People's Pilot, Volume 6, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 February 1897 — Page 2

The Peoples Pilot. F, D. Craig, Editor. RENSSELAER, - - - IND 1

Direct legislation will purify our politics. Boodle seems to be running this country. Both of the old party machines are founded on pie. The greatest trust in this country is the money trust. Socialism is growing rapidly on the continent of Europe. We would like to see a few farmers in Congress for a change. American workingmen seem to have more brains than backbone. Whoever opposes direct legislation opposes government by the people. There were only thirteen candidates for United States senator in Illinois. Improved methods of production demand a new system of distribution. Any kind of a government promise is worth more than that of the old parties. When farming becomes profitable every other legitimate business will flourish. If the banks persist in speculating ’ on credit, they should be required to J furnish the credit.

Every Populist should attend the meeting of the Reform Press Association at Memphis, February 22. The gold reserve is now more than §140,000,000. but prosperity seems to have missed connection with it. The declaration of independence seems to have no part in our government except on the 4th of July. Managing a national campaign is no "infant industry,” yet it requires a great deal of “boosting” to help it along. It is reported that nearly half the people of Liverpool receive charitable relief. And this is in gold-standard England. The annual product of gold is rapidly incrasing, and the gold bugs may want it demonetized themselves within a few years. When a man borrows money out of a bank he has to give security; why should not the bank give security when a man deposits money with it? India is afflicted with what scientists call the bubonic plague. It is almost as fatal as the financial plague with which the United States is afflicted. It seems that Hanna is trying to sidetrack the regular State Republican machine in Ohio to the end of placing himself in the United States Senate.

The Rothschilds, having cornered about all the gold on top of the earth, are now evidently trying to obtain possession of what silver there Is in the earth. It costs England more than SIOO,000,000 annually to support her navy, but there are three or four trusts in the United States that cost the people a greater sum. There is danger of the people being swindled even in a foreclosure of the mortgage on the Pacific roads. No bid should be considered for less than the full amount of the indebtedness. The promises of politicians are a weak platform on which to build the hopes of the republic. Let us have the Referendum and Imperative Mandate. These will unhorse the scheming politicians. Our Revolutionary fathers said in the Declaration of Independence that a people have a right to “alter or abolish a government,” but the plutocrats call that kind of doctrine anarchy. Who is right? The Pacific railroads owe the government more than they are worth, and more than the managers intend to pay; therefore the government should foreclose its mortgage and bid them in, and operate them itself. At last accounts Senator Wolcott, who was sent to Europe to go through the motion of trying to secure international bimetallism, had the Rothschilds by the ear. It is the wrong sow, senator. Rothschilds want their pay in 200-cent dollars and will never consent to anything else. The Tennessee legislature wanted Tillman to put up a $25,000 bond to contest the election in that state. They value the office pretty high, but that is not as extravagant a demand as the one the Arkansas legislature made on Norwood in 1888. They wanted him to put up $40,000 to contest. President Cleveland’s jumping-jack, Mister Eckels, says It is only the "rotten banks that are failing.” Why, of course, how could a sound one fail—but there ahe no sound ones, therefore only a part of the rotten ones are failing. Nothing is sound that is based on confidence and does most of its business on credit.

A LIVING TRUTH.

