Clark Howell’s politicians and newspaper supporters over the state are sending up a unanimous wail because Tom Watson, a Populist, manifests some interest in Georgia politics. They swear he is trying to break up the Democratic party and gain control of the state. Well, what about Major J. F. Hanson, the Republican president of the Central Railway? He has been active in state politics for a long time, and wields more influence than a thousand ringsters who are “cussing” Tom Watson. If it is a high crime for Populist Watson to take a hand in Georgia politics, what kind of crime is Republican Hanson guilty of when he joins Hamp McWhorter and Sam Spencer in a prolonged struggle to dominate the public policies and politics of Georgia? Will some of the political time-servers please answer?—Newnan (Ga.) News.
The fact that Mr. Howell has never replied to the question why he was so anxious for Watson to call and see him, leads us to believe that he was after the same thing he accuses Smith of—attempting to get what honey he could out of the Populist beegum.—Washington (Ga.) Reporter.
The latest proposition is to put the Quay statue at Harrisburg in a niche. That would be a good plan provided they wall up the niche afterward.—Broken Bow (Neb.) Beacon.
The railroad rate bill was passed by the House by a vote of 346 to 7, last week Thursday.
The bill is now up to the Senate. It may stay there for some time before it passes, if it is passed at all.
The corporation-ridden Senate is a disgrace to a people who are said to elect their public servants. The men who made the Senate so far from the touch of the common people either were short-sighted, or defrauded the real American citizen out of one of the most necessary needs in this age of graft and political corruption.
The Grange favors the direct nomination and election of our United States Senators, and in due course of time we, the people, shall be electors in deed and action. By direct vote of the people, making the senators responsible and answerable to the masses, alone can we inject purity into our elections and accomplish reform in public affairs.—Sandusky (Mich.) Salinac Farmer.
Up to January 16 the Congressional Record contained 2,300 columns of speeches made so far by congressmen, but it has to record only one important bill passed.
William Jennings Bryan’s costume in the honorable position of a “Datto” of Mindanao consists of a high hat and a black silk apron. In cold weather he is permitted to varnish his legs.—McEwen (Tenn.) New Era.
The members of the lower house of Congress are debating the railroad rate bill this week. At the end of that time the public will know which ones are entitled to railroad passes under the new regulation of the companies that only employees are to receive them.—Matthews (I. T.) News.
We admire patriotism but we don’t like toadyism. It makes us tired to see how quick some editors sneeze when a high official takes snuff. And when the snuff is taken purely and solely for political effect it makes it all the more disgusting.—Marshville (N. C.) Our Home.
“This is the time,” says Senator Platt, “when little bosses will find their level.” And it is also the time when some great bosses are finding rock bottoms.—Stanberry (Mo.) Owl.
What’s the difference between a street curb boodler and one that sells out for a promise of an appointment? Ans.—One gets his money before voting while the other gets it afterwards, if he does not get left—principle same.—Batavia (O.) Democrat.
Why are all the candidates opposing Hoke Smith? There must be some reason for it. Everyone had faith in him, believed him far superior to a majority of other people, until he got into the race. Why this change? Why so many attacks upon him? Is it because he is advocating reforms which have already been adopted by several of the other Southern states? It must be because he stands for something, and is not ashamed or afraid to tell what it is.—Marietta (Ga.) Courier.
With Clark Howell devoting most of his time to “cussing” out Tom Watson, Hoke Smith is sailing smoothly on to the gubernatorial chair.—Dalton (Ga.) Citizen.
The New York Sun puts it this way: “If John Mitchell’s statement at the miners’ convention is not a bluff, there will be either an enormous increase in the coal bills of the American people or the most costly and disastrous strike the country has ever seen.” But what do the mine owners and the striking mine workers care about that, so long as the people who buy the coal are willing to bear their suffering in silence—paying without a murmur any price the coal barons put on their product; and feeling well assured that nothing will be done by the suffering people to change the laws by which these barons are enabled to inflict this suffering.—Waterbury (Conn.) Examiner.
