Rensselaer Republican, Volume 22, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 November 1889 — OLLA PODRIDA. [ARTICLE]

OLLA PODRIDA.

In actual net results Francis Murphy does more good for the cause of temperance every week of his life than has the whole organization of the AV. C. T. U. during the five years that it has been a political organization andHlie ally of the Democratic party. Barnum’s “greatest show on earth” is now in London and proving very popular with the court and nobility. The statement, however, that the old showman is likely to conclude an engagement with the queen to travel with the show in the capacity of fat woman must be taken with some grains of allowance, -

The New York Ledger, which used to be a huge blanket sheet, as full of literary trash as is the New York Weekly aud the Chicago Ledger of the present time, has been changed in form to resemble Harpers or Frank Leslie’s Weeklies and greatly improved in literary character. It is owned and published by Robert Bonner’s sons, who seem to be too tony to print literary slush for the money there is in it, as their father used to do. The impending disruption of that once noble organization, the Rational W. 0. T. U., ought not -now to be. a matter for regret by any tvne'aml intelligent frientFoT temperance. The organization lost its power for good when it allied itself with a political party, and its disintegration will now permit the formation of a new non-politi-cal organization which will take up and carry forv.ard the work for temperance reform which was the province of the W. C. T. U. before it became the dupe and ally of the Democratic paity.

The people of Brazil went to sleep in an empire, a few nights ago, and woke up in a republic. It was just about the quietest and com pletest little revolution that has ever occurecL The people of the United States will naturally rejoice to see that last remnant of monarchical government disappear from the American continent; but they will also hope that no worse luck than the loss of his empire will befall the venerable Emperor, Dom Pedro, who is a very estimable old gentleman and a man of enlightened and most liberal yiews.

At the recent election ,in Chicago, whatris knownasfhe drainage district was ratified by a large majority. This was one step in one of the most remarkable enterprises of the century. It contemplates the construction of an artificial river, whereby the out-flowing waters of Lake Michigan will be turned from their present course and diverted into the waters of the Mississippi; or from the Gulf of St, Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico, The new stream must, under

the law which authorized it, discharge from Lake Michigan not less than 600,000 cubic feet of water P er minute, or equal to what would be a stream 100 feet wide, 20 feet deep and flowing at the rate of 3| miles per hour. The primary purpose of this enterprise is to improve the sewerage system of Chicago, but a secondary result will be a ship canal, of large dimensions, from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi river.

The venerable P. T. Barnum has been a practical temperance man through all the years of his long and honorable career. He has practiced total abstinence and has ably preached what he has faithfully and consistently practiced. The opinions of such a man are deserving of the respectful consideration of everybody. Here is what he said recently, in answer to a reporter for a London* newspaper, in answer to the question, “Have you anything to do with politics now?”

“No, nor have I actively held any part in them foi a long time. I have, however, been returned four times to the State Legislature, but it was always with the object of fighting some special abuse. I was also offered the nomination for the presidency of the United States, but it was by the Prohibition patty, which is really an organization sustained by the rum-sellers, for the object of splitting up the Republican party the United States. I have been for years a total abstainer, but I have always voted against prohibition, as I do not believe in the liquor business being run by men who owe no responsibility to some authority, and, of course, pure prohibition would mean secret and illicit dealings in the stuff.”

There are a good many people who object to the so-called Sunday papers, simply because they are Sunday papers; and it was but a little while ago since nearly all the preachers in Chicago united in a crusade against them. The result of the crusade was mainly an access “of information for the preachers. The Sunday papers are all doing business at the old stand, and their number of readers was probably not at all diminished by the crusade. What the preach•ers and a good many other people then learned, for the first time, was that although those publications go by the name of Sunday papers, and are distributed and mainly read on that day, the vast

