Tom Watson's Magazine [Serial]

TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE

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'^/ViLEO€^* TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE 121 West 42nd Street New York ABRAHAM LINCOLN was the radical of his day. Many of the views expressed in his letters and speeches would strike a " good Republican ** of today as extremely radical. ARE YOU ACQUAINTED with the great commoner's views on political and religious liberty, on alien immi- gration, on the relation of labor and capital, on the colonization of negroes, on free labor, on lynch law,

on the doctrine that all men are created equal, on the importance of young men in politics, on popular sovereignty, on woman suffrage? All of his views are to be found in this edition of "LINCOLN'S LETTERS AND AD- DRESSEES," the first complete collection to be published in a single volume. Bound in an artistic green crash cloth, stamped in gold. Printed in a plain, readable type, on an opaque featherweight paper.

For $ 1 .45, sent direct to this office, we will enter a year's subscription to TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE and mail a copy of LINCOLN'S LETTERS AND ADDRESSES, postage prepaid. This handsome book and a dollar

magazine—both for only $ 1 .45. Send today. Do it now.

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!^\»^ TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE

THE MAGAZINE WITH A PURPOSE BACK OF IT

October, 1905

Editorials Thomas E. Watson 385

In the Mountains— Tolstoy and the Land—For Sale: A Policy in the Equitable — A Day in the Autumn Woods — Editorial Comment

Are Treasury Reports Reliable? . Flavins J. Van Vorhis 399

Arbuthnofs Amen . S. Carleton 402 The Creed of Populism Pierre Firmin 409

Money Monopoly J. C. Vallette 412 .4s a Bird to the Mountains Anne McQueen 417 Danger From Republican Radicals Thomas H. Tibbies 427

Greatness . S. E. Kiser 430 Thoroughbreds Alary H. Fisher 431 Effective Rate Regulation (Conclusion) W. G. Joerns 438 Pole Baker (Chapters XXII-XXVI) Will N. Harben 447 What Buzz-Saw Morgan Thinks W. S. Morgan 462

The Montana Copper War (Part i) . Thomas Aloysius Hickey 465 Heinze vs. Amalgamated

The Loneliness of the City .... . Theodore Dreiser 474 — Plutocracy The Evil Genius of America . Constantine Ralli 475

In the Realm of the Tiger God . Frank Stuhlman 484 Monarchy Within the Republic (Conclusion) Fontaine T. Fox 490 Letters From the People .... Educational Department 503

The Say of Other Editors \ . 506 News Record 509

Entered as Second-Class Matter, February 21, 1905, at the Post Office at New York, N. Y., n ^ under the Act of Congress of March 3, 1879.

TERMS: $1.00 A YEAR; lO CENTS A NUMBER S . SOME CLUBBING OFFERS. On September g the exchange Ust of Tom Watson's Magazixe contained the names c 2,54:5 publications, divided about as follows: 792 dailies and magazines, 1,751 country papers, j large number of the latter have made a clubbing combination with us and are doing excellent worl Each week marks an increase in the number asking for terms and an exchange. No worthy countr paper is refused an exchange and our best clubbing rates. Write us. You ought to be as muc interested in promoting public ownership of the railroads as we are. It means just as much to yoi and you will be i-jterested after you read Tom Watson's Magazine. The work of examining several thousand papers and magazines each week is no slight tasl Hence, we ask that each publication making a combination rate with us send a m.arked copy. ] will facilitate the work and enable us to keep our clubbing list corrected to date. The subscriptio price of Tom Watson's Magazine is Si-oo per year. In the list bclov»^ the first column shows regula price of the paper named, the second column the price for both it and the Magazine one j'ear. Sul scriptions may be sent to this office or to the paper desired. Clubbing Pric Price per Year NAME OF PAPER ^-^^j Watson's Magazine Missouri World, Chillicothc, Mo... So. 50 t^i .25 Mercury-Pass Word, Dallas, Tex i 00 i 40 Dalton 'Herald. Dalton, Ga i .00 i .50 i Augusta Tribune, Augusta. Ga .00 i • 50 Morgan's Buzz Saw (monthly) Hardy, Ark 50 1.25 Ohio Liberty Bell (monthly), Cincinnati, O 50 i .00 The Public, Chicago, 111 2 .00 2 .25 PAPERS WHICH PUBLISHED A SAMPLE COPY COUPON.

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Hartford Journal, Hartford, Ala i . 00 1.50 Alabama Enquirer, Hartselle, Ala 1 .00 i .65

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i - Madison County Democrat. Huntsville, Ark .00 1 • 5°

W'oodrufT Cotmty News, McCrory, Ark 1 .00 i . 70

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St. Helena Sentinel, St. Helena, Cal i • 5°

Free Press, San Bernardino, Cal i . 00

Selma Irrigator, Selma, Cal i . 50 Yuma Pioneer, Yuma. Col i 5°

Woodbury Reporter. Woodbury, Conn i • 50 2 20

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i i Hardin Era, Cave- in-Rock, 111 .00 . 75 Elkhart News, Elkhart, 111 .' i .00 1.25

i i Hammond Courier, Hammond, 111 .00 . 70 Macomb Sentinel, Macomb, 111 1 50 2.00 Macon County Tribune, Macon, 111 i .00 i -S^- Clark County Acom. Marshall, 111 i .00 1 ,75

i . i Marion County Democrat. Salem, 111 70 . 70

SVipffiold T\mc'i Sh( ffifld Til i . 00 I . 70 V/est Chicago Journal, West Chicago, 111 i . 50 Williamsville Index, Williamsville, 111 1 .00

Southern Illinois Independent, Xenia, 111 1 .00

Colfax Standard, Colfax, Ind i . 00 Weekly News, Forest, Ind 50

The Critic, Frankton, Ind 1 00

Patriot Phalanx. Indianapolis, Ind i .00

Lynn Herald, Lynn, Ind i .00

Mentone Gazette, Mentone. Ind i . 00

Roekville Republican, Rockville, Ind J 5°

S\va3^zee Press, Swayzee, Ind i . 00

Switzerland Democrat, Vevay, Ind i • 50

The Advocate, El Dorado, Kan i . 00

Rossville Reporter, Rossville, Kan i .00

Salina Union , Salina, Kan 100

Selden Independent, Sclden, Kan i .00

Strong City Herald, Strong City, Kan i .00

Green River Republican, Morgantown, Ky i .00

The Comrade, Winnfield, La i . 00

Middleville Sun, Middlevillc, Mich i .00

' The Independent, St. Louis, Mich i .00

Ti'enton Times, Trenton, Mich i .00

Murdoch Voice, Murdock, Minn i .00

Gentry Sentinel, Gentry, Mo i . 00 Green City Press, Green City, Mo 125 Jackson Herald, Jackson, Mo i .00 Grundy County Gazette, Spickard, Mo i .00

Greeley Citizen, Greeley, Neb i . 00 Rutherford Republican, Rutherford, N. J i .00

Wayne County Alliance, Sodus, N. Y i . 00

Smyrna Press, Smyrna, N. Y i . 00 Crystal Call, Crystal, N. D i .00

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James County Times, Ooltewah, Tenn i .00

The Jimplecute, Jefferson, Tex i .00

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Pasco Express, Pasco, Wash i . 00

The Outlook, Centuria, Wis i .00

Milwaukee Times, Milwaukee, Wis i .00

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Pewaukee Breeze, Pewaukee, Wis i .00 South Milwaukee Times- News, South Milwaukee, Wis i .00

Enterprise, West Allis, Wis i . 00 OTHER JOURNALS. Homes Chimes (monthly), Berkeley, Cal 10

Express, Los Angeles, Cal i .00

Pacific Medical Journal, San Francisco, Cal 2 . 00 Palisade Tribtme, Palisade, Col i 50 The White Man's Country, Americus, Ga 50

Marietta Courier. Marietta, Ga i . 00

McDufhe Progress, Thomson, Ga i .00

Jcsup Sentinel, Jesup, Ga i .00 Independent Farmer, Durant, I. T i .00

Manhattan Mercury, Manhattan, Kan i .00

Olathe Tribune, Olathe, Kan i . 00

The Chronicle, Scott Citv, Kan i .00

Livingston Banner, Smithland, Ky i . 00 Waseca County Herald, Waseca, Minn 150

Ozark Democrat, Ozark, Mo i . 00 Montana Sunlight, Whitehall, Mont 2 .00

Bryan's Commoner, Lincoln, Neb i 00

Boyd County News, Lynch, Neb i • 50 Plattsburgh Republican, Plattsburgh. N. Y i 00

People's Paper, Charlotte, N. C i 00

York Pennsylvanian, York, Pa... i ,00

Farmers' Journal, Abilene, Tex i . 00

The Watchman, Cleburne, Tex i .00

Pioneer Exponent, Comanche, Tex i .00

Courier, Cresson, Tex i . 00

Dublin Progress, Dublin, Tex i .00

El Dorado Paper, El Dorado, Tex i . 00

Hamilton Herald, HamiUon Tex i oo Plain Texan (monthly), Weatherford, Tex 50 TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE ADVERTISER

A rare volume for the book-lover * readers of Tom Watson's Magazine 102 YEARS AGO Thomas Jefferson, while " overwhelmed with other business," cut such passages from the Evangelists as he believed would best present the ethical teachings of Jesus, and "arranged them on the pages of a blank book in a certain order of time or subject." This book he called "The Philosophy of Jesus of Nazareth."

For many years the manuscript of this wonderful book has lain in the archives of the State Department at Washing- ton, and public clamor for its publication at last became so great that Congress recently ordered it issued as a public document—but in very limited number. Before the original was turned over to the State Depart- ment, an accurate copy of it was made while in the possession of Col. Thomas Jefferson Randolph, Mr. Jefferson's oldest grandson. From this copy was printed the edition now offered to our subscribers. TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE AND THOMAS JEFFERSON'S BIBLE For $1.35, sent direct to this office, we will enter a year's subscription to TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE and mail a copy of the Jefferson Bible, postage prepaid. A dollar book and a dollar magazine—both for only $1.35. Send today. Do it now. Address TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE

121 West 42d Street, ^ ^ New York, N. Y. TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE ADVERTISER

From Mr. Badger's New List PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS OF JOHANNES BRAHMS By George Henschel 8vo, Illustrated, Si. 50

It would be hard to imagine a happier combination than in this work. Mr. Henschel was one of Brahms' closest friends, and in his recollections we have a unique and wonderfully interesting view of the great musician. The volume contains twenty-one letters from Brahms never before published, and a number of rare photographs reproduced here for the first time.

MISTER BILL MICKY By A. E. Lyons Si. 50 By Olin L. Lyman, author of the "Trail of the Grand Seigneur" Si. 50 "Mr. Bill" is more than a story—it is Mr. Lyman's first sold life. It is the history of a man, a prod- book more than 20,000 copies and his second is superior uct of both East and West, a man that to the first from every standpoint. neither could have evolved alone. Es- MICKY is a story of today, of news- sentially a man's book, it is, at the same paper life and politics. It is destined tiine, one that every mother could wish to become one of the really notable works of the season. her son to read.

AUNT SARAH, a mother of New England, by Agnes L. Pratt ... 551.50 THE SIN OF SAINT DESMOND, a novel, by Amy Cameron Fariss $1.50 UMBRELLAS TO MEND, a fantastic romance, by Margaret Vandegrift $1.50

THE WHITEST MAN, a story of motherhood, by Carrie J. Makepeace $1.50 A DAUNTLESS VIKING, a story of the Gloucester Fisheries, by William Hale Si. 50 A LIFE SENTENCE, a story of crime, by W. Watson Burgess $1.50

AS IT MAY BE, a story of A. D. 3000, by Bessie Story Rogers . >i.oo net SHADOW LAND, stories of the South, by Florence H. Robertson, Illustrated Si. 25

ALTERATIONS AND ADAPTA- TIONS OF SHAKESPEARE NEW POETRY By Frederick W. Kilbourne, Ph.D. Mr. Badger maintains his reputation S2.00 for publishing more good poetry than all This work is well described by its other American houses combined, by is- title. Mr. Kilbourne has treated the suing this Autumn more than twenty subject in a most exhaustive manner new volumes. Special circulars may and has presented his researches in such be had on request. form as to make the book invaluable to every student.

FOUR DAYS OF GOD By Harriet Prescott Spofford 8vo, Illustrated, Si. 00 This is one of Mrs. Spofford's most delightful pieces of work. In her charming style she gives the reader a fascinating view of each of the four seasons. It will appeal not only to the nature lover but to every lover of literature. The book is beautifully made and illustrated with over sixty drawings printed in tints.

RICHARD G. BADGER, THE GORHAM PRESS 194 BOYLSTON STREET, BOSTON TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE ADVERTISER

To the Readers of Tom Watson's Magazine: We take this opportunity of calling your attention to The Arena Magazine, i purchased this magazine a little over a year ago, and B. O, Flower, the founder and for six years the sole editor, again assumed the entire editorial management of the magazine. It now contains more than twice the amount of reading matter it formerly gave its readers. The staff of contributors was never stronger or more representative of the best progressive, earnest and conscience-guided thought than at the present time. They give their best thoughts on Ethics Science Literature Economics Religion Music Politics Education The Drama Art

The Arena appeals primarily to the conscience side of life. It places principle above expediency. It insists that the ideal of success be ennobled manhood and free and just government rather than the acquisition of wealth or imperialistic power based on bayonets and battleships. It will in the future, as in the past, place the well-being of the whole people above the interests of any class; and it will be the unswerving foe of corruption and whatever lowers or debases the ideals of the people. Besides the regular contributions on the public questions of the day, it also contains short stories. Editorial Comments, The Mirror of the Present, Book Studies, and Reviews of New Books. Each issue contains numerous illustrations, as well as several pages of reproductions of current cartoons. We ask you to unite with us in our work by subscribing to The Arena, or purchasing a copy every month from your newsdealer, and thus in an active way assist in our efforts to arouse the people to a realization of their civic duties. The price is 25 cents a copy, $2.50 a year. (Foreign subscriptions, 12s. 6d.)