During the last ten years stocks and bonds amounting to $12,500,000,000 have been floated in this country. This additional capitalization of the industries and railroads of the country is about equal to the total value of all grain crops raised by the farmers during the same period. It is one-third more than the total value of the products of all mines in the country for the same period. It is equal to one-eighth of the total wealth of the United States in 1900. That is the way the “great” financiers absorb the wealth produced by the toilers of the nation. After studying the above statistics you may realize the force of Gov. Johnson’s statement that fictitious valuation and the consequent tax on the producers is the great curse of this country. Ignatius Donnelly used to tell a story about a hen that laid an egg in a nest fitted with a false bottom. The egg disappeared, and the hen laid another, continuing in her vain effort to have an egg show up in the nest until there was nothing left of her but the feathers. The fictitious capitalization is the false bottom that takes the products of the laborer, leaving him nothing to show for his efforts.—Willmar (Minn.) Tribune.
The Hepburn rate bill now pending in Congress is nothing more nor less than the Hearst bill with a few loopholes in it for the convenience of those railroad companies that may desire to side-step its provisions.—Globe (Ariz.) Register.
The fact that the congressmen of both old parties are almost a unit for the railroad rate bill now pending in Congress, should be enough to satisfy any reasonable man that the people can get their rights only through a new party. The bill is a miserable pretense engineered by railroad tools in Congress, and its object is to make the people believe they are going to get relief through the old parties.—Chillicothe (Mo.) World.
Gov. Magoon testifies that men may be put to death in the Panama Canal zone without trial. It seems to be easier to put them to death than to put them to work.—Athens (Ill.) Free Press.
The time has come when we need men that stand for something. The day is past when our forefathers stood for truth, honor, principle; and all that was right must be called into play again or this republic will be but an iridescent dream.—Marion (Ala.) Democrat.
A writer in a recent issue of a so-called farm paper says the reason boys go to towns and cities to live is because they long for a life in which they will be independent of every one else on earth. Then why in thunder do they go to the cities to find it? A man might as well dig out gopher holes expecting to find wolves as to go to the cities to find an independent life. The place to find that is on the farm. Here we are our own boss, and if any one else does not like the way we do, we are in a position to tell him to go to—with no danger of losing our job.—Irrigon (Ore.) Irrigator.
It now looks like Marion Butler is arranging to take charge of the Republican Party in North Carolina. We make no prediction about what will be or what will not be done. Those who know his past record will hesitate before surrendering entirely to a man who is so thoroughly repudiated by all classes in this state.—Asheboro (N. C.) Courier.
The Chicago Tribune asks: “Granting that it will take seven years to construct the Panama canal, have the seven years begun yet?” That is rather a hard question, not knowing the personality of the timekeeper. However, there is one thing in connection with the scheme that we are all well aware of—the big salaries of the political constructors have begun, all right.—Farmington Valley Herald, Hartford, Conn.
According to the Pantagraph, Senator Cullom should be re-elected because he stayed in Washington after the session of Congress of last winter and did work that he was drawing a salary of $5,000 a year to do. The statement that his present illness was brought on by overwork seems preposterous. Who ever heard of a United States Senator overworking, unless it was to keep himself in office? From present indications, it seems that the people of the state are willing to give Mr. Cullom a rest from his overwork.—Colfax (Ill.) Press.
John A. McCall, late head of a giant life insurance company, is dead, and, as far as mortal knows, is at rest for the first time for months. This erstwhile gentleman and master of high finance was “weighed in the balance and found wanting.” The weighing was done by fellow citizens, which made remorse all the more keen. Rapid decline followed and McCall, broken-hearted, deserted and despised, is gone. His fate should be an example to others who are tempted to do wrong. A half dozen other luminaries of New York, who were caught dead to rights in the insurance frauds, are fast following in McCall’s wake, and are even now all but ostracized by social and business associates. The weight of the common verdict against them is bearing heavily upon their shoulders, streaking their hair and furrowing their faces. Their sins are finding them out.—Washington (Ill.) Register.
