People's Pilot, Volume 6, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 July 1896 — Page 1

People’s Party Congressional convention July 16,1896, Rensselaer, Ind, “Stump” Ashby of Texas, orator.

VOL. VI.

THE NEXT HEIR.

Founded on Actual Occurrence in American Life.

Back numbers of the Pilot containing this story will be kept on hand at this office. New subscribers can begin th-ir time with the first chapter of story and receive all back copies. Ten cents pays for the Pilot thirteen weeks, from April 30 to July 23 inclusive, to new subscribers only.

“I am a handsome woman, and a rich one,” she said aloud. “Many a man has sought my hand, striven hard to win even a smile; it is somewhat humiliating to know that the only two of my admirers whom I ever cared about should both have been charmed away from me by a little country girl.” t She laughed at the thought, though not altogether merrily, and sat down, tapping the floor with her foot impatiently.

“I had my chance with Frank before she did, and lost it. Do such chances ever come twice, I wonder? It is the old story of the fox and the grapes again. What is the reason that I never value anythii?g at its true worth until it is out of my reach? I never even thought of falling in love with Frank myself, until I began to pity him for his hopeless passion for another » woman. “As to his having‘done with love and marriage,’ that is folly. He will love again some day. First love is seldom the last love; no, nor the truest, nor the strongest; I imagined myself quite desperate about Cyril when I was about fifteen, while now—well, Dolly is welcome to him. “Dolly! She must be saved! First, for sweet charity’s sake and the honor of woman hood; secondly, to satisfy Frank and get her off my mind. Pity for her sorrows, indignation at hen Wrongs, help to keep the memory of his old love alive; but when she is Cyril’s wife Frank will forget her. I must see Dolly herself.” Having come to this conclusion, she lost no time about putting her resolve into execution.” “Cyril is to call this afternoon,” she reflected. “This afternoon, then, I shall find her alone. I’ll go.” - She made ready quickly and went out alone, leaving word for Mr. Huntsford (if he should call during her absence) that she had been compelled to attend to a matter of business in person, but would be delighted to have him wait for her return or call again in about an hour.

“So I am sure of keeping him in the city while I find out how matters are up-town,” she thought. “If I find the girl as innocent and as .foully wronged as Frank thinks, I’ll take her away with me at once.” With this resolve she called a ca rriage, and giving the man poor Dolly’s address, directed him to drive her there as quickly as possible. “It will be a painful interview,” she thought, shuddering slightly. “I should feel like shrinking from the ordeal but for Frank. No doubt the poor creature is quite unsuspicious of the storm that is about to burst over her. What should she know of the villainy and cruelty ofmen? Poor little ignorant country girl!” The carriage dashed away, May looking impatiently from the window as each minute lessened the distance between herself and her most innocent and unconscious rival. At last they reached the street. May sank back on her cushion nervously. “In another minute we shall meet,” she said. “God help us both! Of course she will be alone.’’ At that instant as the coach drew up in front of the pretty little house, a gentleman passed through the gate and let himself in the door with a latch-key. He ascended the staircase swiftly and noiselessly, and entered a bedroom on the upper floor that overlooked the street. There, hidden closely behind the window-blind, he watched the carriage and saw its lovely occupant alight. She rever suspected his presence or espionage; no one had seen him enter. A curse, “not aland blit deep, ” broke from between his close set teeth as he saw her face. “Perdition! She’S found us out! The game is up!” ' It was Fred. Next moment the driver’s loud peal at the bell startled the quiet house, and made Dolly raise her aching head suddenly from its pillows, and sit up, wondering. “Whoever can that be?” she thought. “I ’have no visitors- —” ' And she began to tremble too.

FOR THE FREE AND UNLIMITED COINAGE OF SILVER AND GOLD AT THE RARITY RATIO OF SIXTEEN TO ONE WITHOUT REFERENCE TO ANY OTHER NATION ON EARTH.

A Thrilling Recital of Adventure and Love.

THE PEOPLE’S PILOT.

CHAPTER XXIV.

