People's Pilot, Volume 2, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 April 1893 — Page 7

AN AMERICAN HYMN. God save our native land. And make ber strong to stand For truth and right. Long may her banner wave. Flag of the free and brave! Thou who alone canst save. Grant her Thy might. Ever from sea to sea May law and liberty O'er all prevail. Where’er the rivers flow. Where’er the breezes blow. May love and justice grow. And never fail. In living unity May all her people be Kept evermore From hence on every side May freedom's swelling tide Roll grandly, far and wide. To every shore. O God! to Thee we raise Our grateful song of praise For this glad land. 'Thou didst our fathers lead. Thou wilt, their children heed. Supplying all their need From Thy full hand. —Julius H. Seelye, in Christian Union.

A LITTLE COMEDY OF ERRORS

A LITTLE COMEDY OF ERRORS S.S. MORTON

S.S. MORTON

Copyrighted, 1891, by S. S. Morton, and published by special arrangement] CHAPTER X.— CONTINUED. “Been out prospecting to-day?” the colonel inquired, seating himself on the edge of his desk, having first, by a wave of his hand, proffered North one of the handsome leather-cushioned chairs. “No, I’ve been very much taken up with some professional matters, and have scarcely had time to give a thought to the election,” returned North, calmly, feeling this stately and impressive editor to be rather the most formidable person he had yet encountered. “Everything seems to be going forward satisfactorily, I should judge from what Warner tells me,” he added, using Warner’s name as a sort of passport to the colonel’s confidence. “My credentials,” he mentally observed. “Oh, yes!” and Clipper’s manner grew enthusiastic. “There’s no doubt at all that we’ll sweep the city one week from Tuesday. There’s the north east divisions solid for us; there may be a few scattering votes for the prohibition candidates, as there usually are in those wards, but the prohibition racket hasn’t been worked to any extent in this canvass, you know, since one of their men got so awfully tight, and I think we may safely count on a walkover in those districts, for the independent ticket takes them all by storm. The west wing is a little, doubtful yet, and the south wards are generally conceded to the opposition; but the doubtful wards can all be fixed up for us, I am confident, and score the handsomest victory ever won; in X___ . What d’ye think of that, old fellow?" “Very good, colonel,” said with a slight nod or two by way of emphasizing his satisfaction. “Good? Good?” echoed the colonel, swinging his long arms through the air enthusiastically. “Why, man alive, it’s immense! That’s what it is! —immense! You see”—and he dropped into a chair beside North, as he continued with great fervor in tone and gesture, “we’ve just happened to strike the keynote of popular sentiment. If there is any one' word in the vocabulary that the people are sick to death of seeing and hearing and having thrown at them, it’s that hackneyed, threadbare, meaningless dissyllable, ‘Reform.’ Now, while we mean reform all right enough, we haven’t paraded it before the public during this campaign; but it has been the tail-piece of every other political kite that has been set flying for years past. There’s old Wymer’s party, for instance, going to revolutionize the world by its reforms in the labor and capital muddle. Nobody knows by what peculiar handling of a problem that is and always must remain simply a question of mutual forbearance between the two classes they propose to adjust matters so as to benefit the human race in general, and the workingmen of X----in particular. Didn’t go to their meeting last night, did you? Well, I went, and I got enough of it. Fairly sickened me to hear Rochester spouting about the accumulation of wealth by the few as a direct robbery of the masses, and so on, and advocating a system of division that would give the worthless loafer, who was too lazy to earn a crust of bread, the same amount of this world’s goods that was allotted to the industrious hardworking man. That wasn’t the way he put it, of course, but it’s just what the confounded rubbish amounts to. And, what with holding up working men’s

SUDDENLY THE DOOR OPENED.