MAN IS THE TRUE STANDARD OF VALUE. | “The Social and Industrial System Is to lie Measured, Not by the Wealth It l’roduces But by the Men It Produces.” I Dr. Lyman Abbott has long been an advanced leader of thought in many lines. Whatever subject he touches he illumines, for his mind is clear and free and his purpose is ever inspired by loftiest intent. That he has of late turned his attention to socio-economic problems is a promise that these pressing questions will be presented in such form-as to command the respectful attention of-all; that others, groping toward the light, will by him be pointed out the safe and sure way. “Christianity and Social Problems” is the suggestive title of a new book just from his pen, and the noble character of the work and the high humanitarianism which runs through it all is seen in the extracts which appear below, to which we are indebted to the Literary Digest: “ ‘The social and industrial system is to be measured, not by the wealth it produces, but by the men it produces; not by the abundance of the material things, but by the kind of men developed in the process. Man is the standard of value, not things. An industrial system, then, must produce good men and good women or tend to produce them. If it does not. it fails, measured by Christ’s standard.’ Thus Dr. Abbott takes issue with the old political economy which declared itself concerned simply with wealth and with men ply as wealth-producers. That is to say, he holds, with a number of moderns, that economics, of necessity dealing with man as an intelligent and moral being, must be ethical.- He asserts that the question whether' the wage system is better than feudalism or slavery has been settled, but against the present industrial system as either final or true he makes these counts: (1) That it is not giving steady and permanent employment to all willing laborers. (2) That it also fails to give all those who are employed under it wages adequate for true livelihood. (3) That, it is insufficiently educative in itself and fails to allow adequate leisure for educative processes. (4) That pure, good homes are in many instances impossible under present conditions. “‘I believe,’ he declares, ‘that the system which divides society into two classes, capitalists and laborers, is but a temporary one, and that the industrial unrest of our time is the result of a blind struggle toward a democracy, of wealth, in which the tool-users will also be the tool-owners; in which labor will hire capital, not capital labor; in which men, not money, will control in industry, as they now control in government. But the doctrines that labor is a commodity, and that capital is to buy in the cheapest market, is not even temporarily sound; it is economically false as it is ethically unjust.

“ ‘There is no such commodity as labor; it does not exist. When a workingman comes to the factory on a Monday morning he has nothing to sell; he is empty-handed; he has come in order to produce something by his exertion, and that something, when it is produced, is to be sold, and part of the proceeds of that sale will of right belong to him, because he has helped to produce it. And as there is no labor commodity to be sold, so there is no labor market in which to sell it. * * * Both are fictions of political economy. The actual facts are as follows: “ ‘Most commodities in our time — even agricultural commodities are gradually coming under these conditions—are produced by an organized body of workingmen, carrying on their work under the superintendence of a “captain of industry,” and by the use of costly tools. This requires the cooperation of three classes—the toolowner or capitalist, tho superintendent or manager, and the tool-user or laborer. The result is the joint product of their industry—for the tool itself is only a reservoired product of industry —and therefore belongs to them jointly. It is the business of political economy to ascertain how values can be equitably divided between these partners in a common enterprise. This is the labor question in a sentence.’ ”

“Anything More, My Lord?"

In answering a correspondent, the New York World quotes from the census to show that 3,000 families own over $12,000,000,000 —over twelve thousand million dollars—of the wealth of the United States. At such a time as this the World is not likely to be accused of assisting the democratic party. So, accepting its figures, let us see what they mean. The total assessed value of all real and personal property in Nebraska under the census of 1890 was $184,000,000; Missouri, $887,000,000; Illinois, $809,000,000; Kansas, $347,000,000; Kentucky, $547,000,000; Tennessee, $382,000,000; Colorado, $220,000,000; Texas, $780,000,000; Alabama, $258,000,000; Mississippi, $166,000,000; Indiana, $856,000,000, and California, sl,101,000,000. * ' The combined assessed wealth, real and personal, of these 12 great states of the west and south, as shown by the census of 1890, foots up between $6,000,000,000 and $7,000,000,000, while the combined wealth of 3,000 plutocratic families foots up over $12,000,000,000 —nearly twice as much, -St. Louis Post-Dispatch. i ~ We nominate Cleveland as one of the members of the McKinley cabinet —that is, if he is not too far behind with his fishinsr.

RAILROADS AND FINANCE.