Subscribe now, before this magazine is mislaid ; or if you prefer to see a sample copy before subscribing, request our Trenton office to send a copy.

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Hub Building, Trenton, N. J. EDITORIAL OFFICES: 5 PARK SQUARE, BOSTON, MASS. TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE ADVERTISER THE LEGAL TENDER PROBLEM

By Percy Kinnaird, of the Nashville Bar

In this volume Mr. Kinnaird covers the financial history of the American Colonies and the United States down to the Civil War. A second volume is now in preparation, bringing the history down to date. Mr. Kinnaird has consulted and relied upon the various Government publications for authority, and has quoted liberally from these, but he is not a mere retailer of dry facts. He has a message to deliver, a lesson to impart. Throughout the work he never once loses sight of the power of Legal Tender to keep in circulation among the people money stamped on any convenient substance, whether gold, silver or paper. The "Legal Tender Problem" is especially valuable to those who have studied the money question somewhat and wish to delve further into its history and science. Especially interesting are its chapters on "The Bank of Venice," "The Bank of North America," "The First Bank of the United States," the Dartmouth College Case, and its train of evils, the Second Bank and its death, and the "Conspiracy of the Bankers" in Lincoln's time. A book of 338 pages, well bound in gray cloth, retailing for Si. 00. Every "Old Guard" Populist who began the fight for rational money back in 1876 with Peter Cooper, will want a copy. Every beginner who knows something is wrong with our money system, but does not know exactly what, will need one. By buying in large lots, Tom Watson's Magazine is enabled to give its subscribers the benefit of a reduced price. "The Legal Tender Problem," postpaid, and Tom Watson's Magazine one year for only $1.55. Present subscribers can secure the book for 55 cents. Order today. Address, TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE, 121 West 42d Street, New York.

WHICH? EVOLUTION OR REVOLUTION?

"Which?" is the title of a 290-page book, by H. W. Williams, containing much that every reformer should read. Bound neatly in orange cloth; retail price, Si. 00. "Which?" the author declares, "is dedicated to the three sources of power—Muscle, Brains, Aloucy (as represented in true manhood, education, and the homes of our citizens) embodied in this nation. " This is the keynote of the book, but in presenting his argument for a triple system of suffrage, the author has touched on political and economic subjects generally, in a delightfully entertain- ing and instructive way. His chapters on "The Functions of Government," "The Rights of Property and the Rights of Man," and "A Study of Finance," are alone well wortli the price of the book, even if one cannot assent to Mr. Williams's proposition to allow a wealthy educated man three votes, a wealthy educated woinan two, a propertyless educated man two, a propertyless educated woman one, an ignorant male proletarian one, and an ignorant female of that class none. He argues that muscle, or manhood, should have one vote— assuming that males only have muscle. That brains, or education, should have one vote, regardless of sex. And tliat " money," or property, regardless of sex of the owner, should have a vote. This is a novel proposition. It has no part in the policy of Tom Watson's Magazine. It is not a tenet of the People's Party. But Mr. Williams presents strong arguments in support of it—and deserves a respectful hearing. What he has to say on other phases of politics and economics makes his book valuable, even though we condemn his triple suffrage scheme as chimerical. Mr. Williams sees clearly that neither of the political extremes, Socialism and anarchy, is a probability. This is his argument:

When there is no one thing that a government can do for (its citizens) better than they can do it for themselves without the aid of government, then the need of a" government ceases and the anarchist is right. AVhen there is no one thing that (the citizens) can do for themselves, individually, better than the govcrnm^'nt can do it for them, government becomes everything, qnd the Socialist is right.

Evidently the Post-Office is one thing that government operates better than any individual possibly could. And it is equally true that no government or collectivity cotild write a book as well as the individual can. Here is Mr. Williams's rule for determining the proper functions of government:

When it is decided that government can do for the citizens whatever they, as a whole, desire to have done, better, more quickly and at less cost than they individually or in any (minor) collective form can do it for themselves, the proper functions of a true government are correctly determined.

Tom Watson's Magazine one year and "Which?" postpaid only 81.75. The book alone, 75 cents. Address, TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE, 121 West 42d Street, New York. F. AUGUSTUS HEINZE, OF BUTTE, MONTANA.

(See article, "The Montana Copper War," on page 465) —

Tom WATSON'S Magazine

Vol. II OCTOBER, 1905 No. 4

Editorials

BY THOMAS E. WATSON

In the Mountains

this gray pinnacle of rock more grateful to the eye than these won- ON I sit enthroned; the clouds derful slopes of natural sward, cropped hang their curtains far below, even by the flocks, trodden smooth by for this is Mountain Top, in the Blue the herds. And if you will pluck one Ridge. of each of all the flowers and ferns Down the valley, to the east, towers which Nature's garden tenders you here, Jefferson's last great work, the Univer- the nobleman will envy you the rich- sity of Virginia; on the right the blue ness and the fragrance of the fields. haze makes dim the outline of the giant This rock is my throne, and as I peaks, which stand guard over the gaze upon the soul-lifting sublimity of glories of the Rock- fish Valley; far landscape I feel like crying out as away to the west stretches the Valley Goldsmith did when he looked down of Virginia, with the North Mountains from the Alps, " The world, the world

losing themselves in the skies ; and over is mine!" yonder, to the northeast, are the eter- This farm may belong to Jones, that nal hills which saw Stonewall Jackson's forest to Brown, this mountain to march to fame. Smith, that orchard to Tompkins, but Is there in the whole world a love- the landscape is mine, is yours, is any- lier view than this? Does Nature anybody's! where gather together so many of her He that has eyes to see, let him see. treasures within the range of human The sheep-bells tinkle drowsily in eye? the distance; the note of the cow-bell Here is the ever-changing play of is more sonorous and just as musical; light and shade as the clouds rest or the wild canary-bird, the wren and the move, anchor or sail, collect or scatter, robin are here with all their melody, smile or frown, fleck the heavens with and the brook that leaps the rocks gold or strew the beach of the horizon sings to one as to another. with broken waves of foam. Here is The sheep belong to Jones, the cows the limitless wealth of field and forest to Brown, but the picture which they fields forever green and forests whose make on the green hillside, with the infinite variety defies the winter to evening shadows falling around them, strip them bare and the summer to is mine, is mine! And the music of the find them stale. bells, and the music of the brook, and Here are the crystal waters, bursting the music of the birds does not belong from the blue-slate rock and dashing to Jones or Brown; it is mine, and with reckless speed down a thousand yours! hidden waterfalls to the rivers which He that hath ears to hear, let him pierce the plains. A nobleman's park, hear. after a century of care and cost, is not Down yonder in front of me, looking Octuber, 1905—1 886 TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE

east, is Rock-fish Gap ! It was the first It was in the olden time. The passway for pioneers crossing the Blue bricks, in the mud state, were lying Ridge to reach the Alleghany Moun- spread out on the "yard," the chase tains. For generations this was the went tearing by, the terror-maddened road the emigrant took going West. stag left his tracks in the bricks, and See how deeply worn into the rocky the hounds left theirs also. earth is this ancient highway, even on Here they are, curious mementoes; the very summit of the Gap. and another Keats—gazing upon these Are you much of a dreamer? Here footprints of the deer, which is now a is a place to dream dreams and see shade; the pack which chased it, also a visions. shade; and the hunter who followed the Fill that time-worn road with the pack, likewise a shade, all gone save pioneers who made it, call back the this tablet, which tells of the lust of adventurers who once thronged it, and pursuit and the agony of flight—might you will see the banners of civilization even match his almost matchless lines flying over the dauntless men in buck- on the Grecian Urn. skin who pass upward and outward and onward from the valleys of the Greatest of all who toiled up the lower South to found empires in the mountain, passed the Gap and stopped West. People the Gap with those at the old Tavern was Jefferson. The whose rifle and axe afterward made the last great work of his great life was "winning of the West," and you will settled here. From Albemarle he had see the militant cohorts of the white gone to write the first real defiance to man's ambition and daring and ideals King George, to break down feudalism go marching by ! Deep, deep is the hard in Virginia and foreign tyranny in the soil worn by their tireless feet; and if Confederation, to write the statute of the Old Road of Ohain marks one epoch religious toleration and the Declaration in English heroism, it is as nothing in of Independence, to send forth Lewis lasting importance, worldwide signifi- and Clark to the unexplored West and cance to the Old Road on Mountain to add a dozen great States to the Top, trenched out by the westward Union in the Louisiana Purchase. footbeat of those who aspired and ven- In his old age, in his decrepitude, he tured and endured—striving to make painfully made his way from Albe- the nation the greatest on earth. marle to this ruined Tavern on Moun- tain Top, met in conference Madison, Out of Albemarle and up through Monroe and others of the Elders in this Gap passed George Rogers Clark Israel, his purpose being to convince on his marvelous march to the Wa- them that his University—the Benja- bash, a march whose surpassing hero- min of his old age—should be located ism added four States to the Union in Albemarle. and to civilization. It was so decided at the conference; Through this Gap, and likewise from and when you go to Monticello they Albemarle, came Lewis and Clark on will show you the spot where the feeble their way to plant our flag upon the Jefferson, too weak to ride any more, Rockies, the Columbia and the Pacific. used to sit, glass in hand, and watch the upbuilding of the walls of his great Down yonder, on the green slope, by school. the scraggy trees and the group of ***** springs, lie the ruins of the ancient Yes, indeed, you can dream dreams Tavern, and among them you will mark at Mountain Top and see visions. a large pile of bricks. Sort these out Washington, stately and grave, goes curiously, and you will find a few by to the Indian wars; the chiefs who which have upon them the hoofprints used to stop at Peter Jefferson's for of deer and the footprints of the dogs advice and whose pathetic pleas for which were chasing the deer. justice young Thomas used to hear, :

EDITORIALS BY THOMAS E. WATSON 387 passed along this trail to Albemarle; dier, Colonel C. C. Taliaferro, of Roan- then the day came when the last Indian oke, carried the flag of peace from warrior stood here to gaze in despair Lee to Grant and Appomattox rang over the land he had lost, as the the curtain down. Moorish king looked back upon lost Granada. We were sitting on a huge boulder gazing toward the Massanutten Moun- Here, on the ridge commanding the tains, when he said to me, reflectively mouth of the pass to the north, are looking at the ruins of the old Tavern seven semicircles of earth and rock "The last time I was here was forty- thrown up at wide intervals. odd years ago. I was going horseback,

What's this ? on staff duty for General Lee, to Char- When pioneers passed through the lottesville. I rode in at that lower Gap going out from Virginia no re- gate yonder and stopped in front of the doubts confronted them; only the In- Tavern. I recollect that a number of dian, with his bow or rifle. Who were gentlemen were sitting on the veranda they that wanted to come back through drinking mint juleps. I asked if I the Gap and were met with guns in could get something to feed my horse battery? on, and I was told that I couldn't. They were the children of those who I had to ride on down to Afton to get had gone from the South to the win- him fed." ning of the West, and from the con- After the war this officer went to quered West they came through the school at Lexington, then settled in Gap which their fathers had worn deep Georgia, became one of my lieutenants in the soil—came to conquer the South. in the great battle for Populism, got a For down there, on the plains at the bellyful of that pretty soon, and is now, foot of the mountain, lies Waynesboro, like "the Thane of Cawdor, a prosper- and at Waynesboro Sheridan and Early ous gentleman," who attends to his fought. private business and doesn't care "a Let your eye range over that won- continental d n" for politics. drous valley; in your fancy you can again fill it with warring armies, dead Meanwhile / still dream dreams and and dying men, riderless horses, burn- see visions and look through and being towns, ruined homes. Into many yond these shadows of the valley to of those valley cisterns and wells dead where the sunlight catches the far-off men were flung until the cistern was tops of the mountains; and, while I full. Many of those gardens over there know that the distance is too great have trenches full of soldiers' bones. for me now and the climb too much And through this famous Gap rode for my strength, yet the course shall and marched the Blue and the Gray be laid toward it, even though I go until that splendid gentleman and sol- alone and do not attain the heights.