unions, and organized strikes, and all that sort of business as a legitimate means of resisting the tyranny of capital the world over, and lauding the Socialists of Germany and the Nihilists of Russia, and the whole crew of rampaging law-defying anarchists the world over, he succeeded in stirring up a spirit of dissatisfaction and lawlessness that needed only the provocation to develop into riot and bloodshed. Now, I am by no means alarmed for the results in this present contest, for I foresee that Roch-

ester. Bingham et al. are going to be pretty thoroughly extinguished; but can it be that such doctrines as they are promulgating are gaining ground among the lower classes? If so, there will be bitter fruit in the future. We must look to our free school system and the liberal education of the masses to deliver us from the threatened danger. Our children must be taught from their youth up that in this republican country the higher order of intelligence and morals must rule and ignorance and vice keep their proper subordinate places. I heard a rumor this morning that Tom Chelsea was going to ‘flop.’ Know anything about it, North? Don’t, eh? Then perhaps it isn’t true. I sent Warner around to sit down on him if it was. The doctor has been around all morning—” “The doctor?” “Yes, Warner,” explained the colonel, with an inquiring stare. “Oh. to be sure! Warner, of course!” and North made a hasty effort to redeem himself by this animated assent. “Out on his professional rounds as healer of political dissensions and so on —feeling the pulse of the public, you know.” “And what does he report?” “Well, he makes a cautious diagnosis, but I’ve given you the substance of it already. He reports your popularity on the increase, but he doesn't claim much for Halleck. Between you and me, North, I suspect that Warner would about as lief see Halleck get left! Has he said anything of the sort to you?” and the colonel looked sharply at North. The latter had a confused recollection of Warner’s remarks on this subject in their conversation of the previous evening. His cautiousness, however, prevented him from repeating them; he merely answered indifferently: “No, he hasn’t spoken of it, except to repeat in a general way what he had already said to you about his objection to Halleck’s nomination. I didn’t gather at all that ho felt any personal disaffection toward Halleck; on the contrary, I inferred that he intended to work for the straight ticket, and felt very cordially toward all the candidates.” “Oh, he’ll work all right enough! I’ve no fear about that. Warner’s a square man, and all that, you know,” the colonel hastened to rejoin, with the air of retreating in good order. “By the way, North, do you ever hear anything about Gus Thompson nowadays?” “Gus Thompson? Why, no, not a syllable,” said North, with an air of lively interest. “What has become of him?" “Must be prospecting the Salt river region, to see how his party friends are going to fare by-and-by,” suggested Clipper dryly. “It’s odd how that fellow has dropped out of this campaign, Why, along the first, when we held our primaries, I really thought his chances were as good as Brown’s; but all at once he disappeared, and since then no one has seemed to care enough about

him to ask what has become of him. His party haven’t treated him right, after all the work he's done for them. If they had done the square thing by him he would have been in the common council by this time. Not that anyone wants him there, particularly, only that would have been the shortest way to discharge certain political debts. Now see here, North,” and Col. Clipper turned to his desk and commenced a hasty search among the loosely scattering manuscripts there, “here’s an article that I wish you’d glance over. It’s a review of Detwiller’s official career, and it cuts him up pretty badly. What I want is for you to tell me if there is anything in the way it’s expressed that would make me liable to an action — your opinion as a lawyer, you know.” North nodded comprehendingly as he took the manuscript from Clipper, while the latter, tipped back in a chair at a perilous angle, with his shoulders squared pugnaciously and his thumbs thrust into the armholes of his vest, looked on in grave but eager silence. The article was written in Clipper’s happiest vein, sharp as lightning, bristling with classical allusions, but perfectly unscrupulous in its attack upon the character, reputation and public career of the unhappy Detwiller. North noted with a considerable degree of professional appreciation how skillfully the writer kept within the letter of the law while he ruthlessly transgressed the spirit. Returning the manuscript to the colonel after a careful examination, coupled with a mental review of the law of libel, North said, with a laugh: “That will do, Clipper. You are safe so far as a legal action is concerned, but if you are liable to meet Detwiller you would better provide yourself with some efficient weapon of defense. This article is enough to incite even an ordinarily peaceful man to war and bloodshed.” “Oh, I can handle Detwiller, or a dozen like him!” returned the handsome colonel, valiantly. “Knew my toad, you see! But a suit at law is a different thing. I’m glad to have your opinion of this, because I don’t want to get any new libel suits on my hands until I get a few of the old lot worked off, and Detwiller’s a vindictive fellow. He would bring an action in very short time if he found it could be sustained. I’ll bring this out in Monday’s Issue and we’ll see if it doesn’t make a stir in the camp. There’ll be more ‘artistic profanity’ in Detwiller’s vicinity than has been heard there for many a day!” A somewhat urgent call for Col. Clipper at this point interrupted their conversation, and North embraced the opportunity to bow himself out of the editorial presence. CHAPTER XI. Fal.—Good hearts, devise something. —Merry Wives of Windsor. The following day was Sunday, and, although North’s mind was so absorbed with the important investigation that he had in hand that he felt impatient of everything that delayed its prosecution, he was forced to submit to the twenty-four hours’ inactivity and suspense. He passed the greater part of the time in his own apartments and was fortunately left to the undisturbed solitude that he greatly desired.

