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of the property itself when net earnings are
made impossible, why has not the property of
these poor, down-trodden Lumber Trust
thieves been confiscated when the virtuous,
highminded Railroad robbers charge freight
rates which eliminate saw-mill profits?
It is a poor rule that won’t work both ways,
We have come to a pretty pass, surely, when
that which is sauce for the railroad goose is
not sauce for the Saw-mill gander.
Evidently, these poor, downtrodden Lumber
Trust thieves have been ill advised. Instead,
of closing down for a month, they should have
got out an injunction against somebody. The
rule, nowadays, is that when you do not know
what else to do, get out an Injunction. After
awhile, Injunctions will be so common and so
necessary that we shall probably hit upon the
brilliant device of getting one Federal Judge to
enjoin all the others, and then lock him up in a
dark room, feeding him through the key hole,
to prevent him from reversing himself and let
ting the other fellows loose.
The Georgia-Florida Saw Mill Association
can prove, to the satisfaction of any honest
Judge, that the National Tariff System com
pels them to pay too much for their plant, too.
much for the iron and steel they use, too much
for the supplies necessary to their employes.
They can prove that this same Tariff, which
has almost doubled the cost of living, has forc
ed an advance in wages until the commonest
help now has to be paid $1.50, $2, and even
$3 per day. As to skilled laborers, they simply
look at what you’ve got, select what they want,
and walk off with it. From $5 to $lO per
day is not an uncommon wage; and yet these
laborers net little more than when they got half
that scale. The Tariff-fed Trusts get the lion’s
share.
Then why can’t the lumber men enjoin Un-,
cle Sam’s Tariff System upon the ground that
it is confiscatory?
The railroads say that when profits are gone,
the property is confiscated.
Is that so, Your Honor?
You have “handed down” a very silly de
cision to that effect. Then, that being the law,
pray tell me why confine its operation to rail
roads?
If the law guarantees net profits to one class
of investments, why not to every other class?
Think it over, Your Honor.
M R R
Clear the Track!
The lobbyists of the corporations are the
shrewdest of men.
They never sleep, and they don’t put things
off.
Never do you catch them forgetting the
' value of NOW!
See how these adepts at management are
twisting the Legislature into a knot on that
Prohibition Bill.
See how they are developing its possibili
ties as a bone of contention.
Watch them spin out the struggle between
the two factions.
The purpose is self-evident. The Prohibi
tion fight masks the batteries that should open
on the corporations.
The Prohibition bill is a huge stone on the
railroad track, stalling the locomotive.
The engineer cannot drive ahead while
the obstruction is there to endanger his train.
Hoke Smith reformers! pass the Prohibition
bill, and clear the track for Railroad reform!
tt it it
Walter Clark of Mississippi
Is a good man, a real farmer, and a credit
to any community.
Tie is altogether too good a man to be tag
ging around the world as a “Me Too” for
such a character as Harvie Jordan.
Walter Clark is so honest that he is natur-
WATSON’S WEEKLY JEFFERSONIAN.
ally inclined to believe that every one else is;
but he ought to be catching on to Harvie, by
this time.
Mr. Clark, you are doing yourself and the
farmers of the country an injustice when you
countenance and endorse Harvie Jordan.
If you will investigate the subject for your
self, you will discover that the fanners of this
country are not furnishing the funds to run
Jordan’s conventions, or his European trips,
or his organization, jpr his paper.
Who puts up the money?
Ask Jordan to show his books, friend Clark.
Ask him, also, what is the explanation of
the intimacy which exists between himself and
that Wall Street Cotton-Futures gambler, Joe
Hoadley.
Ask him, further, where and how he got the
money which he has recently accumulated.
Come to Atlanta, Mr. dark, and make a
quiet investigation.
it it it
Casual Comment,
“By J. T>. Watson.
In an address at Milwaukee, Wis., Justice
Brewer of the United States Supreme Court
said:
“ ‘There is much said about the railroads. It
is a popular practice to say that they are very
wicked; for instance, like life insurance compa
nies. There has been a great deal of wrong,
such as granting of special favors, bad stock
speculations, and'the like. But I say to you
that, taking the earnings and the money invest
ed in railroads as a whole, there is not a fair
return on the money invested. The attempt
to squeeze those who built up the railroads,
and through them the country, is not right. The
men who invested their money are entitled to
a reasonable rate of interest.
“Railways May Lose.
“ ‘My friend Folk, of Missouri, has my admi
ration in many ways. But suppose, through
such laws as Missouri passed, the railroads
should actually lose money on carrying freight
and passengers. Will the State make the loss
good to them?’