and diversified labor devoted to their preparation almost always is all done before niidnightS&turday, anil none of it npon 'Jhe Sabbath. With, the most of them everything is done before the dawning of Sunday, even including the press work, which is the last and least part of their preparation. Take, for instance, the Indianapolis Sunday Journal, which is more extensively read in Rensselaer than any other Sunday paper. These are received in Rensselaer at 4:18 Sunday mornings and leave Indianapolis a little after one o’clock the same morning. How little, if any, of the of their preparation is done on Sunday, is evident. Possibly a little of the very latest news is set in type after the beginning of Sunday and that the press work is done, but even this comparatively trilling part of the work is probably all completed before midnight ; and the same thing may, with truth, be said as all Sunday papers. Very little, if any, of the work of their preparation is done on Sunday. On the other hand if any day’s issue o! the daily papers Ought to be condemned, it is the Mondays’ papers; that is of course, the morning papers that

we are speaking of, not the evening. The work of preparing tho Monday papers is, of necessity, nearly a'l done on Sunday. In short then, if there is any paper which should be tabooed out of regard for the Sabbath, it is the Monday papers. Even the preachers’ sermons which many of the Monday papers now regularly publish, are put into type on the Lord’s Day, and presumably with full knowledge and consent of the preachers.

Jasper.

RS ■ . • K 4 1 ■ . |r a ' Hanging Grove T. P Salem T* P. “ j lieaver T.T ~ Jasper County. 29 Pulaski County. | Pulaski County. Milroy T. P. 7 | MONON T. P. I Liberty T. P. Jasper Co. 23| MONON.* I White County. — - < ; ■ Monon COUNTY INDIANA, MONON THE COUNTY SEAT. The Times is the official organ of the County, .

The above, diagram shows the new county as plated. This may make some people feel’ a little jealous over our enterprise. Now, don’t kick your pants off. If you have occasion to go to Chicago oi Cincinnati come over to Monon, the county seat of the new county, and take the vestibule train. We will show you around the court house and entertain you while here. The above diagram and explanation of same is copied exactly from the last issue of the Monon Times. Bro. Winkley was very magnanimous in permitting the residents of Han gin g Grove and Milroy townships to pay their November installment of taxes in Jasper county before lifting them over, body and breeches, into the new county of Monon.

Many people complain that cattle are cheap because Harrison was eleetod last year. They do not consider that President Harrison has not changed a single law! Congress alone can change laws and there has been no session of. Congress since Harrison’s inauguration, last March. Intelligent people know that markets are ruled by the law of supply and demand. At the fi rs tof 1889 -there were more than 55,000,000 of cattle in the United States! There were seven millions in Texas alone. It is the excessive number of cattle that makes them cheap. Ten or twelve years ago a high price, thirty-five to fifty dollars, had to be paid for an ordinary cow. Such a cow can be had now for from twelve to eighteen dollars. Then everybody wanted to buy cows, now nearly everyone has cows to sell at reduced" prices. Another reason is the low price of hides. A few years ago the tariff was taken off hides in order to make boots and shoes cheaper. Have the people of the United States gained anything by the change of of the law? lam sure the farmers have not, on the other hand they have lost, and yet it was “the ignorance of the farmers that caused Harrison to be elected”!! A great many people will quit raising cattle, the supply will decrease and .the price will increase again, no matter who is president. * * The breeding of fast and fine horses is the “fad” just at this time. If continued a few years, a> man can get a fine animal for what is now asked for a “scrub.” Then we can can drive a “three minute team” instead' of a pair of spavined “plugs.” * * *

The electric- lights ar? not as gOOWSTHnIy wore. The circuit- is too great for the power used. It will take some time for any one to learn all about the business. So be patient, but “keep oil, aud your lamps trimmed*. so if the darkness eomes you can go in and out without stumbling or crying for ‘more light.”’ V It is predicted by some that land in the vicinity of Rensselaer will soon be cheaper than it is now. It will be higher or “Jasper” is not a good guesser. The great trouble m and about Rensselaer is that a few people own too much land. Were the faunas smallsr, there would be to be fed and clothedT’and business would be better. Let those who- have theirhundredsof broad acres cease to buy blit rather to sell at fair figures anst thus benefit themselves and tha town and couatry. *** The democrats are wery happy just now over electing a Governor in lowa and a Govornor ands a Legislature in Ohio. If th 6 Republican party makes mistakes it is all right for the democrats to profit iby them. They pretend to be the friends of leform and honest elections. Their work of disfranchising 20,000 Republicans in Vhrgina and the driving Republican candidates out of the field in Mississippi, ought to cause honest men Unhide their faces wfyh shame.