizes the truth of the saying now;
but he has learned the lesson only
after the law had demanded the sac
rifice of his freedom because of his
repeated offenses against the law.
Ruef’s experience must ever be the
wrongdoer’s, and his pitiable and al
most nauseating confession in court
is the confession which conscience,
wounded and sickened by long famil
iarity with wrong, must ever exact
from men who offend against the prin
ciples of decency ana right living.—
Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
The continual recurrence of rail
way accidents but serves as an addi
tional reminder that too much railway
money is being used in the payment of
big dividends to boost the stock mar
ket, and too little for the improvement
of physical properties.-