AN IMPORTANT INTERVIEW. “A lady to see you, ma’am, on business,” announced’ Rose. “She said she wouldn’t give her name, ma’am, as, if she did. you wouldn’t know it.” . Rose was so startled by the unu»u<*i event which she announced, that she-made the communication in a sort of awed whisper. ari d etared at her young mistress in astonishment. “The first visitor in more than six months!’’ she murmured. “I’d given up expecting te see any!” Dolly was quite as mudh surprised and even more ilurried—the poor Jittl- wife’s health was not so strong as formerly, a small matterjexcited and fatigued her now. “Whocan’she be, Rose?” she whispered, ly“A beauty, anyways” opined Rose. “She’s that*bandsome and that proud and that richly dressed that’s she’s a sight to see. She asked for Mrs. Vernon, pat enough; maybe she's some relation of the master’s ma’am.” That suggestion fluttered Dolly worse than ever., “Oh, if Cyril were only home!” she cried, ?‘or even Fred!” Poor child! Fred was nearer at hand than any of them dreamed of, as she afterwards learned to her cost “I wouldn’t go down at all if you don’t feel able,” said faithful Rose. “I’ll tell the lady you’re sick.” “Cyril might be angry,” said Dolly, hesitating iy“But if you mean to see her, ma’am, I wouldn’t keep her waiting,” Rose went on. Finally Do’lly went down. She paused a moment at the parlor door, then entered, with a wildly beating heart. May had been waiting with what patience she might, her naturally ardent temperament and self-reliant mind urging her to get this unpleasant business over as quickly as possible. “It is of .no use to arrange beforehand what I shall say to her,” she thought, “that must depend upon circumstances. Ido wish she would qpme.” The wish was granted almost as it was expressed. Softly and timidly the door opened and'a little white robed figure glided in. Neither of the ladies spoke at first. Dolly after one swift, wistful, pleading glance at' her unknown visitor, cast down her eyes; while May —with a world of honest womanly sympathy expressed in her lovely, animated face—examined her hostess keenly and understaudingly.

What did she see? More in one jninubethan the timid creature’s lips would have tbld her in two hours. A young girl, delicate and pure, not strong, not happy, not bright and hopeful, ’ as youth should be, even in its hours of trial—but timid, shrinking and cast down. A beautiful fiower-like face, though somewhat pale and worn, framed in a floating radiance of golden hair; pleading blue eyes, to which the tears sprang but too easily, and a languid, graceful, form that might rather be guessed at than criticised. because of the long, loose flowing robe that enveloped and half concealed it. In short a wife, whether legally or not ; a wife, neglected and sorrowful; a woman, approaching the great crisis of a woman’s life; young, inexperienced, unadvised, unprotected, weighted down by fears—poor in hopes, and oh, how sad of heart! I have told you this by the slow medium of words and pen. but May’s informants were her sharp eyes and warm heart. That heart yearned toward the gentle, friendless creature whom she supposed so foully wronged. Dolly’s listlessness and languor touched her keenly. Rising quickly from her chair, which chanced to be Cyril’s favorite easy one, she drew it forward and impulsively laid her hand on Dolly’s arm. “Pray sit here,” she said, with infinite gentleness of tone and manner. “Dqn’t‘‘stand; you are not well I’m sure.” Dolly started and gazed into her eyes. What she saw there I cannot tell, but the quick tears sprang into her own. Her pale cheeks crimsoned with a sudden, innocent shame. She clasped her hands and uttered a little cry. Next minute May’s arms were round her; she was placed gently in the easy chair. Her golden head lay pillowed tenderly and close upon May’s pitying breast. Few words passed betwen them at first, May devoting herself to the task of consoling and soothing, Dolly yielding contentedly to the sweet and somewhat rare experience of being sympathized with and caressed. At last May caught the young wife’s little left hand in hers, hud softly laid a finger on the wedding-ring. . “Where did he marry you, dear?” she asked gently. Continued on Second Page.

'RENSSELAER IND., THURSDAY, JULY 2. 1896.

Free Coinage or Bankruptcy.

