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diff --git a/old/67877-h/67877-h.htm b/old/67877-h/67877-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 57022ea..0000000 --- a/old/67877-h/67877-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,17995 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" - "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> - <head> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> - <title> - The Project Gutenberg eBook of Tom Watson's Magazine, Vol. I, No. 4, by Tom Watson. - </title> - - <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> - - <style type="text/css"> - -body { margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; } - -h1,h2,h3 { text-align: center; clear: both; } - -div.chapter {page-break-before: always;} -.nobreak {page-break-before: avoid;} -h1 {page-break-before: always; } - -.covernote {visibility: hidden; display: none;} -@media handheld { - .covernote {visibility: visible; display: block;} -} - -p { margin-top: .51em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1.5em; margin-bottom: .49em; } -p.no-indent { margin-top: .51em; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0em; margin-bottom: .49em;} -p.indent { text-indent: 1.5em;} -p.f90 { font-size: 90%; text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; } -p.f120 { font-size: 120%; text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; } -p.f150 { font-size: 150%; text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; } -p.f200 { font-size: 200%; text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; } -.bigfont { font-size: 200%; vertical-align: middle;} - -.space-above1 { margin-top: 1em; } -.space-above2 { margin-top: 2em; } -.space-below1 { margin-bottom: 1em; } -.space-below2 { margin-bottom: 2em; } - -hr.r5 {width: 5%; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 47.5%; margin-right: 47.5%; } -hr.r25 {width: 25%; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 37.5%; margin-right: 37.5%; } -hr.tb {width: 45%; margin-left: 27.5%; margin-right: 27.5%; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; } -hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%; } -hr.full {width: 95%; margin-left: 2.5%; margin-right: 2.5%; } - -table { margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; } -.tdl {text-align: left;} -.tdr {text-align: right;} -.tdc {text-align: center;} -.tdr_ws1 {text-align: right; vertical-align: top; padding-right: 1em;} - -.pagenum { position: absolute; - left: 92%; font-size: smaller; - text-align: right; -} - -.blockquot { margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; } -.bbox {border: solid 1px;} -.center {text-align: center; text-indent: 0; } -.right {text-align: right; text-indent: 0; } -.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} -.u {text-decoration: underline;} - -.news p { - padding-left: 4em; - text-indent: -2em; -} - -.news p.day { - padding-left: 2em; - text-indent: -2em; -} - -img {max-width: 100%; height: auto;} -.figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} - -ul { - list-style-type: none; - text-align: left; -} - -li { - margin-top: .5em; - padding-left: 2em; - text-indent: -2em; -} - -p.drop-cap { text-indent: 0em; } -p.drop-cap:first-letter -{ - float: left; - margin: 0.15em 0.1em 0em 0em; - font-size: 250%; - line-height:0.85em; - text-indent: 0em; - margin-top: 0.1em; -} - -.poetry-container { text-align: center; } -.poem { margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; - display: inline-block; text-align: left; } -.poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} - .poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left:0em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} - .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} - -.transnote {background-color: #E6E6FA; - color: black; - font-size:smaller; - padding:0.5em; - margin-bottom:5em; - font-family:sans-serif, serif; } - -.ws3 {display: inline; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em;} - - </style> - </head> -<body> -<p style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Tom Watson's Magazine, Vol. I, No. 4, June 1905, by Various</p> -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Tom Watson's Magazine, Vol. I, No. 4, June 1905</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Various</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Editor: Tom Watson</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: April 19, 2022 [eBook #67877]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: hekula03 and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from images made available by the HathiTrust Digital Library.)</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE, VOL. I, NO. 4, JUNE 1905 ***</div> - -<div class="transnote bbox covernote"> -<p class="f120 space-above1">Transcriber’s Note:</p> -<hr class="r5" /> -<p class="indent">The cover was created by the transcriber using elements - from the original cover, and is placed in the public domain.</p> -</div> - -<p class="bigfont no-indent"><b>“TOM WATSON”</b></p> -<p class="blockquot no-indent">is the one historian through whom we get the point -of view of the laborer, the mechanic, the plain man, in a style that is -bold, racy and unconventional. There is no other who traces so vividly -the life of a <i>people</i> from the time they were savages until they -became the most polite and cultured of European nations, as he does in</p> - -<p class="bigfont no-indent"><b>THE STORY OF FRANCE</b></p> -<p class="center">In two handsome volumes, dark red cloth, gilt tops, price $5.00.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“It is well called a story, for it reads like a fascinating -romance.”—<i>Plaindealer</i>, Cleveland.</p> - -<p class="space-below2">“A most brilliant, vigorous, human-hearted story this: -so broad in its sympathies, so vigorous in its presentations, so vital, so -piquant, lively and interesting. It will be read wherever the history -of France interests men, which is everywhere.”—<i>New York Times’ Sat. Review.</i></p> - -</div> - -<p class="bigfont no-indent"><b>NAPOLEON</b></p> -<p class="center"><b>A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE, CHARACTER,<br />STRUGGLES AND ACHIEVEMENTS.</b></p> - -<p class="center">Illustrated with Portraits and Facsimiles.<br /> -Cloth, 8vo, $2.25 net. (Postage 20c.)</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> -<p>“The Splendid Study of a Splendid Genius” is the caption of a -double-column editorial mention of this book in <i>The New York American -and Journal</i> when it first appeared. The comment urged every reader of -that paper to read the book and continued:</p> - -<p>“There does not live a man who will not be enlarged in his thinking -processes, there does not live a boy who will not be made more -ambitious by honest study of Watson’s Napoleon * * *</p> - -<p>“If you want the best obtainable, most readable, most intelligent, -most genuinely American study of this great character, read Watson’s -history of Napoleon.”</p> - -</div> - -<p class="bigfont no-indent"><b>“TOM WATSON”</b></p> - -<p class="blockquot no-indent">in these books does far more than make -history as readable as a novel of the best sort. He tells the truth -with fire and life, not only of events and causes, but of their -consequences to and their influence on the great mass of people at large. -They are epoch-making books which every American should read and own.</p> - -<p class="center space-above2 space-below2">Orders for the above books will be filled by<br /> -<span class="smcap">Tom Watson’s Magazine</span>, 121 West 42nd Street, New York City.</p> - -<hr class="full" /> - -<h1>TOM WATSON’S MAGAZINE</h1> -<p class="f90">THE MAGAZINE WITH A PURPOSE BACK OF IT</p> -<p class="f150"><b>June, 1905</b></p> - -<hr class="r25" /> - -<table summary=" " cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"> - <tbody> - <tr> - <td class="tdl"><i>Editorials</i></td> - <td class="tdr_ws1"><i>Thomas E. Watson</i></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Editorials">385</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><small><i>Our Creed—National Politics and Policies—Is It Paul Jones’s Body?—Is the Black Man -Superior<br />to the White?—Amending the Constitution—“Take the Children”—Paternalism—Planting<br /> -Corn—Not Parson Brownlow’s Son—Mr. President!—Did You Know It?—Rural<br /> -Free Delivery to Country People—Random Paragraphs—The Gods We Worship.</i></small></td> - <td class="tdr"></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl"><i>Poverty</i></td> - <td class="tdr_ws1"><i>John H. Girdner, M.D.</i></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Poverty">417</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl"><i>Tuck-of-Drum</i></td> - <td class="tdr_ws1"><i>Alfred Tressider Sheppard</i></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Tuck-of-Drum">420</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl"><i>The Southern Negro as a Property-Owner</i></td> - <td class="tdr_ws1"><i>Leonora Beck Ellis</i></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#The_Southern_Negro_as_a_Property-Owner">428</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl"><i>A Japanese Populist</i></td> - <td class="tdr_ws1"><i>Thomas C. Hutten</i></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#A_Japanese_Populist">434</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl"><i>The King’s Image</i></td> - <td class="tdr_ws1"><i>Walter E. Grogan</i></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#The_Kings_Image">437</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl"><i>The Story of a Suppressed Populist Newspaper</i></td> - <td class="tdr_ws1"><i>Thos. H. Tibbles</i></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#The_Story_of_a_Suppressed_Populist">446</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl"><i>Pole Baker</i> (Chapters VII-IX)</td> - <td class="tdr_ws1"><i>Will N. Harben</i></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Pole_Baker">451</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl"><i>A Phase of the Money Problem Bankers Dare Not Discuss</i></td> - <td class="tdr_ws1"><i>Albert Griffin</i></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#A_Phase_of_the_Money_Problem">463</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl"><i>A Leaf from a Protective Tariff Catechism</i></td> - <td class="tdr_ws1"><i>Joel Benton</i></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#A_Leaf_From_a_Protective_Tariff">467</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl"><i>Monopoly, The Power Behind The Trust</i></td> - <td class="tdr_ws1"><i>Joseph Dana Miller</i></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Monopoly_The_Power_Behind_the_Trust">472</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl"><i>The Heritage of Maxwell Fair</i> (Conclusion)</td> - <td class="tdr_ws1"><i>Vincent Harper</i></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#The_Heritage_of_Maxwell_Fair">479</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl"><i>Educational Department</i></td> - <td class="tdr_ws1"><i>Thomas E. Watson</i></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Educational_Department">497</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl"><i>The Track Walker</i></td> - <td class="tdr_ws1"><i>Theodore Dreiser</i></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#The_Track_Walker">502</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl"><i>The House of Cards</i></td> - <td class="tdr_ws1"><i>Ruth Sterry</i></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#The_House_of_Cards">503</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl"><i>The Say of Other Editors</i></td> - <td class="tdr_ws1"></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#The_Say_of_Other_Editors">504</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl"><i>News Record</i></td> - <td class="tdr_ws1"></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#News_Record">508</a></td> - </tr> - </tbody> -</table> - -<p class="f90 space-above1">Application made for entry as Second-Class Matter at<br /> -New York (N. Y.) Post Office, March, 1905<br />Copyright, 1905, in U. S. and Great Britain.<br /> -Published by <span class="smcap">Tom Watson’s Magazine</span>,<br />121 West 42d Street, N. Y.</p> - -<p class="center">TERMS: $1.00 A YEAR; 10 CENTS A NUMBER</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<p class="f90">TOM WATSON’S MAGAZINE ADVERTISER</p> - -<p class="bigfont no-indent">How to Overthrow Plutocracy</p> - -<p>Several million people in the United States are in substantial accord with the -demands of the People’s Party. A majority of all voters would welcome Government -Ownership of Railroads and other public utilities. The recent great victory in Chicago -for Municipal Ownership demonstrates this fact. What Chicago has done locally can -be accomplished in the nation—and WILL be done as soon as the people overcome</p> - -<p class="bigfont no-indent">Political Inertia</p> - -<p>With many the voting habit becomes fixed after one or two elections. The ordinary -man keeps on “voting ’er straight” long after he has discovered that his party’s actions -are out of joint with his own views. Party “regularity” commands the average man’s -support long after he KNOWS his party is headed wrong. Some really great men, -even, have placed party “regularity” before principle.</p> - -<p class="bigfont no-indent">A Great Light</p> - -<p>on the correct principle of organization is to be found in that admirable work by George -Gordon Hastings,</p> - -<p class="bigfont no-indent">The First American King</p> - -<p>A dashing romance, in which a scientist and a detective of today wake up seventy-five -years later to find His Majesty, Imperial and Royal, William I, Emperor of the -United States and King of the Empire State of New York, ruling the land, with the -real power in the hands of half a dozen huge trusts. Automobiles have been replaced -by phaërmobiles; air-ships sail above the surface of the earth; there has been a successful -war against Russia; a social revolution is brewing. The book is both an -enthralling romance and a serious sociological study, which scourges unmercifully the -society and politics of the present time, many of whose brightest stars reappear in the -future under thinly disguised names. There are wit and humor and sarcasm galore—a -stirring tale of adventure and a charming love story.</p> - -<p class="bigfont no-indent">Hon. Thomas E. Watson says:</p> - -<p>“I read ‘The First American King,’ and found it one of the most interesting books -I ever opened. Mr. Hastings has not only presented a profound study of our social -and economic conditions, but he has made the story one of fascination. It reminds me -at times of Bellamy’s ‘Looking Backward,’ but the story is told with so much more -human interest, the situations themselves are so much more dramatic, that it impresses -me very much more favorably than any book of that kind I have ever known.”</p> - -<p>Interesting as the story is as a romance and as a critical sociological study, one of -its vitally important points is</p> - -<p class="bigfont no-indent">How to Organize</p> - -<p><b>Mr. Hastings says:</b></p> - -<p>“It has been suggested,” continued General Mainwarren, “that a wise course for -patriotic leaders of your day would have been to have abandoned the hope of converting -and securing the grown voters as a body. It would have been best for them, at a -given time, to have said: ‘Beginning from today, we will pay no attention to any male -who is more than fifteen years of age and who is now, or within the next six years will -be, entitled to a vote. But we will direct all efforts to an entirely new body of -suffragists.’ They should then have turned their attention to the <i>women of the land</i>, to -the mothers of future generations of voters. It has been said that ‘Every woman is at -heart a royalist.’ It could with equal truth be said: ‘Every woman is by nature a -politician.’ ... Look at the influence exerted politically by various women of -whom history speaks.”</p> - -<p class="bigfont no-indent">This Is the Key-Note of Success</p> - -<p>For fifteen years the People’s Party, in season and out of season, has preached -“Equal Rights to All, Special Privileges to None.” It has persistently demanded that -government shall attend to public matters, and that private business shall be conducted -by individuals with the least possible interference—and absolutely no favoritism—by -government. It has continually demanded public ownership and government -operation of railroads and other public utilities. It has urged the initiative, referendum -and the recall; a scientific money system; the abolition of monopoly in every form. -Millions of voters—as the Chicago election clearly indicates—are in accord with the -People’s Party; but heretofore the voting habit, the “vote ’er straight” political -insanity, has kept them in political slavery.</p> - -<p class="bigfont no-indent">Educate the Boys</p> - -<p>Let us train up a new generation of voters—without diminishing our efforts to -break up old party habits—who will have the courage of conviction and correct ideas -regarding politics and economics. Let us interest the mothers, so we can have the -boys taught to cast their first votes on the side of Justice. Habit will then keep them -voting right.</p> - -<p class="bigfont no-indent">Let Us Begin Now</p> - -<p>Mr. Hastings’s book is a thought-provoker. It combines romance with sociology -and teaches while entertaining. With “The First American King” and TOM WATSON’S -MAGAZINE in another 100,000 homes, our first great step will be taken toward -overcoming plutocracy. With this end in view, we have made arrangements whereby -we can offer a dollar book, 350 pages, and a dollar magazine one year, 128 pages -monthly, both for only $1.50.</p> - -<p class="bigfont no-indent">Tom Watson’s Magazine and -The First American King $1.50</p> - -<p>In order to treat all alike, the book will be sent postpaid to any present subscriber -of TOM WATSON’S MAGAZINE on receipt of 60 cents. No person not a subscriber -can buy “The First American King” of us for a cent less than $1.00. If you have not -already subscribed for the magazine, send us $1.50 today for this attractive combination, -and expedite the work of building up the People’s Party of the future.</p> - -<p class="center">Address all orders to</p> - -<p class="f120">TOM WATSON’S MAGAZINE, 121 West 42d Street, New York</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p class="f200"><i>SOME POPULIST PRINCIPLES</i></p> - -<p>(1) Public Ownership of Public Utilities, including -Railroads, Telegraphs, Telephones, etc.</p> - -<p>(2) Direct Legislation by the people: the Initiative, -Referendum and Recall.</p> - -<p>(3) The election of all officers by the people.</p> - -<p>(4) Graduated Income Tax and Inheritance Tax.</p> - -<p>(5) National Currency created by the Government -without the intervention of National Banks; -every dollar to be the equal of every other dollar.</p> - -<p>(6) Postal Savings Banks; the eight-hour day, regulation -of Child Labor in Factories, Sweat-shops -and similar avocations.</p> - -<p>(7) Opposition to land monopoly.</p> - -<p>(8) Removal of Tariff burdens from the necessaries -of life which the poor must have to live.</p> - -<p><b>Populism</b> seeks to put political power into the hands -of the people and to work out a system of -<b>Equal and Exact Justice to all, without -special favors to any</b>.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_385"></a>[Pg 385]</span></p> - -<p class="f200"><b><i><span class="smcap">Tom Watson’s Magazine</span></i></b></p> - -<p class="f120"><span class="smcap">Vol. I</span> <span class="ws3">JUNE, 1905</span> <span class="ws3">No. 4</span></p> - -<hr class="r25" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<a name="Editorials" id="Editorials"> </a> -<h2 class="nobreak"><i>Editorials</i></h2></div> - -<p class="center space-above1 space-below1">BY THOMAS E. WATSON</p> - -<h3><i>Our Creed</i></h3> - -<p class="drop-cap">THE People’s Party does not attempt -the impossible, or seek -the unattainable.</p> - -<p>Our young men do not dream -dreams; our old men do not see visions. -We are wedded to practical reforms -which have been tried in civilized communities, -and which have vindicated -themselves by results.</p> - -<p>We do not propose to re-create society, -subvert law and order, confiscate -property, or substitute a new system -of government for the old.</p> - -<p>We do not want to tear down the -house in order to repair it.</p> - -<p>We do not hope to build a perfect -state with imperfect human hands, -but we do intend to make the government -as nearly perfect as possible, to -the end that it shall represent that conception -of justice which deals with all -men alike, and allows to every child of -Adam a fair chance in the world which -God created as a home for the human -race.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>We believe that the government -should be clothed with all the attributes -of sovereignty; that <i>the government -should govern</i>, and should <i>not -delegate to private citizens or corporations</i> -any part of its sovereign power.</p> - -<p>The creation of a national currency -has always been an attribute of sovereignty—of -royalty.</p> - -<p>In a system where the people rule -the people succeed to the power of -the king; and that attribute of sovereignty -which the king exercised and -did not delegate should be exercised -by the people and should not be -delegated.</p> - -<p>Therefore, the Populists, successors -to the old Greenbackers, have always -clung to it as an article of faith that -the Federal Government should exercise -its constitutional right to create -a currency, and should not delegate -that power to national banks or to -private citizens or corporations.</p> - -<p>The government should supply the -country with a sufficient amount of -national money, every dollar of which -should be equal to any other; every -dollar of which should be a full legal -tender for all claims, public and private, -and <i>no dollar of which should be -made redeemable in any other dollar</i>.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>We believe that those things which -are essentially public in their nature -and their use should belong to the -public, and should be equally enjoyed -by all.</p> - -<p>Just as the navigable rivers are public -to the beggar and the millionaire -alike, just as the Bay and the Gulf and -the Harbor and the navigable Lakes are -the common property of the rich and -the poor, the high and low, the black -and white, so we believe that the roads -should be common ground upon which -every citizen should be free to pass -upon terms of equality, and that the -iron highways of today, which were -taken from the people by the exercise -of the right of Eminent Domain, should -be restored to the public by the same -law of Eminent Domain, a fair compensation -having been paid, and the -property operated hereafter for the -benefit of all the people.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_386"></a>[Pg 386]</span></p> - -<p>So with the Telegraph and the Telephone -and Express Companies.</p> - -<p>In every city and town we believe -that the municipality, which is a part -of the state’s sovereignty, should take -over to itself those public utilities -which in their very nature are monopolies, -and, just compensation having -been paid, that these utilities should -be used for the benefit of the people, -to whom they belong.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>We believe that the government -should be supported by a system of -taxation in which each citizen will pay -taxes <i>in proportion to his ability to pay</i>.</p> - -<p>We believe in a Tax on the Franchises -enjoyed by private corporations.</p> - -<p>We believe that the Income Tax -would be the fairest of all taxes, because -it would take for the support of -the government, not the property of -the citizen, but a portion of the income -which the citizen derives from that -property, or from his individual exertions, -and the tax would be proportioned -to the income.</p> - -<p>That property or that salary could -not be enjoyed without the protection -and the advantages which flow from -government, and it is eminently fair, -where the government has protected -me, or where it affords me such -opportunities, that I can receive a -large income from any source whatever, -I should pay to the government, -in return for its protection and its advantages, -a fair share of that which I -could not have made without that protection -and those advantages.</p> - -<p>Under our present system a man -like John D. Rockefeller pays no more -Tariff tax when he buys a hat than a -doctor or lawyer or preacher pays when -he buys a hat. So with the shoes, the -clothes, the crockery on the table, -the furniture in the house. Many a -citizen whose income does not amount -to ten thousand dollars per year pays -fully as much Tariff tax in the purchasing -of necessary articles of clothing, -furniture and food as John D. -Rockefeller pays, whose income is -counted monthly by the millions of -dollars.</p> - -<p>The same thing is true of Carnegie, -Morgan, Hill, Harriman, Gould, Cassatt, -Vanderbilt. Many a farmer whose -income from his farm may not do more -than give his family an actual support, -after the operating expenses are paid, -contributes annually a greater sum in -Tariff tax to the Federal Government -than is paid by the fabulously wealthy -beneficiaries of class legislation.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>It has been said that the People’s -Party dodges the Tariff issue. This -is not true.</p> - -<p>One of our earliest platforms, which -has been repeatedly reindorsed, declares:</p> - -<p>“<i>We demand the removal of the Tariff -tax from the necessaries of life which the -poor must have to live.</i>”</p> - -<p>This is precisely the principle announced -by Thomas Jefferson, who declared -that the taxes should be so laid -that the luxuries of life would bear the -burden of government, and that his -ideal was a system in which the poor -would be entirely relieved from the -crushing weight of taxation.</p> - -<p>Furthermore, we have said that legislation -should not be so framed as to -build up one business at the expense -of another.</p> - -<p>If the People’s Party platform were -enacted into law, <i>there could be no -such thing as a Trust in the United -States</i>.</p> - -<p>In order that the people should become -the victims of such tyranny as -that exercised by the Trusts two things -are necessary: <i>Foreign relief must be -made impossible, and domestic relief -made impracticable</i>.</p> - -<p>The Tariff wall keeps the foreigner -from interfering; the railroads and -the national banks supporting the -Trusts make it impossible for domestic -dissatisfaction to assert itself effectively.</p> - -<p><i>If the people should put upon the -free list those articles which are made -the subject of the Trusts, the foreigner -could at once invade the market, and -destroy the monopoly upon which the -Trust is based.</i></p> - -<p>If the Populist principles of finance<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_387"></a>[Pg 387]</span> -and of transportation should be carried -into effect, the Government abolishing -national banks and private ownership -of transportation lines, <i>the rebate would -be impossible, discriminations would -cease, equality would prevail, and there -would be no collusion between the national -banks and the railroads by which -Trusts are made invincible as they are -now invincible</i>.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>We believe in direct Legislation—putting -the power of making laws and -choosing rulers back into the hands of -those to whom it belongs—and the -election of all officers by the people.</p> - -<p>The people should not be made to -await the pleasure of the Legislature -or of Congress. They should not be -kept in ignorance of what the law is -until legislative acts become known -through the newspapers. There should -be in every case the right to initiate -those laws which they want, and to -veto, through the Referendum, any -law which they do not like.</p> - -<p>When an officer whom they have -elected shows by any vote or act that -he is not the man they took him to -be, they should not have to wait till -the expiration of his term to get a -better man. They should have the -right to recall the officer the moment -he betrays his trust.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>We believe in the eight-hour day -for labor in Government works, in -factories, workshops and mines.</p> - -<p>We believe in the regulation of -child labor in factories, workshops -and mines, to the end that children -of tender age shall not be made to -slave out their lives in order that -corporations shall have cheap labor -and large dividends.</p> - -<p>Saturn, the old fable tells us, devoured -his own children: Christian -civilization does the same thing.</p> - -<p>As long as we permit children of -ten and twelve years to labor from -eight to fourteen hours per day in our -mills and workshops modern civilization -is another Saturn. <i>We are devouring -our own children.</i></p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>We believe that the land, the common -heritage of all the people, should -not be monopolized for speculative -purposes, or by alien ownership, but -that legislation should be so shaped -as to encourage to its full extent -the right of every man born into this -world to till the soil and make a living -out of it.</p> - -<p>And one of the principal reasons -why we favor a graduated income -tax, which increases by geometrical -progression as the income increases, -is that it automatically keeps the -wealth of the country in a constant -sort of redistribution, and acts as a -check upon that excessive accumulation -which is recognized by all intelligent -thinkers as one of the most -serious perils and intolerable evils -of our present era of class legislation.</p> - -<p>These are the most important articles -of our faith. It is for these principles -that we have struggled ever since -1891—with never a doubt that they -were sound, that they would constantly -gain converts, <i>that they would ultimately -win</i>.</p> - -<p>When I founded the <i>People’s Party -Paper</i> in Atlanta, Ga., in 1891 (which -paper lived and toiled for these principles -until the fusion movement of -1896 killed it, as it killed twelve hundred -other Populist papers), I announced -the same purpose which I -announced in the prospectus of this -magazine.</p> - -<p>My faith was as firm in 1891 as it -is today, and I had as little doubt -then as I have now that Populism is -just as sure to triumph as the sun -is to continue to warm the world.</p> - -<p>The reforms will be effected <i>because -the country needs them</i>. It cannot -stand much more of the present -system. It will not accept Socialism. -Occupying the middle ground of radical, -but practical reform, Populism is -inevitable.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<h3><i>National Politics and Policies</i></h3> - -<p>There is a saying that the difference -between a wise man and a fool is that -the wise man never makes the same<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_388"></a>[Pg 388]</span> -mistake twice, while the fool continues -to make it without limit.</p> - -<p>It is of supreme importance that -those who will act as political leaders -during the next four years should think -clearly in order that they may act -wisely.</p> - -<p>We have not, as yet, discovered any -brighter lamp with which to guide our -footsteps than that which Patrick -Henry named the Lamp of Experience.</p> - -<p>If I felt that our national leaders -were about to repeat a disastrous mistake -and adopt a policy which seems -the continuance of the reign of class -legislation and special privilege, I -should be false to my own sense of duty -if I did not at this early day point out -that error and warn the Jeffersonians -against it.</p> - -<p>I say Jeffersonians because, after all -is said and done, there are but two -great differences of political thought -in the United States—never have been -but two; never will be but two.</p> - -<p>On the one hand are those who believe -that legislation should be dictated -by the interest of the few; that -the powers and the benefits of good -government should be monopolized by -the few; that the blessings and the -opportunities of life should be the heritage -of the few; that wealth and privilege -and national initiative should perpetually -be the legacy of the few.</p> - -<p>On the other hand is the Jeffersonian -idea that the human family are all alike -the children of God; that the earth and -all it contains was created for the benefit -of this human family, and that any -system of law and government which -gathers into the hands of the few an -unjust proportion of the common estate, -to the exclusion of the vast majority, -is an infamous invasion of the -natural rights of man.</p> - -<p>Now, what is it that endangers the -cause of the Jeffersonians?</p> - -<p>What is it that seems to me to be -so certain to insure the continuance of -the rule of the few over the many?</p> - -<p>It is the continued existence of the -political alignment of the great mass -of the people in two political parties, -each of which, in its heart of hearts, -is wedded to the rule of the few.</p> - -<p>Neither one of these parties wants -any material change in our present system -of legislation or of administration.</p> - -<p>Both of them are absolutely dominated -by the same interests.</p> - -<p>In the ranks of each of these parties -are found the powerful railroad kings, -the irresistible trusts, the indispensable -national banks, the vastly influential -insurance companies.</p> - -<p>As a matter of fact, nearly every -board of management of every predatory -corporation against which the -people are rising in revolt is made up -half and half of Democrats and Republicans, -in order that, no matter -which party wins at the polls, the corporation -will have influence at court.</p> - -<p>It is so clear to me that the only -possible hope for the people is to drive -these two parties together while the -people unite under another standard.</p> - -<p>In vain does Judge Parker talk about -the difference between his Democracy -and the Republicanism of Mr. Roosevelt. -During the campaign he was unable -to state any difference, and there -is, in fact, no difference.</p> - -<p>Between Belmont’s ideas of government -and those of Mark Hanna there -is not the slightest difference.</p> - -<p>Between the Democratic corporation -and the Republican corporation it is -absurd to claim that there is any difference.</p> - -<p>Between Democratic manufacturers -and Republican manufacturers no human -being of intelligence will expect -any difference or find any.</p> - -<p>In other words, the millionaire beneficiaries -of class legislation control both -of the old parties, and the battle which -they wage year after year, decade after -decade, is a mere sham battle. The -strategy of the corporations consists in -keeping the people divided in order -that the corporations may rule.</p> - -<p>Believing this to be true, I am painfully -impressed with the fact that Mr. -Bryan is making a huge mistake.</p> - -<p>The pity of it is, he has already made -that mistake twice, and is now making -it for the third time.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_389"></a>[Pg 389]</span></p> - -<p>What is the mistake?</p> - -<p>It consists of the effort to get radical -reform out of a party which has -always been dominated and always -will be dominated by conservatives. -When the currency was contracted -just after the Civil War and ruin -brought upon so many thousands of -people in this country, it took the joint -action of both the old parties to do it.</p> - -<p>When the revenue taxes were taken -off railroads, manufactures, insurance -companies, bank checks and express -companies, soon after the close of the -Civil War, it took the joint action of -both the old parties to do it.</p> - -<p>When the Income Tax was lifted -from the burdened shoulders of the -rich, it took the joint action of both -the old parties to do it.</p> - -<p>When Silver was struck down and -the Gold Standard forced upon us, it -took the joint action of both the old -parties to do it.</p> - -<p>When our National Bank System -was enthroned, and that terribly unjust -system was chartered to prey -upon the people, it required the joint -action of both the old parties to do it.</p> - -<p>When Congress, over the protest of -Thaddeus Stevens and others, obeyed -the command of the Rothschilds (delivered -at Washington personally by -August Belmont, the father of the -present Boss of the Democratic Party), -and declared by legislative enactment -that the banks should be paid in gold -while the soldier at the front should -be paid in greenbacks, it required the -joint action of both the old parties to -do it.</p> - -<p>There has never been a necessary act -of Congress—necessary to the rule of -the few, necessary to carry out the -Hamiltonian ideal—that did not rest -for support one foot on the Republican -Party and the other on the Democratic -Party.</p> - -<p>The man who does not know this to -be true is unfamiliar with official -records.</p> - -<p>The time has been when Mr. Bryan -held the same opinions which I am -expressing now. The time has been -when he declared, in speech and writing, -that there was no hope for reform -in the Democratic Party.</p> - -<p>In 1896 Mr. Bryan, in the Omaha -<i>World-Herald</i>, editorially asked:</p> - -<p>“<i>Can a National Convention harmonize -the discordant elements of the -Democratic Party? Impossible.</i></p> - -<p>“Suppose the advocates of bimetallism -control the National Convention -and nominate a Free Silver Democrat -upon a free coinage platform, will -Cleveland, Carlisle, Olney, Morton, -<i>et al.</i> support the ticket? Of course -not. They say that the free coinage -of silver means individual dishonesty, -commercial disaster and national dishonor, -and if they believe what they say -they ought not to support the ticket, -because their duty to their country -is higher than their duty to their party -organization. If, on the other hand, -the convention nominates a Gold -Standard Democrat on a platform indorsing -the gold standard, gold bonds -and national bank currency, should -the nominee be supported by those -who believe the gold standard to be a -conspiracy of the capitalistic classes -against the producers of wealth—a -crime against mankind? Who says -they should?</p> - -<p>“If to continue Mr. Cleveland’s financial -policy is to declare war against -the common people, what friend of the -common people would be willing to -enlist in such a warfare, even at the -command of his party?</p> - -<p>“The Democratic Party cannot serve -God and Mammon; it cannot serve plutocracy -and at the same time defend -the rights of the masses.</p> - -<p>“If it yields to the plutocracy it ought -to lose, and it will lose, the support of -the masses; if it espouses the cause of -the people, it cannot expect either -votes or contributions from the capitalistic -classes and from the great corporations.”</p> - -<p>In pursuance of this very correct -line of reasoning, Mr. Bryan resolutely -declared that if the Democratic Party -adopted the gold standard, “<i>I promise -you that I will go out and serve my country -and my God under some other name, -even if I must go alone.</i>”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_390"></a>[Pg 390]</span></p> - -<p>Again Mr. Bryan said, in his book -called “The First Battle,” Chapter III, -page 124, “In that speech I took the -position which I have announced since -on several occasions, namely, that I -would not support for the Presidency -an advocate of the gold standard.”</p> - -<p>Again Mr. Bryan said: “Does the -individual member of a party at all -times reserve the right to vote against -the nominee of a party, and to abandon -his party entirely whenever in his -judgment his duty to his country requires -it? He may abandon the party -temporarily, as, for instance, when an -unfit candidate is nominated, or the -voter may abandon his party permanently, -either when he himself -changes his opinion upon a paramount -public question or when his party -changes its position.”</p> - -<p>Now let the reader compare the -present attitude of Mr. Bryan with -the political ethics expounded by him -in his book.</p> - -<p>He was then the idol of the radicals; -he was then the Tribune of the People.</p> - -<p>He was the strong and stalwart foe -of every plutocrat, every Wall Street -interest, every beneficiary of class -legislation.</p> - -<p>The people hailed him with an enthusiasm -which had not been known -since the days of Henry Clay. So -great was their faith in him that he -swept into his movement in 1896 the -Free Silver organization and the great -bulk of the Populist Party.</p> - -<p>Who is it that cannot see how -loftily he held his flag in those days? -Who is it that does not realize how -sadly it droops today?</p> - -<p>From the noble stand of 1893 and -1896, what a falling off is there! -Boldly he declared that he would -never support for the Presidency an -advocate of the gold standard. Yet, -when Judge Parker slapped his face in -public with the Gold Telegram of -1904, the dauntless Bryan turned the -other cheek, like a very meek Christian -indeed.</p> - -<p>He had said that a Democrat might -bolt his party <i>temporarily</i> upon the -nomination of an unfit candidate; he -had said that Judge Parker was an -unfit candidate, but he did not bolt -the nomination, even <i>temporarily</i>.</p> - -<p>He had said that the voter might -abandon his party <i>permanently</i> when -that party changed its position upon a -paramount public question; yet when -the Democratic Party, with extraordinary -suddenness, changed its position -upon more than one paramount question -in 1904, Mr. Bryan did not bolt -his party <i>permanently</i>.</p> - -<p>He had said that if the Democrats -took up the Republican financial -policy, which meant the slavery of -the debtors of this country and the -impoverishment of the people, he -would go out and serve his country -and his God under some other name, -even if he had to go alone. Yet when -his party did come over to the Republican -financial policy, and came by -telegraph at that, <i>Mr. Bryan did not -go out to serve either his country or his -God under some other name</i>.</p> - -<p>He had said to his brother Democrats: -“If you are ready to go down -on your knees and apologize for what -you have said” (abuse of the Republicans -and the gold standard), “you will -go without me.”</p> - -<p>Yet when the Democratic Party, at -the St. Louis Convention in 1904, went -down on its knees, in effect, to apologize -for the abuse which they had -heaped upon the Republicans for eight -years, they did not go without Mr. -Bryan. The knees of Mr. Bryan hit -the floor in timely cadence with the -knees of all the others, and when he -filed out of the convention hall the -dust was there to show it just as it -was there to show it on the knees of -all the others.</p> - -<p>Bryan himself asked the question in -1896: “Can a National Convention harmonize -the discordant elements of the -Democratic Party?” He answered his -own question in the comprehensive -word, “<i>Impossible</i>.”</p> - -<p>The event of the campaign of 1896 -showed that he was right, for the -Cleveland-Carlisle-Belmont element -knifed him.</p> - -<p>In the campaign of 1900 they knifed<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_391"></a>[Pg 391]</span> -him again. In the campaign of 1904, -when the convention nominated a -gold standard Democrat on a platform -indorsing the gold standard, gold -bonds and the gold bank currency, the -people refused to support the sell-out -of the National Democratic Party to -Wall Street, just as Mr. Bryan, in -1896, prophesied that they would, in -spite of the fact that the prophet of -1896 had become the gold standard -nominee’s most earnest advocate in -the campaign of 1904.</p> - -<p>In other words, the people had become -so inoculated with the true -gospel of Bryan, the Tribune of 1893 -and 1896, that they refused to follow -the change of heart and the change of -conduct which came over Bryan, the -Parkerite of 1904.</p> - -<p>Will not Mr. Bryan reflect upon this -and draw a lesson from it? He himself -has declared that he is attempting -the impossible in trying to harmonize -the discordant elements of the Democratic -Party.</p> - -<p>What is the real statesmanship demanded -at this time?</p> - -<p>That those who believe in Jeffersonian -ideals, whether they are now in -the Republican, Democratic, Populist -or Socialist parties, should come together -without prejudice for party -names, and should unite in the common -cause of driving from power the -beneficiaries of class legislation, no -matter whether those beneficiaries are -called Democrats or Republicans.</p> - -<p>Let the Belmonts and Morgans get -together in the same party so that we -can fight them both at the same time.</p> - -<p>As long as we cling to party differences -and party names our efforts will -come to naught, as they did in 1896, -1900 and 1904.</p> - -<p>Mr. Bryan wants the reform movement -to stop and wait for him, while -for four years he struggles to get the -better of the plutocratic element of his -own party. If they were able to -wrest control from him when he had -so much more advantage than he has -now, how can we expect him to take -that control from their strong hands?</p> - -<p>But, suppose he does succeed in defeating -the Belmont-Cleveland element -in the convention of 1908, does he not -know that they will fulfil his prediction -again and knife him as they have -done twice already?</p> - -<p>On the other hand, suppose they -conquer him in 1908 as they did in -1904, will he not submit tamely to kiss -the hand that smote him as he did in -the last convention? Most assuredly -he will.</p> - -<p>He lost his opportunity to fly the -flag of revolt when he failed to resent -the Gold Telegram of 1904. That opportunity -passed, never to return.</p> - -<p>Absolutely the only hope of radical -reform lies in a straight-out, aggressive -and fearless <i>fight upon both the old -parties</i>, which in turn have had control -of the Government, and which have -played into each other’s hands in -forging the chains of class legislation -which now bind and burden the Common -People.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<h3><i>Is It Paul Jones’s Body?</i></h3> - -<p>Have they found the body of John -Paul Jones?</p> - -<p>The experts say that they have.</p> - -<p>To the legal mind, the fact that -<i>experts</i> had to be called in to pass upon -the question of identity is sufficient -to arouse suspicion and provoke investigation.</p> - -<p>As stated in a former number, I was -certain they would find Paul Jones—in -their minds—for that was what they -were looking for.</p> - -<p>Whenever, for instance, the medical -expert starts out to find arsenic in -the human stomach, arsenic generally -shows up all right enough.</p> - -<p>In like manner French experts were -called in to identify a certain corpse -as that of Paul Jones, and, after the -most elaborate and beautifully regular -formalities, they solemnly pronounced -the verdict which they knew was expected -and which they were predisposed -to find.</p> - -<p>“This is Paul Jones, isn’t it?” asks -General Porter, most suavely, not to -say persuasively.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_392"></a>[Pg 392]</span></p> - -<p>How could the politest experts of the -politest people on earth say nay?</p> - -<p>The case was pitiful.</p> - -<p>The search for Paul Jones’s body -had reached a crisis. Only four leaden -coffins had been found in the old graveyard, -and one of these <i>had</i> to be Paul -Jones, because he had been buried in -such a coffin, and the other three bore -name-plates which showed they could -not be his.</p> - -<p>The fourth bore no name-plate; -therefore it <i>must</i> be Jones’s coffin.</p> - -<p>The necessity of the situation required -it.</p> - -<p>Consequently, polite French experts -measure, compare, incubate, decide and -bring in the verdict desired.</p> - -<p>Looking at the matter as a lawyer, -I should say that there is not sufficient -legal evidence offered, as yet, to establish -the identity of the dead body.</p> - -<p>The cemetery in which Commodore -Paul Jones was buried was closed by -law in 1793.</p> - -<p><i>A canal was afterward cut through it.</i></p> - -<p>The great sea-fighter was buried, as -Napoleon was, in uniform.</p> - -<p>In the Life of him—“Great Commanders’ -Series”—by Cyrus Townsend -Brady, the statement is made that <i>Paul -Jones was buried in the American uniform</i>, -and that <i>a sword and other articles -were placed in the coffin</i>.</p> - -<p>The body which General Porter has -found was <i>not</i> clad in uniform.</p> - -<p>There was no sword, or other article, -found in the coffin.</p> - -<p>Commodore Jones died of dropsy, -which had swollen his body to such an -extent that he could not button his -waistcoat.</p> - -<p>Yet the French experts declare that -all the measurements tally exactly with -those of the living Jones.</p> - -<p class="f120"><i>Should They Do So?</i></p> - -<p>Awful changes take place after death, -and they are greater with some than -with others.</p> - -<p>Should the measurements of a corpse -which had been entombed more than a -hundred years correspond <i>exactly</i> with -those of the same body when alive?</p> - -<p>Most biographers put the <i>height</i> of -Admiral Jones at “about five feet and -eight inches.”</p> - -<p>Won’t you find a greater number -of men—in France especially—whose -height is “about five feet eight inches” -than you’ll find at any other figure?</p> - -<p>And will you not find more <i>corpses</i> -of about that length?</p> - -<p>Yet in these measurements consists -the whole of the testimony which has -been offered to the American people -to convince them that the body of -Paul Jones is at last to come home.</p> - -<p>Unless the matter of the uniform -and the sword be cleared up, it is impossible -to accept the conclusion arrived -at by the experts.</p> - -<p>This corpse may be, as already -stated, a good enough Jones for that -$35,000, but it has not yet been shown -to be John Paul Jones, the naval hero -of our War of Independence.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<h3><i>Is the Black Man Superior to the White?</i></h3> - -<p>With statistics one can prove many -things—the conclusion arrived at depending, -in all cases, considerably upon -the man behind the figures.</p> - -<p>This time the man behind the figures -is Doctor Booker Washington—may -his shadow never grow less!</p> - -<p>In the course of a recent lecture, the -learned Doctor laid down the proposition -that the black man is superior to -the white, and he proved it—proved it -by statistics.</p> - -<p>He said that there is 85 per cent. -of illiteracy among the Spaniards, -while there is only 54 per cent. of illiteracy -among the negroes; therefore -the negroes are clearly more advanced -in civilization than the Spaniards.</p> - -<p>Poor old Spain!</p> - -<p>The learned Doctor further demonstrated -that there is 65 per cent. of -illiteracy among the Italians; therefore -the negroes are far ahead of Italy. -Russian illiteracy being 70 per cent. -the black man takes precedence of -the land of Peter the Great, Skobelef, -Gorky, Turgenef and Tolstoy. South<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_393"></a>[Pg 393]</span> -America, having an illiteracy of 80 -per cent., falls far to the rear of the -negro—and Castro must add this additional -kick to the many he has already -received from North America.</p> - -<p>Proud of his statistics, Doctor Booker -Washington exclaims: “<i>The negro -race has developed more rapidly in the -thirty years of its freedom than the -Latin race has in one thousand years -of freedom.</i>”</p> - -<p>That’s a bold statement, Doctor.</p> - -<p>To say nothing of its accuracy, may -it not have been an unwise thing for -you to claim that the black man has -risen during thirty years more rapidly -in the scale of civilization than the -whites have risen in a thousand?</p> - -<p>True, you confine yourself to the -Italians, the Spaniards, the Russians -and the South Americans, but when -you say the darkest of all the colored -races is superior to that great section -of the white race named by you, does -it not occur to you that you may -create a feeling of resentment among -<i>all</i> the whites?</p> - -<p>You have thousands of true friends -throughout the entire country—white -men who have most generously helped -you in your work, helped you with -money, with moral support and with -a certain amount of social recognition. -Your admirers refer to you as a great -man. They allude to your work as a -great work. The South helps you -with appropriations, just as the North -helps you with donations. We want -to see you succeed in building up your -race.</p> - -<p>But have you a single white friend -who will indorse your statement that -the black race is so superior to the -whites that it can do in one generation -what it required the whites a thousand -years to do?</p> - -<p>Do you imagine that your friends, -President Roosevelt, Mr. Carnegie, -Dr. Hart, Bishop Potter, and others, -will like you better when they hear -you putting forth a claim to race -superiority? Doctor, you have overshot -the mark.</p> - -<p><i>Whenever the North wakes up to the -fact that you are teaching the blacks that -they are superior to the whites, you are -going to feel the east wind.</i></p> - -<p>What do you mean by racial development, -Doctor?</p> - -<p>Apparently your standard of measurement -is illiteracy. That is to -say, if a greater number of negroes -than of Spaniards can read, then the -negro has achieved a higher plane -in civilization.</p> - -<p>Is that your idea? Does the ability -to read constitute race development?</p> - -<p>According to that, a million negro -children attend school twelve months -and become “civilized” because they -have learned to spell “Baker” and to -read “Mary had a little lamb.”</p> - -<p>Does it not strike you, Doctor, that -such a measure might be delusive?</p> - -<p>In making up your tables of illiteracy, -why didn’t you include <i>all the -negroes</i>, as you included <i>all</i> the Italians, -<i>all</i> the Spaniards, <i>all</i> the Russians?</p> - -<p>Why leave out your home folks in -Africa, Doctor?</p> - -<p>Why omit Santo Domingo and -Haiti?</p> - -<p>If you will number <i>all</i> the negroes, -Doctor, your percentage of illiteracy -<i>among the blacks</i> may run up among the -nineties, and knock your calculation -into a cocked hat.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>In the West Indies God poured His -blessings with lavish hand upon the -island of Haiti. The French went -there and built up a civilization. The -Revolution of 1789 freed the negroes -who were held in slavery by the whites, -and civil war soon followed.</p> - -<p>The blacks outnumbered the whites -and the climate was their ally. Yellow -fever did for them what frost did -for the Russians when Napoleon struck -at their liberties. They achieved -freedom, and they have had it, not for -thirty years, but for a hundred years.</p> - -<p><i>What have your people done with their -freedom in Santo Domingo, Doctor?</i> -Back, back into barbarism, voodooism, -human sacrifice, social and political -anarchy they have plunged; and their -history is one long blood-stained record -of backsliding from the standard which -the French had already established.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_394"></a>[Pg 394]</span> -Even now your black brethren in Santo -Domingo are beseeching the white -man of the United States to do that -which they are unable to do—administer -national affairs. In self-defense -this Government may have to treat -Santo Domingo as Great Britain treats -Jamaica, both governments acting -upon the demonstrated fact that the -blacks, <i>left to themselves</i>, are incapable -of self-government and race development.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>But before entering into a comparison -of racial progress, Doctor, it is in -order to note the fact that you accredit -the negro with only thirty years of freedom. -Why, Doctor, <i>the negro race, as -a race, has enjoyed just as long a -period of freedom as the Celts, the Latins, -the Anglo-Saxons and the Slavs</i>.</p> - -<p>The black race in Africa was as free -as the Indian race in North America.</p> - -<p>During the thousand years in which -the whites were painfully creating the -civilization which <i>you</i> now enjoy, -<i>your</i> race, in its native home, was doing -pretty much the same things which -the red race was doing in North America. -Your people were running about -in the woods, naked, eating raw meat, -eternally at war—tribe with tribe—steeped -in ignorance, vice and superstition, -with an occasional lapse into -human sacrifice and cannibalism.</p> - -<p><i>Your race, as a race, is free now in -Africa, as it has been since the dawn of -history:—where is the civilization which -it worked out for itself?</i> It does not -exist; it never did exist.</p> - -<p>The negro has been absolutely unable -to develop as a race when left to -himself. Nowhere, at any time, has -he developed a system of agriculture, -or commerce, or manufactures, made -headway in mining or engineering, or -conceived a system of finance. Never -has he produced a system of laws, institutions -of state, religious organization, -or worked out a political ideal. -Never has he created a literature, or -developed original capacity for the fine -arts. His foot has never even crossed -the threshold of the world of creative -painting, sculpture, music, architecture -Into the realms of science, in the domain -of original thought, in the higher reaches -of mental power where the human -mind grapples with vast problems, -material and spiritual, the problems -of time and eternity, the negro has -never entered. No word has ever -fallen from his lips that was not the -echo of what some white man had already -said. He has sometimes <i>put his -foot in the white man’s track</i>, but that is -the best he has ever done.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Compare this imitative race with the -great Latin stock—a stock from which -sprang Rienzi and Garibaldi, Cavour -and Napoleon, Da Vinci and Galileo, -Savonarola and Leo the Tenth, Titian -and Bellini, Raphael and Michelangelo.</p> - -<p>The Latin race, whether in Spain, -Italy or South America, has developed -systems of agriculture, finance, commerce, -manufactures, education, religion, -government—has created literature, -laws and institutions of state, -has evidenced capacity in science and -art.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The negroes superior to the Latins?</p> - -<p>Heavens above!</p> - -<p>During the thousand years which -Doctor Washington says that the Latins -have done less than the negroes have -done in thirty, Spain rose into world-power, -dominated the European Continent, -shook England’s throne to its -base, broke the Turkish scimiter in -the great sea-fight of Lepanto, evolved -a splendid literature, reached the highest -development in the Fine Arts, -launched Columbus upon his voyage -into unknown seas to test the suggestion -of another Latin—Toscanelli—and -thus took the first daring step in -that marvelous chapter of Discovery -whose sober facts are grander and -stranger than Romance.</p> - -<p>Has the learned Doctor ever studied -the history of Mexico—the Latin country -south of us?</p> - -<p>Since a foreign yoke was thrown off -and Mexico “found herself,” what -country has made nobler progress?</p> - -<p>The negro in Santo Domingo has had -a hundred years of freedom; Mexico<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_395"></a>[Pg 395]</span> -scarce half so many; <i>yet compare the -Mexico of today with the Santo Domingo -of today.</i> Left to themselves, the -Latins of Mexico have built up a magnificent -civilization.</p> - -<p>Left to themselves, the negroes of -Santo Domingo have destroyed what -the French had already built.</p> - -<p><i>In Mexico conditions get better, year -after year.</i></p> - -<p><i>In Santo Domingo conditions grow -worse, year after year.</i></p> - -<p>If the learned Doctor wants to make -a study in contrasts, let him first read -“Where Black Rules White,” by -Hesketh Prichard, and then read “The -Awakening of a Nation,” by Charles -F. Lummis, and I venture to say that -some of his cocky self-complacency as -to the superiority of the negroes over -the whites will ooze out of him.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>As to Italy—can it be that Italy has -done less in a thousand years than the -negroes have done in thirty?</p> - -<p>The greatest man that ever lived was -of Italian extraction. Taine says that -Napoleon was a true Italian in character -and intellect. If that be true, then -<i>the two greatest men the world ever saw</i> -were Latins. Wherever the civilized -man lives today his environment, his -thoughts, his ideals, his achievements -are more or less influenced by the life -and work of Cæsar and Napoleon.</p> - -<p>If any two men may be said to have -created the material modern world -those two Latins did it.</p> - -<p>If modern Europe is any one man, it -is Napoleon. His laws, schools—social, -political, financial, educational institutions—have -wrung from rulers ever -since the homage of imitation.</p> - -<p>In literature how illustrious is Italy?</p> - -<p>It was Petrarch who was “the Columbus -of a new spiritual atmosphere, -the discoverer of modern culture.”</p> - -<p>It was he who broke away from -monkish medievalism, created the -humanistic impulse, treated “man as a -rational being apart from theological -determination,” modernizing literature.</p> - -<p>The “short story” writers of fiction—Edgar -Poe, Guy de Maupassant and -Kipling—had their teacher in Boccaccio -and his <i>novella</i>.</p> - -<p>Modern history traces its methods, -its spirit and its form to Villani, Guicciardini, -and that wonderful type of Latin -genius, Machiavelli.</p> - -<p><i>The whole world goes to school to the -Latins!</i></p> - -<p>No painter hopes to excel Correggio, -Paul Veronese, Antonio Allegro, Tintoretto, -Velasquez, Murillo. No sculptor -expects to eclipse Niccola Pisano, -Orvieto, Orcagna or Luca della Robbia.</p> - -<p>No worker in gold, silver and bronze -believes he can surpass Ghiberti, Cellini -and Donatello.</p> - -<p>Architects the world over despair of -rivaling Alberti, Bramante, Giulo -Romano, Palladio.</p> - -<p>These masters were masters to their -own generation, four and five hundred -years ago; they have been masters ever -since; they are masters still.</p> - -<p>Wherever civilization extends its -frontiers these deathless Latins are in -the van—teaching what Truth and -Beauty are, refining the thoughts, elevating -the ideals, improving the methods, -inspiring the efforts of man.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p><i>The negroes have done more than this, -and in thirty years?</i></p> - -<p>You had forgotten the Renaissance, -hadn’t you, Doctor?</p> - -<p>Asia was decaying, Africa was in its -normal state of savagery, Europe lay -torpid under the weight of ignorance -and superstition. Where learning existed -at all its spirit was dull, its form -heavy, its progress fettered by ancient -canons and cumbrous vestments.</p> - -<p>Suddenly the Angel of Light—her -face a radiance, her presence an inspiration—puts -a silver trumpet to her -lips and blows, blows, till all the world -of white men hears the thrilling notes.</p> - -<p>And lo! there is a resurrection! -What was best in the learning of the -past becomes young again, and ministers -to the minds of men.</p> - -<p>Literature springs to life, throws off -antiquated dress, and takes its graceful -modern form. The fine arts flourish as -never before; the canvas, the marble, -the precious metal, feel the subtle<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_396"></a>[Pg 396]</span> -touch of the eager artist, and give -birth to beauty which is immortal. -The heavy prison-castle of the Frank, -the Goth, the Norman, the Anglo-Saxon, -retires abashed before the elegant, -airy, poetic palace of the Renaissance.</p> - -<p>Nor does the revival of learning -limit itself to literature, architecture, -painting, sculpture. It extends to -law, to commerce, to agriculture, to -religion, to education.</p> - -<p>Whence came the Renaissance, Doctor -Washington? Whence came that -mighty revival of intellectual splendor -which still influences the world? From -the Latin race, which you affect to -despise. From these Italians whom -you say are so inferior in development -to the negro.</p> - -<p>Italy led the modern world in almost -everything which we call civilization—she -is today one of the world’s -most inspiring teachers, nor will her -power for good be gone till the Christian -religion is repudiated, the voice -of music hushed, the wand of literature -broken, the force of law defied, -the witchery of art lost to the minds, -the hearts and the souls of men.</p> - -<p>And yet Doctor Washington asserts, -to one audience after another, that -those glorious achievements of the -Latins, the Italians, these imperishable -and ever potent achievements of a -thousand years, are exceeded by what -the negroes have done in thirty years!</p> - -<p>From the Latin England took her religious -organization, as Germany and -Austria and France had done. Through -the Latin the classic literature of -Greece and earlier Rome came into the -modern world—an eternal debt which -we owe mainly to Petrarch.</p> - -<p>The Bourbon kings imported from -Italy the architects, painters, sculptors, -landscape gardeners, who laid -upon uncouth feudal France the rich -mantle of Italian beauty.</p> - -<p>It was the Latin who taught modern -Europe how to farm, how to irrigate, -how to engrave, how to make paper -from rags, how to bridge the rivers, -how to pave the streets, how to make -canals.</p> - -<p>Some of Shakespeare’s plays are elaborations -and dramatizations of Italian -<i>novellas</i>. Chaucer, the father of English -poetry, frankly copied from the -Italian model.</p> - -<p>Milton had Dante for pioneer, Spenser -had Ariosto, and Byron’s best work -is in the Italian form.</p> - -<p>I presume, Doctor, that at this season -of the year you are copying the -style of the white man, and that you -are wearing a straw hat.</p> - -<p>Well, the Latins taught us how to -make straw hats.</p> - -<p>I presume that you recognize the -value of <i>glass</i>—one of whose hundreds -of uses is to show you how you look.</p> - -<p>Well, the Latin taught us how to -make glass.</p> - -<p>I presume you realize how much the -modern world, during the last thousand -years, has been indebted to the -modern ship.</p> - -<p>Well, the Latin taught the Anglo-Saxon -how to build modern ships.</p> - -<p>I presume you appreciate good rice, -Doctor.</p> - -<p>Well, the seed of the heavy upland -rice which we have in this country was -brought out of Italy in the pockets of -Thomas Jefferson—gentleman-smuggler -in that instance.</p> - -<p>I presume you will wear pink silk -undergarments this season as usual, -won’t you, Doctor?</p> - -<p>Well, the Latin taught modern Europe -how to make and use silk.</p> - -<p>And remember that the Latin took -the clumsy musical instruments of the -ancient world and fashioned them into -the perfect forms of the present time; -and that the Italians, whom you despise, -had created the violin while your -race was “rattling the bones” and -gradually climbing toward the “cakewalk.”</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>What has the negro in these United -States been doing for the last thirty -years, Doctor?</p> - -<p><i>Copying the white man.</i> That’s all.</p> - -<p>He has simply been imitating, as -best he could, the dress, the talk, the -manners, the methods, the work of -the whites.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_397"></a>[Pg 397]</span></p> - -<p>The Latin whites <i>originated</i> a civilization; -the negroes are <i>copying</i> one. -Is there no difference between the -higher genius which conceives and the -lower talent which copies?</p> - -<p>It required the genius of Raphael to -conceive and paint “The Transfiguration.” -Any ordinary artist can -make a fair copy of it. But does anyone -compare the copyist with the -original artist? It required the genius -of Sangallo and Michelangelo to rear -St. Peter’s at Rome: any well-educated -architect of today might rear -its duplicate. But would that make -the modern architect equal to the two -Italian masters?</p> - -<p>Ten thousand negro men and women -may be able to sit down at the piano -and render Verdi’s “Il Trovatore,” -but does that entitle the negroes to -class themselves with the Italian composer?</p> - -<p>My thought is this—the negro, assisted -in every possible way by the -whites, is copying the ways and learning -the arts of the white man; <i>but the -fact that he can learn to read the white -man’s book does not make him the equal -of the white race which produced the -book.</i> The fact that he may learn from -us how to practice law or medicine -does not make him equal to the white -race which <i>created</i> the code of laws and -the science of medicine. It may have -required a thousand years <i>for us to -learn</i> that which we can <i>teach him in -one year</i>, but the point is that the -negro, in his native home, had just as -much time and opportunity to evolve -a civilization as we had, <span class="smcap">and he did -not do it</span>.</p> - -<p>Let me repeat to you, Doctor, the -unvarnished truth—for it may do you -good:</p> - -<p>The advance made by your race in -America is <i>the reflection</i> of the white -man’s civilization. Just that and -nothing more. The negro lives in the -light of the white man’s civilization and -<i>reflects a part of that light</i>.</p> - -<p>He imitates an example kept before -his eyes; copies models never out of his -sight; echoes the words the white man -utters; patterns after the manners and -the methods of the whites around him, -and thus <i>reflects</i> our civilization.</p> - -<p>He has originated nothing, and if -the copy, the pattern, the example -were taken away he would fall back as -he did in Haiti.</p> - -<p>He has never either evolved nor sustained -a civilization of his own.</p> - -<p>Fortunately for the <i>Afro-American</i>, -he finds himself better situated -than his brethren elsewhere. In Africa -and Haiti <i>they</i> have to scuffle <i>for -themselves</i>. Result—barbarism.</p> - -<p>In America <i>he</i> swells the ranks of -civilization’s advancing army, and he -<i>has</i> to go forward. We not only support -him with aid of all sorts, we not -only give him daily precept and example, -but we <i>compel</i> him to live a better life -than he would live in Africa and Haiti. -This compulsion is of two kinds, the -fear of punishment and the hope of reward—thus -enlisting two of the most -powerful passions of the human being.</p> - -<p>It should be significant to Doctor -Washington that the only portion of -his race which has ever made any -development is that which has the -vast advantage of being sustained, encouraged, -taught, led and <i>coerced</i> by -the whites among whom they live.</p> - -<p>Not long ago a negro preacher whose -self-appreciation was as great as that -of Doctor Washington went out to -Liberia to subdue the heathen, in the -home of the negro race.</p> - -<p>The heathen were not subdued, but -the preacher was. He threw off his -store clothes, gave a whoop, gathered -up an armful of wives and broke for -the woods; the “Call of the Wild” was -too much for his newly soldered civilization.