Some Brief Remarks Suggested by Current Events. It is asserted that railroads don’t pay. This is one of the reasons given why the government should not engage in the railroad business. It is also urged as a reason why rates should not be reduced. Notwithstanding this, however, there seems to be a keen desire on the part of those who own the railroads to hold on to them. • • * Take the Pacific railroads for instance. They are covered with a first mortgage loan of §60,000,000. In addition to this they owe the government §120,000,000, making a total of §180,000,000. No one pretends to believe that they cannot be duplicated for a less sum of money, yet the companies are anxious to retain them and promise that if the mortgage is not foreclosed, they will pay off this entire Indebtedness. * * * President Cleveland informs us that he has the assurance of capitalists that in case of foreclosure, bids will be made to make the government safe on its investment. We very much doubt this. There is a possibility that in the foreclosure process there may be a dead African in the woodpile. Unless the government intends to make a bid to protect itself there is a chance for it to lose every dollar of its claim. In the interest of good business policy it should do this, and if it fails to do so there is room for suspicion of collusion and fraud. * * * In the light of Mr. Cleveland's past transactions too much confidence should not be placed in the zeal he displays to the end of a settlement of the Pacific railroads’ edaim. It cannot be forgotten that the negotiation of the $62,000,000 bond deal with the Morgan syndicate, through his former partner, left a cloud of suspicion on him that excited much comment at the time. Dispatches inform us that two syndicates have already been formed for the purpose of buying in the roads provided they are put up at public auction. How are we to know that Mr. Cleveland is not financially interested in these syndicates along with other government officials?

* * * That would most certainly be a brilliant scheme, and some things begin to point to its consummation. It would be necessary to have two syndicates to bid against each other (ostensibly) to give the sale the appearance of being conducted legitimately. After all this may be just what the companies want. It was stated in this discussion of the Huntington bill that the terms were not as good as the Union Pacific Company had offered. It is possible that they were made purposely to secure its defeat, and to the end of settling the matter by foreclosure. No sane person believes that a syndicate of capitalists will bid more for the roads than they are worth, and they are not worth $180,000,000. As the $60,000,000, most of which is said to be held by the present owners of the road, take precedence to the government claim, it looks like Uncle Sam may be left out entirely, unless he exercises the wisdom of a business man and protects himself by putting in a bid. » v * There is, however, in the situation one ray of hope for the people. If the government secures possession of these roads it will prove the entering wedge against private or corporate ownership of the means of transportation. It would be a step, and an important one towards the gradual acquirement of all the railroads, and government operation of the same. To prevent this it is possible that the railroad capitalists in the United States would even outbid the government in the sale of these roads. For this purpose they could afford to pay more than they are worth and they might possibly do so to defeat government ownership. But to compel them to do this it would be necessary for the government to bid the full amount of the railroad indebtedness. However it ends, the settlement of this question with the discussion incident to it, is likely to give greater prominence to the transportation problem during the next four years than it has ever had before, and will likely make it one of the principle issues of the next presidential campaign.

The recent sound money convention at Indianapolis is one of the straws which indicate the most prominent issue in the next campaign. There was no talk in that convention of international bimetallism. It regarded the silver question as settled and now sets itself about the task of determining by legislation the form and character of our paper money. It should be observed that the advocates of gold are not opposed to a paper money. On the other hand, they believe that the greater part of our currency should consist of paper. But they are opposed to government paper money, and boldly announce that the government should go out of the banking business. For the same reasons they might, and perhaps will before a great while, oppose the system of government postal money orders, as they take the place of bank checks and exchange. The fight is on, and as Benton once said, “The bank is in the field.” It is the same issue of the banks against the people, and the question involved is whether the people shall issue and control the currency and business of the country, or whether this power shall be delegated, to the

banks.

A gold standard is for the benefit ol the few.

W. S. MORGAN.

DAIRY AND POULTRY.