Tolstoy and the Land

The London Times publishes a to a portion of the soil, and that all lengthy article which Tolstoy has writ- political reforms will be vain until this ten on the land question, and this ar- fundamental reform is brought about. ticle is reprinted by Mr. Louis Post in I do not see that Tolstoy has added his excellent paper. The Public. one cubit to the argument already The position taken by the Russian built up by those who have gone be- philosopher is that the land must be fore. He adds some homely and strik- restored to the people, that every child ing illustrations, he mixes the question born into the world has a natural right of religion with it, but of substantial 388 TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE reason or fact he makes no contribu- men each citizen is going to get what tion whatever. belongs to him, if he can. Now, what is it that justly belongs Is it true that the real grievance of to each citizen? the masses is that the land has been It is his labor and the products taken away from them? Will no re- thereof. form bring them relief until the land How did private ownership in land has been given back to them? Will begin ? universal happiness be the result of Tolstoy speaks of those who have putting an end to the private owner- seized upon the land and who keep it ship of land? from the masses of the people. These are grave questions, and they As a matter of fact, the right of each deserve the most serious consideration. citizen to hold as his own a certain As a guide to our footsteps the past portion of the soil began with the la- must always be, to some extent, our borer who claimed the products of his light, our teacher. Human nature to- labor. day is probably the same that it al- While a score of tribesmen were fish- ways was. There is nothing new un- ing or hunting or drinking and gam- der the sun, and the problems which bling, one tribesman cleared the trees vex the brains of Tolstoy doubtless off a piece of wild land, converted the puzzled the minds of Moses and Con- rough soil into a seed bed, fenced it in fucius. to keep off the cattle and came to love Ours is not the only civilization the that which his labor had created. world ever saw. We may be sure that Having put his labor into the land, all the vital principles of government, having changed it from a waste into a all the problems of complex society, farm, it was the most natural thing in have had the best thought of the the world that he should claim it as wisest men that ever lived in the ages his own. Why shouldn't he? He had that are gone. made it a farm. If historical teaching is worth any- Was it just that the twenty idle thing at all, the land question may be tribesmen should take away from the considered absolutely settled. No civ- one industrious tribesman that which ilization was ever able to develop as his labor had created? long as the tribe owned everything in If it was not just for the idle to rob common. Not until it became a mat- the industrious then we must leave the ter of self-interest for some individual farm to the man whose labor made it a to improve the land was it ever im- farm; and there you have private own- proved. As long as each individual ership of land. felt that his parcel of land might go The moment the industrious tribes- out of his possession at the next regu- man saw that the tribe would protect lar division there was no incentive to him in the enjoyment of the products improvement and there was no im- of his labor he began to advance to- provement. ward civilization. He built something The waste remained a waste, the better to live in than a mud hovel. hovel remained a hovel. Not until the As long as the regular division of the individual became assured that the bene- soil was in practice he had no home. fit of his labor would accrue to himself How could he have? did the waste become a farm and the The home is the sweetest flower of hovel a house. individual ownership. There can be If the history of the world shows no such thing as a home—a home to anything at all it shows this. love and beautify and consecrate to the And the reason why this is so is that holiness of family life—where there is human nature is just human. If men no private ownership. were angels it would be different. As ***** long as men are nothing more than Tolstoy and every other opponent EDITORIALS BY THOMAS E. WATSON 389 of private ownership makes the point exploited non-privileged masses. The that nature gives no support to the aristocratic few lived riotously at the system. That is true. Nature does expense of the democratic many. The not teach the principle of private own- money of the nation was concentrated ership, nor does nature teach the doc- in the hands of the dominant class. trine of monogamy—the one wife. The many had to pay ungodly prices Nature does not recognize the mari- for the use of this money. Usury is tal relation at all. If nature teaches a vulture which has gorged itself upon anything on the relation of the sexes the vitals of nations since the dawn of it teaches polygamy. The marriage time. relation, as we know it, is not founded in nature, but is the product of con- "Great estates were the ruin of It- vention and is a comparatively mod- aly," says the historian; but what cre- ern contrivance. ated the great estates? Before a few In other words, it is a man-made could buy up all the land there must institution. have been some great cause at work, Does Tolstoy believe in it? If he some advantage which the few held at does (as must be assumed) he admits the expense of the many. What was the supreme power of society to fix the that advantage? laws by which it shall be governed, Dig down to that and you will then whether those laws seem to be laws have the true cause of the ruin of Italy. of nature or not. Consult the books, and you will find The one wife one husband marital that the ruling class at Rome had con- relation justifies itself by its results. centrated in their own hands all the We judge the tree by the fruits. tremendous powers of State. They It is far from being a radiant suc- fixed the taxes, paid little and spent cess, but we've got it, and we propose all. They controlled the money, and to keep it—lest worse things happen. the noble Brutus was one of the patriots As to the land question, the situation who loaned out his capital at 48 per is much the same. Society, as a mat- cent, interest! ter of self-preservation, admitted the principle of private ownership of land. Give to any ruling class the power to Had society never done so, the land levy and spend the taxes, give that would never have been more than na- class the legal right to enrich itself at ture's handiwork—the limitless range the expense of the others, give that for cattle, the uncleared wilderness, the class the power to dictate the price at thirsty plains and deserts whose which the masses shall have the use of parched lips would never have tasted money, and it is good-bye—a long fare- the life-giving waters of irrigation. well—to the prosperity of that people. Labor made the land worth owning, It is infinitely easier to enslave a and that which labor made labor was people through the misuse of the pow- allowed to keep. That is all there is ers of government than through the to it. laws of property. The power to tax is the power to. The civilizations that have died confiscate. Give that power to one were not killed by private ownership class, and what more does it want? of the soil. The only limit to the extent to which No; a thousand times, no! the victims can be robbed is the limit The civilizations with whose wrecks of their capacity to pay. the shores of time are strewn owed Add to this the control of the cur- their destruction to misgovernment. rency system, the life-blood of the na- Vicious men made vicious laws, and tion, and you need nothing more. vicious rulers enforced them. Exces- You can absolutely prostrate any sive taxation imposed burdens which people on earth by the misuse of these crushed the victims. Privileged orders two powers. No matter how much 390 TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE

Why should railroad kings hunger for land, when they hold at their mercy the produce which toiling millions bring forth from that land?" land you give the Russian peasant, or Yet even the ruthless Bismarck any other peasant, it will do him no feared them so much that not a penny- permanent good as long as his rulers worth of damage was done to the can so fix the laws of taxation and of Rothschild property in the havoc of money as to rob him of his produce as invasion which swept over France fast as he makes it. thirty-odd years ago. So plain is this truth to me that I Why should the kings of finance marvel at Tolstoy when he virtually bother themselves with the ownership prophesies that the millennium will set of land and the collection of rents, in when we shall have given every- when they can so easily fleece both the body a piece of land. landowner and his tenant? ***** Why should railroad kings hunger Consider a moment. Who are the for land, when they hold at their mercy present masters of the world? the produce which toiling millions Those who control the money. The bring forth from that land? Rothschilds are typical of the class re- Why should the manufacturing class ferred to; do they own any land? reach out for provinces to own and Do the kings of high finance buy rent when they can so frame the laws up vast domains in order that they as to draw enormous annual tribute may be served by a lot of tenants ? from the agricultural classes without By no means. The Rothschilds own any of the risks or any of the responsi- no land except their town and country bilities of ownership? homes. Change these infernal laws, and any- :

EDITORIALS BY THOMAS E. WATSON 391 body who wants land can buy it. Land could not make a decent living out of is plentiful and it is cheap. Not only them after paying taxes, railroad and has the Government vast areas of land express company extortions. awaiting the settler, but the country is Because of usurious rates of in- dotted with abandoned farms, which terest and the shameful Tariff tribute can be had almost for the asking. levied on every article bought for the Thousands of them can be bought for use of the farm. less than the improvements cost. Why Give the people land while these con- were they abandoned? ditions prevail, and they could not keep Because the men who owned them it to save their lives.

For Sale: A Policy in the Equitable

I OFFER for sale to the highest and from going to the waste-basket. If best bidder a life insurance policy. you have nothing else to do and want It is in first-class condition. I have to learn something about life insurance, fed it on fat premiums for nearly twenty take out your pencil and calculate what years. The red ink which charmed my nineteen premiums now amount to my youthful eyes in 1886 is still a bril- at compound interest. liant, enticing, reassuring red. The ***** huge official stamp of the Equitable is During those nineteen years it was unsullied, as of yore, and it seems to be not always an easy matter for me to saying to me, with an Oliver Twist pay the premium. Sometimes it was emphasis decidedly hard. And there was no "More— I want some more!" year when I could not have used the money very much to the comfort of Once upon a time a fire swept the streets of the town and my law office was burned—books, furniture, briefs and so forth—but this precious policy escaped unsinged. It had been placed in the innermost box of the iron safe, and came out of the furnace without the smell of fire on its garments. Let the books bum, let the furniture and the papers go up in flames—if only I may save this precious insurance policy. So here it is, safe, sound, as pretty as new shoes—and I want to sell it. Who wants to buy? Give me a bid, somebody. The policy is for $5,000, and it matures in October, 1906. " I have fed it on fat premiums for nearly What do I hear for this policy? twenty years."

Nineteen times I have come forward myself and family. But that hungry like a plain, average American fool and policy had to be fed, else it would go paid a premium of $113.50 for the dead. blessed privilege of keeping this old During the early nineties the Demo- piece of paper "alive." It had to be cratic Party and I got after each other fed on that sum once a year to keep it hot and heavy, and, as that dear old .

3d2 TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE thing had possession of all the machinery, it finally did all it wanted to do to me, protests of mine to the contrary notwithstanding Hard up? Yes, I got very hard up. No Congressional salary, no law-case fees, heavy expenses, everything tending to the "demnition bow-wows." The sheriff got me—sold some of my land (that Tolstoy is worrying about), the sale taking place while I was on the stump making speeches for "the people." So you see the morbid appetite of the insurance policy for the yearly pre- mitun was most inconvenient at times. It made me grunt, as I paid, more than once. And there did come a time, if " It made me grunt, as I paid, more than my memory serves pie right, when a once." dear old friend came forward and voluntarily paid the premium for me, he American fools, until a huge accumu- knowing how very hard I was pressed lation was there. for ready money. And then there was a merry dance But the Equitable got its premiums. indeed among our trustees. No matter how much I needed the Salaries twice as big as that of the money at home, the yearly premium President of the United States were had to go to New York; and it went. paid to men who were foully abusing What became of it after it got to their trust and shamelessly betraying New York? Ah, there's the joke, the me and the other thousands of dupes. cruel joke of the whole matter. Boodle mone}^ was paid to both the great political parties to keep down investigation and exposure. Lobbyists were hired at lavish expense to keep the Legislature asleep. Lawyers were paid "hush money" by the tens of thousands to stave off legal inquiry; directors were allowed to steal our money under the shallow device of lending it to corporations owned by themselves. Greedy speculators were given control of our funds in the carrying out of marauding deals. A carnival of fraud and thievery and extravagance took place, the laws being broken with brazen confidence in the power of the rascals to bribe their way to safety. " You scooped our Society in a manner Yes, the Equitable Society of New which no one seems to be able to un- swindled and thousands derstand; you have laid your greedy York has me paws upon our alleged surplus of $80,- of other dupes out of honest, hard- 000,000." earned money. Each of us who con- tributed to make the Equitable what My money went into the pot of the it was had an interest in the earnings, Equitable Society, together with that in the surplus. That was the harvest; of thousands of other plain, average we made it—it was ours. EDITORIALS BY THOMAS E. WATSON 393

Where is it? What share of it will gang was like. Now that I know, I any of us ever get? want to get out. My policy is up for sale. What is my policy worth? I want to It is time that I found out what this know. Hence it is offered for sale. old piece of paper is worth. Will you buy it, Tom Ryan? I want to know, and I want the You scooped our Society in a manner knowledge now. which no one seems to be able to un- What is a $5,000 policy, with nine- derstand; you have laid your greedy teen premiums paid on it, worth in paws upon our alleged surplus of $80,- your company, Tom Ryan? 000,000; you give marching orders to You are on the inside and ought to our alleged assets of four hundred mil- know. lions. I'm on the outside and want to know. A part of that money is mine. By Give us the proof of the pudding, every rule of right I am entitled to a Tom. share of the crop, which I helped to What is your bid for this policy in make. your Society? What is my policy worth, Tom Speak up, like a man! Ryan? Give me a bid. You are the man who gobbled up the Seaboard Air Line Railroad. You are the man into whose maw went the street-car systems of New York. You are the man who has done queer things to a bank or two, and who helped Au- gust Belmont buy the nomination of Parker last summer. To crown your career, you gobbled up the Equitable Society, of which I am a quiet, non- combative member. What do you mean to do with it? Will you continue to use our funds to back your speculations? Will you continue to furnish out of our treasury campaign boodle for both the great political parties? When I joined the Equitable Soci- ety, Tom, I didn't know what the "Speak up, like a man!"

A Day in the Autumn Woods

Did you never, Mr. Busy Man, drop ing your temples, and the shadow be- all your crowding tasks for a space, ginning to follow where it used to lead. snatch one whole day from the noisy Quick, then, Mr. Busy Man! Now or world in which you bustle and carry it never, if you would taste the nectar with you into the brilliant woods of which so many neglect, and which, Indian summer? thank God! is as free to the peasant as Did you never take by the hand the to the king! patient wife who loves you with such tried devotion, and say to her: Very quietly we went, my sweet- "Sweetheart, will you ride with me heart and I, taking our way along the today?" path, then out across the fallen leaves, It may be that Time is even now frost- saying little. !