</p> - -<p>Now, I don’t mean to say that Doctor -Washington would relapse, under -similar circumstances; but when I hear -him call his new race <i>Afro-Americans</i> -and listen while he soberly tells them -that <i>they are superior to the whites</i>, I beg -that he will remember his kin across -the sea, his brethren in Santo Domingo, -the decadents of Liberia, and the tens -of thousands of his race here in this -country who devoutly believe in witch -doctors, in ghosts, in the conjure bag,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_398"></a>[Pg 398]</span> -and in the power of one negro to undo -another by the mysterious but invincible -“Trick.”</p> - -<p>Remember this, Doctor, education is -a good thing, but <i>it never did, and -never will, alter the essential character -of a man or a race</i>.</p> - -<p>Of course, Doctor, if you think your -race the equal of ours, you have the -right to say it. It’s a free country, -you know.</p> - -<p>But, really, you ought not to “crowd -the monkey” by putting in a claim for -superiority.</p> - -<p><i>Such a claim does your race no good.</i></p> - -<p>It <i>may</i> do them harm. It may cultivate -a spirit of truculent self-assertion -which even your warmest admirers, -North and South, might find it -hard to tolerate.</p> - -<p>In the “History of Civilization,” -Buckle says:</p> - -<p>“Above all this, there is a far higher -movement; and as the tide rolls on, now -advancing, now receding, there is, amid -its endless fluctuations, one thing, and -one alone, which endures forever. The -actions of bad men produce only temporary -evil, the actions of good men only -temporary good; and eventually the -good and the evil altogether subside, are -neutralized by subsequent generations, -absorbed by the incessant movement -of future ages. But the discoveries of -great men never leave us; they are immortal, -they contain those eternal truths -which survive the shock of empires, -outlive the struggle of rival creeds -and witness the decay of successive religions. -All <i>these</i> have their different -measures and their different standards; -one set of opinions for one age, -another set for another. <i>They</i> pass -away like a dream; they are as a fabric -of a vision, which leaves not a rack behind. -<i>The discoveries of genius alone -remain</i>: it is to <i>them</i> we owe all that -we now have, <i>they</i> are for all ages and -for all times; never young, and never -old, <i>they</i> bear the seeds of their own -life, they flow on in a perennial and -undying stream; <i>they</i> are essentially -cumulative, and giving birth to the -additions which they subsequently receive, -<i>they thus influence the most distant -posterity, and after the lapse of centuries -produce more effect than they were -able to do even at the moment of their -promulgation.</i>”</p> - -<p>Noble lines!</p> - -<p>And amid these “discoveries of -genius” to which “we owe all that we -now have,” bearing the seeds of intellectual -life and improvement to “the -most distant posterity” what treasures -are richer than those which the Latin -brings?</p> - -<p>Architecture, Agriculture, Manufactures, -Commerce, Civil Engineering, -Finance, Legislation, Religious -Organization, Sculpture, Painting, -Music, Literature, Science, the wedding -of the Fine Arts to Religion—in each -and every one of these fields <i>his</i> genius -has been creative and masterful.</p> - -<p><i>Upon our civilization the Latin has -imposed, as an everlasting blessing, an -imperishable Public Debt.</i></p> - -<p>What does civilization owe to the -negro?</p> - -<p>Nothing!</p> - -<p><i>Nothing!!</i></p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Nothing!!!</span></p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<h3><i>Amending the Constitution</i></h3> - -<p>I am not one of those who believe -that the Constitution of the United -States is a flawless piece of workmanship.</p> - -<p>It was not so considered by those -who made it nor by those who adopted -it. It never would have been ratified -had it not been that amendments were -promised and misrepresentation made -as to the character of the instrument.</p> - -<p>There has been a great deal of discussion -recently about making a new -Constitution or amending the old.</p> - -<p>When the Constitution was adopted -<i>a government was created</i> of which the -Constitution is the supreme law, and -<i>this cannot be changed except in the -manner prescribed in the instrument itself</i>.</p> - -<p>If two-thirds of the states composing -the Union, acting through their legislatures, -shall apply to Congress for “a -Constitutional convention for proposing<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_399"></a>[Pg 399]</span> -amendments,” and these amendments -should be ratified by three-fourths -of the states, then a practically -new Constitution might be framed; but -in no other legal way could the people -alter the fundamental law.</p> - -<p>Congress can take the initiative by -a vote of two-thirds of both Houses, -and can propose amendments which, -if adopted by three-fourths of the -states, would become a part of the -Constitution; but it must occur to all -that this method of effecting reform -is slow and cumbrous to the last degree.</p> - -<p><i>The framers of the Constitution meant -that it should be so.</i></p> - -<p>In a very able article in the last -number of this magazine Mr. Frederick -Upham Adams discusses the necessity -for amendments to the Constitution.</p> - -<p>He cites four changes that should be -made.</p> - -<p>First.—The election of President -and Vice-President should not be decided -by a majority of the states, but -by a majority of the people.</p> - -<p>Second.—United States Senators -should not be elected by legislatures, -but by direct vote of the people of the -states.</p> - -<p>Third.—The states should be represented -in the Senate according to -population.</p> - -<p>Fourth.—The powers and functions -of the Federal Judiciary should be -enumerated and limited.</p> - -<p>I heartily concur with Mr. Adams -in his view of the Federal Judiciary. -It has usurped functions and powers -unprecedented in the history of judicial -tribunals.</p> - -<p>In order to change the character of -the government at Athens from an -aristocracy to a democracy Solon gave -the people control of the courts, which -<i>exercised the supreme power over laws -and men</i>. Aristotle says that by this -method the people established a democracy -where there had previously -been an aristocracy. The aristocrat -controlled the lawmaking power, but -as the people controlled the judiciary -a pure democracy resulted.</p> - -<p>Alexander Hamilton used the same -device <i>for the opposite purpose</i>. He -took away from the people and put -into the hands of the aristocracy <i>the -supreme control over our laws and -rulers</i>, and our judiciary, thus controlled, -has changed the United States, -which under the old Confederation was -a democracy, into an aristocracy.</p> - -<p>It will require a Constitutional -amendment to drive the usurpers from -the high place in which they are entrenched, -but such an amendment cannot -possibly be passed through the -<i>Upper House of Congress</i> and through -the <i>Upper Houses of three-fourths of the -states</i> until a tremendous revolution -shall have taken place in public sentiment.</p> - -<p>If we should attempt to curtail the -powers of the Federal Judges by Constitutional -amendment we should surely -find “Jordan a hard road to travel.” -Most of us would be dead and forgotten -before the purpose could be reached -by that route.</p> - -<p>What, then, can be done?</p> - -<p><i>The swiftest remedy for the evil lies in -the election of a President who will</i> -<span class="smcap">assert his Executive Authority</span>.</p> - -<p>The very essence of our system of -government is the <i>Balance of Power</i>. -The Legislative function should not -encroach upon the Judicial; the Executive -should not invade the Legislative, -and the Judicial should not -usurp prerogatives belonging to the -other two.</p> - -<p><i>Inherent in each of these three departments -of government lies the power of -self-defense.</i></p> - -<p>Just as the Government, as a whole, -has the inherent, inalienable right of -self-preservation against external or -internal attack, so each of the three -separate departments of the Government -has the inherent right of -self-preservation as against an attack -from either one or both of the other -two.</p> - -<p>When John Marshall made the attempt -to encroach upon the Executive, -during the administration of Mr. -Jefferson, the President treated the -Court with contempt, and the Court -was powerless to go forward. When<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_400"></a>[Pg 400]</span> -the same partisan Judge made a decision -against the state of Georgia, -which President Andrew Jackson considered -unjust, the Executive refused -to support the Judiciary, and the decision -came to naught.</p> - -<p>When Chief-Justice Taney, during -President Lincoln’s administration, -encroached, as the President thought, -upon the Executive, the Judiciary -again came to grief.</p> - -<p><i>Had Mr. Cleveland been at heart in -favor of the Income tax of 1893, the -Supreme Court would never have dared -to pronounce against it.</i></p> - -<p>That law was based upon a principle -which the Supreme Court had indorsed -for a hundred years, and the first deliverance -of the Judges upon the act -of 1893 was favorable to it.</p> - -<p>That act was the outcome of the -work of the Legislative department -acting within the scope of its authority. -The Executive department had sanctioned -the act, and it had become -LAW.</p> - -<p>Had Cleveland boldly announced -his purpose to <i>execute that law, by -virtue of his inherent power as Chief -Executive</i>, the Supreme Court would -never have made the second decision, -which was a national scandal.</p> - -<p>By that decision the accumulated -wealth of the millionaires is exempted -from taxation—relieved of the duty of -contributing to the support of the -Government by whose unjust laws -those millions were accumulated.</p> - -<p>But let the people really get in -power; let them really elect a President; -let them place in authority another -Andrew Jackson, who isn’t afraid -to show his friendship for the common -man and his animosity to the greedy -corporation—<i>then</i> you will see the -Supreme Court draw in its horns.</p> - -<p>Federal Judges are human like the -rest of us, and they know with considerable -accuracy which side their -bread is buttered on.</p> - -<p><i>Get the right sort of man in the Executive -Chair, get the right sort of men -in Congress, create the right sort of -public opinion, and I venture the prediction -that the Federal Judiciary will -not attempt the role of Dame Partington -without meeting with the same luck.</i></p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>I agree with Mr. Adams also that -Senators should be elected by the direct -vote of the people in each state, but -he is perhaps in error when he says that -the system of electing Senators by -state legislatures is “the fountain head -of the corruption of American politics.”</p> - -<p>On the contrary, there never could -have been a corrupt Senate until there -was a corrupt Legislature. When -New Jersey sent to the Senate a man -like Jim Smith the Legislature of New -Jersey had already become corrupt. -When Pennsylvania sent to the Senate -a man like Quay the Legislature of -Pennsylvania had already become corrupt. -Standard Oil had to buy the -Ohio Legislature before Henry B. -Payne became United States Senator.</p> - -<p>In other words, the corrupt Senator -is simply the fruit of the tree of legislative -corruption, and the corrupt Legislature -has been too often the result of -corrupt elections.</p> - -<p>We might as well tell the truth, and -the whole truth, while we are discussing -the question. <i>Every one of us -knows that elections of almost every sort, -from the highest to the lowest—town, -county, state and national—have been -influenced by money and whisky, -fraudulent practices of all sorts, the -stuffed ballot-box, the doctored returns, -and the God’s truth about the matter is -that the people themselves are, to a large -extent, responsible for the kind of men -who get into the Legislature, into the -House of Representatives and into the -Senate.</i></p> - -<p>Too many of our honest men have -shirked election duty, as they have -shirked jury duty; and just as ignorant -or corrupt juries too often decide -questions in the court house, so the -ignorant or corrupt voters—pliant -tools in the hands of unscrupulous politicians—decide -questions of legislation -which require the best thought and the -best energies of our most intelligent -and upright citizens.</p> - -<p>If direct legislation and the Recall -should be put in practice, there could<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_401"></a>[Pg 401]</span> -not be such things as corrupt legislatures, -and therefore there would be no -such thing as corrupt senatorial elections.</p> - -<p>The fountain having been purified, -the stream would be pure. At present -the fountain itself is too often impure, -and therefore the stream which flows -from it cannot be pure.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>On the other two points made by -Mr. Adams there will be greater difference -of opinion. His objections proceed -upon the assumption that the -United States is a nation with a government -national in all particulars. Here -he is at fault.</p> - -<p>Our Government is only partially -national. It is Federal, also, in part. -It is not altogether the one nor altogether -the other.</p> - -<p>Ours is a peculiar system. To the -foreign world we present the aspect of -a sovereign nation. Among ourselves -we are a collection of sovereign states -which, for purposes stated in the preamble -of the Constitution, have delegated -to the central Government a -portion of those powers which once belonged -entirely to those sovereign states.</p> - -<p>The state government existed before -the Federal Government came -into being. If the Federal Government -were abolished tomorrow, each -one of the states would still remain a -sovereign state capable of conducting -government.</p> - -<p>The state of Connecticut, for instance, -was an independent republic -when there was no such thing as the -United States.</p> - -<p>Would Connecticut ever have gone -into an “indissoluble union” if she had -not been assured that this union was -to be composed of “indestructible -states”? The two propositions are -linked together in Constitutional law.</p> - -<p>Among sovereigns all are, in law, -equal, and each one of these states was -sovereign at the time the union of -states was formed.</p> - -<p>Would either of those independent -sovereign states have accepted a place -of inferiority in the Government? -Assuredly not.</p> - -<p>Then how is the indestructibility of -the states guaranteed in the Constitution? -By giving the state, as a state, -its full power in the United States -Senate, and, in a smaller degree, in the -election of Chief Magistrate.</p> - -<p>The Constitution itself was modeled -by delegates chosen, not by citizens of -the United States, <i>acting as individuals -composing the entire nation</i>, but by -voters acting as <i>citizens composing distinct -and independent states to which -they respectively belonged</i>. When the -completed Constitution was referred -back to the people for adoption, it was -not acted upon by them as citizens of -the entire nation, but it was ratified by -each state, acting as a state, separate -and distinct from every other state. -<i>Therefore the Constitution itself is the -result, not of a national, but of a Federal -act.</i></p> - -<p>Mr. Madison himself took this ground -in <i>The Federalist</i>. The facts all prove -it.</p> - -<p>In the exercise of its legislative powers -the Federal Government is both -national and Federal. The House of -Representatives is a national body, because -it is composed of members chosen -according to population. The Senate -is a Federal body, because it is chosen -by the states, acting as states.</p> - -<p>The executive department of our -Government also combines in itself -both the national and the Federal features.</p> - -<p>The Electoral College is composed -of two messengers from each state, and -also of messengers equal in number to -the members which the state has in the -House of Representatives.</p> - -<p>The two messengers first mentioned -correspond with the two Senators, and -therefore represent the state in its -Federal capacity. The other messengers -correspond with the Representatives -of the state in the Lower House, -and as the Lower House is national, so -those messengers are national.</p> - -<p>If the people fail to elect a President, -and the election is thrown into the -House of Representatives, <i>this House, -which in its organization as a legislative -body is national, at once becomes Federal,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_402"></a>[Pg 402]</span> -because each state has one vote, and the -voice of Ohio or Pennsylvania is not -more potent than that of Rhode Island or -Delaware</i>.</p> - -<p>It is only when our Government -comes to put its laws into operation -that it is purely national.</p> - -<p>It is not strictly correct, politically -or legally, to say that the United -States is a nation, for a nation does -not properly exist when the Government -is one of limited power. That -our Government is one of limited -power, absolute only within the sphere -of action granted to it by the states, -cannot be denied. While secession -has been forever decided as not being -among the reserved rights of the -states, there are very many other reserved -rights which still belong to the -states, and which always should be -retained.</p> - -<p>As the Washington <i>Post</i> remarked -some time since: “The United States -has not a single voter, and does not -hold elections for any office. <i>All -elections are state elections.</i>”</p> - -<p>Already there has been too much -concentration of power in the central -Government. To take away from the -states their power of selecting Senators -would be nothing short of revolution, -and would lead to such a consolidation -of power as would entirely change the -form and spirit of our Government.</p> - -<p>If the principles of Populism grow -strong enough to carry the large states -they will probably be found strong -enough to carry the small states. If -they be found strong enough to control -the state elections, they will control -national offices, because, as the -Washington Post very aptly points -out, <i>the Federal Government holds no -elections and has no voters</i>: it is the -state that holds the election and -furnishes the voters; it is the state -that prescribes the limits of the -franchise, and says how, when, where -and by whom these elections shall be -held; <i>and even the Federal Judiciary -has not yet ventured to infringe in the -slightest degree upon that reserved right -of the separate states</i>.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Speaking of the equal representation -of the states in the Senate, Mr. -Adams says, “<i>This vicious compromise -was made in the Constitutional Convention -as the price for the perpetuation -of slavery.</i>”</p> - -<p>This compromise he characterizes -further as “<i>cowardly and unfair</i>.” -And he adds: “Now that the logic of -events has made this a nation, despite -the restrictive clauses of the Constitution, -the dual participation of the -unrepresentative Senate is so grotesque -that its continuance is fraught -with a danger which at any time is -likely to precipitate civil war.”</p> - -<p>Is Mr. Adams quite sure that “this -vicious compromise was the price of -the perpetuation of slavery”?</p> - -<p>Of course, I knew in a general way -that slavery had been responsible for -pretty nearly every mean old thing -that has ever happened to this country; -and it has always grieved me, with -more or less poignancy, that New England -could not have <i>foreseen</i> that she -couldn’t make slavery pay. We lost -much precious time while she was discovering -that she couldn’t. When at -length she <i>did</i> discover that there was -no money in it for <i>her</i>, she thoughtfully -sold most of her slaves, and -went in for Emancipation.</p> - -<p><i>Then</i>, to be sure, the sacred “Cause -of Freedom” advanced at a gallop; -but, as I said, we had lost a good deal -of time waiting for New England to -make her experiment, and a good deal -of unhappiness resulted.</p> - -<p>But while I knew all this, in a general -way, I really was not aware that the -slave-owning states in the Constitutional -Convention forced Washington, -Madison, Franklin and Randolph to -act in the cowardly and vicious manner -described by Mr. Adams.</p> - -<p>The state of Virginia bitterly opposed -the equal representation of the -states in the Senate. This was strange -conduct in Virginia, if the purpose of -that compromise was the “perpetuation -of slavery.”</p> - -<p>The state of New Jersey was the -leader of those states in the convention -which demanded equal representation<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_403"></a>[Pg 403]</span> -in the Senate. If that senatorial -equality was intended to perpetuate -slavery, New Jersey’s attitude -was most peculiar.</p> - -<p>This compromise which Mr. Adams -calls “vicious, cowardly and unfair” -is known to constitutional history -as <i>the Connecticut Compromise</i>. -The men who championed it most -ably were Roger Sherman and Oliver -Ellsworth. Were these men actuated -by a desire to perpetuate slavery?</p> - -<p>All the books which I have read -upon the subject state that equal -representation in the Senate was a -compromise which <i>the smaller states -wrung from the larger states, as the -price of the union</i>, not the price of the -“perpetuation of slavery.”</p> - -<p>New Jersey, Connecticut and Delaware -were afraid to give up their independent, -sovereign existence as states -and to go into a union where the large -states, like Pennsylvania and Virginia, -would have so much greater power -than themselves, if that power should -be based on population.</p> - -<p>When New Jersey refused to consider -any plan of union which did not -safeguard the interests of the small -states, she was not thinking of perpetuating -slavery. When Roger Sherman -and Oliver Ellsworth made such -a determined fight to preserve, in part, -the equality which then prevailed -among the states, they were not thinking -of perpetuating slavery. <i>Their -motive was to protect Connecticut, the -small state, against Virginia and other -large states.</i></p> - -<p>When Benjamin Franklin finally -proposed that the Convention adopt -the Connecticut idea, that aged philosopher -and friend of human liberty -was not acting in the interest of the -slave-owners.</p> - -<p>When Washington gave his consent, -he was not guilty of cowardice and -unfairness for the purpose of protecting -slavery.</p> - -<p>These men knew perfectly well that -they were exceeding their authority -in making a <i>new</i> Constitution. They -were sent there <i>to amend</i> the Articles -of Confederation; and when New Jersey, -Connecticut and Delaware took -the resolute position which was voiced -by Patterson, Roger Sherman and -Oliver Ellsworth, Washington and -Franklin both had sense enough to -know that it would be utter folly to go -before the people, seeking a ratification -of <i>a new Constitution</i>, unless the difference -between big states and little states -had been first adjusted in the Constitutional -Convention. Indeed, Rhode -Island, another small state, was so -jealous of her rights that she refused to -send delegates to the Convention.</p> - -<p>My authorities are Bancroft’s “History -of the United States,” “The -Constitutional History” of Landon, -McMaster’s “With the Fathers,” Hildreth’s -“History of the United States,” -Schouler’s “History of the United -States.”</p> - -<p>The latter historian says expressly -that the compromise under discussion -“<i>was secured through the determination -of the smaller states not to yield entirely -the rule of representation which the -larger states were bent on invading</i>,” and, -he adds, “<i>this compromise admirably -preserves the composite character of our -system</i>.”</p> - -<p>The historian declares that the -smaller states expressly committed to -the New Jersey plan which sought to -retain the sovereignty of the states -were New Jersey, Connecticut and -Delaware.</p> - -<p>Hildreth, in his “History of the -United States,” takes the same position, -and says: “The party of the smaller -states, known also as the State Rights -Party, included the delegates from -Connecticut, New Jersey, Delaware and -a majority of those from Maryland and -New York.</p> - -<p>“The party of the larger states, or -National Party, included not only <i>the -delegates from Virginia, Massachusetts -and Pennsylvania</i>, but also those from -<i>the two Carolinas and Georgia</i>, states -which anticipated a very rapid increase -of population.”</p> - -<p>(I could quote Woodrow Wilson to -the same effect, only Woodrow isn’t -worth while.)</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_404"></a>[Pg 404]</span></p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Now it must occur to Mr. Adams -that these facts are at war with his -theory.</p> - -<p>Virginia, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, -the two Carolinas and Georgia -would never have been found opposing -the equality of representation of the -states in the Senate if the purpose of -that senatorial equality was the perpetuation -of the institution of slavery.</p> - -<p>There <i>was</i> a compromise which the -slave-owners wrung as a concession -from the free states, but this compromise -benefited them <i>in the lower -House, not in the Senate</i>.</p> - -<p>When the Constitution gave the -slave states representation based upon -<i>three-fifths of the slaves</i>, the institution -of slavery derived strength from the -<i>national idea</i> of Pennsylvania, Massachusetts -and Virginia—<i>not from the -State Rights idea</i> of New Jersey, Delaware -and Connecticut.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<h3>“<i>Take the Children</i>”</h3> - -<p>In France the Privileged Classes -had created a situation which pleased -them perfectly.</p> - -<p>A fifth of the soil belonged to 30,000 -noble families; another fifth belonged -to the clergy; another fifth belonged -to the king and city governments; the -remaining two-fifths belonged to all -the other people, middle class and -peasants.</p> - -<p>To the support of the Government -the clergy contributed nothing except -as a free gift; the nobility contributed -pretty much what they pleased, and -they did not please to contribute a -great deal.</p> - -<p>The king’s family spent $55,000,000 -per year. Two brothers of the king -spent $2,000,000; and, to pay the debts -of one princely bankrupt, King Louis -XVI took $3,000,000 out of the public -funds.</p> - -<p>Two hundred and ninety-five cooks -served in the king’s kitchen. Nearly -two thousand horses stood in his -stables. A squad of soldiers escorted -his dinner to the table. A magnificent -band furnished music while he -ate, and a dozen gallant lords, paid -for the service, helped him to undress -and get to bed when the arduous do-nothing -of the day had been finished.</p> - -<p>Some 30,000,000 Frenchmen did not -enter into this world of privilege. The -merchant, the lawyer, the doctor, the -manufacturer, the farmer, the laborer—all -these stood outside the pearly gates, -catching only a glimpse of the radiance -within, hearing only, as from a distance, -the music of this Eden, created -by class legislation.</p> - -<p>The peasant neither owned his land -absolutely nor <i>himself</i> absolutely. Over -him and his was suspended the heavy -sword of class privilege.</p> - -<p>The noble hunter of game, who enjoyed -the exclusive privilege of killing -game, might trample down his grain -with the utmost unconcern, at whatever -time the pleasure of the noble -huntsman dictated. Mr. Peasant was -not allowed to protect his fields and -crops by putting up any kind of inclosure.</p> - -<p>Mr. Peasant must not kill the wild -boar or the antlered stag, even though -those noble beasts, reserved for noble -huntsmen, were destroying the crop -upon which he and his family were dependent -for a living.</p> - -<p>He could not, under any conditions -whatsoever, destroy the pigeons which -came sweeping down upon his grain, -nor must he, during certain seasons, -manure his crop or hoe out the grass, -lest he injure the flavor of the young -partridges, and deprive them of the -shelter necessary for their comfort and -growth.</p> - -<p>He could not press his grapes save -at the nobleman’s wine-press, nor grind -his wheat save at the nobleman’s mill, -nor bake his bread elsewhere than in -the nobleman’s oven.</p> - -<p>These monopolies were peculiar to -the lord, and the peasant must pay -toll lest the lord’s revenues decrease.</p> - -<p>The peasant could not vote, had -really no civic existence, was not considered -in the government of the country; -could be made to work whether -he wished to do so or not for the noble -and the king. His horses could be<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_405"></a>[Pg 405]</span> -taken from the cart, or from the plow, -if his superiors demanded it. Neither -for his labor nor his horse was he paid. -He could not put salt into his victuals -without paying a high price for it, and -he was not allowed to eat his victuals -unsalted. The law <i>compelled</i> him to -buy a certain portion of salt every year -at an exorbitant price.</p> - -<p>The church took from him one-tenth -of all he made, besides which he must -pay fees for christenings, marriages, -burials and pardons for sins—to say -nothing of prayers in behalf of the living, -the dying and the dead. The -feudal lord took from him annually a -certain part of all he made.</p> - -<p>The French historian Taine says that -in some portions of France the peasant -paid in feudal dues, church tithes and -royal taxes <i>more than three-fourths of -all that he made</i>. In other portions of -France <i>the entire net produce of the soil -went to the church and state</i>, and so great -was the intolerable burden that <i>the -peasants quit in despair, left the land to -become a desert waste, and flocked to the -cities to swell the army of The Wretched</i>.</p> - -<p>To throw off the shackles of this -frightful system of misgovernment the -French Revolutionist roused the people.</p> - -<p>At first Great Britain rejoiced in the -movement which Lafayette, Mirabeau, -Necker, Sieyès and Camille Desmoulins -inaugurated. These early revolutionists -declared their purpose to set up a -constitutional government in France -such as Great Britain enjoyed, but -when these moderate and constitutional -reformers were thrown aside by -the radical democrats who were determined -to establish a republic—when -this democracy had confiscated the -lands held by the church, had issued -paper money and had taken for national -uses the abandoned estates of -the immigrant nobles, the ruling powers -of church and state in Great Britain -became greatly alarmed, and it was resolved -that war to the death should be -waged against the principles of the -French Revolution.</p> - -<p>Unless this were done, democracy -might assert itself in Great Britain, and -those things which had been taken -from the people under forms of law -might be restored in the same way to -the original owners. Therefore William -Pitt, Prime Minister and actual -ruler of Great Britain, declared war -upon France, blockaded her coasts, -organized European kings into confederacies -against her, and for more -than a dozen dreadful years poured -armed legions upon her.</p> - -<p>During this era of “blood and iron” -men were torn from peaceful pursuits -throughout Great Britain to supply -the navy and the army with food for -powder.</p> - -<p>As a necessary consequence, the demand -for labor was greater than the supply; -and as England depends especially -upon her manufactures, it was there -that the scarcity of labor was most injuriously -felt.</p> - -<p>It is said that a deputation representing -the manufacturers waited upon -the Prime Minister and laid their -grievances before him, asking the question, -“<i>What must we do?</i>”</p> - -<p>Mr. Pitt is reported to have answered, -“<span class="smcap">Take the Children</span>.”</p> - -<p>This story may not be true, but it is -a fact that it represented precisely the -emergency, and the manner in which -that emergency was met. It also -represents correctly the attitude of Mr. -Pitt as defined in his speeches in Parliament.</p> - -<p>A cruel, unjustifiable war had devoured -the laborer who should have -been at his task. The laws had -dragged him into the army and into -the navy whether he wished to go or -not. Press-gangs had prowled about -the lanes and alleys clutching at every -poor man who happened to be sound -of limb, and had carried him off by -force into a battleship, where he might -be kept until the bride whom he had -left at the church door had counted -him as dead, or until the family which -he had left contented and happy had -been lost to the knowledge of men.</p> - -<p><i>Having taken the father, the same -remorseless class-greed demanded the -child, and took it.</i></p> - -<p>Upon the altar of English lust for<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_406"></a>[Pg 406]</span> -money has been sacrificed more helpless -men, women and children than -ever fell before the ruthless hordes -of Tamerlane or Attila.</p> - -<p>“Within carefully guarded limits, -child-labor is no more to be objected -to in manufactures than in agriculture, -but in the early days of the factory -system these limits were utterly discarded.</p> - -<p>“In the infancy of the system it -became the custom of the master manufacturers -to contract with the managers -of workhouses throughout England -and of the charities of Scotland, -to send their young children to the -factories of the great towns. <i>Many -thousands of children between the ages -of six and ten</i> were thus sent, absolutely -uncared for and unprotected, -and left to the complete disposal of -masters who often had not a single -thought except speedily to amass a -fortune, and <i>who knew that if the first -supply of infant labor were used up -there was still much more to be obtained</i>.</p> - -<p>“Thousands of children at this early -age might be found working in the -factories of England and Scotland, -usually from twelve to fourteen, sometimes -even fifteen and sixteen hours -a day, not unfrequently during the -greater part of the night. <i>Destitute -or drunken or unnatural parents made -it a regular system to raise money by -hiring out their children from six, sometimes -from five, years old, by written -contracts and for long periods. In one -case brought before Parliament a gang -of these children was put up for sale -among a bankrupt’s effects, and publicly -advertised as part of the property.</i> -In another an agreement was disclosed -between a London parish and a -Lancashire manufacturer in which -it was stipulated that <i>with every -twenty sound children one idiot should -be taken</i>.”</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>“Even as late as 1840, when the -most important manufactures had -been regulated by law, Lord Ashley -was able to show that <i>boys employed -in the carpet manufacture at Kidderminster -were called up at three and -four in the morning, and kept working -sixteen or eighteen hours</i>: that children -five years old were engaged in the -unhealthy trade of pin-making, and -were kept at work from six in the -morning to eight at night.” (Lecky, -“England in Eighteenth Century.”)</p> - -<p>In the coal mines and in the salt -mines men, women and children were -literally beasts of burden—were chattels, -and when the mines were sold the -human machines passed from one owner -to another just as the mechanical -apparatus passed.</p> - -<p>There were women who in these -coal mines, where the tunnels were -too narrow to allow them to stand -upright, had to crawl back and -forward on their hands and knees for -fourteen to sixteen hours a day, drawing -after them the trucks loaded -with coal.</p> - -<p><i>These trucks were securely fastened -to the woman by means of a chain -which passed between her legs and was -attached to a belt strapped round her -waist. The woman seldom wore any -clothes except an old pair of trousers -made of sacking.</i></p> - -<p>“Little children were forced to -work underground from year to year. -Deep in the gloom of a night which -had neither moonlight nor stars; -rarely ever seeing the face of nature -and of day—lost to God’s glory of sunlight, -shady woods, silvery waters—lost -to intelligence, happiness, enjoyment, -reduced to the helpless condition -of beasts of burden.”</p> - -<p>What was true of the mines was -also true of the factories.</p> - -<p>Men, women and children were -forced to work for a number of hours -absolutely inconsistent with physical -and moral development.</p> - -<p>In the year 1833 Lord Ashley led -in the noble effort to redeem the children -from the clutches of unscrupulous -commercialism, and to lighten the -burden of men and women by regulating -the hours of labor and the conditions -of service.</p> - -<p>After a most stubborn resistance, -in which the corporations urged against<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_407"></a>[Pg 407]</span> -the reform every reason which we -hear urged in our day, England did -herself the immense credit of checking -the tyranny of those who were grinding -the lives out of the poor in order that -the rich should become richer.</p> - -<p>In this country the cry of commercialism -is the same as that which in -Great Britain said, “<i>Take the children</i>.”</p> - -<p>Corporations want cheap labor. If -they can’t get the adult, they take -the child.</p> - -<p>In the Southern states the tendency -to employ children has had alarming -development. In 1880 the total number -of cotton factory employees was -16,740. Of these, 4,090 were children -under sixteen years of age. In -the year 1900 the total number of -employees had increased to 97,559. -Of these, 24,459 <i>were children under -sixteen years of age</i>.</p> - -<p>In the states outside of the South -there were, in 1880, 155,803 employees -in cotton factories. Of this number, -24,243 were children under sixteen -years of age. In the year 1900 the -total number of cotton factory employees -in states outside of the South -was 205,302. Of these, only 15,796 -were children under sixteen years of -age.</p> - -<p>In other words, within the Southern -states the children under sixteen years -of age constitute now, as they did -twenty years ago, <i>25 per cent. of all -the operatives employed</i>: whereas, <i>in -the states outside the South the children -under sixteen number less than 8 per -cent. of all those employed</i>. Therefore -the situation which was justly -considered so bad in Great Britain -that it was reformed seventy years -ago, and which has been reformed -in most of the states outside of the -South, is three times worse in the -South than it is in any other portion -of the Union, <i>and is just as bad now -as it was twenty years ago</i>.</p> - -<p>In <i>The Tradesman</i>, of Chattanooga, -Tenn., August 15, 1902, the statement -is made that the number of children -under sixteen years of age now at work -in the Southern mills approximated -50,000.</p> - -<p>The 50,000 little ones who troop to -the mill every morning, breathe the -steam-heated, dust-laden, germ-infected -atmosphere of the close rooms -throughout the entire day, who light, -with lanterns, their way home across -the fields when darkness has fallen, -are white children. During the same -hours that these white boys and girls -are finding their way to the factory -where their energy and strength is offered -up as a sacrifice to mammon, -50,000 black children are singing merrily -on their way to school, <i>where they -are gaining what the white children are -losing</i>.</p> - -<p>Glance forward twenty years and -ask yourselves what will be the relative -positions of the 50,000 white children -and the 50,000 black children. <i>It -will be a miracle if most of those white -children are not either in their graves, -or in the hospitals, or in the slums, or -in the prisons, while the 50,000 black -children will be holding clerkships in -some department of the Federal Government.</i></p> - -<p>The kind of civilization which we -are going to have in the future is being -determined now. Race development -and progress cannot be extemporized -or bought ready-made. It is a matter -of preparing the soil, planting the seed, -cultivating the crop.</p> - -<p>We shall reap as we shall have sown.</p> - -<p>The most profoundly disgusting feature -of the Southern political situation -today is that <i>the Democratic bosses who -control our state legislatures will not allow -us to give our white children as good -treatment as the negro children are getting</i>.</p> - -<p>Almost universally the Southern -mills are controlled by Northern capitalists; -but it is the Southern politician, -officeholder, editor or stockholder -who rushes to the legislature -saying that <i>child slavery must continue -because it is good for the child</i>.</p> - -<p>These Northern capitalists who own -Southern mills are, to a large extent, -Republicans in politics. The unprincipled -Southern men who put up a -plea in behalf of child slavery are almost -exclusively Democratic.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_408"></a>[Pg 408]</span></p> - -<p>Just as J. P. Morgan, the Republican -railroad king, uses the Southern -Democratic machine to rob the people -through his railroads, so the Northern -Republican millowner uses the Southern -Democratic politician to rivet upon -the Southern white child the chains of -commercial serfdom, <i>ruinous to the -child and ominous to the future of the -white race in the South</i>.</p> - -<p>It was class-greed which first raised -the cry, “<i>Take the children</i>.” It is -class-greed which <i>now</i> says, “<span class="smcap">Take the -Children</span>.”</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<h3><i>Paternalism</i></h3> - -<p>One of the dreadfulest words that -ever scared a mossback is “Paternalism.”</p> - -<p>He does not know what it means, -and he does not want to know. He -flees from it as from something too -blood-curdling to look upon. His -leaders, his orators, his editors, have all -told him that no language could fully -describe the horrors of “Paternalism”; -and therefore he feels that while -poverty, slavery, hunger and starvation -are sometimes annoying incidents -in life, they bear no comparison -to the pitiless rigors of “Paternalism.”</p> - -<p>He has got used to unmerciful taxes, -to ill-paid labor, to squalid surroundings, -to empty pockets, and to the cry -of children hungering for bread. All -these discomforts he can stand, because -they have come to him in the -natural course of events under the rule -of Democracy and Republicanism. -But the very idea of a new party -springing up and practicing “Paternalism” -unnerves him. He fears he -couldn’t stand it.</p> - -<p>We had this terror-stricken victim -of Democratic bugabooism in mind today -when we read the decision of -Cleveland’s Attorney-General, to the -effect that whisky in a bonded warehouse -could not be reached by process -from a State Court.</p> - -<p>Under a law which has stealthily -slipped upon the statute-book while -the people were not noticing, the -producers of distilled liquors get the -privilege of storing their “firewater” -in a government warehouse and getting -a certificate of deposit.</p> - -<p>The Government takes care of the -whisky until the owner feels like paying -a tax upon it.</p> - -<p>Formerly, under an act passed by -Republicans and Democrats, this exemption -from tax lasted three years. -At the last session of Congress the -Democrats, out of tender consideration -for the poor, downtrodden -Whisky Trust, extended this exemption -to eight years.</p> - -<p>The great and good Government of -the United States, therefore, steps -forward through its officers, and -kindly says to the distiller: “Hand me -your whisky bottle: I’ll take care of it -for you until you get ready to pay -your taxes.”</p> - -<p>Not only does our great and good -Government say substantially these -very words to the distiller, but it -guards his whisky bottle so jealously -that no writ or execution or other -process from a State Court is allowed -to touch the liquor which is thus being -held by the Government for the benefit -of the owner.</p> - -<p>Governor Tillman, of South Carolina, -tried to bring his power as Chief -Magistrate of a sovereign state to bear -on some of the whisky which Uncle -Sam was taking care of for the Whisky -Trust, but the voice of our great and -good Government was promptly heard -saying, “Keep off the Grass.”</p> - -<p>Brave Benjamin had to let the -whisky alone.</p> - -<p>The certificate of deposit issued on -the liquor by the Government to the -distiller becomes at once valuable -commercial paper upon which he can -get any amount of money he wants.</p> - -<p>He can go to New York, borrow -money on his certificate at 2 per cent., -and use it for eight years without -difficulty, because the money-lenders -have the certificate which shows to -them that the Government is taking -good care of the whisky all the time.</p> - -<p>Is this “Paternalism”?</p> - -<p>If so, please don’t mention it to the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_409"></a>[Pg 409]</span> -mossback whom we have described. -It might make him run away and -tear the buggy up.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<h3><i>Planting Corn</i></h3> - -<p>The bluebird was out today; out in -his glossiest plumage, his throat gurgling -with song.</p> - -<p>For the sunlight was warm and -radiant in all the South, and the -coming spring had laid its benediction -on every field and hedge and forest.</p> - -<p>The smell of newly plowed ground -mingled with the subtle incense of -the yellow jasmine; and from every -orchard a shower of the blossoms of -peach and apple and pear was wafted -into the yard and hung lovingly on -the eaves and in the piazzas of the old -homestead—the old and faded homestead.</p> - -<p>Was there a cloud in all the sky? -Not one, not one.</p> - -<p>“Gee! Mule!!!”</p> - -<p>“Dad blast your hide, why don’t -you gee-e-EE!!”</p> - -<p>Co-whack! goes the plowline on the -back of the patient mule—the dignified -upholder of mortgages, “time -price” accounts, and the family credit -generally.</p> - -<p>Down the furrow, and up the furrow; -down to the woods, and up to the fence—there -they go, the sturdy plowman -and his much-enduring but indispensable -mule.</p> - -<p>For the poplar leaves are now as -big as squirrel-ears and it’s “time to -plant corn.”</p> - -<p>On moves the plowman, steady as a -clock, silent and reflective.</p> - -<p>Right after him comes the corndropper, -dropping corn.</p> - -<p>The grains faintly chink as the bare -feet of the corndropper hurry past; -and before the corn has well cuddled -itself into the shoe-heel of the plowman’s -track, down comes the hoe of -the “coverer”—and then the seeds -pass into the portals of the great unknown; -the unknown of burial, of -death and of life renewed.</p> - -<p>Peeping from the thicket, near at -hand, the royal redbird makes note -of what is going on, nor is the thrush -blind to the progress of the corndropper. -And seated with calm but -watchful dignity on the highest pine -in the thicket sits the melancholy -crow, sharpening his appetite with all -the anticipated pleasures of simple -larceny.</p> - -<p>The mocking-bird circles and swoops -from tree to tree, and in her matchless -bursts of varied song no cadence is -wanting, no melody missed.</p> - -<p>The hum of the bees is in the air; -white butterflies, like snowflakes, fall -down the light and lazily float away.</p> - -<p>The robin lingers about the China -tree, and the bluejay, lifting his plumed -frontlet, picks a quarrel with every -feathered acquaintance and noisily -asserts his grievances.</p> - -<p>The jo-ree has dived deeper into the -thicket, and the festive sapsucker, he -of the scarlet crest, begins to come to -the front, inquisitive as to the location -of bugs and worms.</p> - -<p>On such a day, such a cloudless, -radiant, flower-sweetened day, the -horseman slackens the rein as he rides -through lanes and quiet fields; and he -dares to dream that the children of -God once loved each other.</p> - -<p>On such a day one may dream that -the time might come when they would -do so again.</p> - -<p>Rein in and stop, here on this high -hill! Look north, look east where -the sun rises, look south, look west -where the sun sets—on all sides the -scene is the same. In every field the -steady mule, the steady plowman and -the children dropping corn.</p> - -<p>Close the eye a moment and look at -the picture fancy paints. Every field -in Georgia is there, every field in the -South is there. And in each the figures -are the same—the steady mule -and the steady man, and the pattering -feet of the children dropping corn.</p> - -<p>In these furrows lie the food of the -republic; on these fields depend life, -and health and happiness.</p> - -<p>Halt those children—and see how -the cheek of the world would blanch -at thought of famine!</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_410"></a>[Pg 410]</span></p> - -<p>Paralyze that plowman—and see -how national bankruptcy would shatter -every city in the Union.</p> - -<p>Dropping corn! A simple thing, you -say.</p> - -<p>And yet, as those white seeds rattle -down to the sod and hide away for a -season, it needs no peculiar strength -of fancy to see a Jacob’s ladder -crowded with ascending blessings.</p> - -<p>Scornfully the railroad king would -glance at these small teams in each -small field; yet check those corndroppers -and his cars would rot on -the road and rust would devour the -engines in the roundhouse. The -banker would ride through those fields -thinking only of his hoarded millions, -nor would he ever startle himself with -the thought that his millions would -melt away in mist were those tiny -hands never more to be found dropping -corn. The bondholder, proud in all -the security of the untaxed receiver -of other people’s taxes, would see in -these fields merely the industry from -which he gathers tribute; it would never -dawn on his mind that without the -opening of those furrows and the -hurrying army of children dropping -corn his bond wouldn’t be worth the -paper it is written on.</p> - -<p>Yet it is literally so.</p> - -<p>Feed the world, and it can live, -work, produce and march on. Starve -it, and what becomes of railroads, -banks, mills, mines, notes, mortgages -and bonds?</p> - -<p>Great is the might of this republic!—great -in its schools, churches, courts, -legislatures; great in its towns and -cities; great in its commerce, great in -its manufactures, great in its colossal -wealth.</p> - -<p>But sweep from under it all these -worn and wasted fields, strike into -idleness or death the plowman, his -wife and his child, and what becomes -of the gorgeous structure whose foundation -is his field?</p> - -<p>Halt the food growers, and what -becomes of your gold and its “intrinsic -value”?</p> - -<p>How much of your gold can you -eat?</p> - -<p>How many of your diamonds will -answer the need of a loaf?</p> - -<p>But enough.</p> - -<p>It is time to ride down the hill. -The tinkle of the cow-bell follows the -sinking sun—both on the way home.</p> - -<p>So with many an unspoken thought -I ride homeward, thinking of those who -plant the corn.</p> - -<p>And hard indeed would be the heart -that, knowing what these people do -and bear and suffer, yet would not -fashion this prayer to the favored of -the republic: “O rulers, lawmakers, -soldiers, judges, bankers, merchants, -editors, lawyers, doctors, preachers, -bondholders! <i>Be not so unmindful of -the toil and misery of those who feed -you!</i>”</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<h3><i>Not Parson Brownlow’s Son</i></h3> - -<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Knoxville, Tenn.</span>, April 26, 1905.</p> - -<p class="no-indent"><i>Hon. Thomas E. Watson, Thomson, Ga.</i></p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Dear Sir</span>: In your article on “Politics -and Economics” in <span class="smcap">Tom Watson’s Magazine</span> -for May, you speak of the salary grab -of congressmen as follows: “Tennessee will -not be shocked to know that ‘Slippery Jim’ -Richardson voted for the grab. She may -be shocked to know that Brownlow did the -same thing—Brownlow, the <i>son</i> of the -famous Parson.”</p> - -<p>You are entirely mistaken about Walter -P. Brownlow, to whom you refer, being a -son of the “famous Parson.” Parson -Brownlow has only one son living, Colonel -John Bell Brownlow, who commanded the -regiment in which I was an officer, the -Ninth Tennessee Cavalry Volunteers of -the Union troops during the Civil War, and -who lives in this city and is not a member of -Congress now nor has he ever been.</p> - -<p>Please publish this in full in your issue -for June and greatly oblige me.</p> - -<p class="center">Respectfully,</p> - -<p class="right"><span class="smcap">W. R. Murphy</span>.</p> - -<p>P.S.—I am a constant reader of your -magazine and am enjoying your articles -very much; and not only yours, but those -of Frederick Upham Adams. Many of the -truths which you utter through the medium -of your great magazine will prove to be -precious seed sown in the rich soil of the -national conscience, and the fruitage will be -invaluable.—W. R. M.</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<h3><i>Mr. President!</i></h3> - -<p>Won’t you <i>please</i> quiet down now -and get to business? <i>Don’t</i> you think<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_411"></a>[Pg 411]</span> -you can give us a rest on speeches -and photographs?</p> - -<p><i>Can’t</i> you leave it to the women to -do as they think best on the baby -question?</p> - -<p>If you will just sit still a while and -attend to your own business, you have -no idea how many people will be thankfully -appreciative.</p> - -<p>Why don’t you <i>concentrate your efforts</i> -and peg away until you accomplish -something?</p> - -<p>Why start up so much game which -you never bag?</p> - -<p>You said you were going to compel -the Cattle Kings to take their barbed -wire fences off the public lands—and -you haven’t done it.</p> - -<p>Why don’t you give Colonel John -Mosby free rein and let him cut the wire?</p> - -<p>You said you were going to discipline -the Railroads and the Trusts—and you -haven’t done it.</p> - -<p>Why don’t you have your prosecuting -officers take out warrants for such -men as Armour, the Rockefellers and -Rogers?</p> - -<p>You <i>know</i> they are law-breakers; -<i>deal with them as law-breakers</i>.</p> - -<p>Don’t seine the pond for minnows -when you can harpoon such whales as -these.</p> - -<p>Hit the big criminals—<i>hit them hard</i>—and -eighty million people will cheer -you on!</p> - -<p>You led us to believe that you meant -to revise the Tariff; why don’t you follow -it up?</p> - -<p>You <i>know</i> that <i>the Trust exists because -of the Railroad and the Tariff</i>.</p> - -<p>The Railroad gives the <i>special favor</i>; -the Tariff <i>prevents foreign Competition</i>—and -there you are. <i>The Trust is -born of these two Special Favors</i>, one -given by the Tariff and the other by -private contracts violative of law.</p> - -<p>To break any and all Trusts <i>remove -the Tariff on the articles controlled by -the Trusts, and at the same time relentlessly -prosecute as common criminals -every Railroad Official, however high and -rich, who grants to one shipper any sort -of favor not granted to all</i>.</p> - -<p>There isn’t a Trust in the United -States that you can’t bust in twelve -months if you go at it with these -weapons.</p> - -<p>The Free List for trust-controlled -articles; Criminal Warrants for the Armours, -Swifts, Harrimans, Rockefellers, -Morgans, Belmonts—all who are -“in the game.”</p> - -<p>Here’s a work worthy of you, Mr. -Roosevelt.</p> - -<p><i>It needs you!</i></p> - -<p>It wants your pluck, your energy, -your honesty, your tenacity; won’t you -buckle to the task?</p> - -<p>Let the baby question alone. There -will always be plenty of babies.</p> - -<p>Don’t you fret about that. The -women know what’s what.</p> - -<p>Turn your head another way. Put -your attention on <i>your</i> job.</p> - -<p><i>A great man’s task invites you—demands -you.</i></p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Rise to it like a great man!</span></p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<h3><i>Did You Know It?</i></h3> - -<p>Did you know that a private corporation -got its clutch upon the Monongahela -River generations ago and shut -off free navigation?</p> - -<p>Did you know that this private monopoly -exercised the power of dictating -to every dollar’s worth of produce -transported upon that highway the -terms upon which it should go to -market?</p> - -<p>Did you know that <i>the people at large</i>, -who were robbed by this gigantic and -unnatural monopoly, <i>complained vainly</i> -during all these long and dreary years -of corporation tyranny?</p> - -<p>Did you know that as soon as <i>the -corporations which are working in coal -and iron</i> got tired of said monopoly -and began to complain, our great and -good Government at once had ears to -hear and eyes that could see?</p> - -<p>Did you know that patriots of the -Carnegie stripe, who had to pay tribute -to the Monongahela monopoly, were -losing $425,000 per year to said monopoly; -<i>and that Carnegie and Company -went to our great and good Government -and demanded that said Government -buy out said Monongahela monopoly</i>?</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_412"></a>[Pg 412]</span></p> - -<p>Did you know that our great and -good Government immediately harkened -to the wails of Carnegie and his -Company <i>and appointed a commission -to assess the value of said Monongahela -monopoly</i>?</p> - -<p>Did you know that said monopoly, -being wise in its generation, realized -that its hour had come and that its -best policy was to sell out at a high -price?</p> - -<p><i>Did you know that the Commission -appraised the monopoly franchise at -more than three and a half million dollars, -and that our great and good Government -paid the money?</i></p> - -<p>Did you know that <i>your cash</i> was -thus lifted out of the Treasury <i>to pay -for a free river for Carnegie and his -Company</i>; and that nobody thought it -worth while to say “Turkey” to you -about it?</p> - -<p>This buying-off of the private monopoly -which throttled the commerce -of a great section was a good thing to -do. We are glad it was done. The -people can now navigate the Monongahela -as freely as Carnegie can do it; -but is it not mortifying to reflect <i>that -the PEOPLE were powerless against the -wrong until the coal and iron kings -took the case in hand</i>?</p> - -<p>And isn’t it amazing to see how easily -the doors of the Treasury fly open, -and the millions pour out, when the -Privileged Corporations want it done?</p> - -<p>When it became a matter of self-interest -to the Privileged Corporations -to buy out the Monongahela monopoly -the Constitution was not in the way -nor was the money lacking.</p> - -<p>Whenever it suits the same Privileged -Classes to unload the Railroads -on to the Government at fancy prices -it will be done. When that day comes -the Constitution will not be in the way -nor will the means be lacking.</p> - -<p>Whenever the Privileged Classes -want <span class="smcap">anything</span> done the Constitution -approves and the cash box is full.</p> - -<p>It is only when the masses want -anything done that our Constitution -becomes a fretful porcupine with quills -erect and our cash box has a hollow -sound.</p> - -<p>If you want to have a jolly time -with that gay old creature, the United -States Constitution, join the Privileged -Corporations.</p> - -<p>If you want to frolic with the United -States Treasury and pay for what you -want with public money, join the -Privileged Corporations.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<h3><i>Rural Free Delivery to Country People</i></h3> - -<p class="blockquot">(Extract from the <i>People’s Party -Paper</i>, March, 1893, Mr. Watson’s -paper, commenting upon the passage of -the <i>first appropriation</i> for the R. F. D.)</p> - -<p>The annual appropriations for the -free delivery of mails was, until the -present administration, confined to -cities of over 10,000 inhabitants. At -the suggestion of Mr. Wanamaker, an -experiment was made in smaller towns -enjoying daily mails, but as yet no -country neighborhoods had obtained -the privilege.</p> - -<p>On Friday, February 17, 1893, when -the annual appropriation was pending, -Mr. Watson proposed an amendment as -follows:</p> - -<p class="blockquot">For free delivery service, including existing -experimental free delivery offices, -$11,254,900, of which the sum of $10,000 -shall be applied, under the direction of the -Postmaster-General, to experimental free -delivery in rural communities other than -towns and villages.</p> - -<p>Mr. Watson urged that the paragraph -proposed to be amended “provides -for the expenditure of $11,254,943 -for free delivery service. The -amendment reduced the amount of -that expenditure and simply directed -that the Postmaster-General should -apply $10,000 of the appropriation to -experimental free delivery in rural -communities.” The following discussion -followed:</p> - -<p><i>Mr. Watson</i>—“Mr. Chairman, the -present law provides for an experimental -free delivery in rural communities; -but as I understand it—and the -chairman of the committee, the gentleman -from North Carolina (Mr. Henderson), -makes the same statement to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_413"></a>[Pg 413]</span> -the House—<i>the law has been construed -to mean cities, towns and villages</i>, and -there are now in operation experimental -free deliveries in certain towns -and villages.</p> - -<p>“The law expressly provides for -‘rural communities,’ and it seems to -me where the general laws make such -provision there is no hardship in taking -a small amount from this appropriation, -only $10,000, and appropriating -it for <i>experimental free delivery in absolutely -rural communities</i>, that is to say, -<i>in the country pure and simple, among -the farmers, in those neighborhoods -where they do not get their mail more -than once in every two weeks, and where -these deserving people have settled in communities -one hundred years old and do -not receive a newspaper that is not two -weeks behind the times</i>.</p> - -<p>“The amendment proposes not to -increase the appropriation; it actually -diminishes it by a nominal amount, but -takes $10,000 of it to be provided for -<i>experimental free delivery in absolutely -rural communities, instead of towns and -villages, which the authorities construe -to mean ‘rural communities.’</i> In other -words, I think that part of the money -ought to be spent <i>in the country</i>, where -the law provides it shall be spent, and -having made this statement, if we can -have another division, and the committee -is against my amendment, I will -yield to its will.”</p> - -<p><i>Mr. Henderson, of North Carolina</i>—“Mr. -Chairman, the only law on the subject -at all is in the very language used -in this appropriation bill:</p> - -<p>“‘For free delivery service, including -existing experimental free delivery -offices.’</p> - -<p>“That is all the law now on the statute-books -in regard to this question.</p> - -<p>“<i>I do not want the statement of the -gentleman from Georgia in regard to -there being a law on the statutes as to -rural free delivery to go without correction.</i>”</p> - -<p><i>Mr. Watson</i>—“Mr. Chairman, <i>this -delivery in the small towns and villages is -called ‘rural free delivery.’</i>”</p> - -<p><i>Mr. Henderson, of North Carolina</i>—“But -as a matter of fact <i>there is no -law</i> except that stated here in this appropriation -bill.”</p> - -<p>The amendment was adopted by the -House. This opens up the way for the -farmers to secure services on an equal -footing with the residents of the towns -and the cities. It is one of the first -instances in which the Government has -put itself in daily touch with the citizen -of the rural community. If followed -up by successive Congresses, this entering -wedge may cleave the way for a -system of intercommunication that will -remove a great inconvenience and cause -for dissatisfaction in country homes. -As a first step its importance cannot -be overestimated.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<h3><i>Random Paragraphs</i></h3> - -<p>You may say what you please -about Castro, but I glory in his spunk.</p> - -<p>President of Venezuela, he was -sitting comfortably in his seat when, -one day, another Venezuelan who -wanted the job cooked up an Insurrection.</p> - -<p>South American revolutions, like all -other procedures in civilized communities, -have to be financed.</p> - -<p>The question with the leader of the -Venezuelan insurrection was:</p> - -<p>“Who will finance <i>me</i>?”</p> - -<p>The Asphalt Trust stepped forward -with necessary funds.</p> - -<p>No doubt the Trust was assured by -Matos, the Insurgent leader, that in -the event his revolution succeeded the -Trust was to have dominion over Venezuela, -like unto that which Standard -Oil has over our own Eden of Christian -Civilization.</p> - -<p>At any rate, the Trust put up its -money on Matos, who turned out to -be the wrong horse.</p> - -<p>Castro won. But the Trust continued -to help Matos even after he -had lost. Died hard, you see, because -death is not the law of Nature with -Trusts. Usually they live and the -other fellow dies.</p> - -<p>The Asphalt Trust is composed, in -part, of American experts in Frenzied -Finance. These marauders who<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_414"></a>[Pg 414]</span> -were seeking new worlds to conquer -planned to catch Venezuela in the same -net which holds <i>us</i>.</p> - -<p>Castro defied them, fought them in -the Courts, whipped them, took away -the franchise for non-performance of -contract, etc.</p> - -<p>Then they had the brazen audacity -to demand that our Government coerce -Castro.</p> - -<p>The Trusts rule the United States—shall -little Venezuela check their -career of conquest?</p> - -<p>Away with the feeble Castro!</p> - -<p>Said the Trust to Roosevelt:</p> - -<p>“Shake your big stick at this South -American crank and make him <i>Arbitrate</i>!”</p> - -<p>Says Roosevelt to Castro:</p> - -<p>“Arbitrate with the Asphalt Trust, -or——”</p> - -<p>Says Castro to Roosevelt:</p> - -<p>“Arbitrate nothing! Hands off, -or——”</p> - -<p>In other words, our Government, -friendly always to Frenzied Finance, -put up a bluff on Castro.</p> - -<p>Whereupon Castro stood pat and -“called” Roosevelt.</p> - -<p>And, all at once, Mr. Roosevelt went -a-hunting, and left Taft—the portly, -handsome, self-complacent Taft—“sitting -on the lid.”</p> - -<p>Bully for you, Castro!</p> - -<p>Evidently you are “some punkins.”</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Would to heaven we had a Castro to -smash the Beef Trust!</p> - -<p>Roosevelt and young Garfield don’t -seem to know where to take hold. -The legal proceedings do not advance -half so rapidly as does the price of -beef.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>If you have never read Herbert -Casson’s “Organized Self-Help,” do so. -A brighter, braver, stronger book is -not picked up often. No matter how -much you may already know, your -information will be greater when you -shall have mastered this little volume.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The reason why Sir Plausible Voluble, -of Nebraska, is so mixed up on -the Railroad Question is that his talk-talk-talk -commenced, as usual, before -he understood his subject. At first -he advocated state ownership, which -would have given us forty-odd different -systems. Now he has reached the -point where he wants the Nation to -own national lines of transportation -while the states are to own “local -lines.” <i>Wouldn’t</i> we have a sweet -time deciding which roads are national -and which are local?</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Under the present system every line -of transportation has a double character, -partly national and partly local, -and <i>the traffic</i> on every line is partly -state and partly inter-state.</p> - -<p>You can no more separate what is -national from what is local in the -railroads than you can in the Post-Office.</p> - -<p><i>Every</i> postal route is at once local -and national. A letter may come five -miles, five hundred or five thousand—the -<i>system</i> carries it to its destination.</p> - -<p>So with freight and passengers. -The so-called local railroad will carry -freight from the adjoining county, -from the adjoining state, from the -remotest section of the Union, and -from the lands beyond our borders. -So with passengers.</p> - -<p>Why, then, should anybody be talking -tommyrot about “<i>local lines</i>”?</p> - -<p>Said Betsy Prig to Sairey Gamp, concerning -the alleged existence of a certain -Mrs. Harris, “<i>I don’t believe there -is no sich a person.</i>”</p> - -<p>Says I to W. J. B., concerning the -alleged “local lines of transportation,” -I don’t believe there is any such thing -as a local line of transportation.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The reasoning which sustains government -ownership of a part of the -railroads inevitably leads to the ownership -of all.</p> - -<p>At <i>such</i> a cherry, why take two bites?</p> - -<p>Why have a system where there is certain -to be a clash between state management -and national management?</p> - -<p>Why leave the gaps down for inequalities -in rates?</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_415"></a>[Pg 415]</span></p> - -<p>Why not insure <i>uniformity</i> by unity -of ownership and management?</p> - -<p>Why not learn a lesson from the -German Empire, and avoid state -ownership altogether?</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>However, I am glad to see that our -Nebraska friend is making progress. -Give him time, and he will arrive.</p> - -<p>For a convert who jumped on our platform -of Government Ownership so recently -as last July, he does fairly well. -But if he would use his thinking apparatus -a little more, and his organs of -speech a little less, he would get on -faster.</p> - -<p>“Local lines” of transportation—<i>at -this time</i>?</p> - -<p>He might as well say that the artery -in his left hind leg is a “local artery.”</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The New York <i>World</i> says:</p> - -<p>“If Judge Parker is a Democrat, Mr. -Bryan is not. If Mr. Bryan is a Democrat, -Judge Parker is not.</p> - -<p>“No party-name is wide enough to -blanket two such irreconcilable theories -of government.”</p> - -<p>That’s where the <i>World</i> falls down.</p> - -<p>The Democratic party-name is wide -enough to blanket anything and everything, -anybody and everybody.</p> - -<p>I’ve seen it cover the Prohibitionist -and the Saloon-Keeper, the Gold-Bug -and the Free-Silverite, the corporation -lobbyist and the Bible-class expert, the -Free Trader and the Protectionist, the -Bank men and the Anti-Bank men, -the Income Tax men and the Anti-Income -Tax men, the Expansionists -and the Imperialists, the Inflationists -and the Contractionists, strict Constructionists -and those who sent the -United States Army to quell a local -disturbance in Illinois over the protest -of a Democratic Governor.</p> - -<p>There is no earthly difference, antagonism, -variance of creed, or policy, -or purpose, or persons that the Democratic -party-name is not “wide enough -to blanket.”