INTERESTING CHAPTERS FOR OUR RURAL READERS. How Successful Farmers Operate This Department of the Farm —A Few Hints as to the Care of Live Stock and Poultry. ¥T N a recent issue of ttfce Farmers’ Review I saw an article concerning roup. I thought I would write you on —* the matter and also state the ups and downs I have had with this most dreadful disease. I will answer the person who wrote the article in the Review by saying your house is too warm, or perhaps you keep up your birds two or three days at a time in the coldest weather—then when you let them out the change is too much for them. Or perhaps you have too many in one house. What shall you do? Do not shut the house up tight at night, just enough so the combs will not freeze, a warm winter like this. I have closed both windows and doors but very few nights this winter. I eave one or the other open, but not both, for if they are opposite one another it will cause a draft. But if the wind blows in one window it will not do any damage. For treating the birds now sick, make a mixture, mostly lard with a little carbolic acid and red pepper in it. Grease their heads every day for three or four days, that is, the sick ones. Put a little of this mixture in the roof of the mouth, by means of a small cil can that has a good spring bottom that will throw it up into their heads. Then keep a little carbolic acid in their drinking water. Let them all run together, and all that can see to eat and are able to do so will be well in a week or two. Try it and let me hear if it doesn’t work. Of course, if a bird is so weak it can’t eat, I use the hatchet on those, and burn or bury them, but that is not the case once in twenty with me. Better let your birds be a little chilly at night than so warm they will take cold when out next day. Never shut up birds in a box or small house to’doctor them. The air will get foul and kill them surely. Turn them out, and if they die they would die anyway. Of course, judgment should be used, and the birds should never be turned out of doors in a hard storm or put out into a snowbank. Fowls must have fowl air, and that is fresh air, if you want them 1.0 be healthy. I know that many persons will tell you to shut up your sick fowls when you want to doctor them. But I don’t care what they say. I have been fighting the roup for ten or fifteen years. I think I have used every remedy known. I keep from 100 to 200 birds every year, and I think I have not lost six in two years from roup. Now, I expect some breeder will jump on me and say I am a crank or fool, or that my success is merely luck. Well let them say so; only, friends, try my remedy for roup, and if it be not a success write me up. Come and see my birds or write to some of my neighbors if you think that roup robs me of my sleep. True, I can look back five or six years to the time when this disease was a worry to me, but that time is gone, I hope never to return. I do not charge you anything for these cast iron rules, as some may call them, and I have nothing to sell in the medicine line. But these rules have saved my poultry, and why won’t they do the same for you? You may hear more relating to this later, and knowing that many a poor breeder has lost valuable birds for want of this very information, I am putting him only where I once stood myself. I pen this, trusting it may be of use to many and' not fall by the wayside.

Delavan, 111,

Home Market for Cheese. It is often said that Canadians are not cheese eaters, says the Sussex (New Brunswick) Co-operative Parmer. They are not as compared with the people of England and it seems to us for two very bad reasons and one good one. To take the last first, the good reason is the cheapness of meats and other foods, and this is not a reason that we as cheesemakers should really mind. There is a reason, though, that calls for urgent attention, and that is the high retail price of cheese. The other day we went to a store to buy seme good cheese, cheese that was bought from the factory at not more than 9 cents per pound, and what do you Imagine the retail price was? Why, nothing less than 14 cents per pound. This heavy margin, which is general among grocers all over Canada, is one bad reason why. cheese is not popular as a food among our people. It is a gross injustice to the farmers of Canada, a bad habit of trade that should be broken as soon as possible, in the interest not only of the consumer and farmer, but even the storekeepers themselves. A strong stricture on this course is that adopted by the grocers in England, who, although today they are paying very close on 11 cents for their cheese, are retailing it at sixpence per pound and realizing more profit from the business than our men who demand an increase in price of over BO per cent. By their course they create and foster a large consumption of cheese, to the great advantage of our dairymen. The Canadian grocer, when asked about his exorbitant price, claims that it is only sufllcient to cover loss in cutting. If this is so it is only a reflection on his poor management and is not a valid reason. We do not wish to see the grocer handling cheese for nothing, but there is neither right nor wisdom in placing cheese out c.f

