Newspaper Page Text
PAGE TEN
ZETTEftJ' PROM THR PEOPLE
Sioux Falls, S. D., July 30, 1907.
Editor Jeffersonian:
On the sth-7th of June, the Nation
al Grain Growers’ Convention was
held at Omaha, and a permanent or
ganization was made. In that con
vention the writer introduced the fol
lowing resolution. He, as a delegate
to the Trans-Mississippi Convention
last November, had introduced a sim
ilar resolution, but in that railroad
ship-subsidy-corporatiou-plugged con
vention nothing could pass that meant
anything, if John P. Irish, corpora
tion advocate from San Francisco,
could prevent, and the resolution was
lost. 1 '
Resolved, That it is the sense of
The National Grain Growers’ Con
vention that the United States Con
gress should at once set itself to the
work of ascertaining the cost of re
producing the railroads of this coun
try, and that it should pass a law re
stricting the capitalization of said
roads to the amount of said cost of
reproduction, and that the rate of tar
iff should be so reduced as to allow
only a reasonable profit upon this
capitalization.
This resolution went through al
most unanimously. It seems to the
writer that the sentiment of this res
olution is due from every political
convention that pretends in any mea
sure to represent the interest of the
masses. There is no right either in
law or morals for the fictitious values
known as watered stock, and the on
ly way the robbery will ever be end
ed is for the people to demand the
reform, and demand it at all times.
This is one of the questions that the
people must not for one moment for
get. It must come BEFORE gov
ernment ownership. We do not care
to have the government buy goods at
twice the cost, not even the railroads.
The dishonest methods our govern
ment has permitted for years must
be discarded. It is not business, it
is robbery. All the highwaymen since
the days when one cave dweller way
laid another to take from him by
strength and skill in the use of the
robber’s club, the wild animal he had
slain, are as a pebble to the laige
New England boulder when compared
to the amount stolen from the pro
ducers and consumers of this “land
of the free and home of the brave”
—(brave in time of war, cowards we
are, in time of peace)—by the magic
theft of WATERED STOCK.
J. A. ROSS.
Moravia, N. Y., Oct. 12,1907.
Enclosed find money
order for one dollar and fiftv cents
for which please send me “Watson’s
Jeffersonian Magazine,” for one
year. Yours truly,
COE WILSON.
HERE’S ANOTHER ONE OF
THOSE LITTLE GIRLS.
Lumpkin, Ga., Oct. 16, 1907.
Dear Mr. Watson: I wish you
could hear papa reading your paper.
I am the daughter of one of your
subscribers of your paper, Mr. J. N.
Simpson. When he is reading
along he will stop and say, “Tom
Watson is the smartest man in the
United States.”
WATSON’S WEEKLY JEFFERSONIAN.
I am glad when your paper comes.
Papa is mad when his paper doesn’t
come. I am a little girl going to
school in Lumpkin, Ga. I am eight
years old.
Papa said he had three more sub
scribers for you but he saw that vou
had changed your price and he never
did ask them about the dollar. He
doesn’t know that they will take the
paper. Papa reads the paper at
home and when he gees up town he
talks about what he saw in your pa
per. Yours truly.
MARY LIZZIE SIMPSON.
Note: The Jeffersonian feels very
sorry for those three men. But it
is not too late for them to come right
along.
Aragon, Ga., Oct. 18, 1907.
Hon. Thos. E. Watson, Thomson, Ga.
My Dear Sir: In reply to yours,
would say, Yes, I am one of those
who stood with you in the real days
of long ago. I w r as proud of you
then, and proud of you still for the
great work which you are doing. But
few men have stood for the great
principles of a free people as you
have stood. You have my profound
est thanks for the way you have
fought for great principles. I be
lieve some day you will come into
your full glory.
Yes, I deem it a great privilege to
sit at your feet and learn the great
truths that fall from your pen.
May prosperity ever attend you.
Os course, I can’t do without the
Jeffersonian. Enclosed find P. O. or
der for sl. Let it continue coming.
Your friend,
THOS. A. LAWSON.
THIS ONE COMES FROM AN OLD
VET OF THE UNION ARMY.
Hon. Thos. E. Watson.
Dear Sir: Enclosed find sl. for
which send me the Watson’s Week
ly, which contains Jeffersonian
Democracy as I view it, and
Oblige yours,
CAPT. ADDISON R. TITUS.
National Military Home, Ohio, Ward
' 12. *
Note. —Capt. Titus wrote to Mr.
Bryan’s paper for a copy of the Jef
fersonian, and the above shows what
this aged soldier thinks of it. I sa
lute you, Captain.
Hon. Thos. E. Watson, Esq.
My Dear Sir: Find post-office order
for $1 for renewal to the Weekly Jef
fersonian to October 11, 1908.
I got October 10. Three numbers
back I have not got yet. Please send
them and my October number of
magazine has not come. Please send
isl sure, as I am out a lot when I miss
either one. s
Ever your friend,
W. H. H. DAVIS.
Mobile, Ala.
Bodcaw, Ark., Oct. 8, 1907.
Hon. Thos. E. Watson.