</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The Democratic party-name not -wide enough to blanket Judge Parker -and W. J. B.?</p> - -<p>Oh, yes, it is.</p> - -<p>It did so in 1904, and it will do so -again.</p> - -<p>If Bryan whips Parker in the Convention -of 1908, Parkerites will knife -Bryan as they did in 1896 and 1900.</p> - -<p>If Parker beats Bryan in the Convention, -Bryan will “come across” in -1908, as he did in 1904.</p> - -<p>This play of politics is a very pretty -game, and the politicians get a good -deal out of it.</p> - -<p>The people are kept interested and -excited, but the people don’t get anything -out of it.</p> - -<p>It is not seriously intended that they -should.</p> - -<p>Primarily, the game is played for the -benefit of the players.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Tom Taggart, the gambling-hell man -of Indiana, must feel very funny when -he looks back and sees the imposing -lines of Democratic preachers, Bible-class -graduates, Amen-corner grunters -and family-prayer brethren who are -meekly following <i>him</i>, Taggart, as he, -the official Commander-in-Chief of the -Democratic Party, bravely leads his -loyal hosts upward and onward.</p> - -<p>If Tom T. has any sense of humor he -must enjoy such a situation with exquisite -relish.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<h3><i>The Gods We Worship</i></h3> - -<p>The savage African, in the wilds of -his native home, takes a few sticks -and some cloth and makes an idol -which he calls Mumbo Jumbo, and before -which he falls prostrate, in devout -worship.</p> - -<p>Whereat we civilized fools all laugh -at said African, and call him a barbarian—as -indeed he is.</p> - -<p>Nevertheless, it is quite apparent -that while we make no gods out of -sticks and calico, we worship Mumbo -Jumbos of our own just the same.</p> - -<p>Take, for instance, the Gold Reserve. -Nature did not produce it; it has no -life, no motion other than that which -we lunatics give it.</p> - -<p>One day it occurred to John Sherman -to stack up, in the Treasury, a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_416"></a>[Pg 416]</span> -cool hundred million dollars, and keep -it there, idle.</p> - -<p>He straightway created the <i>Gold -Reserve</i>.</p> - -<p>Any law for this? No.</p> - -<p>Any necessity for it? No.</p> - -<p>Any popular demand for it? No.</p> - -<p>His excuse was that he wanted a -Gold Reserve out of which to pay -off the $346,000,000 in Greenbacks -“when presented for redemption.”</p> - -<p>Was anybody clamoring for the redemption -of Greenbacks? No.</p> - -<p>Was there any law under which anybody -had a right to go to the Treasury -and demand gold for Greenbacks? No.</p> - -<p>Was there any custom or policy -which authorized this setting apart of -gold to redeem Greenbacks? No.</p> - -<p>But Sherman did it, just the same, -and it soon appeared that he had -made us a Mumbo Jumbo which we -all worshiped and before whose mysterious -power we all fell prostrate.</p> - -<p>As long as Sherman was Secretary -of the Treasury the Gold Reserve was -sacred. Congress looked upon it with -awe. The President did it reverence. -The newspapers bent to it in speechless -adoration. The politicians rubbed the -skin off their stomachs groveling before -it. The people—the great inert mass -within which is irresistible might if -they but had courage and co-operation—patiently -padded their knees and, -likewise, knelt in mute submission.</p> - -<p>The Gold Reserve was a national institution—like -the Washington Monument—not -to be desecrated, but recognized, -supported, defended.</p> - -<p>Senators alluded to it as they would -to Plymouth Rock or Mount Vernon. -It was a fixed fact which nobody disputed -and all respected.</p> - -<p>Statutes referred to it, in passing, -as they did to West Point or Yellowstone -Park—something that was permanent, -national, inseparable from the -life of the Republic.</p> - -<p>There never was a law for the Gold -Reserve, there never was a necessity -for it, there never was an antecedent -discussion in regard to it, and there -never was a particle of financial sense -in it. Nobody ever presented Greenbacks -for redemption until Mr. Carlisle -made his infamous ruling, and -gold was paid out for paper and bonds -issued to get the gold back.</p> - -<p>The Gold Reserve was useless until -it became, under Carlisle’s ruling, a -bait to set the bond trap with.</p> - -<p>To show that it has no influence -upon the value of Greenbacks we need -only to point to the fact that although -the size of the Gold Reserve constantly -fluctuated for about a year after Carlisle’s -ruling, the value of the Greenbacks -has not varied at all.</p> - -<p>If the Greenbacks depended on the -Gold Reserve, their value would have -risen and fallen with the Gold Reserve.</p> - -<p>The Greenbacks do not, and never -did, depend on the Gold Reserve. -They depend on the credit of the Government, -and the known fact that the -credit of the Government is based on -$80,000,000,000 of national wealth. -Their legal tender quality, their usefulness -as money, their receivability -for taxes and public dues, make them -good in the eyes of the people irrespective -of any Gold Reserve.</p> - -<p>John Sherman had no more right to -make a Gold Reserve than he had to -make a Silver Reserve.</p> - -<p>Greenbacks were no more redeemable -in gold than they were in silver. -But why argue the case? The verdict -is already made up in the minds -of the jury. Both the old parties pay -their vows to the Gold Reserve. -Mumbo Jumbo is shrined in the hearts -of both Democrats and Republicans. -Sherman’s god rules.</p> - -<p>We quake every time they tell us -that anything bad has happened to -the Gold Reserve. We used to toss in -our sleep, muttering distressfully, when -the news would come that the Gold -Reserve “is dwindling.”</p> - -<p>What good does Mumbo Jumbo do -the naked African? None.</p> - -<p>But then, you see, the African -doesn’t know it. Therein he is a fool.</p> - -<p>What good does <i>our</i> Mumbo Jumbo, -the Gold Reserve, do <i>us</i>? None.</p> - -<p>But then, you see, we do not know it.</p> - -<p>Wherein <i>we are bigger fools than the -African is</i>.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_417"></a>[Pg 417]</span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<a name="Poverty" id="Poverty"> </a> -<h2 class="nobreak"><i>Poverty</i></h2></div> - -<p class="center space-above1 space-below1">BY JOHN H. GIRDNER, M.D.</p> - -<p class="drop-cap">I HAVE just read Mr. Robert Hunter’s -book entitled “Poverty.” -It contains much valuable information, -mostly in the form of statistics -and references to other publications -concerning the poor in different -parts of the United States and England. -It is a good book of reference; but to -my mind its principal virtue is as -a thought provoker. The question, -“What are you going to do about poverty?” -stares the reader in the face -from between the lines on every page, -and it haunts him after he has laid the -book aside.</p> - -<p>We of the United States are accustomed -to boast of our material wealth -and prosperity. When the writer or -the orator wishes to wring the hearts -of his audience and deceive them into -the belief that ours, as conducted at -present, is the very best of all governments, -he draws a harrowing picture -of the dreadful suffering of the poor of -London; and then we pull the Stars -and Stripes a little more closely about -us, and, as that other Pharisee, we -thank God that we are not like other -men. Before we shed any more tears -over the poor of London let us see if -we cannot find use for our tears nearer -home.</p> - -<p>Mr. Charles Booth made a thorough -and exhaustive investigation into the -conditions of poverty in London in -1891. He found that 1,300,000, or -about 30 per cent. of the population of -that city were unable to obtain the -necessaries of life. This 30 per cent. -were “living in conditions, if not of -actual misery, at any rate bordering -upon it.”</p> - -<p>Mr. B. S. Rountree made a similar -investigation in the typical provincial -town of York, England. He found that -about 28 per cent. of the inhabitants -of York were living in destitution. -Mr. Rountree adds: “We have been -accustomed to look upon the poverty -of London as exceptional, but when the -result of careful investigation shows -that the proportion of poverty in -London is practically equaled in what -may be regarded as a typical provincial -town, we are forced to the startling -probability that from 25 to 30 -per cent. of the town populations of -the United Kingdom are living in -poverty.”</p> - -<p>Let us turn from England to the -United States, and see how much poverty -there is in our own country, among -our own workmen, or producing class.</p> - -<p>The report of the State Board of -Charities for New York State shows -that an average of about 26 per cent. -of the population were aided, by both -private and public charities, during -each of the three years 1897, 1898 and -1899; and according to the report of -the official statistician of the city of -Boston for 1903 more than 20 per -cent. of the entire population of that -city were aided by the public authorities -alone. This does not include private -charities. In fact, all statistics -of charitable works are defective, because -they can never include the efforts -to relieve suffering and poverty -made by those who do not let the left -hand know what the right hand is -doing.</p> - -<p>Commenting on the above statistics -from Boston and New York State, Mr. -Hunter says: “If the figures are correct -as published, the persons in New York -State in distress in 1897, and in Boston -in 1903, would equal proportionately<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_418"></a>[Pg 418]</span> -the number of those in poverty in -London.”</p> - -<p>Here are other facts about poverty -worth remembering: “In the face of -widespread poverty, there have not -been for over half a century in England -so few paupers, either actually -or proportionately, as there are now. -The population of England has increased -from 18,000,000 persons in 1851 -to 29,000,000 in 1889. During this -period the number of paupers actually -fell off. London has lost in pauper -population fifteen times as fast as she -has gained in general population.”</p> - -<p>On the other hand, the returns from -the almshouses in the United States -show that the number of paupers increased -almost as fast as population -during the decade from 1880 to 1890. -In Hartford, Conn., which is said to -be the richest per capita city in the -United States, the number of paupers -increased 50 per cent. during this same -decade.</p> - -<p>Now, when you hear a Republican -spellbinder draw harrowing word-pictures -of poverty among the English -workmen, and paint glowing pictures -of the marvelous wealth and happy -condition of the workmen in our own -country, and when you read editorials -in subsidized protectionist newspapers -about the “miseries of the working -classes” in free trade England and the -great prosperity among the highly protected -workmen of the United States, -just remember that according to the -best information obtainable about -twenty-five to thirty persons out of -every hundred living in the towns and -cities <i>both in England and the United -States</i> suffer from poverty. And for -the past forty years poverty has steadily -<i>decreased</i> in England and steadily -and rapidly <i>increased</i> in the United -States. And no amount of ranting by -the spellbinder or misrepresentation by -the editor can alter these facts.</p> - -<p>Mr. Hunter is of the opinion that -70,000 New York children go to school -underfed. This statement caused astonishment -and doubt in some quarters. -But I contend that any trained -physician who will note the very -large percentage of anemic faces -among the children as they issue -from the public schoolhouses of this -city will agree with me that Mr. -Hunter’s estimate of 70,000 underfed -children is most likely far below -the mark.</p> - -<p>The Children’s Aid Society and -other charitable organizations maintain -a number of industrial schools -for poor children in this city. The -total daily average of children attending -these schools is 10,707. Inspector -Lecktrecker recently made a thorough -investigation into the condition of -these children. Mr. Lecktrecker’s report -goes into great detail. Summed -up, the report shows that of the 10,707 -children attending these industrial -schools 8,852 are actually underfed -by reason of poverty at home. It -was found that the best breakfast that -any of these 8,852 children had was a -piece of bread and a cup of tea or -coffee. A diet not only inadequate -for nourishment, but actually destructive -to a child’s nervous system.</p> - -<p>A grown-up person only requires -enough nourishment to repair the -waste, wear and tear incident to the -daily activities of brain and muscle. -A child not only requires this, but it -requires added nourishment for the -growth and development of all the -tissues of its body. No wonder we -are raising up a class of people in this -city which I have called in another -place “Newyorkitics.” No wonder -there is an ever-increasing procession -of broken-down brains and nervous -systems heading for the hospitals for -insane. No wonder that crime is on -the increase. What better can be -expected from adults whose brains -and nerves have been starved and -stunted from birth?</p> - -<p>But what exactly is poverty? Destitution -of property; indigence; want -of convenient means of subsistence; -need. That is what the dictionary -says poverty is. Want of convenient -means of subsistence is the want of -some one or all of the five chemical -substances called proximate principles, -which we take and must have<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_419"></a>[Pg 419]</span> -to sustain animal life. The continual -absence of these chemical substances -from the human stomach, together -with lack of clothing sufficient -to protect the body against the elements, -causes physical pain or suffering -with degeneration and final death -of the animal body. This is a literal -scientific definition of the word poverty -as applied to the animal or -material man.</p> - -<p>The adulteration of food which is -carried on to such an alarming extent -in the United States is an important -factor in this poverty or underfeeding -question. Even those who are able to -buy a sufficient <i>quantity</i> of food have -no assurance that the <i>quality</i> is such as -will properly nourish their bodies.</p> - -<p>When you satisfy the cravings of -hunger by putting into the human -stomach watered milk, or cheese which -is part wax, or sugar mixed with -plaster of Paris, or chocolate which -contains only a suggestion of the rich -cacao beans, or any of the adulterated -articles of food for sale especially in -the poorer sections of the city, you -not only tax the system to digest and -dispose of a quantity of useless and -maybe poisonous material, but every -tissue in the body is thereby robbed -of its proper nourishment.</p> - -<p>It is as much, or more, poverty and -underfeeding to fill the stomach with -material which does not contain the -five <i>proximate principles</i>, <i>i.e.</i>, nourishment, -as not to fill it at all. The -laws against substitution and adulteration -of human food and drink -ought to be more stringent than the -laws against horse stealing. Yet, as -I am informed, all efforts at such legislation -are invariably met with the cry -that it will interfere with the <i>business -interests</i> of the country. Here, as in -so many other instances, when an -attempt is made to secure common -justice and protection for the lives and -property and rights of the plain -people, we run up against the <i>business -interests</i>. The curse of this country -today is that everything, even human -life, must be sacrificed when necessary -to the <span class="smcap">business interests</span>.</p> - -<p>The industry captains are killing -and maiming the people now just as -the military captains used to do, and -for the same objects—to satisfy greed -and selfishness.</p> - -<p>The negro slave in the South in -slavery days was further removed -from poverty and the fear of poverty -than any man I have ever known. When -his day’s work was finished he came -home from the field or the shop and he -found a substantial, well-cooked dinner -awaiting him. After dinner he went -to his comfortable cabin and sat -before a blazing log fire, or, in warm -weather, he sat out under the stars, -fanned by the night winds. His wife -and children were nearly always -around him, as were his companions, -the other slaves belonging to his -master and the plantation.</p> - -<p>This man did not have a single care -or responsibility on earth. He did -not have to meet a grinding landlord -next day demanding rent. He did not -have to cudgel his brains to find a -way to meet a note due next week. -He did not have to pay for food, -clothes, light and heat for himself and -his family. That pang of anguish so -familiar to us all when we think of the -possibility of our loved ones suffering -from want and the fear of want when -we are gone never wrung the heart -of that black man. Child labor as it -exists under the present system was -unknown to the children of the black -slaves. “Over the hills to the poor-house,” -when age and decrepitude had -made him no longer useful, had no -terrors for the black slave. The -“system” of slavery made it perfectly -certain that his owner would -provide food, clothes and shelter for -him in his old days, and for his children, -no matter what happened. This -black man, slave as he was, had a -better guarantee against poverty and -the fear of poverty for himself and -family than any life insurance company -can give. Even Mr. Tom Lawson -could not find fault with the -security of this policy.</p> - -<p>Another thing the slave father did -not have to worry about was sickness<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_420"></a>[Pg 420]</span> -in his family. When one of his children -became ill an ambulance from a -charity hospital did not back up in -front of the negro quarters, cart the -child off to become one patient more in -Ward No. ——, and serve as “material” -for a clinical lecture while it lived, -and as “material” for the dissecting-table -after it was dead. No, nothing -of the kind happened. When the slave -became ill the best medical skill and -nursing were provided, and, if need be, -the patient was taken to the “big -house” where the master lived so the -mistress could superintend the treatment, -and in case of death the body -was put in a neat coffin, and a procession -composed of all the blacks and -whites on the plantation followed the -remains to the colored graveyard on -the hill, burial services were read, a -hymn sung and the body lowered to its -final resting-place. This is a glimpse at -the condition of the slave in life and -death in slavery days. I am not putting -in a brief in favor of chattel slavery. -I was born an abolitionist. My father -was a slave-owner and my early life was -spent in the midst of it, yet I abhorred -the system as a child, and that abhorrence -has grown with years. But I am -now writing about poverty, and my -point is: that chattel slavery as it existed -in the South is the only state of -society I know of in which poverty and -the fear of poverty among the workers -or producing class were absolutely abolished -by law.</p> - -<p>Under the old system the negro was -a slave, you say. So he was. But if I -read Mr. Hunter’s book aright, the -laborer under the present industrial -system is also a slave. The laborer -has a vote now and the slave did not. -Yes, but the slave had a full dinner-pail -<i>all the time</i> and the white voting -laborer has not. The comparative -value between his vote and a full dinner-pail -in the mind of the white laborer -under the present system was demonstrated -in the election of 1896 and 1900, -when he gladly gave his vote to the -Republican Party for the <i>mere promise</i> -of a full dinner-pail.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<a name="Tuck-of-Drum" id="Tuck-of-Drum"> </a> -<h2 class="nobreak"><i>Tuck-of-Drum</i></h2></div> - -<p class="center space-above1 space-below1">BY ALFRED TRESIDDER SHEPPARD<br /> -(Copyright in Great Britain by A. T. Sheppard.)</p> - -<p class="drop-cap">AT nine o’clock Josephine beat a -vigorous reveille on the drum -that had led old troops into -action. It was the second of December; -the sun of Austerlitz shone on the -grass and trees in the little front -white garden, and was fast melting the -delicate tracery of fern and frond on the -oval window of Monsieur Tuck-of-Drum’s -bedroom.</p> - -<p>A curious name, Tuck-of-Drum; the -echo of an ancient story told round -camp-fires long burned out; a scrap -of wreckage floating, like its owner, -when the seas of years held so much -that was forgotten. Dominique Laplume -was proud of the name; for even -the village children, whispering “Monsieur -Tuck-of-Drum” behind his back, -brought the flicker of a smile to his -grizzled face and the ghost of a flash -to eyes dim and watery with age.</p> - -<p>On Austerlitz day, for many years, -the drum had roused him from his -slumbers. He had slept heavily, this -old warrior; “a thousand thunders!” -he said sometimes in self-excuse, -“when one has made one’s bed as often -on straw or the solid ground——”</p> - -<p>His son, growing from childhood to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_421"></a>[Pg 421]</span> -manhood, plied the drumsticks in his -time; he fell at Solferino. His son’s -son held them in his turn; the earth -still lay bare and trampled over him -at Gravelotte. They had given much -to France, these Laplumes. Now Josephine, -with her black sleeves rolled -high on her thin white arms, and her -dimpled face set into desperate earnestness, -took her dead father’s place, -and thundered at the parchment until -the old man’s husky voice answered -the summons.</p> - -<p>Her sabots clattered down the stairs. -Coughing and grunting, Monsieur Tuck-of-Drum -began to dress. The clothes -he had worn the day—and many days—before -hung from their pegs in a -chintz-covered recess. On a rush-bottomed -chair near the bed, carefully -brushed and pipeclayed, lay coat, and -belts, and breeches, and gaiters that -had gathered mud, in their time, from -half the kingdoms of Europe. On the -dressing-table the cross of the Legion -of Honor rested in its little leather -case.</p> - -<p>At last his shaking fingers opened -the door. The drum lay outside; the -drum, and, on the drum, the gigantic -bearskin, bullet-bitten in old fights, -moth-marked during long, idle years. -He came downstairs in full regimentals. -Madame Laplume was talking -to the village postmaster at the -open door. She ran to meet him. -Her eyes were misty, for she remembered -last year’s reveille; but there -was a ring of gladness in her greeting.</p> - -<p>“Good morning, grandfather!” she -cried, kissing him on both cheeks; “a -happy Austerlitz day. There is news, -too——”</p> - -<p>“News?” Dying fires flamed up for -a second in his old eyes.</p> - -<p>“D’Aurelles de Paladines is driving -them back,” she said. “We won -everywhere yesterday—everywhere. -Chanzy has forced the Bavarians back -on Orgères. We have taken Guillonville, -Terminiers, Monnerville—and—and—where -else, Josephine?”</p> - -<p>“Goniers, Villepain, Faverolles,” -little Josephine chimed in, repeating -the names glibly, like a well-conned -lesson.</p> - -<p>“And they say the brave General -Duerot has broken out of Paris, and -is marching to join the Army of the -Loire!”</p> - -<p>“Good!”</p> - -<p>Monsieur Tuck-of-Drum sat down -stiffly, the joints in his long limbs -cracking; he held the coffee-cup to -his lips, but the coffee danced and -splashed out. He jerked the cup -down quickly, and brushed a drop -from his mustache with an impatient -hand.</p> - -<p>“It is just as I have said,” he cried -suddenly and fiercely, springing to his -feet. “We have them like trapped -rats! Did I not say so, Héloïse? -Even the little Josephine has heard -me. Listen, Josephine. These Germans, -these enemies of our dear France, -begin to pay for their folly. They -hated us because our great Emperor -led us once to all their capitals—to -Stuttgart, to Dresden, to Munich, to -Berlin—because their kings bowed -hats-in-hand before the soldiers of -France; because we cut up their -country with our swords as I—look -you!—cut this bread of mine.” And -with nervous hands he sliced white, -crust-ringed circles from the roll. -“But now—ah, the Emperor, our -great Emperor, is dead; and the Marshals -and the Grande Armée have -marched away. They found us asleep, -unready; like rats, like locusts, they -swarmed into our cornfields and our -vineyards. But we are awake at last! -We are ready at last! The revenge -begins!”</p> - -<p>“It begins,” echoed Madame Laplume. -“But come, grandfather, your -coffee grows cold, and——”</p> - -<p>“The punishment begins!” he continued, -his voice shrill as the neigh of -an old war-horse. “Look you!” He -held up a gnarled hand. “Here is -Duerot, with the troops of Paris. -Here”—he raised the other, its knotted -fingers stretched out—“are De Paladines, -Chanzy, De Sonis, Jauréguiberry, -with the Army of the Loire. Now -see; the Germans are between them.”<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_422"></a>[Pg 422]</span> -He snatched a morsel of the bread he -had been cutting and brought his -palms together. “The Germans—the -Germans——”</p> - -<p>“You have cut your hand, grandfather,” -cried Josephine.</p> - -<p>He stopped, and looked dumbly at -his palm. A splinter of crust had -grazed the skin. The bread rolled to -the floor.</p> - -<p>“They are crushed,” he mumbled, -bringing down his heel. “Miscreants! -that they should dare to enter -France! But they will pay for their -folly; ah, they will pay well! I knew; -I said it. ‘Wait,’ I said, when they -came to us with their long faces and -their stories of defeat. ‘France has -slept; but she will shake herself and -awake.’ <i>Mon Dieu</i>, yes. Why I—I -who speak, my little Josephine, put -a hundred to flight when I was young, -with this little drum alone: that is -why they call great-grandfather Monsieur -Tuck-of-Drum, my dear. See, -it is the sun of Austerlitz that shines -on the white trees. Sixty-five long -years ago—sixty-five long years ago—the -great Emperor pinned this cross -on my breast; ‘Ah, this is Monsieur -Tuck-of-Drum,’ he said, pinching my -ear, ‘who beat the charge in the -village, and put a hundred to flight.’ -That was nothing; we did those things. -And again—today—the sun of Austerlitz——”</p> - -<p>He broke off suddenly as the door -opened and a fat old man, with a large, -hairless, foolish face—the face of a -great baby, still eying the world with -wonder—entered the room. He, too, -wore the uniform of the Emperor’s -Guard. The veterans embraced.</p> - -<p>“You have heard the news?” cried -Laplume. “Ah, it is arranged. Austerlitz -day—the day of Austerlitz—sees -victory again for France, my -dear Hippolyte. Sit down, sit down. -Héloïse mixes the salad. Héloïse! -Here is Monsieur Bergeret. It has -been a struggle, my friend, but we -have saved a bottle and a snack for -today; we have arranged it, I say.” -He sniffed, nudged his comrade and -chuckled. A pleasant smell of cooking -already pervaded the sitting-room, -floating in from the kitchen in -the rear.</p> - -<p>Madame Laplume, who had vanished -while Dominique was telling the -child of France and its ancient glories, -reappeared, with bare and powdery -arms; Sergeant Hippolyte saluted, and -passed a wavering hand over his foolish -chin. Monsieur Tuck-of-Drum, -talking garrulously all the while, patted -his old comrade’s accoutrements into -shape; fastened a button; untwisted a -red shoulder-knot; rearranged an ill-adjusted -strap. Age was dulling the -Sergeant’s brain a little; “he does -not wear as well as I,” thought Tuck-of-Drum, -with the pathetic pride of -age.</p> - -<p>There was a metallic “tap-tap” -and a clatter of sabots on the cobbles -of the village street. “Jacques Dufour -arrives!” cried Dominique Laplume, -and flung the door open with a flourish.</p> - -<p>It was like the gathering of ghosts -from the past. It <i>was</i> a gathering -of ghosts from the past. These three, -with their wrinkled cheeks, their -quavering voices, their scanty white -hair, their battered uniforms and -weapons—these three were all that -were left of that band of young recruits -who, in the great days of France, -had marched down the village street, -shouting the songs of the Empire, -blowing kisses to fair faces in the -windows and the roadsides, exchanging -glances with bright eyes that had -grown dim at last and closed on earth -and all its color and glitter. Like -spars, they floated still, scarred and -encrusted by the waves of time that -had engulfed a generation so heroic, -stupendous.</p> - -<p>Dufour, wrinkled, wizened, twisted -with rheumatism, limped to his place. -His grandson carried his musket and -placed it in a corner by Bergeret’s; -the old man had lost a limb at Quatre -Bras and needed a stout stick to aid -the wooden leg.</p> - -<p>“I will come again at six, grandfather,” -the boy piped shrilly in his -ear. “I say I will come again to -fetch you at six.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_423"></a>[Pg 423]</span></p> - -<p>“No, no; Pierre must stay,” interrupted -Monsieur Laplume. “Eh? He -must stay, too, and hear the stories -of the olden days—the days of the -glories of France.” The boy’s eyes lit -up. “Come, we are ready. He shall -sit by the little Josephine.”</p> - -<p>By and bye Madame Laplume -brought in the meal, steaming from -the oven. Bottles of red wine were -ranged on the table.</p> - -<p>“There were five of us last year,” -Dufour muttered. “Buffet and Deyrolles -have dismissed.”</p> - -<p>“Eight the year before,” said Bergeret, -rubbing his hands and smiling -vacuously.</p> - -<p>“The ranks grow thin, comrades,” -said Laplume. “Well, the first -toast!”</p> - -<p>They rose, and drank in silence to -the memory of that great man whom -they had fought and bled and suffered -for long since—and still remembered -and adored. They drank to the old -Marshals, to the Grande Armée, to -village comrades whose bones lay in -the Peninsula, in Germany, in Belgium, -in the churchyards of France, but -whose faces, dim and mournful, still -looked at them through the mists of -years, and whose voices still echoed in -their memories. They lit cigars and -pipes; but the room was full of the -smoke of ancient battles. They talked -of Desaix, Bessières, Junot, Murat, -Lannes, Masséna, Ney—the old, unforgotten -names. If they could come -again! Ah, if <i>he</i> could come again—how -the scattered remnants of his -lost legions would rally round him, -and young France hurry to the eagles, -and the glorious days return!</p> - -<p>“But we are making an end; we are -making an end,” cried Tuck-of-Drum -fiercely, bringing down his fist and -making plates and bottles jump with -the vehemence of the blow. “Chanzy -and Duerot have them in the trap at -last. I said so—did I not? Even the -little Josephine remembers. On the -day of Austerlitz——”</p> - -<p>An ominous booming, distant, sullen, -like an echo of old years of strife, -sounded in their ears.</p> - -<p>“It is thunder!” cried Pierre. Little -Josephine clutched her mother’s arm.</p> - -<p>The veterans exchanged glances. -“What the devil—” began Laplume. -They flung open the door and stepped -into the village street. Two or three -people, white-faced, had stopped to -listen.</p> - -<p>The distant guns roared again. -What were they doing there—then—in -that direction? Tuck-of-Drum -looked puzzled, doubtful. This day -of all the year, this great day of his life, -was bound up with all his thoughts; one -hope, one conviction, possessed him, -and had shone steadily through all the -gloom of the last few months. The -day of Austerlitz would see the eagle -turn upon its foes; the sun of Austerlitz -would look down upon the invading -army scattered like chaff before -the wind—crushed, rather, like grain -between the two millstones, the armies -of Paris and the Loire. The previous -day’s successes confirmed him. But -what were the guns doing there? The -fighting should be far beyond Orgères -by this time. He beat down a flicker -of uncertainty.</p> - -<p>“Bah, it goes well,” he muttered. -“They make their last stand. Come, -comrades, let us drink to Chanzy and -the Army of the Loire.”</p> - -<p>Poor, foolish Bergeret soon fell -asleep, huddled in his chair; but the -wine put fire into the veins of his comrades. -Pierre and Josephine listened -round-eyed as they talked of bivouacs -and camp-fires; of ancient comrades -and conquered cities; of Austerlitz and -the heights of Pratzen, and the Menitz -Lake.</p> - -<p>“Sixty-five years ago at this very -hour”—so the talk went on. “Do you -remember? Have you forgotten?” -They argued, they shouted, in their -old voices that broke from gruffness -into shrill quavers, ludicrous under -other circumstances, but now pathetic. -They moved bottles, glasses, salt-cellars, -to illustrate the disposition of -troops; in the blue smoke-clouds the -children, drinking in their words, could -almost catch the glint of the Cuirassiers’ -breastplates, the glittering gold-lacing<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_424"></a>[Pg 424]</span> -of the Hussars, the rise and fall of green -epaulets as the voltigeurs moved into -line, the yellow facings of Oudinot’s -Grenadiers, the clamorous mêlée of -horse and foot. They discussed the -present fighting, the mistakes of generals; -and here Héloïse, eager as they -for the success of the cause which had -cost her husband’s life, joined in with -the names and dates and figures at her -tongue’s tip. In the distance the -sullen guns were booming.</p> - -<p>“If I were with them!” sighed Tuck-of-Drum. -“They had no room for the -old soldier; yet I can beat a charge as -well as ever! I—I who speak, could -fire a musket with the best of them!”</p> - -<p>“Grandfather volunteered,” piped -Josephine.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said Héloïse, eying the old -man proudly; “but they wanted him to -take care of us. ‘You must look after -the women and children for us, Monsieur -Laplume,’ said the officer. ‘You -have done your share for France in -the field. You know what our great -Emperor wrote, “It will be sufficient -for you to say, ‘I was at the battle -of Austerlitz,’ to authorize the reply, -‘Behold, a brave man.’”’”</p> - -<p>Dominique Laplume waved a hand -in depreciation, as if to brush aside -the praise. “A brave man? Every -Frenchman is brave. It is in the blood -of France. We need not be proud of -what we cannot help. We have been -unfortunate, yes; badly led, yes; but -the men—the men——”</p> - -<p>The door opened suddenly. The -village postmaster stood again at the -entrance, his eyes starting, his face -lemon-colored, his lips livid under the -straggling beard. “All is lost!” he -cried. “We are betrayed, defeated! -Chanzy is driven back! The enemy -advances!”</p> - -<p>The door rattled in the grasp of his -shaking hand. He limped off to spread -the news of the disaster, which grew -with his terror. Laplume, Dufour, -Madame Héloïse, started to their feet -and looked at each other blankly. -The sudden, awe-struck silence woke -Bergeret, who looked round with -wide, foolish eyes. Josephine’s mouth -twitched and tears gathered. Pierre -clenched his brown fists.</p> - -<p>“Come,” cried Monsieur Tuck-of-Drum -suddenly. He donned the great -bearskin, the others followed his example, -Bergeret fumbling foolishly with -its heavy chain. His baby face expressed -wonder rather than the alarm, -the bitter disappointment, the wrath, -written on the faces of Madame -Héloïse and Laplume and Dufour. -Tuck-of-Drum girded on his sword and -slung the straps of his drum over his -old bent shoulders. He thrust Bergeret’s -musket into the Sergeant’s -hand. Dufour motioned to Pierre, and -hobbled out; the boy followed him. -Madame Héloïse Laplume ran to the -door to intercept them. “Where are -you going, grandfather? Where are -you going?” she gasped.</p> - -<p>“Stand back, Héloïse. We go to -call the village. Stay here; stay with -the little Josephine.”</p> - -<p>She paused irresolute. After all, -though they could do no good, what -harm could they do—these three old -men? They were going to call the village. -Yet there was a look on the -ancient soldier’s face she had not seen -since the day of the first great reverse, -when he had gone, with his head erect -and old fires flashing in his dim blue -eyes, to offer his feeble services to -France.</p> - -<p>Suddenly, loud and distinct above -the distant booming of the guns, his -drum sounded—beating an assembly -in the quiet village street. She put her -hand to her breast and ran out. If the -Germans were really coming——</p> - -<p>She clutched his arm.</p> - -<p>“Are you mad, grandfather?” she -gasped. “Come in; come in and finish -your wine and pipes together. There -are only boys and women and old men -in the village. They can do nothing——”</p> - -<p>He shook her off.</p> - -<p>Well, even the enemy, cruel though -they were, could never harm men so -old, so feeble and defenseless. They -would ride through, laughing in their -beards, mouthing their uncouth jokes -at the faded uniforms from which their<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_425"></a>[Pg 425]</span> -sires had once fled in terror; but—no, -they would never harm them. Josephine -was crying softly within. She -turned back to the house.</p> - -<p>Up the centre of the village street -marched Tuck-of-Drum, drumming, -drumming with an energy surprising -and pathetic, as though he could call -from their weed-grown graves the lads -who had once jumped so smartly to the -rattle of the parchment.</p> - -<p>“<i>Rat-a-plan! rat-a-plan!</i>” sounded -the summons; his hands had not lost -their cunning, though they ached and -grew weary with the unwonted strain. -Behind him staggered Bergeret, his -great bearskin toppling forward over the -fat, smooth, foolish face; Dufour hobbled -in the rear, his stick and wooden -leg tapping the cobbles; little Pierre, -beside him, dragged the heavy musket.</p> - -<p>Pale faces, working in terror, peered -from the café of the Boule d’Or. Tuck-of-Drum -burst open the door. On the -little tables glasses of bock, tiny glasses -of spirits, stood half emptied. The -men had all risen; the tawdry, gilded -mirrors, cracked and dusty, distorted -their faces, showing them more pallid, -more unhealthy even than in life. -Three or four old men—not so old as -the veterans by many years—three or -four washed-out-looking lads, rejected -even by the army that had dragged -men in from the very highways and -hedges to resist the invaders—turned -startled looks on the newcomers.</p> - -<p>“The enemy is coming!” said Tuck-of-Drum. -“Comrades, let us march -against them, like the men of Dreux, -of Châteauneuf! Look—the sun of -Austerlitz is going down! Today, all -France must help——”</p> - -<p>They exchanged glances; they huddled -together like sheep.</p> - -<p>“What is the use?” one muttered.</p> - -<p>“Aye, what is the use?”</p> - -<p>A youth sniggered vacuously. “You -are sixty years too late, Monsieur Tuck-of-Drum. -If the great Emperor could -come back now, if France had a man—” -The speaker shrugged his shoulders, -spread out his hands with a gesture of -helplessness and looked round for assent.</p> - -<p>“If—if—if!” cried Dominique Laplume. -“<i>We</i> will lead you—we, of the -Grand Army! Today all France must -rise. All must help. It is the great -effort. Today France conquers—or is -conquered. ‘If’ never won a battle. -Come, I say! Jules Brienne, your -grandfather carried an eagle at Marengo. -Monsieur Grenier, your uncle fell -by our side, fighting bravely, on the -field of Austerlitz.”</p> - -<p>He argued, ordered, entreated; in -vain.</p> - -<p>“Bah! Poltroons!” he muttered, and -turned on his heel.</p> - -<p>Again the drum sounded.</p> - -<p>“Yes, go out and play with your toy, -Papa Tuck-of-Drum,” cried young Brienne -after him. Laplume did not hear. -They marched next to the Café de l’Ecu. -The village postmaster, shaking still -and casting nervous looks round him -like a frightened horse, was telling his -story to a similar assembly.</p> - -<p>“Pah!” muttered old Dufour, twirling -his thin mustache, “these villages -are the rubbish heaps of France. The -men are all away.” Again the appeal -was made. A fat man, with fishy eyes -and yellow, pendulous cheeks, shrugged -his shoulders and raised protesting -hands. “What can we do? What can -we do?”</p> - -<p>“They would finish us all with a -volley. We should be killed,” whined -another man.</p> - -<p>“Killed? And what then?” Laplume -snorted with fierce contempt.</p> - -<p>“Let us be killed then!” broke in -Dufour, crashing his stick down on the -sanded floor. “It would be worth it. -A thousand times worth it! Let each -village in France raise a wall of dead -against the invaders!”</p> - -<p>Bergeret nodded his foolish head -again and again with emphasis. The -fat man began to talk fast, volubly, excitedly, -pouring torrents of abuse on -the Emperor, generals, government, the -enemy, waving his fat hands, shrugging -his fat shoulders. The curtained -door of the café opened. He stopped -suddenly and lamely. A countryman -burst in.</p> - -<p>“They are coming—they are coming!”<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_426"></a>[Pg 426]</span> -he shrieked. “I have seen them -in the road. I ran through the woods. -Hundreds of them! I have seen their -lances—the sun on their lances!”</p> - -<p>“Come!” cried Dominique Laplume -in a voice of thunder. “In the name of -France!”</p> - -<p>No one stirred. He looked round, -scorn in his old eyes. “We will go, -then—Bergeret, Dufour—my old comrades.” -His voice choked with bewilderment, -disappointment, anger.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>They went out. The air was sharp -with frost. It was very still in the -village. The sun, a red ball of fire, still -glowed on the frosted trees; on the -white and yellow walls of the cottages; -on the white fields and white-cowled -windmills; on the powdered cobbles -of the street. A segment of moon, -strangely like a pierrot head, thrust -through curtains of cloud, its mouth -whimsically awry, peered down sideways -at the earth—at the white earth, -where legions of tiny men, like ants, -hurried to kill or be killed in their bewildering -quarrels. The distances were -blue—the shimmering steel-blue of winter -distances. Here and there a column -of black smoke, shot through again -and again with tongues of fire, went up -to heaven; the smoke of burning villages; -little sacrifices France offered for -her folly to gods not yet appeased.</p> - -<p>“To the bridge,” said Tuck-of-Drum. -They marched in silence. -The drum was silent. At the end of -the long, straggling street a tiny -bridge spanned a frozen stream which -the enemy must cross. By the side -of it was a clump of bushes, so thick -that, even leafless, they formed a -screen behind which the veterans and -the boy crouched down.</p> - -<p>“They might have broken down the -bridge at least,” grumbled Dufour. -“Menitz was frozen, and the Emperor——”</p> - -<p>“They are coming!” whispered -Pierre.</p> - -<p>His sharp ears, close to the ground, -had caught the <i>clip-clop</i> of approaching -hoofs.</p> - -<p>Tuck-of-Drum drew his sword and -rested its hilt on the rough wooden -parapet of the bridge. “Fix bayonets!” -he growled.</p> - -<p>Sergeant Bergeret should have given -the word, but he carried out the order -placidly, drawing the sword from its -scabbard and fixing it with his fumbling -fingers. “Put it in for me,” -muttered Dufour, handing his bayonet -to Pierre. “Now give me the musket—so—and -run home, good lad. Embrace -me and then run home.”</p> - -<p>He sat on the ground, his wooden -leg stiff and straight in front of him, -and clutched the bayonet. Pierre’s -lips tightened; he did not move. “Go -home, I say!”</p> - -<p>“Hush, they come!” whispered Tuck-of-Drum.</p> - -<p>Peering through the brushwood, -they could see, on the road ahead, the -pennoned lances of German Uhlans, -rising and falling with the jolting of -the horses. The hoofs clicked louder -and louder on the frozen road.</p> - -<p>Suddenly Tuck-of-Drum sprang up.</p> - -<p>“The Guard will advance,” he -growled, with a little hoarse laugh, -the faint echo of one that men now -dead had heard and talked of, long -since. Joy, fierce, savage joy of fighting, -dormant so long but not extinct, -flared up and flashed in his faded eyes. -And yet, with the joy, a rage terrible -and righteous shook him as he saw -the glitter of the steel, the fluttering -pennons, the casques and foreign uniforms—the -foes of France, violating -the sacred soil of which the dust of his -race had made.</p> - -<p>His trembling hands clutching the -drumsticks, he advanced to the centre -of the bridge. Bergeret stood on his -right, his bayonet extended. Dufour -grasped the parapet, dragged himself -up, groaning in spite of clenched -teeth, planted his wooden leg firmly, -and, leaning against the woodwork -of the bridge, rested the butt of his -weapon on the ground, the tremulous -steel pointed toward the enemy. -Pierre came to help him. “Go back! -go back!” he growled, pushing the boy -aside with all his feeble strength. -Pierre slipped on the frozen earth and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_427"></a>[Pg 427]</span> -fell, clutching at the bushes. Suddenly -Dominique Laplume sounded the -<i>pas de charge</i>.</p> - -<p>A strange, pitiful defiance this, -echoing back through the deserted -village street, floating mournfully out -to the white, empty fields, sending its -arrogant, useless challenge to the ribbon -of white road ahead. “<i>Rat-a-plan! -rat-a-plan!</i>” The old drum, that -had sent a hundred men flocking like -sheep before it—the old drum that -Jules, who fell at Solferino, that -Dominique, who fell at Gravelotte, had -beaten on winter mornings of their -boyhood—answered nobly to this last -great effort, and seemed a living, -sentient thing, entering into the brave -spirit of the challenge.</p> - -<p>There was a startled shout, a clatter -of stones, as the Uhlans reined in their -horses.</p> - -<p>“They fly!” shrieked Tuck-of-Drum; -“they—ah!”</p> - -<p>Half a dozen carbines shot up and -flashed fire. There was a hoarse cry -in German; an officer struck aside the -stock of a man’s weapon.</p> - -<p>Dufour’s bayonet clattered down; -he slid into the thicket, his wooden leg -scoring a long, jagged line in the frosty -road. Bergeret was on his knees, a -light of strange intelligence dawning -in his smooth, foolish face; quite -suddenly he fell sideways on to his -fallen bearskin, matted already with -his blood.</p> - -<p>Tuck-of-Drum still stood in the -centre of the bridge. The drumsticks -descended on a drum pierced -and soundless—then dropped, one -after the other, slowly, from his nerveless -grasp. The world swung around -him. The poplars down the roadway -on which his glazing eyes were fixed -marched, doubled, moved into echelon -and square. “<i>La Grande Armée! La -Grande Armée!</i>”</p> - -<p>Was it the cry of the Germans, in -wonder, in derision, in pity? Or did -his quivering lips frame the words? -Ghosts formed round him; the ghosts -of the old battalions who had marched, -long back, into silence. They swayed, -they heaved, in countless numbers; file -after file, rank after rank, regiment -after regiment, formed up, doubled into -place, and passed him by. He saw -the flash of breastplates, the crimson -fronts of the Polish lancers, the red -plumes of the line, the bearskins of -the Guards, the glittering eagles of -France.</p> - -<p>“My comrades—O my comrades!” -He staggered forward, with stretched-out -hands. A confused murmur -buzzed in his ears; it swelled into a -tumult—“<i>and the shout of a king was -among them</i>.”</p> - -<p>One hand sought the bearskin. -Suddenly he fell face forward.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Under the wide sky, in the uniform -of their dead Emperor, the three veterans -lay together; a young boy -crouched near them, bleeding from an -unnoticed wound, and sobbing.</p> - -<p>A night wind crept over the frozen -fields; a little wind, like a sigh from -France for her ruined homes, her -smoking villages, her slain children, -her lost cause and faded glories.</p> - -<p>The sun of Austerlitz sank down -behind the poplars.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p class="f120"><i>The Royal Road to Learning</i></p> - -<p class="drop-cap">FREDDIE—What’s an honorary degree, dad?</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Johnson</span>—That’s a title a college confers on a man who would never be -able to get it if he had to pass an examination.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The hardest kind of work is looking for it.</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_428"></a>[Pg 428]</span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<a name="The_Southern_Negro_as_a_Property-Owner" id="The_Southern_Negro_as_a_Property-Owner"> </a> -<h2 class="nobreak"><i>The Southern Negro as a Property-Owner</i></h2></div> - -<p class="center space-above1 space-below1">BY LEONORA BECK ELLIS</p> - -<p class="drop-cap">BETWEEN the Southern negro as -property and the Southern negro -as a property-owner worthy -of account, American progress has set -its milestones thick and strongly -marked. Yet, as mere years go, the -time has been short indeed for a -transition of meanings so vast.</p> - -<p>The act of emancipation brought in -its train several very serious problems, -and more than one of these must be -acknowledged to have grown graver -with further-reaching complexities and -involutions as the decades have passed. -But in the present article these are not -under consideration.</p> - -<p>The point we desire to emphasize is -that one of the most difficult questions -brought to issue in the emancipation of -the negro has already solved itself by -what we are accustomed to call natural -processes.</p> - -<p>When the epochal pen-stroke fell -and $3,000,000,000 worth of Southern -property was suddenly obliterated as -property, yet stood there in plain -world’s view, like the metamorphosed -dragon’s teeth, as men with the rights -of men, there were masters of statecraft -everywhere who faced one another -blankly, asking how such a situation -was to resolve itself. Not even the -most sanguine saw any reason to hope -that so complex an issue as that involved -in the relation of the freedmen -to the land could be brought to satisfactory -or righteous solution until at -least three or four generations had -mingled dust with dust.</p> - -<p>The relation of the freedmen to the -soil! Here was the problem that must -have given pause to an older state, a -European nation, say, upon the eve -of liberating at one stroke four millions -of serfs.</p> - -<p>But young nations, like young individuals, -often let their deep convictions -sweep them unprepared into strange -conditions and perils, from which only -the magnificent vitality of youth rescues -them without disaster.</p> - -<p>The United States Government has, -for half a dozen years past, recognized -it as a duty to compile and offer for -public reading certain facts and figures -relating to the progress of the negro in -acquiring education, following different -pursuits and trades, and accumulating -property. Out of the various reports -upon these subjects issued from the Department -of Labor since 1897 it is -probably the information set forth regarding -the property-holdings of the -former slaves and slaves’ children in -three or four Southern states that will -strike the greatest number of people -with surprise, even with that form of -astonishment which borders on unbelief. -Yet this surprise is of the healthful -type, and the unbelief passes when -a closer investigation is made into the -matter.</p> - -<p>The closer investigation is undoubtedly -worth while, and it will prove -profitable for a little while to exchange -general statements and sweeping surveys -for definite figures, well verified -data and typical cases within a limited -territory.</p> - -<p>Therefore, to illustrate clearly that -particular phase of the negro’s progress, -the adjustment of his relations to the -land and his steadily advancing gains -in real estate and other property-holdings,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_429"></a>[Pg 429]</span> -it will serve best to take the state -of Georgia and present certain comparative -data relating to the situation -here.</p> - -<p>Our choice of the commonwealth of -Georgia for the setting forth of this -matter, instead of some sister state, -can be easily justified. Although the -youngest of the original thirteen states, -and the only one whose early constitution -barred slavery from its boundaries, -yet, when the Civil War came on Georgia -had long been a slave state of great -importance, and at once took a leading -part in the struggle. Her people suffered -heavier losses from the war, it -is authoritatively claimed, than those -of any other state except Virginia, -the old order of things being more -utterly wrecked and old landmarks -more completely effaced here than -elsewhere.</p> - -<p>There are other reasons for our -choice less disputable even than these. -Georgia has the largest area of any -state east of the Mississippi River, -and, in her great sweep of 59,475 square -miles, from the Appalachian Mountains -to the Atlantic Ocean, exhibits -the greatest diversity of soil, climate -and physical features, all of which must -be conceded to affect negro life and industry. -Lying largely in the so-called -“Black Belt,” the state still presents -quite as marked a diversity of social -conditions as of physical, nor have any -of the former slave-holding states been -more strongly affected than this by the -industrial and educational movements -which have stirred the South within -the last few years. It is only fair to -call attention, likewise, to the fact that, -while Georgia is recognized as the centre -of some of the most radical thought -and action upon the negro question, -yet this condition is counterbalanced -by the existence within its borders of a -mass of white voters who seem more -than ordinarily swayed by an intense -sense of justice to the black. Witness -the manner in which all bills tending -toward negro disfranchisement meet -summary defeat before the Georgia -Legislature, and, again, the defeat of -the last year’s movement to divide the -state’s educational funds in such a way -as to allow to colored schools only the -pro rata share representing taxes on -the property of the negro.</p> - -<p>Furthermore, it may be added here, -that while the state has no Hampton -or Tuskeegee within her borders, still -she has most excellent public schools -for negroes, and in several cities she is -now giving them admirable training in -manual and industrial arts along with -the academic studies, as, notably, at -Columbus; and she also has an important -branch of her state university -devoted to the industrial, technical -and manual training of colored youths—that -is, the Industrial College for -Negroes at Savannah, a high-grade -institution wholly supported by public -funds.</p> - -<p>If the selection of Georgia for a local -study of the negro’s material progress -does not yet appear justified, then the -last, and in itself wholly adequate, -reason may now be assigned, namely, -that the state has the largest negro -population of any in the Union, her -colored people numbering 1,034,998, or -a bare trifle under 50 per cent. of the -entire population. Observe that in -this state are congregated more than -one-eighth as many blacks as are scattered -throughout the remaining half a -hundred states and territories of the -Union.</p> - -<p>New Year’s Day of 1863 saw 470,000 -freedmen in Georgia, these in the main -having been ushered into liberty in -quite as destitute a condition, regarding -land and other worldly possessions, -as that in which they were ushered -into existence. The exceptions -to this generally prevalent destitution -were favored slaves here and there -whose former masters and mistresses, -too often nearly destitute themselves, -had deeded them little homesteads, or -in some other way given them a start -in independence. Or, again, there -were exceptions in the case of the few -thousands upon whom General Sherman -and his associates had bestowed -certain donatives in the shape of -wages, usually unearned, and bounty -money or lands, all distributed with<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_430"></a>[Pg 430]</span> -the injudiciousness expected in such -a situation.</p> - -<p>Today, barely one generation’s space -removed from that hour of strange -and sorrowful conditions, these freedmen -and their children pay taxes on -more than a million acres of Georgia -land, not to mention houses, household -goods, stock, agricultural implements, -merchandise and other taxable properties. -If the situation speaks well for -American life and opportunities, it also -speaks well for the black man, and -more eloquently still for his chances in -the South.</p> - -<p>The toilsome processes by which the -Georgia negro has climbed from destitution -to his present state of comparative -prosperity deserve more than a -passing glance. Do not think it was -the same as if you or your neighbor, -or even Mr. Riis’s European, who is to -be refashioned into an American, -should start today without money or -lands, without friends except those -destitute as yourselves. We should -know where to turn, what work to take -up, how to apply whatever of skill or -energy or special aptitudes might exist -within us. Failing of skill or marked -aptitudes of our own, failing even of -an ordinarily good education, we should -at least have within us inherited instincts -to help us out of the difficult -situation. Above all, we should know -what was in the world, what was worth -striving for, where to set our aims.</p> - -<p>But what of skill did the negro have, -save in the rudimentary forms of agriculture? -Whither, save for restraining -influences, would his inherited instincts -have led him? What did he -know of life experientially beyond the -log square of a slave’s cabin, or by observation -and hearsay beyond the compass -of the plantation lord’s domain?</p> - -<p>No; set it down that the new freedman -was poorer than the poorest, and, -except in rare cases, more ignorant -than can now be readily conceived of. -In such condition, with no higher aims -to impel him to work than the bare -instinct of self-preservation, his work -must of necessity be for many years -only a bread-meat-and-shelter matter.</p> - -<p>Yet, somehow—who can tell by -what strange evolution?—working on -blindly, gropingly, toilsomely, he has -still contrived to press forward, until -today, with a generation scarcely gone, -he stands on a plane no one counted -on his reaching under a hundred years. -And the best of all his gains is that -the most intelligent of his race have -come to comprehend what true progress -means, and to compare the slight -space traversed by their people with -the vast upward stretch reaching away -in front of them.</p> - -<p>During one of the large conventions -which recently met in a Georgia city, -a visitor from New England asked me, -with genuine concern: “But where do -your better class negroes live? Or -are there no blacks decently housed, -no places at least approximately clean -and comfortable that they can claim -as homes? In various cities through -your section I have found only swarming -and fetid negro quarters, the worst -of slums, a menace to municipal -health, both physical and moral. Is -there nothing more hopeful than this -to show for the race?”</p> - -<p>Admitting the general truth of his -imputation, I was still able to point -out to him a few streets, or sections of -streets, where the most intelligent and -prosperous of the blacks of the city -had made themselves real homes. Yet -even these, he demurred, bordered too -close upon those same slums he had -been fretting over. For in Southern -cities the people of this race keep together, -it will be noted.</p> - -<p>But I told my guest to come with -me to the country if he would see the -negro at his racial best. Agriculture, -I assured him, had come very near to -spelling out salvation for this people. -Instance the state conference of colored -farmers convening not so very -long ago in Savannah. Nearly two -hundred delegates were present, and -everyone owned his own home, many -being comparatively wealthy. One in -particular was pointed out as worth -$50,000, made entirely from agriculture.</p> - -<p>In the country, then, we must<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_431"></a>[Pg 431]</span> -still look for the best average of the -negro’s home, his domestic life and -virtues, as well as his industry and -thrift. A brief investigation of conditions -brought our New England -friend to the same conclusion, and he -went away much better satisfied as to -the prospects of the race.</p> - -<p>Certain facts and figures which interested -this intelligent student of -racial conditions will doubtless interest -scores of others, and they are, -therefore, offered in the present -paper.</p> - -<p>Georgia has 137 counties, each constituting -a small commonwealth in -itself. Being settled at irregular periods -and under diverse circumstances, -varying, moreover, in topography and -character of the soil and climate, these -counties exhibit each a different ratio -of the negroes to the whites.</p> - -<p>A glance at the maps may aid in -forming a clear idea of the movements -and growth of the black population in -Georgia. In 1790, it will be observed, -the counties near the coast -were the only ones settled, and if the -black folk were inconsiderable in numbers, -so were the white.</p> - -<p>But by 1800 the slaves were showing -a rapid increase, and were being -moved up the Savannah River, while -from that time to 1840 the population, -both white and black, exhibited a -marked tendency to seek the rich -lands of the interior, pushing westward -and, a little later, southwestward.</p> - -<p>At the close of the year 1900 the -blacks of the state had increased -from the few thousands of slaves of a -century back, held chiefly on the -coast, to more than a million free -people, fairly well dispersed through -all but the extreme mountain counties -and paying taxes on many million -dollars of Georgia property.</p> - -<p>From the office of the comptroller-general -of the state there is issued -annually a full report of the property-holdings -of both blacks and whites, -set forth with exactness of detail -county by county. From the file of -these reports it is easy to make a comparative -study, in brief or at length, -of past changes, progress or retrogression, -and the present status in -any or all of the Georgia counties. -But the general reader will be able to -draw his conclusions from a glance at -a few of these.</p> - -<p>Chatham County, the original seat -of settlement, is perhaps the best -starting-point. It is located in Southeastern -Georgia, washed by the Savannah -River and the tides of the Atlantic, -has for its county seat Savannah, the -second city of the state, and comprises -mainly a stretch of marshland, -low islands and flat, sandy tracts. In -early days a brisk slave trade brought -many negroes to this county, and since -the war the city of Savannah has -attracted the freedmen in great numbers. -The relations between whites -and blacks have been more uniformly -cordial here than elsewhere, the former -being in the main of the original -slave-holding class, and the latter -largely house servants. The situation -is thus in direct contrast to that in -Atlanta, for instance. By the year -1790 there were already 8,313 blacks -in Chatham County, as against 2,456 -whites; while the census of a hundred -years later shows an increase to -54,757 negroes and 22,966 whites.</p> - -<p>Sherman’s celebrated field order, -issued immediately after his investment -of Savannah, gave hundreds of -former slaves temporary possession -of valuable lands on the coast and -sea islands of this county, as it did -to a lesser extent in certain other -sections of the state. This tenure -was in some cases brief, but in many -others became permanent. Hence, -even as early as 1875, we find the -freedmen owning 1,491 acres of Chatham’s -land, valued at upward of -$70,000, besides town and city realty -worth $152,760. Twenty-five years -later they had multiplied these figures -by four, approximately. No bad showing, -when all things are taken into -consideration.</p> - -<p>Another coast county, Liberty, is -beyond doubt the most interesting in -its history of all the so-called “black<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_432"></a>[Pg 432]</span> -counties.” This, too, is located in the -southeastern portion of Georgia, a -neighbor of Chatham’s, with much -the same climate and topographical -features, and was laid out in 1777. -But the history of its first settlers deserves -to be traced much further back, -for, in 1695, there had come to South -Carolina a little colony of New England -Puritans, breaking off from the parent -church at Dorchester, Mass., and led -by Joseph Soul, a Harvard graduate -and teacher. Their location in South -Carolina having proved unhealthful, -they were attracted by Oglethorpe’s -little Georgia settlement, and, having -secured a grant of 32,000 acres on the -present site of Liberty County, they -removed thither in 1752, their colony -then numbering 280 whites and 536 -negro slaves! The county was laid -off as Midway, but later changed its -name to Liberty. It should be remarked -that when secession from the -Union became an issue this county -voted solidly against it.</p> - -<p>After the Civil War the land here -was thrown largely on the market, and -at several places, notably Woodville, -Ogeechee and Belmont, numbers of -negroes united themselves into colonies -and bought extensive tracts. There -are now in the county nearly ten -thousand negroes, with half that -number of whites; and the former own -more than 50,000 acres of land.</p> - -<p>Appling is a county also in the southeastern -portion of the state, but presenting -a very different showing. It is -a level county, inland, with poor soil, -and the tide of slaves poured around -it without touching it. In 1820 there -were just eighty-six negroes within its -borders. When manumission came -there were only about seven hundred -Appling County slaves to be set free. -At the present time it is estimated -that there are 3,000 negroes in the -county, with more than twice that -number of whites. But from the -comptroller-general’s latest report it -appears that the former own 17,946 -acres of land, such land as it is!</p> - -<p>Now run up to Central Georgia. -Here is found the flourishing city of -Macon, in the county of Bibb. The -census of 1890 gave Macon a population -of 22,746, of whom one-half were -negroes. The land in this section is -hilly, with soil mixed, good and bad. -Twenty-five years ago there were something -over 11,000 negroes in the county, -outnumbering the whites by nearly -two thousand, and they owned 2,611 -acres of land. Now the blacks have a -trifle more than doubled in numbers, -as well as in property-holdings. Observe, -too, the higher value of the -negro’s farm lands in this section. -His 4,500 acres of Bibb County land is -now assessed at $413,300, which -amount, added to his town and city -realty and other taxable properties, -makes an aggregate value of $719,380 -in this county alone.</p> - -<p>A little to the northeast of Bibb -County lies Baldwin, of which Milledgeville, -the former state capital, is the -chief town. This was a very wealthy -ante-bellum section, with large holdings -in slaves as well as lands. When -the Civil War began Baldwin County -could muster 5,000 slaves, although of -the whites, rich and poor, there were -only 4,000. When the census of 1890 -was taken the negroes had increased -to 9,343, the whites only to 5,262. -Last year the negroes were paying -taxes on 6,501 acres of Baldwin County -land, valued at $26,599, besides a -large amount of city and town property -and other possessions, the whole -aggregating $104,592.</p> - -<p>Take another county in Middle -Georgia, a county of good lands but -without a town of any size in it, therefore -representing more nearly a plain -agricultural average. Any one of a -score might be selected. Let us say -Butts, a small but prosperous county -which was laid out in 1825 and at the -outbreak of the war had 3,082 slaves -and 3,375 whites. A quarter of a century -ago its freedmen, numbering -approximately 4,000 people, owned -but ninety-seven acres of land in the -entire county and $350 worth of town -property. Have they climbed since -1875? In numbers they are now estimated -at 7,000, against a like number<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_433"></a>[Pg 433]</span> -of whites, and last year these negroes -paid taxes on 1,613 acres of good average -farming land, and on other property -which ran the total valuation in -Butts up to $49,941.</p> - -<p>In the mountain counties of Georgia -it has been different, the increase in -number of negroes as well as their possessions -being slow and uncertain, -while the whites have maintained a -steady progress in such sections. This, -however, is clearly accounted for by -the lesser ratio the agricultural interests -bear to others in mountainous -districts, and the dependence of the -negroes upon the former. Glance at -Gilmer County, with its sixty-nine -blacks and almost 10,000 whites, the -former paying taxes on a few hundred -acres of rocky hillsides, and their -whole county property aggregating, by -the most recent returns, only $957, -while the latter show taxable possessions -valued at $728,000. In Rabun, -Towns, Flannin and neighboring -counties the situation shows much the -same.</p> - -<p>This brief study of typical counties -may be closed with certain comparative -data from Fulton, which contains -the state’s capital, Atlanta, a progressive -and rapidly growing city distinctly -of the “New South” type. Fulton was -not laid out until 1853, hence is relatively -young in the sisterhood of counties. -Only about 2,000 slaves were set -free in this county. Compare the number -with the 16,000 manumitted in -Chatham. But today there are more -than 50,000 negroes in Fulton, and, -although they own but a thousand -acres of land in the county, yet the -aggregate value of their whole property -is a bare trifle below one million -dollars!