Following in the wake Of the President, Mr. Whitney has assumed the role of warning the democratic party, as it will soon be represented by'its chosen delegates in national convention assembled, against declaring for tlje restoration of silver to its place as money—against upholding the financial and industrial as well as political in dependence of our people. Subserviency in matteis of financial and industrial policy to the dictation of the money cliques of Great Britain has been the keynote of Mr. Cleveland’s utterances. So, also. iMr. Whitney declares that we must remain subservient to Great Britain; that we must not think of restoring bimetallism until the British government, controlled by the creditor classes, expresses willingness to cooperate with us to that end. No steps must we take to restore bimetallism. until we have the consent and approval of those who, prompted by selfish motives and by the hope of enrichment apd self-aggrandizement at the expense of the producing classes, have advocated the gold standard with the avowed purpose of doubling the burden of ail debts. Such is the advice of Mr. Whitney and others of this type of international bimetallists who, whHe professing friendlines to bimetallism, refuse to take any steps to bring it about. The demonetization of silver was conceived and carried out by the creditor classes intent on increasing the purchasing power of gold and thereby increasing the value of all debts. Just as gold has appreciated and prices have fallen, an unjust tribute has been 'aid on all debtors, and this tribute the creditor classes have enjoyed. The discarding of silver as a money metal, leading to the appreciation of gold and consequent fall of prices has doubled the Quantity of produce that we must export in payment of interest charges to our foreign creditors. We are lequired to give our foreign creditors two bushels of wheat and two pounds of cotton where justice requires but one. The labor cost of producing Cotton and wheat has not fallen with the fall in price. It takes as much expenditure of labor and energy io raise the bushel of wheat and bale of cotton to-day as twenty years ago, yet the debt-paying power of wheat and cotton, as of commodities in general, has been cut in half by the fall in prices, a fall due to the cheapening of production, not to any natural increase of competition, but to the appre ciation of gold. And this appreciation of gold has been engineered by the creditor classes with the purpose of depressing prices, and thus doubling the sacrifice of labor, and the products of labor, which their debtors must surrender to them in satisfaction of their debts.

Thus, when their debtors have remained solvent the creditor classes have been benefitted by the fall in prices. And in great Britain the money lenders of London, or rather the traffickers in credit, are all powerful. To the creditor classes of great Britain the whole world is in debt to an amount estimated by none at not less than ten billion dollars and by some as high as twenty billion dollars. Some idea of the immensity of the indebtedness of the rest of the world to England can be formed by a study of the trade statistics of Great Britain. As we had occasion to state last week, Great Britain’s purchases of commodities for the year 1895 exceeded her exports to the value of £130,547,693. This

much more she bought than she sold, yet she was not called upon •to export any gold in payment. On the contrary, she imported gold to an amount of £14,736,715 in excess of her imports. And why? Simply because the world’s indebtedness to London on account of interest payments and freights owned by British ship-owners from foreigners, and* representing interest on British capital invested in ships and placed at the service of others, more than offset the immense adverse balance of £130,547,698 incurred on account of purcbascs ssade by Great Bri tian

in excess of her sales. So instead of England being called upon to export gold in payment for her tremendous imports of merchandise in excess <> f exports the United States and other debtor nations, failing to export commodities to a sufficent volume to meet their indebtedness in entirety, were obliged to send het gold for rhe balance. Here, then, we have a tribute of the debtor nations of the world to the creditor classes of Great Britain of over $700,000,000 of annual tribute will buy and the greater to debtor nations will be the burden of this tribute. The appreciation of gold which has cut prices in half has in effect practically doubled this tribute. When our foreign creditors are ready to voluntarily diminish this tribute by aiding in the restoration of bimetallism with a view to checking the fall in prices, then Mr. Whitney ttells us. it will be time enough for us think of restoring bimetallism.

But when may we expect the British government, controlled as it is by the creditor classes to co operate in the res toration of bimetallism? When will these creditor classes voluntarily abandon a policy that so long as their debtors remain solvent enriches them? Surely it is folly to wait for those who benefit from an appreciating dollar to co-operate with us in restoring bimetallism. It is true that in the long run, the immoral is often the expedient, and that gold monometallism, if persisted in, will end in the inability of debtors to pay either interest or principal. But the creditor classes of Great Britian will never advocate bimetallism until ;hey have succeeded in confiscating the property of their debtors. Then, as owners of property, their interests will be in restoring’ bimetallism and raising prices; but not If we wait upon Great Britain, we will wait until property of our industrial classes has been confisqated by /foreign money-lenders; until&ur producing classes have been bankrupted and reduced to poverty, misery and despair; apd until the foreign bondholder, who now lays tribute upon us, has given place to a foreign landlord ready to lay tribute upon us in Lis new role. Yet Mr. Whitney tells us that any move on our part to lift the yoke of vassalage to Great Britain and free our producing classes from the onerous tribute that now rests upon them must end in disaster, Mr. Whitney tells us in effect that it is sound money or disaster; that any attempt on our part to do away with the two hundred cent dollar that is sapping our vitality must end in disaster. The truth is disaster can only be averted by doing away with this two-hundred-cent dollar. The alternatives that confront us are not sound money or disaster but free coinage or bankruptcy. Unless we open our mints to silver, check the appreciation of gold and free our producing classes from the onerous tribute to the creditor classes of Great Britian which the appreciating gold standard lays upon them, bankruptcy is inevitable.