At as early an hour as practicable the next morning he started out with the intention of calling upon Mrs. Maynard and taking up the discussion of the Dunkirk will ease at the interesting point where they had dropped it at their last interview. “I wonder,” he soliloquized, as he walked slowly down the street in the bright morning sunlight, “I wonder if Noll is in the habit of devoting so much of his time during office hours to calling on Mrs. Maynard? To be sure, the absorbing nature of my business will sufficiently excuse the course in her eyes, but what Noll’s partner and clients will think of my persistent neglect of all professional duties and my continued absence from the office is an interesting and pertinent question which I leave for them to answer. They will probably suspect that, for a man who is so entirely in the hands of his friends, Noll is devoting a great deal of time to a personal supervision of the campaign—looking after his fences, in fact, very much after the manner of other candidates. Well, I don’t see that I can help it, and, really—” “Mr. North! I say, sir, I want to speak to you! Will you stop, sir?” The voice was that of an elderly gentleman, and it was pitched in a loud key and charged with a degree of stern emphasis which indicated the speaker had allowed his angry passions to rise to a disagreeable extent. North suddenly stopped and whirled around with a disconcerted air. Coming after him at a high pressure rate of speed was a gray-haired, gray-whisk-ered, ruddy-faced old gentleman dressed in a gray tweed business suit. One chubby red hand grasped a stout hick-

“WILL YOU STOP, SIR?”

ory cane, while the other as he talked was employed in violent and threatening gestures which were anything but reassuring in their effect. Glancing calmly at this excited old gentleman, North lifted his hat, saying courteously: “Good morning, sir.” “Oh, good morning, sir!” retorted the old gentleman, irascibly, not intending the words as an answering salutation, but merely echoing them in wrathful mockery. “You think you’re a mighty fine young gentleman, no doubt, Mr. North! You set up to be a gentleman, I say, don’t you?” “Really, sir,’-’ said North, in amazement, looking at his interlocutor as if he considered him an escaped lunatic, “your language is quite uncalled for. If you have any business with me, I request that you state it civilly; otherwise I must decline to listen to you.” “Oh, you take a lofty air upon yourself, Mr. North —a lofty air, don’t you?” returned the old gentleman,still angrily, though his tones and manner softened instantly under North’s cool, steady look. “You’ve worn my patience and civility out long ago, and now I want to know what you are going to do, eh? Because if you haven’t got any plans, why then I have, and it is time something was done about this matter.” “To what matter do you refer?” inquired North, who might have suspected his indignant assailant’s identity by this time, if he had not been too greatly annoyed to think clearly about that question. “Eh? What am I talking about?” demanded the old gentleman glaring wrathfully from beneath a pair of shaggy eyebrows as he rendered this free translation of North’s words. “Wall, if that ain’t the toppin’ off of impertinence! You’ve put me off time and time agin with your triflin’ excuses and promises, but I’ll swear that you never tried this dodge before! Memory’s failin’, eh? Then perhaps I can jog it a little. Here, sir!” and tugging furiously at the inner pocket of his coat, he drew forth a large, dog-eared account book and extracted from it a soiled folded paper which he thrust defiantly at North; “here’s that note of Amities with your indorsement written across it; and now Amity's cleared out and here’s the note overdue by six weeks!” North received the paper daintily with the tips of his gloved fingers, unfolded and glanced over it. There was Ollin’s indorsement in clear, bold characters, that defied all doubt or denial. “Oh, I see, this is old Archer,” thought North, ruefully. “Yes, that is the name; Jonathan Archer. Well, I see very plainly that I shall be obliged to pay this note in order to save myself serious embarrassment. Let me see, what’s the amount? By jove, two hundred dollars—why, I haven’t so much as that with me, and if I had—” “Wall, what do you say now, sir?” demanded Mr. Archer, with a grin of triumph. “ ’S’pose you remember the business now, don’t you? Reckon you can’t very well go back on your own hand write!” “Oh, heavens and earth!” thought North. “If this was the way he talked to Wec the other day, I don’t wonder that my honored colleague was out of temper about it. What on earth am I to do?” He looked up and down the street, stroking his mustache in a meditative way for a moment; then turning to Mr. Archer, who was contemplating him with evident impatience, yet with an air of consciously possessing all the advantage, North began suavely: “I promise you, Mr. Archer, that this little matter shall be attended to as quickly as possible—” “Now, sir, now!” interrupted Mr.