</p> - -<p>To extract the most important meanings -from such figures is not difficult. -In connection with them several facts -should be kept in mind, the first of -which is that the negro’s land-holdings -in Georgia as well as in adjoining states -are usually parceled out in very small -individual lots. In a canvass of fifty-six -typical counties of the state, the -following table was established to show -the average size of the farm lots among -negro proprietors:</p> - -<table summary=" " cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"> - <tbody> - <tr> - <td class="tdc">CLASSIFIED SIZE</td> - <td class="tdc">PER CENT. OF<br />TOTAL OWNERS</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl">Under 10 acres</td> - <td class="tdr_ws1">30.50</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl">10 or under 40 acres</td> - <td class="tdr_ws1">27.00</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl">40 or under 100 acres</td> - <td class="tdr_ws1">21.85</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl">100 or under 200 acres</td> - <td class="tdr_ws1">12.80</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl">200 or under 500 acres</td> - <td class="tdr_ws1">6.89</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdl">500 acres or over</td> - <td class="tdr_ws1">.93</td> - </tr> - </tbody> -</table> - -<p>The fifty-six counties canvassed represent -the majority of negro holdings in -the state, and the average here established -may fairly be taken as that of the -state at large, or, indeed, of the agricultural -South. The fact that a very large -proportion of the farms are so limited -in size as to amount only to gardens, or, -in negro parlance, “patches,” augurs -well rather than ill, for it means many -small proprietors instead of merely a -few large ones and the rest all renters -or day laborers. Since out of 369,265 -black people in the state ten years of -age or over who are engaged in gainful -occupations, almost two-thirds are -employed in some line of agricultural -work, is it not well that the million -acres owned by negroes should be distributed -in small holdings? It is easy -to deduce from this the manifest decline -of the metayer, or tenant system -of farming. To be sure, these one-acre, -or even ten-acre farms will seldom -support the owner, though he may have -the smallest family, or none at all. -Such farms are largely instances of -what may be called, in the German -phrase, <i>Parzellenbetriebe</i>—that is, farms -not large enough to occupy the labor -of a family, but serving as sources of -partial support to those with supplementary -occupations. Yet, in many -cases, these little plots of ground will -grow to goodly farms within a few -years. The same story has been -traced a thousand times in the past -quarter of a century.</p> - -<p>It will be remarked, also, that the -negro’s town and city property is increasing -greatly. In 1880 the assessed -value of such property was only -$1,201,992, or 20 per cent. of their entire -state property; while in 1902 it is<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_434"></a>[Pg 434]</span> -$4,389,422, which is close to 29 per cent. -of the state’s aggregate. Thus, while -agriculture gave the freedman his start -in self-maintenance, and is still his -chief dependence, yet paths of employment -and sources of revenue in cities -are being discovered by him more and -more as the years go by and his education -progresses.</p> - -<p>Before passing to the close, another -point is worthy of especial note, interesting -both the economist and the -sociologist. In 1875 the assessed value -of the household and kitchen furniture -owned by all the negroes in the state, -then numbering between six and seven -million souls, was only $21,186, or something -like three cents’ worth to each -individual. But in 1902 the assessed -value of the same class of property -was $1,688,541, or a trifle over the -value of a dollar and a half to each -colored man, woman and child in the -state. Upon this phase of development -and progress no comment is -needed.</p> - -<p>In brief, then, the black people of -Georgia paid taxes for 1902 on 1,175,291 -acres of land, and upon an entire -property aggregating $15,188,069 in -assessed value. This means, beyond -the shadow of a doubt, that the negroes -of Georgia, or, broadly speaking, -the South, are accumulating property -and acquiring homes. And since the -negro with a home is almost sure to -stand for law, order and civic faithfulness, -it means, moreover, a reaching -out toward higher standards of living, -not material living alone, but social life, -mental and moral striving and achievements.</p> - -<p>Comprehending the situation in its -fulness, no man can deny that the race -is actually <i>started</i> on the road to better -things than their past might have indicated -that they were capable of attaining.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<a name="A_Japanese_Populist" id="A_Japanese_Populist"> </a> -<h2 class="nobreak"><i>A Japanese Populist</i></h2></div> - -<p class="center space-above1 space-below1">BY THOMAS C. HUTTEN<br /> -<i>Author of “National Characteristics,” “The Farthest East”</i></p> - -<p class="drop-cap">TWO years ago a prominent Russian -patriot admitted a misgiving -that nothing but a miracle -could shake the strongholds of Czarish -despotism. It does not impeach the -correctness of his view that the miracle -has been accomplished.</p> - -<p>A giant has entered the political -arena; a new world power has risen -from the dust of a Buddhist serf-kennel, -and it is about time to recognize -the fact that the marvel of evolution -has been effected by progress in the -direction of popular democracy.</p> - -<p>The memorable vote of the daimios -was a renunciation of class privileges. -Of the forty amendments in the new -constitution of the Japanese Empire, -twenty-six tend to reform the abuses -of class legislation. The nation controls -two-thirds of its mines. Stockholders -of a telegraph monopoly have -been forced to accept a time limit -of their contract. Six hundred and -twenty miles of railroads are managed—and -successfully managed—by a national -board of administration. The -Government, in the name of the nation, -builds its own warships and welds its -own armor-plates, instead of farming -out jobs to the highest briber. The -Ways and Means Committee of 1901 -reduced direct taxation almost on the -exact plan of the system recommended -by the reformer Bakunin—reserving -building lots in new cities and granting -tenures from two to ten years at gradually -increasing rates of rent.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_435"></a>[Pg 435]</span></p> - -<p>Populist reforms have rendered the -Government popular enough to make -the nation invincible.</p> - -<p>And the world-wide need of those -reforms has been repeatedly urged by -Japanese travelers, and with the emphasis -of strong personal conviction, -especially by a keen observer who visited -Europe and North America in the -summer of 1903.</p> - -<p>Professor Yashinto Korioky, agent of -a Tokio reform club, explored the United -States without the assistance of the -guides trained by our Star-spangled -Uncle and with often remarkable results.</p> - -<p>“Surprises,” he says, “indeed, began -before we had set foot on the soil of -the great moral Republic. Above the -sea mist and above the gathering clouds -a fire gleamed like a meteor on the -western horizon, and one of the Chinese -steerage passengers, venturing to -inquire, ascertained that it was a statue -of liberty, furnishing light to the world. -The next moment a sailor struck him -between the eyes, and he admitted -that he saw several starlike, luminous -objects.”</p> - -<h3>A TEST OF RIGHTEOUSNESS</h3> - -<p>“The next morning,” he continues, -“I got my traveling scrip, but was informed -that our boat was moored on -the wharf of an island, where immigrants -are assorted according to the -degree of their rectitude. Some pass -the ordeal of scrutiny with ease, others -with difficulty, for reasons which I was -not always able to discern. I noticed, -however, that the Government has -coined shekels of silver with inscriptions -expressing sentiments of virtue—“In -God we trust,” or similar words—and -whenever a traveler came provided -with a goodly number of these -tokens, his righteousness seemed to be -taken for granted.”</p> - -<h3>PATERNAL SOLICITUDE</h3> - -<p>“The investigations of the learned -officials in some cases extended to articles -of wearing apparel. One Canton -trader had underlined his tunic with -eighty yards of fine silk, which, being -discovered, were unwound and confiscated -to enforce a lesson of modesty -in the matter of dress.”</p> - -<h3>WORLDLINESS SUPPRESSED</h3> - -<p>“He was, however, allowed to proceed, -more fortunate than two of his -countrymen who had crossed the ocean -for the first time, and were sent -back at the expense of the Chinese -contractors. Forty years ago these -worldly toilers were admitted as freely -as other foreigners; but it was noticed -that they worked sixteen hours a day -and seven days in the week, thus disregarding -the duty of providing leisure -for spiritual exercises. And as their -lack of repentance was, moreover, aggravated -by the rapid accumulation of -coin, it was finally decided to remove -them for the promotion of their higher -interests.”</p> - -<h3>A SCHOOL OF PATIENCE</h3> - -<p>“Animals that are most carefully excluded -from the residence quarters of -Japanese towns enjoy the freedom of -many American cities. Cats roam at -large and dogs are permitted to defile -public monuments.... After -dark their clamor exceeds the vociferations -of the East Indian jackals and -robs thousands of sleep; but it is perhaps -necessary that taxpaying citizens -should be trained in lessons of -self-denial.”</p> - -<h3>GOVERNMENT MAN-TRAPS</h3> - -<p>“Knowing my reputation for veracity, -be prompt, my brother, to intercede -if the unregenerate of your neighborhood -should question the following -facts: In the course of each year some -80,000,000 ox-loads of grain are manufactured -into a health-destroying poison; -... coal stoves, pretty as the -vases of Nagasaki, radiate warmth in -winter; fans, operated by unseen forces, -mitigate the heat of the summer season. -Singers often warble with the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_436"></a>[Pg 436]</span> -skill of the sirens. In the neighborhood -of these seductive traps the Government -then posts its man-catchers -and awaits results. It may seem incredible. -But I have been informed -that in Southern China monkeys are -often captured by similar devices. -When the poison begins to operate they -fall bewildered, and their awakening in -a cage the next morning must tend to -mitigate the frivolity of their disposition.”</p> - -<h3>A THOUGHTFUL LANDLORD</h3> - -<p>“The owner of the estate, we ascertained, -was a timber merchant, as well -as a pillar of virtue, and a large number -of trees in the rear of the building -had recently been felled—probably to -give the neighborhood a more unobstructed -view of heaven.”</p> - -<h3>COMPENSATING LEGISLATION</h3> - -<p>“Those stock gamblers, whose conspiracies -had ruined thousands, were -not mistaken in their expectation that -the law would protect them against -the risk of a riot. Children, gambling -for peanuts, are promptly arrested. -The advantages of magisterial virtue -cannot be overrated.”</p> - -<h3>FOUR-HANDED FILIPINOS</h3> - -<p>“Apes, almost as dissolute as sparrows, -are exhibited in the parks of -several American cities.... In -the Philippine Islands a large number -of these animals has recently been -captured and caged—probably to limit -their opportunity for worldly enjoyments.”</p> - -<h3>NEMESIS</h3> - -<p>“But we learned that the steam -launch scudding along the west shore -of the bay was a smuggler, and its -pursuer a Government revenue tug. -For weeks—perhaps for months—the -contrabandists, of Canadian origin, -had been selling meat at frivolous -rates, and the avengers of sacrilege -were now at their heels.”</p> - -<h3>JUVENILE DEPRAVITY</h3> - -<p>“From the window of one of these -air-trains, a package came clattering -down on the sidewalk, scattering a -shower of biscuits and hard-boiled -eggs which were seized and devoured -by the children of poverty before the -guardians of law and order could interfere. -One youngster of five or six -years captured a piece of fruit cake -and took to his heels with whoops -of unregenerate glee, whereupon two -older boys raced him down and deprived -him of his prize—probably to -restrain his penchant for dietetic -luxuries.”</p> - -<h3>MENDICANCY LIMITED</h3> - -<p>“Two constables dragged along a -shrieking girl, who every now and -then resisted progress by throwing -herself on the ground.... Of -what crime could a child of her age -possibly have been guilty? ... It -appeared that she had been begging -in support of an invalid mother, thus -tempting taxpaying citizens to an expenditure -of coin that should have been -reserved for other purposes....</p> - -<p>“Begging, however, is not wholly -prohibited. Politicians often solicit -millions in behalf of candidates who -pledge themselves to protect the -associations of wealth and suppress -the holiday amusements of the poor.”</p> - -<h3>WINGED REFUGEES</h3> - -<p>“... saw nothing but a few -crows and two kingfishers, flitting up -and down the rocky banks of the -brook. Experience had made them -unapproachably shy, perhaps much to -the regret of the neighboring saints, -since they had probably been guilty -of fishing on Sunday.”</p> - -<h3>A FASTING-CURE VICTORY</h3> - -<p>“Some forty families had been -evicted to make room for a trainload -of meek immigrants, who agreed -to subsist on potatoes and the promise -of a better hereafter.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_437"></a>[Pg 437]</span></p> - -<h3>SKY LADDERS</h3> - -<p>“Seclusion in the upper cavities of -these brick mountains must entail -incredible hardships, ... but the -landlords seem to hold that all these -discomforts are compensated by the -advantage of dwelling nearer heaven.”</p> - -<h3>A CHEERING PROSPECT</h3> - -<p>“In Oriental cities, with rare exceptions, -everything suggesting the -thought of death is hidden out of -view; no sculptor would venture to -exhibit an assortment of gravestones; -but people to whom life brings nothing -but a roundabout of toil and tedium -may find solace in contemplating mementoes -of the hour that will witness -the end of their doom.”</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The philanthropic traveler left his -native land with ideals presaging a -universal brotherhood of nations—perhaps -under the leadership of our -great Republic—but admits that, under -present circumstances, our popular -policy of expansion is, at best, only -an attempt to widen the ring-walls of -our slave-pen, before its gates are -closed by a syndicate of bloodsuckers -and boodle legislators.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<a name="The_Kings_Image" id="The_Kings_Image"> </a> -<h2 class="nobreak"><i>The King’s Image</i></h2></div> - -<p class="center space-above1 space-below1">BY WALTER E. GROGAN<br /> -<i>Author of “The Dregs of Wrath,” “The King’s Sceptre,” “The Curse of the -Fultons,” etc.</i></p> - -<p class="drop-cap">I KNEW him at once. He was -grayer, he was grimmer, he was -more than ever like a man of -granite, hard and immobile, but I knew -him. The sight of him gravely unfolding -his table napkin and covering his -thin knees at luncheon in the little -hotel set my thoughts back over ten -years. I was then a lad of sixteen. I -had seen him constantly in the queer -medieval streets of Tsalburg, the little -capital of Ertaria in the Balkans. -Gray and grim, he was then the General -Commandant of the army, the -iron right hand of the Wolf King Peter -XII. He was grayer and grimmer -now, but undoubtedly the man. For -a while I racked my memory for his -name. It came suddenly. General -Hartzel! Undoubtedly the man.</p> - -<p>The <i>Times</i> supplied me with many -conjectures. The senile old King was -dead; his heir, the Prince Paul, had -lived his own life in Europe incognito, -and the heir was not forthcoming. -Rumor said he was in Paris.</p> - -<p>For three days I watched the General. -He knew no one at the hotel, he -spoke to no one, but I saw him more -than once in earnest conversation with -a young man about my own age, about -my own height, about my own color, -but—for the sake of my own vanity—alike -in no other particular. This was—the -information was easily come by—the -Comte de Troisétoilles, a young -Frenchman of position, now considerably -taken with the beautiful singer, -Mlle. Aimée Bergeaux. That was the -story noised about, and in proof thereof -her little steam yacht rode in the harbor, -he was constantly with her, and a -rumor was essential to the place. A -companion, large, fat, unmistakably -German and delightfully placid, cast -a broad, complacent smile of propriety -over the romance.</p> - -<p>My General, I noted, snarled at the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_438"></a>[Pg 438]</span> -soprano for whose smiles princes competed. -He was thorough, was my General, -dear man of stone. Venus herself -would have been baffled by him. -But he spoke earnestly and vehemently -to the Count, he who was so taciturn.</p> - -<p>On the evening of the third day I -met my General on the south cliff by the -absurd little fort. There was a streak -of smoke on the horizon. He was shaking -a fist at it, a violent, tempestuous -fist.</p> - -<p>I have been a prey to sudden impulses -all my life. I had maintained -an Englishman’s reserve for three days. -I broke it suddenly on the cliff. I accosted -the General in Ertarian.</p> - -<p>“You are disturbed, General Hartzel,” -I said.</p> - -<p>He wheeled round surprisingly. His -astonishment grew when he saw me, -the silent companion of his luncheons.</p> - -<p>“Monsieur speaks Ertarian,” he said.</p> - -<p>“A little,” I answered modestly, yet -with inward elation. To surprise a -man of granite! Elation was surely -pardonable.</p> - -<p>“As a native,” he continued. I -bowed. “It is wonderful! Are you -Ertarian?”</p> - -<p>“No,” I replied.</p> - -<p>“No,” he echoed with regret. “You -are English. I saw you smoke a pipe. -But you know my real name? I am -Captain Schneidlitz here.”</p> - -<p>I laughed. “Pardon me, General, I -have been amusing myself with your -surprise. My father was British Minister -at Tsalburg for many years. As a -boy I spent my holidays there. Hence -my accent.”</p> - -<p>“Your name is—?” he demanded.</p> - -<p>“Havensea,” I answered.</p> - -<p>“Then your father is ——?”</p> - -<p>“Exactly. I am now the head of -my family. It is a large family, General. -I have tens of aunts; my cousins -are limitless. I pass an uneasy life -trying to evade them and my unnecessary -title. It is difficult—please respect -my incognito as I respect yours, -Captain Schneidlitz.”</p> - -<p>“You dislike your title?” he asked -eagerly.</p> - -<p>“The coronet has given me a headache -of the soul. You don’t know how -terrible a British title is. It is a mere -lever for opening bazaars, a free ticket -to everybody’s dinners.”</p> - -<p>“You object to yourself?” His -question, the question of the man of -granite, was tremulous with excitement.</p> - -<p>“Pardon me,” I answered; “not to -myself—but to the impossibility of -being myself. I am an English peer. -I have not even the picturesqueness -of poverty. You do not understand. -In Ertaria they do not hold flower -shows. I do not object to myself—I -object to Lord Havensea.”</p> - -<p>The General looked round anxiously. -A wide-breeched soldier was walking -toward the fort; a white-stringed bonnet -was going home. Seaward the -streak of smoke blackened the eye of -the sun. The sight of that caused the -man of granite to swear solemnly in -Ertarian—a language admitting a wide -choice of expression to a man oppressed -with a sense of wrong.</p> - -<p>“I will reply to your first question,” -he said. He spoke in a low voice. He -was under some strong emotion. “I -am disturbed. That little streak of -smoke dissolving out there represents -my hopes dissipated, evaporated. My -hopes are the hopes of Ertaria. We -are a small country, but we are proud.”</p> - -<p>“A country’s pride invariably compensates -for lack of acres.”</p> - -<p>“It is a jest to you,” he said sadly. -I had expected him to be angry at my -flippant remark. The sadness of his -voice slipped past my guard. Here at -last I had found a man who could feel.</p> - -<p>“Your pardon, General,” I said -more soberly than I had previously -spoken. “The pride of Ertaria I know -rests upon an unstained national -honor.”</p> - -<p>“If you believed that!” he cried.</p> - -<p>“I do,” I answered stoutly. “Frankly, -you are all absurd, but it is a glorious -absurdity. Small, hemmed in by -enemies, you have kept an independence, -noble and untainted, for seven -hundred years.”</p> - -<p>“You believe it! Why not?” he -cried excitedly. “Your father, the -dear Lord Havensea, loved us. He<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_439"></a>[Pg 439]</span> -was our friend. His representations -at St. James’s saved us once. You inherited -his love. We are in peril now.”</p> - -<p>“Ah,” said I, “the lost heir.”</p> - -<p>“He is out there under that streak -of smoke.”</p> - -<p>“He was the Comte de Troisétoilles?”</p> - -<p>“Yes. The French singer is Russian. -You understand?”</p> - -<p>“Kidnapped! Scratch a French soprano -and you will find a Russian. -My General!” I was indeed sorry for -him. He was honest, was this man of -granite. He loved his country. And -Prince Paul—“Royal robes should -cover men, not flattered fools.”</p> - -<p>“You understand. The great game -is lost. I love Ertaria as I love nothing -else. I would pour out my blood -willingly for her. That would be -nothing. I have been the guardian of -her honor. That was everything. -And now the hand of the greedy Bear -is stretched out for it. And it is lost. -At least five minutes ago I said it was -lost. But now you—you can save it—the -great game, the honor of Ertaria, -the independence, the life-blood!”</p> - -<p>“I! My dear General, I am a tired -English peer recovering from a surfeit -of municipal and parochial addresses.”</p> - -<p>“You—only you. You are an Englishman, -you speak Ertarian, you resemble -the Prince Paul somewhat; he is -unknown in Ertaria. You are out of -love with your own identity; you long -for something else, for some other -life——”</p> - -<p>“My dear General, speak out the -whole of your madness.”</p> - -<p>“Come, Lord Havensea, and hold -the throne!”</p> - -<p>I was staggered, astounded. For a -moment I watched the smoke becoming -thinner and thinner. Suddenly it -seemed to pop out. It was of course a -trick of the imagination.</p> - -<p>“You are an Englishman—therefore -you have courage.”</p> - -<p>It was transcendent flattery. A -throne!</p> - -<p>“It is madness, my General,” I said. -His eyes sparkled.</p> - -<p>“It is the madness we love,” he said -softly. “And it is for the country, my -country. The poor fool will come -back. Don’t let it be too late. Keep -the throne for him—and for us, for the -Ertarian children unborn that they be -not born the slaves of the Muscovite. -You have read the history of Poland?”</p> - -<p>“It is folly, but—” I commenced.</p> - -<p>“The train starts tonight, my -Prince, at eleven. The West Station. -I will make all things ready.” The -General looked out at the winking sun. -The real Prince was kidnapped, but in -his dire need Fate had tossed him a -pseudo one.</p> - -<p>It was the wildest of folly, of course, -but once seriously embarked upon, it -was remarkable how smoothly it ran. -I returned to the hotel, paid my bill, -sent my valet home to England, and -met the General at the station. I -entered the first-class compartment -a private English gentleman—even my -poor little title left in the custody of -my lawyers in Ely Place—and across -the Ertarian frontier I stepped out -Paul V.</p> - -<p>We alighted at a small station. -There were three or four anxious-looking -men on its slender platform. They -were dressed in the frock coat of ceremony. -One man only was conspicuous -in a gorgeous uniform. It reminded -me of my own Havensea livery. -I was preparing to be royally -gracious to him when Hartzel whispered -he was the station-master. It -was a brilliant morning; the sun lay on -the white caps of the mountain pass -and glistened; big butterflies painted -the field; the air was clear, rarified. I -was in excellent spirits.</p> - -<p>The General watched the absurd little -engine puff its way onward. Then -he turned to me, took off his hat, knelt -and kissed my hand. The spectacle -of my man of granite kneeling, his -honest, ugly face figured by emotion, -struck me strangely.</p> - -<p>“To my God, my Country and my -King are my life and my honor dedicated,” -he said, the quaint old formula -of allegiance in Ertaria. The frock -coats went through the same performance. -It lacked the earnestness of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_440"></a>[Pg 440]</span> -General and had a note of anxiety. -They looked as though they were expecting -a troop of Cossacks over the -edge of the pass and were nervous. -But the ceremony marked a step in the -game. Until then I was in a transition -state. I was no longer Lord -Havensea, but I had not yet become -King until I had stepped out of my uncomfortable -compartment into a kingdom.</p> - -<p>“Gentlemen,” I said in their own -picturesque tongue, “you are the first -of my subjects to welcome me. Not -as King will I speak to you now, but as -a fellow-worker, for my heart also is -dedicated to God and Ertaria.”</p> - -<p>That struck some spark into their -dull faces.</p> - -<p>“Seven centuries of liberty are in our -hands,” said I. “The dead fathers of -Ertaria have given us this heritage. -It is that which I come to preserve—in -peace if God wills, but if not, the -history of Ertaria tells us how to -act.”</p> - -<p>Bombast if you will, but it brought -life, valor, strength into their faces.</p> - -<p>As for the man of granite, his eyes -flashed. Ten minutes more and we -were galloping up the white ribbon of -a road toward Tsalburg, embarked -upon as mad a mission as was ever -enacted in this Balkan basin of mad -missions. Our frock-coated friends remained -behind. I kissed each on his -scrubby cheek, and told him to guard -our frontier. They swore to this with -tears in their eyes.</p> - -<p>“Well,” said I, “we have played the -first act of the farce.”</p> - -<p>“You have done well,” my mentor -replied. “But this is no farce. It is a -perilous game to play.”</p> - -<p>“You did not tell me so before, -General. A spice of danger gives it a -zest.”</p> - -<p>“You speak like a soldier.”</p> - -<p>“I was a soldier—that was before I -became a peer and was a personage. -Shall I pass muster? Will they perceive -I am no King? Will the people -be with me?”</p> - -<p>“Keep a brave heart and that will -carry you through. The Russian -Minister, of course, will know you are -an impostor.”</p> - -<p>“The deuce he will!”</p> - -<p>“You must bluff him.”</p> - -<p>“And four weeks ago I received the -freedom of an English town from a -successful grocer! Hartzel, my blood -races! Here are romance, adventure! -I am your debtor for life!”</p> - -<p>“That debt may be liquidated at -any moment,” he said grimly. For a -minute his old face softened, and then -it was as hard as ever. I knew that -some touch of remorse had stabbed him. -The game was nothing to me; he was -staking my life for a cause in which I -had no concern. Then came the -thought of his country. No life mattered -then.</p> - -<p>That night we lay in a small town, -and I was shown secretly to a few of -the town’s chief men; and the next -night we slept in the General’s house at -Tsalburg. The rumor of my coming -circulated furiously. At eleven o’clock, -when I was preparing to rest, tired with -my long journey, a mob assembled in -the square outside and sang the national -anthem for an hour or so. -Hartzel harangued them from the balcony. -I was fatigued. I could not -be disturbed, but on the morrow their -King would meet them. That was the -purport of his speech. The national -anthem broke out again, and presently, -with the poetical inspiration of the -nation, they sang a legendary serenade.</p> - -<p>Hartzel came to my room and sat -on the edge of my bed. I was nearly -dead with fatigue, but he was inexorable.</p> - -<p>“Tomorrow will see the crucial test -of our scheme, so you must listen. -There are two factions in Ertaria. In -the late King’s reign I kept the Tertourgkis -in abeyance.”</p> - -<p>“The Tertourgkis!” I cried, memory -stirring me. “They had some -feud with the reigning family and—and -there was a daughter.”</p> - -<p>“You remember?” he said. “Prince -Tertourgki is an old man. His wealth -and his lands go to this daughter, his -only child. She is very beautiful.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_441"></a>[Pg 441]</span></p> - -<p>“She was a beautiful child, dark -and serene as night.”</p> - -<p>“The Prince has claims to the throne. -He is the descendant of the Tertourgkis, -who reigned in the fifteenth century. -They were despots, and a revolution -set the Borros on the throne. -The Prince has never abrogated his -claim. There is a second cousin——”</p> - -<p>“My General, the rest is easy to decipher. -The second cousin has aspirations -for the hand of the Princess -Marie; he is the puppet of the Russians; -the Tertourgkis’ influence is great; we -fear the loyalty of the army; we must -deal quickly with the second cousin.”</p> - -<p>“You are quick at guessing,” the -General answered slowly. “You -know——”</p> - -<p>“On my word, nothing—nothing but -the name of the Princess Marie. When -the world was younger, General, there -was a large garden and a young schoolboy—he -thought himself a man—and -a little child and flowers. Together -they made a happy time. The sun -was always shining. The little child -worshiped the big schoolboy—and he -graciously permitted it.”</p> - -<p>“Your father’s house! Ah, well, you -know something, but not all. As the -King lay dying I—I arranged a marriage -between the Princess Marie and -the absent Paul.”</p> - -<p>I sat up in bed.</p> - -<p>“The Prince Paul!” I exclaimed.</p> - -<p>“The Prince Paul,” he assented -stolidly. “He consented. The Prince -looked kindly upon it; the Princess -would not give a definite answer. -When the Prince arrived, she said, -she would give him her answer personally.”</p> - -<p>“This is your arrangement?” I -asked.</p> - -<p>“It was a diplomatic stroke,” he -said.</p> - -<p>“You took an unwarrantable liberty,” -I cried warmly. “Why was I -not told of this before?”</p> - -<p>“Because you would not have -come.”</p> - -<p>“And now?”</p> - -<p>“Now it is different. You are -caught in the toils.”</p> - -<p>“It is an unwarrantable liberty! -You have engaged me matrimonially -without any reference to my feelings.”</p> - -<p>“I have engaged Prince Paul.”</p> - -<p>“Who am I?”</p> - -<p>“Who you are for the present. My -dear Havensea, you do not consider -my position.”</p> - -<p>“You have had precious little consideration -for mine!”</p> - -<p>“It is not yours. You are an actor -playing a role. In a short while you -will make a graceful bow and exit.”</p> - -<p>“I am not at all sure that it will be -graceful.”</p> - -<p>“As you will. That does not matter -at all. You play a part for a little -while. They will not dare to keep the -real Prince a prisoner for long.”</p> - -<p>“I am to cheat this girl?”</p> - -<p>“What does it matter? It is a -royal alliance—there are no considerations -but that of policy. I do not -propose to marry you to her.”</p> - -<p>“Thanks. That is considerate.”</p> - -<p>“My dear Havensea, you are perturbed. -The Princess is to marry the -Crown. She is piqued at the long delay -of the Prince. There is no question -of sentiment.”</p> - -<p>“Suppose there were?”</p> - -<p>He looked at me curiously for a -moment.</p> - -<p>“That is a proposition I will not entertain,” -he answered.</p> - -<p>“I will not do it!” I cried angrily.</p> - -<p>“You will,” he replied quietly. -“You have already impersonated the -King. Have you considered the consequences? -I say nothing about you. -You are a brave man. But you have -already compromised many honest -men—and one dishonest old man. We -are only half civilized. That is part of -our charm—at least to you. The -people would be very angry. You -would be killed!”</p> - -<p>“By Jove, you are a pleasant philosopher!”</p> - -<p>“To a brave man that may mean -little—life is a mere stake. But the -honest men and the dishonest old man -would die also. You could not have -my death upon your conscience!”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_442"></a>[Pg 442]</span></p> - -<p>“You deserve it, my General; you -deserve it, on my honor!”</p> - -<p>“Possibly.” He waved it aside -resolutely as a matter of small consequence. -“There is also Ertaria. Shall -we grant that the Princess may not be -happy? Then there is one woman unhappy -and a nation free. Havensea, -you do not understand the stake for -which we play. It is not a crown, nor -a woman’s heart, but a nation’s freedom. -The heel of Russia bruises the -very souls of men. Russia knouts a -man’s soul. Where is Poland today? -It is a great game to save a nation from -that curse.”</p> - -<p>The man of granite spoke soberly. -There was no impassioned appeal. He -spoke of facts. As a boy I knew something -of this terror of Russia. This -rugged, hard man was a hero. He -played his life not for advancement, -but for the good of his country. My -heart warmed to him. And, as he said, -there was also Ertaria.</p> - -<p>“I shall go through with it, General,” -I said at length. Our hands closed -on that; in the winking light of a -candle I saw his eyes glitter. He did -not speak for a full minute. Then he -muttered in a low voice, “If you were -only a Borro!”</p> - -<p>“It would have been fatiguing,” I -said. “I should have quarreled with -you. There is not room on the throne -for two men.”</p> - -<p>He laughed abruptly at that.</p> - -<p>The next morning General Hartzel -aroused me at an unearthly hour. He -made me dress in a steel-corseleted -uniform. It was exceedingly gorgeous -and stiff with gold lace.</p> - -<p>“It is the uniform of the Colonel of -the Royal Guards,” he told me.</p> - -<p>“Promotion is rapid in Ertaria,” I -said. “I was an unconsidered subaltern -in our Blues.”</p> - -<p>“The army is reviewed today on -the Plain of Liberty,” he said, “by -Prince Tertourgki. He is regent during -your absence.”</p> - -<p>“And the second cousin?”</p> - -<p>“Is his aide-de-camp—Prince Otho. -The Russian Minister will be there.”</p> - -<p>“And his august name?” I demanded.</p> - -<p>“Baron Ivaniski.”</p> - -<p>“My dear General!” I cried. “There -is a saying, ‘The luck of the Havenseas.’ -The luck holds good. The Russian -Bear shall dance, I promise you!”</p> - -<p>“What does Your Majesty mean?”</p> - -<p>“His Majesty knows a story, General, -a pretty, ornate and most scandalous -story. Ivaniski was an attaché at -Berlin when my uncle was Ambassador. -It will be the only good turn Uncle -John has ever done me.”</p> - -<p>For two mortal hours after a particularly -disappointing breakfast—the -General betrayed but an indifferent regard -to cuisine—I was gracious to the -peculiarly uninteresting big men of -Tsalburg. I signed innumerable papers, -and at a hint from the General kissed -those worthy of the honor. It afforded -them far more satisfaction than it did -me.</p> - -<p>At noon I mounted a black charger, -and, accompanied only by the General, -set out for the Plain of Liberty. -Hartzel had misled—to use a euphemism—the -populace as to my movements, -so that it was merely at odd -whiles that I was called upon to acknowledge -shouts of greeting.</p> - -<p>The Plain of Liberty is a tableland -upon the hill that rises above the town. -From it Tsalburg can be seen spread -out in picturesque confusion. It is a -big plain, and its name is derived from -the presence in its centre of a huge -column surmounted by a figure of Liberty. -On the base of this column are -inscribed the names of the more or less -traditional heroes who are popularly -supposed to have engineered the independence -of the country. This column -has become a subject of sentimental -worship with the nation.</p> - -<p>On this plain were assembled the -populace of Tsalburg to witness the -review of the major part of the troops -of the country, some fifteen thousand. -Prince Tertourgki had selected a place -near the column as a saluting base, and -the troops, when we arrived, were -drawn up in review order. The column -stood, as it were, a huge, gray sentinel -between the Prince and the troops.</p> - -<p>“Some of the officers I could trust<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_443"></a>[Pg 443]</span> -expect you!” the General cried. “Spur -on to the troops. Now is our crisis. -The Baron has tampered with some of -the regiments, but to what extent I -cannot say. If the troops receive you -Ertaria is saved.”</p> - -<p>“Your true gambler risks all on a -single throw!” I shouted, clapping -spurs into my charger. It was a glorious -gallop. My blood raced in my -veins. My horse was maddened by the -touch of the spur. I thundered on -down the level turf. I saw the stir -of surprise in the populace. I caught -a waver of ranks as the troops craned -forward to see me come. Then a -flash of inspiration came to me. As -I raced by the column I suddenly drew -rein, flinging my horse back on his -haunches. For a moment he lay -crouched backward, and in that moment -I had raised my sword in salute -of the column. Then the charger leaped -forward, and I rode to the front of the -troops.</p> - -<p>Such a shout greeted me as I have -never heard before. It roared about -my ears like thunder. “Long live the -King!” they cried, and the populace -took up the words, “Long live the -King!”</p> - -<p>I raised my hand and there was silence.</p> - -<p>“Comrades,” I shouted, “we all alike -serve under Liberty. The statue of -our dead heroes watches over King and -people.” Again the air was rent.</p> - -<p>I turned. General Hartzel, following -me, had just cantered up. On his -grim, granite face was a smile like -wintry sunshine.</p> - -<p>“General Hartzel,” I cried, “you -will march the troops past in review -order!” Then I cantered over to the -saluting base. I was King!</p> - -<p>An old man in uniform was fidgeting -about on a gray horse. At his side was -a young officer, dark, almost swarthy, -whispering eagerly. In a landau at the -back sat a frock-coated gentleman with -an order in his buttonhole. He had -the broadness between the eyes of the -Tartar. With him was the most beautiful -woman I have ever seen. Out of -her big black eyes shone the light of -admiration. In a mist I saw again the -small child in the garden, her wondering -worship and the big English schoolboy.</p> - -<p>“Prince,” I cried, “will you do me -the honor of taking the salute?” I -spoke to him so as to force an answer. -The unexpected compliment flustered -him.</p> - -<p>“Your Majesty,” he faltered, “my -usefulness is over.”</p> - -<p>“No,” I replied, engineering my restive -charger to the discomfiture of the -second cousin, “we will work together -for Ertaria, Prince.” I held out my -hand, and in a moment the white-haired -old fellow was off his horse and -kneeling, kissing my hand. How the -populace roared aloud their pleasure! -The bands crashed out the national -anthem, ladies fluttered their scarfs, a -whole forest of hats waved in the air. -I was King, and apparently popular. -It was an exhilarating feeling. I -thought of the real Paul shut up in a -satinwood cabin on board a kicking -little steam yacht, and smiled.</p> - -<p>The Prince and I took the salute; he -reined in to a respectful distance. Afterward -I was conducted to the landau. -The Prince stayed a moment to speak -to the second cousin. I rode up alone -and dismounted.</p> - -<p>“Have you no welcome for the King, -Princess Marie?” I asked.</p> - -<p>“You know me? My father told -you?” Her voice was serene, low, like -silver bells on a summer evening.</p> - -<p>“No. The Prince has said nothing. -But I knew that the Princess Marie was -the most beautiful woman in Ertaria.” -She smiled at me. I met her smiling -eyes. It was then I regretted that I -was merely playing a part. The small -child had grown into a wondrously -beautiful woman. I know that from -the moment my eyes met hers in that -long look I loved her. Hers were eloquent -also, so eloquent that she veiled -them quickly with long, thick, black, -curling lashes, and the rich color -mounted to her cheek.</p> - -<p>“But Your Majesty,” the Russian’s -lips curled in a sneer, “has seen the -Princess’s photograph.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_444"></a>[Pg 444]</span></p> - -<p>“One has no conception of sunlight -from observation of the moon, Baron,” -I answered.</p> - -<p>“And you are really the King, Paul -V.” His voice was challenging, his -eyes were gleaming with anger. The -elaborate and desperate project of kidnapping -the Prince had failed at the -very moment of its success. In his -pocket, I thought, were the particulars -of Paul’s involuntary voyage, and yet -here was a king to thwart all his plans.</p> - -<p>“And you are really the Baron -Ivaniski—of Berlin?” He grew white -to the lips at the concealed threat in -my voice.</p> - -<p>“Of Berlin?” he faltered. “I have -no connection with Berlin.”</p> - -<p>“Your memory is short, Baron. In -November of ’84 you were surely in -Berlin. I believe, if I tried, I could -persuade you of that. Lord Derwenthurst -was a friend of mine.”</p> - -<p>“Ah, yes, I had forgotten,” he muttered. -I could have laughed at him, -he had become so craven and so -cringing. Uncle John had told me of -the Baron and his gambling debts, -and his attempt to sell a Russian secret -to us. Uncle John was too honest -for a diplomat. He refused, and extracted -from the young attaché a -signed declaration of his treason. -The alternative was that of forwarding -the proposal to the Russian Ambassador.</p> - -<p>Riding to the palace with my -granite General, he expressed approval -of my day’s work.</p> - -<p>“Ah, General,” said I, “the public -enthusiasm is stimulating. Not all -the school children of my native town, -bribed by oranges and buns, can shout -like your honest people.”</p> - -<p>“And the Princess?” he asked anxiously.</p> - -<p>“And the Princess is divine.”</p> - -<p>A week passed in a whirl of popular -excitement. No one guessed; the Russian -dared not speak openly. In any -case I hardly think Russia would have -avowed her kidnapping of the Prince. -As it was, the Baron had too great a -fear of the document he believed I -held. On the second day the Princess -gave me her answer. We were betrothed. -Public joy expressed itself -in gala nights at the Opera, in fireworks, -in torchlight processions. And -for me all the zest of the game I was -playing departed. As I listened to -Marie, as I learned from her own lips -that she loved me, I realized bitterly -the part I was playing. Not all the -General’s sophistries could disguise it -from me. I was cheating her. And -her trust was perfect. I writhed under -her praise, I was tortured by the possession -of her love, a possession which, -come by honestly, I would have treasured -beyond all else.</p> - -<p>On the eighth day, the evening of -the gala ball, my granite General came -to my private chamber.</p> - -<p>“The <i>Coquette</i> entered Trieste last -night,” he said harshly. I started. -<i>Coquette</i> was the name of the soprano’s -yacht.</p> - -<p>“Well?” I replied. We stared at -each other. General Hartzel had been -growing brusk and ill-humored with -me. I think he guessed at the -romance.</p> - -<p>“The King will be here tomorrow -night.”</p> - -<p>“Suppose I answer that by saying -the King is here?”</p> - -<p>“You will not do that. Your honor -is engaged.”</p> - -<p>“You have been teaching me to do -without honor.”</p> - -<p>“I must tell her tonight.”</p> - -<p>I rose. “You will not. I will tell -her.”</p> - -<p>“You will seek to dissuade her!”</p> - -<p>“I will tell her. It is my right, -Hartzel.”</p> - -<p>“You promise——?”</p> - -<p>“I promise nothing. Man, do you -think I will slink out of this like a -whipped cur? I have cheated. I will -confess.”</p> - -<p>After the first ceremonial reception -I slipped into the dark garden. My -brain was hot. I wanted to feel the -soft coolness of the night. In an -avenue I stumbled upon the Prince -Otho and the Russian Baron. They -barred my way.</p> - -<p>“Impostor!” cried the Prince. The<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_445"></a>[Pg 445]</span> -news had leaked out. The Russian -knew and had told his friend.</p> - -<p>I took off my glove and struck him -in the face.</p> - -<p>“After the fourth waltz,” I said. -“There is a moon. In the walled garden. -And, gentlemen, whatever you -may know, keep silence. Berlin will -speak if you do.”</p> - -<p>I sought Hartzel. He was not -difficult to find. He was dogging my -steps like a spy. I told him of my -meeting in the garden, and asked him -to be my second.</p> - -<p>“He is a good swordsman,” he said. -I think he was sorry.</p> - -<p>“Then I sincerely hope the real Paul -won’t miss his train. To have the -throne vacant again would be annoying.”</p> - -<p>“And you?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“My dear General,” I said, with a -smile, “when a man is giving up a -pearl of infinite value he does not care -much for the tarnished gold of his own -life.”</p> - -<p>The fourth waltz I danced with the -Princess Marie.</p> - -<p>“I wish to speak to you soberly, -seriously, sedately, Marie. May I? -Come to the little conservatory and sit -out the thirteenth.”</p> - -<p>“It is an unlucky number.”</p> - -<p>“No number is unlucky that gives -me your presence,” I said lightly.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>In the moonlight we stripped to our -shirts. It was nearly as light as day.</p> - -<p>“This is a mistake,” my granite -General said. He was thinking of the -risk to his scheme and the ease with -which both men could have been -arrested.</p> - -<p>“No, General. This may be reparation,” -I answered.</p> - -<p>Prince Otho was an excellent swordsman. -That I knew at once. His -wrist was supple and strong as steel. -We engaged and fought slowly, cautiously. -He had a dangerous, wicked -riposte which I guarded twice, more -by luck than by skill. Undoubtedly -he was my master. I smiled grimly -at this. I was sorry, because I wished -to speak to Marie. And yet, perhaps, -this was a better way. Ah, a scratch! -I had turned too late, and the sting -in my shoulder told me I was hit.</p> - -<p>“He is hit! It is enough!” cried -General Hartzel.</p> - -<p>“A mere scratch!” I answered hotly, -and we engaged again. It was evident -the Prince was waiting for an -opening to kill. Two opportunities -for serious wounds he passed. Then -suddenly he made a quick lunge over -my guard. I stepped back quickly; -he could not recover his guard; he fell -back. Hartzel leaned over him.</p> - -<p>“That ends it,” he said complacently. -“Four weeks, at least, in bed. -This is an accident, Baron.”</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The thirteenth dance. The lights -were very low. There was the heavy, -thick scent of gardenias. The Chinese -lanterns swayed curiously. When I -pulled myself together they were still. -The wound pricked unpleasantly.</p> - -<p>Marie came.</p> - -<p>“This is most unorthodox, Your -Majesty,” she said mockingly. “Everyone -is asking for you.”</p> - -<p>“Will you sit down, dear?” I spoke -very slowly. In truth the pain in my -arm was like a red-hot steel needle. -She sobered quickly. I could not see -very well. I think she went white. -She sat down meekly. I could see her -big eyes, only her eyes.</p> - -<p>“Paul!” she breathed.</p> - -<p>“I am not Paul,” I said. “I am not -King. I am only the King’s image, a -poor counterfeit.”</p> - -<p>“Paul!” she said again. Then she -checked herself.</p> - -<p>“He will be here tomorrow. My -period of usefulness will be over. He—he -was kidnapped. I came—because -I was bored, because there was -some chance of adventure, because an -old man pleaded for his country. Now -it is all over—the King comes, the -King’s image is wanted no longer.”</p> - -<p>“Paul, I want you,” she said in a -low voice.</p> - -<p>“I am not Paul. And—and, Marie, -there is duty! A nation may groan -under the tyranny of Russia unless—You -understand, Marie. Our lives<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_446"></a>[Pg 446]</span> -cannot always be ministers to our desires. -We—we are caught in the toils; -we can only obey, we can only do our -duty, trusting that somehow it will be -found good.”</p> - -<p>“For us?” she asked.</p> - -<p>“For your people.”</p> - -<p>“You say that that is my duty, -Paul?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“And you love me?”</p> - -<p>“And I love you,” I answered. The -lanterns were swinging madly now. -Over their light was a new mist growing, -growing. I bit my lip—but the -throb of the wound was agony.</p> - -<p>“I believe you, dear,” she said simply. -“It—it seems hard that—that -so much should rest upon one poor -girl. I think I know what—you mean. -The people shall be happy though the -Queen’s heart break.” She rose and -came toward me. She caught me by -my wounded shoulder and kissed me. -And with all the agony of it that kiss -I hold in my heart always as a dear -memory.</p> - -<p>When she went the lanterns whirled, -the mist shut down on my eyes, and I -fell. General Hartzel found me.</p> - -<p>The next morning early, recovered -of my swoon, I rode out of Tsalburg. -General Hartzel rode with me a little -way.</p> - -<p>“If you had only been the real King,” -he said, with more feeling than I -thought possible, “and not——”</p> - -<p>“And not the King’s image,” I -filled in. “It is a pity when the clay -image has a living heart.”</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<a name="The_Story_of_a_Suppressed_Populist" id="The_Story_of_a_Suppressed_Populist"> </a> -<h2 class="nobreak"><i>The Story of a Suppressed Populist -Newspaper</i></h2></div> - -<p class="center space-above1 space-below1">BY THOMAS H. TIBBLES<br /> -<i>People’s Party Candidate for Vice-President</i></p> - -<p class="drop-cap">AT one time there were fifteen hundred -weekly papers advocating -the principles of the Omaha -platform. Some of them had large -plants, some only a few cases of type -and a Washington press, but all were -actuated by one purpose—to make -conditions easier for those who toiled -on farms, in shops, factories, mines -and mills. Among those still fighting -up to the first of April of this -year was the <i>Nebraska Independent</i>. -Many such papers were crushed by -various devices, chief among which -was that the great advertisers of -the land, all being allied with Wall -Street, refused to give them any business. -Numerous instances could be -cited where Populist papers were refused -advertisements given to plutocratic -papers not having one-tenth the -circulation, and paid for at a higher -rate than the proprietors of the Populist -papers would have taken. In the -files of the <i>Nebraska Independent</i> may -be found scores of letters from advertising -agents, who had been solicited -for business, saying: “If you will make -your paper an exclusively agricultural -journal we will be glad to give you a -good line of business, but we cannot -patronize it as long as it advocates -Populism.” Every reform editor has -had the same experience.</p> - -<p>Thirteen years ago the agricultural -papers everywhere were publishing -articles defending Populist principles. -Then all at once such articles were seen -in their pages no more, and immediately -the papers were flooded with high-priced -advertising. The religious press -was caught in the same trap. It is -strange that the devout readers of -those papers never once had their suspicions<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_447"></a>[Pg 447]</span> -aroused when they saw so many -display advertisements of trusts, banks -and promotion schemes in their modest -little religious journals. Notwithstanding -all such schemes, the <i>Nebraska -Independent</i> lived and its circulation -gradually extended into every -state and territory. It became evident -that to get rid of it other tactics -would have to be employed. To destroy -the paper was not the objective. -It was to destroy the People’s Party. -With the <i>Independent</i> in hostile hands -the political fortifications built up by -it in Nebraska and other states would -be deserted and the Bryan, Belmont, -Sheehan and Tom Taggart Democratic -Party could walk in and take -possession.</p> - -<p>The main battle was fought in the -Populist state convention August 10, -1904. The proposition to force a -fusion with the Democrats under the -lead of the most disreputable end of -Wall Street, fresh from its victory in -St. Louis, on the face of it was most -absurd. But the doing of absurd -things never ruffles the placid countenance -of Mr. Bryan. The idea that -there could be any real opposition to -his imperial will in Nebraska, aside -from the Republican Party, never -seemed to enter his mind. Heretofore -when Mr. Bryan entered a Democratic -or Populist convention, the -Fusion Populists and Democrats immediately -bowed and worshiped. The -only thing that convention had to do -was to find out what Mr. Bryan wished -and then proceed to do it with all possible -haste. It became evident that -this convention would have to be -handled differently. Mr. Bryan all -the winter, spring and summer had -been denouncing Judge Parker as a -“dishonest candidate, running on a -dishonest platform,” and then he had -come home from St. Louis, sat down -at his desk and the first words that he -wrote were: “I shall vote for Parker -and Davis.” The Populists remembered -how for eight years he had been -coming to their conventions, and in -his sweet and winning way telling them -how noble they were to put principle -above party and vote for men of another -party if they thought they could -advance reform by so doing. Many -of them, who had always supported -Mr. Bryan since he first appeared on -the battlefields of politics, thought that -the time had come when he should -practice what he preached. Mr. Bryan -realized that there was trouble ahead, -but it was thought if the <i>Nebraska -Independent</i> would support the Bryan -plan that a fusion legislature could be -elected that would send Mr. Bryan to -the United States Senate.</p> - -<p>The editor of the <i>Independent</i> was -obstreperous. He had had enough of -fusion with a party half of which was -more disreputably plutocratic than -the Republican Party, and whose -“irrevocable” rules were so rigid that -they required a man, upon a vote of a -convention, to come out boldly before -the people and advocate a policy -he had denounced by pen and voice -for eight years. All sorts of schemes -were devised to bring this obstreperous -editor into subjection to the imperial -will of Mr. Bryan. The first was to -send all the leading men of the state, -from the Chief Justice down, to use -persuasion. That failed. Then Mr. -Bryan’s personal daily organ in the -state tried a new deal. It poured out -on Mr. Tibbles the most fulsome flattery -day after day. It said if he would -only say “fusion” every Populist in -the state would obey his command. -When all that failed Mr. Bryan came -himself. The proposition that he made -was that a fusion electoral ticket be -put in the field composed of four Populists -and four Democrats, Mr. Bryan -saying that, “in the event of their -election, each party could count the -full vote as its own.” The proposition -was instantly rejected. Others followed. -Mr. Bryan came to the <i>Independent</i> -editorial-room four different -times, using all his eloquence and persuasive -powers to get the editor to consent -to and advocate a fusion with a -party that had nominated Parker, and -whose campaign was put into the hands -of the most disreputable gang that ever -sought Wall Street favor.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_448"></a>[Pg 448]</span></p> - -<p>Mr. Bryan gave orders that everything -visible, clear to the political -horizon, and other things invisible -lying behind the floating clouds, -should be offered to the Populist -convention providing that the -Populists would fuse. The battle was -fought out on the convention floor. -Many Democrats had secured seats as -delegates. One Democrat came over -from his own convention and answered -to the call of Thurston County -in the Populist convention which had -no delegates present, and voted the -fifteen votes that county was entitled to -every time for fusion. Out of the hell-broth -brewed in that all-night session -there floated upon the fusion scum -Bryan, Belmont, Sheehan, Tom Taggart -and, remember this last name, -George W. Berge.</p> - -<p>Nearly the whole state ticket was -given to the Populists—only three unimportant -offices being conceded to -the Democrats, and Berge—George -Washington Berge—captured the -prize infamy, the fusion nomination -for Governor. Bryan would allow no -other name to be mentioned in the -Democratic convention, although there -were two or three Democrats there -who had spent time and much money -during the previous eight years fighting -Bryan’s battles for him, and who had -expressed a desire to receive a complimentary -vote for that office. When -Bryan speaks the <i>Nebraska Democrat</i> -turns pale.</p> - -<p>The <i>Independent</i> was still a thorn in -the side of these fusionists. The -editor openly declared that he never -would vote for or support a Belmont-Bryan-Parker -Democrat. Then it was -that fusion itch for office and Bryan diplomacy -joined forces to destroy the <i>Independent</i>. -The plutocratic Republican -attacks upon it had been of no avail, -and week after week it had proclaimed -the doctrines of the People’s Party for -ten years. In an open fight against -awful odds it had fought battle after -battle, sometimes victorious and sometimes -defeated, but it fought on. It -took fusion treason, it took the work -of men who constantly proclaimed -themselves Populists, who insisted -upon attending Populist conventions -while their sole aim was to destroy -the People’s Party, to do what all -the hosts of plutocracy had failed to -do.</p> - -<p>As soon as the vote for fusion had -been announced in the convention as -prevailing, more than half the delegates -present—whole counties had been -voted for fusion when only one or two -delegates were in the city—rose and -left. The next morning they hired a -hall and discussed the proposition of -putting a straight Populist ticket in -the field, but when it was remembered -that the fusionists had the legal organization -and the ticket would have to go -on the ballot under some other name -than People’s Party the project was -abandoned. The result was that -20,000 Populists voted the Republican -ticket, 30,000 stayed at home and refused -to vote, and a little over 20,000 -voted the Populist national ticket. -The Senate of the Nebraska Legislature -was solidly Republican; the House had -only nine fusionists in it. Mr. Bryan -saw to it that they all cast their votes -for a straight Democrat for United -States Senator. All that was necessary -to get the fusionists to do that, both -those who called themselves Democrats -and those who called themselves -Populists, was for them to imagine -that they heard a far-off rumble that -sounded like the voice of Bryan saying: -“Vote for a Democrat.”</p> - -<p>When the conventions were over -and the campaign committees appointed, -the fusionists found that it -was a difficult thing to make a campaign -in Nebraska. Something must -be done to get the <i>Independent</i> to fight -the battle for them, but the <i>Independent</i> -still declared that it would not -support a Parker Democrat. Then, -sad to relate, the editor of the <i>Independent</i> -got taken in himself.</p> - -<p>The chairman of the Democratic -State Committee, a brother-in-law to -Bryan, came to Mr. Tibbles declaring -that he represented Mr. Bryan and was -speaking in Bryan’s name, and made -the following proposition:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_449"></a>[Pg 449]</span></p> - -<p>If Mr. Tibbles would spend most of -his time out of the state during the -campaign, and let the <i>Independent</i> -support the fusion ticket, all of whose -nominees except three were Populists, -Mr. Bryan on his part would agree to -go to Arizona or Colorado and get sick. -He would continue to keep sick until -the close of the campaign, so sick that -he would not be able to make any -political speeches at all. An exception -was made in regard to Indiana. -It was said that Mr. Bryan had -promised to make three speeches in -Indiana in support of his old personal -friend who was running for Governor -in that state, but it was further -stipulated that these three speeches -should not be political speeches, but -repetitions of Mr. Bryan’s lecture on -“Ideals.”</p> - -<p>Mr. Bryan went to Arizona and sent -home a letter saying that he was worse -and would not be able to deliver any -political speeches during the campaign. -That letter was printed in the -Lincoln daily papers and was shown -to Mr. Tibbles as proof that Mr. -Bryan was keeping his contract.</p> - -<p>The chairman of the Democratic -State Committee went to New York, -saw Parker, Sheehan, Belmont, Tom -Taggart and the rest of the band of -financial and political pirates. He -came home with money for campaign -expenses. Then Mr. Bryan hired a -special train and started out speech-making -in Nebraska and in other -states. The surprising rapidity with -which his lung healed has never been -equaled in all the history of medicine. -But when the votes were counted it -was learned that wherever Mr. Bryan -spoke, whether from the rear end of -his car, on a platform by the railway -side, or in theatre or hall, a tidal wave -of Republican votes followed him, -although he pleaded with his Democratic -hearers to be “regular.” Hundreds -of thousands of Democrats -listened to this man, who for eight -years had been denouncing Wall Street -and all its ways, and was now consorting -with the most disreputable part of -Wall Street, urging them to vote to -keep it in power. Humiliated, sad at -heart, their idol carrying the banner -of the enemy, in the enemy’s ranks, -they turned their backs in scorn upon -Mr. Bryan, went to the polls and -voted the Republican ticket. If they -were to have Wall Street and plutocracy, -they wanted the old, genuine -article, not “something just as good.” -The fusionists declared that wherever -Watson or Tibbles spoke they made -votes for Roosevelt. They did not -make one Roosevelt vote where Bryan -made a thousand.</p> - -<p>Mr. Berge—George Washington -Berge—received a large vote for Governor. -That was because Mickey, the -Republican, who was running for re-election, -was cordially hated by the -whole Republican Party. Thirty -thousand Republicans voted for -Berge, and then he was defeated. -But Berge is a fusionist. He wants -office, and especially the office of -Governor of Nebraska.</p> - -<p>It seemed necessary, if Mr. Bryan -was to prove his undying love for the -Democratic Party, to convince all -Eastern Democrats that he would forever -prove “regular” no matter who -was nominated or what the platform -was, and it seemed to the fusionists, if -they were to have any of the spoils of -victory when the national Government -was captured, that the People’s Party -must be destroyed. It must never -hold another state or national convention. -They all agreed that the -party had done a wonderful work for -the nation, that its principles were -being everywhere adopted, but it -must be crucified, officially pronounced -dead and buried, and the -first step toward that object was the -destruction of the <i>Nebraska Independent</i>.</p> - -<p>Mr. Berge is a lawyer. He never -has had a day’s experience in a newspaper -office. He announced that he -would start a paper in Lincoln in opposition -to the <i>Independent</i>. Then a -proposition was made to the proprietor -of the <i>Independent</i> to sell out. A very -large price was offered. When the -proprietor faced these facts he began<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_450"></a>[Pg 450]</span> -to get discouraged. He had grown up -in Lincoln. He had associated with -these fusionists for years. The fight -which he saw in the near future with -these men was an unpleasant thing to -contemplate. The cost of running a -great newspaper plant is large. When -it was known that the home advertising -would in part be lost, and also a -large share of the job work, the moment -the editor defied Bryan and the -fusionists, the outlook was gloomy. -To those whom the <i>Independent</i> had -always fought in the city and state -were to be added hundreds of others -who had passed as friends. And the -proprietor became discouraged.</p> - -<p>It <i>is</i> somewhat discouraging to go -to a convention ostensibly composed -of men of your own party and see -the most active members of it engaged -in a scheme to destroy your party. -These have been the conditions in -every Populist convention in the state -of Nebraska since 1890. The only -thing that prevented the party from -being destroyed sooner was the <i>Nebraska -Independent</i>. The fusionists became -more and more convinced of that -fact, and the scheme was invented to -publish a paper in opposition in the -same city, which, while claiming to be -Populistic, would work for the destruction -of the party. Credit for the -invention belongs to George Washington -Berge. The hope was entertained -that when the People’s Party -was destroyed all the Populists would -go into the Democratic Party, and -George Washington Berge would be -Governor and W. J. Bryan United -States Senator.</p> - -<p>The proprietor of the <i>Independent</i> -was bound in the contract transferring -to George Washington Berge the title -to the paper, not to engage in the -business of publishing a reform paper -for five years, but the fusionists found -that it would be impossible to put any -shackles on the editor. He intends to -fight on. Just as all the world is beginning -to accept Populist principles -he does not propose to sheathe his -sword and stand by, a passive spectator. -The greatest battle of the age is to -be fought. He “is going up against” -that crowd again.</p> - -<p>The columns of the <i>Independent</i> -have been an open forum for any man -who thought he had something that -would benefit humanity. In the columns -of the paper he could always -voice his sentiments. Besides that, -it has been a journal of economics, -sociology, philosophy, ethics, finance, -single tax, land, Government and all -the decent news. Now it has gone -into the hands of an ordinary Western -lawyer who never read a standard -work of authority on any one of these -subjects. It is to be a personal organ -after the fashion of the one that -W. J. Bryan publishes in the same -town. W. J. Bryan is the most accomplished -orator of the day. He -has personal acquaintances in every -state and territory. Millions have -met and shaken hands with him. -George W. Berge has some acquaintances -outside of Lancaster County, -Nebraska, and besides that, Berge is a -Populist engaged in destroying the -Populist Party. These are his elements -of success.</p> - -<p>The Populists of the different states -and territories who have been readers -of the <i>Independent</i> will in the near -future have a place to express their -views and read discussions of the great -problems that are pressing for solution. -We will be heard. For years not a -great daily would print a line in defense -of the fundamental principles of -Populism. Now magazines are making -fortunes for their proprietors who -have admitted some of these principles -to their pages. Some of these magazines -have a greater circulation than -was ever known before anywhere in -the world for monthly periodical literature. -The People’s Party is not -dead. The <i>Nebraska Independent</i> will -rise from its ashes stronger and better -than ever before. The vilest, rottenest, -worst smelling spot in all the -preserves of plutocracy is that place -where the fusionist roams, seeking to -destroy the organization that gave -him the only opportunities of his -life.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_451"></a>[Pg 451]</span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<a name="Pole_Baker" id="Pole_Baker"> </a> -<h2 class="nobreak"><i>Pole Baker</i></h2></div> - -<p class="center space-above1 space-below1">BY WILL N. HARBEN<br /> -<i>Author of “The Georgians,” “Abner Daniel,” etc.</i></p> - -<h3>SYNOPSIS OF PREVIOUS CHAPTERS</h3> - -<p class="blockquot space-below2">In a small Georgia town a friendship has grown up -between Pole Baker, reformed moonshiner and an unusual -and likable character, and young Nelson Floyd, -who was left as a baby in a mountain cabin by an unknown -woman just before her death. Floyd, in the -face of many trials and temptations, has worked his -way up in the world and made a man of himself. Jeff -Wade appears at the store, in which Floyd has become -a partner, to avenge on him a rumored injustice to -Wade’s sister. Pole Baker’s tact prevents a duel by -making Floyd see that the unselfish course is for him -to avoid a meeting. Cynthia Porter comes to the -store, alarmed for Floyd’s safety. On his way home -to his family Pole falls a victim to his besetting sin of -drink. Cynthia rejects the suit of the Rev. Jason -Hillhouse and refuses to act on his warnings against -Floyd’s attentions. At a corn-shucking given by -Pole, Floyd wins the right to kiss Cynthia, and on -their way home claims his privilege without actually -asking to marry her and proposes in vain that, since -her mother dislikes him, she meet him at times on -signal in the grape-arbor. That night, while Cynthia -is regretting even her slight weakness, her suspicious -and tactless mother half accuses her and hints that -the worry over Cynthia and Floyd has caused her to -fear an attack of insanity.</p> - -<h3>CHAPTER VII</h3> - -<p class="drop-cap">ON the following Saturday morning -there was a considerable -gathering of farmers at Springtown. -A heavy fall of rain during the -night had rendered the soil unfit for -plowing, and it was a sort of enforced -holiday. Many of them stood around -Mayhew & Floyd’s store. Several -women and children were seated between -the two long counters, on boxes -and the few available chairs. Nelson -Floyd was at the high desk in the rear, -occupied with business letters, when -Pole Baker came in at the back door -and stood near him, closely scanning -the long room.</p> - -<p>“Where’s the old man?” he asked -when Floyd looked up and saw him.</p> - -<p>“Not down yet; dry up, Pole! I -was making a calculation and you -knocked it hell-west and crooked.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I reckon that kin wait. I’ve -got a note fer you.” Pole was taking -it from his coat pocket.</p> - -<p>“Miss Cynthia?” Floyd asked eagerly.</p> - -<p>“Not by a long shot,” said Pole. -“I reckon maybe you’ll wish it was.” -He threw the missive on the desk and -went on in quite a portentous tone: -“I come by Jeff Wade’s house, Nelson, -on my way back from the mill. He -was inside with his wife and childern, -an’ as I was passin’ one of the little -boys run out to the fence and called -me in to whar he was. He’s a queer -fellow! I saw he was tryin’ to keep his -wife in the dark, fer what you reckon -he said?”</p> - -<p>“How do I know?” The young -merchant, with a serious expression of -face, had torn open the envelope but -not yet unfolded the sheet of cheap, -blue-lined writing paper.</p> - -<p>“Why, he jest set thar in his chair -before the fire, an’ as he handed it up -to me he sorter looked knowin’ an’ -said, said he: ‘Pole, I’m owin’ Mayhew -& Floyd a little balance on my account, -an’ they seem uneasy. I wish -you’d take this here note to young -Floyd. He’s always stood to me sorter, -an’ I believe he’ll git old Mayhew -to wait on me a little while.’”</p> - -<p>“Did he say that, Pole?” Floyd -had opened the note, but was looking -straight into Baker’s eyes.</p> - -<p>“Yes, he said them words, Nelson, -although he knowed I was on hand that -day when he paid off his bill in full. I -couldn’t chip in thar before his wife, an’ -the Lord knows I couldn’t tell him I -had an idea what was in the note, so I -rid on as fast as I could. I had a turn -o’ meal under me an’ I tuck it off an’<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_452"></a>[Pg 452]</span> -hid it in the thicket t’other side o’ Duncan’s -big spring. I wasn’t goin’ to -carry a secret war message a-straddle -o’ two bushels o’ meal warm from the -rocks. An’ I’d bet my hat that scrap -o’ paper means battle.”</p> - -<p>Floyd read the note. There was -scarcely a change in the expression of -his face or a flicker of his eyelashes as -he folded it with steady fingers and held -it in his hand.</p> - -<p>“Yes, he says he has got the whole -story, Pole,” Floyd said. “He gives -me fair warning as a man of honor to -arm myself. He will be here at twelve -o’clock to the minute.”