consumption by an exwtttant retail profit, and our farmers should see than this price is made right, even if it is necessary to start a co-operative dairy store in every town to do it. Hindrances of Turkey Raising. Myrick. in his book on “Turkeys and How to Grow Them,” says: “The chief hindrances and obstacles to turkeygrowing are human and animal thieves, lice and disease. You can always find a market for your dressed turkeys; you can generally make satisfactory arrangements with your neighbors, if your birds trespass upon their land; but all the obstacles may be overcome by patience, perseverance and intelligence. In the more thickly settled portions of the country, thieves are the worst enemies the turkey grower has. In some parts of New England poultry thieving seems to be a profession with some people, as our court records, when a culprit is caught, will show. But these thieves rarely steal in their own neighborhood. They center in some large town or city and go out by night with teams, five, ten, and sometimes twenty miles in their predatory excursions. If your turkeys roost out of doors, it will be necessary to keep one or more dogs to warn you of the approach of the thieves. Of animals, dogs do more mischief than foxes. If you cannot cure your dog of worrying turkeys, shoot him. For other animals, the gun, traps and poison, judiciously used, are effective remedies. Lice, a great annoyance to the poultry keeper, may be exterminated from your flock, if they get possession, but it is easier to keep them away. If the young turkey begins to droop, refuses to eat, and acts depressed, at once examine the head for lice. You many find three or four large brown ones half buried in the flesh. Remove them and rub the head with sweet oil or fresh lard mixed with kerosene. Examine also the ends of the wings. There you may find some large gray lice, which must be treated in like manner. If you know that all insects, from the largest dragon fly to the minutest hen louse, have no lungs like animals, but breathe through countless pores in their skin, then you will know that what will close these pores will cause suffocation. Dust and grease will do this.”

Tuberculin Test in Kngland. From the Dairy World of London we take the following: During the recent congress of the Sanitary Institute in Newcastle, the compulsory use of the tuberculin test, in order to free our dairy herds from tuberculosis was freely advocated. Some very useful information on the subject has arrived from America, which cannot fail to be interesting to those who followed the papers on the subject. A good example is quoted of a large dairy herd belonging to Mr. G. W. Ladd, of Bloomfield. This was inspected early this year, and several animals condemned and got rid of. The whole of the byres and barns were thoroughly disinfected, and everything done to help on the work of eradication. Six months after he demanded and obtained a second test, which showed that every animal in his herd was free from the disease. In the official report issued by the state a number of such cases are reported, and it is stated that in only some 2 per cent of the herds, tested the second time were traces of disease still to be found.

Milk Regularly. An exchange advises that if you milk at 6 o’clock, morning and evening, do so every day as nearly as you can, says Texas Live Stock Journal. If you feed before milking, do so always, for the cow expects it, and is disappointed if she does not get it before being milked, and the chances are that she will not give down freely and fully. When you commence to milk do not stop until you have finished to the last drop. Many cows will withhold their milk in whole or in part if the milker is not ready to take the milk when she is ready to give it. Any unusual excitement at milking will cause the cow, many times, to withhold her milk. Let each milker have his special cows to milk, and never change milkers, unless obliged to do so. If from any cause or neglect a cow is made to shrink her flow of milk, you probably will not get her back again to her normal flow until she has her next calf. Remember, if you excite or ill treat a cow you pay for it at the expense of impoverished milk. ' Have a Feeding Floor. —We have seen corn thrown to hogs in lots so muddy that the ears would sink in the mud and filth and the hogs had to lift out the ears and carry them to some solid place before they could eat. And yet the farmer called this fattening hogs. When asked why he did not put down a fattening floor, he said he could “not afford it.” The fact is he could not afford to waste feed by throwing it into a mud-hole. The saving of corn and energy is a double saving. It takes feed to produce energy, and if part of the feed is expended in producing rooting power, just so much is wasted and by so much is the cost per pound of growth increased. It pays to have clean ground or floors to feed pigs on, where they waste no corn, and eat in quiet and comfort. —Rural World. The Worden Grape.—A black grape so neary identical in bunch, berry, growth, hardiness and productiveness with the Concord that they can scarcely be distinguished from each other, except the Worden may be a few days earlier, and is more tender in the skin and will not handle and ship as well; subject to rot. —Ex. Animal food being prohibited by the Japanese religion, and milk, being an animal product, is never used In Japan. No milking herds or milk-yard are ever seen. The barn-yard fowl is practically unknown. The hired man on the dairy farm Is fcn important factor.

H. C. Hunt.

THE RECORD BROKEN.