394 TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE

The sounds of travel on the road wondered which one of those smooth- were left far behind, and we were alone, worn furrows in the granite marked the she and I, in the majestic forest. bed of the stream when Helen of Troy How gorgeous it was! The dress was young, or when chained thousands, parade of nature was never more thrill- groaning beneath the lash, were fitting ingly splendid. stones into the Pyramids. The red sugarberry flew its battle- Wrapped in this mood of idle thought flag from every height. The golden I had not noticed that my sweetheart maple marched side by side with the had left me and gone on down the glen, red elm, and underneath these stately until she called me to see the minnows, leaders crowded the dogwood and the the silver-sided fish, which rose by the sassafras in serried skirmish line. score to the crumbs she scattered Monk-like towered the hooded pine upon the pool, and which she was feed- over blazing yellow of hickory, over ing with all the delight of one who loves purple heads of oaks. every innocent thing that God made. And the falling leaves, how they And so the afternoon wore away. drifted down in dazzling showers, We strolled from rock to rock, from drifting here against a rock, drifting tree to tree, from the hilltop to the yonder against a bank, falling straight brook and from the brook to the hill or falling aslant, but falling, ever fall- again, each scene so lovely that each ing, whispering faintly as they drifted seemed lovelier than the others. downward through the breezeless, A mighty suspense hung within those golden afternoon. wooded aisles, as if some mystic inter- What foot of Persian king ever trod val had fallen upon the vast cathedral carpet so rich, so deep, so many-hued? service of nature. One felt that some- We walked upon it slowly, hushed thing had gone before, that something into perfect silence by the nameless would follow after, but that, for the spell of primeval woods. moment, to be reverently silent was Above us a squirrel was busy with a worship. nut; how silly it was of him to leap Boisterous laughter among those frantically away, springing from tree fading royalties of the trees would to tree till he was hidden in his hollow have been sacrilege. We had no murder in our hearts that Frivolity amid the showers of day—certainly none that day. those falling leaves would have been The sapsucker and the yellowham- criminal. mer were drumming on dead limbs, And the song of that modest brook, and the tattoo which they beat with as it hurried away over the smooth- their long bills rang metallically down worn grooves in the old gray rocks, the forest. softened every thought, chastened A covey of partridges, sunning them- every impulse of mind and heart. selves in an open, grassy nook, got The hurly-burly of the everyday almost under our feet before they rose world seemed far away—and forgotten. with a startled and startling flutter and Its cares, its toils, its strifes, its am- whirled away. bitions, its disappointments—all, all Over ledge after ledge of rock, be- were gone. tween two steep hills, dashed a We were alone, my sweetheart and I, stream from the spring far up the slope. and our thoughts, like our hands, were Was music ever sweeter? We sat joined together. down beside the brook, and as I noted We did not speak overmuch—there the record of the water's path on the was no need. rocks and reflected how long that little Why should I tell her, in words, how rill must have been at work cutting its my thoughts had flown back to the way downward to the gray stones upon time when I, a nameless, homeless which we sat, I got some idea of how suitor, had found favor in her eyes? old, how very old, it all was; and I There was no need; she knew, she knew "

EDITORIALS BY THOMAS E. WATSON 395 it well. What need that I should say, silvered legions of the autumn moon in words, that her love had been to my came pouring over the plains. better self the gift of the Order of We rode home along the country Knighthood, calling it to higher aims, lanes in the radiance of ten thousand inspiring it to nobler works ? stars, and under the spell which falls There was no need; she knew—she upon the heart after a perfect day in knew it well. the woods of Indian summer. Nor was there any need of words to remind her that I had been thinking of Mr. Busy Man, leave your task some that which ever and forever makes the day, let the shop take care of itself, let lip begin to tremble, and the eye to fill, the mill go as it may, let the plow and the soul to writhe in the agony stand in the furrow—and take yourself that finds no voice and no relief. into the depths of the solemn, shadowy There was no need for speech. I woods. Call back, ah, call back the knew that she had heard, and she knew forgotten years, collect around you the that I had heard, the patter of little old friends, the old thoughts, the old feet upon the leaves, feet that follow us ambitions, the mistakes you made, the invisibly now as we walk toward the faults you had, the wrongs you did or setting sun. In the song of the water suffered, the opportunities wasted, the we had heard another voice than that vain things you sought, the work that of the brook ; and down every glade of you might have done better, the kind the wondrous woods I knew there had words you might have spoken and did come to her, as to me, the question of not, the good deeds you might have "Shall she be ours again?" And to done and did not, the frowns that know that the despair had not lifted should have been smiles, the curses for her, any more than it had lifted that might have been blessings, the for me, I had only to glance at the tears that ought never to have been dear face into which grief had so cruelly shed, the wounds that need never stamped its shadow and its pain. have been made. ***** Commune with yourself—your past, As we came forth from the forest for your present, your future—your the homeward ride the red lancers of crimes, your weaknesses, your doubts, the retiring sun were speeding over the your fears, your hopes, your despair; brown fields, gloriously covering the and thus let Conscience and the Angels retreat. of your Better Self beat your soul into Their last stand upon the hilltops the prayer: had scarcely been made before the " God be merciful to me, a sinner!

Editorial Comment

This is the way the old story used he never was sorry until he was to run, in the slave States, before the "cotched." war: Caught with the goods, the hoary old "Boss, I'se awful sorry I stole dem sinner returned the money. But sup- 'taters." pose he hadn't got "cotched"? "How long have you been sorry, ***** Pompey?" asks the master as he gets James Hazen Hyde returned a por- the cowhide ready for business. tion of the money he stole from us; "Boss, I'se been sorry ev' since I Alexander did the same ; sundry other was cotched." high-rolling rascals did likewise; but Chauncey Depew and other knaves are none of the thieves to be pun- stole nearly a quarter million dollars ished? from us in the Equitable Society, and Is the return of stolen goods to be '

396 TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE

James Hazen Hyde returned a portion of the money he stole from us; Alexander

did the same ; sundry other high-rolling rascals did likewise ; but are none of the thieves to be punished ? ' the limit of the law's demand on the criminal was sentenced to the peniten- thief? tiary for several years for a matter of a few cents. He had no "pull," you see. He was " What a queer old humbug the " law not "highly connected." He did not is. On one page of the newspaper you move in the "best society." He was will read about the rogues who steal a not a useful man to a lot of hungry morsel to eat, a garment to wear, fuel corporations. Hence, he got the full to burn, or a few paltry dollars of weight of the wheels. jingling cash. In most of the cases But when Depew, Hyde, Alexander where there is arrest and punishment and other confederated thieves are the sum stolen is trivial, and in many caught stealing nearly a million dollars instances the rogue was tempted by from the trust funds which you and I dire distress. (and other fools) placed in their hands I have one case in mind where the they not only escape punishment, but —

EDITORIALS BY THOMAS E. WATSON 397 receive high praise for their return of message continued to come: "Not a the loot. kopeck of indemnity." How do I know that the same crowd Back of "Poker-face" Witte, back will not steal the money once more as of the weakling Czar, were the kings of soon as this hue and cry is over ? European finance. These powers be- "False in one thing, false in all: hind the throne had lent money to Rus- once a rogue, always a rogue." sia to the comfortable limit of her The rascals who took our money can credit. Suppose Russia had yielded to do it again, and as soon as they can the demand for an indemnity and that do it while no one is looking, they Russia had been compelled to issue a will. new loan of nearly a billion dollars what would have been the effect on the Christian Russia, lusting for con- market value of the former loansf quest, laid her hands on China^as These would'have slumped. other Christian nations had done. Hence the kings of European finance Russia overdoing the thing, and thereby probably had more to do with the atti- arousing the jealousy of other Christian tude of both Russia and Japan than the nations, the pagan Japanese were given average citizen has supposed. a free hand and much encouragement ^ 4: ^ ^ ^ in thrashing the aggressive Slavs out of Fine old times are coming around in their boots. Georgia. Japan wins what she started in to get, The Hon. Clark Howell is running and the time comes for peace. for Governor; so is the Hon, Hoke Roosevelt hits the iron at the right Smith. time, in the right way; the Commis- Brother Howell is the Georgia mem- sioners come to Portsmouth and peace ber of the National Democratic Execu- is made. tive Committee. He has always been The Russian diplomat, Witte, boasts a Dave Hill man. loudly and vulgarly of the manner in Brother Smith was a member of the which he beat the Japanese at the Con- Cabinet during that smelly, period ference. known as Cleveland's second adminis- To an outsider this boasting and tration, and has always been a Cleve- bragging seem in singularly bad taste. land man. Just a,s the Japs gave lessons to Again, Brother Howell used to be a Russia in' the battlefield, in the hos- rampant silverite, while Brother Smith pitals, on the high seas and in the was a ravenous gold bug. treatment of prisoners, so they rose But they were both rock-ribbed, superior to the Russians at the council moss-backed, mud-silled, unterrified board. Democrats, and when the necessity The Japs knew that they were lean- arose for putting down Populism or ing upon the broken reed of Euro- any other intrusive thing they both pean forbearance, and they wisely loved a flexible ballot-box, a magazine made the future safe by present moder- voter, a color-blind returning board ation. and a tally-sheet which recorded what- And they do not brag. The war ever the voice in the phonograph arose out of Russian aggression; Rus- said. sia loses everything that she fought for, But times have changed. The but she does not have to buy peace Southern Railroad system has been too after having been whipped in the field. defiant in running roughshod over the The fact that she does not have to buy laws and the people. The corporation off the Japs with money is the glorious lobbyists have put their dirty fingers victory which Witte says he won by his into too many pies. The fact that a "poker face" at the Conference. Republican like J. Pierpont Morgan Bosh! can systematically rob a great State It was from St. Petersburg that the like Georgia through the machinery of ! !

398 TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE the Democratic Party has become too splendid work for Southern independ- plain and too intolerable. ence and Southern progress. He * * * + Hence there is revolt all along the line, and Hoke Smith leads it. In 1898 Calvin Brice and other cap- In such a fight he has all my sym- italists secured from China the right to pathy. build a railroad. In course of time If he can do for Georgia what La this concession fell into the clutches of Follette has done in Wisconsin and Folk J. Pierpont Morgan and associates. has done in Missouri, he will become a Not a mile of the road has ever been heroic figure in the eyes of reformers made. Not a dollar of benefit has ever throughout the land. No matter how accrued to China. For certain reasons faulty his record in the past may have it became inadvisable for the American been, he is hitting the bull's-eye this syndicate to build the railroad, and time. the Chinese Government wished to can- cel the concession. The big-hearted Morgan generously For more than a generation "the agreed to give up the right to build the nigger" has been the stock-in-trade of road provided China paid him six mil- the Democratic Party in the South. lion seven hundred and fifty thousand The fear that negro domination might dollars be the result of a divTsion among the And China had to do it. Not a whites has compelled us to submit to penny had been paid to China for the anything and everythingl;hat Eastern concession; not a penny of benefit had Democrats chose to put upon us. The she got from it; but, because she had manner in which the South has been unwisely granted to greedy specula- dragooned through the Democratic tors a right to make the road she had Party by such heartless gold-hunters to pay a king's ransom to get free. as Belmont, Morgan, Havemeyer, Ryan Christian finance must have a strong and Whitney is enough to make the moral influence upon missionary work cheek of every Southern man bum in China with shame. Hoke Smith now proposes to strike Morgan is one of the railroad kings for Southern independence by taking of America who are compelling the away the club which Eastern Demo- people to pay them large revenues on crats used to beat us down with; he seven billion dollars of watered stock. proposes to banish the fear of negro He is the Republican whose sj'stem domination by disfranchising the of robbery is upheld in the State of negro. Georgia by the organized Democracy, Whoever feels ashamed of the man- He is one of the chiefs of the present ner in which Tammany and the East management of railways who find it have made a foot-mat of the South; cheaper to kill and wound 92,000 men, whoever wants the South to become women and children every year than independent; whoever wants to see to spend the proper amount of money Southern white men use their own on roadbed, bridges, switches, rolling brains and vote according to the dic- stock and employees. tates of their own convictions, must 4: :(: H: 4= * realize that nothing can be done as And as I was saying, those rascals, long as the South is forever frightened Senator Depew and others, who were into political paralysis by the cry of filching from you and me (and other "negro domination." fools) in the Equitable, had had our Hoke Smith proposes to put this old money for seven years. bugaboo out of business. How much longer would they have If he can do it he will have done a kept it if they hadn't got "cotched"? Are Treasury Reports Reliable?