</p> - -<p>“Great God!” Pole ejaculated. -“You hain’t one chance in a million to -escape with yore life. You seed how -he shot t’other day. He was excited -then—he was as calm as a rock mountain -when I seed him a while ago, an’ -his ride to town will steady ’im more. -He sorter drawed down his mouth at -one corner an’ cocked up his eye, same -as to say: ‘You understand; thar -hain’t no use in upsettin’ women folks -over a necessary matter o’ this sort.’ -Looky here, Nelson, old friend, some’n -has got to be done, an’ it’s got to be -done in a hurry.”</p> - -<p>“It will have to be done at twelve -o’clock, anyway,” Floyd said calmly, -a grim smile almost rising to his face. -“That’s the hour he’s set.”</p> - -<p>“Do you mean to tell me you are -a-goin’ to set thar like a knot on a log -an’ ’low that keen-eyed mountain -sharpshooter to step up in that door -an’ peg away at you?”</p> - -<p>“No, I don’t mean that, exactly, -Pole,” Floyd smiled coldly. “A man -ought not to insult even his antagonist -that way. You see, that would be -making the offended party liable for -wilful, cold-blooded murder before the -law. No, I’ve got my gun here in the -drawer, and we’ll make a pretense at -fighting a duel, even if he downs me in -the first round.”</p> - -<p>“You are a darn fool, that’s what you -are!” Pole was angry without knowing -why. “Do you mean to tell me you -are a-goin’ to put yore life up like that -to gratify a scamp like Jeff Wade?”</p> - -<p>“I’d deserve to be kicked off the face -of the earth,” Floyd responded with -firmness, “if I turned tail and ran. He -seems to think I may light out; I judge -that by his setting the time a couple of -hours ahead, but I’ll give him satisfaction. -I’m built that way, Pole. There -is no use arguing about it.”</p> - -<p>“My God, my God!” Pole said under -his breath. “Hush! Thar comes Mayhew. -I reckon you don’t want him -to know about it!”</p> - -<p>“No, he’d be in for swearing out a -peace warrant. For all you do, don’t -let him on to it, Pole. I want to write -a letter or two, before Wade comes. -Don’t let the old man interrupt me.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll feel like I’m dancin’ on yore -scaffold,” the farmer growled. “I -want my mind free to—to study. -Thar! He’s stopped to talk to Joe -Peters. Say, Nelson, I see Mel Jones -down thar talkin’ to a squad in front -o’ the door; they’ve got the’r heads -packed together as close as sardines. I -see through it now. By God, I see -through <i>that</i>!”</p> - -<p>“What is it you see through, Pole?” -Floyd looked up from Wade’s note, -his brow furrowed.</p> - -<p>“Why, Mel’s Jeff Wade’s fust cousin; -he’s on to what’s up, an’ he’s confidin’ -it to a few; it will be all over this town -in five minutes, an’ the women an’ -childern will hide out to keep from -bein’ hit. Thar they come in at the -front now, an’ they are around the old -man like red ants round the body of a -black one. He’ll be on to it in a minute. -Thar, see? What did I tell you? -He’s comin’ this way. You can tell -by the old duck’s walk that he’s -excited.”</p> - -<p>Floyd muttered something that -escaped Pole’s ears, and set to work -writing. Mayhew came on rapidly, -tapping his heavy cane on the floor, -his eyes glued on the placid profile -of his young partner.</p> - -<p>“What’s this I hear?” he panted. -“Has Jeff Wade sent you word that -he was comin’ here to shoot you?”</p> - -<p>Pole laughed out merrily, and, -stepping forward, slapped the old -merchant familiarly on the arm. “It’s<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_453"></a>[Pg 453]</span> -a joke, Mr. Mayhew!” he said. “I -put it up on Mel Jones as we rid in -town; he’s always makin’ fun o’ -women fer tattlin’, an’ said I to myse’f, -said I, ‘I’ll see how deep that’s rooted -under yore hide, old chap,’ an’ so I -made that up out o’ whole cloth. I -was jest tellin’ Nelson, here, that I’d -bet a hoss to a ginger-cake that Mel -’ud not be able to keep it, an’ he -hain’t. Nelson, by George, the triflin’ -skunk let it out inside o’ ten minutes, -although he swore to me he’d keep his -mouth shet. I’ll make ’im set up the -drinks on that.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I don’t like such jokes!” -Mayhew fumed. “Jokes like that -and what’s at the bottom of them -don’t do a reputable house any good. -And I don’t want any more of them. -Do you understand, sir?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes, I won’t do it ag’in,” answered -Pole in an almost absent-minded -tone. His eyes were now on -Floyd, and despite his assumed lightness -of manner the real condition of -things was bearing heavily on him. -Just then a rough-looking farmer, in a -suit of home-made jeans, straw hat -and shoes worn through at the bottom, -came back to them. He held in his -hand the point of a plow and looked -nervously about him.</p> - -<p>“Everybody’s busy down in front,” -he said, “an’ I want to git a quarter’s -wuth o’ coffee.” His glance, full of -curiosity, was now on Floyd’s face. -“I want to stay till Wade comes, -<i>myself</i>, but my old woman’s almost -got a spasm. She says she seed enough -bloodshed durin’ the war, an’ then she -always liked Mr. Floyd. She says -she’d mighty nigh as soon see an own -brother laid out as him. Mr. Floyd -sorter done us a favor two year back -when he stood fer us on our corn -crop, an’, as fer me, why, of course, -I——”</p> - -<p>“Look here, Bill Champ,” Pole -burst out in a spontaneous laugh. -“I thought you had more sense than -to swallow a joke like that. Go tell -yore old woman that I started that tale -jest fer pure fun. Nelson here an’ -Wade is good friends.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, well, ef that’s it, that’s different,” -the farmer said. “But from -the way Mel Jones talked down thar -a body would think you fellers was -back here takin’ Mr. Floyd’s measure -fer his box. I’ll go quiet my wife. -She couldn’t talk of a thing all the way -here this mornin’ but a new dress she -was goin’ to git an’ now she’s fer hurryin’ -back without even pickin’ out the -cloth.”</p> - -<p>“No, I don’t like this sort o’ thing,” -old Mayhew growled as the customer -moved away. “An’ I want you to -remember that, Baker.”</p> - -<p>“Ah, you dry up, old man!” Pole -retorted, with a mechanical laugh. -“You’d live longer an’ enjoy life -better ef you’d joke more. Ef the -marrow o’ my bones was as sour as -yourn is I’d cut my throat or go into -the vinegar business.”</p> - -<p>At this juncture Captain Duncan -came in the store and walked back to -the trio.</p> - -<p>“Good morning,” he said cheerily. -“Say, Floyd, I’ve heard the news, and -thought if you wanted to borrow a -pair of real, good, old-fashioned dueling -pistols, why, I’ve got a pair my -father owned. They were once used -by General——”</p> - -<p>“It’s all a joke, Captain,” Pole -broke in, winking at the planter and -casting a look of warning at the now -unobservant Mayhew.</p> - -<p>“Oh, is <i>that</i> it?” Duncan was quick -of perception. “To tell you the truth, -I thought so, boys. Yes, yes”—he was -studying Floyd’s calm face admiringly—“yes, -it sounded to me like a -prank somebody was playing. Well, I -thought I’d go fishing this evening, -and came in to get some hooks and -lines. Fine weather, isn’t it? But the -river’s muddy. I’ll go down and pick -out some tackle.”</p> - -<p>He had just gone when an old woman -wearing a cheap breakfast shawl over -her gray head, a dress of dingy solid -black calico and a pair of old, heavy -shoes approached from the door in -the rear.</p> - -<p>“I got yore summons, Mr. Mayhew,” -she said in a thin, shaky voice.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_454"></a>[Pg 454]</span> -“Peter, my husband, was so downhearted -that he wouldn’t come to -town, an’ so I had to do it. So you -are goin’ to foreclose on us? The -mule an’ cow is all on earth we’ve -got to make the crop on, and when -they are gone we will be plumb ruined.”</p> - -<p>The face of the old merchant was -like carved stone.</p> - -<p>“You got the goods, didn’t you, -Mrs. Stark?” he asked harshly.</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes, nobody hain’t disputin’ -the account,” she answered plaintively.</p> - -<p>“And you agreed faithfully if you -didn’t pay this spring that the mule -and cow would be our property?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes, of course! As I say, Mr. -Mayhew, I’m not blamin’ you-uns. -Thar hain’t a thing for me an’ Peter to -do but thrust ourselves on my daughter -and son-in-law over in Fannin, but -I’d rather die than go. We won’t -be welcome; they are loaded down -with childern too young to work. -So it’s settled, Mr. Mayhew—I mean -ef we drive over the mule an’ cow -thar won’t be no lawsuit?”</p> - -<p>“No, there won’t be any suit. I’d -let this pass and give you more time, -Mrs. Stark, but a thing like that can’t -be kept quiet through the country, an’ -there are fifty customers of ours over -your way who ’ud be running here -with some cock-and-bull story and we’d -be left high and dry with the goods -to pay for in market and nothing -to show for it. We make our rules, -Mrs. Stark, and they are clearly understood -at the time the papers are -signed.”</p> - -<p>“Never you mind, Mrs. Stark, I’ll -fix that all right.” It was Nelson -Floyd who was speaking, and with -a face full of pity and tenderness he -had stepped forward and was offering -to shake hands.</p> - -<p>The little woman, her lips twitching -and drawn, gave him her trembly hand, -her eyes wide open in groping wonder.</p> - -<p>“I don’t understand, Nelson—Mr. -Floyd. You mean——?”</p> - -<p>“I mean that I’ll have your entire -account charged to me and you can -take your time about paying it—next -fall or the next, or any time it suits -you. I’ll not press you for it, if you -never pay it. I passed your place the -other day, and your crop looks very -promising. You are sure to get out of -debt this coming fall.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, Nelson—I—I don’t know what -to do about it. Mr. Mayhew says——”</p> - -<p>“But I say it’s all right,” Floyd -broke in as he laid his hand softly on -her shoulder. “Go down in front and -buy what you need to run on. I’ll assume -the risk, if there is any.”</p> - -<p>Mayhew turned suddenly; his face -was white and his lip shook.</p> - -<p>“Do you mean to say that you are -going to step in and——?”</p> - -<p>“Step in nothing,” Floyd said calmly. -“I hope I won’t have to remind -you, sir, of our clearly written agreement -of partnership in which it is -plainly stated that I may use my judgment -in regard to customers whenever -I wish.”</p> - -<p>“You’ll ruin us—you’ll break us all -to smash, if you do this sort of thing,” -Mayhew panted. “It will upset our -whole system.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t agree with you, sir,” Floyd -answered, “but we won’t argue about -it. If you don’t intend to abide by -our agreement then say so and we will -part company.”</p> - -<p>Mayhew stared in alarm for a moment, -then he said:</p> - -<p>“There’s no use talking about parting. -I only want to kind of hold you -in check. You get your sympathies -stirred up and make plunges sometimes -when you ought to act with a clear -head. You say the crop looks well; -then, it’s all right. Go ahead, Mrs. -Stark. Anything Nelson does is agreeable -to me.”</p> - -<p>“Well, it’s mighty good of you -both,” the old woman said, wiping -tears of joy from her eyes. “No, I -won’t buy anything today. I’ll ride -out to the farm as quick as I can and -tell Peter the good news. He’s mighty -nigh out of his senses about it.”</p> - -<p>Mayhew followed her down into the -store. It was as if he were ashamed -to meet the quizzical look which Pole -Baker had fixed upon him. He had no<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_455"></a>[Pg 455]</span> -sooner turned his back than Pole faced -Floyd and asked: “How does she stand -by your ticker?”</p> - -<p>Floyd looked at his watch. “It’s a -quarter-past eleven,” he said.</p> - -<p>“The hell it is!” Pole went to the -back door and looked out at the dreary -stable-yard and barn. He stood there -for several minutes in deep thought. -Then he seemed to make up his mind -on something that was troubling him, -for he suddenly thrust his hand into -his hip-pocket and drew out a revolver -and rapidly twirled the cylinder with -his heavy thumb.</p> - -<p>“Yes, I ’lowed I’d swore off from -shootin’ scrapes,” he mused; “but I -shore have to git in this ’un. I’d never -look Sally an’ the childern in the face -agin ef I was to stand still an’ let that -dead shot kill the best friend me an’ -them ever had. No, Poley, old boy, -you’ve got to enlist this mornin’, an’ -thar hain’t no two ways about it. I’d -take a drink on that, but a feller’s -aim hain’t wuth a dang when he sees -double.”</p> - -<p>His attention was suddenly attracted -to Floyd, who had left his stool and -was putting a revolver into the pocket -of his sack coat. Pole shoved his own -cautiously back into his pocket and -went to his friend’s side.</p> - -<p>“What you goin’ to do now?” he -asked.</p> - -<p>“I have just thought of something -that ought to be attended to,” was -Floyd’s answer. “Is Mel Jones still -down there?”</p> - -<p>“Yes; I see ’im now through the -left-hand window,” said Pole. “Do -you want to see ’im?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.” Floyd moved in the direction -indicated and Pole wonderingly -followed. Outside on the pavement -at the corner of the store Mel Jones -stood talking to a group of eager listeners. -He stopped when he saw Floyd, -and looked in the opposite direction, -but in a calm voice the young merchant -called him.</p> - -<p>“Mel, may I see you a minute?”</p> - -<p>“Certainly.” The face of the gaunt -farmer fell as he came forward, his -eyes shifting uneasily.</p> - -<p>“I got a message from Jeff Wade -just now,” said Floyd.</p> - -<p>“Oh, did you? Is that so?” the -fellow exclaimed.</p> - -<p>“Yes; he says he has a private matter -to settle with me, and says he’ll be -here at the store at twelve. Now, as -you see, there are a good many people -standing around—women and children, -and somebody might get hurt or frightened. -You know where Price’s spring -is, down behind the old brick yard?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes; I know where it is, Floyd.”</p> - -<p>“Well, you will do me a favor if you -will ride out to Wade’s and tell him I’ll -meet him there. He could reach it -without coming through town, and -we’d escape a lot of prying people who -would be in the way.”</p> - -<p>“That’s a good idea,” said Jones, his -strong face lighting up. “Yes, I’ll go -tell ’im. I’m glad to see that you are a -man o’ backbone, Floyd. Some ’lowed -you’d throw up the sponge an’ leave fer -parts unknown, but Jeff’s got to tackle -the rale stuff. I kin see that, Floyd. -Minnie Wade raised a lots o’ devilment, -an’ my wife says whatever rumors -spread about her was her own fault. -But Jeff cayn’t be expected to see it -through a woman’s eyes. I wish you -was goin’ to meet a man that wasn’t -sech a dead shot. I seed Jeff knock a -squirrel out of a high tree with his six-shooter -that three men had missed with -rifles.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll try to take care of myself, Mel. -But you’d better hurry up and get to -him before he starts to town.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I’ll git ’im all right,” said the -farmer, and he went out to the hitching-rack, -jumped on his horse and -galloped away.</p> - -<p>The group Jones had been talking to -now drew near, their eyes and mouths -open.</p> - -<p>“It’s all off, boys,” Pole said, with -one of his inscrutable laughs. “Explanations -an’ apologies has been exchanged—no -gore today. It was a big -mistake all round.”</p> - -<p>This version soon spread, and a sigh -of relief went up from everybody. Fifteen -minutes passed. Pole was standing -in the front door of the store,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_456"></a>[Pg 456]</span> -cautiously watching Floyd, who had -gone back to his desk to write a letter. -Suddenly Pole missed him from his -place.</p> - -<p>“He’s tryin’ to give me the slip,” -Pole said. “He’s gone out at the back -door and has made fer the spring. -Well, he kin <i>think</i> he’s throwed old -Pole off, but he hain’t by a jugful. -I know now which road Jeff Wade will -come by, an’ I’ll see that skunk before -Nelson does or no prayers hain’t answered.”</p> - -<p>He went out to the hitching-rack, -mounted, and, waving his hand to the -few bystanders who were eying him -curiously, rode away, his long legs -swinging back and forth from the -flanks of his horse. A quarter of a -mile outside of the village he came to -a portion of the road leading to Jeff -Wade’s house that was densely shaded, -and there he drew rein and dismounted.</p> - -<p>“Thar hain’t no other way fer ’im to -come,” he said, “an’ he’s my meat—that -is, unless the damn fool kin be -fetched to reason.”</p> - -<h3>CHAPTER VIII</h3> - -<p>There was a quilting party at Porter’s -that day. Cynthia had invited -some of her friends to help her, and the -quilt, a big square of colored scraps, -more or less artistically arranged in -stars, crescents and floral wreaths, occupied -the centre of the sitting-room. -It was stitched to a frame of four -smooth wooden bars, which were held -together at the corners by pegs driven -into gimlet holes and which rested on -the backs of four chairs. The workers -sat on two sides of it and stitched, -with upward and downward strokes, -toward the centre, the quilt being -rolled up as the work progressed.</p> - -<p>Hattie Mayhew was there, Kitty -Welborn and two or three others. As -usual they were teasing Cynthia about -the young preacher.</p> - -<p>“I know she’s the apple of his eye,” -laughed Kitty Welborn. “He really -can’t, as you said the other night, keep -from looking at her during preaching. -I noticed it particularly one Sunday -not long ago and told Matt Digby that -I’d be sure to get religion if a man -bored it into me with eyes like his.”</p> - -<p>“I certainly would go up to the -mourners’ bench every time he called -up repentant sinners,” said Hattie Mayhew. -“I went up once while he was -exhorting and he turned me over to Sister -Perdue, that snaggle-toothed old -maid. He didn’t even offer his hand.”</p> - -<p>Cynthia said nothing, but she smiled -good-naturedly as she rose from her -chair and went to the side of the quilt -near the crudely screened fireplace to -see that the work was rolled evenly on -the frame. While thus engaged her -father came into the room, vigorously -fanning himself with his old slouch hat. -The girls knew he had been to the village, -and all asked eagerly if he had -brought them any letters.</p> - -<p>“No, I clean forgot to go to the -office,” he made slow answer as he -threw himself into a big armchair with -a rawhide bottom, near a window on -the shaded side of the house.</p> - -<p>“Why, father,” his daughter chided -him, “you promised the girls faithfully -to call at the office. I think that -was very neglectful of you when you -knew they would be here to dinner.”</p> - -<p>“And he usually has a good memory,” -spoke up Mrs. Porter, appearing -in the doorway leading to the dining-room -and kitchen. She was rolling -flakes of dough from her lank hands -and glanced at her husband reprovingly. -“Nathan, what <i>did</i> you go and -do that way for, when you knew Cynthia -was trying to make her friends -pass a pleasant day?”</p> - -<p>“Well, I clean forgot it,” Porter -said, quite undisturbed. “To tell you -the truth, thar was so much excitement -on all hands, with this un runnin’ -in with fresh news, an’ that un sayin’ -that maybe it was all a false alarm, -that the post-office plumb slipped out -o’ my head. Huh, I hain’t thought -post-office once sence I left here! I -don’t know whether I could ’a’ got -in thar anyway, fer the Postmaster hisse’f -was runnin’ round like a camp-meetin’ -chicken with its head cut off.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_457"></a>[Pg 457]</span> -Besides, I tell you, gals, I made up -my mind to hit the grit. I never was -much of a hand to want to see wholesale -bloodshed. Moreover, I’ve heard -of many a spectator a-gittin’ shot in -the arms an’ legs or some vital spot. -No, I sorter thought I’d come on. -Mandy, have you seen anything o’ my -fly-flap? When company comes you -an’ Cynthia jest try yoreselves on seein’ -how many things you kin put out o’ -place, an’ I’m gittin’ sick an’ tired -o’——”</p> - -<p>“Nathan, what’s going on in town?” -broke in Mrs. Porter. “What are you -talking about?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know what’s goin’ on <i>now</i>,” -Porter drawled out as he slapped at a -fly on his bald pate with an angry -hand. “I say I don’t know what’s -goin’ on <i>now</i>; but I know what was -jest gittin’ ready to go on. I reckon -the coroner’s goin’ on with the inquest -ef he ain’t afeared of an ambush. Jeff -Wade—” Porter suddenly bethought -himself of something, and he rose, -passed through the composite and -palpable stare of the whole room and -went to the clock on the mantelpiece -and opened it. “Thar!” he said impatiently. -“I wonder what hole or -crack you-uns have stuck my chawin’ -tobacco in. I put it right in the corner -of this clock, right under the turpentine -bottle.”</p> - -<p>“There’s your fool tobacco!” Mrs. -Porter exclaimed, running forward and -taking the dark plug from beneath the -clock. “Fill your mouth with it; -maybe it will unlock your jaw. What -is the trouble at Springtown?”</p> - -<p>“I was jest startin’ to tell you,” said -Porter, diving into his capacious trousers -pocket for his knife and slowly -opening the blade with his long thumbnail. -“You see, Jeff Wade has at last -got wind o’ all that gab about Minnie -an’ Nelson Floyd, an’ he sent a war-cry -by Pole Baker on hossback as fast -as Pole could clip it to tell Floyd to -arm an’ be ready at exactly twelve -o’clock sharp.”</p> - -<p>“I knew it would come,” said Mrs. -Porter, a combination of finality and -resignation in her harsh voice. “I -knew Jeff Wade wasn’t going to allow -that talk to go on.” She was -looking at her daughter, who, white -and wide-eyed, stood motionless behind -Hattie Mayhew’s chair. For a -moment no one spoke, though instinctively -the general glance went to -Cynthia, who, feeling it, turned to the -window looking out upon the porch, -and stood with her back to the room. -Mrs. Porter broke the silence, her words -directed to her daughter.</p> - -<p>“Jeff Wade will kill that man if he -was fool enough to wait and meet him. -Do you think Floyd waited, Nathan?”</p> - -<p>“No, he didn’t wait,” was Porter’s -answer. “The plucky chap went ’im -one better; he sent word by Mel Jones -to tell Wade that it would be indecent -to have a rumpus like that in town on a -Saturday, when so many women an’ -childern was settin’ round in bullet-range, -an’ so, if it was agreeable he’d -ruther have it in the open place at -Price’s spring. Mel passed me as -he was goin’ to Jeff with that word. -It’s nearly one o’clock now, an’ it’s -my candid opinion publicly expressed -that Nelson Floyd has gone to meet -a higher Power. I didn’t want to be -hauled up at court as a witness, an’ -so, as I say, I hit the grit. I’ve been -tied up in other folks’s matters before -this, an’ the court don’t allow enough -fer witness fees to tempt me to set an’ -listen to them long-winded lawyers -talk fer a whole week on a stretch.”</p> - -<p>“Poor fellow!” exclaimed Hattie -Mayhew. “I’m right sorry for him. -He was so handsome and sweet-natured. -He had faults, but they -may have been due to the hard life he -had when he was a child. I must say I -have always been sorry for him; he had -the saddest look out of the eyes of any -human being I ever saw.”</p> - -<p>“And he knew how to use his eyes, -too,” was the sting Mrs. Porter added -to this charitable comment as her -sharp gaze still rested on her daughter.</p> - -<p>There was a sound at the window. -Cynthia, with unsteady hands, was -trying to raise the sash. She finally -succeeded in doing this and placing -the wooden prop under it. There was<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_458"></a>[Pg 458]</span> -a steely look in her eyes and her features -were set, her face pale.</p> - -<p>“It’s very warm in here!” they -heard her say. “There isn’t a bit of -draught in the room. It’s that hot -cook stove, mother; I will—I——”</p> - -<p>She had turned and walked from the -room.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Porter sighed as she looked -after the departing form.</p> - -<p>“Did you notice her face, girls?” -she asked. “It was as white as death -itself. She looked as if she was about -to faint. It’s all this talk about Floyd. -Well, they <i>were</i> friends. I tried to -get her to stop receiving his attentions, -but she thought she knew better. -Well, he has got his deserts, I reckon.”</p> - -<p>“And all on account of the talk -about that silly Minnie Wade!” cried -Kitty Welborn, “when you know as -well as I do, Mrs. Porter, that Thad -Pelham—” The speaker glanced at -Nathan Porter and paused.</p> - -<p>“Oh, you needn’t let up on yore -hen-cackle on my account,” that -blunt worthy made haste to say. “I’ll -go out an’ look at my new hogs. You -gals are out fer a day o’ pleasure, an’ -I wouldn’t interfere with the workin’ -of yore jaws fer a purty.”</p> - -<p>Mrs. Porter didn’t remain to hear -Kitty Welborn finish her observation, -but followed her daughter.</p> - -<p>In the next room, which was the -dining-room, an old woman sat at a -window. She was dressed in dingy -black calico, her snowy hair brushed -smoothly down over a white wrinkled -brow, and was fanning herself slowly -with a turkey-feather fan. She had -Mrs. Porter’s features and thinness of -frame.</p> - -<p>“Mother,” Mrs. Porter said, pausing -before her, “didn’t Cynthia come in -here just now?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, she did,” replied the old -woman. “She <i>did</i>. And I just want -to know, Mandy, what you all have -been saying to her? I want to know, -I say?”</p> - -<p>“We haven’t been saying anything -to her as I know of,” said the farmer’s -wife in slow, studious surprise.</p> - -<p>“I know you have, I say, I know -you <i>have</i>!” The withered hand holding -the fan quivered in excitement. “I -know you have, for I can always tell -when that poor child is worried. I -heard a little of it, too, but not all. -I heard them mention Hillhouse’s -name. I tell you, I am not going to -sit still and let a whole pack of addle-pated -women tease as good a girl as -Cynthia is plumb to death.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t think they were troubling -her,” Mrs. Porter said, her face drawn -in thought, her mind elsewhere.</p> - -<p>“I know they <i>were</i>,” the old woman -insisted. “She may have hidden it -in there before you all, but when she -came in here just now she stopped -right near me and looked me full in the -face, and never since she was a little -baby have I seen such an odd look -in her eyes. They looked like they -were about to burst with tears. -She saw me looking at her, and she -come up behind me and laid her face -down against my neck. She quivered -all over, and then she said, ‘Oh, -Granny! Oh, Granny!’ and then she -straightened up and went right out at -that door into the yard. I tell you, -it’s got to let up. She sha’n’t have the -life deviled out of her. If she don’t -want to marry that preacher, she -don’t have to. As for me, I’d rather -have married any sort of man on earth -when I was young than a long-legged, -straight-faced preacher.”</p> - -<p>“You say she went out in the yard?” -said Mrs. Porter absently. “I wonder -what she went out there for.”</p> - -<p>Mrs. Porter went to the door and -looked out. There was a clothesline -stretched between two apple trees nearby, -and Cynthia stood at it taking -down a tablecloth. She turned with -it in her arms and came to her mother.</p> - -<p>“I just remembered,” she said, -“that there isn’t a clean cloth for the -table. Mother, the iron is hot on the -stove. You go back to the girls and -I’ll smooth this out and set the table.”</p> - -<p>The eyes of the two met. Mrs. -Porter took a deep breath. “All -right,” she said. “I’ll go back to the -company, but I’ve got something to -say, and then I’m done for good.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_459"></a>[Pg 459]</span> -I want to say that I’m glad a daughter -of mine has got the proper pride and -spunk you have. I see you are not -going to make a goose of yourself -before visitors, and I’m proud of you. -You are the right sort—especially -after he’s acted in the scandalous -way he has and—and laid you, even -as good a girl as you, liable to be talked -about for keeping company with -him.”</p> - -<p>The girl’s eyes sank. Something -seemed to rise and struggle up within -her, for her breast heaved and her -shoulders quivered convulsively.</p> - -<p>“I’ll fix the cloth,” she said in a low, -forced voice, “and then I’ll set the -table and call you.”</p> - -<p>“All right”; Mrs. Porter was turning -away. “I’ll try to keep them entertained -till you come back.”</p> - -<h3>CHAPTER IX</h3> - -<p>Beneath a big oak Pole stood holding -his bridle-rein and waiting, his earnest -gaze on the long road leading to -Jeff Wade’s farm. Suddenly he descried -a cloud of dust far ahead and he -chuckled.</p> - -<p>“He’s certainly on time,” he mused. -“He must ’a’ had his hoss ready out -in the thicket. Mel made good time, -too. The dern devil is thirstin’ fer -bloodshed. Mel’s that sort. By gum, -that hain’t Wade; it’s Mel hisse’f, an’ -he’s certainly layin’ the lash to his -animal.”</p> - -<p>In a gallop Jones bore down on him, -riding as wildly as a cowboy, his broad -hat in one hand, a heavy switch in the -other. He drew rein when he recognized -Baker.</p> - -<p>“Did you deliver that message?” -Pole questioned.</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes, I finally got him alone; -his wife seems to suspicion some’n, and -she stuck to ’im like a leech. She’s a -jealous woman, Pole, an’ I don’t know -but what she kinder thought Jeff was -up to some o’ his old shines. He was -a sorter tough nut before he married, -you know, an’ a man like that will do -to watch.”</p> - -<p>“Well, what did he say?” Pole -asked.</p> - -<p>“Why, he said ‘all hunkydory.’ -The spring plan ketched him jest right. -He said that one thing—o’ bloodyin’ up -the main street in town—had bothered -him more than anything else. He admired -it in Floyd, too. Jeff said, ‘By -gum! fer a town dude that feller’s got -more backbone than I expected. He’s -a foe wuth meetin’, an’ I reckon killin’ -’im won’t be sech a terrible disgrace as -I was afeared it mought be.’”</p> - -<p>“But whar are you headin’ fer in -sech a rush?” Pole asked.</p> - -<p>Jones laughed as he put his hat carefully -on his shaggy head and pressed -the broad brims up on the sides and to -a point in front. “Why, Pole,” he -answered, “to tell you the truth, I am -headed fer that thar spring. I’m goin’ -to acknowledge to you that, as long as -I’ve lived in this world, I hain’t never -been on hand at a shootin’ affair. -Mighty nigh every man I know has seed -oodlin’s of ’em, but my luck’s been -agin me. About the most excitin’ -thing I ever attended was a chicken -fight, and so I determined to see this -un. I know a big rock jest above that -spring, and I’m a-goin’ to git thar in -plenty o’ time. You let me git kivered -all but my eyes, an’ I’ll run the resk o’ -gettin’ hit from thar up. Whar you -makin’ fer, Pole?”</p> - -<p>“Me? Oh, I’m on the way home, -Mel. I seed the biggest rattlesnake -run across this road jest now I ever laid -eyes on. I got down to settle his hash, -but I didn’t have anything to hit ’im -with, an’ I’m done stompin’ at them -fellers sence Tobe Baker, my cousin, -over at Hillbend, got bliffed on the -knee.”</p> - -<p>“Well, so long!” Mel laughed. “I’ll -hunt rattlesnakes some other time. -Are you plumb shore you hain’t got the -jimmies agin’, Pole? Take my advice -an’ don’t tell about seein’ snakes; it -sets folks to thinkin’. Why, I seed -you once in broad daylight when you -swore black spiders was playin’ sweepstakes -on yore shirt front.”</p> - -<p>“So long, Mel!” Pole smiled and -waved his hand. He made a fair pretense<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_460"></a>[Pg 460]</span> -at getting ready to mount as Mel -galloped away in a cloud of dust. The -horseman was scarcely out of sight -when a pair of fine black horses drawing -a buggy came into view. The vehicle -contained Captain Duncan and his -daughter Evelyn. She was a delicate, -rather pretty girl of nineteen or twenty, -and she nodded pleasantly to Pole as -her father stopped his horses.</p> - -<p>“You are sure that thing’s off, are -you, Baker?” the planter said, with a -genial smile.</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes, Captain.” Pole had his -eyes on the young lady and had taken -off his hat, and stood awkwardly swinging -it against the baggy knees of his -rough trousers.</p> - -<p>“Well, I’m very glad,” Duncan said. -“I know you told some of the crowd -back at the store that it had been settled, -but I didn’t know whether it was -reliable or not.”</p> - -<p>Pole’s glance shifted between plain -truth and Evelyn Duncan’s refined -face for a moment, and then he -nodded. “Oh, yes, it was all a mistake, -Captain. Reports get out, you -know; and nothin’ hain’t as bad as gossip -is after it’s crawled through a hundred -mouths an’ over a hundred wigglin’ -tongues.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I’m glad, as I say,” the -planter said as he jerked his reins and -spoke to his horses.</p> - -<p>As he whirled away Pole growled. -“Damned ef I hain’t a-makin’ a regular -signpost out o’ myself,” he mused, -“an’ lyin’ to beat the Dutch. Ef that -dern fool don’t come on purty soon -he’ll—but thar he is now, comin’ on -with a swoop—looks like his hoss is -about to run from under ’im, his dern -legs is so long. Now, looky here, Pole -Baker, Esquire, hog-thief an’ liar, you -are up agin about the most serious -proposition you ever tackled, an’ ef you -don’t mind what you are about you’ll -have cold feet inside o’ ten minutes by -the clock. You’ve set in to carry this -thing through or die in the attempt, -an’ time’s precious. The fust thing is -to stop the blamed whelp; you cayn’t -reason with a man that’s flyin’ through -the air like he’s shot out of a gun, an’ -Jeff Wade’s a-goin’ to be the devil to -halt. He’s got the smell o’ blood, an’ -that works on a mad man jest like it -does on a bloodhound—he’s a-goin’ to -run down some’n. The only thing in -God’s world that’ll stop a man o’ that -sort is to insult ’im, an’ I reckon I’ll -have that to do in this case.”</p> - -<p>Jeff Wade was riding rapidly. Just -before he reached Pole he drew out his -big silver open-faced watch and looked -at it. He wore no coat and had on a -gray flannel shirt open at the neck. -Round his waist he wore a wide leather -belt, from which, on his right side, protruded -the glittering butt of a revolver -of unusual size and length of barrel. -Suddenly Pole led his own horse round, -until the animal stood directly across -the narrow road, rendering it impossible -for the approaching rider to pass -at the speed he was going.</p> - -<p>“Hold on thar, Jeff!” Pole held up -his hand. “Whar away? The mail -hack hain’t in yet. I’ve jest left town.”</p> - -<p>“I hain’t goin’ after no mail!” Wade -said, his lips tight, a fixed stare in his -big, earnest eyes. “I’m headed fer -Price’s spring. I’m goin’ to put a few -holes in that thar Nelson Floyd, ef I git -the drap on him ’fore he does on me.”</p> - -<p>“Huh!” Pole ejaculated; “no, you -hain’t a-goin’ to see him, nuther; that -is, not till me’n you’ve had a talk, Jeff -Wade. You seem in a hurry, but thar’s -a matter betwixt me an’ you that’s got -to be attended to.”</p> - -<p>“What the hell do you mean?” Wade -demanded, a stare of irritated astonishment -dawning in his eyes.</p> - -<p>“Why, I mean that Nelson Floyd -is a friend o’ mine, an’ he ain’t a-goin’ -to be shot down like a dog by a man -that could hit a nickel a hundred yards -away nine times out o’ ten. You an’ -me’s close together, an’ I reckon -chances ’ud be somewhar about equal. -I hain’t a brag shot, but I could hit a -pouch as big as yourn is about as easy -as you could me.”</p> - -<p>“You—you—by God, do you mean -to take this matter up?”</p> - -<p>Jeff Wade slid off his horse and stood -facing Pole.</p> - -<p>“Yes, I do, Jeff; that is, unless you’ll<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_461"></a>[Pg 461]</span> -listen to common sense. That’s what -I’m here fer. I’m a-goin’ to stuff reason -into you ef I have to make a new -hole to put it in at. You are a-goin’ -entirely too fast to live in an enlightened -Christian age, an’ I’m here to call -a halt. I’ve got some things to tell you. -They are a-goin’ to hurt like pullin’ -eye-teeth, an’ you may draw yore gun -before I’m through, but I’m goin’ to -make a try at it.”</p> - -<p>“What the——?”</p> - -<p>“Hold on, hold on, hold on, Jeff!” -Pole raised a warning hand. “Keep -that paw off’n that cannon in yore -belt or thar’ll be a war right here before -you hear my proclamation of the -terms we kin both live by. Jeff, I am -yore neighbor an’ friend. I love you -mighty nigh like a brother, an’ I’m -here to tell you that, with all yore -grit an’ good qualities, you are makin’ -a bellowin’ jackass o’ yoreself. An’ ef -I let you put through yore present -plans, you’ll weep in repentance fer it -till you are let down in yore soggy -grave. Thar’s two sides to every question, -an’ you are lookin’ only at yore -side o’ this un. You cayn’t tell how -sorry I am about havin’ to take this -step. I’ve been a friend to yore entire -family—to yore brothers, an’ yore -old daddy when he was alive. I mighty -nigh swore a lie down in Atlanta to -keep <i>him</i> out o’ limbo when he was -arrested fer moonshinin’.”</p> - -<p>“I know all that!” growled Wade; -“but God——”</p> - -<p>“Hold yore taters now, an’ listen! -You mought as well take yore mind -off’n that spring. You hain’t a-goin’ -to git at Nelson Floyd without you -walk over my dead body—an’ thar’s -no efs an’ ands about that. You try -to mount that hoss, an’ I’ll kill you ef -it’s in my power. I say I’ve got some’n -to tell you that you’ll wish you’d listened -to. I know some’n about Minnie -that will put a new color on this whole -nasty business; an’ when you know -it, ef you kill Nelson Floyd in cold -blood, the law will jerk that stiff neck -o’ yourn—jerk it till it’s limber.”</p> - -<p>“You say you know some’n about -Minnie?” The gaunt hand which till -now had hovered over the butt of the -big revolver hung down straight. He -stood staring, his lip hanging loose, a -sudden droop of indecision upon him.</p> - -<p>“I know this much, Jeff,” Pole said, -less sharply. “I know you are not -after the fust offender agin yore family -honor, an’ when I prove <i>that</i> to you I -don’t believe you’ll look at it the -same.”</p> - -<p>“You say—you say——?”</p> - -<p>“Listen now, Jeff, an’ don’t fly off -the handle at a well-wisher sayin’ what -he thinks has to be said in justice to -all concerned. The truth is, you never -seed Minnie like other folks has all -along. You seed ’er grow up an’ she -was yore pet. To you she was a regular -angel; but other folks has knowed all -along, Jeff, that she was born with a -sorter light nature. Women folks, -with the’r keen eyes, has knowed that -ever since she got out o’ short dresses. -Even yore own wife has said behind yore -back a heap on this line that she was -afeared to say to you. Not a soul has -dared to talk plain to you, an’ even <i>I</i> -wouldn’t do it except in this case o’ -life an’ death.”</p> - -<p>Wade shook back his long, coarse -hair. He was panting like a tired dog. -“I don’t believe a damn word of what -you are a-sayin’!” he muttered, “an’ -I’ll make you prove it, by God, or I’ll -have yore life-blood!”</p> - -<p>“Listen to me, Jeff,” Pole said -gently. “I’m not goin’ to threaten any -more. Believe me or not, <i>but listen</i>! -You remember when Thad Pelham -went off to Mexico a year or so ago?”</p> - -<p>Wade made no reply, but there was -a look of dawning comprehension in -his great, blearing eyes.</p> - -<p>“I see you remember that,” Pole -went on. “Well, you know, too, that -he was goin’ with Minnie a lot about -that time—takin’ her buggy-ridin’ an’ -to meetin’. He was a devil in pants; -his whole family was bad. The men -in it wouldn’t go in the gate o’ heaven -ef a woman was winkin’ at ’em on the -outside. Well, Thad started fer Mexico -one day, an’ at the same time Minnie -went on a visit to yore brother -Joe in Calhoun.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_462"></a>[Pg 462]</span></p> - -<p>“She went thar a year ago,” Wade -said, “fer I bought ’er ticket at Parley.”</p> - -<p>“She told <i>you</i> she went to Calhoun.” -Pole’s eyes were mercifully averted. “I -met her an’ Thad in Atlanta.”</p> - -<p>Wade caught his breath. He shook -from head to foot as with a chill.</p> - -<p>“You say—Pole, you say——?”</p> - -<p>Pole pulled at his mustache and -looked down.</p> - -<p>“Well, I reckon they wasn’t down -thar to attend a Sunday-school convention, -Jeff—they didn’t have that -look to me. But I was so worried fer -fear I mought be doin’ a woman injustice -in my mind that, after they left -me—to make sure, I went in the office -o’ the hotel an’ made sure.”</p> - -<p>Suddenly Wade put out his hand -and laid it heavily on Pole’s shoulder. -“Looky here, Baker,” he said, “if you -are lying to me, I——”</p> - -<p>“Hold on, <i>hold on</i>, Jeff Wade!” -Pole broke in sternly. “Whenever -you use words like them you smile! -So fer, this has been a friendly talk, -as I see it; but you begin to intimate -that I’m a liar, an’ I’ll try my best to -make you chaw the statement. You’re -excited, but you mustn’t go too fur.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I want the truth, by God, -I want the truth!”</p> - -<p>“Well, you are a-gittin’ it, with -the measure runnin’ over,” Pole said, -“an’ that ought to satisfy any reasonable -man.”</p> - -<p>“So you think then, that Nelson -Floyd never done any—any o’ the -things folks says he did—that ’twas -jest report?”</p> - -<p>“Well, I ain’t here to say that, -nuther,” said Pole most diplomatically. -“But la me! what a stark, ravin’ -fool you was about to make o’ yoreself, -Jeff!” Pole went on. “You started -to do this thing today on yore sister’s -account, when by doin’ it you would -bust up her home an’ make her life -miserable.”</p> - -<p>“You mean——?”</p> - -<p>“I mean that Joe Mitchell, that’s -been dead stuck on Minnie sence she -was a little gal, set up to her an’ proposed -marriage. They got engaged -an’ then every old snaggle-toothed -busybody in these mountains set in to -try to bust it up by totin’ tales about -Floyd an’ others to ’im. As fast as one -would come Minnie’d kill it, an’ show -Joe what a foolish thing it was to listen -to gossip, an’ Joe finally told ’em -all to go to thunder, an’ they was -married an’ moved on his farm in -Texas. From all accounts they are -doin’ well an’ are happy; but la me; -they wouldn’t be that a-way long ef -you’d ’a’ shot Nelson Floyd this -mornin’.”</p> - -<p>“You say they wouldn’t, Pole?”</p> - -<p>“Huh, I reckon <i>you</i> wouldn’t dance -a jig an’ sing alleluia ef you was -to pick up a newspaper this mornin’ -an’ read in type a foot long that yore -wife’s brother, in another state, had -laid a man out stiff as a board fer -some’n that folks said had tuck place -some time back betwixt the man an’ -her.”</p> - -<p>“Huh!” Wade’s glance was now on -Pole’s face. “Huh, I reckon you are -right, Pole, I reckon you are right. -I wasn’t thinkin’ about that.”</p> - -<p>“Thar was <i>another</i> duty you wasn’t -a-thinkin’ about, too,” Pole said. -“An’ that is yore duty to yore wife -an’ childern that would be throwed -helpless on the world ef this thing -had ’a’ come off today.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I don’t see <i>that</i>, anyway,” -said Wade dejectedly.</p> - -<p>“Well, <i>I</i> do, Jeff. You see, ef you’d -’a’ gone on an’ killed Floyd, after -I halted you, I’d ’a’ been a witness -agin you, an’ I’d ’a’ had to testify that -I told you, in so many words, whar the -<i>rale</i> blame laid, an’ no jury alive -would ’a’ spared yore neck.”</p> - -<p>“I reckon that’s so,” Wade admitted. -“Well, I guess I’ll go back, -Pole. I won’t go any further with it. -I promise you not to molest that -scamp. I’ll not trade any more at his -shebang, an’ I’ll avoid ’im all I kin, but -I’ll not kill ’im as I intended.”</p> - -<p>“Now, you’re a-talkin’ with a clear -head an’ a clean tongue.” Pole drew -a breath of relief and stood silent as -Wade drew his horse around, put -his foot into the heavy wooden<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_463"></a>[Pg 463]</span> -stirrup and mounted. Pole said nothing -until Wade had ridden several -paces homeward, then he called out to -him, and beckoned him back with his -hand, going to meet him, leading his -horse.</p> - -<p>“I just thought o’ some’n else, -Jeff—some’n I want to say. I reckon -I wouldn’t sleep sound tonight, or -think of anything the rest o’ the day, -ef I don’t git it off my mind.”</p> - -<p>“What’s that, Pole?”</p> - -<p>“Why, I don’t feel right about -callin’ you to halt so rough jest now, -an’ talkin’ about shootin’ holes in you -an’ the like, fer I hain’t nothin’ agin -you, Jeff. In fact, I’m yore friend -now more than I ever was in my life. -I feel fer you <i>’way down inside o’ me</i>. -The look on yore face cuts me as keen -as a knife. I—I reckon, Jeff, that you -sorter feel like—like yore little sister’s -dead, don’t you?”</p> - -<p>The rough face looking down from -the horse filled. “Like she was dead -an’ buried, Pole,” Wade answered.</p> - -<p>“Well, Jeff”—Pole’s voice was husky—“don’t -you ever think o’ what I said -a while ago about shootin’. Jeff, I -jest did that to git yore attention. -You mought ’a’ blazed away at me, but -I’ll be derned ef I believe I could ’a’ -cocked or pulled trigger on you to ’a’ -saved my soul.”</p> - -<p>“Same here, old neighbor,” said -Wade as he wiped his eyes on his -shirt sleeve. “I wouldn’t ’a’ tuck -them words from no other man on the -face o’ God’s green globe.”</p> - -<p>When Wade had ridden slowly -away Pole mounted his own horse.</p> - -<p>“Now, I’ll go tell Nelson that the -danger is over,” he said. Suddenly -he reined his horse in and sat looking -thoughtfully at the ground.</p> - -<p>“No, I won’t,” he finally decided. -“He kin set thar an’ wonder what’s up. -I was in a hair’s breadth o’ the grave, -about to leave a sweet wife an’ kids -to starvation jest beca’se of him. No, -Nelsy, old boy, you look death in the -eye fer a while; it won’t do you no -harm.”</p> - -<p>And Pole Baker rode to the thicket, -where he had hidden his bag of cornmeal -that morning, and took it home.</p> - -<p class="center">(<i>To be continued.</i>)</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<a name="A_Phase_of_the_Money_Problem" id="A_Phase_of_the_Money_Problem"> </a> -<h2 class="nobreak"><i>A Phase of the Money Problem -Bankers Dare Not Discuss</i></h2></div> - -<p class="center space-above1 space-below1">BY ALBERT GRIFFIN<br /> -<i>Author of “The Keynote: Substitute Honest Money for Fictitious Credit,” -“The Hocus Pocus Money Boon”</i></p> - -<p class="drop-cap">BECAUSE of limited space, this -paper contains little more than -principles, facts and conclusions, -without argument—and the subject -is considered from the practical -man’s standpoint rather than that of -the theorizer. The one monetary -proposition to which all schools agree -is that “money is the medium of exchange.” -To be used as such is its -one and only universally admitted purpose—and -no other characteristic is -essential. No matter of what it consists, -whatever is <i>willingly</i> used by -people as their medium of exchange is -money, and should be so recognized by -everyone—but unfortunately, the -greater part of it is not.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_464"></a>[Pg 464]</span></p> - -<p>There is honest money and dishonest -money. None is strictly honest that -is not as good as the best—for exchange -purposes. Ideal money has the -same exchange value at all times, and -everywhere—and the best money is -that which is nearest the ideal. Without -discussing what it should consist -of, I hold that the material ought to -be more substantial than a banker’s -“confidence” that he will always be -able to pay the most of his debts with -mere debits and credits. As business -cannot be done without money, and -as each person needs enough of it to -enable him to exchange his services and -products for the services and products -of others, it goes without saying that -there ought to be enough to supply -each and all liberally—and that no -man, or set of men, should be allowed -to affect materially this supply for -selfish purposes.</p> - -<p>To most people, the soundness of -the “quantitative theory” of money is -self-evident. Concisely stated, it is -that, whenever the quantity of money -in circulation increases faster than the -exchanges to be made with it, commodities -tend to rise in price—and -<i>vice versa</i>—which is but the application -to money of the inexorable law -of supply and demand. While the -soundness of this theory is generally -admitted, every business man knows -that sometimes facts seem to disprove -it. In 1890, when the failure of Baring -Brothers so nearly precipitated a -panic throughout this country, the -quantity of visible money in circulation -was increasing; and the same fact -was true in April, 1893, when the proceedings -agreed upon at the conference -between Secretary Carlisle and prominent -New York bankers precipitated -a fearful panic on the next business -day—and yet, in both of these cases, -the apparent conflict resulted from the -suppression of a part of the facts.</p> - -<p>Now for the explanation: In comparing -the size or weight of two masses -the whole of each must be contrasted -with the whole of the other, and in -comparing two actively operating -forces all of the factors of each must -be considered together, without regard -to names. But, strange to say, three-fourths -of what is being used and paid -for as money, and which really does the -work of money, and does nothing else, -is denied the right of being called -money by some doctrinaires—and also -by bankers, when talking to the public. -Although between May 1 and October -1, 1903, the volume of metallic and -paper money actually increased, this -something which had been doing the -work of money was contracted $500,000,000 -in New York City alone—but -as it was not called money its relation -to the results was not generally recognized.</p> - -<p>Deposit banks are little more than -clearing-houses; and the laws permit -their owners to pay nine-tenths of their -debts with money literally made by -themselves—out of nothing—which -they coolly call “liquid capital,” or -“bank credit,” although it is neither -capital nor credit. The real nature -and far-reaching effects of this modern -practice are not clearly understood by -one in twenty even of the bankers -themselves—and none of them dares -discuss it publicly. The most of those -that do not fully understand it <i>feel</i> that -there is something wrong about it; and -those that do understand it know that, -if people once begin to study “the -system,” they will demand radical -changes in it—or its entire abolition.</p> - -<p>Government reports for 1904 put -the volume of metallic and paper money -then in existence at $2,829,273,316—or -$31.16 per capita; and the Comptroller’s -report shows that the banks -whose reports he consolidated were -earning interest on more than $6,278,000,000 -of money that had no existence—or -$76.47 per capita. This stuff is -what, for a dozen years, I have called -“hocus pocus money.” It consists -of nothing but, in the language of Professor -Sidgwick, rows of figures on bank -books; and yet it affects business, -prices and values, exactly as that -amount of real money would. Invisible, -intangible and mythical, it is -nevertheless very real—filling the land -with prosperity, joy and song today,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_465"></a>[Pg 465]</span> -and disaster, tears and despair tomorrow, -it is the most potent economic -power ever known. Business men gladly -accept it as money. <i>The courts treat it -as money.</i> And, although, for technical -reasons, most political economists do -not do so, I insist that, to all intents and -purposes, it is money, and should be -so recognized. Indeed, until this shall -be done, it will be impossible to frame -a monetary system that will always -work equitably and beneficently.</p> - -<p>Between 1896 and 1904, as officially -reported, the increase in the volume of -visible money was, in millions, $1,322,000,000—or -$9.75 per capita; but the -quantity of hocus pocus money in use -increased $5,275,000,000—or $43.42 -per capita—the quantity of both kinds -then actually in use being $107.63 per -capita. This shows that four-fifths of -the increase in the medium of exchange -consists merely of the right -given favored people to draw checks -on banks to pay which no real money -has been deposited.</p> - -<p>In 1888, 5,866 bank reports showed -that they were then collecting interest -on $3.41 for each dollar of their capital -available for “commercial loans”; but -last year’s reports of the 13,772 national, -state and private banks and -loan and trust companies show that -their aggregate capital (including surplus, -undivided profits and bank-notes) -amounted to $2,927,000,000. This was -everything their owners had put into -their business, and of it $2,743,000,000 -had been paid out for bonds, stocks, -real estate, real estate mortgages, etc., -leaving only $183,000,000 available for -“commercial loans.” And yet their -“loans and discounts” aggregated $6,431,000,000, -or $35.07 of “commercial -loans” for every dollar of their not -otherwise invested capital. If this is -not “<i>getting something for nothing</i>” on -a stupendous scale, I should like to -know what would be so considered.</p> - -<p>Remember, that these figures include -all of the reported banks. Individual -cases are incomparably worse. On -December 2, 1899, the National City -Bank, of New York City (the principal -of the several hundred Standard Oil -banks), had $6,709,216 of capital, surplus, -etc.; its investments of capital -aggregated $27,270,738; its available -capital was therefore $20,561,519 <i>less -than nothing</i>; and yet it was then actually -earning interest on $60,906,034 of -“loans and discounts,” making $81,467,553 -of hocus pocus money. And -remember further that, to make people -more dependent on banks for this kind -of money with which to do business, -the volume of real money is kept as -small as possible. This is the real reason -why bankers engineered the contraction -of the currency after the war -and the demonetization of silver. But -for them no class of business men -would have consented to either of those -economic crimes.</p> - -<p>Here are a few more important facts:</p> - -<p>1. Interest has to be paid <i>to the -banks</i> on every dollar of hocus pocus -money as long as it lives.</p> - -<p>2. It lives, on an average, only about -two months.</p> - -<p>3. Every payment of a note or draft -extinguishes the hocus pocus money -involved in that transaction and contracts -its volume that much, making -it the most constantly and wildly fluctuating -money ever known.</p> - -<p>4. Whenever, for any reason, bankers -fear a demand for an unusual -amount of real money they make fewer -“loans” and “call in” some that are -outstanding, which destroys that part -of the “liquid capital” that was in actual -use as a medium of exchange and -cramps the money market.</p> - -<p>5. Bankers sometimes do these -things unnecessarily, for the purpose -of making a “bear market”; but it is -also true that business conditions sometimes -compel them to do so, as was the -case in 1857 and 1873.</p> - -<p>6. If the banks had on hand as much -money as they reported (which is not -always true), they, in 1888, owed -$6.01 for every dollar they reported; -and last year the proportion was $9.98 -to $1. The sixty-two national banks -in the central reserve cities are required -to keep nearly 25 per cent. of -their deposits on hand in cash; the -285 in the other reserve cities only 12½<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_466"></a>[Pg 466]</span> -per cent., and the 5,065 in non-reserve -cities only 6 per cent. State bank requirements -vary greatly, private banks -and loan and trust companies are -under few or no restrictions, and the -loan and trust companies keep only -about 2 per cent.</p> - -<p>7. Less than one-tenth of the “deposits” -in banks are real money—the -others being mere promises of the -banks to pay money to those who have -bought (with notes) the right to draw -checks against them—and it is simply -impossible to so regulate the system -as to prevent it from frequently working -disastrously.</p> - -<p>8. Contracting the volume of any -kind of money that is willingly accepted -by producers always causes suffering. -Indeed, modern conditions require a -large annual increase in the volume of -money; and, with an insufficient supply -of real money, it is not now possible -to prevent the use of hocus pocus -money.</p> - -<p>9. It is well known that, when their -interests seem to require it, great bankers -defy the laws made to restrain -them.</p> - -<p>10. There ought to be places in which -people can deposit money and know it -will remain there until checked out by -themselves.</p> - -<p>For ten years I have called attention -to the fact that there never has been, -in this or any other country, a widespread -commercial panic that was not -caused <i>solely</i> by the sudden contraction -of the hocus pocus money then -being used by banks, and have challenged -contradiction; but this challenge -has never been accepted. Hocus -pocus money <i>is the one and only seriously -disturbing factor that has always -and everywhere preceded</i> these catastrophes. -Other causes aggravate -them, but, with it eliminated, panics -would be impossible, because it is this -sudden, absolute destruction of the -bank’s manufactured “liquid capital,” -used by so many as their medium of -exchange, which paralyzes their business -operations and makes “the bottom -drop out of the market,” as it -were.</p> - -<p>No words are lurid enough to portray -properly the terrible evils and personal -suffering that its use causes, and -I submit that it is time people should -begin to consider earnestly the question, -Had we not better insist that -some kind of real money shall be substituted -for the unreal now in use, -and thus permanently remove the -cause that so often produces such baleful -results? Conditions were never so -favorable for doing this as they are -now. No election is pending; the two -great parties are lazily talking on similar -platforms; all financial organs insist -that the country is prospering; and, -although people are deeply stirred, they -are not excited.</p> - -<p>The use of hocus pocus money, and -its evil results, have increased steadily -from the beginning of the deposit banking -system. From time to time methods -change, but every change increases -the power and profits of the few—and -the helplessness of the many. The -gravest of these changes began to be -felt about a decade ago. Leading -bankers had always used some of their -hocus pocus money for the promotion -of their own schemes, but from that -time the Rockefellers, Morgans and -others have been systematically getting -control of the principal deposit banking -institutions, and using, not only a -rapidly increasing proportion of their -depositors’ real money, but also more -of the hocus pocus money made possible -by those deposits. Mr. Lawson and -others have shown how this has been -done on a gigantic scale, in specific -cases, and of all unfossilized, sober-minded -people I ask, can 999 business -men afford to permit the thousandth -man to continue appropriating -to his own use the hocus pocus money -their own deposits have made possible—and, -in addition, help him to keep -the volume of real money ruinously -small? Indeed, would it not be idiotic -folly to do so?</p> - -<p>To me the problem appears to be: -How can hocus pocus money be safely -eliminated—or so restricted as to be -harmless—and the quantity of real -money so increased that all will, at all<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_467"></a>[Pg 467]</span> -times, be able to exchange their products -and services; that commercial -panics and long periods of business depression -will become impossible; and -that a few men in each community -will no longer have the power to -ruin all who refuse to obey their -orders?</p> - -<p>Space will not permit me to tell here -how this can be done, but I will say -that, fortunately, this greatest and -most overshadowing of the economic -problems that confront humanity is -the easiest of all to solve; that, as -bankers are the controlling spirits in—or -back of—nearly all trusts and combines, -settling the money problems -will make the solution of all the others -easier; that it can be done without -wronging anyone, or imposing additional -burdens on the people; and that -economic and social conditions would -improve during the entire process.</p> - -<p>But suppose that some of my conclusions -may not be correct, does not -the experience of the last hundred years -prove, beyond controversy, that our -banking and financial systems must be -radically unsound in some very important -particulars? And, if so, should -we not insist upon their prompt improvement—or -the substitution of better -ones?</p> - -<p>Every business man knows that, if -the banks were required to keep larger -reserves always on hand, they would be -safer places of deposit. And they are -equally well aware that the more real -money there is in circulation the more -prosperous and happy are the people. -And the vitally important question is, -not how far or how fast shall we go, -but, shall we not begin to move steadily -and determinedly in the direction -of less danger and more permanent -prosperity?</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<a name="A_Leaf_From_a_Protective_Tariff" id="A_Leaf_From_a_Protective_Tariff"> </a> -<h2 class="nobreak"><i>A Leaf From a Protective Tariff -Catechism</i></h2></div> - -<p class="center space-above1 space-below1">(OVERHEARD IN A PROTECTIVE KINDERGARTEN)</p> - -<p class="center space-above1 space-below1">BY JOEL BENTON</p> - -<p class="drop-cap">Q. WHAT is Protection?</p> - -<p>A. It is placing a duty upon -foreign goods, of many kinds, -to enable American makers of similar -goods who “plead the baby act” to -get higher prices for those goods than -they otherwise would. It is compelling -all the people to pay taxes to a few -of the people.</p> - -<p>Q. Why is this favor given to the -few people?</p> - -<p>A. On account of the fact that they -pay so much higher wages than foreign -manufacturers do and to compel -them to pay still higher wages.</p> - -<p>Q. Is this necessary?</p> - -<p>A. It is very necessary to the Republican -Party; for it gives it an issue -and its chief cause for existence. When -it saw accomplished, by the fortune of -war, the freedom of the slave, what -could be more natural and glorious than -its ready espousal of anti-freedom for -commerce?</p> - -<p>Q. Are “protective” duties always -just equal to the difference between our -wages and foreign wages?</p> - -<p>A. That is what our argument implies; -and, if our argument is true, that -is all we can ask. But how is a noble -army of patriots to be maintained, and -how can election expenses be met if we -do not—in our tariff—treble and more -than quadruple this difference often?</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_468"></a>[Pg 468]</span></p> - -<p>Q. Are high wages given by our manufacturers -without an equivalent advantage -in return?</p> - -<p>A. It is true of wages, as of other -things—that they are ordinarily worth -their price, so that our <i>high-priced</i> labor -is really labor of <i>low cost</i>. But it -is a mighty convenient subterfuge to -keep this fact out of sight and by this -means hoodwink the poor laborer for -his vote.</p> - -<p>Q. Do manufacturers keep a lobby -at Washington for securing a tariff that -makes them pay <i>high</i> wages and yet sell -their goods at <i>low</i> prices?</p> - -<p>A. That is what we very often say, -substantially.</p> - -<p>Q. Can our manufacturers sell goods -abroad?</p> - -<p>A. They do very largely over other -tariff walls, and bear the expense of -transportation and insurance and secure -handsome profits. But the question -is too delicate a one to enlarge -upon.</p> - -<p>Q. Does Mexico have a protective -tariff?</p> - -<p>A. She does. The plea for it there -is that it is a defense against our <i>high-priced</i> -labor. The Mexican peons work -for very <i>low prices</i> and at a more than -correspondingly <i>high cost</i>. It is one -of the beauties of Protection that, -whether labor costs little or much, you -can plead for it for either reason.</p> - -<p>Q. Does Protection help Agriculture?</p> - -<p>A. It puts a tariff on hay, grain, -potatoes, eggs, etc. Very little of any -of these commodities are imported by -us. When they are imported to any -extent the farmers are the chief buyers, -as they are of peas, beans and -other seeds for planting. By paying -the duty on all these things themselves -they not only feel certain there is a -duty, but they have the satisfaction -of knowing they are not forgotten in -the great “protective” scheme.</p> - -<p>Q. Why is Protection called the -American System?</p> - -<p>A. This was the question Daniel -Webster asked Henry Clay, who so -named it, when they were not in accord -upon the tariff. Webster was -puzzled by the name, for he knew the -system was European and medieval; -but “American” sounds well and makes -us consistent in berating foreign things -and ideas.</p> - -<p>Q. How does Protection help commerce?</p> - -<p>A. Commerce is so foreign we don’t -need to help it. So we let it go to the -miserable foreigners—what we permit -to exist. It is really better to pay -the two hundred million dollars we pay -them yearly to carry our goods than -to let that amount of money pervert -our high and noble doctrine.</p> - -<p>Q. What is meant by having the -tariff “revised by its friends”?</p> - -<p>A. That, as the English say, is a -good “half-crown phrase.” But its -real meaning is to oppose revising the -tariff in any way whatever. Several -elections have been carried by this -plea, and we are still working it for all -it is worth. Of course no one goes to -have his shoes mended to a shoemaker -who is in favor of their holes and lack -of heels, and no one selects depredators -of hen-roosts to watch chicken thieves; -but we must not defer to ordinary rules -when “the noble citadel of Protection” -is in danger.</p> - -<p>Q. Is it understood that to change -the tariff injures business?</p> - -<p>A. We always say that, and charge -to Free Trade the calamity that ensues.</p> - -<p>Q. Suppose someone tells us there -has been no Free Trade, and if Free -Trade existed there would be no tariff -to change, and therefore no injury from -tariff changes?</p> - -<p>A. Then is the time to look wise and -say little. For our main object is to -make Protection the source of all good -and Free Trade the cause of all evil.</p> - -<p>Q. How did it happen that, when -hides were freed from duty in 1872—and -even by the McKinley bill—they -were taxed under the Dingley bill?</p> - -<p>A. Well—but—let’s see. Why -shouldn’t hides enjoy prosperity? -It’s certain the big cattle dealers, who -use the Government pastures without -cost, profit by the duty, while we can -claim it helps the farmers.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_469"></a>[Pg 469]</span></p> - -<p>Q. Why are works of art tariff?</p> - -<p>A. Not because the artists ask for -Protection. They’re such curious people -that they all oppose it. So we -choose to be benevolent to them in -spite of their eccentric behavior.</p> - -<p>Q. What other peculiar tricks have -our Protection wise men?</p> - -<p>A. A pretty good one is to say that -we are not tied up to any present or -definite “schedules,” but to remember -constantly that, if any change is made -in the tariff, it must be one that goes up -and never one that goes down. It was -a great mistake for Garfield to say, “I -believe in a Protection that leads to -Free Trade.”</p> - -<p>Q. What is Reciprocity?</p> - -<p>A. It is—well, suppose you should -build a bonfire and then pour water on -it, or build a levee on the Mississippi -and then punch holes through it. It -is a part of our consistent scheme. -Blaine knew, and who can dispute -Blaine?</p> - -<p>Q. What is Free Trade?</p> - -<p>A. It is any scale of duties for any -purpose that is the least bit lower than -the Dingley bill. Everything that preceded -that “bravest tariff ever made” -is Free Trade. If some day Protection -should climb to loftier heights, those -who should oppose it by the lower -Dingley bill would be Free Traders.</p> - -<p>Here a boy, who got surreptitiously into -the class, asked this unauthorized question:</p> - -<p>Q. But you say this country has -prospered under almost unbroken Protection. -Now, since everything tariff-like -before the Dingley bill is either -Free Trade or Free Tradish, why is -not all our prosperity up to the passage -of that owing to Free Trade?</p> - -<p>A. A boy cannot be expected to understand -the flexibility of our nomenclature -or the grandeur of a great principle. -We are struggling to help -“American Industries.” Must so little -a thing as mere consistency stand between -us and our friends? Boys should -be seen and not heard.</p> - -<p>Q. What is meant by American Industries?</p> - -<p>A. Mainly manufactures. Of course -these, and all protected interests, represent -only from 5 to 8 per cent. of -the real and total industries of the -country. But they are the ones having -large capital and power—the ones -that can hire attorneys and maintain -a lobby, and that have abundant “fat -for frying” when important elections -are at hand. Doesn’t “American Industries” -sound well, if you only -mouth it right, and roll it from the -editorial pen and the platform often -enough?</p> - -<p>Q. How about the industries that -are left out, or get merely nominal -Protection?</p> - -<p>A. The question is quite irrelevant. -What more can they ask than to live in -a “protected” country and be saved -from Free Trade?</p> - -<p>Q. Why do we protect woolen goods, -and then de-protect manufacturers by -“protecting” wool?</p> - -<p>A. For the same reason that the boy -cuts off a shoestring on one end and -ties the cut-off piece on the other end. -It amuses the boy and very likely helps -us to get rid sooner of a foreign shoestring.</p> - -<p>Q. Mention the value of Protection -to American shipping.</p> - -<p>A. It doesn’t hurt it; for, by its aid -and the help of our navigation laws, -there is none to hurt. The way to have -ships is first to make it impossible for -us to build them, and then give enough -subsidy to make it possible. Now you -see the little joker and now you don’t. -Didn’t President Harrison almost shed -tears when he hauled up the American -flag on a steamer rescued from a foreign -register? It isn’t possible to have -Protection and have everything, but -isn’t it lovely to make things impossible -at much expense and then -make them possible at more expense, -and at last call in a President and have -a melodramatic time about it? Besides -all this, it employs money and -promotes labor.</p> - -<p>Q. Does Protection make wages <i>high</i> -and goods manufactured <i>low</i>?</p> - -<p>A. That is what our philosophers -maintain. Manufacturers are so anxious -to exist here, and it is so necessary<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_470"></a>[Pg 470]</span> -that we should have them, that -they must pay high for their labor and -sell its product low. To avoid paying -but a little for labor, and to be prevented -from selling their goods at high -prices, they are even willing to maintain -expensive lobbies at Washington -and contribute large sums for electing -Protectionists to Congress, to say -nothing of “hypnotizing” doubtful or -opposing senators.