Jasper County Democrat, Volume 7, Number 52, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 April 1905 — "INVESTIGATE” THE PAPER TRUST. [ARTICLE]

"INVESTIGATE” THE PAPER TRUST.

Bryan'a Commoner: Every republican newspaper baa condemned the paper trust, yet some republican papers are greatly impressed with Mr. Garfield’s report on the beef trust and are inclined to agree with the commissioner of corporations that there is no such thing as a beef trust. It would be well if Mr. Garfield could “investigate” the paper trust. A great many people would be interested in the editorials which would be printed in republican papers in the event that after “rigid investigation,” Mr. Garfield concluded that there is no such thing as a paper trust, that the paper factories have been losing money and that newspaper editors have been complaining of purely imaginary evils. It may not be doubted that a report from Mr. Garfield on the paper trust similar to the one he made on the trust would be condemned by all large newspapers. The attitude of some republican newspapers on the Garfield beef trust report is no criterion; for do we not know that many republican newspapers that insisted upon “standing pat” on the tariff question, so far as products generally are concerned, and denounced the propositson that the shelter which the trusts find in the tariff should be destroyed, were very ready to demand that the advantage which the paper trust obtain in the tariff be removed? If Mr. Garfield has really discovered that there is no beef trust, it is very likely that through a similar “investigation” he would be able to discover that there is no paper trnst. It would be interesting to observe the effect of such a declaration upon the publishers of republican newspapers

ognlzed and greeted with an amosad laugy. “Ever hear about the little buttercup that pined to be a daisy, or tbe rose that swore It was a potato, and If it wasn’t it would be—there now?” Inquired the man, with blaud curiosity. Again the point of light shifted. He had replaced tbe cigar In his mouth and settled a little more luxuriously In his chair as If In mere sybaritic enjoyment of his extraordinary luck lu having been born as be was. “Your Illustrations are beside the facts,” she retorted at last, with dignity. “I was not asserting that girls wiali to be men!” “Well, then”—his tone implied an amiable desire to please—“ever bear of the little buttercup that Insisted that It was a daisy In spite of appearances and tbe testimony of Its yellow petals? 1 Well, that’s like the foolish little girls who want to be Judged by man’s standard.” Two slender hands were clapped noiselessly, but their owner enunciated with some heat: “How would you like to be a woman yourself and be put upon and—and snubbed and forever taunted with the fact of your Inferiority? Oh, not in so many words,” she went on hurriedly, lest he should Interrupt her speech. “Not that, of course, but by being told that you couldn't understand, being patronized, having allowances made—‘Oh,. well, she’s only a woman!’ Just tell me, honor bright, how* would you like It?” The man chuckled. The vision of himself in the predicament suggested was not without its humorous side. The figure of speech he had used a few' minutes earlier came back to him with a new force. It was like being caught under a net, thougli the meshes were silken. “Well?” she demanded, with a ring of triumph in her voice. “I don’t suppose I should like It,” he admitted between puffs. “But that doesn’t prove anything, you know," he went on hastily. “That’s because I’m a man.” Then, as an afterthought, “When you’re once used to being a woman— er—l should think you might get used to it—grow' to like It. Man’s good angel, you know, and all that!” “But what If one wearies of the role of good angel—what if one longs to be Just oneself? For my part, I don’t see why man shouldn’t be woman’s good angel for awhile —he’s so strong and brave and, above all, superior!” Her voice was deceptively mocking. Being only a man, and a man in the dark at that, he had no way of knowing that her eyes were dancing mischievously and she was wondering If he were horribly shocked. What he did know, however, was that the voice, with Its youthful, almost boyish treble, was the sweetest lu the world to him, that he would rather be mocked and flounted by those Ups than flattered by any others. Still he had a point to prove, and he tossed the dwindled cigar off into the bushes that flanked the porch, squared his shoulders aggressively and demanded: “Would you propose to a man If—er—you loved him?” His listener gasped. This was carrying the war into the enemy’s country with a vengeance. Propose to a man she loved! Not for rubles and diamonds—not for principalities and powers! Oue might propose to a man one didn’t love, but to the man—never! “No,” came the answef In a voice grown suddenly small and meek. "And she talks about wanting a man’s rights!” he groaned to some Invisible person. “And she hasn’t the nerve to do a little thing like that. My, oh, my! “I’m afraid you'll have to stay in the good angel business awhile yet—until, for instance, you can stand up and tell a man you love him. I don’t see any other way.” There was a pause. In which he waited for her to speak, but she said nothing. Then be leaned forward, and in the gloom she could see tbe shining of his eyes. He, too, must have seen some secret thing in her face, for, with a laugh—soft, exultant—he took her hands in bis and pressed them fervently to bis lips. “You are such funny, helpless, ridiculously superior creatures,” were her last words upon the subject a little later, “that I suppose It will have to be—yes.”