BY FLAVIUS J. VAN VORHIS

is difficult, if not impossible, to In every abstract of the condition of IT get the full truth about the na- National Banks, from the first one, tion's financial affairs from the which covered the time from October reports that are available to the public, 6 to December 17, 1896, issued by Mr. made by the Treasury Department. Eckels, through all the abstracts issued Circumstances compel some show to be by Mr. Dawes and Mr. Ridgley down made of an effort to keep the public to February 26, 1902 (No. 27), there informed, but it is impossible to be- is an* erroneous statement" of the ratio lieve that the abstracts, summaries and of lawful reserves. Under the heading reports from time to time issued are of "Lawful Money Reserves," to be not constructed with the deliberate found on page seven of every abstract, purpose of concealing facts that, if the statement made of the amount of generally known, would operate detri- reserve held and the ratio held could mentally to certain private, corporate not possibly have any other result and party interests. than to create a false impression con- So far as the reports disclose any- cerning bank reserves. thing that might be profitable to the The first four columns of the table public, they come, as a rule, from are headed "Deposits," "Reserve thirty to sixty days after the special Required," "Reserves Held" and interests that may be benefited have "Ratio (or per cent.) of Reserves." been in possession of the information The banks in the Reserve cities are per- they contain. It is a real art to con- mitted, most unwisely, by law to de- struct a report so that a statement of posit one-half of their so-called lawful facts actually conceals the truth. It reserves in banks of Central Reserve requires a superior skill to handle fig- cities. If the table on page seven of ures in a way to create a false impres- any one of the abstracts from i to 2 7 is sion and at the same time successfully examined with reference to these banks avoid anything upon which can be it will be seen that the "Reserve Re- based a charge of making false state- quired" in the second column is just ments. one-fourth the deposits stated in the There is a growing belief that for first column. This is correct, but the several years the Department has been "Reserves Held" in the third column more solicitous about the interests of ought to be not less than one-half cash National Banks and the stock markets in the bank vaults, and not to exceed than about the welfare of the Govern- one-half deposits in Central Reserve ment and the people. There can banks. A little calculation shows that hardly be a question in the mind of this is not so. Under the head of anyone, who has been studying the "Reserves Held" is included all depos- Comptroller's abstracts, that there has its with " Reserve Agent " banks, with- been a constant desire in that office to out any regard to how much of such de- cover up certain very important con- posits are permitted by law to be count- ditions of National Banks that are ed as part of the reserves. In this way unmistakable indications of repeated a shortage in the cash reserve required violations of law. does not appear in the "Ratio." On 399 —

400 TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE the amount of so-called Reserves Held five years, almost from the beginning of the ratio of reserve, in every one of the the issue of these abstracts. twenty-seven abstracts, is calculated, The aggregates of cash reserves in and the shortage in "Cash Required" many of the Reserve cities were re- is concealed. Under this erroneous duced, by excessive loans, below the and deceptive method the cash re- amount required by law. The number serve required by law—the most im- of cities in which this condition existed portant part of the lawful reserve—was continued to increase until the end of entirely ignored, and banks shown to the time covered by Abstract No. 30 have a larger ratio than they pos- September 15, 1902 —when the aggre- sessed. It was often made to appear gate in the banks of each of the three in these abstracts that banks held re- Central Reserve cities—New York, serves in excess of the requirements of Chicago and St. Louis, and in each of the law, when in fact they were short in twenty-two out of thirty Reserve cities, cash required and, of course, in lawful was less than the law required. Under reserves. The table pretends to show such circumstances a duty rested upon "Lawful Money Reserves," but the the Comptroller, to be performed by only ratio of reserves given does not and with the consent of the Secretary show the lawful reserves. The next of the Treasury. In no single instance two columns, to one who is familiar does this duty appear to have been with the subject, may be made by performed. On the contrary, the Sec- calculation to correct the error in the retary rushed to the assistance of the first four, but in ninety-nine cases out banks and announced, notwithstand- of one hundred these tables make false ing the requirements of the law, that a impressions. reserve would not be required on Gov- The attention of Mr. Ridgley was ernment deposits. called to this defect in the abstracts. In this connection the following In a letter to me he admitted the error letter will be interesting: and attempted to excuse it. In the Treasury Department, next abstract (No. 28) he changed the Office of Comptroller of the Gurrency, table in a way that is very significant. Washington, October 21, 1902. The change makes the table fourfold Mr. Flavius J. Van Vorhis, Indianapolis, Ind. more difficult to understand by the Sir: Your letter of the 14th instant is re- average man than it was before. The ceived, relative to the lawful money reserve real error is not eliminated, but the of National Banks as shown by the printed office, and suggest- heading is changed from "Lawful abstracts issued by this ing certain changes in the form of statement. Money Reserves" to "Deposits and You are informed that in Abstract No. 29 Reserves," so that the table no longer showing the resources and liabilities of Na- pretends to be a showing of "lawful tional Banks for July 16, 1902, and in the reserves." He cut out the sixth col- abstract last issued, No. 30, containing September 1902, umn "Cash Reserves Required," so similar information for 15, United States deposits were included in com- that it now requires a considerable cal- puting the lawful money reserve required, " culation to find the Cash Reserves Re- the recent announcement of the Secretary of quired," which could be determined at the Treasury that reserve would not be required on Government deposits not having a glance as it stood before. been made until after the last call for a re- It is impossible not to believe in the port of condition of the banks was issued. existence of a purpose to conceal the Your suggestions in regard to changes in numerous violations of law in relation the form of the table showing deposits and to the "Cash Reserves Required." reserves will have careful consideration. Respectfully, That this is the real purpose is a conclu- William B. Ridgley, sion that is difficult to avoid when Comptroller. sufficient calculation is made to show the condition of the aggregate cash re- In this way, to relieve the banks serve held by the banks in each of the from the condition in which they had reserve cities during the last four or placed themselves by excessive loans, 2

ARE TREASURY REPORTS RELIABLE? 401 the aggregate of reserves required was terests or rights of individual de- decreased almost $30,000,000, and the positors. danger to individual depositors in- From the time when this change in creased. By this action of the Secre- the reserve was announced, to Novem- tary the banks can loan every dollar of ber, 1903, the Department still further Government deposits. These deposits assisted the banks by an increase of de- are secured by bonds, that represent posits of over $36,000,000 exclusive of part of the bank assets, and may be deposits of disbursing officers. Not- withdrawn upon demand like any other withstanding this liberality of the De- deposit, and must, when withdrawn, be partment with the people's money, on paid out of reserves to which they have November 17, 1903, the aggregate re- not been required to contribute one serve held by the banks in each of two dollar. The Government holds a Central Reserve cities and in each of prior lien on about seventy per centum eighteen Reserve cities was short. of the aggregate capital of National With such a condition of affairs as Banks, and this action of the Secre- this existing, there ought to be no sur- tary is not just to individual deposi- prise at the growing suspicion that the tors, who have no security for their trust funds and gold reserve shown by money, the debt statement (which, exclusive September 15, 1902, the New York of $101,248,700 in bullion, amounts to banks were short in their aggregate over $900,000,000 in gold and silver reserve over $2,280,000. They held coin) are being exploited for private almost $40,000,000 of Government benefit, very much as Mr. Lawson says money. By excluding this from the have been the trust funds of insurance calculations made to determine the re- companies. serve, almost $10,000,000 was liberated, An examination of the reports, while and the New York banks were enabled it does not confirm, so far as I can see, to show a surplus of over $7,000,000. by no means dispels the suspicion. If This amount was thus, by a clear vio- so flagrant a violation of law, and de- lation of law, taken from the reserve parture from official honesty, has oc- intended for the safety of depositors curred, it can hardly be expected that and added to the amount available for it will be disclosed in the reports, even loans for the benefit of the New York if falsehood is required to conceal it. banks and the New York stock gam- If it be true, as suspected, that banks blers. This alone is sufficient to show already have some of these trust funds, conclusively that the Department is some time in the near future proposed being manipulated in the interest of legislation to cover it up, by authoriz- banks and stock markets, and with ing the Secretary to deposit trust funds little consideration for either the in- in National Banks, may be expected.

Similar Symptoms

**"\A7'ELL, suzz, Ezry!" ejaculated a certain citizen of Pruntytown, upon / ^ meeting an acquaintance. "You are lookin' real smilin' and satisfied this afternoon. Betcha it's a boy or girl—hey?" "Betcha 'tain't!" was the reply. "I've just swapped a balky horse to Deacon Pettifer for an animal that ain't got a thing in the world the matter with him except a spavin, the heaves and a stringhalt. That's what tickles me so." October, 1905— laRBUTHnan

Author of " The Micmacs," " The Inn of the Long Year," etc.

back windows of the first again. Her husband had dragged her THEfloor of the Hotel Rockingham with ease and rapidity down a hill she were exactly on a level with the could never reascend. Hand to mouth back windows of the third floor of the and the third floor of a decent tene- tenement house behind it, down the ment was the best she could do for her- hill. Mrs. Arbuthnot, by way of re- self ; even that was only just attained, lief from the black radiator and the and she had not outgrown the haunting sewing-machine, which were salient fear that Bill Arbuthnot might find points in the tenement furnishing, fell her out some day, and take her back to into the way of sitting in the dark the depths with him. To get rid of it when her day's work was over, and now she tried to huddle comfortably in watching a certain sitting-room in the her uncomfortable rocking-chair, and Hotel Rockingham, whose blinds were looked again at the luxury opposite, at never down. the bent black head and foreshortened

There was an open fire; a lamp, in- face of which she knew every line ; and stead of electric light; and more than an unpleasant thrill ran through her as that, on a writing-table stood candles. she looked. Mary Arbuthnot felt childishly that A stranger had entered her Peri- she could bear her unbearable life if viewed paradise—a man in an overcoat. only now and then she could afford a The owner of the room dropped his wax candle. Every evening the occu- pen, and rose—sharply, as though he, pant of the room made coffee over a too, had felt a disagreeable surprise. spirit lamp, and then settled to his "Business," thought Mrs. Arbuth- work at the table in the window. By not. She wished the unwelcome vis- and bye he would light his pipe; itor would go; she liked to watch the toward ten o'clock clouds of blue smoke one quiet figure, which had a lonely would blur the sharp picture of com- look, not unlike her own. But suddenly fort and well-being, but not so thor- she started bolt upright in her chair. oughly as the tears which filled the There was surely a familiar something lonely watcher's eyes. She had been about the visitor over the way! Was it ashamed, at first, of spying on her aris- possible that he reminded her of— Bill? tocratic neighbor, but as the winter But that was nonsense. She had not evenings darkened she forgot that. seen Bill for seven years; would not She sat boldly at her draughty window know him if she did see him. in the dark, and looked into the oppo- The two men were talking, standing. site room till it grew to be a spurious The stranger had his back to her. He home to her. Incidentally, she looked was a little bald, just as Bill might be upon its owner. Sometimes he had by this time; he gesticulated, just in visitors. She was jealously glad when Bill's way. The owner of the room they left. She wanted no one in that was facing her; she could see his shaved room but the man who sat and smoked lips move as he laconically answered the and wrote so far into the night. excited speeches of the other man. Mrs. Arbuthnot had lived once in Presently he turned round, then back just such a room, and never would again, and stooped over a drawer in the 402 ARBUTHNOT'S AMEN 403

writing-table, looking for something. rade, her unconscious comforter ; and he The overcoated visitor faced round lay dead under her eyes. " where he stood behind the owner. He was your lover.?" Arbuthnot 's Mrs. Arbuthnot leaped from her seat. hand clutched at her, and missed. In two minutes she was downstairs, "No," she said heavily, "I was his. out, and in the side door of the Rock- He never spoke to me." ingham, which was used by her, for If she had seen his sneer he would she did mending for the guests. In have swung for it, but she did not look three she was on the first floor, noise- at him. less and unobserved. "Where did you come from?" he de- Breathlessly she turned the handle manded. of the room she had never expected to She pointed to the window. enter; with marvelous quiet set the "I live behind there. / saw you!" door ajar; she meant to stand there and she whispered. She was so faint and shriek for help while she stopped the sick that she closed her eyes at his way of anyone who tried to rush past quick step toward her. She was hardly her. But she did nothing of the kind. sensible of his hand on her shoulder. She stood dumb. Through the crack "Who else saw me? Who else? of the door she stared at the visitor, Anybody?" who had apparently changed occupa- "I don't know." tions with his host. He stood bent Arbuthnot turned to the prostrate over the same drawer, searching the body and cursed it. "I don't know same mass of papers in which the other why I did it," he finished sullenly, had been fumbling. With thickish, "only he drove me crazy. I'll get out shakish fingers he picked out a paper, of this now." and turned round with a grunt of re- "If I let you." lief —to see the door ajar. But she knew she would let him ; she Before he could spring to it Mrs. felt a guilty woman standing there, Arbuthnot had opened it boldly and though she had never spoken to the was in the room. Before he could lay dead man. a hand on her she had called him by "You will let me, Mary," Arbuthnot name. spoke like a gentleman, as he had been "Bill!" she said. used once to speak, "you'll help me. He had raised his arm to strike her, You must!" his eyes traveled slowly but he did not do it. He said some- to the body at the table, comprehend- thing, in a fierce, astonished whisper. ing it for the first— time. "Take me "Yes, it's I," she spoke more low, home—with you " he appealed, "till more fiercely; and locked the door be- it—blows over." hind her without taking her eyes from Home—to the room whence she had him. The owner of the room said been wont to look on the living man, nothing; he was lying sprawled across who was dead? Never! She crossed the writing-table, over a litter of writ- the room and closed the blind. ten and virgin pages. "/ saw you! "That would run your neck into I've come round to give you away." the rope," she said. She felt pitiless. Mrs. Arbuthnot 's eyes had never wa- "My place is full of people; any of vered from the face of the man who them may have seen you as well as I. had once been her husband; a swollen, Their rooms have windows." But she tired face, handsome still. He had shivered as she said it. "Why did you been drinking, but he was sober now. —do it?" she ended faintly. She had "You fool!" she said. She looked for not meant to shrink from the word. one flash at the man she would never "Because he'd ruined me. He'd watch again where he wrote in his fan- made it so I couldn't show my face cied solitude. "I loved him; my God, anywhere. He had a paper of mine I loved him! " she broke out. he held over me, and when I saw it to- For a year he had been her silent com- night I— He was a pal of mine once, ;

