People's Pilot, Volume 6, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 September 1896 — RIDICULOUS SLANDER. [ARTICLE]

RIDICULOUS SLANDER.

COLD-BUG ATTACK ON THE WEST AND SOUTH. Some Statistics that Make the Slander* Ridiculous Shows How Completely Blinded by Madness the Gold-Bus Champions Have Become. Our goldbug friends have gone mad in their determination to rule this country in. the interest of the classes. Long before Mr. Cleveland took occasion to Insult, in a public gathering, the western states, eastern publications have found great enjoyment in making light of the best section of the United States. Since then some of the eastern newspapers and many of their speakers have taken occasion to speak slightingly of the west. But perhaps the most outrageous reference of this character was that made by the New York Commercial Advertiser of Tuesday, June 23. The New York Commercial Advertiser says: ’‘THE FACT IS, AND THE SOONER INTELLIGENT PEOPLE REALIZE IT THE BETTER, THAT A LARGE SECTION OF THE COUNTRY, LYING CHIEFLY SOUTH OF MASON AND DIXON’S LINE AND WEST OF THE' MISSISSIPPI RIVER, IS PEOPLED BY MEN WHO ARE UNFITTED IN MANY RESPECTS, OR AT LEAST IN SOME RESPECTS, TO EXERCISE THE FULL FRANCHISE OF CITIZENSHIP OF THE UNITED STATES.” Now this ridiculous attack does not injure either the west or the south, but it serves to show how completely blinded by madness have the goldbug champions become. The section lying south of Mason and Dixon’s line is “peopled by men” who have demonstrated the right to yank among the best and most progressive American citizens. They have by their loyalty to-day largely overcome the prejudices engendered by the civil war. By their enterprise and industry they have overcome the disasters of that war and have rapidly transformed the battlefields into great productive plantations. They are a noble, generous people, as devoted to the flag by which they were once conquered as the people of any other section of our common country. Speaking for the section “lying west of the Mississippi river,” the WorldHerald refers to the editor of the New York Commercial Advertiser to the records of' the census bureau:

The census reports on church statistics say: "The highest percentages of the population represented by communicants are not found in the oldest states, nor in fact in any of the states, but in the territories.” Of the twentyone states whose high percentages in this respect are given, only six are eastern states. New Mexico territory leads the list with a percentage of 68.85 communicants to Its total population. Utah'comes next with 61.62 per cent, and Arizona territory follows with 45.24 per cent. The percentage of New York is 36.21; that of Massachusetts is 42.11; Connecticut’s is 41.45. Compare the “North Atlantic states,” comprising the New England states and New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, with all the states west of the Mississippi river. The aggregate population of the “North Atlantic states” is about 17,000,000; that of the trans-Mississippi states about 17,000,000. The census bureau shows that in these “North Atlantic states” there are 28,258 criminals, while in all of the trans-Mississippi states combined the number of criminals is 22,300. The proportion of criminals to the population in the “North Atlantic states” is 1 in 616; that of the trans-Missis-sippi. states is 1 in 738. The census bureau shows the ratio of criminals to 1,000,000 people for each state, Nebraska, a representative trans-Mississippi state, stands sixth in the rank of states showing the lowest ratio. lowa and North Dakota stand first, each with a ratio of 531 criminals to 1,000,000 persons; South Dakota follows with a ratio of 541; "West Virginia is fourth with a rati© of 590; Vermont is fifth with 602; Nebraska is sixth with 619. The ratio otf criminals to the 1,000,000 persons in the states is as follows: Ratio of criminals to 1,000,000 persons. lowa 531 North Dakota 531 South Dakota 541 West Virginia 590 Vermont 602 Nebraska 619 Wisconsin 663 Maine 774 Ohio 792 Minnesota 800 Delaware>..... 825 New Hampshire 853 Indiana 907 Mississippi 913 Illinois 1,029 Michigan 1,029 South Carolina 1,029 Missouri 1,057 Kentucky •. 1,135 Virginia 1,208 Pennsylvania .1,243 North Carolina 1,257 Arkansas 1,306 Connecticut 1,375 Tennessee 1,387 Maryland 1,441 Georgia 1,599 Rhode Island 1,621 Alabama 1,664 New Jersey 1*699 Florida 1,704 New York 1,912 District of Columbia 2,153 Massaachusetts 2,335 It is interesting to observe the tabß showing the change in the ratio in ten years in the several states. In ten years the ratio of criminals to the 1,000.000 persons increased 222 per 1,000,000 in Connecticut; Delaware increased 273: Maine. 150: Maryland/ 94:

Massachusetts,329; New Hampshire, 78; New Jersey, 308; New York. 195; Pennsylvania, 106; Rhode Island, 475; Wisconsin, 215; Nebraska, for instance, decreased 203. These figures represent the ten-year Increase in the states named of the ratio of criminals to the 1,000,000 persons. In the ratio of juvenile offenders to the 1,000,000 persons Massachusetts is 312; Connecticut, 839; New York, 613; Maine, 256; New Hampshire, 271; Vermont, 259; Rhode Island, 781; New Jersey, 421; Maryland, 1,018; District of Columbia, 812; Ohio, 416; Indiana, 290; Michigan, 332. Nebraska’s ratio is 224, and Nebraska is only a representative trans-Mississippi state. Take the matter of paupers. Nebraska, a representative western state, has 275 paupers to the 1,000,000 persons. Georgia, a representative southern state, has a ratio of only 490. Now compare these ratios with those of some of the eastern states. Maine has 1,756 paupers to the 1,000,000; Massachusetts has 2,110 paupers to the 1,000,000; New Hampshire has 3,036 paupers to the 1,000,000; New Jersey has 1,881 paupers to the 1,000,000; New York has 1,713 paupers to the 1,000,000; Pennsylvania has 1,646 paupers to the 1,000,000; Rhode Island, 1,418; Vermont, 1,663. If the editor of the New York Commercial Advertiser will join the crowds that will be rushing to Omaha in 1898 we will give him a bird’s-eye view of the people of the Trans-MiS-sisslppi section. We will guarantee in advance that he will be Impressed by the fact that his foot is planted upon the best part of United States soil, and that he is honored by mingling with people whose Industry, intelligence and integrity have helped to make this the greatest nation on earth. —Omaha World-HeraJd.