“Justice Brewer held that the rights of the
railroads should be protected until the law
demonstrates that the roads can be made to net
a reasonable return on the money invested.
“Discussing land frauds, Justice Brewer de
clared that much of what is reported as fraud
in Western land dealings is not at all wrong.
He cited that the Vanderbilt and other large
estates were handed down as a whole, whereas
now scattering of estates is becoming the prac
tice, which was preferable.”
The above from a Justice of the United
States Supreme Court only shows more plainly
how that body leans toward the big corpora
tions when it comes to deciding between the
people and the corporations. It proves more
conclusively that the Trusts control our high
est court and that the people have no chance so
long as the Trusts can reach the United States
Supreme Court on a question of constitutional
ity, or any technicality which their hirelings
mav raise as to any law which affects them.
The above dispatch further states that Jus
tice Brewer delivered his address before the
annual meeting of the agents of the Northwest
ern Mutual Life Insurance Company, of which
company he is a trustee.
A. U. S. Supreme Court Justice a trustee of
a big life insurance company. What may we
expect next?
Justice Brewer also declares that “much of
what is reported as fraud in Western land deal
ings is not at all wrong.”
If my memory serves me right, there have,
been manv convictions for land fraud transac
tions in the West and Justice Brewer knows
this to be true, as he knows there have been
millions of acres of land stolen from the gov
ernment in the West.
As to Justice Brewer’s statement that the
railroads do not make a fair return on the mon
ey they have invested, what does he mean?
If he means that the people have been per
suaded to buy common stock, which is watered
to the limit and get no fair return on their
money, he is correct, but why did he not go one
step further and tell that the reason the people
who own common stock in the railroads
get no dividends is because almost all of the
Preferred Stock is owned by the Wall street
rascals who prefer to kill people and get big
dividends rather than spend a part of their div
idends and make their railroads safe for the
traveler?
If a Judge ever overstepped the bounds of
discretion, it seems that Justice Brewer has.
He is a Justice of the highest court in our coun
try, yet he virtually says in advance what he
will decide on any question coming before that
court between the people and the corporations.
. The quicker the heads of such men as Jus
tice Brewer are smashed by the “Big Stick,”
the better. Mr. Roosevelt couid easily ask the
Justice to resign and fill his place with some
man who could give a fair and impartial de
cision, and until our courts are presided over
by men who are not ‘controlled by corpora
tions, we need not expect reform laws to be
enforced, unless President Roosevelt will fol
low the example of Jefferson, Jackson and Lin
coln and ignore the Supreme Court.
*
“PLATT SPENDS SAD, LONELY BIRTH
DAY.
“Thomas Collier Platt, the senior United
States Senator from New York, sat on the
porch of the Oriental Hotel, at Manhattan
Beach most of yesterday and looked out upon
the sea. It was his seventy-fourth birthday an
e sary, but unlike when he was a power he
spent it almost alone.
“He had ’ a few callers, mostly newspaper
men to whom he spoke querulously. During
the day he received about fifteen telegrams of
congratulation, which he fingered in his feeble
hands with the childishness of old age. Few
were from those who formerly danced attend
ance upon him when he was m king and break
ing men in the politics of the state.”
The above from the New York World shows
the present power of the once notorious Boss,
Thomas C. Platt.
Not many years ago, Platt was absolutely
Boss of New York State and he carried the pat
ronage of that state in his vest pocket. If
any person wanted a political job. either Feder
al or State, he had to go to Platt to get it.
In the Senate Platt was one of the powers that
was always feeding the corporations out of the
public crib, and he made himself rich by getting
special concessions for his express company,
the United States Express Co. During those
days Platt’s birthday was a great event to
New York Republican politicians for every one
invited knew that he stood in the good graces
of the great boss. But today it is different for
there are only fifteen people who remember
Platt well enough to even send him a short
message of cheer and good will.
What must be the feelings of Mr. Platt as
he sits alone on his seventy-fourth birthday and
looks back over the days when he was boss
and controlled the Empire State of the Union
as well as having great influence with the Re
publicans in the United States Senate? Does
he ever think how much more useful his life
would have been had he tried to serve the
People whom he was elected to represent in
stead of selling them out to the corporations?
Does he ever realize that he would have had
friends to comfort him, if not political power,
had ht been true to the people?
After all, what in the past can this helpless,
feeble, powerless, friendless dethroned boss
•look back on with pleasure and pride? It is
• true that “The mills of the gods grind slowly,
but they grind exceeding fine.”
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