</p> - -<p>Q. Can the first part of the above -answer be really so?</p> - -<p>A. It must be. A Protection journal -had for its headlines on a Protection -article the other day the statement that -for many years Protection had done for -manufacturers just this: It has made -the wages they give <i>high</i> and the prices -they get <i>low</i>, and so they would be -splendidly off if it were not for the -shadow of that wicked Wilson bill.</p> - -<p>Q. Does prosperity then consist in -enlarging your expenses and reducing -your income?</p> - -<p>A. It always does in Wonderland -and Topsy-Turvydom, and under Protection.</p> - -<p>Q. But do not “protected” manufacturers -import laborers?</p> - -<p>A. Manufacturers are held by us to -be benevolent. Of course they import -laborers, in order that there may be -more here to get the benefit of our -higher wages.</p> - -<p>Q. How about invention under Protection?</p> - -<p>A. It isn’t necessary. So long as -you can run the old ramshackle machinery, -and be defended by the Government, -you are saved the trouble of -inventing newer and better methods. -Some way might possibly be found -if Yankee wit were once to be let loose, -whereby we could compete with other -nations in our manufactures, so that -everybody would admit it, and then -what would become of Protection? Remember -constantly it isn’t the welfare -of the people that is paramount; it is -Protection.</p> - -<p>Q. Protection being so much more -necessary than free government, free -soil, free speech, and so cherubically -philanthropic when compared with the -dreadfulness of British Free Trade, the -question arises, How shall we maintain -its propaganda?</p> - -<p>A. We must first of all be very -careful to say that Free Trade is -British. Of course Magna Charta, including -trial by jury and many other -good things, are British too, but we -mustn’t lose so good a stock argument. -It is true, also, that England has prospered -far more under Free Trade than -she ever did under Protection. But -the glorious Blaine accounted for that -by saying that Free Trade might be -good for England, but it must never -come here. In other words, two and -two make five or six over there, but -here they fail to make four.</p> - -<p>Q. What next must we do?</p> - -<p>A. As our country has been very -prosperous from its commencement, -and we have had more or less Protection -within that period, the best way -is to say that all this has happened -“under Protection.” It has happened -<i>under</i> other things, too, both good and -evil, because it couldn’t happen <i>over</i> -them. But never let us forget that it -was all caused by Protection. The -very slight fact that our country was -most prosperous when we had very low -revenue duties is purely accidental and -irrelevant. In Mr. Blaine’s history of -his career in Congress he described the -period of our greatest prosperity. But -there was no election in view then, and -he was careless enough to say that this -period coincided with what is called the -period of the Free Trade tariff of 1846. -It was a dreadful mistake, because the -statement was altogether too true, and -Protection has no use for that which -is merely true.</p> - -<p>Q. There are other arguments, are -there not?</p> - -<p>A. A very decisive one is to call Free -Trade a theory. For it is a theory of -the Creator, who seemed to favor the -idea of commerce along with civilization. -But He, of course, left something -for men to find out. The Chinese -found out in the twelfth century -that a big wall around their country -would keep off nations that were savage -and hostile; but the Republican<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_471"></a>[Pg 471]</span> -Party have gone the Chinese one better -and have walled off trade. No -doubt some college Free Trader will -ask you ironically if it is really the -man who walks on his feet who is the -theorist and innovator, and if the one -who walks on stilts, and who tries to -get everyone else on stilts, and who -thinks it is a mistake that people were -not born already stilted—as nations -should have been already walled—is -not one. But levity like this is what a -great cause must not notice.</p> - -<p>Q. What more must be said?</p> - -<p>A. We must take pains to compare -the United States with some foreign -country. As we have already shown -that everything good that has occurred -here is wholly owing to Protection, -we must take some foreign country and -charge all that is bad there, such as -the costly armies, the despotic or -kingly rule, the dense population, the -illiteracy, etcetera, to Free Trade. -There are no really Free Trade countries -in Europe except England, and -possibly Belgium. They are protective -in part. But they are foreign, and -that is sufficient for the argument. -Only put the excess of our benefits -over theirs to the benefit of Protection, -and all will be right.</p> - -<p>Q. What shall we say about cheapness -and dearness?</p> - -<p>A. Didn’t the Apostle Paul say we -must be all things to all men? If we -do seem to oppose somewhat the solidarity -of humanity, we meet in our -arguments a variety of mental difficulties. -Our Apostle Harrison went -for dearness by not wanting to find a -cheap coat, for fear he should find a -cheap man under it. Another Apostle -thought “cheap and nasty go together.” -At the final period of a Presidential -election, however, it is better -to say that Protection makes things -cheap, and our editors almost always -take that cue. To be sure, if cheapness -were our intention, Protection could not -be established, and we could not cry -out against “cheap pauper labor.” The -arguments must therefore be shuffled—and -cheap and dear must sometimes -be taken and at other times denied. -The question is more or less of a crux, -but it is the beauty of the noble doctrine -of Protection that all trivialities -of this sort it majestically sweeps away. -Not being amenable to any of the laws -of human reason, it is not disturbed by -such trifles as truth and consistency.</p> - -<p>Q. But can’t we say the foreigner -pays the tax?</p> - -<p>A. We certainly can and we do. But -this argument needs very cautious -handling. Sometimes duties are collected -through the Post-Office, when the -cat is let out of the bag and the duty -comes directly to the man to whom the -package is addressed. If he asks to -have it charged to the foreign country -his goods came from, even a Republican -postmaster will sometimes laugh at -him. Such perverse incidents as this -are what Artemus Ward might call -“in-fe-lick-et-us”—very.</p> - -<p>Q. How was it when Congress removed -the tax from sugar?</p> - -<p>A. Well—sugar isn’t everything. It -won’t do to be too one-sided. We -could not resist telling the public then -that we had removed a heavy burden -from <i>its</i> shoulders. We really hated -to tax the foreigners so much.</p> - -<p>Q. What can be argued about the -terms Protection and Free Trade?</p> - -<p>A. Argument is superfluous here. -The very word Protection is an assumption -that meets all our requirements. -It forecloses argument and shuts off -dispute. Who doesn’t wish to be “protected”? -And how charming it sounds -to say we are protected from burglars, -from enemies and from the horrors of -trade—that is, trade with a foreigner. -It must be always understood that if -you could stand near the Canada or -Mexico boundary and make a good -bargain on the other side—say, the purchase -of a horse for fifty dollars less -than you could purchase him in your -own country—you would inflict upon -yourself and your country just so much -loss. But if you buy the horse here at -a price higher by fifty dollars, or over -a tariff, with the fifty dollars added, -you enrich both yourself and your -country. On this doctrine, which is -our fundamental one, we must and can<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_472"></a>[Pg 472]</span> -stake everything, and against it the -frothy waves of Free Trade will beat -in vain.</p> - -<p>Q. Why is not Free Trade also a -felicitous term?</p> - -<p>A. Things that are in themselves -good, and that are made free and abundant, -are, we must admit, generally to -be approved. Abundant health or -abundant friendship or abundant -money we have not yet thought it wise -to consider objectionable. But there -are exceptions to all rules. Abundant -trade—or Free Trade—which is trade -done voluntarily by shrewd and sane -men in order to procure abundant -money, is different. To have it otherwise -would upset our whole system of -philosophy. What was this land of -the free made for, if its main purpose -were not to put shackles on trade? -What we want is to eat our own cake -and have it too; to sell everything we -can to foreigners and buy nothing from -them, and finally to get fat by stewing -in our own juice.</p> - -<p>The term Free Trade—to refer to the -original question—is now so asphyxiated -by us, by our contempt of it, that -it suggests a Pandora’s box of horrors -the moment we mention it. To speak -of it in this contemptuous way is really -one of our strong arguments. What -we want is to scream it out as a horror, -to make it a bugbear. It is like telling -children of some dreadful bogy lying -in wait for them in the dark, or like -Dr. Johnson’s experiment with the -fishwoman of Billingsgate, when he -called her a hypothenuse, a triangle, a -parallelopipedon, and several other -mathematical things of which she had -not the faintest knowledge and which -she consequently supposed were very -bad.</p> - -<p>No, whatever else we do, let us stick -to our insistent and persistent screech -against Free Trade.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<a name="Monopoly_The_Power_Behind_the_Trust" id="Monopoly_The_Power_Behind_the_Trust"> </a> -<h2 class="nobreak"><i>Monopoly; The Power Behind the Trust</i></h2></div> - -<p class="center space-above1 space-below1">BY JOSEPH DANA MILLER</p> - -<p class="drop-cap">HOW comes it that a power -in its unimpeded operations -beneficent—namely, the force -or forces of combination or co-operation—becomes -under certain conditions -so injurious to modern industry? -Why is a union of two factories or -many factories, of two companies or -many companies, a signal to the community -of anticipated extortion? And -why should the development of natural -laws—those of combination and co-operation—provoke -a public demand -for regulation, and those who avail -themselves of these operations be -deemed amenable to punishment?</p> - -<p>We may grant that a perfected -combination which should succeed in -forestalling any given commodity -would be criminal. The law from its -very beginnings has so regarded all -such attempts. It is conceivable that, -under certain conditions, a mere agreement -between individuals might perfect -a combination clearly within the -provision of the law compelling its -forcible dissolution. But this is not -conceivable under modern conditions -where wide distribution of capital and -free labor exists. Law, indeed, may -create such monopolies, which it may -by popular demand be called upon to -destroy, undoing with one hand what -it has done with the other. State-created -monopolies have existed often -in history—as notably in the reign of -Queen Elizabeth—but because these -have been created by direct act they -have been exceedingly unpopular. -So, in periods of greater public intelligence, -and where the people exercise -larger powers of government, it became<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_473"></a>[Pg 473]</span> -necessary to accomplish the -same result by indirect means, by -putting into operation some general -law under which monopoly could find -a shelter, and the secret sources of -which could not be so easily traced.</p> - -<p>For, contrary to the almost universal -opinion, monopoly is weak. It -demands protection. And from what -does it demand protection? From the -all-powerful natural law of competition. -The curious Socialist notion -that competition leads to monopoly -is true only in the sense that monopoly, -seeing how powerless it is when -threatened by the forces of competition, -seeks the protection of such laws -as it can secure, or which already -exist, for the suppression of competition. -And this brings us to the conclusion -which is unavoidable that there -are no monopolies save law-created -monopolies.<a id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1">[1]</a></p> - -<p>If this seem a novel proposition to -the reader I will ask him not to grow -impatient, for the demonstration will -grow upon him as he reflects. It will -seem novel, for if true all the laws and -statutes for the regulation of combinations -are so much waste of time -and paper and the hours of legislatures -and courts. In the acceptance of such -explanation of the trust problem must -go the rejection of many proposed -remedies, among them the much-lauded -one of “publicity.” While -publicity is always to be commended -and sought for in public or semi-public -matters, it does not appear that laws -enforcing publicity upon purely private -industrial combinations are -founded upon equity. Nor is it likely -that publicity will assure us the possession -of knowledge beyond what we -already have through the work of independent -investigators. Nor is it -probable that enforced publicity will -elicit impartial truth. This proposition -is of a piece with the punitive theory -in the treatment of the problem, a -theory which has already led the -people far astray. Men shrink instinctively -from such stringent regulation, -and this is a true index of the -moral relation, if we may so speak, of -this problem to legislation. But because -they will not think clearly they -return to the proposition of legal interposition.</p> - -<p>Along with the remedy of “publicity” -must go all laws, existing or -proposed, limiting capitalization or -stock watering. Beyond the fact that -such laws would often force capitalization -below the earning capacity—which -is no unfair basis of capitalization—it -must be said that the evils -of stock watering are largely imaginary. -It is true that over-capitalization -may conceal from the public the -real extent of monopoly profits, and -is for this purpose, if for no other, -often resorted to. But this of itself -ought to constitute no valid reason for -drastic legislation. Investors ought -to be left free to take their own risks, -and speculative ventures ought to be -left free to fix their own capitalization, -for otherwise perfectly legitimate, if -largely speculative, business interests -may be made to suffer injuriously to -the interests of the community. But -laying aside for the time all considerations -of this kind, stock watering is -only a symptom—a sign that monopolistic -powers, and not legitimate business -interests, are being capitalized.<a id="FNanchor_2" href="#Footnote_2">[2]</a></p> - -<p>High capitalization, it is sometimes -said, tends to increase price. It does -offer temptation to increase of price,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_474"></a>[Pg 474]</span> -but nothing can put it within the -power of combinations to increase -price save the forces of monopoly. -This power you do not increase or -decrease by adding to the numbers -of the counters, the considerations -governing which are purely those of the -stock-gambling fraternity.</p> - -<p>National licensing of corporations to -do business—a remedy proposed by -Mr. Bryan and adopted by President -Roosevelt—must also be dismissed. -Obviously if the state has endowed -corporations and armed them with -letters of marque by authority of -which they may prey upon commerce, -it is the height of absurdity to ignore -this feature of the question with talk -about licensing them. In a very real -sense they are already licensed, for -it must be repeated that combinations -do not create the monopoly, but merely -avail themselves of the monopolistic -powers created by society through acts -of Government.</p> - -<p>Of necessity all such laws must fail. -This, it is scarcely necessary to say, -has been the universal experience. -And from future legislation no more -is to be hoped than from past legislation, -however well intentioned.</p> - -<p>The reason why all this anti-trust -legislation is futile is because, having -created monopoly privileges, Government -has appealed to the natural -instincts of all men to seek these opportunities -and benefits. Such laws -are attempts to give effective form to -the public’s foolish anathemas against -impulses shared by everybody, and -are therefore as futile as the Pope’s -bull against the comet. When we -understand that these great trusts -are monopolies that Government has -made, we will realize why it is that -Government cannot unmake them by -any other process than by removing -the causes of their creation.<a id="FNanchor_3" href="#Footnote_3">[3]</a> Books -prescribing such anti-trust legislation -may continue to cumber the libraries -of our lawyers, and streams of statutes -may continue to pour from the lawmaking -bodies of states and Nation, -but these will be either positively -harmful or wholly harmless, never -effective.</p> - -<p>We are, indeed, “fooling” with natural -laws, and we can do so only at -our peril. The law of competition and -the law of co-operation or combination -are what they have often been -called, the centripetal and centrifugal -forces of social economics. Competition -is often a painful but really a -merciful process; it weeds out the -useless and the inefficient; selects -unerringly its business leaders; destroys, -but where it destroys builds -up; rescues from the mass the individuals -and processes most fitted -to survive, and out of chaos brings -order. It replaces obsolete with more -perfect organization, and where such -organization becomes unwieldy it replaces -organization with individuals, -reverting to the earlier type of industry. -Thus the country store is -succeeded by the store in which is -sold but one line of goods, and this is -succeeded by the mammoth type of -country store, the great city’s department -store; and the development -of the last named type seems again to -revert to the second—viz., a congeries -of stores in which each is distinct from -the other, each attaining a reputation -for competitive excellence in one line -of goods, thus illustrating in the retail -trade the interplay of the forces of -competition and combination.</p> - -<p>Just as there is a limit fixed to the -bounds of competition, so there is a -limit to the bounds of combination. -The maximum of combination and -the maximum of efficiency are not the -same. There is a point in the progress<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_475"></a>[Pg 475]</span> -of combination beyond which it -does not, or would not naturally advance—and -that is when it reaches -the maximum of efficiency. It seems -very likely that the element of monopoly -in society today forces combination -far beyond the point of the -most efficient co-operation.</p> - -<p>These natural laws may not be -“regulated.” Such laws are not for -regulation, but for obedience. We -may impede, we may interrupt their -operation, but only to our injury. -The most we can do is to regulate our -institution by these laws, as we trim -a sail to the wind and tides; we do -not attempt to “regulate” wind and -tides; and these laws of co-operation -and competition are of the same order—natural -laws which to disobey is to -be destroyed.</p> - -<p>We hear much superficial talk about -“the wastes of competition.” The -Socialists play into the hands of the -trust apologists who defend them on -the ground that competition leads to -waste. Beyond the fact that competition -has never yet been fully tried, -that it has never yet been wholly free, -and that such waste as it entails is -inseparable from the natural process -which weeds out the incompetent, the -antedated and the unskilled—a process -of which the waste is but incidental -to the conservation—is that these -combinations do not seek primarily to -escape the waste of competition so -much as to avail themselves of those -artificial laws which prevent competition -from doing its perfect work.</p> - -<p>The term expressing the opposite -of competition is not combination, -but monopoly. Professor Jenks, in -his work, “The Trust Problem,” falls -into this error when he speaks of -combinations in the retail trade as -overcoming the “friction” of competition, -instancing associations of hardware -dealers, druggists, etc. Here, -he says, we have an element of combination -from which he assumes the -element of competition has been eliminated. -But his error is in the analogy -he seeks to establish between such -agreements from which the element of -competition cannot be expelled, and -agreements which are based upon the -control of some special privilege created -by law, and of which the great -railroad and industrial trusts are examples, -and which people have in -mind when they talk of the “trust -problem.”</p> - -<p>Clearly no monopoly exists nor can -be made to exist in the retail trade. -Agreements may be made, but they -will be broken; and the fact that -they can be broken by isolated individuals -who can thus separate themselves -from the combination, and by -their separation cause it to dissolve, is -proof that the monopoly element does -not exist. For the monopoly element -in the possession of the great trusts is -the potent weapon with which the combinations -can compel the recalcitrant -member to return, or beat him into -starvation. From mere agreements in -the retail trade, such as Professor Jenks -instances, the primary element of monopoly -being absent, desertions are -fatal, and for this reason such combinations -are never effective as means for -extortion, though they do often arrest -the sacrifices of keenly competing retailers. -And the illicit intrusion of such -examples is a favorite trick of the trust -apologist, who, when the evils of the -trust are pointed out, grows righteously -indignant over the right of men to -combine—which nobody seriously disputes—or -points out with superfluous -wealth of illustration how combination -effects the cheapening of production—which -nobody ever really denies. For -the same reason labor unions cannot be -considered as effective monopolies—though -the trust apologist does not -forget them in his special pleas—for the -reason that they possess no effective -legal privilege.</p> - -<p>But to avoid a possible misunderstanding -let us now answer a query -which may have risen in the mind of the -reader. Is competition or combination -the beneficent law of industry? -Both; for one is the complement of the -other. They exist together, and together -they effect the industrial progress -of the world. But monopoly is<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_476"></a>[Pg 476]</span> -the negation of both, since further combination -or co-operation is no longer -possible where monopoly is complete. -And where there is competition there -will be combination, healthy, rational, -continuous, and competition will determine -its development and direction. -The defense of the trust based upon -the economic benefits resulting from -the elimination of the unskilled is a -defense of the principle of combination -present under free competition, -and is in no sense a defense of monopoly -of which what we know as the “trust” -is the manifestation. Such discussion, -together with much talk of the wastes -of competition, which helps to swell -so many pretentious works on the -trust problem, is so much irrelevant -“padding.”</p> - -<p>That the trusts avail themselves of -all possible economies in production -has often been urged in their defense. -Certainly such economies are not needed -to secure a monopoly in possession, -nor does it seem that the greatest incentives -to their adoption are present. -The sacrifice of inventions rather than -their use by these great monopolies -is proof that they do much to prevent -such economies. A monopoly can be -induced to accept only with difficulty -improved devices which under the -spur of competition it would gladly -avail itself of. Thus in the Post-Office, -which is a monopoly, though a -Government monopoly, improvements -are introduced only with the greatest -difficulty.</p> - -<p>If combination can of itself effect -monopoly, why are huge sums set aside -by these great corporations to influence -legislation? Why are contributions -made to the campaign funds of the two -great parties? Is it not because these -combinations seek to perpetuate their -monopolistic privileges? It may be -said that it is contributed to effect -the defeat of “strike bills.” But what -would a business partnership, not in -some way dependent upon previously -existing legislation, care about “strike -bills”? Why does the American Sugar -Refining Company (according to the -testimony of Mr. Havemeyer) contribute -in some states to the Republican -campaign fund, and in other states to -the Democratic campaign fund?</p> - -<p>As an example of the kind of defense -urged by the trust apologists here is a -work entitled, “The Trust; Its Book,” -containing articles from the pens of -Charles R. Flint, James J. Hill, S. C. T. -Dodd, Francis B. Thurber, and others. -It is a plea of “confession and avoidance.” -The authors fight shy of even -the hated term monopoly, and content -themselves with defending the right of -combination. Not one of them appears -to think that the popular outcry -against trusts is founded on anything -but utter ignorance; and they therefore -devote themselves to showing the -advantages of large scale production—as -if that were the question. All -this seems purely disingenuous. It is -hardly conceivable that men who know -so well the effects of monopoly, who -know how potent has been the use by -combination of existing laws securing -the possession of special privileges, -should write this way from any other -motive than to becloud the issue. -We can acquit them of intentional deception -far less readily than the professors -of political economy. The latter -may be at once exonerated, since -it is incredible that men who have become -involved in the self-created subtleties -of modern economics should retain -sufficient clearness of comprehension -to see anything in its proper relation.</p> - -<p>If it be true that there are no monopolies -save law-created monopolies, it -only remains for the state to undo the -work it has done. The means by which -the state, consciously or unconsciously, -has fostered monopolies may be -removed, and a new, and up to this -time untried, method for remedying -the evils of trusts be set in motion.</p> - -<p>Before we can agree to this, however, -we must understand what monopoly -is. Briefly stated, it is the power to -charge more than a competitive price -for a commodity or service. This -power can be permanently secured by -the favor of Government, and in no -other way. An agreement between<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_477"></a>[Pg 477]</span> -individuals cannot accomplish it, since -such agreements, even if they include -all individuals in interest, which is impossible, -or at all events inconceivable, -would infallibly be broken. The only -way such agreements may be made -effective is for Government to make -powerless, or nearly so, the potential -competitive elements or individuals in -interest. This it does in several ways, -or to be explicit, chiefly in three ways.</p> - -<p>By Land Laws,</p> - -<p>Tax Laws,</p> - -<p>Laws Regulating (or that fail to -regulate) the use of the steam highways -of the country.</p> - -<p>I know of no other source of monopoly -unless it be our patent laws. -But these being—originally at least—rewards -of invention, the injury results -from their misuse.<a id="FNanchor_4" href="#Footnote_4">[4]</a> Even the misuse -of patent laws is not one of the chief -potent influences in the perpetuation -of monopoly. But without, in most -cases, adding to the power of monopoly, -which derives its strength from -other causes, it puts in the hands of -the great combinations the power to -arrest progress. The value to society -of an invention is in its use. Under -present misuse of patents, inventions -are held out of use and are often -bought up and destroyed for the purpose -of depriving competitors of the -use of like improvements, or because -such inventions would often reduce the -machinery in present use to the value -of old iron. Clearly, if industrial progress -is to be made to yield its full results, -some change in our patent laws -is imperatively called for. Were the -law of competition allowed to work -freely, the use of such inventions, even -under present patent laws, would be -determined largely by the law of self-preservation. -For the sources we have -indicated are also the sources to a degree -of the patent monopoly. In a -competitive market for the use of an -invention the inventor would be less -likely to part with his invention, even -under the present patent system. -Where the bidding is artificially restricted -the inventor sells at a disadvantage. -Monopoly has the inventor -at its mercy. But however this may -be, nothing less than the free use of an -invention to everyone willing to pay -a royalty to the inventor for its use will -do justice to the inventor and meet, -at the same time, the interests of the -great public and the necessary demands -of industrial progress.</p> - -<p>Certain superficial economists, misled -by recent manifestations in trust -building, have hastily concluded that -the problem it presents is a new one. -For example, Collier, in his work on -the subject, says: “The problem of the -trusts is a momentous one, yet it is -unqualifiedly a new one.” Of course it -is not new. It is the same old problem -of monopoly, and the so-called -trust problem is but a phase of it. It -is the problem of monopoly crystallized. -The evils of the trust rivet the -public attention, not because they are -more real than the evils of monopoly -<i>per se</i>, but because they are more obvious. -In some respects the trust, by -combining certain elements of monopoly, -tends to make monopoly more -perfect and its operations more harmful. -But it simply avails itself of monopolistic -institutions—that is to say, -it is built upon land, railroad or tax -monopoly; it takes to itself certain -privileges which society has created and -which have hitherto been appropriated -and exercised by individuals. It therefore -immediately makes these evils -concrete. The trust is thus a manifestation, -and the people, with their customary -thoughtlessness, attack the -manifestation rather than the thing itself—the -fruit of monopoly rather than -the tree.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_478"></a>[Pg 478]</span></p> - -<p>The great combinations which suggest -themselves when we think of the -trust problem—is there one of them -which does not owe its existence to -some monopoly privilege? What would -the Standard Oil Company be but for -its control of rights of way, sources of -supply, railroad terminals and the preferential -benefits it is enabled to secure? -What is the Steel Trust but a network -of artificial privilege? Has not Mr. -Charles E. Russell clearly shown, in his -recent articles in <i>Everybody’s Magazine</i>, -that the Beef Trust draws its life-blood -from its monopolization of railroad -privileges? What would the -Sugar Trust be without the favors it -receives from the tariff in its control -of the raw material? Could the Tobacco -Trust exist save for the power of -taxation which strangles competition?</p> - -<p>Those mentioned include nearly all -the greater trusts. A more detailed -demonstration of the truth we are insisting -upon could be given, but the -reader can himself carry this line of -analysis further. He will find that it -explains the existence of every oppressive -combination, and that it leaves -little unresolved or unexplained. It -may happen that injurious combinations -will present themselves in which -this element of monopoly does not -clearly appear. But these are by-monopolies, -so to speak, and their sources -of power may be traced to indirect -association with the giant monopolies.</p> - -<p>Let us admit all the good there is in -aggregated capital. Let us take the -trust advocates at their word that industry -should be left free of all meddling, -repressive or restrictive legislation. -Is there, then, a common ground -upon which we can meet? To think -so is to delude ourselves. For their -objection is not so much to mischievous -laws of this sort as to interferences -with things as they are. Their plea -for <i>laissez faire</i> is hollow and insincere; -true <i>laissez faire</i> would render every -combination of capital innocuous for -evil; there would be no mammoth aggregations -of wealth in the hands of -single individuals and no plethoric incomes.</p> - -<p>The law of competition, let the Socialists -prate as they will, gives only to -those who earn. But from the denial -of this law (of competition) flows -all existing inequality in the distribution -of wealth. There are, it is true, -great swollen fortunes, which seem unconnected -with these artificial laws of -monopoly. Some of these, while clearly -not the result of greater enterprise -or greater ability, seem to be due to -cunningly arranged devices independent -of existing monopoly laws. But -this is so in appearance only. There -are no such made-to-order arrangements -of industrial combination that -can be used for extortion. Competition -is too keenly scrutinizing for such -arrangements to go undetected. The -inevitable day when imitation shall -overtake them can only be permanently -postponed by seeking the shelter -of monopoly.</p> - -<p>Some of these gigantic fortunes are -the result of stock speculation. But -these are incidental, and are the profits -and losses of the gambling fraternity—a -game really played with the counters -of monopoly, like “chips” in a poker -game, and the transference of which -from one to another enriches or depletes -the finances only of those who -play. They do not concern the man -who refrains from taking part in the -game, and whether it be played with -railroad stocks or industrials is no -great matter. If these gamblers sometimes -use the moneys on deposit in -public institutions—as Mr. Lawson -has asserted they do—that also is another -question, though a momentous -one.</p> - -<p>With the dissolving of these giant -combinations which would result from -the removal of the laws of monopoly -would disappear the great host of gamblers -and stock jugglers. The great -fortunes that result from the granting -of legislative favors would also disappear, -since there would be no longer -any legislative favors to grant. And -so with many other unjust possessions. -And with them would be banished forever -much that corrupts our social and -political life.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1">[1]</a> In his definition of a trust Mr. John -Moody, author of the “Truth About -Trusts,” says: “When men form corporate -organizations, or make agreements, they -do not form monopolies. They may take -advantage of monopoly in one way or -another, but they do not create it. The -monopoly itself is a social product, which -exists with the consent of society, and men -in business take advantage of it where -found, just as they take advantage of -other factors for the purpose of achieving -their ends.”</p> - -<p><a id="Footnote_2" href="#FNanchor_2">[2]</a> Charles M. Schwab, in his testimony -before the Industrial Commission at Washington -in excuse of the apparently excessive -capitalization of the Steel Trust, -estimated as the approximate valuation of -plants, mills, machinery and transportation -properties the sum of $380,000,000, but -the value of the ore, coal, natural gas and -limestone properties he put at the enormous -sum of $1,100,000,000.</p> - -<p><a id="Footnote_3" href="#FNanchor_3">[3]</a> This is vaguely recognized by the -trust advocates and those who have written -on the subject. Professor Jenks, who is one -of the most temperate and discriminating, -says: “So far as the industrial combinations -are the result of special advantages -granted to individuals or corporations, -whether by the state or by others, it is -probable that in most instances the evil -effects would be lessened, if not completely -removed, by the removal of such discriminating -powers.” Which is barely more than -an involved method of stating that the -removal of a cause will also result in removing -the effect.</p> - -<p><a id="Footnote_4" href="#FNanchor_4">[4]</a> Undoubtedly the control of patents is -an effective source of monopoly in very -many instances. Some of the large combinations -have succeeded in obtaining control -practically of all the patents used in -certain lines of manufacture. That this is -a potent source of power one instance alone -may suffice to prove. Professor Jenks tells -us that all of the barbed wire made in this -country at the present time, as well as -the wire fencing, is in the hands of the -American Steel and Wire Company because -that company has all the valuable patents, -with one or two exceptions, in those lines of -manufacturing.</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_479"></a>[Pg 479]</span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<a name="The_Heritage_of_Maxwell_Fair" id="The_Heritage_of_Maxwell_Fair"> </a> -<h2 class="nobreak"><i>The Heritage of Maxwell Fair</i></h2></div> - -<p class="center space-above1 space-below1">BY VINCENT HARPER<br /> -<i>Author of “A Mortgage on the Brain”</i></p> - -<p class="center space-above1 space-below1">(<i>Conclusion</i>)</p> - -<h3>SYNOPSIS OF PREVIOUS CHAPTERS</h3> - -<p class="blockquot space-below2">Maxwell Fair, an Englishman who has amassed a -colossal fortune on ’Change, inherits from his ancestors -a remarkable tendency to devote his life to some -object, generally a worthy, if peculiar one, which is -extravagantly chivalrous. The story opens with Fair -and Mrs. Fair standing over the body of a man who -has just been shot in their house—a foreigner, who -had claimed to be an old friend of Mrs. Fair. Fair -sends her to her room, saying: “Leave everything to -me.” He hides the body in a chest, and decides to -close the house “for a trip on the Continent.” Fair -tells the governess, Kate Mettleby, that he loves her; -that there is no dishonor in his love, in spite of Mrs. -Fair’s existence, and that, until an hour ago, he -thought he could marry her—could “break the self-imposed -conditions of his weird life-purpose.” They -are interrupted before Kate, who really loves him, is -made to understand. While the Fairs are entertaining -a few old friends at dinner, Kate, not knowing that -it contains Mrs. Fair’s blood-stained dress, is about to -hide a parcel in the chest when she is startled by the -entrance of Samuel Ferret, a detective from Scotland -Yard. He tells her that he, with other detectives, is -shadowing the foreign gentleman who came to the -Fair house that day and has not yet left it. He persuades -Kate to promise that she will follow the suspect -when he leaves the house and then report at Scotland -Yard. As soon as Ferret is gone she lifts the lid off -the chest, drops the package into it, and, with a -shriek, falls fainting to the floor. Mr. and Mrs. Fair -run to her aid. On being revived Kate goes to Scotland -Yard, where, in her anxiety to shield Maxwell -Fair from suspicion, she inadvertently leads the detectives -to think that a crime has been committed at -the Fair house. The two detectives are piecing -together the real facts from the clues she has given, -when Ferret is summoned to the telephone by his -associate, Wilson, whom he had left on guard in the -home of the Fairs. Fair tells Sir Nelson Poynter, at -the latter’s country place, that he has committed some -crime, and explains that Mrs. Fair is not his wife—that -a Cuban scoundrel had married her, already having a -wife, and deserted her, and that he, Fair, had brought -her and her children to England, giving her his name -before the world, yet being her husband in name only. -Sir Nelson and Fair’s other friends, Allyne and Travers, -begin to suspect his sanity.</p> - -<p class="drop-cap">“BUT what is the ridiculous idea -that has turned your head? -What sort of idiotic crime -would you ask us to believe that you -have committed? Come, sir, out with -it—what’s the charge against this villainous -man?” asked Sir Nelson, with -equal certainty and confidence.</p> - -<p>“Only a trifle,” answered Fair. “Just -a quiet little—murder!”</p> - -<p>“That settles it,” shouted the good -old fellow, thumping his knee with his -clenched fist. “That settles it, sir. -Sir Porter will have you in a straitjacket -before night. Murder, eh? You -burglar, forger, pirate—you!”</p> - -<p>Fair waited until Sir Nelson had had -his laugh, and then said with irritating -persistency: “Quite another sort of -jacket, I think, sir.”</p> - -<p>“We’ll see, we’ll see,” retorted Sir -Nelson, and then, abruptly changing -the subject and his own expression, -“but, I say, Fair, why have you never -married Janet? She was, of course, -free?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t wonder at the question,” -Fair replied, relieved at the change. -“That of course was the first question -which presented itself to my mind. But -by the time that Janet came back into -my life the old love had passed away—or -perhaps I should put it another -way—the love I now found myself -bearing for her was of a different sort. -I am a Fair, you know, Sir Nelson, and -destiny demanded that the passion of -my life be not like those of ordinary -men. So Janet seemed to come to me -not as a woman whom I might think -of as a wife, but as a holy, consecrated, -crucifying Idea which fate had destined -should be the ‘Fair Folly’ of -this generation. I think you know -that each generation in our family has -had its ‘folly.’”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” answered Sir Nelson, shaking -his head and letting his mind run back -to the follies of the two generations of -Fairs that he had known. “But your -folly, my poor boy, has been so above -the world’s standards of rational conduct -that it is madness in our earthly -eyes—or, perhaps, it is like the ‘foolishness<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_480"></a>[Pg 480]</span> -of the saints,’ of which Saint -Paul talks. But now, old hero—or -madman—for reason’s sake, tell me of -this accursed hallucination of yours—this -blooming murder, you know. -Have you killed the Pope or the Czar -of Russia or Napoleon Bonaparte?”</p> - -<p>“I appreciate your inability to -accept the truth,” replied Fair. “But -you must do so when I have told you -all. You see, I have murdered so -seldom that I was forgetting to tell you -the details. Well, Sir Nelson, the rascal -whom I——”</p> - -<p>He was cut short by the sudden and -alarming appearance of Kate Mettleby, -who came running upon the terrace in -traveling dress and quite out of breath. -Both of the men rose and Sir Nelson -watched Fair’s face with ill-disguised -concern, which rapidly increased as -Fair’s usual self-control gave place to -evident uncontrollable nervousness and -feverish excitement.</p> - -<p>“Oh—Mr.—Fair,” gasped Kate, trying -to get her breath; “thank God, you -are here! I was—afraid—that”——</p> - -<p>“Miss Mettleby,” interrupted Fair, -advancing to meet her, “I supposed -that you were halfway to Paris by this -time. What has happened? You look -ill.”</p> - -<p>“Pardon me, sir,” answered Kate, -“but—I’m out of breath—I ran.”</p> - -<p>“Do you mind letting me see this -young lady alone, Sir Nelson?” asked -Fair, noticing that Sir Nelson stood, -dazed and troubled, watching them.</p> - -<p>“No, no—by all means,” quickly -responded the old man eagerly. “I -just wanted to see if she would not go -in and refresh herself first. Allow me -to advise Lady Poynter. The poor -girl seems regularly done.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, thank you, no, sir,” put in -Kate, waving a protest; “I can stop -only a moment. I must return to -town on the next train, sir.”</p> - -<p>“But you really can’t, you know,” -said Sir Nelson. “You really must -not think of returning without luncheon—it’s -about ready, you know. I -shall advise Lady Poynter that you -are come,” and he hurried off.</p> - -<p>“Well?” asked Fair when Kate -looked up at him. “Tell me, Kate—and -tell me quickly and without hesitation, -for nothing can shock me now. -So the worst of it—all of it—at once!”</p> - -<p>“Where is Mrs. Fair?” Kate asked, -with a look which begged piteously -that the reply to her question be what -she hoped. “She is here? Say that -she is here!”</p> - -<p>“Here?” cried out Fair, now thoroughly -alarmed, a certain suspicion -that had been gathering force shaping -itself into something like certainty in -his mind. “Here. Did she not start -for Paris with you and the children? -What can you mean?”</p> - -<p>Kate struggled with the dreadful -fears that were choking her.</p> - -<p>“We all left the house together in -the carriage and drove to the railway -station, but there Mrs. Fair said that -she wished to drive to a chemist’s shop, -and we were to wait for her speedy return. -She went off accordingly, and -about twenty minutes later the carriage -came back and John fetched this -letter from Mrs. Fair to me. Take it -and read it—it says that she desired me -to take the children to Mrs. Barrington’s, -and announced that she would -communicate her change of plans to -you. Oh, Mr. Fair, what does it all -mean? I can bear little more of this -suspense!”</p> - -<p>“Poor old Janet!” groaned Fair, -taking but not reading the letter which -Kate handed to him. He walked up -and down for a few seconds, then coming -back to Kate said: “I see. I see -it now. My God, what a woman! -Wait here, dear, until I consult Sir Nelson, -for we’ve got to act with life for -the spur. This is a race, Kate—the -maddest ever run!”</p> - -<p>“But, Mr. Fair—Maxwell,” complained -Kate, “tell me what it all -means! I know about—that horror, -you know, in the chest. I saw it. But -no harm shall come to you, Maxwell, -for I told them at Scotland Yard that -it was not you—and they told me that -they believed me.”</p> - -<p>Fair jumped forward and could not -believe what he heard, but the triumph -on her poor little agonized face showed<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_481"></a>[Pg 481]</span> -only too clearly that what she said was -true.</p> - -<p>“Scotland Yard?” he finally cried -out. “Are you mad?” Then with a -wild hysterical laugh that chilled her, -he added: “So you kindly assured -them that I was innocent, did you?”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” she answered, failing to note -the irony in his laugh, and conscious -only of the loftiness of her motive. -“Yes, for it would have broken my -heart had they even whispered your -name. Tell me! tell me! What is it? -Whose body is that in the accursed -chest? My mind is going—I can bear -no more! Maxwell, I love you—I love -you!”</p> - -<p>“My poor little girl,” he said pityingly, -looking down at her; “my -Kate! We will talk it all over on our -way to town—for I shall go back with -you. Only you must be brave now. -Remember that what I did with my -hand I did not do with my heart, will -you? My hand killed him; not my -mind nor my will. Believe that, will -you not, darling?”</p> - -<p>“I will believe neither,” she cried -bitterly. “You did not! you did not!”</p> - -<p>“Hush!—they will hear you,” -warned Fair, adding more gently: -“Now wait here and say nothing to -anyone. I will return at once—and -we will catch the next train for town. -Poor, poor Janet—good God, what -work!”</p> - -<p>He dashed into the house, and Kate -sat as if dreaming on the garden seat. -After trying to collect her thoughts -and to fathom the deepening mystery -which was overwhelming her, she suddenly -caught sight of the torn letter -which Mrs. March had dropped upon -the seat. Acting mechanically and -scarcely knowing what she was doing -or that she was doing anything at all, -she glanced at the piece of the letter -which she had chanced to pick up—and -at once her mind was awake. There -was a name—a name and an address -that startled her by their seeming incomprehensible -coincidence with her -thoughts at the moment. Hearing -voices approaching before she had fully -taken in the meaning of this new bit of -perplexing tangle, she thrust the scrap -of paper into her pocket. The next -instant she saw Fair coming out of the -door, carrying his portmanteau. At -his side was Mrs. March.</p> - -<p>“I am so sorry,” Mrs. March was -saying as they came up to her. “You -have your bag—which means that you -are not waiting for luncheon. Must -you really rush off in this way? I -wanted to speak to you ever so much.”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” Fair replied, putting down -the bag and consulting a time-table; -“awfully sorry, but I have just heard -that Mrs. Fair was unable to proceed -to Paris this morning, and, of course, I -shall be very anxious until I see her and -learn the cause. I think you have met -Miss Mettleby, Mrs. March?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, how do you do?” smiled Mrs. -March, giving Kate a warm hand -grasp.</p> - -<p>“Good morning, Mrs. March,” responded -Kate, and then to Fair: “I -think, if you don’t mind, sir, I’ll go -along through the park by myself. We -have some time, I think, before the -train is due. Good morning.”</p> - -<p>“Do,” urged Fair, and when Kate -had disappeared he turned to Mrs. -March not very cheerfully: “You wished -to confess something or other to me? -Do, if you love me, make it something -uproariously funny—or else choose another -father confessor. I’m a bit edgy -this morning, you know.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I’m sure you will think it the -merriest news,” replied Mrs. March, -with beaming good nature. “Maxwell—I’m -married!”</p> - -<p>Fair looked at her, stupefied. One -expression followed another on his face, -and then, when he had secured his -usual genial expression, he said: “Not -really? Well, all I can say is—one man -is happy. But explain.”</p> - -<p>“Wasn’t it just like me to slip over -to Brussels and be married quietly? -You know I hate the regulation fuss. -And heaven has given me the love of a -man whom I am sure you will love and -respect when you know him. All -heart and soul and honor—a knight and -a poet.”</p> - -<p>“Believe me, my dear friend,”<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_482"></a>[Pg 482]</span> -answered Fair, “I wish you all the happiness -that your good heart deserves. -When may we congratulate you in a -public manner? And what are we to -call you henceforth?”</p> - -<p>“It will seem strange to call me by -my new name, won’t it—and a foreign -name, too? My husband’s name is Don -Pablo Mendes, formerly of Santiago de -Cuba,” said Mrs. March, with a flush of -happiness which blanched out and became -the pallor of horror as she saw -the effect on Fair.</p> - -<p>He dropped the portmanteau, which -he had picked up, stared as if stunned -for a moment, and then with a tremendous -effort to spare the wretched -woman as long as possible, he said -huskily: “I beg your pardon—the fact -is, I am far from well—Good-bye!”</p> - -<p>“I’m so sorry,” returned Mrs. March, -satisfied that his singular conduct was -really the result of a bad turn. “But -tell me before you go, Maxwell—do -you know my dear Spanish boy?”</p> - -<p>“I can’t say that I do,” he stammered; -“but really I shall miss my -train—good-bye,” and before she could -ask him anything more he was striding -across the park.</p> - -<p>“What strange behavior!” she said -to herself as she watched him. “Maxwell -of all men, too! The mirror of -good form—and the one man who -never fails to say the right thing at the -right time. Ah, here he comes back -to make the proper amends. Back so -soon?” she asked as Fair rejoined her -with his hat in his hand. “Forget -something—or did you, like a good -fellow, come back to say just one kind -word?”</p> - -<p>“Mrs. March,” he began, speaking -with strange dignity and pain. “I -have come back to implore your pardon. -I lied to you. We shall never -see each other again, and it was dastardly -in me to try to shield myself -from the horrible duty which as one of -your oldest friends I owe you—the -last thing, also, that I can ever do for -you. You are a true woman and a -great soul. Be great enough to face -what I have now to tell you. I do -know Pablo Mendes—and if you have -not told any of your friends about -your unspeakably deplorable marriage, -for God’s sake do not tell them. You -will understand why I say this, and -bless me for saying it soon—you will -thank me until your dying day. Your -secret is, of course, sacred with me. -Mrs. March, brace yourself now—life -is a battle for us all—and victory is not -for them that fight, but for them that -bear—so hear me. You will never see -your husband again. Give me your -hand—so—are you ill? Courage now -for a moment. Mendes is dead. I—Somebody, -in there! Quick! Mrs. -March has fainted!”</p> - -<p>Not waiting to help carry her in, he -bade Baggs tell Mr. Allyne and Mr. -Travers to join him in town at once, -and seeing that servants were already -gone to fetch Lady Poynter, he sped -along the avenue to overtake Miss Mettleby, -whose skirts he saw through the -shrubbery at some distance from the -terrace. In ten minutes they were -aboard the train.</p> - -<h3>CHAPTER XI</h3> - -<p>At about eight o’clock that evening -Fair, who had dined with Allyne and -Travers at the club, reached his own -door and, letting himself in, waited for -their arrival in the small smoking-room -on the first floor of the deserted -and gloomy mansion. As he opened -the street door he thought that he -heard hasty footsteps on one of the -upper stories, but soon he was able to -rid himself of the unpleasant fancy, and -sat quietly reading until his friends -should come.</p> - -<p>This they did in a very few minutes—considerably -to his relief—and the -three groped their way up the dark -stairs and along the passage to the -library, which room Fair told them was -to be the scene of their conference. -As they peered in at the door the black -woodwork of the library made the -gloom seem greater than in the passage, -and as they hesitated Fair said: -“Strike a match, will you, Travers?”</p> - -<p>“Right you are—if I don’t break<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_483"></a>[Pg 483]</span> -my neck first,” answered Travers, -finally managing to get the match -lighted and holding it high over his -head.</p> - -<p>“There we are,” said Fair. “Now -I can find the electric light key.”</p> - -<p>He found it and turned on the current, -flooding the room with light. -The sudden translation from total -darkness to brilliant light, and the general -feeling of mystery and stealth -with which the house seemed to be -filled, gave all of the men an uncomfortable -sense of being engaged upon -uncanny business.</p> - -<p>“I feel like a cross between a burglar -and a blooming ass,” said Allyne, -to break the unbearable silence. “By -Jove, Fair, my wealth is at your disposal, -but I’ll be hanged if you can -borrow much more of my nervous -energy! What’s the beastly game, -anyhow?”</p> - -<p>“I do think,” added Travers, more -seriously, “that we’ve followed you in -the dark about as long as a decent -regard for our feelings—as well as for -your own interests—will permit. Seriously, -old chap, I do not think we -should allow you to go on in this way. -Elucidate, like a good fellow.”</p> - -<p>“On my honor, Dick,” replied Fair, -speaking with great earnestness, “this -is no fool’s errand that I have asked -you and Allyne to undertake. It is -the last favor that I shall ever ask you -to do me. Sit down. I’ll go downstairs -and see if I can’t scare up something -to drink.”</p> - -<p>“That’s the first rational thing you’ve -said since yesterday,” said Allyne. -“Go, by all means, old man, and make -it brandy and soda.”</p> - -<p>“Back in a moment,” answered Fair, -disappearing.</p> - -<p>“Honestly, Travers, what do you -make of it?” asked Allyne when they -were alone. “If it’s a joke he has -carried it rather far. What is it?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, Lord, I don’t know,” replied -Travers wearily and with very genuine -anxiety. “If it were any other -man—but Fair is the coolest and -sanest devil I ever knew. I don’t like -this turn of affairs on my word. -Money and women are the only two -things that could bowl a chap over on -his beam ends in this way, and Fair -can show a clean slate under both of -those heads—so I give it up. But I, -for one, go no further.”</p> - -<p>“Unless I am mistaken, his father or -grandfather was mad,” whispered Allyne, -pursing up his lips uncomfortingly; -“but I never thought Maxwell -dippy—that is, you know, not unusually -so. He is devilish queer.”</p> - -<p>“In England,” answered Travers, -with a sneer, “everyone is thought -mad who manifests any trace of originality. -In the city they think Fair a -bit off his head because he does everything -that sacred British methods -decry—and grows rich at it. And in -society they think him singular because -he has such a childish way of -telling the truth. You and I know -that he makes friends in society just as -he makes money in the city. No, I -don’t think Fair is mad—I wish to -heaven I could think so.”</p> - -<p>Allyne was striding up and down the -room by this time, and when he next -reached Travers he stopped and said: -“Confound it, Travers, he can’t have -done anything so rum as all this melodramatic -rot would make one think. -Give him credit for too good taste for -that, at least.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, never fear,” replied Travers, -rising; “I’ve made up my mind. I’ll -give him half an hour more. If he -does not chuck this mystery and give -us the key in plain English, I’ll report -the case to his solicitor and medical -man.”</p> - -<p>“Here, too,” grunted Allyne, with a -nervous shrug of his shoulders. “What -a creepy, deuced idiotic thing to bring -us up here tonight! The house feels -like a tomb! By George, I wouldn’t -stop here alone for the world. Did -you see that man across the way when -we came in? He watched us as if we -were a gang of coiners. Lord! If -they were to— What was that?”</p> - -<p>Travers, also, had heard the noise, -whatever it was, and both men turned -nervously toward the door and listened. -It was repeated, but faintly.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_484"></a>[Pg 484]</span></p> - -<p>“It sounded like footsteps on the -floor above,” said Travers.</p> - -<p>“But Fair said there is nobody in the -house,” answered Allyne, adding, with a -return of his usual spirits: “I say, Travers, -just run upstairs and have a look -round, will you, that’s a good fellow?”</p> - -<p>“You go,” replied Travers, smiling, -but more in earnest than he would have -cared to admit. “You are younger -than I, and—but here’s Fair.”</p> - -<p>Fair came in, carrying a tray on -which were a number of decanters and -glasses, which he placed on the table -before he saw with surprise that the -others were evidently acting under a -strain of some sort.</p> - -<p>“I say, old man, were you upstairs a -moment ago?” asked Travers, with a -disquietingly anxious look.</p> - -<p>“Upstairs?” asked Fair, with growing -uneasiness. “Why, no. I was below—ever -since I left you. Why?”</p> - -<p>“Nothing,” answered Travers, trying -to throw a careless tone into his -words. “Allyne thought he heard—There -it is again!”</p> - -<p>All three had heard it this time—and -all belied with their eyes the smile -which they forced to their lips.</p> - -<p>“Wind in the chimney,” muttered -Fair, disavowing all belief in his own -words by going, not to the fireplace, but -to the door to listen. “There is nobody -in the house, anyway,” he added, -still listening at the door.</p> - -<p>“It sounded like bare feet—Ugh—give -us a drop of brandy,” growled -Allyne, pretending to more alarm than -he really felt.</p> - -<p>Fair returned to the table after closing -the door into the passage, and pouring -a stiff drink for each of them, said, -with a laugh: “Here you go. That -will hearten you up a bit, Allyne. -Why, you look as though you expected -to see a ghost. Never fear, old chap. -Something much more substantial than -spirits is at the bottom of this cheerful -occasion.”</p> - -<p>“There was a beastly sly fellow over -the way when we came in,” said -Allyne as he sat on the end of the table -to drink. “Why the deuce did he -watch us like that?”</p> - -<p>“He probably wants me,” answered -Fair seriously, “although he does not -yet know that it is I he wants. We -can ask him to escort me to jail as we -go out of the house presently.”</p> - -<p>Travers put down his glass with a -bang, spilling the liquor, jumped up -and swung around at Fair, thoroughly -disgusted and exasperated.</p> - -<p>“Really, Fair,” he began, “I’ve had -about enough of this. Aren’t you -pressing your little joke a bit too far? -I was just saying to Allyne that I -would give you half an hour. At the -end of that time I——”</p> - -<p>Again there was the sound of footsteps -above their heads, and Travers -stopped and all three looked toward -the door as the steps seemed to come -down the stairs. Fair was the first to -regain composure.</p> - -<p>“You give me half an hour,” he said -to Travers, “but I shall require only -ten minutes. Have a cigar, and—damn -it, Allyne, let up, you know. -Lock the door if you like, but for -heaven’s sake quit your funk.”</p> - -<p>“Thanks awfully,” retorted Allyne, -locking the door so quickly that Fair -and Travers laughed genuinely this -time. “There! Now we are cozy, -aren’t we just? A corpse and an undertaker -and a hangman are all we -want to complete our merry little -party.”</p> - -<p>“Shut up, Allyne!” shouted Travers, -watching Fair’s face. “Now, Fair, for -the love of sanity—what’s the answer?”</p> - -<p>Fair poured out another drink for -himself, and pushing the bottles toward -Travers, threw himself full length upon -a lounge. Puffing slowly at his fresh -cigar, he began speaking with perfect -composure:</p> - -<p>“You fellows remember a Cuban by -the name of Mendes—the man of whom -I have often spoken to you, do you not? -You know—Don Pablo Mendes—a -great chess player?”</p> - -<p>“Certainly—you spoke of him only -yesterday. Friend of Lopez? Yes—well, -what of him?” asked Travers, and -Fair turned his head toward Allyne, -who seemed to be listening for noises -and not to him.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_485"></a>[Pg 485]</span></p> - -<p>“I saw you speak to him one night -at the opera,” said Allyne, without taking -his eyes from the door. “Looked -like a twin brother of the devil—diamonds, -yellow fingers, hair oil, et cetera. -Proceed, to wit, go on.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, that’s the man,” answered -Fair, and then leaning over to flick the -ashes from his cigar into the hearth, he -added, without the slightest excitement -or emotion: “Well—I murdered -him yesterday, you know.”</p> - -<p>“You are drunk,” sweetly remarked -Travers, with a look of infinite relief, -as of course Fair now was admitting -that he had been twigging them.</p> - -<p>“Murdered him, eh?” grunted Allyne, -executing a series of maneuvres -that landed him on Fair’s chest. -“Murdered a yellow cigarette twister, -did you? What of that? Why, I -strangled my grandmother last night.”</p> - -<p>“By all that is holy,” Fair cried out -hoarsely, “gentlemen, you sha’n’t go -on in this way. If you will only allow -me to tell my story, you will realize that -I am a ruined man with death hanging -over me, and, as my friends, I ask you -to stand by me, to see that I face my -fate and end my life in a way to prove -that I was not altogether unworthy of -two such friends. Will you do this?”</p> - -<p>He turned his white, drawn face from -one to the other beseechingly.</p> - -<p>“Fair,” cried Travers, clutching his -hand and speaking fast and like one -who has passed beyond consternation -into the very heart of abandonment, -“if you are not mad, what does this -mean? If you are in earnest—if this -horrible thing is true—you know that -Allyne and I would risk our lives to -save yours, but why——?”</p> - -<p>“Twenty times,” broke in Allyne, -pushing Fair back into a seat. “We -would risk twenty lives for you, old -man; but if you have really rid the -world of that unhung dog, why in the -name of Mrs. Fair and the children, to -say nothing of us and common sense, -don’t you get away until we can get -your defense in order? Forgive my -fool tongue, old man, for, of course, I -could not believe that this was anything -but some new sort of game. Did -the blackguard attack you? Don’t -let the ugly business get on your nerves -too much to let you see that this is no -murder at all.”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” put in Travers eagerly, groping -through the dark to catch at any -straw of hope or light. “And for God’s -sake leave the country until your solicitor -can prepare your case. Come, -now, explain.”</p> - -<p>“It’s a simple story,” began Fair -more calmly now that he had got them -to accept the situation. “The fool -came here to extort blackmail—and I -killed him. Mrs. Fair saw me, and, -Travers, you saw my pistol, you remember—still -warm and with one chamber -discharged. The servants heard the -shot. The man’s body is still in the -house, and nothing remains but to give -myself up to the police. Lopez knows -the history of my relations with his -friend, and he will be only too glad to -testify that I had threatened to kill -Mendes, against whom I had a long-standing -grudge. The case against me -is complete, you see, so I prefer to end -it all by surrendering myself at once.”</p> - -<p>“Not if we can stop you,” shouted -Travers fiercely. “And as for the -pistol—unless you go regularly off -your head and tell them that I saw -it, they will never know it. And, of -course, you know, your wife’s testimony -would not be taken against you, -even if she should wish to give it.”</p> - -<p>“But she is not my wife,” groaned -Fair, looking up at him.</p> - -<p>“What!” thundered Travers, significantly -glancing at Allyne, who wheeled -around to Fair and exclaimed: -“Cæsar’s ghost! Look here, Fair, you -are rubbing it in rather too deep, you -know.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, it will be a pretty story when -it is told in the papers,” muttered Fair, -his hands thrust deep in his pockets -and his legs stretched out in front of -him.</p> - -<p>“Perhaps it will,” replied Travers, -rising and going toward the door with -his hat on, “but I don’t propose to -hear you tell it. My God, man, you -can’t expect us to hear it and then -stand up and swear away your life!<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_486"></a>[Pg 486]</span> -You’re mad. My duty is clear. Good -night. Allyne, ring me up at the club -in an hour. This is—” He did not -finish the sentence, but hurried to the -door, which he had reached when Fair -spoke.</p> - -<p>“All right, old man,” he said, without -turning to Travers, “if you choose to -desert. I have faced tight places before. -I’m game now.”</p> - -<p>“No, hang it, Fair,” answered Travers, -coming back from the door and -confronting Fair, “you know that I -will not leave you; but why must you -ask Allyne and me to learn all this—when -we could otherwise swear to the -fact of your being what we have always -known you to be—yes, know you to be -now—for, by gad, you can’t get me to -believe you.”</p> - -<p>“Hang the swearing,” said Allyne, -trying to laugh. “If they get me on -the witness stand, I’ll let them know -what I think of greasy foreigners, and -my views as to sending them where -they belong. Go on, Fair, and tell us -what they did next.”</p> - -<p>“Then sit down, Travers, and hear -me out,” replied Fair, filling the three -glasses and regaining an air of quiet.</p> - -<p>“Blaze away,” answered Travers, -dropping into a chair with resignation. -“At the bottom of a hole one can’t fall -lower—so go on.”</p> - -<p>“Have a drink, both of you, and -we’ll get on,” said Fair, and all three -sipped their drink in silence for some -minutes. Then Fair said:</p> - -<p>“Many years ago the noble woman -whom you know as Mrs. Fair was married -to the wretched man whom I -killed yesterday. She afterward discovered -that he had a living wife, and -she, of course, therefore, found herself -a nameless outcast. She appealed to -me, and for two reasons I offered her -the protection of my name. I had -loved her some years before, and I inherited -from my fathers a sort of morbid -craving to sacrifice my life to a -cause or purpose which the reason and -the prudence of all normally minded -men would discountenance.”</p> - -<p>“Surely wedding such a glorious -woman as Mrs. Fair was scarcely what -one could look at as a sacrifice of -one’s life,” protested Travers when -Fair paused for a moment.</p> - -<p>“She is indeed a queen, a priceless -woman,” murmured Fair quietly, “but -her children are not my children—she -never became my wife. She has been -a sacred vocation to me, and while -men envied me the love of such a wife, -I was really living the life of a celibate -because of a mad, but inexorable, fixed -idea. You fail to understand this? -So do I. I only know that nothing in -heaven or earth could have deterred -me from assuming the position in -which I have lived so long. This may -be madness—but it is of the very essence -of my being. And then I came -to love another woman—and you may -imagine what I suffered. But there -was a satisfaction in it all which, of -course, you men will be unable to comprehend. -But, see the irony of fate. -The only thing that made life possible -has been dashed away from me. I -lived supported by the thought that -Janet and her children were saved from -shame by my effacement, and now I -must proclaim that they are not my -flesh and blood, to shield them from -the disgrace of being thought a murderer’s -kin. Isn’t it horrible? But -it is only fate’s swift way of damning -me for what I had just been so weak -as to decide to do. I was about to -let my love—the gnawing hunger of a -real life—have way. I had decided, -on this very day, to proclaim my love -for— Fellows, for God’s sake, never -go back upon your destiny even if, as -in my case, it should mean lifelong -torture. After all, there may not be a -hell after death, for there’s one on this -side of the grave—and I am in it.”</p> - -<p>He dropped his head on the edge of -the table. Allyne, whose heart was -like a child’s, could bear the sight of -his agony no longer, and walked to the -end of the room. Travers came over -to Fair’s side and laid his hand on his -head.</p> - -<p>“This is the most stupendous thing -I ever heard of, Fair,” he said; “and -if there is such a thing as justice, you -shall not suffer.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_487"></a>[Pg 487]</span></p> - -<p>“There is a thing called justice,” -replied Fair, looking up, “and therefore -I must die.”</p> - -<p>“Not if you will allow us to save you -from yourself,” cried Allyne, returning -to them. “My soul, man, no case can -be made out against you unless you -make it yourself. Do let us act for -you. Counsel must be secured at once. -Come, come, I know the very man.”</p> - -<p>“Presently, presently,” answered -Fair. “I telegraphed Marshall, my -solicitor, that we would call at his -chambers tonight at ten. But before -we go I want you two to have the case -in detail. I promise to be governed -by you and Marshall when you have -all the facts. That’s reasonable.”</p> - -<p>“Then there will be no difficulty, I -promise you,” replied Allyne, with renewed -good spirits. “Marshall has no -romantic rubbish in his gray matter. -Maxwell, you’re a disembodied ghost -of some crusader who hasn’t heard that -Adam and Eve left Paradise some time -ago for good. I drink to you, Sir -Altruist.”