0., B. & Q. ACCOMPLISHES A GREAT FEAT. Special Train of the Burlington Route Runs from Chicago to Denver, 1,025 Miles, at an Average Speed of Nearly 58 Miles an Hour. „ The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy; Railroad has just accomplished tha greatest feat the world has ever known for long-distance fast running. ; It was made in a race against death, to carry Henry J. Mayham of News ,York to the bedside of his dying son in Denver. ‘i The distance from Chicago to Denver, 1,025 miles, was covered in exactly 1,069 minutes’ actual running jtime. This is only a small fraction less than one mile a minute for the longest continuous run ever made by; any railroad in the world. | It was a run made in the ordinary, course of business. No special preparation whatever had been contemplated for the trip. In exactly fortysour minutes from the time the order jfor the train was received the throttle pf the engine was pulled open and the jtrain glided out of the Union Depot on p. race which surprised railroad men the world over. | The engine which took the train on the first run out of Chicago to Galesjburg had just come in from Aurora (pulling a regular passenger train. No time was spent in cleaning up, but it |Was quickly turned around, attached to jthe special train and manned by the same engineer who had brought it to Chicago. Not more than a half dozen jofficials or employes of the road knew: the trip was to be made. This fapt is (the most important in the history of the great feat, as it demonstrates the .superb physical condition of the road and the perfect management which enables such remarkable time to be jmaintained for more than a thousand •miles. J The time made by the record-break-ing train is as follows, including all jstops: (From Chicago Miles. Time. jTo Galesburg 163 2h. 56m. iTo Burlington 206 3h. 48m. [To Pacific Jet 482 9h. sm. JTo Lincoln ....- 541 lOh. 11m. iTo Hastings 638 12h. 3m. To McCook 7ft) 14h. 15m. To Denver 1,025 18h. 53m. Average time, including stops, 54.3 miles per hour. Average time, excluding stops, 57.54 riles per hour. The first stop made by the train after leaving Chicago was at Sixteenth street for supplies, where four minutes were consumed. At Aurora the traveling engineer took one minute to look the engine over and the train ran without a stop until Mendota was reached, when three minutes more were consumed for the same purpose. A total of twentyone stops was made between Chicago and Denver, consuming in all sixtyfour minutes. The longest stop was made at Red Oak, la., where engines were changed on account of a hot truck. At this point the fastest run of the trip was made. Soon after leaving Creston it was discovered that a box on one of the engine trucks was heating, but in spite of this fact tha run of thirty-six miles was made in thirty-four minutes. At Villisca a fresh engine was substituted and tha run to Red Oak, fifteen miles, was made in as many minutes.

Over long stretches of road between McCook and Denver the train made more than a mile a minute for distances of forty to sixty miles. Six engineers took the train from Chicago to Denver, making an average of 170 miles to each run. Mr. Mayham left New York Sunday morning at 10 o’clock on Pennsylvania Limited in response to repeated messages that his son, William B. Mayham, was lying at the point of death at Denver. At Fort Wayne Mr. Mayham became convinced that the ordinary trains would not take him to the bedside of his son in time to close his eyes in death, and he promptly wired the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy road to have in readiness a special train to carry him through to Denver in the shortest possible time, j The Pennsylvania arrived in Chicago ten minutes late and thirty minutes imaking necessary preparations for the [were consumed by Mr. Mayham in journey. [ The train left the Union Depot at exactly 10 o’clock Monday morning. The [Burlington road had agreed to make {the trip to Denver “inside of twenstytfour hours.” The feat was accomplished in three minutes less than nineteen hours, or more than five hours under the stipulated time.

The Hot Springs

located in the Black Hills of South Dakota have wonderful medicinal properties for the cure of rheumatism, neuralgia, and kindred ailments, and should be investigated by all suffering from such troubles. First-class hotel accommodations and baths. Tourist tickets on sale daily and especially low rates bn the first and third Tuesdays of each month. Full information furnished on application to ticket agents C. & N. W. R’y.

An Obnoxious Rivalry.

There are two policemen in Cambridge, Mass., who have been striving for records in the number of arrests they; make. So annoying has this become that the citizens in that one section of the town have made complaint to the authorities.

"The Children,” from Peterson Magazine.

A beautifully illustrated article, printed in several hundred western papers lately, entitled “The Children;” was credited to the Nickell Magazine. It should have been credited to the Peterson, one of the. leading monthly magazines of illustrated literature. The article was published iu the December number.