Old political systems are being broken up by the heat of public common sense and non-partisan movements. The independent American citizen and voter is going to make himself felt, by gosh!—Mt. Vernon (Ind.) Unafraid.
John A. McCall has departed to the great bar of all time. There is no doubt but that shame and humiliation killed this proud, self-made man.
Wrong-doing is bound to bring its death sentence to all lives, rich or poor.—Milford Centre (O.) Ohioan.
“Some day, we pray to God, there will come a House which will hold tight the purse-strings, and, on some measure of right, say to our lords: ‘Pass the bill or get no money. We will go to the country on this issue.’ And then we will have achieved what the English House of Commons won in 1832, and our Senate will become the perfunctory body the House of Lords ever since has been.”—St. Louis Dispatch.
That sounds like it came from way up in the amen corner, and is likely to have many hearty responses.—Salem (Va.) Times-Register.
Mr. Rogers, of the Standard Oil Trust, is the last man in the world who should show contempt for the law. The law which is brought about through class legislation has enabled him to become a millionaire by robbing the public, and it is through respect for the law that an enraged public permits him to hold his ill-gotten gains.—Rolla (Mo.) Sharp Shooter.
Well, the railroad rate bill has passed the House, with only seven negative votes—all Republicans. But in the Senate is where the tug-of-war comes.—Malad (Ida.) People’s Advocate.
Pure food is once more an issue in both houses of Congress, and the bill bids fair to be defeated in the Senate, which numbers among its members not a few who have interests in groceries, fisheries, packing and canning houses that will be unfavorably affected by pure food legislation. The clause most necessary to the effectiveness of the bill, the one providing that all packages shall be labeled to show exactly the contents of the package whether medicine, food or beverage, and which enables the purchaser at least to know with what and when he is poisoning himself, is the very clause that seems in greatest danger of defeat.—Adams (N. Dak.) Budget.
And now the assertion comes forth that a large white goat in a New York town by the name of Rockefeller, while the family heads were bowed in sorrow, climbed upon the porch and devoured the wreath of flowers which hung on the door. But, pshaw! that is only characteristic of the name—swiping all in sight.—Wrens (Ga.) Reporter.
It is probable that when the Hepburn railway rate bill gets back to the lower house of Congress that it and its author will scarcely have a bowing acquaintance.—Glenwood (Mo.) Phonograph.
The fight in Congress over the railway rate bill seems to center on court review of the orders of the Interstate Commerce Commission. Now the courts have the right under the Constitution to review all orders of the commission or they have not. Therefore why should the fight be over this feature of the bill unless the railroads believe that the courts have had this authority if denied in the measure, we are unable to comprehend. On the first blush we should say that the courts, if asked, would have this right, for they have claimed the right to review almost any and every thing till the Democratic Party was forced to denounce “government by injunction.” Still, the railroads occupy a peculiar position toward the people of the country.
The stockholders in a railroad corporation have not the same rights the stockholders have in nearly every other corporate body.
The railroads have been permitted to condemn our land for their use, but in so doing they incurred certain responsibilities to the public that are imposed on no other corporation.
It would therefore seem but just that if railroads can force us to part with our real estate, surely we, the people, have a right to say that these roads shall be managed just as the people through their representatives in Congress desire, and unless such regulations are confiscatory the courts shall have no say.—Tarboro (N. C.) Southern.
Having resigned from seventy corporations, Senator Depew must be awful lonesome when the directors meet and make a noise like declaring a dividend.—Schaghticoke (N. Y.) Sun.
Here is what we found in Sunday’s Constitution about the Governor’s race.