Archer excitedly. “It’s got to be settled inside of ten minutes or I'll sue you for the hull amount! You’ve put me off a dozen times if you’re done it once, with that same smooth promise, and I’ve waited and waited as civil as a gentleman all this time, while my own creditors are pushing me to the wall. And what with my waiting and your getting so airy that you can’t see me on the street, but pass me by a dozen times a day without speaking”--North glanced sharply at Mr. Archer, and suddenly realized that he had frequently seen him during the past few days—“l begin to feel mighty shaky, and the sooner I see my money the better satisfied I’ll be. Now, sir, this note’s got to be paid, and paid inside of ten minutes. That’s my determination, and there'll be no back down on it, either." It required all the tact that North possessed, as well as a recollection of Mr. Archer’s undoubted provocation, to enable him to control himself under the exasperation caused by this scene; but he contrived to say calmly enough, though with considerable sharpness mingled with the remonstrance: “Really, sir, you must be more reasonable about this matter. It is simply impossible for me to settle this claim on ten minutes’ notice. I shall be obliged to telegraph for the money, and that will necessitate a delay of possibly several hours. You really must wait, sir.” “And haven’t I told you plain enough that I won’t wait?” retorted Mr. Archer, belligerently waving his hand. “I’m done with triflin’. If you haven’t got the money right by you, sir, you don’t need to telegraph to Californy or the dear knows whore, to get it. You can borrow it off some of your friends right here in town as easy as turnin’ over your hand, and you’d better do it mighty sudden!” |TO BE CONTINUED.]

A NEW TORTURE FAD.

Women Have Discovered Another Way of Making Men Miserable. “I don’t mind how much the girls talk to me through their bonnets,” said the man, “but I do object to their talk ing down my back. ” “What do you mean?” asked his chum. “Just what I say. It’s only at a theater, or in church, but it always gives me a chill. Last time it was at a theater. She was talking to her escort, but every word she said cavorted on the case of my brain and slid down my spinal column.” ‘.‘Why, what did she say?” asked the chum, much interested. “What didn’t she say?” growled the man. “What right had she to he talking at all when the curtain was up and the play on? First she must talk of her sandals, because they cramped her feet, and that brought her lips within grazing distance of the back of my neck. I nearly had a fit. Then she wanted her opera glasses adjusted and asked ‘Charlie’ if he could use the same focus, and went into a dissertation on eyes. Then at a thrilling moment in the play she said in a soft whisper, that slid down my spinal column: 'I do believe her diamonds are only paste.’ “But I do not mind this so much as some things that have nothing to do with the play. ‘Don’t, Charlie!’ gives me a fiendish desire to turn and rend Charlie. The ‘Charlies’ never talk much, for two reasons. One is that the young woman does all the talking herself, and he can only squeeze her hand on the sly; the other is a wholesome fear that the outraged theater-goers of his own sex will rise and brain him if he persists in drowning out the play.” “Nice state of affairs,” said the chum, sarcastically, “but it is different in church; rather a pleasant diversion, isn’t it, from the fifthly and sixthly episodes?” “Oh, is it? To have a kneeling penitent ask on the edge of your coat collar why on earth that Mrs. Blank wears that red bonnet so everlastingly, or drop a contribution nickel down your back from sheer nervousness. I’m going to wear a fireman’s hat if the girls don’t stop the practice. I know it’s just a new way they have discovered of making us wretched.” And the man looked so woe-begono that his chum felt called upon to relate his grievance in hopes of a reform.—Detroit Free Press.