404 TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE

though you mightn't think it! I came cut out not to scream it, and he saw his to borrow money from him, and all he advantage. did was to turn round and drag out "At mother's. She's doing— well. that cursed paper." She's so pretty, Mary, and if " even Mrs. Arbuthnot did not answer him Arbuthnot had not the nerve to finish. she was looking at the dead. His head His wife stood silent. Ever since lay sideways on the table, his eyes were the day he had vanished with her two- open; he looked uncomfortable. She year-old child a terror had maddened had known he was dead from the mo- the woman he had deserted. What ment she entered the room, yet she would become of her baby, at the ten- could not leave him like that. She der mercies of a man like him? And went to him and, with shaking fingers, he had had tender mercies, after all; closed his eyes. A soft sound at the there had been that much good in him. door made her wheel. It was Bill, turn- She almost wavered. And he saw it. ing the handle to leave the room, and "It will all come out," he said she looked at him triumphantly: the thickly, "my record and yours. With key was in her pocket. that kind of a father and mother, who "You can't do it! I'm going to will have anything to do with herf give you up; have you arrested!" she But give me up if you like. I'm a said softly, and the blood beat in her worse man, I suppose, than you are a head like a hammer. woman, but," he swore, "I couldn't Arbuthnot did not move. The door- do this by you!" knob was useless, and he dared not In the silence the dead man's watch make the noise of bursting the lock. ticked loudly in his pocket. " Do," he said. " Make a good head- Nerveless, limp, the woman leaned line, 'Wife Hanging Her Own Hus- against the door for support. Fifty band,'" and once the word was out he hangings, fifty lives like Bill's, could thought it echoed round the room. But not make the man she loved breathe it was the other word that made the or move again. It was all the same, woman start away from him. since he was dead; all the same to him. "Husband! You're no husband of The threat about her own past had no mine; you deserted me. It's seven terror for her; it was a past of poverty, years." not sin—Bill had made a bad shot "All the same, I'm your husband." there—but it had deadened, numbed If he were afraid, he did not show it; he her. Right and wrong and expediency went on speaking quietly, mindful that had all grown one indistinguishable in a hotel the walls are parchment. blur. Who had made her a judge to "You" swore once," he said, "to love send a man to the gallows, and stamp me." with that ineradicable die the child ?" "And what did you swear, you— who called him father? somewhere in the corridor there was a " Come, then," she said heavily, " I'll noise that took the words out of her help you. But it's for her sake, not mouth. Arbuthnot's sodden face went yours; I'd not stir one finger for you." gray. There were steps again past the door, "I know—let that alone," he mut- and Arbuthnot knew they would stop tered. " Only the child—think of the there. His heart echoed them long child! Don't go back on me." And after they had died away. "Come," the steps outside passed as he waited she repeated. It was no matter to her for her to answer. how many people went by; she knew "The child!" It was her last, worst they never came in. "That's no one! count against him; the thought that Come." she fought off night and day. To have "The knife! It's mine." He went her child again, even to know it was over and took it from the close-lipped safe and well, she could almost wound with a sound that turned her "Where is she?" She had her work faint even before he wiped it on the ;

ARBUTHNOT'S AMEN 405 tablecloth. No, no! She would not couple of miles of walking they came save him. He could hang. out on a bare field. Beyond it the sea "You promised," he cried quickly. rolled thick with cold under the cloud- She could not answer him. With veiled sky; in the midst of it, grim and sudden terror she feared the dead man hulking, loomed the deserted prison, who could not trust her. She took the left to the bats and the four winds doorkey out of her pocket, and it fell these thirty years. on the floor. It was Arbuthnot who The woman drew a breath of relief. fitted it in the lock, and turned it again Nearby was a fishing village ; every day when they were outside. But once boats came and went. It was not a away from that silent, accusing pres- scrupulous village; it would be easy, ence the woman led the way, down a comparatively, to get Bill safely away. lighted hall, and out the little side en- The man recoiled at the sight of the trance of the building. They met no black pile. one. In five minutes they had turned "Here," he cried; "it's a prison! " into the dark alley that led to the tene- You ment, but once in it she stopped. "It's the only safe place I know," "Have you nowhere to go?" she she answered, unmoved by the epi- asked, loathing him. thet. " I found it out by chance. No He shook his head. "I came here one ever comes here, and—it's a prison on the train tonight. I haven't a without a door"; she pointed signifi- cent to get out of the place." cantly to a black and empty archway. "Money," she thought. He would Arbuthnot flinched in front of it like want money, and she had none. By a frightened horse. "I won't go in," the time she received her week's wages he swore nervously. "Do you mean every train and steamer would be to keep me there forever? How'm I watched. Like lightning she remem- to get away?" bered a place where a murderer—the She told him, slowly, as one tells a word had come to her mind inadvert- child. ently; she staggered as she remem- "Why not now—tonight?" he de- bered it was the right one—might lie manded. And she told him all over hidden for weeks. again. "Wait here," she said; and wiped the "Because it's winter, and there damp of horror from her lip. mayn't be a boat going out for a Arbuthnot grasped her arm. week." "You're playing fair with me? You And her thought was how she hated won't give me up?" him, and that she had better finish be- "You're her father, or I would," fore she repented. she sobbed fiercely. She went before him into the dark She broke from him and ran down archway. The winter moon crept out the alley. He waited. He did not from the clouds, and sent a piercing trust her, but he waited, chiefly be- shaft after them as they disappeared; cause he could not run; his legs had sent another through the narrow-slit begun to shake the instant he was windows of the prison, and found left alone. He felt a kind of dull sur- them, husband and wife, standing in prise when she returned alone, with a the corridor encircling the white- bundle. washed square of black-doored cells "You must be quick," she said. which rose tier on tier to the roof. At She led the way through a labyrinth each corner a stout stair wound to the of dark lanes, carefully avoiding the four iron galleries that surmounted electric lights that mark out the one another. The moon's rays fell on thoroughfares. Gradually they drew the nearest stair. out into the open country, having met "We must go up to the highest row; no one all the way. It was very cold it's 'most out of the way," said the the ground was like stone, as after a black shadow of the woman to the 406 TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE black shadow of the man, in the chill Mrs. Arbuthnot staggered against silence of the vaulty place. the railing of the gallery. She had Once more she led the way, carrying forgotten the horror of talk she would her bundle. Arbuthnot's steps sang have to face. She could not do it; she on the granite as he followed her, and turned on him frantically. she stopped in terror, though there "I can't go! I'll get you things were no ears within a mile. some other way. I can't go—home." "Walk quietly," she snapped, and "Then they'll suspect you!" an- went on like a cat up the icy stone grily. steps. She felt her way in utter dark- "No. I often go over to Northway ness, because the moon had vanished; for a week's upholstering without tell- and the murderer clung to her skirts. ing the girl. I was there yesterday. Into the first cell on the highest gal- I left word for her last night that I lery they turned, and she struck a might go there today for a week; I match from her bundle. There was won't be missed." And her hard the wooden shelf which had held the mouth shook on it. It had always been convict's bed; she spread her shawl on a wrench to go away, even for a week, it, put on the slab that stood for a from her unconscious comrade, and table the loaf of bread that had been now he had gone away from her for- meant for her own breakfast, and ever. She could never go home. turned to go. But to be alone was She sat that day in silence. Ar- beyond Bill Arbuthnot, and he said so. buthnot wailed uninterruptedly that To his surprise she gave in without a he had no tobacco; when evening fell struggle. Side by side the two who he said he was starving and had as had not met for seven years sat through soon hang and be done with it. When the long hours till dawn, their intoler- at last she rose he acquiesced without able burden between them. Once he a word to her leaving, since she was huddled close to her for warmth, and going for food. He never even asked she pushed him off, violently. When where; but she had had all day to ask day broke she rose shivering, though herself. their bodies and breaths had warmed On the outskirts of the town stood a and made close the narrow cell. house where every evening bread and "Where are you going?" Arbuthnot soup were given to all comers. It had clutched her dress. the high-sounding name of The House "Home; to my work." of the Guardian Angel. Frequenters "Why couldn't you have kept me in knew it as "the Angel," a restaurant your room where you work, instead of where there was nothing to pay. Mrs. this beastly place?" Arbuthnot was going there, since she "Because I've a girl there working could neither go home nor walk seven with me. And because there isn't miles to Northway. She had twelve even a cupboard there where I could cents, and she went to a shop and put you." bought a tin pail; the bread was given " When will you be back?" He kept away in paper bags. She fairly ran to hold of her, like a child. the place. What if she were late and "After dark." had to go back empty-handed? "I suppose you've got to go!" But the dole had not begun when "Or you starve," she retorted harsh- she took her stand among the ragged ly. "There's bread for today; you can women and children hanging about the walk up and down to keep warm." door. They stared at her indifferently, Arbuthnot made no answer, ex- as she had known they would stare; cept to let go her dress, till she was and the sister in charge, when at last halfway down the stair. Then he the door opened, never looked at her called her, and she went back.— at all. It was perfectly safe; she had "Find out—you know " he said, only to hold out her new pail and turn "and bring me something to smoke." away, bread in hand. — !

ARBUTHNOT'S AMEN 407

For three nights she came, took her turned on him savagely. "I don't portion and fled. The fourth night believe you care a straw what you've there was a delay; she was kept wait- done; I don't believe you realize it. ing till nearly eight o'clock. As she Oh, I'm not a praying woman, but if stood, someone, not a sister, but a I could say a prayer that would undo passer-by, eyed her keenly. If she your work I'd say it, if I had to give had turned round she would have seen my life for an Amen!" the girl who sewed in her room, but "Why do you say that?" Along she did not turn. The girl stared shiver interrupted him, till he felt his astounded, then stepped back into a flesh must come off his bones. "What's doorway and watched in amazement. life got to do with it?" Mrs. Arbuthnot was in Northway! "I don't know," she could hardly Yet here she was among the beggars. speak for crying; "but don't you know " What on earth!" the girl ejaculated. that when you've once done a thing She saw her companion of every day you can never get away from it? If go away with her provisions, and fol- there were only some—some expiation lowed her with cheerful curiosity till Bill," she leaned to him suddenly; her she turned off into the country. As thin face was distorted as she clasped Mrs. Arbuthnot crossed the bare field the knees of the man whom three days to the deserted prison she was in clear ago she hated, whom she had not seen sight against the skyline, a black shape for seven years, "Bill, can't you pray? against the winter stars. The girl went Can't you do something? Do you even, back to the tenement, and talked truly, care?" without malice, but for conversation. He did not answer the question; in Somehow her talk ran like wildfire the dark his face hardened. "Why through the ward. are you crying?" he asked roughly. Arbuthnot met his wife as she climbed "Is it for him? It can't be for the weary stair, but he did not snatch, me." " I— as at first, at the food she carried. In- I— " she could get no further at stead he sat down beside her on the first, "I swear I never spoke to him, plank bed. Bill! But I used to sit and look at "Did you hear—anything?" he said. him. The room was so lovely. He She shook her head listlessly. "I looked kind. I hadn't anyone else." was kept; the sister was late. Eat "I don't see, then, why you didn't your soup while it's hot. There's no give me away!" schooner in the bay yet." "I couldn't. I don't know why. With a sharp gesture he thrust away Bill," sharply, "we're a pretty bad ?" the food. pair to have had a child! What if— "I wish I'd never done it," he the words stuck in her throat. startled her. "I wish I'd been dead "Hold your tongue!" he said harsh- first." ly, sweating in the icy cell. It was In the dark his wife stared at him. getting late, and so pitch-dark that he But repentance here did not mean could not even see the dim outline of much. her, but he could whisper. "Mary," "Oh, you don't understand," he he set his teeth, "if you like I'll—give cried out. " I know what you're think- myself up!" ing. But it's not this place nor the "You sha'n't," she sobbed, "you cold that makes me sorry. Somehow must get away. Think of the child up it's you!" there in the country, with all the papers "Me?" calling you a murderer—her own He nodded. "You've put yourself father!" and at the word the two who out a good deal for me," he said, and had not met for seven years locked the ludicrously inappropriate phrase fast in each other's arms in the black struck neither of them. dark. "You can put me out of it," she "God forgive you, oh, God forgive —

408 TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE

you!" she sobbed. "Bill, can't you Out of the darkness at her elbow can't 5^ou say Amen?" started a shadow. It touched her, let her go, tried to spring past her—and Downstairs in the corridor round the she knew she had it in the clutch of the tiers of cells there was a soft sound. strength that comes to women once in It floated upward unheeded; came their lives. again, like a rustling sigh, and en- "Go on!" she screamed, holding fast tered the cell through the inch-opened to a heavy— coat, "don't be taken! door. The child " and then all she knew "What was that?" said Arbuthnot. was that she was holding on still, fight- He listened. He kept his arms round ing like a cat. This man should never her. pass her.

' ' ' Nothing ! The wind. ' For a long Arbuthnot went on. But halfway moment she spoke the truth. Then the down two more men were posted. sound came again, cautious, unmis- The full light of a lantern glared on takable. There were feet on the him and confused him; he had been

stair. used to the dark. He stopped ; and the "Keep still," she breathed. "It's men stood. They were ten steps be- someone!" She opened the door and low him on the slippery stair, and peered into the dark gulf below the Arbuthnot knew it; but he made no gallery. Downstairs, far down still, rush. He was thinking in that blind- there shone for one second a white ing shaft of light as he had never

flash, that made her spring like a cat thought in his life ; thinking of the child to Arbuthnot. "Police," she said, —of hanging—with a dead stoppage "don't run! Come slow," It was of his heart, of Mary. And at the side by side they crept along the gal- thoughts he made his rush, but it was lery to the furthest stair: there was a not at the stair. door halfway down it that opened on a To the men below him there was a ladder to the yard; they might reach quick spring, and a silence. After the it yet. "Go on, Bill; quick!" silence a thud, far below. But no cry,

She gave him a little push ; she could no whisper where Bill Arbuthnot lay hear feet distinctly in the whispering unrecognizable on the stones of the gallery of the place. But he did not great corridor. He had said his answer to her voice. Amen.