One article about Hoke Smith and Tom Watson brands them as assassins of Democracy. In another place is the following complimentary clipping about Estill: “The weekly papers are giving Colonel John H. Estill the squarest kind of a deal. The Savannahian is the man to watch and his following seems to be growing rapidly in all quarters of the state.”
And on the same page is another clipping from the Tifton Gazette, in which Estill, Judge Russell and Mr. Howell are spoken of as men of the most sterling integrity, distinguished ability and unflinching honor, and either of them would do Georgia credit in the gubernatorial chair.
Is it a wonder that the common people believe that Clark Howell, Estill and Judge Russell are in a combination to beat Hoke Smith?—Lawrenceville (Ga.) Gwinnett Journal.
The old adage “competition is the life of trade” has been transformed to “combination is the life of trade” to suit the condition of the times.—Oakland (Md.) Journal.
“Wall Street Is Playing with Fire” is the startling head line in a local paper. There is no need for alarm, though. Wall Street has plenty of water to put out any fire.—Almond (N. Y.) Gleaner.
The great copper war which for years has been waged between Heinze and the Amalgamated has been ended by what is practically a merger of the opposing interests. This fight between stock gamblers for the control of immense properties has for years divided the people of Montana into bitter factions, has disorganized politics, corrupted judges and legislatures and had a baneful effect upon all the people of the state. Now that the contending forces have made peace the public will probably be the more thoroughly fleeced.—Warren (Minn.) Sheaf.
Precedent has been found which shows that Henry H. Rogers could have been legally made to testify. We have been of that opinion all the time, but it is only another instance where the sword of Justice and the law has proved insufficient when met by the shield and armor of gold.—Santa Anna (Tex.) News.
Congress has decided to investigate the coal and oil trusts. A nice summer’s job is here cut out for somebody. It is hoped there will be no Garfield business about the investigation. The miserable failure Commissioner Garfield made of that Beef Trust investigation should be enough to disgust even a Roosevelt.—Seaford (Del.) News.
According to a statement issued by the Bureau of Statistics last Saturday with reference to the number and value of farm animals in the United States, there are more cows than any other one domestic animal. But the horse, while next to the lowest in number, is more valuable. The mules rank lowest in number and the sheep lowest in value. The report shows that the total value of all the farm animals to be nearly $4,000,000,000.—Hamilton (Tex.) Herald.
The United States Senate, by a vote of 38 to 27, has passed the shipping subsidy bill. The bill appropriates $200,000,000 of the taxpayers’ money for the American merchant marine. What a lovely gift! Voting the people’s money to boost a class of wealthy business men. What a lovely principle!—Veblen (S. Dak.) Advance.
While a lot of fellows have been sent to jail for stealing loaves of bread, hams, shoes and such, none of the big insurance thieves have even been indicted. Justice is not only blind, but she is deaf as a post, dumb as an oyster, and she couldn’t smell a fertilizer factory at ten feet.—Pennsboro (W. Va.) News.
To judge from the Standard Oil witnesses in the New York investigation, we shall no doubt hear a demand for the Government to be ruled for contempt in wanting to know too much.—Parco City (Okla.) Democrat.
John A. McCall, ex-president of the New York Life Insurance Company, who confessed that he stole hundreds of thousands of dollars belonging to widows and orphans and used the money as a corruption fund to help elect McKinley and Roosevelt presidents of the United States, is dead and gone,—we don’t know where, but if we were dead too, we wouldn’t hunt him up.—Granville (Ia.) Gazette.
Members of the lower house are chuckling over the predicament one of their colleagues finds himself in. It seems the unsophisticated private secretary of this especial representative forwarded to Washington by mail three parts of a sectional bookcase, using his employer’s postal frank. The bookcases contained private books, and one of them is said to have concealed a miscellaneous collection of kitchen utensils intended for the owner’s home there. The entire collection was “unfrankable” and the local postmaster has called on the representative to pay postage on his property to the amount of $72. The name of the representative is being kept secret, but that doesn’t soothe his feelings to any great extent.—Bowlder (S. Dak.) Pioneer.