The Ant Bear.

An effort is to be made in Cape Colony to prevent the threatened extermination of that curious but useful quadruped, the aardvark, or ant bear, which is one of the very best friends of the white colonists, although they have only lately been induced to believe it. Its food is the white ant, which does enormous mischief to the crops. Against these pests the bear wages ceaseless warfare, digging out their nests and destroying them in countless numbers. Unfortunately the natives are especially fond of ant bear meat, which resembles a very good quality of pork, and also hunt it for its hide, which is worth about four dollars in the market. Time, however, is already beginning to work out the aardvark’s revenge. The white ant is increasing with ominous rapidity, and the farmers’ associations are in a state of considerable alarm. They are demanding protection for the ant bear, and that harmless creature may yet survive to enjoy a season of great prosperity and peace.

A Queer Classification.

There is a town in the north of Yorkshire to which a peculiar omnibus runs. The peculiarity is that first, second and third-class passengers are carried by it. A gentleman getting in saw this fact announced at the opposite end of the ’bus. Wondering how this could be, he waited patiently to see. In a short time they arrived at the bottom of a hill. The ’bus stopped and the guard shouted out: "First-class passengers keep your seats! Second-class passengers get out and walk! Third class passengers get out and push! Gripsack. Cruel Girl.—"I've had such a beastly headache all day," complained Cholly “It must be a great satisfaction to you to be reminded that you really own a head,” cooed Dollie. --Indianapolis Journal.

WAGES AND PROFITS.

Profit That Amount to Fair Wages Only Are Legitimate and Do Not Rob Labor. There seems to be a strange misconception as to the nature and identity of the factor Profit, which economists have in mind when they state that the factors which conspire to rob labor are Rent, Interest and Profit. An unnatural enmity and jealous rivalry exists between labor, as wage-workers, and labor, as employers, or “exploiters,” and, more foolish yet, between labor on the farm and labor in the cities and towns. As declared in the preamble to the Omaha platform: “The interests of rural and civic labor are the same; their enemies are identical.” The true economic definition of legitimate profit is wages. Legitimate profit does not rob labor, because it only secures "fair wages” to industrial managers or "exploiters" of labor. A full and exhaustive discussion of the various relationships to labor of the factor profit would necessarily involve a consideration of the entire wage-working system, and would transcend the space allotted to this article. Hence I can only briefly point out some of the special features and divisions of the subject. Profit not only appertains to the exploitation of labor in productive and distributive industries, or channels, under the wage-working system, but also inheres in the distribution of wealth, by storekeepers and sellers of goods, wares and commodities, even though the seller or storekeeper hires no help. If the profits received in such businesses do not aggregate more than the average wages realized by productive and distributive labor, it is clear that such storekeeper or seller robs no one, because he renders to society or the community valuable services and receives no more from the community than fair wages for the labor he performs. Take a "boss” or employing carpenter, painter, blacksmith, printer, tinner or a small storekeeper who hires or does not hire one clerk or more, if such employer or storekeeper does not make more than a decent, comfortable living out of his business or employment, it is clear that he does no injustice to any one and robs no man. If the several employes of such men were to organize themselves into co-operative firms or societies and continue to prosecute their several occupations, the first thing they must do is to rent premises for the occupancy of the business and its materials and tools; next, they must buy material and tools; lastly, they must guarantee to one of their number proportionate average wages to pay him for his services as a "boss” or manager, to contract for jobs, collect bills, buy material, etc., etc. If they should start a co-operative store, they must rent or buy a location, lay in a stock of goods, hire a manager, clerks, etc., and pay all necessary expenses. So that, so far as the small businesses are concerned, nothing can be gained by dispensing with the boss or employer, except that more men might combine in a co-opera-tive enterprise than work for any one employer or buy goods from any one store, and so a less number of bosses, employers and store managers would suffice, and thus a saving could be effected in that direction, such saving being available as an increase to the wage fund, and to that extent increasing the wages of those who actually did the work, or making it possible for the co-operative store to sell more cheaply. The vast majority of our employing managers of productive, distributive and repairing or embellishing industries only manage, by dint of hard work, energy and, prudence, to obtain a fairly decent-and comfortable living and many thousands of them annually are pressed to the wall, fail in business and lose the small capital they had invested. Very few of them, if any, accumulate any wealth, and they are numbered with the 12,350,000 families, who own, upon the average, $1,255 to each family, and not with the 250,000 who possess, upon the average, $186,000 to each family. Rent, interest and the profit that robs the wage-worker, in like manner robs the great bulk of employers and small storekeepers. These men are not the robbers, but should be classified with the robbed, in which category they undoubtedly belong.