A Substitute

CELDUM FEDD—Kin I git a bite to eat, at the house, Cap'n? "^ Hired Man—Don't believe you can. The deacon is stingier than stone soup, and wouldn't give you the mumps unless you'd pay him for 'em. But, tell you what—if you'll come down to the barn I'll show you the beam that the feller that used to own this place hung himself on. The Creed of Populism

BY PIERRE FIRMIN

present industrial system is in our present industrial system. But OURscarcely three centuries old. then, as now, the opposition came from It began in England after those who were its greatest bene- the break-up of the medieval con- ficiaries. ditions under Queen Elizabeth. It One of the principal merits claimed has made rapid progress. That it is for our present system is that it affords an improvement on the old feudal sys- the greatest opportunities for individ- tem cannot be denied. It has opened ual effort. A half-century ago that up new countries and established new contention could have been made good. industries. It has added to the com- Since then the system has developed fort and culture of mankind in many some very pernicious phases. The ways. It has universalized education success of the present system depends and freed the mind from superstition. upon the fullest and freest competi- But there remains the same "irre- tion. In many cases this has been pressible conflict" that has ever been throttled. Through combinations mo- present among men since the world nopoly has grown up and the laws of began—the effort of the strong to en- supply and demand no longer have slave the weak. The welfare of the anything to do with fixing prices. human race is threatened by the very They are fixed by the managers of cor- magnitude of its undertakings. In- porations. This tendency to concen- centive to energy has culminated in a trate the energies and wealth of a few mad frenzy for immense wealth. individuals along certain lines of com- The old feudal castles have been lev- merce has been increasing for half a eled to the ground, but in their place century. It has assumed gigantic and have been erected industrial enterprises dangerous proportions. It fixes the and establishments wherein the laborer price of oil, of beef, of coffee, tobacco, is made to yield up a portion of his of mostly all articles of commerce and earnings as regularly and ruthlessly as kinds of machinery. To meet this con- the feudal lord appropriated that of dition, which has grown out of our his vassal. As "the growth of towns, present industrial system, three reme- the development of the commercial dies are proposed: spirit, the acquisition of military First: To control the trusts and cor- knowledge by the people in the sev- porations by law. eral countries, scientific inventions Second : To take over to the Govern- and discoveries, and the application of ment and municipalities all such as are gunpowder in the uses of war" were termed public utilities, to be operated among the causes which overthrew at cost for the benefit of the whole peo- feudalism, so will they compel a ple. change in our present industrial sys- Third: For the people to resolve tem. And this change will be wrought themselves into one great common- from necessity, and not on account of wealth or community, take over to any preconceived theory. itself all the means of production and There were those who opposed a distribution, wipe out the capitalistic change from the feudal system, just as and wage systems entirely, and operate there are those who oppose any change everything in common. 409 :

410 TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE

There is no question as to the exist- the people. They have a splendid ence of the evils. Every intelHgent conception of existing evils, and they man realizes that something must be see with a clear eye the result of done. their continuance. Yet, if it is pos- The conservative class favors con- sible for them to attain their ultimate trol. object, the Great Commonwealth, they The Populists would begin the neces- have first got to go laboriously and sary reform by gradually and in a gradually over every inch of ground businesslike way acquiring ownership contended for by the Populists. of the principal agents of distribution, There may be a great deal of radical- such as the railroad and telegraph ism in the remedies proposed by the lines, the street railways, water-works, Populists, but there is nothing either lighting franchises and the absolute new or impractical. In "Les Misera- control of the money system of the bles," Victor Hugo, discussing the po- country. litical conditions in France, says: The Socialists would revolutionize All the questions which the Socialists pro- the whole system, take over all the posed—laying aside cosmogonic visions, land, machinery, railroad and tele- reverie and mysticism—may be carried back to two original problems, the first of which is, graph lines, everything, and make to produce wealth, and the second, to dis- a part the great them of common- tribute it. The first problem contains the wealth. question of labor, the second, the question of The first of these remedies has been wages; in the first, the point is the employment of strength, and the second, the dis- tested by fifty years of trial, and its tribution of enjoyments. From a good em- weakness proved by its absolute failure ployment of strength results public power, to control. The very fact that such and from a good distribution of enjoyments, a remedy is going to be applied invites individual happiness. By good distribution mean, not equal, to the legislative halls a strong lobby we but equitable, distribution, for the first quality is equity. From with the fixed purpose of corrupting these two things combined, public power our public servants. Thus, the cor- abroad and individual happiness at home, porations and trusts have not only results social prosperity, the citizen free, the prospered immensely in wealth and nation great. arrogance right under the shadow of That is genuine Populism. Every- this remedy, but there has grown up a thing centres around those two great system of corruption that permeates questions. every department of our Government. England, says the same great author, solves It is the old question of trying to patch the first of these two problems—she creates up a pernicious system by permitting wealth admirably, but distributes it badly. This solution, which is completely on one its beneficiaries to choose the patches. side, fatally leads her to these two extremes, Of the remedy proposed by the So- monstrous opulence and monstrous misery; cialists I have only a few words to say. all the enjoyments belong to the few, all the privations to the rest that is to say, to the To most people it seems like a Utopian — people, and privileges, exception, monopoly dream. To say the least it is ex- and feudalism spring up from labor itself. tremely radical. If at all possible and It is a false and dangerous situation to base practical it could be accomplished only public power on private want, and to root by the slov/ process of evolution. The the grandeur of the State in the suffering of the individual ; it is a badly composed gran- great trusts themselves are doing more deur, in which all the material elements are to aid the socialistic idea than all the combined, in which no moral elements enter. propaganda the Socialists are putting And yet Hugo was not a Socialist, out. The claim which is made by as is shown from the following quota- trusts that products are more cheaply tion from the same chapter manufactured and handled by great combinations than in a small way is Communism and the agrarian law fancy that they solve the second lesson, but they also the contention of the Socialists. are mistaken. Their distribution kills pro- But the Socialist claim is that the bene- duction, and equal division destroys emula- fits of the trust should accrue to all tion and consequently labor. THE CREED OF POPULISM 411

From a Populist viewpoint our sys- But as soon as that law was passed it tem of production, while it may not be encouraged men and capital, and sev- perfect, is far in advance of that of dis- eral refineries were projected and tribution. There may be isolated cases started. The same thing can be said where the Government should step in of the Beef Trust. It crushes compe- and do some producing on its own ac- tition and kills the incentive to indi- count, just as Kansas and Minnesota vidual effort. But if the Govern- are doing in the manufacture of binder ment would establish a large packing twine, but the greatest evils are con- establishment, independent packing nected with our system of distribu- houses would be started all over the tion—the railroads as carriers, and country. money as a medium of exchange, the There was a time, and that not a key that unlocks the wealth of na- great while since, when it cost from tions. twenty-five to fifty cents to send a It is objected that if the Government small amount of money a short dis- goes into business of this kind it will tance. The express companies had a have a tendency to destroy the incen- monopoly on the business. Then the tive for individual effort, and for the in- Government went into the business vestment of capital. There could be of transmitting money, and now you no greater mistake. On the other can send a like amount across the conti- hand it will encourage effort. If, nent for five cents. Did it discourage through special rates, one man has the different express companies and a monopoly on shipping a certain line drive them out of business? Not at of products, as it frequently happens all. They simply came to the rate under our present system, it most cer- established by the Government, and the tainly destroys the incentive for any people are saving thousands of dollars other man to compete with him. But as a result. Was that impractical? if all could get the same rates and op- Well, that was Populism, There isn't portunities, as would be the rule under any howl coming from anybody but the government ownership, competition express companies, and the people are would be strong enough to establish not losing any sleep over that kind of fair prices and an open field for indi- howl. Some of these days we will have vidual effort. This fact was exemplified the parcels post—that is, Uncle Sam recently in the fight between the State will carry parcels up to ten or twelve of Kansas and the Standard Oil Com- pounds at about one-half of what the pany. Prior to the time the Legislature express companies now charge. That passed a law to establish a refinery no will be Populism, too, and the express man or set of men cared to go into companies will howl, but they'll go on Kansas and start an independent con- doing business at the old stand and the cern in competition with the Standard. sun will still shine.

His Way

"H^-Oh, he is the sort of chap that wants to abolish the trusts and keeps a dog that howls all night."

PHILANTHROPY is often the cheapest method of advertising. Money Monopoly

BY J. C. VALLETTE

best definition of Monopoly debts, public or private, without regard to THE the amount, except where otherwise ex- is, "The exclusive possession pressly stipulated in the contract. Sub- of anything, as a commodity sidiary silver is legal tender for amounts not or a market; the sole right of buying exceeding $10 in any one payment. Treas- or selling or manufacturing anything." ury notes of the Act of July 14, 1890, are The particular "thing" in this case legal tender for all debts, public and private, except where otherwise expressly stipulated is money. There is no money, nor can in the contract. United States notes are there be any, in the United States un- legal tender for all debts, public and private, less it originates from the law of except duties on imports and interest on the public debt. Gold certificates, silver cer- Congress. From any other source it tificates and national bank-notes are not is "counterfeit." The term "money" legal tender. The minor coins of nickel and is given to any kind of cur- copper are legal tender to the extent of rency, but this currency is not scien- twenty-five cents. tific, genuine money unless it be a Of the ten different kinds, only six legal tender unless it has the power — are money. The others are only cur- to compel a creditor to accept it for rency. The greenback paper is money debt or give up the debt. This power as far as the law allows it. The is given to legal tender money by law national bank-notes are not money. of Congress. The word "except" on the greenback Now as to the material. Did any- is a discrimination, in favor of the one ever see a piece of gold or silver, bondholder and against all others. nickel, copper or paper, that was legal The word "except" in the law of tender money until a law of Con- subsidiary silver, silver dollars and gress said it was ? If you never have, Treasury notes, gives the power into then is it the law or the material that the hands of individuals to ignore the makes money? All of these materials power of law. We will now turn to have been used to stamp the impres- the law creating the great monopoly, sion, the mandate, yes, the "Fiat," of Chapter XVI, Statute I, page 8, law upon. From Circular No. 72, Sec. 14. United States Treasury Department, And be it further enacted, That it shall be I page 13, take the following: lawful for any person or persons to bring Coins and Paper Currency. There are to the said Mint gold and silver bullion, in

ten different kinds of money in circulation order to there be coined ; and that the bullion in the United States, namely, gold coins, so brought shall be there assayed and standard silver dollars, subsidiary silver, coined as speedily as may be after the re- gold certificates, silver certificates, Treasury ceipt thereof, and that free of expense to the notes issued under the Act of July 14, 1890, person or persons by whom the same shall United States notes (also called greenbacks have been brought. and legal tender), national bank-notes, and turn to Sec. 16. nickel and bronze coins. While they do not Now all possess the full legal tender quality, each And be it further enacted. That all the gold kind has such attributes as to give it cur- and silver coins which shall have been struck rency. The status of each kind is as fol- at and issued from the said Mint shall be a lawful in all payments whatsoever. lows : Gold coin is legal tender at its nominal tender face value for all debts, public and private. Standard silver dollars are legal tender at The ten-dollar gold piece at that their nominal or face value in payment of all time contained 247^ grains of pure 412 : ;