President Roosevelt and Secretary Taft are said to favor a lock canal. If reports are true, that’s the matter with the project now. It’s locked with red tape and departmental interferences.—Clifton (Tenn.) Mirror.
Governor Pattison of Ohio signed the Freiner two-cent fare bill which was accepted by the Senate and it is now a law. It will not go into effect, however, until thirty days have elapsed. The law provides that two cents shall be the maximum rate charged in Ohio for transporting passengers on the railroads of Ohio for all distances in excess of five miles.—Winfield (La.) Comrade.
The Senate has passed the corrupt subsidy bill granting $20,000,000 a year to the steel trust infant industry so that our merchant marine can compete with that of other nations. Isn’t that satisfactory evidence that U. S. senators should be elected by direct vote of the people? Remove the tariff and our ship builders can “compete” without a subsidy.—Alva (Okla.) Renfrew’s Record.
There’s one consolation to the poor man when he thinks of John D. Rockefeller being the richest man in the world; he knows that the devil won’t let him bring a cent of it to hell with him.—St Louis (Mo.) National Rip Saw.
It is just as true today as it ever was that the safest and most honorable way for a man to secure a competence is to do it little by little, taking a lifetime for the work. The haste to be rich and make money fast is the economic curse of America today. Every man wants to draw a prize in the business lottery and it is seldom indeed that he is content with small savings and safe investments.—Headland (Ala.) Post.
Managers of the Hepburn Rate Bill contemplate providing it with a set of puncture-proof tires when it starts its round of the Senate.—Alma (Neb.) Record.
The United States Senate passed a “Ship Subsidy Bill” the other day in just three minutes. Anything that has “Subsidy” (the proper word is graft) to it gets through just as soon as some member makes plain the amount of graft in the measure.—Smith Crater (Kan.) Messenger.
It is being told that a Kansas man, accompanied by his little son, visited the Senate while in Washington last week and the boy was particularly interested in Edward Everett Hale, a magnificent looking old man. His father told him that he was the chaplain. “Oh, he prays for the Senate, doesn’t he?” asked the boy. “No,” replied the father, “he gets up and takes a look at the Senate and prays for the country.”—Enid (Okla.) Echo.
The Ohio legislature has passed a law making a uniform rate of two cents a mile on all railroads in that state. The railroads on the other hand have decided to cut off all forms of transportation except the two cent fare. This includes reduced transportation for conventions, 1,000-mile books, all charity business, round trip rates, and clergymen’s rates.—Stewartville (Minn.) Times.
Leslie Shaw, Secretary of the Treasury, says that we have the best banking system on earth. Still in the past few months failures in five national banks have footed up to almost $7,000,000. Now if these banks had had out a flood of asset currency, backed only by the assets of the banks, and no doubt they would have had, the Government would probably have lost as large a sum, and all of this would have had to come out of the people for the benefit of the speculators.—Lansing (Mich.) Capital City Democrat.
The end of old Steve Elkins, the blocks-of-five-election buyer, he, who, with the aid of his father-in-law, Gassaway Davis, got control of most of the coal mines and railroads of West Virginia, is in sight. The extortions of the coal trust and railroad combine that Elkins organized have become so unbearable that the Republican governor of that state has appealed to Senator Tillman to secure an investigation. The Republicans of the Senate dare not deny it. When the truth comes out that will be the end of Elkins, for which all the people will give thanks unto God.—Omaha (Neb.) Investigator.
They don’t seem to be doing much digging on that great canal, but they manage to bury a considerable amount of money there.—Cresson (Tex.) Courier.
She (indignantly)—Stop, sir! You shall not kiss me again! How rude you are! Don’t you know any better?
He (cheerily)—I haven’t kissed every girl in town, it is true, but as far as I have gone I certainly don’t know any better.