Where, then, shall we look for the factor, profit, which robs labor. I will tell you. Look to the vast manufacturing establishments which, after paying salaries to managers, heads of departments and foremen, after paying interest upon borrowed capital or bonded indebtedness, yet pay goodly dividends to a multiplicity of stockholders who, performing no labor about the establishment, yet holding shares of stock representing, in most cases, more than the actual value of the plant. Look in the direction of the forty-three listed trusts in the United States, with a gross capitalization of $1,352,700,000, of which $380,000,000 is water. And yet this list does not include some of the largest and most greedy trusts in the country, because no trustworthy information concerning their capitalization can be secured. Look in the direction of the street railway, water, gas and electric light companies and many other kinds of corporations, which are bonded for all or more than they cost, and yet pay, in addition to the interest upon the bonds, good, fat dividends upon a capitalization as great in amount as the bonded indebtedness. These are the profits which rob and oppress all productive and distributive labor and play an important part in the concentration of wealth in the hands of the few and the absorption of the total net annual increase in wealth. Then there are the telegraph, telephone and express companies, which must not be forgotten. It is impossible to give even an approximate statement of the profits extorted from the people by these trusts and corporations. It is estimated that the capitalization of telegraph, telephone and electric railways and electric lighting and supply companies is more than one billion dollars, the Western Union Telegraph Co. alone realizing net profits of $7,812,725 in 1890. I shall hazard the assertion that the net profits, over and above a good living for all who actually were entitled to a living out of the various industries, businesses and occupations,

amounted in the year 1890 to $385,000,000, apportioned as follows: Railroad dividends $ 85,000,000 Net profit to all manufacturing industries, 5 per cent. on four billions 200,000,000 Dividends paid by street car, water, gas, electric light and express, telegraph and telephone companies and large mercantile establishments... 100,000,000 Total $385,000,000 George C. Ward.

BETWEEN TWO STOOLS.