Mr. Whitney tells us free coinage would mean silver monometallism. On the contrary, Lee coinage would force bimetallism. Why the opening of our mints to silver could not fail to re establish bimetallism and the parity between gold and silver we have pointed out in another editorial. Mr. Whitney tells us our international exchanges must be paid in gold, and he tells us the interest and principal of the obligations we have given to our foreign credi-tors-mortgages, railroads bonds, etc. —are quite generally made payable specifically in gold. But it is with commodities not gold, that we pay our foreign creditors. It is not a question of the number of grains of gold called for. in our bonds and mortgages, but of the sacrifice of labor and the expenditure of energy we must make to obtain those precious grains of gold. Our creditors do not want gold for gold’s sake. They have no use fpr gold save to spend it, and they will spend it where It Will buy the most. So, if it will buy more in America than else-

where, they will spend it in America, taking our commodities in payment in place of gold.' When prices are high then gold is cheap and our foreign charges payable in gold are not onerous; but. just as prices fall gold becomes dear and the burden of our foreign debt become s harder to bear. We say the interest on our for eign debt to our British creditors by exports of commodities sold in England. The higher the prices we get. the lighter will be the burden of our indebtedness; and the opening of our mints to silver will enable our producers to get higher prices. How? Simply because the increased demand for silver caused by opening pur mints to silver and the decreasedfdemand for gold due to the throwing upon silver, equally with gold the burden of effecting our ex changes and supporting our credit fabric, would cause the gold-price of silver to rise until the parity between gold and silver at the old ratio would be restored. And. just as silver rose the cost to all gold-using people buying in silver-using countries and paying with silver, would rise with the gold-price in silver or silver exchange which they have to buy and send in settlement for purchases made in. such countries.

So just as silver rose, the Brit ish trader would turn to us to make the purchases of cotton and wheat and other produce he has bought, since the demonetization of silver, in ever enlarging volume, from countries in which gold is at a premium as measured in their currencies. Consequently, the price our producers could demand for their products would increase, and just as the prices received for our exports, rose, the burden of our indebted ness would be lightened. Thus, by opening our mints to silver we can escape bankruptcy, which if we adhere to the con-stantly-appreciating gold standard, is inevitable;

Janper Connty Convention.

Voters of the People’s Partywill meet in convention at their usual places of meeting in the several townships of Jasper County, Ind., July 11, 1896, aV 2 o’clock p m., for the purpose of electing delegates to the district convention to be held at Rensselaer, July 16, 1896. Under the call,Jasper County is entitled to twenty-four delegates, being one at large from each township, and one for each fifty or major fraction of fifty votes cast for Dr. Robinson for Sec. of State in 1894, By this apportionment the different townships are entitled to delegates as follows: Hanging Grove, 1 Gillam ' 2 Walker 1 Barkley, 2 Marion 3 Jordan, 3 Newton 1 Keener. 2 Kankakee 1 Carpenter 3 Milroy 1 union, 3 Wheatfield 1

hach township will also chopse one delegate, and Carpenter, Jordan and Union, one additionaldelegate to the stateconvention to be held at Indianapolis, July 28, 1896. The district convention at Rensselaer will choose two delegates to the people’s party national convention to be held at St. Louis, July 22, 1896. Let every voter see to it, that he is properly represented at these meetings. J. A. McFarland, Chairman Co.Cen.Co L. Strong, Sec<-

No one doubts that It 1s the money of . the rich that “pays the freight” for the campaigns of both old parties; then how can the people reasonably expect anything out of them? No doubt the populists of Oregon elected their two congressmen, but the majorities were small and the republicans could not resist the temptation to "count in” their own men. The free-silver-inside-the-party democrats are to be made ’scapegoats for the plutocratic gold bugs, by being permitted to indorse silver at Chicago and thus divide the free silver

NUMBER 2.