</p> - -<p>“Thanks, old chap,” said Fair, with -moistening eyes.</p> - -<p>“By Jove, I feel better,” exclaimed -Travers, stretching his arms and holding -Fair by both shoulders. “I’d like -to be worthy of you, Fair.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, come, I say, Dick,” protested -Fair. “In a few weeks it will be -deucedly awkward to be asked if you -were not a friend of mine.”</p> - -<p>“We’ll see about that,” retorted -Travers defiantly. “Now, the details.”</p> - -<p>While they sat, Fair walked to and -fro before them with folded arms.</p> - -<p>“Well,” he began, “for five years I -was happy in seeing Janet and her two -boys safe under the shadow of my -broken heart; but about a year ago Lopez -came to me and told me that some -disreputable Cuban acquaintances of -his had learned poor Janet’s secret, -and that a paltry hundred pounds -would keep them quiet. I, of course, -sent him about his business and reported -the matter to the police. The -Cubans quietly got hold of Janet—just -how I was never quite sure—and played -upon her love for her children until they -extorted one sum after another from -her without my knowledge. At last -they demanded a sum so vast that the -poor girl was compelled to appeal to -me. I told her to ignore their letters, -and had them shadowed by detectives. -We discovered that Mendes himself -was at the head of a gang whose plan -was to get the secrets of rich families for -blackmailing purposes, his private fortune -having been gambled away on the -Continent. More than once Lopez or -Mendes has ruined a woman of standing, -and while pretending to remain -a devoted lover, has told the other, who -would at once begin the extortion of -hush money. Mendes came here yesterday—and -I shot him like a dog. -Now Lopez will show that I was the -paramour of my victim’s wife, and that -my crime followed naturally upon -Mendes tracking his wife to my house, -and there learning that I had palmed -her off as my wife for years. Those -are the facts. Complete, wouldn’t you -say?”</p> - -<p>Allyne, always more susceptible to -all emotions than Travers, frankly -looked the horror he felt as he began -to realize the truly desperate situation -in which Fair now was; but Travers, -after thinking for a few moments in -silence, spoke out bravely: “Confound -it, man, isn’t it a principle of law that -a man is innocent until proven guilty? -Who knows that you killed the scoundrel? -And if suspicion should be -drawn toward you, why, then let them -prove the charge if they can. And, -anyhow, can’t you plead that you -killed him while protecting Mrs. Fair? -The blackguard’s character will make -it difficult for Lopez to prove Mendes’s -alleged relations with Janet. I’d be -hanged if I’d be hanged just for the -fun of it.”</p> - -<p>“Ah, but my dear fellow,” returned -Fair, arguing out his point in his customary -cool way, “you forget. It is -known that he came to this house. -It is known that he did not leave it. -His body, my dear friend—his corpse, -you know, is a nasty bit of evidence -that we can’t get rid of.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_488"></a>[Pg 488]</span></p> - -<p>“Do you mean to say,” answered -Travers, face to face with the calm man, -“do you mean to tell us that the—that -the chap’s corpse, you know, was in -the house last night while you and Janet -were entertaining us? If you are the -man you are, surely no woman at any -rate could have stood that.”</p> - -<p>“Ah, you don’t know her,” smiled -Fair. “To save me—yes, to please -me even, that woman would do anything—bear -anything.”</p> - -<p>“And she jolly well ought to,” put -in Allyne, slapping Fair’s back, and -then with a nervous look about the -room: “I say, what did you do with -the—with that infernal thing, you -know?”</p> - -<p>“With the body?” asked Fair, with -entire freedom from excitement. “It -is here yet.”</p> - -<p>“Here?” cried Allyne angrily and -sick with perplexity.</p> - -<p>“In the house now?” asked Travers, -scowling but not believing.</p> - -<p>“Certainly,” replied Fair quietly. -“What could I have done with it last -night? You all came in within a few -minutes of the deed. Yes, it is in the -house—it is in this room now.”</p> - -<p>“The devil you say!” exclaimed -Allyne, facing about as if he feared that -the dreadful thing was back of him -somewhere.</p> - -<p>“Rather a gruesome thing to joke -about, isn’t it?” asked Travers sadly, -and still utterly unable to believe what -he heard.</p> - -<p>“Horrible—but true,” answered Fair, -with disconcerting calmness as he -walked slowly over toward the chest -by the fireplace, while Allyne and -Travers watched him breathlessly. -“It is here.”</p> - -<p>He seemed to take an eternity to do -whatever it was that he intended to do, -but finally as he stood over the chest -he said, looking from one to the other: -“If a man ever had a more terrible -guest under his roof than mine, I pity -him. Look!”</p> - -<p>As he said this he suddenly stooped -and raised the lid of the chest. The -two now thoroughly horrified men were -standing on either side of him. They -all peered, shuddering, into the chest. -<i>It was empty.</i></p> - -<p>“Gone?” moaned Fair, for the first -time betraying uncontrolled horror.</p> - -<p>“That settles it,” shouted Travers, -delirious with joy. “You see, you have -been dreaming this whole cursed nightmare.”</p> - -<p>Meanwhile Allyne was running about -the room, swinging a chair over his -head and shouting like a madman. -Coming back to Fair he sang out with -hysterical laughter: “Rest and quiet—rest—and -qui—et, sir—that’s what we -need. Ice on the head, hot water at -the feet—and a month at sea. May I -have the pleasure?” Before Fair could -stop him he had waltzed him around -the room. At last Fair broke away -from him, and holding his hands to his -splitting head, he brought them back -to a full realization of the awful truth -by the expression on his face.</p> - -<p>“Hush!” he cried to Allyne. “For -God’s sake, Allyne, stop it. I swear -on my honor that I put it into this -chest. It has been discovered by somebody -and removed today. I sat up -all night in this room, so that it must -have been taken away today. Come. -That’s the end. I might as well surrender -without delay.”</p> - -<p>“But wait, wait,” broke in Travers. -“Who knew of it’s being here? Who -could have discovered it? Now don’t -be rash. Let us think before we act. -How could it have been found? That -is, if it ever was here.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, there are a thousand ways in -which it might have been found,” -answered Fair, ignoring his unbelief.</p> - -<p>“Did Mrs. Fair know about it?” -asked Allyne, and was startled by the -effect of his question.</p> - -<p>Fair sprang up, thought for a moment, -and then exclaimed: “By heaven, -Allyne, that’s it. My God! Do -you know what that means?” He -clenched his hands and glared at them, -stupefied with grief.</p> - -<p>“It means,” said Travers, “that she -has disposed of it. It means that your -chances are a thousand-fold better than -before.”</p> - -<p>“No, no!” shrieked Fair. “It means—but<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_489"></a>[Pg 489]</span> -no—she could not be so unspeakably -unkind to the children as -to try to prove that she killed him. -No. I give it up, then. Come, come, -I can’t bear this much longer. I must -get the relief of surrendering myself. -Come.”</p> - -<p>“If you attempt to give yourself up, -by gad, I’ll have you locked up for a -dangerous lunatic,” said Travers, with -strange new determination as he noticed -how rapidly Fair was breaking. -“I tell you, Fair, that— Hark! That -was that beastly footstep again. I’m -not a coward, but this— Hark!”</p> - -<p>They listened with tense faces. -Again the sound. And again.</p> - -<p>“That was certainly a footstep—upstairs, -too,” whispered Travers. -“Come Fair, this is no place for you -now. Allyne, if he refuses to come -with us, help me to force him out of -this hole. Hear me? Now come.”</p> - -<p>Fair struggled away from their grasp -and ran to the door, saying: “I will go -with you, but I am going upstairs first—alone.”</p> - -<p>“You are going to do nothing of the -sort,” replied Travers, again grasping -his arm and pulling him back.</p> - -<p>“Don’t come with me, please,” -pleaded Fair; “I’ll be only a minute.”</p> - -<p>“Never fear,” answered Allyne at -his other arm; “I wouldn’t go up there -with anybody—but you are not going -up, either. Out with him, Travers.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, come, old man,” begged -Travers earnestly. “Notify the police -that thieves are in the house, call the -fire brigade—anything, but don’t be a -fool and expose yourself to you don’t -know what danger. Come!”</p> - -<p>They strained at him, and presently -Fair gave in, saying: “Very well, it is -getting a bit on my nerves, I confess. -Go to the top of the stairs before I turn -out the light. All ready? There.”</p> - -<p>He turned out the light and felt his -way to the stairs, down which Travers -and Allyne preceded him, and the -next moment they stepped out into the -blessed coolness and relief of the street.</p> - -<p>The instant that Fair turned out the -light in the library a man stole quickly -in from the adjoining study and groped -his way to the chest in the total -darkness. Just after the street door -slammed two persons, who had been -listening on the floor above the library, -began whispering as they descended -the stairs and approached that room.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Meanwhile Fair and his two friends -called a cab and drove off eastward and -soon were set down in the Strand near -the law courts, proposing to make the -remainder of their journey on foot.</p> - -<h3>CHAPTER XII</h3> - -<p>At sixty Marshall, Maxwell Fair’s -solicitor, found himself a bachelor, a -solicitor with an income of twenty -thousand pounds and a very decided attachment -for his few wealthy clients and -an aversion to new ones. Long past -the necessity of accepting new clients, -Marshall, like so many old Templars, -asked for nothing but to be let alone -among his books and cronies in the -Inner Temple, and allowed to spend his -brief holidays at his shooting-box by -the Norfolk Broads.</p> - -<p>It was with no very good grace, therefore, -that he returned to town on that -wet Sunday in response to an absurdly -urgent telegram from Fair, whose -usual business was exactly to old Marshall’s -taste, since it consisted of drawing -perfunctory documents having to -do with real estate, and never involving -critical issues of any sort.</p> - -<p>But the snug thousands which Fair’s -enormous interests brought to him -annually made it impolitic to ignore his -most uncharacteristic bit of hysterics. -Accordingly, after dining in gloomy -solitude at his quiet little chop-house, -Marshall surprised his laundress by -turning up at his chambers in the Inner -Temple at nine o’clock on Sunday evening -in a crusty temper. Fair would -arrive at ten, so Marshall settled down -for an hour with Browne’s “Religio -Medici,” when to an irritating knock -he sang out a curt, “Come in! come in!” -and a lady entered.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_490"></a>[Pg 490]</span></p> - -<p>“Mr. Marshall, I believe?” said the -lady.</p> - -<p>“Yes, madam,” replied Marshall, -rising; “but my business hours—In -fact, I am engaged—just leaving, you -know—and, besides, I expect a gentleman -by appointment at any moment.”</p> - -<p>“I venture to think that, whatever -his business may be, you will consider -my case the one requiring immediate -attention,” quietly answered the -lady, seating herself, although the old -solicitor had not suggested her doing -so.</p> - -<p>“Case? Case?” exclaimed Marshall. -“Why, bless us all, I haven’t taken any -new cases in years. Couldn’t think of -it, madam.”</p> - -<p>“But,” returned the lady vehemently, -“a crime has been committed, -and I——”</p> - -<p>“Crime, you say?” shouted Marshall -as if he were being insulted. -“Good heavens, my good woman, do -you imagine that I am interested in -crime?”</p> - -<p>“But Mr. Fair has, I think, some -claim upon your advice and counsel?” -replied the lady, with the assurance of -one who trumps an ace.</p> - -<p>“Mr. Fair has certainly every claim -upon me,” answered Marshall, sitting -down and becoming the cautious and -alert barrister at once, “and I trust you -will appreciate my unwillingness to -discuss anything concerning my clients -with strangers.”</p> - -<p>“Strangers?” cried the woman, with -such eagerness that Marshall began to -fear all sorts of possible female entanglement. -“Why, sir, I am his—I -mean, I know Mr. Fair very well.”</p> - -<p>“Really, madam,” protested the -solicitor, now thoroughly certain that -this woman and the urgent telegram -were unpleasantly related. “Really, -you know, I must beg you will call at -some other time. Allow me to see -you to your carriage.”</p> - -<p>“It will be necessary for you to -hear me,” replied the lady firmly. “I -see that you do not remember me, but -we have met before. You were at Mr. -Fair’s place in Norfolk about five -years ago. You were presented to -Mrs. Maxwell Fair. Well, I am she.”</p> - -<p>“Upon my word, dear madam,” -exclaimed Marshall, jumping up, “I -did, indeed, fail to recognize you. -That’s a sign I’m getting old, is it not? -This is an honor, really.”</p> - -<p>“Alas, sir, I fear that you will think -it anything but that,” replied Mrs. Fair -nervously. “I desire to state before -going into the matter which brought -me here that I am not the wife of Mr. -Maxwell Fair—Mr. Fair never married. -I see that this fills you with amazement—pray, -don’t misjudge him. Believe -me, Mr. Fair deserves your deepest -regard and admiration. My children -are not his children. He has been a -father, a brother, a chivalrous protector—that -is all.”</p> - -<p>“But, my dear madam, this is quite -beyond belief,” stammered the solicitor.</p> - -<p>“It is the truth, as you will learn -presently from him. I came here simply -to tell you that, whatever Mr. Fair -may say, my crime does not involve -him, as it would of course do if I were -his wife. Now for my story.”</p> - -<p>“I must remind you, Mrs. Fair,” interrupted -Marshall sternly, “that if -your crime, as you choose to call it, -is to the prejudice to Mr. Fair, I must -decline to hear your statement, as, in -the event of any issue arising, I must, -of course, act on his and not on your -behalf.”</p> - -<p>“But it is not a question as between -Mr. Fair and me,” answered Mrs. Fair. -“The simple and horrible fact is I -killed a man yesterday—a Cuban -named Pablo Mendes—a wretch who -had blasted my life. He dared to pursue -me even into my protector’s house. -He heaped the foulest insults upon Mr. -Fair and the children and me—so, in a -mad access of frenzy and horror, I shot -and instantly killed him. I desire to -give myself up to the police. What -shall I do, sir?”</p> - -<p>Marshall was walking up and down -now with his hands clasped behind his -back, and for several moments he did -not answer. Then he said as he stood -confronting her: “If there were no witnesses,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_491"></a>[Pg 491]</span> -and the man can be proved to -have been your traducer and persecutor, -it would not be difficult to set up -a powerful defense. He invaded your -house, demanded money, threatened -you—or, wait, wait—I have it! On -failing to extort the money, he attacked -you, and you, having anticipated -just such an assault, had taken -the precaution to be armed—and shot -him down for the blackguard he was. -Why, my dear Mrs. Fair, a jury would -acquit you without leaving the courtroom.”</p> - -<p>“Ah, but the facts are not as you -state them,” cried Mrs. Fair, rising and -grasping the old man’s hand feverishly. -“There was no attack. And, oh, -sir, I did it! I did it! I say I! Take -me to the police—and make them believe -that it was I—or—or—well, I -can’t tell you now, but unless you -make them believe me, something -most horrible will occur. Do this—do -this, Mr. Marshall, for God’s -sake.”</p> - -<p>“But we must consider this from -every side,” replied Marshall, getting -Mrs. Fair into a seat again and continuing -his walk. “Give me a little -time to think it out. Could you manage -to return early in the morning? -You are evidently very ill. Rest will -refresh you—and, moreover, nothing -can be done wisely tonight.”</p> - -<p>“Very well—but tell me that you believe -me—tell me that,” implored Mrs. -Fair, rising to go. She was indeed -nearly at the end.</p> - -<p>“Of course I must accept your statement,” -answered Marshall with much -gentleness. “Yet it by no means follows -that the consequences need be -what you apprehend. Allow me to -show you down to your carriage.”</p> - -<p>“Here is my statement,” she said as -she placed a document on the table and -took the arm which the old solicitor -offered her. “Act upon it, sir—it is a -woman’s last story—written in her -blood and that of her children. Act -upon it, sir, act upon it—no matter -what Mr. Fair says.”</p> - -<p>“I promise nothing, madam,” replied -Marshall, leading her to the door. -“You are in no condition to take the -best or the wisest view of this most -incredible affair. Depend upon it, I -shall act only for your best interest and -that of Mr. Fair. Come.”</p> - -<p>He led her down to the street and, -after seeing her safely to her carriage, -slowly retraced his steps into the quiet -precincts of the Temple. When about -to enter the door at the foot of his worn -stairs, two men came walking quickly -from the thoroughfare without, and one -of them, recognizing him, said: “This -is my friend Allyne—Lord Linklater’s -son, you know, Mr. Marshall. May we -have a few minutes of your time?—very -urgent matter!”</p> - -<p>“Travers?” said Marshall as he -caught sight of his face under the gas -lamp. “What on earth brings you to -this old graveyard at this time? I -know your honored father, Lord Linklater, -Mr. Allyne. Come up, gentlemen.”</p> - -<p>Once more the solicitor entertained -no very pleasant conjectures as to the -purpose of his visitors, whom he knew -to be close personal friends of Maxwell -Fair’s. The whole departure was -as upsetting as it was sudden.</p> - -<p>“Rather a beastly time to intrude -upon you, Mr. Marshall,” said Travers -apologetically as they seated themselves -in Marshall’s library.</p> - -<p>“And on the beastliest sort of business,” -put in Allyne.</p> - -<p>Mr. Marshall, finding nothing particular -to say, remained silent.</p> - -<p>“We were asked to come here this -evening by Mr. Maxwell Fair,” said -Travers, explaining. “He will be here -at ten o’clock.”</p> - -<p>“Yes?” softly remarked the imperturbable -lawyer; “then we will wait.”</p> - -<p>“The deuce you say,” protested -Allyne in spite of the signal from -Travers. “Why, we came ahead of -him expressly.”</p> - -<p>“Shut up, Allyne,” broke in Travers. -“Fair knows that we are here, Mr. -Marshall—in fact, we came rather at -his suggestion. He gave us full permission -to speak to you.”</p> - -<p>“I shall, of course, be very glad to -hear anything that you may deem it<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_492"></a>[Pg 492]</span> -desirable to tell me. Pray proceed,” -said Marshall not very eagerly.</p> - -<p>“Well, then, sir, it is with the utmost -sorrow that we have to tell you that -we are convinced poor Fair has become -suddenly insane on a certain dreadful -subject,” went on Travers, irritated by -Marshall’s manner.</p> - -<p>“Ah, there we shall have to move -very slowly—very—slowly,” said Marshall -when Travers stopped. “Mr. -Fair is thought to be of unsound mind -on a number of subjects by a number -of persons. He is so successful, you -know—so original, that others who are -merely British fail to understand him. -Moreover, Fair is unselfish, sympathetic, -altruistic—and of course appears -mad to our smug, hoggish -world.”</p> - -<p>“Damn it,” exclaimed Allyne, -“that’s all, as you say, but the dear -fellow has gone clean off his head this -time, you know. You just wait until -Travers gives you the details.”</p> - -<p>“I am waiting,” answered Marshall -calmly.</p> - -<p>“Before we come to that,” said -Travers in answer to Marshall’s look, -“I believe, Mr. Marshall, that you knew -Fair’s father, did you not?”</p> - -<p>“Intimately—and his grandfather -also. What of them?”</p> - -<p>“What sort were they?”</p> - -<p>“Very much like Fair—both were -thought mad.”</p> - -<p>“In what way? They were men of -tremendous will power and fixity of -purpose, were they not? I have reason -for asking.”</p> - -<p>“Quite so. They were idealists, -dreamers, monomaniacs—but why?”</p> - -<p>“I thought as much. The stuff -martyrs are made of. Tell us about -them, if you don’t mind, Mr. Marshall,” -said Travers, unaccountably insistent.</p> - -<p>“Very well,” began Marshall, really -glad to be able thus to kill time until -Fair arrived. “His grandfather got it -into his head that he was bound in -honor to extricate his publishers—he -was an author, you know—from their -financial difficulties, although it was -clearly proved in court that they had -only their own speculative folly to -thank for their failure. Well, poor -old Fair lost his all and even mortgaged -the Norfolk estates. In spite of his -solicitors, he pressed forward eagerly -to ruin, and died perfectly happy in the -knowledge that he had lived up to his -ideal. Mad—stark mad!”</p> - -<p>“By Jove, it sounds like Fair all over -again!” exclaimed Allyne.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” went on the old lawyer, warming -to his favorite work of decrying -idealism of every sort. “Yes, gentlemen, -and our Mr. Fair’s father was no -better than his grandfather. He spent -the first half of his life in freeing the -estates from their heavy encumbrances—and -the second half in throwing away -all that he had accumulated in the first. -His specialty was young geniuses—any -kind of young genius, musical, literary, -artistic. Any chap who could not get -an editor to print his stuff could count -on Fair bringing out an <i>édition de luxe</i> -at his own expense. And any young -woman had but to get her mother to -tell him with tears in her eyes that she -had wonderful musical promise and -away she would go to Germany to be -educated—of course at Fair’s expense. -You probably know that he died in -lodgings in Mile End, where he had removed -in order to live among those -whom he, poor old dreamer, imagined -would appreciate his sympathy. He -left our Mr. Fair nothing but the estates -heavily mortgaged again.”</p> - -<p>“And Maxwell is a chip of the old -block,” commented Travers when the -solicitor stopped. “But Mr. Marshall, -he has done more than either his father -or grandfather in the way of self-effacement. -His life is one long tragedy for -an idea. That is bad enough. But -now he proposes actually to destroy -himself for it. Unless we can prevent -it, he will die.”</p> - -<p>“Good heavens,” cried Marshall, unable -to treat the terrible intensity on -Travers’s face with his customary calmness. -“It’s not quite so bad as that. -What, in the name of reason, is the man -about now?”</p> - -<p>“Listen,” said Travers, glad to have -at last roused the stoical man of law -from his leathery, noncommittal expression,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_493"></a>[Pg 493]</span> -“Fair declares that he has -committed a crime which will send -him to the gallows— Why, what ails -you?”</p> - -<p>Travers stopped and stared at the -lawyer, who was strangely delighted -by his last few words. Marshall’s acute -mind had evidently been scouting.</p> - -<p>“Nothing,” replied Marshall, regaining -his quiet manner; “I was thinking -of a similar case that once came to my -notice. Go on.”</p> - -<p>“There is no evidence against him, -and yet the wretched victim of his own -high-flown notions is determined to go -ahead to destruction. For God’s sake, -sir, help us to prevent this, even by -placing him in a madhouse.” Travers -saw that his words touched the old -man, but that professional caution -and habitual reserve were restraining -him from avowing his purpose, whatever -it might be.</p> - -<p>This angered Allyne, who broke in -with the sneering comment: “The law -keeps no end of rascals from getting -their richly deserved medicine. I -think it’s a jolly beastly outrage if it -can’t prevent an innocent man from -hanging himself.”</p> - -<p>“The ways of the law,” answered -Marshall, with cold judicial accent, -“the ways of the law, Mr. Allyne, are -not as our ways. The law proceeds -without sentiment or bias, and must -go straight to its object in the light of -fact.”</p> - -<p>“But, I tell you, the facts can’t be as -Fair states them to be, don’t you -know,” retorted Allyne hotly, galled -by the lawyer’s coolness and formality.</p> - -<p>“Then Mr. Fair has nothing to fear,” -quietly replied Marshall. “It is ten -o’clock. Fair is a punctual man—he -will be here immediately. Suppose -that we allow him to explain himself.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll be hanged if I will let him go -too far. Why, gentlemen, this is monstrous! -Do you mean to say, Marshall, -that you——?”</p> - -<p>A knock interrupted Allyne, and immediately -Fair came in, looking not at -all as though he could possibly be the -subject of his friend’s anxiety.</p> - -<p>“I’m awfully sorry,” Fair began, “to -learn from your laundress, Marshall, -that my telegram brought you back to -town from the country. I promise -you it won’t happen again.”</p> - -<p>“Nonsense,” returned Marshall, -studying Fair closely, “I was only too -glad of an excuse to come back to -town. You know, we old Templars -don’t enjoy the country—been caged -here too long for that. Sit down, dear -fellow. What can I get up for you—sherry?”</p> - -<p>“Thanks, nothing for me. Perhaps -the others——”</p> - -<p>“Lord, no!” roared Allyne before -Marshall could ask.</p> - -<p>“Well, then, to the point,” said Fair, -seating himself calmly and lighting a -cigar with the air of a director of a company -about to discuss the treasurer’s -report. “Travers has told you, Marshall?”</p> - -<p>“Nothing,” answered the solicitor. -“We were discussing peculiarities of -temperament. I was just telling your -friends what people used to say of your -father. You know, we are all mad on -some subject.”</p> - -<p>“I see,” replied Fair, smiling. -“Allyne has mentioned madness and -madhouses, I should say, about once -every five minutes all day long.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, and we mean it,” thundered -Allyne. “At it now. This is rum.”</p> - -<p>“I can put the facts before you in a -word, Marshall,” said Fair.</p> - -<p>“Do so. I am all attention,” returned -the lawyer, settling back into -his chair with a puzzling look, in which -there was certainly a trace of amusement -not easily explained.</p> - -<p>“Some Cuban gentlemen have been -extorting blackmail from certain aristocratic -families,” went on Fair in a monotone, -“and they had, without my -knowledge, frightened Mrs. Fair into -paying them considerable sums. The -leader of the gang, one Pablo Mendes, -came to my house yesterday, and finding -him in the library with Mrs. Fair -I killed him.”</p> - -<p>“Proceed,” said Marshall when Fair -paused to note the effect of his announcement, -speaking with so much -coolness that Fair jumped up and went<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_494"></a>[Pg 494]</span> -on fiercely: “I tell you, I shot him -down like a dog—murdered him in cold -blood. The servants heard the report -of the pistol. Travers came in a moment -after the shooting and saw the -pistol still warm. I hid the man’s body -in a chest in the library, from which it -was taken by somebody today—so any -effort on my part to delay the hand -of justice would be ridiculous. What -shall I do?”</p> - -<p>“Nothing!” exclaimed Marshall. -Then he added, as if regretting the unguarded -word: “That is, I can’t advise -you until I know more. Go on.”</p> - -<p>“That’s the game, Marshall,” put in -Allyne, pleased by the lawyer’s manifest -incredulity. “Fair, you idiot, do -you fancy that everybody has gone off -his head just because you have?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, please, Mr. Allyne,” said Marshall -deprecatingly.</p> - -<p>“You take this rather coolly, I must -say, Marshall,” remarked Fair when -Travers had succeeded in pushing -Allyne into a chair.</p> - -<p>“I find coolness conducive to clear -thinking,” replied Marshall.</p> - -<p>“Well, then, I have nothing further -to say. I have murdered a man. I -have neither the heart nor the wish to -set up a defense. Were I to clear myself -by technicalities, it would become -the duty of the police to try to establish -the guilt of someone else. Would you -have me sit by quietly, while they drew -the net of skilfully devised circumstantial -evidence around some innocent -person? And to whom else could suspicion -point? My servants—or, God -help her, the woman who is known as -my wife, and who is the noblest soul I -ever met? If you cannot meet my -arguments, I shall go at once to the -police and surrender myself.”</p> - -<p>“There will be plenty of time for all -that,” replied Marshall, showing so -little feeling that Allyne was on the -point of breaking out again. “The police -would not believe your story, I fear. -You see, my dear fellow, your case is by -no means unique. Only a very little -while ago one very much like it was -brought to my attention. A murder—or -at all events, a death, had occurred. -Suspicion pointed strongly to one of -two persons—a gentleman of eccentric -character, and the woman whom he -had loved in early youth. Now mark -the dramatic interest. Each of them -confessed the crime to save the other, -but, of course, as they both could not -have been guilty, the court refused to -entertain the charge against either. -There was no evidence except the bogus -confession of the two. I mention -this case only to show you that too -hasty action on your part now may -spoil everything—and you may not be -allowed the luxury of hanging.”</p> - -<p>“But, Marshall,” said Fair, “the -cases are not even remotely similar. -Others will testify that I had the most -powerful motives for my crime, and, -unless I should be dastard enough to -lie, nobody else can be suspected. Lopez -knows that Mendes was my enemy. -Janet knows that I was in the room -when the murder was done. Travers -knows that a pistol, which he identified -as mine, had been discharged a few -minutes before he saw me—at the very -time that the servants heard the report -in the library. Moreover, somebody -discovered the body of my victim -where I had hid it. On top of all this -I confess the awful fact. What more -can the law possibly require? You believe -what I tell you, do you not?”</p> - -<p>“Not one word of it!” fairly cried -Marshall.</p> - -<p>“Marshall,” Fair replied with terrible -earnestness, “you say you doubt my -word. Such a statement must be explained.”</p> - -<p>“Certainly,” returned Marshall, now -thoroughly in control of his feelings. -“I will explain. I doubt your story -because of its inherent improbability. -Further, I doubt it because I knew -your father, because I know yourself, -and am aware that not even a shameful -death on the gibbet could deter you -from any purpose which you had come -to think your destiny. Again, I doubt -it because I know who the real murderer -of Mendes is.”</p> - -<p>The three men who heard these last -slow, calm words sprang to their feet -together, Fair quivering with a nameless<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_495"></a>[Pg 495]</span> -horror, and his two friends delirious -with joy.</p> - -<p>Fair steadied himself against the -lawyer’s table and said: “Marshall, this -is not the time when you can play with -me. I tell you to your face, that when -you say that you know who the murderer -is, you lie.”</p> - -<p>The old man showed how deeply the -insult cut into him, and facing the -young man with his own face as white -as Fair’s, he retorted: “Your father’s -son can go very far with me, but no -man can give me the lie. Recall that -word, Fair.”</p> - -<p>Travers looked imploringly at Fair as -he replied.</p> - -<p>“I do recall it—and beg your pardon,” -said Fair eagerly. “I also demand -an explanation of your singular -conduct.”</p> - -<p>“If you will all sit down,” replied the -solicitor, “I will prove that I am right. -But before I do so I want to say that -in all my life I never heard of such -sublime devotion, such utterly disinterested -heroism. Gentlemen, nothing -will ever be more of an honor to us than -to be called the friends of Maxwell -Fair.”</p> - -<p>“Hear, hear!” shouted Allyne, but -Travers said quietly to Marshall: “I -fear this is scarcely kind of you just -now—look at his face.”</p> - -<p>The old lawyer looked at Fair, and -going over to him grasped his hand.</p> - -<p>“Forgive me, boy,” he said, “but I -meant each word. To end this dreadful -business I have merely to state that -the unhappy creature who sent the -scoundrel to his doom came here not an -hour ago and made a full confession.”</p> - -<p>“And on my honor I swear that every -word she said was false,” said Fair.</p> - -<p>“You, at least, believe me?” asked -Marshall, turning to Travers.</p> - -<p>“Most assuredly,” replied Travers.</p> - -<p>Fair wheeled round at him, saying: -“My God, are you men English gentlemen -and going to allow an innocent -woman to be hanged in order to save -me?”</p> - -<p>“I seem to hear your father speak in -you,” remarked Marshall, “yet there -is this difference, Fair. He would have -died for a great purpose, but never for -a lie or to defeat the ends of justice.”</p> - -<p>Fair winced at this, and Travers -said: “That’s the line, Marshall.”</p> - -<p>“Not a word he has said can move -me,” went on Fair, rising. “I want -no man’s forced friendship. I have -decided on a course. You choose to -allow me to pursue it alone. Good-bye.”</p> - -<p>He spoke with such feeling, and -moved toward the door with so much -majesty, that none of them attempted -to stop him.</p> - -<p>Before he reached the door it was -opened and a closely cropped head appeared, -and a soft, insinuating cockney -voice said: “Beg pardon, I’m sure. -Ferret, gentlemen; Ferret, of Scotland -Yard.”</p> - -<p>“You see, Marshall, others are not -as incredulous as you. I am the man -you want, Mr. Ferret,” said Fair as the -detective came in and sat down.</p> - -<p>“I’ll attend to you, sir, in a minute,” -replied Ferret jauntily. “Perhaps -these gentlemen will try a cigar in the -gardens for a few minutes.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, never mind them,” quickly returned -Fair; “they know all. Proceed.”</p> - -<p>“But you see, sir, they <i>don’t</i> know -all,” replied Ferret.</p> - -<p>“I think, Fair, that we would better -let this man speak to you alone,” said -Marshall, rising.</p> - -<p>Ferret interposed: “I shall ask you -to stop, if you don’t mind, Mr. Marshall.”</p> - -<p>“As you like,” answered Marshall.</p> - -<p>Travers and Allyne went downstairs -after shaking Fair’s hand with very -much mixed feelings.</p> - -<p>Marshall and Fair turned to Ferret -when the door was closed, and Fair said -sternly: “I see that you have been -rather impudently examining that -sworn statement on the table there. -It will save time if I tell you that it -is false. The lady wrote it under a -nervous strain. It is totally false.”</p> - -<p>“Sure. It’s just as false as your -own statement, Mr. Fair,” replied -Ferret, winking knowingly at the solicitor, -who failed to appreciate the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_496"></a>[Pg 496]</span> -fellow’s humor and resented his apparently -unconscionable impertinence.</p> - -<p>“What the devil do you mean?” -asked Marshall angrily, yet with relief.</p> - -<p>“I mean,” answered the cool one, -“that, thanks to my little chum, it now -becomes my painful duty to admit that -I suspected Mr. Fair until about two -hours ago. I now know that Mrs. -Fair’s statement is false—and likewise -Mr. Fair’s also. It’s the other gent’s -statement that is the true one.”</p> - -<p>“The other gentleman’s statement?” -asked Fair fiercely. “Why, man, there -was no other man in the room when -the shot was fired.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I say, come now, Mr. Fair,” -smilingly protested Ferret. “The gent -as fired the shot was there, you know. -You see, Mr. Marshall, it was this way. -Mendes had threatened Mrs. Fair, and -she went out and got the pistol, and at -that moment Mr. Fair came into the -room. Mendes shot himself, and Mr. -Fair, hearing the shot and seeing the -smoking pistol in Mrs. Fair’s hand, -snatched it away from her and declared -that it was he and not her that did the -killing. She came here tonight and -swore it was her, and now he comes and -swears it was him. But Mendes swore -just as he was dying that it was himself—and -the priest will testify to that.”</p> - -<p>“But, my heavens, man, Mendes died -at once. I hid his body in——”</p> - -<p>“In the chest,” interrupted the detective, -grinning. “Yes, I know all -about that. But, you see, Mendes did -not die. He came to while you were at -dinner. Our fellows followed him to -his lodgings in Soho—and today my -chum got hold of a letter that gave her -the address, and she and I were with -him when he died an hour ago—yes, -and Mrs. Fair is there now.”</p> - -<p>While he was speaking Fair sank -back into his chair, as if unconscious -of what was passing, but when Ferret -paused he sprang up, crying, “Marshall, -did you ever hear of anything so -unspeakably glorious as Janet’s devotion?”</p> - -<p>“Yes—once,” answered Marshall, -with streaming eyes. “Your own, -Fair.”</p> - -<p>“But, Ferret,” went on Fair, when -he had recovered his voice, “who is the -chum who so materially assisted you? -And where is Mrs. Fair now?”</p> - -<p>“Mrs. Fair is by Mendes’s bedside. -My chum is——”</p> - -<p>The door opened and Kate Mettleby -came hurrying in, breathless and worn. -Ferret finished by saying: “My chum, -gentlemen.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, Mr. Fair,” began Kate, after -Fair had presented Marshall to her with -a word of explanation, “have you -heard? Janet is with him—with -Señor Mendes—it was awful—it was -unbearably touching.”</p> - -<p>“He is the father of her children, -Kate,” said Fair gently, when Marshall -and Ferret quietly stole out, leaving -them together.</p> - -<p>“Yes, I know—and—Maxwell—there -is something—oh, how can I tell -you? She came in and knelt by his -bed with his head in her arms when the -priest told her that he was dead. She -knelt there half an hour, and when it -was time for us to start to come here to -meet you—Maxwell, can you bear it?—when -I went and touched her shoulder -and told her to come away—she—was -dead.”</p> - -<p>Kate’s head fell upon her folded -arms on the table and her body shook -with the strain of the awful day’s -events. Fair suffered her to cry herself -into a quieter state. Then he -stooped and laying his hand on her -head, he said: “Kate, the children -have no mother now.”</p> - -<p class="center">THE END</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p class="f120"><i>All Gain</i></p> - -<p class="drop-cap">TAPESON—How much did he make out of that stock company he formed?</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Tickerly</span>—All that was put into it.</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_497"></a>[Pg 497]</span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<a name="Educational_Department" id="Educational_Department"> </a> -<h2 class="nobreak">Educational Department</h2></div> - -<p class="drop-cap">THERE are thousands of boys and girls, some in the schools and colleges, some not, -who are anxious to learn to develop themselves and <span class="smcap">rise</span>. Many, many things they -yearn to know which the class-room teachers do not teach. Many a subject they -are eager to study, if somebody will but show the way. Often there are speeches -to be made, essays to be written, debates to be prepared, and the boys and girls simply -do not know how to start about it. For instance, they are suddenly required to write or -speak on the question: “Should the Government own and operate the railroads?”</p> - -<p>They have never read anything about it, perhaps. Therefore they inquire: “Where -can we get some literature on the subject?” These young people do not want someone -else to write their speeches or essays; they want nothing more than to be told where to -get the materials to work with—the data upon which to construct their own argument.</p> - -<p>When I was a boy I felt the need of that kind of help very keenly. How was I to -know what books contained the information sought? Who could tell me? I soon found -that teachers did not love to be bored by inquiries of that character, and therefore I had -to browse around in the library at random for what was wanted. If the book needed was -there, I generally found it, after wasting much time in the search. If it was not there, as -frequently happened, I was at my row’s end. I had to debate without the full preparation -which should have been made.</p> - -<p>To help out many a student who may be troubled as I used to be, I am going to improvise -and conduct in this Magazine a modest little Educational Department. Primarily -it is meant for the young people. But the rule will be made as flexible as I feel like making -it. Age limits are not fair—no matter whether Osler was joking or not. It is not my -plan or purpose to write anybody’s speech or essay; but, where there is a subject of real -importance to be discussed by word or pen, I am willing to direct the preparation of the -student by telling him or her where the necessary information can be had. It would, -perhaps, not be improper for me to suggest some general ideas on the subject to be discussed—these -ideas to be worked out and put in form by the student. Often I may render -good service to the boys and girls by telling them where the books they need can be bought -at the lowest price. It took me many years to learn how to buy books, and it is a thing -worth knowing—unless you have more money than I ever had.</p> - -<p>The letters written to me in this department will be published as written; but the -names of the writers will be withheld. Therefore, no correspondent need be embarrassed -in making inquiries. My replies will be given in the Magazine.</p> - -<p>Hereafter all letters asking for information—historical, literary, political, economic—will -be answered through the <span class="smcap">Educational Department</span>.</p> - -<p class="right">T. E. W.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p class="right"><span class="smcap">University School</span>, <span class="smcap">Stone Mountain, Ga.</span>, April 17, 1905.</p> - -<p class="no-indent"><i>Hon. Thos. E. Watson, Thomson, Ga.</i></p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Dear Sir</span>: Would you kindly contribute -to your magazine an article something like -this:</p> - -<p>“Should a young man enter politics?”</p> - -<p>I have always had a strong desire to enter -politics, and have thought the matter over -a long time, but have as yet failed to reach -a conclusion. If you can do me the very -great favor to advise me on this line you -may feel assured of my hearty appreciation.</p> - -<p class="center">Faithfully your friend,</p> - -<p class="right">C—— W——.</p> - -</div> - -<p>It all depends on the motive. A -young man who feels the inclination -to enter politics for the purpose of -contributing his share to honest administration -should, by all means, -do so.</p> - -<p>Government does not take care of -itself any more than a cotton crop -does. Both require cultivation, management, -head-work and hand-work.</p> - -<p>We can never have good government -unless good men become interested -in politics. Perhaps there -is not a nobler calling known to man -than that of working for the public -welfare in matters governmental—and -this is politics.</p> - -<p>A high-minded, warm-hearted philanthropist, -like Mr. J. G. Phelps-Stokes, -of New York, acts admirably -when he ministers to the poor in the -slums; but his work is still more effective -when he gives his thought and -his work to the removal of those -abuses of government which produce<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_498"></a>[Pg 498]</span> -the greater part of the miseries of -those slums.</p> - -<p>The grandest task which human -intellect can set for itself today is -the redemption of the government -from the usurpers who have used -the machinery of government to enrich -themselves and to plunder their -less fortunate brothers.</p> - -<p>It is true that Henry Clay advised -his sons, “Be dogs rather than politicians,” -but this exclamation was -made when Mr. Clay was in a fury of -disappointment because he could not -get to be President.</p> - -<p>It is true that John C. Calhoun and -Daniel Webster died broken and disappointed -men, but Mr. Webster had -also set his heart upon being President, -and Mr. Calhoun had devoted himself -to an impossible program.</p> - -<p>If a young man enters politics for -the mere sake of getting office or personal -advancement, his motives are -sordid, and his life will be worth -nothing to his fellow-man and nothing -creditable to himself; but, if in conjunction -with honorable ambition, -he entertains the earnest desire to be -useful to the community in which he -lives by exercising his energies in -political work, there is a glorious -field for him.</p> - -<p>If this combination of motives inspires -you, my young friend, by all -means yield to your inclination and -“enter politics.”</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pa.</span>, April 1, 1905.</p> - -<p class="no-indent"><i>Mr. Thomas Watson, 121 West Forty-second Street, New York City.</i></p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Dear Sir</span>: Being in the midst of preparations -for a scholastic debate to be held here -on the —th, kindly permit me to ask your -views on the following: Our question is, -“<i>Resolved</i>, that the Government should -own and control all the railway lines.”</p> - -<p>What, in your opinion, are the strongest -arguments to sustain the affirmative side of -this question?</p> - -<p>Thanking you for this favor, I remain,</p> - -<p class="center">Very respectfully,</p> - -<p class="right">E——.</p> - -</div> - -<p>The strongest arguments in favor -of government ownership of railroads -are:</p> - -<p><i>First.</i> Under modern conditions, -the railroads are simply the public -highways over which freight and passengers -must pass, and public highways -should never be owned by private -citizens.</p> - -<p>If freight and passengers go by -water route, they must use navigable -rivers, bays, gulfs, oceans. These -public waterways belong to the public, -and all men admit that they should.</p> - -<p>Under modern conditions, freight -and passengers are compelled to go by -rail. We have to use the railroads -whether we want to or not. In -traveling any distance, it is no longer -possible for the public to transact -business by the use of the dirt roads, -consequently the transportation lines -are public in their nature and their -uses, and should belong to the public.</p> - -<p>They were not built by private -capital, as a rule. In almost every -case the railroads were paid for by -public and private donations, and the -charters granted represented simply -a license issued for a public purpose; -and of course that license can be revoked -at any time, just compensation -for vested interests first having -been paid.</p> - -<p><i>Second.</i> As now operated, the railroads -are ruinously oppressive in their -charges. Enormous sums of money -are being wrung from the people to pay -dividends on watered stock—a fictitious -value which has no existence except -in ink on paper.</p> - -<p><i>Third.</i> Under the present system, -the railroads have co-operated with -excessive tariff rates in building up the -trust, which publicly says to the -people: “Pay my price for food, or -starve”; “Pay my price for tools to -work with, or let your fields become -deserts.”</p> - -<p>By the secret rebate, by discriminations -of one kind or another, the independent -operator has been driven -out of the field everywhere and the -tyranny of the trusts established.</p> - -<p><i>Fourth.</i> It would remove the greater -part of the corruption which is the -bane of our politics.</p> - -<p>Railroad corporations maintain their<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_499"></a>[Pg 499]</span> -lobbyists at the capital of the nation -and at the capital of every state. They -corrupt representatives, judges, aldermen, -editors, politicians.</p> - -<p>They finance national and local -campaigns; their filthy finger-prints -are to be found on almost every page -of our public record.</p> - -<p>The only possible way to get rid of -this is to remove the motive. Put -the railroads where the Post-Office -Department is, and there will be no -more motive for rebates, discriminations -and wholesale bribery than there -is in the operation of the Post-Office -Department.</p> - -<p><i>Fifth.</i> Government ownership would -make the service uniform, simplify it -in every way and save vast sums by the -consolidation of all the various lines -into one great national system.</p> - -<p>It would not need so many high-priced -presidents, high-priced lawyers -and high-priced lobbyists.</p> - -<p>One very intelligent writer upon this -subject, C. Wood Davis, figures out a -saving of $160,000,000 on this item by -consolidation.</p> - -<p>Government ownership would abolish -deadheadism.</p> - -<p>Under our present system, the men -who are most able to pay their way on -the railroad ride free. The man who -is least able to pay, not only has to pay -for himself, but in the long run has to -pay also for the deadheads who ride -free. This will become obvious to anybody -who will think about it for a -moment.</p> - -<p><i>Sixth.</i> It would take away the power -of the railroads to destroy any individual, -any business or any community. -It would save the thousands -of lives which are now lost every year -for lack of double tracks, safety appliances -and reasonable hours of labor.</p> - -<p>It would enable the cotton grower -of the South to exchange his products -with the corn grower of the West in -such a way that the railroad would not -get more for hauling the corn than the -man who raised it got for it when he -sold it.</p> - -<p>At present the Southern farmer -pays seventy-five and eighty cents per -bushel, cash, for corn which the farmer -of the West sold for thirty-five cents. -The transportation companies get the -lion’s share of that enormous difference.</p> - -<p>It would put an end to strikes, and -would put into the hands of the people -a weapon with which they could destroy -any combine among capitalists -in any article of commerce.</p> - -<p>Among other things, it would save -the tremendous sum of $65,000,000 -which the Federal Government now -pays to the railroads every year for the -carriage of the mails, and that saving -could be applied to extending the -Rural Free Delivery to the remotest -parts of the country.</p> - -<p>If the Government owned the railroads -and carried its own mails in -steel cars, the Post-Office Department -would show a profit instead of a loss, -and railway mail clerks would be -able to insure their lives. At present -they cannot insure their lives, for the -reason that the Government allows -them to be hauled around in flimsy -dry-goods boxes, whose cost of construction -is less than the annual rent -which our Government pays for their -use and which invariably get smashed to -splinters whenever there is a collision.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p class="right"><span class="smcap">Locust Grove, Ga.</span>, April 21, 1905.</p> - -<p class="no-indent"><i>Hon. Thomas E. Watson, Thomson, Ga.</i></p> - -<p><span class="smcap">My Dear Sir</span>: As affirmative debaters on -the subject: “<i>Resolved</i>, That the democratic -principles of the United States are in danger -of being superseded by those of an aristocracy,” -we have secured very valuable -help from your articles in the April number -of <span class="smcap">Tom Watson’s Magazine</span>, and knowing -that you, being a student of political -economy, could give us some personal suggestions, -we would appreciate your sending -us material on the subject at our expense.</p> - -<p class="center">Very respectfully yours,</p> - -<p class="right">—— ——.</p> - -</div> - -<p>A Democracy—it being the government -of all by all and for the benefit -of all—cannot continue to be a true -democracy unless the laws conform -to the democratic standard laid down -by Thomas Jefferson—namely, “<i>Equal -and exact justice to all men, without -special favors to any</i>.”</p> - -<p>An Aristocracy is a government in<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_500"></a>[Pg 500]</span> -which the few make the laws for their -own benefit, and rule the country for -their own good.</p> - -<p>Therefore it must be apparent to -the most casual student that if we, by -law, confer special favors upon any -class of our citizens, we are building up -an aristocracy and are departing from -democratic principles.</p> - -<p>(1) For instance, the power to create -money and to regulate the volume -thereof is a sovereign power belonging -to the state.</p> - -<p>In countries ruled by kings that -power has always been one of the prerogatives -of the crown, as was the -power to make war and peace, to negotiate -treaties and to levy taxes. It -was recognized that the king could not -continue in the full exercise of his -kingly authority if he parted with the -tremendous power of creating money.</p> - -<p>Not until the English crown rested -upon the head of the most dissolute of -the Stuarts, Charles II, and he had become -the slave of an abandoned woman—who -was in turn the tool of a -grasping corporation, the East India -Company—was the power to create -money transferred from the king to a -corporation.</p> - -<p>Ever since that day Great Britain -has suffered from this surrender of -sovereign power, and it was this mistake -of the king which Alexander Hamilton, -either through mistake or by -design, adopted when he came to -frame a financial system for the -American people.</p> - -<p>It was his express purpose to create -an aristocracy of wealth, and he must -have realized that when he took from -the government the power to create -money and put it into the hands of a -private corporation he was creating -an aristocracy of wealth.</p> - -<p>The national banks of today represent -an aristocracy of wealth, supported -by the governmental function -of creating currency.</p> - -<p>There are, in round numbers, 5,000 -national bankers who have in circulation -$400,000,000 of their “promises to -pay,” which the law practically makes -legal tender.</p> - -<p>In other words, their <i>“promises to -pay” are used as money</i>.</p> - -<p>There are 80,000,000 natural persons -in this country; there are 5,000 corporations -called national banks! The -80,000,000 natural persons may sign -promissory notes for five dollars each, -and these notes are simply commercial -paper, having no circulation as money. -The 5,000 national banks sign their -promissory notes to the same amount—$400,000,000—and -these notes constitute, -for all practical purposes, a national -currency—a national money.</p> - -<p><i>The law gives them the special privilege -of getting rich on what they owe.</i> They -have also the more dangerous power -of <i>enlarging and contracting the volume -of currency, thus unsettling values, destroying -markets and producing panics, -as they did in 1893</i>.</p> - -<p>(2) The democratic principle of -equal and exact justice to all men -requires that the government should -derive its revenue from a system of taxation -which deals fairly with every citizen. -Each man should contribute to -the support of the government in proportion -to his ability. And taxes -should not be laid for the purpose of -building up one man’s business at the -expense of another’s.</p> - -<p>Our tariff system, from which the -government derives the greater part -of its revenue, violates democratic -principles.</p> - -<p>Its purpose and result is to build up -manufacturers at the expense of everybody -not engaged in manufacturing. -It gives the manufacturer a price which -he could not get without the law which -insures him the monopoly of the home -market. <i>All the world can compete -with our laborers by sending immigrants -to our shores; all the world can compete -with our farmers; but nobody is allowed -to compete with our manufacturers</i>, <span class="smcap">and -the result is the Trust</span>, under which -Americans combine to rob the helpless -American citizen, who is not allowed -to buy his food or his clothing -or tools to work with from anyone -except the American manufacturer.</p> - -<p>By this system, which lays the taxes -on the things which man buys, a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_501"></a>[Pg 501]</span> -citizen who is worth only a few hundred -or a few thousand dollars pays -just as much to the support of the -Federal Government as is paid by the -man who is worth tens of millions of -dollars.</p> - -<p>Consequently the inevitable tendency -of the tariff system is to create -a class which controls the government -for its own enrichment; <i>in other words, -an aristocracy</i>.</p> - -<p>(3) Consider our corporation laws. -Early in the history of our Government -Chief Justice John Marshall decided -that a charter granted to a corporation -was a contract and could not -be changed by the sovereign power of -the state. This decision was not good -law, and no good lawyer has ever considered -it so. John Marshall had a -great mind, but he was one of the rankest -partisans that ever lived. He -stretched every constitutional power in -the effort to build up what Hamilton -wanted—an aristocracy of wealth.</p> - -<p><i>Just as a natural person is born into -a community and lives in it subject to -having his status changed by the will of -the majority, expressed in a legal way, -so a corporation, born into a community -through its charter, should have been required -to take the same chance of having -its status changed, in a legal way, by -the will of the majority.</i></p> - -<p>A railroad corporation comes to the -legislature and procures a charter to -build a railroad; <i>but the state cannot -compel the corporation to build that railroad.</i> -In other words, the state cannot -compel the execution of the powers -granted under the charter; therefore -<i>such a charter lacks the very first element -of a contract, because a contract is one -in which each party can be compelled -to perform his part or pay consequent -damages</i>. But, in pursuance of the -decision of John Marshall in the Dartmouth -College case, our state and national -governments have erected a rule -of the corporations, and they are now -more powerful than the governments -which created them.</p> - -<p>The great transportation companies -exercise the power to tax, and the -people, who pay the taxes, have no -representation in the councils of those -who levy the taxes. This surely constitutes -an aristocracy of the most powerful -kind.</p> - -<p>The railroads have the power to tax -the life out of any industry, out of any -section, out of any city or town; <i>with -rebates and discriminations they build -up the Trusts which plunder the people</i>.</p> - -<p>By reason of the fact that they enjoy -the privilege of taxing other people, -<i>they pay no Federal taxes to support the -government</i>. Whatever they may pay -in the way of tariff on material which -they use in the construction of roadbeds -and rolling stock, they simply -charge up to expense account and levy -their rates so as to make the utmost -possible profit over and above what -they have paid out. The public cannot -escape the freight rates and the -passenger rates which the corporations -levy. The public cannot help itself. -The public is made to pay, in those -freight and passenger rates, every dollar -of tax which the railroads have -paid to the state and Federal governments. -Therefore, as in the case of -the national banks and the manufacturers, -we have a great class of corporations -given special powers by law -which are exercised at the expense of -the masses of the people, and which -escape all the burden of supporting the -national Government by reason of the -immunities and privileges which the -law has made for their exclusive benefit.</p> - -<p>Here, then, we have a complete illustration -of aristocracy—the government -of the few, by the few and for the -few, instead of the ideal of Jefferson -and Lincoln, “government of the -people, by the people and for the -people.”</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The man who makes a corner in wheat thinks he can relieve all the suffering -he caused by endowing a bed in a hospital.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_502"></a>[Pg 502]</span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<a name="The_Track_Walker" id="The_Track_Walker"> </a> -<h2 class="nobreak"><i>The Track Walker</i></h2></div> - -<p class="center space-above1 space-below1">BY THEODORE DREISER<br /> -<i>Author of “Sister Carrie”</i></p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p class="center">TRACK WALKER KILLED</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Westfield, N. J.</span>, April 14.—John Long, -a New Jersey Central track walker, was -killed by a train today.</p> - -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap">IF you have nothing else to do -some day when you are passing -through the vast network of -tracks of, for example, the great railway -running northward out of New -York, give a thought to the man who -walks them for you, the man on whom -your safety, in this particular place, -so much depends.</p> - -<p>He is a peculiar individual. His -work is so very exceptional, so very -different from your own. While you -are sitting in your seat placidly wondering -whether you are going to have -a pleasant evening at the theatre or -whether the business to which you are -about to attend will be as profitable -as you desire, he is out on the long -track over which you are speeding, -calmly examining the bolts that hold -the shining metals together. Neither -rain nor sleet can deter him. The presence -of intense heat or intense cold has -no effect on his labors. Day after day, -at all hours and in all sorts of weather, -he may be seen placidly plodding these -iron highways, his wrench and sledge -crossed over his shoulders, his eyes riveted -on the rails, carefully watching to -see whether any bolts are loose or any -spikes sprung. Upward of two hundred -cannon-ball flyers rush by him -on what might be called a four-track -bowling alley each day, and yet he -dodges them all for perhaps as little -as any laborer is paid. If he were not -watchful, if he did not perform his work -carefully and well, if he had a touch -of malice or a feeling of vengefulness, -he could wreck your train, mangle your -body and send you praying and screaming -to your Maker. There would be -no sure way of detecting him.</p> - -<p>Death lurks in this tunnel. Here, -if anywhere, it may be said to be constantly -watching. What with the noise, -which is a perfect and continuous uproar, -the smoke, which hangs like a -thick, gloomy pall over everything, and -the weak, ineffective lights which shine -out on your near approach like will-o’-the-wisps, -the chances of hearing and -seeing the approach of any particular -train are small. Side arches, or small -pockets in the walls, are provided for -the protection of the men, but these -are not always to be reached in time -when a train thunders out of the gloom. -If you look sharp you may sometimes -see a figure crouching in one of these -as you scurry past. He is so close to -the grinding wheels that the dust and -soot of them are flung into his very -soul.</p> - -<p>And yet for all this the money that -is paid these men is beggarly small. -The work that they do is not considered -exceptionally valuable. Fifteen -cents an hour is all that they are paid, -and this for ten to twelve hours’ work -every day. That their lives are in constant -danger is not of any point in the -matter. They are supposed to work -willingly for this, and they do. Only -when one is picked off and his body -mangled by a passing train is the grimness -of the sacrifice emphasized, and -then only for a moment. The space -which such accident gets in the public -prints is scarcely more than a line.</p> - -<p>And now what would you say of -men who would do this work for fifteen<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_503"></a>[Pg 503]</span> -cents an hour? What estimate -would you put on their mental capacity? -Would you say that they are -only worth what they can be made to -work for? One of these men, an intelligent -type of laborer, not a drinker, -and one who did not even smoke, attracted -the writer’s attention by the -punctuality with which he crossed a -given spot on his beat. He was a -middle-aged man, married, and had -three children. Day after day, week -after week, he used to arrive at this -particular spot, his eye alert, his step -quick, and when a train approached -he seemed to become aware of it as if -by instinct. When finally asked by -the writer why he did not get something -better to do he said, “I have no -trade. Where could I get more?”</p> - -<p>This man was killed by a train. Sure -as was his instinct and keen his eye, he -was nevertheless caught one evening, -and at the very place where he deemed -himself most sure. His head was completely -obliterated, and he had to be -identified by his clothes. When he was -removed another eager applicant was -given his place, and now he is walking -in the tunnel with a half-dozen others. -If you question these men they will all -tell you the same story. They do not -want to do what they are doing, but -it is better than nothing.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<a name="The_House_of_Cards" id="The_House_of_Cards"> </a> -<h2 class="nobreak"><i>The House of Cards</i></h2></div> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <span class="i0"><span class="bigfont">S</span>O high I built it, high—</span> - <span class="i2">With love and tenderness to make it strong,</span> - <span class="i0">And thought me—foolish, blind—</span> - <span class="i2">That I should keep it all the ages long.</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <span class="i0">So firm I built it, firm—</span> - <span class="i2">And joyed when raging storms around it blew</span> - <span class="i0">To see how stanch it stood,</span> - <span class="i2">My house of cards, in every part so true.</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <span class="i0">So fair it was, so fair—</span> - <span class="i2">And how I loved it with its gables high</span> - <span class="i0">Piercing horizon’s rim,</span> - <span class="i2">And with the lark far to the quiet sky.</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <span class="i0">So much I loved, so much—</span> - <span class="i2">I almost thought when close within its gate,</span> - <span class="i0">That Heaven had naught to give.</span> - <span class="i2">One dashed it down—and I am desolate.</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="right"><span class="smcap">Ruth Sterry.</span></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p class="f120"><i>Royal Road to Wealth</i></p> - -<p class="drop-cap">COBWIGGER—If you take advantage of your opportunities you will be in -comfortable circumstances.</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Freddie</span>—What must you do in order to get rich, dad?</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Cobwigger</span>—Take advantage of other people’s opportunities.</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_504"></a>[Pg 504]</span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<a name="The_Say_of_Other_Editors" id="The_Say_of_Other_Editors"> </a> -<h2 class="nobreak"><i>The Say of Other Editors</i></h2></div> - -<h3>“A FREE BREAKFAST TABLE”</h3> - -<p class="drop-cap">THE recent suggestion of a tariff tax -on coffee, probably put out as a -feeler, is responsible for the resurrection -and reintroduction of the -once familiar but never appropriate phrase -at the head of this article. It was never -appropriate; it was always a sarcastic sneer, -rather than a statement of fact, because the -memory of the most aged citizen runneth -not to the time when “a free breakfast -table,” a breakfast table untaxed as to itself, -its equipment and the food and drink it -bore, could be found in any American home. -At this time, under the tariff of 1897, what -could be more preposterously absurd than -the notion that a tax on coffee would be a -decree of banishment for that alleged boon?</p> - -<p>The <i>Post</i>, being an advocate and defender -of the policy of protection, although -a condemner and contemner of the outrages -incident to the stand-pat policy, is in no -hurry to witness the advent of “a free -breakfast table”; but the <i>Post</i> prefers that -such a crass absurdity, such a stinging -satire as this old shibboleth, should be returned -forthwith to the dust and darkness -from which it was dragged when the coffee -tax proposition appeared.</p> - -<p>The truth is, you go to breakfast clad in -taxed garments, wearing no single article -that is not taxed in the tariff; you sit in a -chair that is taxed as to all the various -materials that enter into it, and taxed as a -whole; the table itself is similarly taxed, -and we can think of no article on it that is -free. Your tablecloth, your napkins and -your napkin rings are all in the tariff -schedules. Your fish or meat, your vegetables -and fruit, your bread, your butter, -your rolls, your griddle cakes, your sugar -and syrup, your salt, vinegar, pepper, -mustard, olive oil and all other condiments -show up in the list of things taxed. So is -it with your china or other crockery, and -your knives, forks and spoons.</p> - -<p>And your coffee is free only as to the raw -bean. It is roasted over a taxed fire and in -a taxed roaster, is stored in taxed receptacles -and transported by taxed horses in taxed -wagons; when retailed, it goes out in taxed -bags, to be deposited in other taxed vessels. -Having been ground in a taxed mill, your -cook prepares it for the table by using a -taxed coffee pot. If you use cream in your -“free” coffee you must use taxed cream; -if you use sugar in it you must use taxed -sugar.</p> - -<p>This is the “free breakfast table” whose -exit will come if a duty is imposed on the -raw coffee bean!—<i>Washington Post.</i></p> - -<hr class="r5" /> - -<p><span class="smcap">That</span> familiar old hymn, “In This Wheat -By and Bye,” has lost its attractions for -Jawn W. Gates and his accomplices.—<i>New -York American.</i></p> - -<hr class="r5" /> - -<h3>FAR-SIGHTED CARLOS MORALES</h3> - -<p><span class="smcap">The</span> United States is now in Santo Domingo; -President Roosevelt, with a stroke -of the pen, has fixed Don Carlos Morales -firmly in the saddle. That cheerful and -ingenious bandit begins to enjoy the unearned -increment of the “status quo.” He -can read now with a smile of the erstwhile -terrible preparations of Jiminez and Barba. -He can sit in his palace and rake in 45 per -cent. of the customs revenues of his republic, -collected for him and scrupulously accounted -for. That was what Morales wanted, and -he is happy. Domestic malice, foreign levy—nothing -can touch him further.</p> - -<p>If Cipriano Castro had one-tenth of the -ingenuity of his brother bandit of the black -republic he would have seen long ago that -his present policy is foolish. Instead of -making faces at the United States, Castro -should have been busy inducing the foreigners -in his country to set up a concurrent -roar. He should have acknowledged the -validity of claims of any kind and to any -amount, the bigger the better. Then, at -the psychological moment, he should have -pointed to the imminent danger to the -Monroe Doctrine, and begged the United -States to enter and preserve order, collect -his revenues and pay him a share of the -proceeds.