The Western Democracy Hates to Be Swallowed Up, but Realises That Clevelandism Is Not Pure Democracy. The following “deadly parallel” clearly illustrates the perplexing and varying states of mind experienced by a western democrat who, while desiring to espouse and champion the cause of the people, hates to give up the name “democrat.” There will be no fu- Later. slon in Kansas here- We observe with a .after between the pop- great deal of surprise uilsts and democrats. that the Topeka AdvoThey will be united In cate.*recent!r made tbo the party of the people, official state paper, is fighting for Kansas and counseling Its readers home. No tariff qnes- against a continuation tlons or bloody shirt of a friendly comblnuracket can divide us. tlon with the demoelther. Those who per- crats. Has the editor sist In keeping up a gone insane or it he sedemocratlc party will cretly in sympathy with do so at the expense of the republicans and being called republican "stalwarts" to divide abettors, Republican- the opposition and hand ism, us practiced by the the stato over to re- * machine in control ot publtcanlsm again? TTjo that party, means dos- Press will be excused potisin, the overthrow if it follows the caustio of law and order, and advice of Judge Foster corporations and all last fall and "sits must, now take the down," If It has to fight choice of being on the the official state paper side of rule by the peo- as well as the republlople or corporation rule, an press of the state— There is no middle Topeka Press, ground.—Topeka Press. The worthy editor of the Topeka Advocate, Dr. McLallin, is right, as indeed he usually is. The people's party haa no syiqpathies in common with modern, or Cleveland, democracy, and after an experience of two years with the policy of the administration headed by Goldwurap Clevelamband his cabinet of corporation attorneys and syndicate stockholders, there will be no democratic party in the west or south. The Kansas City Times is an average representative of the present goldolatrous corporation loving and Nhylock worshiping administration, and yet the St. Louis Republic speaks thus’ ’unkindly of the Times and Its idol:

"The Kunsas City Times Is now owned by a syndicate of money lenders with headquarters in New Kngland, and, naturally enough, it is displeased with the distinctively western speech made 1/y Gov. Htone in New York the other day. Its proprietors will find by longer experience that the money they invest in buying up newspapers to be used in attacking the representatives of the people is worse than wasted. It is easy to see that the articles intended for this purpose would not appear in any newspaper not owned by money lenders or subsidized by them. Instead of convincing anyone they simply spend their money to increase the prejudice against their business and against the methods they use to put their own above the public interest. "In his New York speech Gov. Htone represented the people of the Mississippi valley. They are an honest and conservative people, but they do not propose to submit forever to the dictation of the few thousand people in New England and New York who own or hold mortgages on a great part of the wealth of the valley. The curse of a non-resident nobility holding the land on its own terms has kept Ireland in poverty and degradation, but the nonresident plutocracy that seeks permanent control of the valley is more rapacious than the landlords of Ireland.

“Gov. Stone told these people that the valley means to be self-governing, and that it is capable of casting its votes in congress and in the electoral college to defend its own rights and interests. “There seems to be nothing peculiarly alarming about this, but there are people who regard it as little if any better than the rant of Johann Most. Such people cry out ‘crank’ and ‘anarchist’ when the people of the valley show any disposition to interfere with policies that are approved by Wall street and Boston money lenders. “The states of the valley will make no distinctively sectional movement, but they will have their rights, and if issues are forced against them they will meet the issues in the best and most temperate spirit possible. But they will not back an inch. They are going forward, not backward. “Attempts to check this movement by buying up newspapers ip the leading cities of the valley and in New York will simply result in producing greater antagonism towards professional usurers as a class. Their open interference in politics and their attempts to muzzle the press will be hotly resented by the masses of the people on whom they are unwisely thrusting issues that for the welfare of the country were better left to adjust themselves by natural processes.” • Thus does the Republic throw down the gauntlet to the plutocratic wing of the democracy, clearly recognizing that the democratic party is split in twain and the battle henceforth is between the people and the plutocrats. The Press and the Republic must give up their party name or offer their principles as a sacrifice upon the altar of Shylock. Which will they do? Geobge C. Ward.

That Ricks Decision.

“I consider this decision,” says James N. Ashley, Jr., vice president of the Toledo, Ann Arbor & North Michigan railroad, in reference to the Judge Ricks decision, “an acknowledgement of the power of the state to regulate the action both of railroad corporations and the employes whenever the public interests are affected. The. railroads of the country must be nationalized, and I consider this decision only a step in the evolution toward that end. I have no doubt that the decision of Judge Ricks will be sustained, and that the decision of Judge Gresham in the case of the C., B. & Q. strike will eventually be overturned.” The republican senate of Minnesota has passed a resolution asking congress to nationalize the coal fields. Here in Kansas where populists advocate such measures, it is sneered at as “paternalism.''—Kansas City Sun.