Dear Sir: Fourteen years ago,
when my first boy came to bless my
home, I was such an admirer of you
that my neighbors called him Tom
Watson. He now reads your Jeffer
sonian, and lately when he noticed
you were going to take all the Tom
Watsons to Yellow Stone Park, he
was so glad he could not behave him
"self.
Hoping you may live long to fight
battles of those that are not able to
fight for themselves, and finally see
the principles which you have so long
advocated, finally triumph and finally
receive what you justly deserve.
Yours truly,
O. D. MAY.
Bardwell, Ky., Oct. 12, 1907.
Hon. Thos. E. Watson.
Dear Sir: Enclosed find $1 foi my
renewal for Jeffersonian.
ISAAC WOODEN.
R. F. D. 2, Box 19.
Must Go SURE—T. E. W.
Winder, Ga., Oct. 13, 1907.
Hon. Thos. E. Watson, Thomson, Ga.
Dear Sir: My father, W. S. Duna
hoo, died in August, therefore you
drop his name from your list. I
thought I would write so you would
not think that he had “gone back”
on you in his old days. He was in his
seventy-seventh year, and has been an
ardent admirer of Tom Watson since
1890. He never failed to speak a
good word in your behalf when an
opportunity presented itself for him
to do so.
Your ardent admirer,
W. F. DUNAHOO.
Eddyville, Ky., Oct. 14, 1907.
Hon. Thos. E. Watson, Thomson, Ga.
My Dear Sir: Enclosed you will
please find P. O. order for $1.75,
which is to renew Wm. Holland’s sub
scription to The Weekly Jeffersonian,
and to pay for the Monthly Jeffer
sonian, which he has never taken
before. Please send each to the same
address, Wm. Holland, Mont, Ky.
Yours very truly,
G. L. GRAY.
SHE WON PRIZE AND LIKES IT.
Austell, Ga., Sept. 14, 197.
Hon. Thos. E. Watson:
I am just in receipt of lhe first
copy of your valuable magazine, as
'bne of the prizes I won at the cor
respondent contestants’ picnic held at
Octavia, in August. Words are in
adequate to express my appreciation
of your valuable periodical. I have
read it with much interest. My fa
then, Rev. E. Jewell, who is a per
fect book-worm, says he appreciates
your magazine more than he would
have the ten-dollar gold piece, the
fi ist piize, if I had won it. He says
your magazine is the best gotten up
magazine he every saw; that it is of
the best paper, and print, and has the
best editorials and other reading mat
ter in it.
Thinking perhaps you would like to
read the piece I received the prize on,
I herein send you a copy of same, al
so of those that won the other prizes.
Wishing you much success in your
noble work, allow me to subscribe my
self as your friend.
MRS. LAURA RUNYAN.
Her “piece” follows:
DUTY OF A COUNTY PAPER.
(Essay read at Courier Correspond
ent!’ Picnic at Octavia, August 21,
1907, and awarded third prize.)
By Mrs. Laura Runyan.
We deem it the first duty of a
county editor to deal principally with
questions pertaining to county affairs;
and of these, first, the expenditure
of the public ‘money, and what it
should be spent for.
There is too frequently an unneces
sary waste of public funds. The ex
penditure of the county administra
tor is often extravagant and useless.
He should never fail to expose such
a waste, whether by mismanagement
or otherwise the people’s money is
being wasted.
He should keep in touch with the
public schools. In many instances
school commissioners become too lax,
not only in examination of applicants
for license, but in visiting the schools.
If there is a failure on the part of
the county school commissioner to
keep the standard of teachers up to
the proper’ mark, the editor should
feel it a duty he owes the people to
call attention to such failure; for in
the matter of public schools we find
a subject that most closely affects the
standard of civilization in any com.
munitv.
If the condition of the public roads
is not what it should be, it is the edi
tor’s duty to call attention to the
fact, and show the improvements
needed. There are different methods
of having the roads worked. He
should carefully study the different
methods, and recommend the adoption
of the best. It should be his object
to find out what is best for ,the peo
ple of his county, then lend his ef
forts to accomplish the object.
The people of the county rely, to a
great extent, on the county paper for
the news, as well as ideas of manag
ing county affairs. In dealing with
county affairs, as well as social items,
he should maintain a high standard —
deal fairly with both sides of every
controversy, and seek to maintain a
high degree of morality in society by
condemning what he considers immor
al and approving th right and that
which tends to the upbuilding of so
ciety. In other words, he should keep
in close touch with the feelings of his
patrons and make his influence felt
by them.
It is within the province of the
county editor to deal briefly with
state, national and international af
fairs; but we think he should digest
the most notable happenings, and give
the essence—never the details—of
public events. This is for the great
daily papers. The county editor
should deal in detail only with those
matters directly affecting the readers
of the paper, who, generally speak
ing, are citizens of the county where
the paper is published.
There is a great field open to the
county editor to render invaluable
service in the matter of local politics.
We are not much in favor of his
having iron-clad politics, because the
politics should have nothing to do
with the administration ofi county af
fairs. He should support a competent
and honest man out of his party,
rather than one of questionable char
acter in his party.
Last, but not least, he should as
sist .the representatives in the legisla
ture to know what his county needs,
and assist them, through the medium
of his paper, to elect men who can
make themselves felt in the legisla
ture when seeking the enactment of
laws for the benefit of the people.