</p> - -<p>If there is any other Central or South -American dictator who is shaky on his pins, -now is the time he should apply for relief. -Let him take a lesson from Morales and -imitate that “prudent and far-seeing statesman.” -Forty-five per cent. of the revenues, -in clean, hard coin, without work or -worry, is better than all the revenues with -danger of revolution and dismemberment.</p> - -<p>Step up, gentlemen! The United States -has a big navy, and it has nothing to do at -home. Our duty is to protect our weak -and struggling sister republics, and now -that the Senate is out of the way, we propose -to do it. We shall take right hold, -and leave to the future the problem of how -to let go.—<i>Washington Post.</i></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_505"></a>[Pg 505]</span></p> - -<hr class="r5" /> - -<p><span class="smcap">A man</span> was killed at Lancaster, Ontario, -while trying to rob a bank. There are still -a few of the old-time robbers who have not -learned that the proper method of robbing -a bank is to work from the inside.—<i>New -York American.</i></p> - -<hr class="r5" /> - -<p><span class="smcap">A good</span> sign of awakening conscience is -evident by the protest from the ministers -against accepting Rockefeller’s money that -has been wrested from the people by indirection. -The great success of the Standard -Oil robberies has spawned upon the -country hundreds of such corporations that -plunder the public with even more skill than -the Standard. If the church accepts this -donation it will be as fatal to it as the thirty -pieces of silver were to Judas. This protest -against the gift by these ministers is a most -courageous act. The Standard Oil tactics -may lose every one of them their pulpits. -The Standard Oil management will stoop to -any kind of dirty work to perpetuate the -system. They are attempting now to ruin -Lawson, and, with all his astuteness and his -millions of wealth to back him, they may -succeed in doing so. The people should -stand by Lawson to a man, and the congregations -of these ministers that have -dared to affront Rockefeller should see that -none of his poisoned arrows reach them.—<i>The -Forum, Denver, Col.</i></p> - -<hr class="r5" /> - -<h3>CHRISTIAN CIVILIZATION</h3> - -<p><span class="smcap">We</span> hear much of Christian Civilization, -but we do not see so much of it. Let us -consider briefly the Christian world:</p> - -<p>Russia—Anarchy, rapine, bloodshed, -pauperism and starvation.</p> - -<p>Austro-Hungary—Disease, strife, strikes, -poverty and pauperism of millions.</p> - -<p>Italy—Overpopulation, dire poverty, -with millions of the people actual beggars, -excessive taxation and a practically bankrupt -treasury.</p> - -<p>England—Army of unemployed, a vast -section of the population in a poverty so -appalling that it makes one’s heart bleed to -read the details.</p> - -<p>Ireland—Practically a nation of paupers, -not of their own volition either, but as a result -of evil laws and customs which have -destroyed the hopes of a gallant people.</p> - -<p>Spain—Once the proud leader of nations, -reduced to the rags and sores of Lazarus.</p> - -<p>United States—In the grasp of graft, the -people being robbed of their earnings at -every turn by a lot of as conscienceless -pirates as ever scuttled a ship, and a government -apparently impotent.</p> - -<p>Everywhere we find more or less the same -evil conditions.</p> - -<p>Our so-called Christian Civilization is as -much like the genuine article as the Texas -long-horn is like a thoroughbred Holstein.—<i>The -Commonweal, Atlanta, Ga.</i></p> - -<hr class="r5" /> - -<p><span class="smcap">I interpret</span> Dr. Osler to mean: Young -man, get a move on you if you want to -amount to anything. If you are a failure -at forty, you have missed your vocation; -your experience may serve you to good -purpose, but if you are dependent at sixty, -why, “off with your head!”...</p> - -<p>Our President says it is very wicked for -the mail-carriers to organize and have a -man lobby for them; still worse to organize -and defeat a Congressman who was blocking -their efforts to get better wages and -conditions of employment. Why don’t the -President call a halt on the corporation -lobby (some of them having known offices -in Washington with as many as ten clerks) -who defeat men and measures. Let this be -denied, but we do know that corporations -fix nominating conventions where nominations -are equivalent to election; especially -naming those who say: “I am in the hands -of my friends.”—<i>Ohio Liberty Bell.</i></p> - -<hr class="r5" /> - -<p><span class="smcap">The</span> Government issues money and loans -it to the national banks at one-half of 1 per -cent. per year. This is old party doctrine, -for it has prevailed under the rule of both -old parties. The People’s Party favors -issuing the money direct to the people -without the intervention of banking corporations. -On this question do you agree -with the Populists or old parties?—<i>Missouri -World.</i></p> - -<hr class="r5" /> - -<p><span class="smcap">Wouldn’t</span> it be amusing if an individual -owned the New York Post-Office, paying -sweatshop wages to letter-carriers, working -them all hours, discharging them without -reason—putting girls in their places as -much as possible—and charging twenty-five -cents for a letter halfway across the continent?</p> - -<p>Wouldn’t it be beautiful if a J. P. Morgan -or Mr. August Belmont of the race-track -<i>could</i> own all the industries and real estate -of New York?</p> - -<p>How nicely Mr. Morgan would capitalize -such properties in Steel Trust fashion! And -what a nice time Mr. Belmont would have -with the labor unions! There would be -plenty of work for strike-breakers.</p> - -<p>The American people believe in public -ownership of all properties actually created -by the public—and public ownership they -are going to have.—<i>New York Evening -Journal.</i></p> - -<hr class="r5" /> - -<p><span class="smcap">The</span> slave-owners of today do not realize -that they own slaves. And the slaves do -not realize that they have owners. Formerly -one man owned one, a dozen or a -hundred slaves. Occasionally even more -than that. Now a hundred thousand men -each own a part of every slave. The great -mass of the people are slaves to unjust systems, -and everyone who profits by these<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_506"></a>[Pg 506]</span> -systems is part owner of everyone who loses -by them. If there could be a partition suit -and every slave owner be set apart his -share, the fact that there are slaves today, -and millions of them, would be quite plain. -It would be found that this man owns fifty -slaves, that man a hundred and some as -high as fifty thousand. Should the richest -girl in the United States be given white -girls only as her share of the slaves, she -would have a thousand at least—a thousand -white girl slaves. Some persons are -part slave and part free, because they get a -little more than the commonest kind of a -living. Sixty million people in the United -States are either all or part slave, and the -number who are all slave is much greater -than that of the black population in the -days of chattel slavery. This new slavery -exists because the owners do not realize -that they are owners and the slaves do not -realize that they are slaves. Years ago -Mrs. Emery, of Lansing, Mich., wrote a -little book, entitled “The Seven Financial -Conspiracies Which Have Enslaved the -American People.” The way to freedom is -financial legislation in the interest of the -people.—<i>Missouri World.</i></p> - -<hr class="r5" /> - -<p><span class="smcap">The</span> nation that prepares for war will -sooner or later have war. We get just anything -we prepare for, and we get nothing -else. Everything that happens is a sequence; -this happened today because you -did that yesterday.—<i>The Philistine.</i></p> - -<hr class="r5" /> - -<p><span class="smcap">In</span> 1896 Mr. Bryan had undisputed control -of the organized Democracy and was -defeated.</p> - -<p>In 1900 he still had control, and was defeated -worse than before.</p> - -<p>Now, let it be remembered that all the -Western Populists, with their newspaper -press—including such strong and widely -circulated papers as the Nebraska <i>Independent</i>, -supported him; and let it be further -understood that now and in the future -he will get no support from Populists or the -Populist press; then figure out the lurid -prospects Mr. Bryan has of sweeping the -country in 1908.</p> - -<p>Now, with this actual state of things confronting -him, does anyone believe that Mr. -Bryan has any hope of reorganizing the -shattered ranks and disgraced leaders of the -Democracy into a winning party in 1908?</p> - -<p>And, if he has no such hope—and in reason -he cannot have—what is his purpose -putting so much into a cause that he knows -is absolutely hopeless?</p> - -<p>We can see but one reason for Mr. Bryan’s -course, and that is that he intends to prevent -the organization of a party that would -unite the South and West, and defeat the -plutocracy, thus restoring the Government -to the original purpose of its great founders.</p> - -<p>Mr. Bryan will hold in party slavery a -great many Democrats who do not think—and -unfortunately they are legion—and -thus divide the men who ought to stand -together, as it is evident they must fall -together, making an easy victory for the -Eastern money power.—<i>People’s Tribune, -Prescott, Ark.</i></p> - -<hr class="r5" /> - -<p><span class="smcap">“On</span> account of insufficient laws regulating -the matter, and the utter disregard of -even these, hundreds of workmen, mostly -foreigners, are being killed each year in the -steel mills, blast furnaces and coal mines.”</p> - -<p>Coroner Joseph G. Armstrong made this -statement in addressing a jury in the case -of a man killed at the plant of the American -Steel and Wire Company. It was only a -case of “another Hungarian killed in the -mills,” as the Coroner expressed it, but -Adelbert Merle, the Austro-Hungarian Consul-General -in this city, backed by the -Coroner, will appeal to the state, and, if -necessary, to the Federal authorities, to do -something to protect these men.</p> - -<p>“During the first month of my term,” -said Coroner Armstrong, “one plant alone, -the Duquesne plant of the United States -Steel Corporation, had twelve separate -fatalities. That was the number reported -to this office. How many more there were -no one may ever know. I went to the officials -of the corporation and entered a complaint. -Then an order was issued that more care -would have to be taken, and next month -not a death was reported from the Duquesne -plant.”</p> - -<p>Said Consul-General Merle:</p> - -<p>“A very large number of the Hungarians -employed in the mills are American citizens, -and some consideration should be given -them on that account, if not on the score of -humanity. It is proposed to organize the -Hungarians and other foreigners who are -voters and see if some action cannot be -secured in the legislature to compel the -mill owners to give better protection to the -workmen.”</p> - -<p>“The number of fatalities which occur in -the steel mills, the blast furnaces and the -coal mines in the Pittsburg district are -never fully reported,” said an attaché of -the consulate. “Scarcely a month goes by -that we are not called upon to investigate the -case of some workman who is reported to us -as having ‘disappeared.’ At present we are -working on two such cases. Both are -identical as regards details.</p> - -<p>“The men were stationed at the top of -blast furnaces owned by the United States -Steel Corporation to receive the cars of ore -as they came up and dump them. There is -only a small bridge for them to stand on. -One misstep or awkward movement, and -the man will follow the ore into the furnace. -The men are not missed until it is noticed -that the cars are not being dumped. No -one knows what has become of them. -Their coats and dinner pails await them at -the bottom of the elevator, but the men<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_507"></a>[Pg 507]</span> -never come to claim them. Then they are -reported to have ‘disappeared.’ It is not -known positively that they have fallen into -the furnace, but there can be no other conclusion.”</p> - -<p>The officials of the steel mills say they -will do anything in their power to conduce -to the safety of the men, and that the foremen -in charge are mainly responsible for -any dereliction.—<i>New York World.</i></p> - -<hr class="r5" /> - -<p><span class="smcap">If</span> a man should loan money at one-half -of 1 per cent., and borrow it back at 8 per -cent., and keep this up year after year, his -family would have no trouble in getting -him put under guardianship. The people -through their Government are acting just -as foolishly when they issue money to -national banks....</p> - -<p>A billion and a half of taxes. Another -billion and a half of railroad charges. And -a billion of interest, not counting the interest -on public and railroad debts. A -total of four billion dollars. This is the sum -the people of the United States must pay -each year whether money be scarce or -plentiful. Is it any wonder times get -harder when money gets scarcer?...</p> - -<p>If the people could realize that their hard -struggle to keep body and soul together and -at the same time lay by a little for old age—making -life a mere battle for existence—if -they could realize that this struggle is made -necessary by the present systems, that prosperity -is the natural right of everyone who -does his share of labor, they would be more -easily induced to vote against monopoly -rule. Populists should endeavor to dissatisfy -the people with their present condition -and show them that they should be -getting so much more out of life.—<i>Missouri -World.</i></p> - -<hr class="r5" /> - -<h3>LESE-MAJESTE</h3> - -<p><span class="smcap">Because</span> a passing steamer did not regard -it necessary to give a tow to the <i>Sylph</i> -the other day some of the frenzied Republican -newspapers of the North seem to -think there will be trouble with the skipper -of the afore-mentioned steamer when T. -Roosevelt gets back to civilization.</p> - -<p>For the <i>Sylph</i>, they claim, is the President’s -yacht, and certainly there must be -punishment, prompt and dire, for any rover -of the high seas who dares show lack of deep -concern over her.</p> - -<p>Lèse-majesté with a vengeance!</p> - -<p>Of course, it does not occur to the frenzied -Republican press that the <i>Sylph</i> is not the -President’s yacht; that she is a vessel of the -navy, kept in commission at public expense, -and should be used only for public purposes; -and that the President has no possible warrant -in law for keeping her at Washington -or taking her out to sea for the personal -pleasure of himself or the members of his -family.</p> - -<p>If the <i>Sylph</i> is not needed in the active -service of the country she ought to be taken -out of commission; if she is needed by the -navy she should be so used. In either event -she is not the President’s yacht, nor should -she be utilized as such at public expense.—<i>Atlanta -Constitution.</i></p> - -<hr class="r5" /> - -<h3>AUTOMOBILE MANSLAUGHTER</h3> - -<p><span class="smcap">Within</span> one week of the new season five -persons have been killed by automobiles in -this city, not counting the young man who -fell from the “Seeing New York” omnibus. -As many more have been very seriously -hurt.</p> - -<p>The heartlessness of some speed-maddened -votaries has been again illustrated. -There was the woman who in a Brooklyn -street shrieked out: “Go on quickly, Harry; -the man is killed!” There is that young -man of the reckless rich class, whose autos -are debited with two deaths and are a -terror to thousands living, caught again -running at eighteen miles an hour in the -street. That “sports” might scorch to the -Aqueduct races a little girl in Elmhurst -yielded up her young life.</p> - -<p>The man who drives his auto at dangerous -speed is as responsible morally for the -death he thereby causes as one would be -who should fire a revolver at random down -the same street and by “accident” kill a -victim.</p> - -<p>Manslaughter by automobile will continue -until it is punished as severely as -other manslaughter, and until the certain -penalty of illegal speeding is jail, not for -the driver, but for the owner.—<i>New York -World.</i></p> - -<hr class="r5" /> - -<p><span class="smcap">Mr.</span> Thomas Lawson has tumbled from -his lofty pedestal. Multiplied thousands of -people in this goodly land of ours were -venerating him, were reverencing him—some -of them just about beginning to worship -him. But he has proven himself to be -only common clay. He was leading the van -against the iniquities of “frenzied finance,” -exposing the chicanery, the fraud, the -swindling, the downright stealing every day -perpetrated in the Stock Exchange dealings, -the manipulation of stocks and bonds and -the fleecing of the lambs. Now comes the -news that in December last he made in stock -speculations, as a votary at the altar of -“frenzied finance,” $1,500,000, and in this -mild and gentle month of April the comfortable -figure of $1,000,000. Alas, alas! -and lackaday! He was only human after -all. His wings had not even begun to -sprout.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <span class="i0">Imperious Cæsar, dead and turned to clay,</span> - <span class="i0">Might stop a hole to keep the wind away.</span> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="right">—<i>Southern Mercury.</i></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_508"></a>[Pg 508]</span></p> - -<hr class="r5" /> - -<p><span class="smcap">If</span> Bryan, Hearst and Dunne should succeed -in raising the old hulk of Democracy, -Cleveland, Hill and Gorman will scuttle it -again. Better come out, boys, and take a -new ship....</p> - -<p>Dr. Washington Gladden is not going to -let the Rockefeller gift rest. He says it is -the right and duty of every American -citizen to sit in judgment on Rockefeller -and his methods.—<i>Forum, Denver.</i></p> - -<hr class="r5" /> - -<p><span class="smcap">Judge</span> A. B. Parker, in a speech in New -York “Jefferson Day,” said the “defeat of -the Democratic Party was emphasized by -the unprecedented expenditure of money.” -Everybody knows that there was not one-fifth -as much used by the Republicans to -defeat him as there was to defeat Bryan. -Perhaps he meant the “unprecedented” use -of money to secure him the nomination. -What else could he mean?—<i>The Jeffersonian, -Thomson, Ga.</i></p> - -<hr class="r5" /> - -<p><span class="smcap">Stand</span> for the referendum in the management -of the business of the Farmers’ Union. -By this means you will do away with the -boss, especially the political boss. Demand -the right to settle your own affairs, and do -not leave it to self-constituted leaders.—<i>The -Watchman, Cleburne, Tex.</i></p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<a name="News_Record" id="News_Record"> </a> -<h2 class="nobreak"><i>News Record</i></h2></div> - -<p class="center">FROM APRIL 7 TO MAY 7, 1905</p> - -<h3><i>Government and Politics</i></h3> - -<div class="news"> - -<p class="day">April 8.—President Roosevelt made the last -speech of his present trip, and left -Texas for Oklahoma to hunt.</p> - -<p>The South and Central American governments -allege to Secretary Taft that discrimination -in freight rates by the -Panama Railroad has restricted direct -trade with the United States.</p> - -<p class="day">April 9.—President Roosevelt reaches Oklahoma, -where he will hunt wolves for a -few days.</p> - -<p class="day">April 10.—Pension Commissioner Warner -discovers a number of pensioners on -the rolls who have never served in the -United States Army.</p> - -<p>Judge Edward F. Dunne is installed Mayor -of Chicago.</p> - -<p>Commissioner of Corporations Garfield -reaches Kansas to begin an investigation -of Standard Oil operations.</p> - -<p>The United States Marshal at Chicago -seizes six trunks full of records and accounts -of the Etna Trading Company, -which are said to contain damaging -evidence against the Beef Trust.</p> - -<p>The United States Supreme Court decides -that the right of trial by jury extends -to Alaska.</p> - -<p class="day">April 11.—The Legislative Investigation -Committee, which is making an investigation -of the lighting plants of -New York City, has subpœnaed Mayor -McClellan, Charles F. Murphy and other -well-known politicians to appear before -the committee.</p> - -<p>President Castro refuses to withdraw the -asphalt cases from the Venezuelan -courts, claiming that the courts of -Venezuela have jurisdiction over such -matters.</p> - -<p>Secretary Shaw defends the “drawback” -on Canadian wheat.</p> - -<p>United States Senator Mitchell, of Oregon, -pleads not guilty to indictments in connection -with land frauds in that state.</p> - -<p class="day">April 12.—The Executive Committee of the -Panama Canal Commission holds its -first meeting in Washington, and decides -to abolish preferential freight -rates on the Panama Railroad.</p> - -<p>Clarence E. Darrow is appointed special -corporation counsel to have charge of -street railway litigation in Chicago.</p> - -<p class="day">April 13.—Four employees of the Beef -Trust indicted by the Federal Grand -Jury in Chicago for opposing a deputy -marshal in serving subpœnas.</p> - -<p>Judge Alton B. Parker and Mayor McClellan -are the principal speakers at -the New York Jefferson Day banquet. -They both urge harmony and conservatism.</p> - -<p>At the Chicago Jefferson dinner Mr. Bryan -and Mayor Dunne urge Government control -of public utilities.</p> - -<p>Secretary Taft informs the South American -Ministers that the United States -will maintain the open door in the Panama -Canal Zone.</p> - -<p>Senator Burton, of Kansas, again indicted -for acting as attorney for the Rialto -Grain and Securities Company before -the Post-Office Department at Washington.</p> - -<p>President Roosevelt leaves Oklahoma for -Colorado.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_509"></a>[Pg 509]</span></p> - -<p class="day">April 16.—The Legislative Investigation -Committee inspects the lighting plants -of New York City.</p> - -<p>National Congress of Women demands -equality of the sexes.</p> - -<p>The United States agents who were to investigate -the land frauds in Utah have -been relieved of duty, undue influence -being charged.</p> - -<p class="day">April 17.—Secretary Taft formally takes -over the Panama Railway Company -for the United States Government.</p> - -<p>The Senate Committee on Interstate -Commerce begins a hearing on railroad -rates at Washington.</p> - -<p>The United States Supreme Court decides -that the New York law limiting -the working hours of bakers to ten -hours per day is unconstitutional.</p> - -<p class="day">April 18.—Sherman Bell, late Adjutant-General -of Colorado, has been offered -the command of the army of Venezuela.</p> - -<p>V. L. Morawetz, general counsel for the -Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé Railroad, -testifies before the Interstate -Commerce Committee.</p> - -<p>The American Asphalt Company asks the -United States to obtain from Venezuela -the restoration of its properties until -the courts can decide the question of -title.</p> - -<p class="day">April 19.—Mayor McClellan and Comptroller -Grout appear before the New -York Legislative Investigation Committee -and testify about the light contracts -for New York City.</p> - -<p>Mr. Hunter, the builder of the Manchester -Canal, has been selected as one -of the consulting engineers by the -Panama Canal Board.</p> - -<p class="day">April 20.—Charles F. Murphy denies that -he has any interest in the lighting contracts -for the city of New York.</p> - -<p>Judge Grosscup makes permanent an -order restraining the city of Chicago -from enforcing the interchangeable -transfer ordinance.</p> - -<p class="day">April 21.—The Legislative Committee ends -its investigation in New York City. -No finding has been made public, -though it is understood that there will -be a reduction of about 25 per cent. in -the cost of lights.</p> - -<p>Secretary Hitchcock dismisses eight -clerks from the Indian warehouse in -New York for misuse of Government -funds.</p> - -<p>United States Cruiser <i>Tacoma</i> goes to -Santo Domingo to protect American -interests there.</p> - -<p>The Executive Committee of the Panama -Canal Commission gives a contract for -twenty-four locomotives.</p> - -<p class="day">April 22.—The Government summons several -Chicago bank officials to testify -against the Beef Trust.</p> - -<p class="day">April 23.—At a Prohibition meeting in -Texas Congressman Pinckney is killed -and several others seriously wounded.</p> - -<p class="day">April 24.—United States Supreme Court -issues mandate for the removal of -George W. Bates to Washington for -trial on postal fraud charges.</p> - -<p>Walter D. Heine makes an argument before -the Interstate Commerce Committee -against the regulation of railroad -rates by the Government.</p> - -<p class="day">April 25.—Beef Trust sends papers and -books wanted by the Chicago Grand -Jury to Canada.</p> - -<p>Secretary Taft announces that the Government’s -acquisition of the Panama -Railway was not for the purpose of affecting -railroad or ocean rates, but for -the purpose of acquiring an instrument -with which to construct the canal.</p> - -<p>Eight thousand men are now employed -on the Panama Canal, and this force is -being added to at the rate of 800 to -1,000 per month.</p> - -<p>The Attorney-General holds that the -agreement between the Government -and certain railroads for rebates is -valid.</p> - -<p>It is believed in Washington that reductions -must be made in the present -tariff schedules to meet the deficit in -the Federal Treasury.</p> - -<p class="day">April 26.—Negotiations for an immigration -treaty between the United States and -China have been abandoned.</p> - -<p>Postmaster-General Cortelyou notifies the -Assistant Postmaster at Louisville that -he must resign as postmaster or as a -member of the State Republican Committee.</p> - -<p>Mr. Bowen, the American Minister to -Venezuela, charges that former Minister -Loomis, now Assistant Secretary of -State, accepted a check from the American -Asphalt Company for $10,000 for -services rendered. Mr. Bowen has made -his charges in writing to the President.</p> - -<p class="day">April 27.—Minister Bowen will be ordered -to return from Venezuela to substantiate -his charges against Assistant Secretary -of State Loomis.</p> - -<p class="day">April 29.—Mr. Loomis denies charges made -by Mr. Bowen against him and files -charges against Mr. Bowen.</p> - -<p>W. W. Russell, American Minister to Colombia, -succeeds Mr. Bowen as Minister -to Venezuela.</p> - -<p class="day">May 3.—J. J. Hill testifies before the Senate -interstate Commerce Committee that -Government control of railroad rates -will be disastrous.</p> - -<p>Federal Grand Jury subpœnas thirty representatives -of the Traffic Departments -of different railroads to testify in the -Beef Trust investigation.</p> - -<p class="day">May 5.—The Federal Grand Jury for the -District of New York begins an investigation -of the Tobacco Trust’s -business methods.</p> - -<p>Attorney-General Moody holds that the -Government can legally regulate railroad -rates.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_510"></a>[Pg 510]</span></p> - -<p>Governor-General Davis stricken with -fever. Secretary Taft orders him to -leave Panama and return home.</p> - -<p class="day">May 6.—President Roosevelt ends his -hunting trip in Colorado and starts -for Washington.</p> - -</div> - -<h3><i>General Home News</i></h3> - -<div class="news"> - -<p class="day">April 9.—After a fight covering twenty -years and costing millions of dollars, -the Bell Telephone Company has been -whipped by the rural lines in Iowa and -forced to connect with them.</p> - -<p>Several hundred sailors belonging to the -North Atlantic squadron desert at Pensacola.</p> - -<p class="day">April 10.—J. H. Hyde and W. H. McIntyre, -of the Equitable Insurance Company, -are seeking to intervene in the -suit of Franklin B. Lord, a stockholder, -for an injunction to restrain the officers -of the company from carrying out the -mutualization plan.</p> - -<p class="day">April 11.—The Grand Jury of Franklin -County, Ky., returns four hundred true -bills against the Standard Oil Company -for failing to procure peddlers’ license -as required by the Kentucky statutes.</p> - -<p>The Prudential Committee of the American -Board of Commissioners for Foreign -Missions formally accepts the gift -of $100,000 from John D. Rockefeller -and issues a statement explaining its -action.</p> - -<p class="day">April 13.—Father Schell, a young Catholic -priest who has done much to put a stop -to dishonest land agents swindling the -Winnebago Indians, is assaulted and -severely beaten.</p> - -<p class="day">April 14.—“General” Jacob S. Coxey, of -“Coxey’s Army,” declared a bankrupt.</p> - -<p class="day">April 15.—J. H. Hyde admits using Equitable -funds for underwriting purposes, -but declares that President Alexander -was a party to such transactions.</p> - -<p class="day">April 18.—Beef Trust again raises the prices -of meats.</p> - -<p class="day">April 19.—General Managers and Agents of -the Equitable meet in New York and -ask Vice-President Hyde to withdraw -from the society in the interest of harmony.</p> - -<p class="day">April 20.—Unloading 5,000,000 bushels of -wheat on the Chicago market breaks -the corner, and John W. Gates is supposed -to have lost $2,000,000.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Donald McLean, of New York, is -elected President-General of the Daughters -of the American Revolution.</p> - -<p class="day">April 21.—Eleven thousand nine hundred -and fifty-five immigrants arrive at Ellis -Island in one day, establishing a new -record.</p> - -<p>Hyde refuses agents’ request to resign -from the Equitable.</p> - -<p>Policyholders in the Equitable ask the -Circuit Court in Chicago for a receiver -and an accounting.</p> - -<p class="day">April 24.—Frank Bigelow, President of the -First National Bank of Milwaukee, embezzles -$2,400,000 of the bank’s funds.</p> - -<p class="day">April 26.—D. Le Roy Dresser sues the promoters -of the United States Shipbuilding -Company for $3,000,000, alleging -fraud in its formation.</p> - -<p class="day">April 27.—Andrew Carnegie gives $10,000,000 -to pension retired college professors.</p> - -<p class="day">April 28.—The strike of the teamsters in -Chicago has developed into the worst -since the famous Debs strike eleven -years ago.</p> - -<p>Judge Kohlsaat, in the Federal Court, -grants a temporary injunction against -the strikers on the request of the Employers’ -Teaming Association.</p> - -<p class="day">April 29.—Laredo, Tex., wiped off the map -by a cyclone.</p> - -<p class="day">May 3.—The American Railway Appliance -Exhibition is formally opened at Washington.</p> - -<p>The strike in Chicago continues.</p> - -<p class="day">May 4.—The Federal Grand Jury, at Jackson, -Miss., indicts 300 for whitecapping, -the specific charges being the intimidation -of Government homesteaders.</p> - -<p>Police of Chicago ask the Sheriff of Cook -County to aid them in quelling riots.</p> - -<p>International congress of railways formally -opened at Washington by Vice-President -Fairbanks.</p> - -<p class="day">May 5.—On account of the teamsters’ -strike, a food and fuel famine is feared -in Chicago.</p> - -<p class="day">May 6.—Employers in Chicago accuse the -police of siding with the union men -in the present strike.</p> - -<p>The largest floating drydock in the world -is completed at the Maryland Steel -Works yards for the United States -Government. The dock will be towed -to the Philippines after it is tested.</p> - -<p class="day">May 7.—Twelve thousand and thirty-nine -immigrants, chiefly Italians, reach New -York.</p> - -</div> - -<h3><i>Russo-Japanese War</i></h3> - -<div class="news"> - -<p class="day">April 8.—The Russian Baltic fleet, in command -of Admiral Rojestvensky, reaches -the China Sea.</p> - -<p class="day">April 11.—A battle expected between the -fleets of Rojestvensky and Togo. Japan -makes Formosa a naval base and closes -the port of Kelung.</p> - -<p>Tokio reports that Japan expects to have -1,000,000 men in the field before November.</p> - -<p class="day">April 13.—The Russians strengthen Vladivostok -and prepare for a long siege.</p> - -<p class="day">April 14.—The Russian hospital ship <i>Orel</i>, -bearing the sick of Rojestvensky’s fleet, -after taking on board coal, provisions -and medical supplies, leaves Saigon, -Cochin China.</p> - -<p>Eighteen vessels of the Russian Baltic -fleet enter Kamranh Bay, Cochin China.</p> - -<p class="day">April 15.—Japanese say Togo will not attack<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_511"></a>[Pg 511]</span> -the Russian fleet until he is confident -of being able to annihilate it.</p> - -<p class="day">April 16.—Japan proclaims defense zones -surrounding the Pescadore, Okinawa, -Oshima and Emi islands.</p> - -<p>Captured Japanese spies place the Japanese -armies at 400,000 and the losses in -Mukden battles at 100,000.</p> - -<p class="day">April 17.—The Russian fleet reported at -Kamranh Bay taking on supplies.</p> - -<p class="day">April 18.—The Russian fleet reported off the -Philippines and the Japanese near Sampaloc.</p> - -<p class="day">April 19.—Japan makes vigorous protest to -France against the use of French ports -by the Russians.</p> - -<p>Situation in Manchuria unchanged. Occasional -light skirmishes. Japs victorious -in small engagements along the -Yalu.</p> - -<p>Despatches from Harbin state that Chinese -bandits have made frequent attempts -to cut the railroad.</p> - -<p class="day">April 20.—France assures Japan that she -will remain neutral. Czar orders Rojestvensky -to leave Kamranh Bay.</p> - -<p class="day">April 21.—France instructs her agents in -Indo-China to assure the neutrality of -France in Indo-Chinese waters.</p> - -<p>Russian fleet leaves Kamranh Bay.</p> - -<p class="day">April 23.—The Russian Government places -orders with the Krupps for 1,000 guns.</p> - -<p class="day">April 24.—The rainy season in Manchuria -has increased the infectious cases in the -Russian army.</p> - -<p>The movements of both the Japanese and -Russian fleets closely guarded.</p> - -<p class="day">April 25.— Admiral Nebogatoff, in command -of the second Russian Pacific squadron, -reaches the China Sea to join forces -with Rojestvensky.</p> - -<p>The Russian General Staff gives the losses -in the battle of Mukden, from February -19 to March 19, as two generals, 1,985 -staff and other officers, 87,677 men, of -whom the greater number were wounded; -thirty-two guns and no siege artillery -or ammunition carts.</p> - -<p class="day">April 26.—Rojestvensky cuts the Hainan -cable to conceal his movements.</p> - -<p class="day">April 27.—Rojestvensky’s fleet drawn up -outside Kamranh Bay, awaiting the arrival -of Nebogatoff’s division of the Russian -Pacific squadron.</p> - -<p class="day">May 6.—Marshal Oyama extends his lines -on the Russian right wing.</p> - -<p>Russian torpedo boat destroyers sink a -Japanese sailing vessel.</p> - -</div> - -<h3><i>General Foreign News</i></h3> - -<div class="news"> - -<p class="day">April 8.—Four hundred persons are killed -or wounded by the collapse of a reservoir -in Madrid, Spain.</p> - -<p>The Newfoundland Lower House passes -a bill to exclude American vessels from -Newfoundland fisheries.</p> - -<p class="day">April 9.—The estimated number of lives -lost in the earthquake in India is 15,000.</p> - -<p class="day">April 10.—Joseph H. Choate, the American -Ambassador to Great Britain, has been -elected a “Master of the Bench of the -Middle Temple.”</p> - -<p class="day">April 11.—Captain Volpert, of the French -army, has been arrested, charged with -complicity in a military plot to overthrow -the present regime.</p> - -<p>Baron de Constant makes a speech in the -French Senate in favor of international -military and naval disarmament.</p> - -<p>Russian lawyers pass resolutions favoring -a constitution and universal suffrage.</p> - -<p class="day">April 12.—A congress of lawyers held at -St. Petersburg sets on foot a movement -to democratize the Russian Government.</p> - -<p>Under the terms of a commercial treaty -being negotiated between Germany and -Morocco, it is said Germany will gain -the most favored nation guarantees in -Morocco.</p> - -<p class="day">April 13.—The Premier of Newfoundland -inserts a clause in the anti-American -fishing bill reserving the power of suspension. -This was done on account of -the pending Bond-Hay treaty.</p> - -<p>All but one nation have accepted President -Roosevelt’s invitation to a second -peace conference.</p> - -<p class="day">April 14.—The body of Admiral John Paul -Jones is unearthed in Paris.</p> - -<p>Czar of Russia consents to consider a savings -bank and land purchase scheme -for the peasants.</p> - -<p>The workers in the porcelain factories at -Limoges, France, have decided to strike. -The factories are owned by Americans, -and they have raised the American flag -over the factories to protect their property.</p> - -<p class="day">April 15.—The French Chamber of Deputies -adopts final clause of second section of -bill separating state and church.</p> - -<p class="day">April 16.—General strike on all railroads in -Italy.</p> - -<p>Henry White, the new Ambassador to -Italy, is received by King Victor Emmanuel.</p> - -<p>Laborers on sugar plantations in Porto -Rico strike.</p> - -<p class="day">April 17.—Plans for the extension of zemstvo -governments to Siberia and Finland -have been inaugurated by the Czar of -Russia.</p> - -<p class="day">April 18.—Negotiations begun for new treaty -between Germany and China.</p> - -<p>Fights between strikers and soldiers at -Limoges, France. Three strikers killed -and ninety-eight soldiers wounded.</p> - -<p>Troops fire on Italian railway strikers, -killing three and wounding many.</p> - -<p>Russian Government gives large order for -American submarine boats.</p> - -<p>Kaleieff, the assassin of Grand Duke Sergius, -sentenced to death.</p> - -<p>Among a band of Terrorists arrested in -St. Petersburg is a niece of Governor-General -Trepoff. She recently fired two -shots at her uncle.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_512"></a>[Pg 512]</span></p> - -<p>Riot in San Juan, Porto Rico, between -strikers and police.</p> - -<p class="day">April 19.—Italian Chamber of Deputies -adopts a bill providing for government -control of all railroads in Italy.</p> - -<p class="day">April 21.—The Italian Government promises -reforms in railroad management -and the strikers return to work.</p> - -<p class="day">April 22.—The Emperor and Empress of -Germany, on the imperial yacht <i>Hohenzollern</i>, -are cruising in the Adriatic. It -is reported that the Emperor is in very -bad health.</p> - -<p class="day">April 23.—Pope Pius X celebrates full mass -before a large congregation.</p> - -<p>The Emperor of Germany delivers Easter -sermon on the imperial yacht.</p> - -<p class="day">April 24.—On memorial of Wu Ting Fang, -ex-Minister to United States, imperial -edict makes sweeping reforms in Chinese -criminal code.</p> - -<p class="day">April 25.—The Sultan’s troops have been -defeated by the Arabs at Aden.</p> - -<p>At Barisoff 2,000 Russian soldiers mutiny, -smashing Red Cross cars and pillaging -shops.</p> - -<p class="day">April 26.—Charles M. Schwab is awarded -contract to rebuild the Russian navy.</p> - -<p>Many guns on British warships found to -be worthless.</p> - -<p>Germany ready to begin negotiations with -the United States for a new commercial -treaty based on reciprocity.</p> - -<p class="day">April 27.—General Kolzoff appointed Governor-General -of Moscow.</p> - -<p class="day">April 28.—Encounter between insurgents -and gendarmes in the province of Kissamos -excites Crete.</p> - -<p>In the Cuban Senate President Palma -discloses the fact that the United States -had intervened in behalf of American -firms with whom contracts had been -made for sanitary work on the island.</p> - -<p class="day">May 3.—Trouble continues throughout -Poland.</p> - -<p class="day">May 4.—In Warsaw the Socialists enforce -the observance of a day of mourning -for the victims of the May Day riots.</p> - -<p>Cossacks fire on people attending Roman -Catholic Church at Lodz, killing seven -persons.</p> - -<p class="day">May 5.—Mr. Choate, the American Ambassador -to England, is given a farewell -dinner at the Mansion House in -London.</p> - -<p>Zemstvo Congress opens in St. Petersburg.</p> - -<p class="day">May 6.—A plot discovered in Madrid, -Spain, to make an independent state -out of the territory of Cunani, Brazil.</p> - -<p>Police break up congress of engineers in -St. Petersburg.</p> - -<p class="day">May 7.—Tokio papers make bitter attack on -France, alleging that France is violating -her pledges of neutrality.</p> - -<p>Despatch from Moscow states zemstvos -have split over universal suffrage.</p> - -</div> - -<h3><i>Obituary</i></h3> - -<div class="news"> - -<p class="day">April 7.—Edward Floyd DeLancey, a New -York lawyer and historian, dies, aged 83.</p> - -<p>General Cullen A. Battle, of the Confederate -army, aged 76.</p> - -<p class="day">April 9.—Miss Sarah Chauncey Wadsworth -(“Susan Coolidge”), aged 60.</p> - -<p>Chief-Justice Jesse Knight, of the Wyoming -Supreme Court, aged 55.</p> - -<p class="day">April 10.—Judge Lawrence Weldon, of the -United States Court of Claims, aged 76.</p> - -<p class="day">April 15.—General John Palmer, former -Secretary of State of New York, aged -63.</p> - -<p>Ex-Congressman Halbert E. Paine, of Wisconsin, -aged 80.</p> - -<p class="day">April 21.—Senator O. H. Platt, of Connecticut, -aged 78.</p> - -<p class="day">April 23.—Joseph Jefferson, one of the best -known actors on the American stage, -aged 76.</p> - -<p class="day">April 28.—General Fitzhugh Lee, soldier, -statesman and diplomat, aged 68.</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p class="f120"><i>The Paramount Issue</i></p> - -<p class="drop-cap">“AR-HAR!” wrathfully ejaculated the honest agriculturist, who had detected -a gentleman of color in the act of embezzling sundry of his hens at the -dead hour of night. “So I’ve ketched you, you infernal black rascal, have I? -Well, now, what have you got to say for yerself?”</p> - -<p>“What I has to say fuh muhse’f,” replied the colored brother, with overpowering -dignity, “am a plenty, sah; and when I feels declined to say it, I sho’ly -says it loud and coa’se! I may be black, sah, as yo’se’f has done specified, sah, -and comin’ plumb down to the pinch I mought be infernal, and all dat; but I neber -was one ob dese yeah moufy pussons, sah, dat am allus pow-powin’ about deirse’fs. -Nussah! nussah! De question dat am digitatin’ de American people at -de present time ain’ whedder I’s black or blue or green or yaller, sah, but what -about de trusts?—dat’s de burnin’ prognostication, sah, <i>what about de trusts?</i>”</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<p class="f90">TOM WATSON’S MAGAZINE ADVERTISER</p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 475px;"> - -<img src="images/ad-page-1.jpg" width="475" height="700" alt="" /> - -<p class="center">$10500 in Prizes</p> - -<p class="center">IT LOOKS EASY. CAN YOU DO IT?</p> - -<p>How Soon will the Hour, Minute and Second -Hands Again Appear Equal Distances Apart?</p> - -<p>To popularize the name of the Ingersoll Dollar Watch, to get it on -every tongue from ocean to ocean, it has been decided to offer 10,000 -Ingersoll Watches to 10,000 people who can send us the correct solution of -this problem before September 1, 1905.</p> - -<p class="center">SAM LOYD’S <i>Ingersoll</i> WATCH PROBLEM</p> - -<p>It is the latest and cleverest problem by Sam Loyd, the world’s greatest -puzzle genius, originator of “Pigs in Clover,” “How Old is Ann,” and -other brilliant brain-teasers.</p> - -<p>We hope through this widespread discussion to bring out the fact that -the Ingersoll Watch is a practical timepiece, adequate to every requirement -of nine-tenths of the American people because it is accurate and reliable.</p> - -<p>No entry conditions are imposed. Send your solution right in.</p> - -<p>The <i>full</i> problem is stated above and no further information can be -given in fairness to all contestants. $500.00 in cash prizes in addition is -offered to owners of Ingersoll Watches.</p> - -<p>If you send 2c. stamp with solution you will receive acknowledgment -of your answer, and a formal entry blank and conditions; or for 10c. the -above and Sam Loyd’s book of celebrated puzzles.</p> - -<p>Awards will be made in accordance with the correct solution furnished -by Sam Loyd, which is locked in our safe, inaccessible to any one.</p> - -<p>Ingersoll Watches are sold by 50,000 dealers throughout -the country, or postpaid by us for <b>$1.00</b>. Booklet free.</p> - -<p>Insist on an INGERSOLL—the name is on dial. <i>Fully guaranteed.</i></p> - -<p class="center">ROBT. H. INGERSOLL & BRO.,<br /> -43 Jewelers’ Court, New York, N. Y.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p class="center">Have You Had My Free Lesson in Jiu-Jitsu?</p> - -<p>If you do not already know that Jiu-Jitsu is the most wonderful system of physical training and self-defense -in the world to-day I invite you to write for my <b>FREE LESSON</b> and demonstrate this to your -own satisfaction.</p> - -<p class="center">YAE KICHI YABE, Late of the Ten-Shin<br /> -Ryu School of Japan.</p> - -<p>It is to the persistent practice of Jiu-Jitsu that the Japanese owe their courage and success in battle, -their almost superhuman strength and power of endurance, their low -death rate and their material progress. Surely a system of physical -training which has done so much for the Island Nation will interest you. -Jiu-Jitsu not only embodies the ideal principles of attaining perfect health -and perfect physical development, but as a means of self-defense it is as -potent at short range as the deadliest weapon. A knowledge of its self-preserving -principles renders a man or woman impregnable to every -form of vicious attack.</p> - -<p class="center">Jealously Guarded Secrets Revealed.</p> - -<p>For over two thousand years the principles of Jiu-Jitsu have been -religiously guarded. By an imperial edict the teaching of the system -was forbidden outside of Japan. The friendly feeling, however, existing -between Japan and the United States has been instrumental in releasing -Jiu-Jitsu from its oath-bound secrecy, and I have been delegated to teach, -without reserve, all the secrets of this ancient art to Americans.</p> - -<p>I have just written an intensely interesting book which explains and -makes clear the principles of Jiu-Jitsu in a manner which will never be -approached by any American writer. So long as the edition lasts this -book, together with my first lesson in Jiu-Jitsu, will be sent free to interested -persons. The lesson is fully illustrated and teaches one of the -most effective methods known for disposing of a dangerous antagonist.</p> - -<p>If you desire to learn all the closely guarded secrets of this marvelous science send your name and -address, and you will receive the book and specimen lesson by return mail, postage paid.</p> - -<p class="center">Address<br /> -YAE KICHI YABE, 192T Realty Bldg., Rochester, N. Y.</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 475px;"> - -<img src="images/ad-page-2.jpg" width="475" height="700" alt="" /> - -<p class="center">YOU CANNOT AFFORD TO MISS -A SINGLE COPY OF</p> - -<p class="center">THE ARENA</p> - -<p class="center">An Illustrated Review of Twentieth Century Thought</p> - -<p class="center">B. O. FLOWER, Editor</p> - -<p>While THE ARENA discusses the great questions of the day in the domains -of Ethics, Education, Religion, Philosophy, Science and Art, especial attention -is given to</p> - -<p class="center">Political, Social and Economic Problems</p> - -<p class="no-indent">as they relate in a vital way to the fundamental principles and demands of pure -democracy.</p> - -<p class="center">A Few Notable Features of the JUNE Issue:</p> - -<p><b>Municipal Black Plague.</b> By <span class="smcap">Rudolph Blankenburg</span>. -The sixth of the series of papers on -the corruption of politics in Pennsylvania.</p> - -<p><b>Our Commerce with Latin America.</b> By Prof. -<span class="smcap">Frederic M. Noa</span>.</p> - -<p><b>In Prison and in Exile: Experiences of a -Russian Student.</b> Edited by <span class="smcap">William Lee -Howard</span>, M.D.</p> - -<p><b>Juggling with Facts and Figures about Transportation; -or, How the Railway Interests -and their Special Pleaders are Seeking to -Deceive the People.</b> By <span class="smcap">W. G. Joerns</span>.</p> - -<p><b>Rise, Mighty Anglo-Saxons!</b> By <span class="smcap">Katrina -Trask</span> (Mrs. Spencer Trask).</p> - -<p><b>Beauty and Light.</b> By <span class="smcap">Kenyon West</span>. A plea -for a sane and wholesome drama.</p> - -<p><b>The Divorce Question: A Lawyer’s View.</b> -By <span class="smcap">Ernest Dale Owen</span>.</p> - -<p><b>Frederic Opper: A Cartoonist of Democracy.</b> -One of the series of illustrated sketches of the -leading cartoonists. By <span class="smcap">B. O. Flower</span>.</p> - -<p><b>The Building of the City Beautiful.</b> A serial -by <span class="smcap">Joaquin Miller</span>.</p> - -<p>THE ARENA is one of the largest and handsomest original reviews of opinion -in the English-speaking world. Each issue contains a number of full-page half-tones -printed in sepia ink on India-tint paper. In addition to the regular contributions, -there are several popular special departments, including Editorials, The Mirror of -the Present, Book Studies, and Reviews of the best books of the day.</p> - -<p>Place an order immediately with your newsdealer for a copy every month, or -enter your subscription at once. We have a few copies of the previous issues on -hand, and they may be ordered through your newsdealer or the publisher. Don’t -fail to attend to this matter NOW.</p> - -<p class="center">25 Cents a Copy</p> - -<p class="center">Subscriptions, $2.50 Net a Year</p> - -<p class="center">(Foreign Subscriptions, 12s. 6d.)</p> - -<p class="center">ALBERT BRANDT, Publisher</p> - -<p class="center">TRENTON, N. J.</p> - -<p class="center">BOSTON, MASS.</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 475px;"> - -<img src="images/ad-page-3.jpg" width="475" height="700" alt="" /> - -<p class="center">COSTS YOU NOTHING -TO TRY</p> - -<p>We want <i>every</i> smoker -in the country to <i>know</i> -our FEDORA Panetela, -the finest cigar for the -least money that any -cigar factory ever produced.</p> - -<p>It has made so many satisfied -customers for us, presents such -a rare bargain that we know -that even the tens of thousands -of smokers now regularly -using it are but a small -part of those who would smoke -this cigar <i>right along</i> if only -they were acquainted with it.</p> - -<p>Therefore, we make you a -<i>special proposition</i> entirely different -from our regular plan, -so that everyone may improve -this exceptional chance -and do even better than SAVE -HALF YOUR CIGAR -MONEY.</p> - -<p>The FEDORA Panetela -is made of fine, <i>pure</i>, clear -<i>Havana</i> filler, wrapped in the -highest grade <i>imported Sumatra</i>.</p> - -<p>Guaranteed equal to any ten-cent -cigar at retail, or any five-dollar-per-hundred -cigar advertised. -Let the cigars <i>themselves</i> -prove all this. If they do not, -the expense is <i>all</i> ours.</p> - -<p class="center">Photo of -FEDORA -Panetela. -Exact Size.</p> - -<p>OUR SPECIAL PROPOSITION.—For a -limited time we will send <b>100</b> FEDORA Panetelas, -all Transportation Prepaid, to any -responsible smoker sending us his letter head -or business card. Smoke ten cigars from <i>any</i> -part of the box. If you don’t like them, you -agree to send back the 90 at <i>our expense</i> within -10 days, or else remit <b>$4.50</b> within thirty days.</p> - -<p>Our beautiful catalogue, “Rolled Reveries,” -sent free for the asking.</p> - -<p class="center"><b>JOHN B. ROGERS & CO.</b>, “The Pioneers”</p> - -<p class="center">874 Jarvis Street, BINGHAMTON, N. Y.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p class="center"><i>⅓ the cost</i></p> - -<p>For Coal (even less in many cases) -is the claim made for the Peck-Williamson -UNDERFEED Furnace.</p> - -<p>This claim is made by—</p> - -<ul> -<li>Well known people—</li> -<li>Living in the coldest sections—</li> -<li>After the severest tests.</li> -</ul> - -<p>A recent correspondent, referring to our -UNDERFEED, stated:</p> - -<p>“<i>I have used it for the past two winters -heating ten rooms and an upper hall at -a cost of $35 per annum.</i>”</p> - -<p>Hundreds of such letters come to us.</p> - -<p>In the Peck-Williamson UNDERFEED -Furnace a ton of cheapest grade of coal -is made to produce as much heat as a ton -of the most costly grade; the coal is fed -from below and the fire is on top—the -rational way; the gases and smoke do -not escape up the chimney as they do in -ordinary furnaces, but are consumed as -they pass up through the fire; immunity -from gas, smoke and dirt; less ashes -and no clinkers; simple and strong in -construction, easy to operate.</p> - -<p>Let us send you FREE our UNDERFEED -Book and fac-simile voluntary -letters proving every claim we make.</p> - -<p class="center">THE PECK-WILLIAMSON CO., 367 W. Fifth Street, Cincinnati, O.</p> - -<p class="center">Dealers are invited to write for our very attractive proposition.</p> - -<p class="center">The PECK-WILLIAMSON Co. UNDERFEED FURNACE</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 475px;"> - -<img src="images/ad-page-4.jpg" width="475" height="700" alt="" /> - -<p class="center">I WOULD LIKE</p> - -<p class="center">To meet those suffering with</p> - -<p class="center">CANCER</p> - -<p class="center">FACE TO FACE</p> - -<p>I would convince them that my method of treating cancer and tumor -by absorption (nature’s way) far excels the old method of the knife -and burning plasters. No pain or suffering as in the former method, -but in its place soothing, balmy oils. Consult me in person or by -mail before submitting to barbarous methods. Most cases are cured -at home. My illustrated book sent free, giving hundreds of testimonials -from the best people on earth.</p> - -<p class="center">Address Dr. BENJ. F. BYE, 301 North Illinois St., Indianapolis, Ind.</p> - -<p class="center">The above is my only office. All branches are closed.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p class="center">CHASE’S MAGAZINE</p> - -<p>TO INTRODUCE CHASE’S MAGAZINE -WE GIVE FOUNTAIN PEN, GOLD POINT, HARD -RUBBER FANCY CARVED BARREL. A PERFECT -FLOW OF INK, OR REFUND MONEY. ALL FOR</p> - -<p class="center"><b>45 CENTS</b></p> - -<p class="center"><b>PEN and -Magazine -3 Months</b></p> - -<p>A STANDARD SIZE MAGAZINE. 150 PAGES OF -STORIES. ILLUSTRATED ARTICLES. ADDRESS: -C. G. CHASE CO., No. 500, TERRE HAUTE, IND.</p> - -<p>CHASE’S is an illustrated monthly Magazine of the standard size, -containing current events and the best of short stories.</p> - -<p>The following is a partial list of contributors:</p> - -<ul> -<li>GERTRUDE ATHERTON</li> -<li>A. E. MASON</li> -<li>C. R. ROBBINS</li> -<li>ADA WOODRUFF ANDERSON</li> -<li>HELEN STORMS</li> -</ul> - -<p class="center">Yearly Subscription, $1.00 per Year</p> - -<p class="center">Sample Copies, 10 Cents</p> - -<p class="center"><i>For sale by all newsdealers</i></p> - -<p class="center">C. G. CHASE COMPANY</p> - -<p class="center">500 Main Street TERRE HAUTE, IND.</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 475px;"> - -<img src="images/ad-page-5.jpg" width="475" height="700" alt="" /> - -<p class="center">Inspiration Point</p> - -<p>Colorado -Utah -AND THE -Pacific Coast -BEST REACHED VIA THE -MISSOURI -PACIFIC RY.</p> - -<p><i>OBSERVATION PARLOR CAFE -DINING CARS, MEALS A LA CARTE, -AND PULLMAN SLEEPING CARS -WITH ELECTRIC LIGHTS & FANS</i></p> - -<p class="center"><i>DOUBLE DAILY SERVICE</i></p> - -<p class="center"><i>NO CHANGE OF CARS TO CALIFORNIA</i></p> - -<p class="center"><i>LOW EXCURSION RATES</i></p> - -<p class="center">VIEW ON THE C.S. & C.E. SHORT LINE</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p class="center">If BALDNESS and -FALLING HAIR -were caused by -DISEASE</p> - -<p class="no-indent">physicians would have long ago found -a remedy. Tonics and lotions applied to -the outside of the scalp do soften the -hair—but that’s all. By exercising the -arms, we build up muscle—<i>not</i> by outside -applications of medicine. The arms, -the body and the lower limbs can be exercised -at will—but the <i>scalp</i> requires -mechanical aid. Exercise makes the -blood circulate, lack of exercise makes -it stagnant. The Vacuum method is the -kind of exercise that makes the blood -circulate. It gently draws the rich blood -to the scalp and feeds the shrunken hair -roots. This causes the hair to grow. -It is the simple, common-sense principle -of physical culture applied to the scalp.</p> - -<p class="center">Our Guarantee<br /> -(backed by the Bank):</p> - -<p>We will send you, by prepaid express, an -Evans Vacuum Cap, allowing you ample -time to prove its virtue, and all we ask -of you is to deposit the price of the appliance -in the Jefferson Bank of St. Louis -during the trial period, subject to <i>your -own order</i>. If you do not cultivate a -sufficient growth of hair to convince you -that this method is effective, simply notify -the bank and they will return your deposit.</p> - -<p>A sixteen-page book, illustrated, -will be sent you free.</p> - -<p class="center">Evans Vacuum Cap Co.</p> - -<p class="center">669 Fullerton Building</p> - -<p class="center">St. Louis</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 475px;"> - -<img src="images/ad-page-6.jpg" width="475" height="700" alt="" /> - -<p class="center">EYEGLASSES NOT NECESSARY</p> - -<p>Eyesight Can Be Strengthened and -All Forms of Diseased Eyes Cured -Without Cutting or Drugging.</p> - -<p>That the eyes can be strengthened so that eyeglasses -can be dispensed with in the great majority of cases has -been proven beyond a doubt by the testimony of thousands -of people who have been cured by that wonderful -little instrument called “Actina.” Actina also cures sore -and granulated lids, Glaucoma, Iritis, &c., also removes -Cataracts and Pterygiums, without cutting or drugging. -Over seventy thousand Actinas have been sold, therefore -it is not an experiment, but an absolute fact. The following -letters are but samples of those that are received daily:—</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>Mrs. M. E. Champney, 242 West 135th st., -New York City, writes:—“The ‘Actina’ cured -me of Iritis, after the doctors said there was no -cure outside an operation. I have been entirely -well for over four months, can see to read and -sew as well as before. I can honestly recommend -‘Actina’ for all afflictions of the eye.”</p> - -<p>Emily Knapp, 920 Galina st., Milwaukee, -Wis., writes:—“The ‘Actina’ I purchased from -you a year ago saved my brother’s eyesight. -My brother was near-sighted, wore number five -and six glasses, and now he can go to school and do all his work and study -without glasses.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>E. R. Holdbrook, Deputy County Clerk, Fairfax, Va., writes:—“‘Actina’ -has cured my eyes so that I can do without glasses. I very seldom have -headache now, and can study up to eleven o’clock after a hard day’s work -at the office.”</p> - -<p>Actina is not a drug or a lotion, but a small pocket -battery, which can be used by old and young with perfect -safety. It is impossible to do harm with Actina. Every -member of the family can use the one Actina for any form -of disease of the Eye, Ear, Throat or Head. Actina will -last for years, and is always ready for use. Actina will be -sent on trial postpaid.</p> - -<p>If you send your name and address to the New York & -London Electric Association, Dept. 37N, 929 Walnut St., -Kansas City, Mo., you will receive absolutely FREE a -valuable book—, Professor Wilson’s Treatise on the -Eye and on Diseases in General. You can rest assured -that your eyes can be cured, no matter how many doctors -have failed.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p class="center">Superfluous Hair -Destroyed Forever</p> - -<p class="center"><i>FREE to Any Lady.</i></p> - -<p>If you are afflicted -with a humiliating, -disfiguring growth of hair, or any other blemish on -face, neck, arms or hands, write me at once and I -will tell you <b>FREE</b> how to <b>DESTROY IT</b> -<b>FOREVER</b>. Many claim to REMOVE the hair -(temporarily). I enable you to absolutely kill it -forever, in your own home, privately, painlessly, -without the slightest risk of bad effects, and at the -same time to secure a perfect complexion and <b>BE -BEAUTIFUL</b>. Don’t experiment with dangerous -apparatus, lotions, liquids, powders, etc. My method -is indorsed by scientists and doctors, and is <b>guaranteed</b> -by me. ($100,000 assets back of -my guarantee.) Write to-day and be glad -forever. Remember this offer is free. Simply -write me.</p> - -<p class="center"><b>D. J. MAHLER</b>, 3405 Pawtucket Ave., East Providence, R.I.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p class="center">Don’t Be So Thin</p> - -<p class="center">How To Get A FIGURE LIKE THIS</p> - -<p>A figure that is <b>real</b> and <b>permanent</b>, the -figure of a physically perfect woman. To -prove that it is unnecessary for any lady to -be thin or scrawny, I will send you</p> - -<p class="center">ABSOLUTELY FREE</p> - -<p class="no-indent">a trial treatment of <b>Dr. Whitney’s -Nerve and Flesh</b> Builder sufficient to -convince you that you can get a well-developed -bust, beautiful neck, pretty -arms, shapely shoulders, so that you -can wear with pride low-necked -gowns or the tight tailor-made suits -so fashionable now. This remarkable -remedy develops new flesh and -fills out all hollow places, not by -false stimulation but by removing -the <b>cause</b> of thinness. Write to-day -for <b>Free Treatment</b> and handsome -booklet illustrated from life, sent in -sealed package. <b>THE C. L. JONES -CO., 44-F Realty Bldg., Elmira, N. Y.</b></p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p class="center">SANOZOL<br /> -LOTION AND SOAP</p> - -<p class="center">Positive Cure For All Skin Diseases</p> - -<p>THE WONDERFUL DISCOVERY OF THE FAMOUS -SPECIALIST IN SKIN DISEASES, A. J. FULTON, M. D., -BROOKLYN, N. Y.</p> - -<p>SANOZOL TREATMENT IS EXTERNAL ONLY.</p> - -<p class="center">SUFFERERS FROM</p> - -<p>ECZEMA, LUPUS, HERPES, RINGWORM, PRURIGO, SCROFULODERMA, -SKIN CANCER, PEDICULOSIS, PSORIASIS, -ECTHYMA, LICHEN, SYCOSIS, AND ALL OTHER FORMS -OF ULCERATIVE, SCALY AND PARASITIC SKIN DISEASES -FIND IMMEDIATE RELIEF AND PERMANENT CURE BY -THE USE OF SANOZOL. IT REMOVES <b>PIMPLES</b> AND -<b>BLACKHEADS</b> AND CURES SWEATY OR ACHING FEET.</p> - -<p>SOME OF THE NOW FAMOUS CURES BY SANOZOL -TREATMENT WERE FULLY DESCRIBED IN THE <b>NEW -YORK WORLD</b> OF MARCH 9 AND THE <b>BROOKLYN -DAILY EAGLE</b> OF MARCH 29, 1904.</p> - -<p class="center">THE SOAP</p> - -<p class="no-indent">HAS NO EQUAL. ITS DAILY USE WITHOUT LOTION -WILL GIVE YOUR FACE AND HANDS A PERFECT SKIN, -RESTORING THE DEFUNCT RESPIRATORY CONDITIONS -OF YOUR SKIN TO ITS NORMAL HEALTH, PRODUCING -THE FRESHNESS OF YOUTH AND <b>A GLOW OF HEALTH -AND BEAUTY</b>. TRY IT.</p> - -<p>SANOZOL SOAP FOR SHAVING (No barber’s itch.)</p> - -<p>Write for testimonials and full particulars of SANOZOL treatment -(free of charge). Treatment requires combined use of Lotion -and Soap. Sent on receipt of price or at druggists.</p> - -<p>Lotion, full pint, $1.00; soap, 25c. per cake or jar (3 cakes, 65c.).</p> - -<p class="center">Address Sanozol Laboratory, Dept. B, 12. 100-102 Elton St., -Brooklyn, N. Y.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p class="center">$7.98 DRESSES -ANY MAN</p> - -<p class="center">With an All-Wool Cheviot -Made-to-Measure Suit</p> - -<p class="center">EXTRA PAIR -OF TROUSERS FREE</p> - -<p>To introduce our famous made-to-measure -custom tailoring we make this -unequaled offer of a <b>Suit made to your -measure</b>, in the latest English -Sack Style, well made and durably -trimmed for only <b>$7.98</b>. -Equal to your local tailor’s $15 -suit, and <b>give you an extra pair of -trousers</b> of the same cloth as the -suit, or a fancy pattern if -desired, <b>absolutely free</b>. -Send us your name and -address and we will send -you <b>Free Samples</b> of cloth, -measurement blank and tapeline. -<b>Send no money</b> but -write to-day to</p> - -<p class="center">GENTS’ OUTFITTING CO.</p> - -<p class="center">Dept. 114, 242 Market St., Chicago.</p> - -<p class="center">Ref. First National Bank, Chicago.</p> - -<p class="center">Capital, $12,000,000.</p> - -<p class="center">Traveling Salesmen Wanted.</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 475px;"> - -<img src="images/ad-page-7.jpg" width="475" height="700" alt="" /> - -<p class="center">NEW BELMONT HOTEL</p> - -<p class="center">(<span class="smcap">Six Story Brick</span>)</p> - -<p class="center">New Belmont Hotel.</p> - -<p class="center">Ocean End, Virginia Avenue, -ATLANTIC CITY, N. J.</p> - -<p class="center">Three minutes from the Board Walk and Steel Pier.</p> - -<p class="center">Absolutely Fireproof</p> - -<p class="center">Elevator to street level.</p> - -<p>Luxuriously furnished rooms—Long Distance Telephone in -nearly every bedroom—Steam heat—Sun parlors—Splendid -table—Attractive rates—Affability and courtesy guaranteed -from every employee.</p> - -<p><i>Send 10 cents for beautifully illustrated -book of Atlantic City. Address</i></p> - -<p class="center">NEW BELMONT CO.,<br /> -W. J. Warrington, Sec. and Treas.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>The Eyes of the Country are Upon Chicago’s Progress -Toward Municipal Ownership of -Street Railways</p> - -<p>For the accurate record and fair discussion of this struggle, -read</p> - -<p class="center">THE PUBLIC</p> - -<p class="center">LOUIS F. POST, <i>Editor</i></p> - -<p class="center">A Journal of Fundamental Democracy and a Weekly -Narrative of History in the Making</p> - -<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Published Every Saturday in Chicago</span></p> - -<p class="center">All the Other Features in their Usual Excellence</p> - -<p class="center"><i>Subscriptions: Yearly, $2.00; Half-Yearly, $1.00; Quarterly, 50c.</i></p> - -<p class="center">SEND FOR SAMPLE COPY</p> - -<p class="center">THE PUBLIC, FIRST NATIONAL BANK BUILDING, CHICAGO, ILL.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p class="center">FARM FOR SALE</p> - -<p>320 acres of good farming land; good water right. Land so -situated that every acre can be watered. Over one hundred -acres now under cultivation. All good coal land as well as -agricultural, containing a fairly good house, with Corrals, -and within two and one-half miles from Buffalo, the County -Seat of Johnson County. Price, $35.00 per acre, one-half -cash, and balance, if desired, on time at 7 per cent. per -annum.</p> - -<p class="center"><b>ALVIN BENNETT, Buffalo, Wyo.</b></p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p class="center"><i>STOP USING MORPHINE.</i></p> - -<p>To prove that the Harris Treatment -cures forever ALL drug habits, we will send</p> - -<p class="center"><i>FREE</i></p> - -<p class="no-indent">a trial package in plain wrapper, -upon request. If you don’t need it -send the name of a friend who does. <b>We especially -desire cases where other remedies have -failed.</b> Letters in strict confidence. Write us -freely of your case. Our book (sealed) sent free.</p> - -<p class="center">Harris Institute, Room 539, 400 W. 23d St., New York</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p class="center">NATURO</p> - -<p><b>After 1,000 Years</b> are you one of -those who still use the uncomfortable, -unhealthful, old-fashioned closet? -After ten centuries of mistakes -the</p> - -<p class="center">NATURO</p> - -<p class="no-indent">the -closet with the slant, is revolutionizing -the world. The only -sort of construction that is -<b>actually</b> comfortable, healthful, -cleanly.</p> - -<p>Progressive physicians and -leading architects are profoundly -interested and endorse Naturo -closets. Booklet 25, illustrated, -with full details, free on request.</p> - -<p class="center">THE NATURO COMPANY, Salem, N. J.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p class="center">AGENTS FINE SAMPLE SENT ANYWHERE<br /> -On Receipt of -$1.50</p> - -<p class="center">WARRANTED TOOL STEEL<br /> -PAT’D APRIL 12-04</p> - -<ul> -<li>HAMMER</li> -<li>HATCHET</li> -<li>GAS PLIERS</li> -<li>NAIL PULLER</li> -<li>WIRE CUTTER</li> -<li>BOX OPENER</li> -<li>SCREW DRIVER</li> -<li>CUTTING PLIERS</li> -<li>LEATHER PUNCH</li> -<li>ALLIGATOR WRENCH</li> -</ul> - -<p class="center">10 TOOLS IN ONE</p> - -<p class="center">NAT’L TOOL CO.<br /> -THREE RIVERS, MICH.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p class="center">I can Sell Your Real Estate or Business<br /> -NO MATTER WHERE LOCATED</p> - -<p>Properties and business of -all kinds sold quickly for -cash in all parts of the United -States. Don’t wait. Write -to-day describing what you -have to sell and give cash -price on same.</p> - -<p class="center"><span class="smcap">A. P. Tone Wilson, Jr.</span></p> - -<p class="center">Real Estate Specialist</p> - -<p class="center">413 KANSAS AVE., TOPEKA, KAS.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p class="center">YOU NEED STAMMER NO MORE</p> - -<p>Our method reveals the mystery of “<b>Why You -Stammer</b>.” We <b>begin</b> by <b>Correcting</b> the <b>Cause</b>. You -can actually avoid stammering from the <b>first lesson</b>. -The Fon-Lin <span class="smcap">Method</span> is <b>nothing like any other</b>. We -CURE the <b>failures</b> of all <span class="smcap">other schools</span>—some of these -send their failures to us.</p> - -<p>We correct all defects of speech—<b>Stammering, Stuttering, -Lisping, Tongue-tied Talk, Hairlip and Cleft-palate -Indistinctness, Baby-talk</b> and whatever else.</p> - -<p class="center">Our Work is Absolutely Guaranteed</p> - -<p class="center">Information, References and Terms on application.</p> - -<p class="center">CARSWELL INSTITUTE,<br /> -2315-17 N. 7th Street, Philadelphia, Pa.</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 475px;"> - -<img src="images/ad-page-8.jpg" width="475" height="700" alt="" /> - -<p class="center">An Ideal Sea Trip -offered by the -RED CROSS LINE</p> - -<p class="center">To Halifax, Nova Scotia and St. Johns, Newfoundland</p> - -<p>A charming daylight sail through LONG ISLAND, VINEYARD -and NANTUCKET SOUNDS. 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Y.</b></p> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 475px;"> - -<img src="images/ad-page-10.jpg" width="475" height="700" alt="" /> - -<p class="center">“GEM” SAFETY RAZOR</p> - -<p class="center">“IT’S A <span class="u">PLEASURE</span> TO SHAVE <span class="u">NOW</span>”</p> - -<p class="center">Is Shaving A Pleasure to YOU?</p> - -<p>It is to every man who uses -<b>“GEM” SAFETY RAZOR</b>, -because a clean, close, comfortable -shave is always assured. -Shave with a “<b>GEM</b>” on train -or boat, in the country, anywhere—it’s -the quickest, easiest, simplest -way. There is but one way to grow -rich—<b>SAVE</b>. Begin by stopping the -“Barber Habit.” You spend 50 cents -to $1.00 per week getting shaved, or -$26.00 to $52.00 each year. Shave yourself, -save the money and the time -which is money. Two minutes suffices -for a shave with the “<b>GEM</b>”—can’t -cut yourself, and no fear of -infection. 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