MONEY MONOPOLY 413 gold, June 28, 1834, Congress, by second, I must have interest for the law, changed the amount of gold in the use of it; third, I must have the inter- ten-dollar piece to 232 grains of gold. est in advance." The borrower must The law took out 15^ grains of gold, submit or go without. He must sub- and still it was ten dollars. mit, if not, the Government would Where is the theory or fact that the sell his property for taxes, and the value of gold never changes? How "sole" owner of money could buy it does it happen that 232 grains are just at his own price. The borrower sub- as valuable as 247 ^ grains? Simply mits, gives his note for, say, $100, because the law of 1834 said "each gives security of $200 or $300 on his eagle" ($10) "shall contain 232 grains property, the time one year, and the of pure gold." You may take either owner discounts the note for, let us horn of the dilemma. If gold never say, 10 per cent., and hands the bor- changes in value, then the law is wrong rower $90. The lender holds the note if gold does change in value, then it and security, and the borrower owes must be the law that fixes the value. $100 and receives $90 to pay the $100 Read what the law says in regard to with. Take all the foregoing facts the ratio between gold and silver coins into consideration and tell how he can note without transferring Shall be as fifteen to one; that is to say, pay that every fifteen pounds weight of pure silver $10 worth of his wealth either to the shall be of equal value in all payments, lender or to some other person that with one pound weight of pure gold. has been to the lender and borrowed Does the word "shall," so frequently on the same terms he did himself. used in the law, mean what it says? These money monopolists, made Now let us get back to the monopoly such by law, have the power to gather question. Was and is "free coinage" all the wealth of the nation into their a monopoly? Who owned the "gold exclusive possession. This "system" and silver bullion brought to the has already fastened a debt, an un- Mint"? "The person or persons" payable debt, with money, of $40,- bringing it. Who owned the money 000,000,000, something about one-half after it was coined? The bullion of the total present wealth. You can owners. Is this money Government figure out about how long it will take money or Governments' money? The to get the other half if you will Government does not own a dollar of ponder this statement, that every it. Everybody was not mining gold time a merchant goes to the lender and silver, neither was the Govern- and gets a note discounted he agrees ment in the mining business. All the to return more money than he re- money at that time was owned by the ceives. This interest constitutes a persons given "the exclusive posses- debt that cannot be paid with money sion, the sole right," of all money when paid it must be by a transfer of coined. The remainder of the people wealth to the "exclusive" monopolist, pursuing other occupations besides the money-lender. Then just think mining were obliged, yes, compelled how many notes are discounted every to have money, because the Govern- business day in the year, and also the ment has the power to lay taxes on the aggregate amount, not of the notes, people in order to pay its expenses. but the interest or discount. You The alternative the people had was can get some idea of how fast this debt to go to those persons having "ex- is increasing, or in other words, how clusive possession, the sole right," fast the money monopolists are gather- to the "thing" money and hire it ing in the wealth of the nation, by from them, they being the "sole" reading Mr. Albert Griffin's article in owners could, and without doubt did, the June number of Tom Watson's dictate terms to the borrowers. Says Magazine, on page 464, second column, the owner: "First I must have se- near the bottom. His figures are offi- curity tliat you will return it to me; cial, and ought to be correct. Take 414 TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE the $6,278,000,000, which he calls mittee investigated and found the "hocus-pocus money" and call it 3 bank had $580,000 of its notes in cir- per cent, interest per annum and it culation and only $86.16 in coin in amounts to $188,340,000 of debt not its vaults for their redemption. The payable with money. bankers, in those days, played tricks Well, now let us go back to the on the people as well as on the bank money-owners of 1792. It is evident examiners. The writer of this article the miners of gold and silver bullion was told by a bank officer of one of did not produce enough of it to sup- the banks in Providence, R. I., that ply the demand for money to the when the examiners visited his bank people, so they organized State banks. in the forenoon, examined the books, The charters in most cases gave them and weighed or counted the coin, the the privilege of issuing three "paper bank was pronounced on a solid foot- promises to pay" money with only ing. Then the examiners visited the one dollar of money to pay with. next bank, examined the books and These "promises," were called money, weighed or counted the same coin or bank-notes or bills. They were used in the first bank and pronounced not money—simply a substitute, a the bank on a solid footing as they had promise to pay on demand. These the first one. This transaction may institutions sprang up in all the States. not be called a fraud. Probably this It has been questioned by eminent may be what is termed "confidence." statesmen whether State bank bills It should be termed "misplaced confi- were constitutional. In Article i, dence." section 10, paragraph i of the Consti- It looks as though the bankers tution, it says: wanted the people to have confidence No State shall coin money, emit bills of that the bankers could accomplish an credit, make anything but gold and silver impossibility. The result of the fail- coin a tender in payment of debts. ure of the banks to "redeem" their

The question arises , if a State cannot promises was to precipitate a panic. emit, or is prohibited from emitting, When the banks failed to "redeem" bills of credit by the Constitution the bills in circulation the people were

(Webster says: "To emit is to put deprived of the " substitute" ; they had into circulation, as bank bills"), how to fall back on gold and silver coin to can a State delegate a power it does pay debts and do any business, pro- not possess? Common sense is good vided they could get it. This was a law, and if the Constitution prohibits contraction of the currency, and those the States from "emitting bills of in debt unable to pay were sold out credit" is it not reasonable to suppose by the sheriff. Prices fell and misery that the right to "emit bills of credit" reigned. In the panic of 181 5 there is reserved to Congress? were 208 banks with $110,000,000 of This must be admitted, or else Na- circulation and only $17,000,000 in tional bank bills are unconstitutional, specie to redeem with. In 1837 there for Congress certainly does emit them were 788 banks with $149,185,896 of to the banks. Under the old State circulation with only $37,915,340 of banking system, the bills emitted were specie. This panic held on for six only a "promise to pay" real money, years and over. I have heard old knowing, when they "emitted" them, people say it was almost impossible to that they were promising to pay three get any money at all during that with one. When they failed to keep time. In 1857 there were 1,416 banks the promise, then, in most instances, the with $214,778,882 of circulation and promises were worth no more than the only $58,349,938 of specie to "redeem" paper on which they were printed. with. As a matter of history, every For instance, in March 1809, the Far- panic that has occurred in the United mers' Exchange Bank, of Gloucester, States since 1792 was brought on by R. I., was closed, the legislative com- a contraction of the circulation me- —

MONEY MONOPOLY 415 dium, and at the same time business that would give them $75,000,000 of was being done on a specie basis, so specie. This, then, was the financial called—a pyramid standing on its condition of the banks at the breaking apex. In 1815 there were over $6 out of the Civil War. of paper based on one dollar of specie. The people have had no opportunity In 1837 nearly $4 of paper on one of of knowing anything of our financial specie, and in 1857 nearly $4 on one history. The reason is easily seen of specie. when you have read the Hazzard There is no profession so lucrative circular from English to American as that which practices on the super- bankers and the Buell circular from the stition of the masses of the people. The American Bankers' Association to the votaries of this system used the same bankers of the United States. Every juggling terms then that they do well-informed person knows that the today, and the people swallowed it all leading newspapers and magazines as most of them continue to do. have persistently refused to open their Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the columns to printing even the plain law. Treasury, in i86i made the statement This has not only been so, but is so that on January i, 1861, as near now. You may take up any daily or as could be ascertained, the banks of weekly paper, no matter whether it is the United States had $202,000,767 of labeled Democrat or Republican, and circulation. It was estimated that you will not find any discussion of the only $150,000,000 was in the loyal money monopolists or trusts in it. It States, the balance being in the re- is said "the devil always leaves the bellious States. Mind you, this cir- bars down," and you will find it is so culation was bank bills, not specie in "Spaulding's Financial History of old State bank bills, promises to pay. the War." Mr. Spaulding was not It is not stated how much specie the only a "patriot," but he was a banker, banks had behind this $150,000,000 of and no doubt he worked on the old paper. It can be approximately esti- motto, "Self-preservation is the first mated, by judging from the conditions law of nature," Mr. Spaulding mixes of former banks and the privilege of a little of patriotism with a great issuing three dollars of paper for one deal of banking or self-preservation. dollar of specie. Let us give them If you follow this up, you find a great the benefit of any doubt. We will many reasons why the old greenback- say they had one dollar of specie for ers were right from the point of view each two dollars of circulation, and and arguments of Mr. Spaulding.

The Primrose Way

ED—How is it he doesn't believe in luck? T Ned—I guess it's because he has had nothing else all his life.

Following a Fad

"DEULAH—She doesn't seem to take a moment's rest. -^ Alma—That's because she is trying so hard to live the Simple Life.

TN these days technicality is the last refuge of the scoundrel. High Time for Renovation Morris, in Spokane Spokesman-Review

Dern ye, yer afraid to come out and fight fair!''

Donahey, iti Cleveland Plain Dealer

//(t^W»'

Secretary Taft Before the Great Buddha —"/ wonder if she could tell me who will Stand Pat, Old Man; It's Teaching the be the next President of the United States?" Young Idea How to Shoot McCutcheon, in Chicago Tribune Bart, in Minneapolis Journal 416 ;

As A Bird To The Mountains

McQueen. ^^M^^^^^^^^iSi lifeM^iS^fel

month was May, but the sun The baby stirred from a fitful sleep, THEfairly boiled with the fierce peering from swollen lids into her heat of July. The wire-grass mother's face. "Mam, mam!" she by the side of the powdery road was cried weakly. crisply withered. The giant pines, "Mammy's lamb, mammy's baby!" stirred by breaths of hot air, seemed to crooned the mother, holding a tin cup moan of thirst and parched roots. The filled with the tepid drink to the eager wire-grass pony, drawing the clumsy lips; but, when she tasted it, the baby cart, laden with Jethro Dismukes's wife pushed the cup away, with a feeble and her sick baby, strained wearily wail of disappointment. through the heavy sand. Jethro " Mammy knows the old water's hot, walked beside the cart on the slippery but hit's all she's got to give her baby," grass, to avoid the baking sand of the murmured the distracted mother, rock- road. Jethro had been "chilling" all ing the child back and forth in a vain the spring, and, weakened by malaria, endeavor to soothe it. was in poor condition for walking; but " Never mind," said the father cheer- he staggered manfully along, striving fully, "we're 'most to town, and to cheer Lauretta, his wife, with com- pappy'U git little Sis a drink o' nice, forting words. " 'Tain't much further, cold ice water soon's we git thar. honey," said he cheerily. " We'll git Don't you go to givin' up, Lauretta, thar by evenin', shore, and then the honey. I make shore the doctor'll cyo doctor'll be mighty apt to cyo little her." Sis. Yes, sir! I 'spect he'll cyo her Lauretta made no reply; the cart right away. How's she seem to be do- swayed heavily through the sand, the in', Lauretta?" He reached over the silence unbroken save for the baby's side of the cart and touched the little piteous wail, "Mam, mam!" and the head on Lauretta's bosom. mother's ready answer, "Mammy's Such a hot little head, throbbing lamb, mammy's baby!" with fever! Lauretta sat on a mat- Jethro Dismukes and his wife, Lau- tress with the baby in her lap—a piti- retta, were not natives of this flat, ful baby indeed, swollen almost to sandy, desolate country, with malaria bursting, its skin a transparent yellow rising from stagnant sloughs and ponds from inanition, hardly a red blood cor- with hot, bitter lime-water for drink puscle in the poor, palpitating body, and lonely stretches of solemn pine for- breath coming in short gasps from est for the weary eye to gaze upon. cracked lips, which Lauretta strived to Only the year before they had come, a moisten with a rag dipped in tepid newly married pair, from the moun- water in a jug at her side. tains, lured by hope of better prospects "Don't seem to me her head's hot in the turpentine regions. In the great as 'twas," said Jethro hopefully. forest belonging to the turpentine com- Lauretta looked up, despair in her pany for which Jethro worked they had hollow eyes. "My baby's a-gwine to settled in one of the rough board shan- die, Jethro," she said, with dreary calm- ties, hastily put together for the shelter ness. of the employees and their families. October, 1905—3-^417 418 TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE

But nothing seemed to prosper with at the door of the small white building Jethro and Lauretta. Provisions were and rang the bell. scant and prices high at the company's An old colored woman, the caretaker commissary. Jethro took chills and of the place, came to the door and bade was often unable to work; and Lau- them enter. "I spec' de baby sick!" retta, alone as she was a great part of she exclaimed sympathetically. " Come the time, fell a victim to that most right in de front room, where it's cool, hopeless of diseases, named by phy- and lay it on de bed; den I'll go fetch sicians nostalgia, by its victims home- you some ice water and 'phone for de sickness. She thought of her father's doctor. Ain't no patients 'tall here little farm in the mountains, the now, so dey ain't no doctor visitin'." log cabin where the cheerful mother, All the doctors in the town tendered while her spinning-wheel whirred busi- their services to the King's Daughters, ly, sang old ballads brought from over- but the physician who answered the sea by long-forgotten ancestors; and call happened to be young Dr. Lor- the troop of hardy children roasted rimer. Fresh from college and full chestnuts and horse-apples and sweet of enthusiasm, he sometimes cured potatoes in the ashes of the wide where more experienced physicians hearth, and ate them with appetites failed. One glance at the transparent made keen by the tonic mountain face of Lauretta's child sufficed to show air. him the gravity of the case, but he And when the sun beat down on the cheered the parents with hopeful and baked earth and she drank, with loath- hearty words, and going vigorously to ing, the warm, bitter water from the work soon had his tiny patient as com- lime sink, how she longed for the cold, fortable as she could be made under the deep spring, whose icy waters gushed circumstances. This accomplished, the from the mountain-side. doctor indulged in some equally vig- Lauretta might have pined away and orous thinking. Only the most careful died but for the coming of the baby to and experienced nursing could save the ease her aching heart. Life seemed child, and this the young mother could full and happy after that till, with the not give. Nor could the colored nurse hot weather and the teething, the baby whom the King's Daughters hired when sickened, growing steadily v/orse as the extra attention was necessary. There summer advanced. The simple reme- was only one way, decided the doctor, dies to be had at the commissary were and that would be to beg Miss Lathrop tried without avail. Driven to de- to take the case. Now, Miss Lathrop spair the parents decided to take the was a trained nurse who, though she child to the nearest town, where there had retired from professional life, could were skilful physicians, and where, also, sometimes be persuaded to help her certain good women of the place, the friends out in an emergency. Dr. Lor- King's Daughters, had built and sup- rimer was her pet physician; he had ported an emergency hospital for such recently pulled her through a serious children of their Father as these. illness, and he knew she was waiting The weariest journey must come to for a chance to "pay him back." an end. At last the roofs of the town, "It's a shame," he thought, "to in. groves of moss-draped oaks and huge take advantage of her gratitude, but, pecans, came in sight, then the build- by George, I'm going to do it!" With ings and then the dusty streets, where the impetuous young doctor to think the sand was even deeper than on the was to act ; in a few moments he was in country road. Here Jethro stopped to his buggy speeding on his way to Miss inquire the way to the hospital. It Lathrop 's pleasant cottage, and in was close by. The King's Daughters an incredibly short time that lady, had built on the outskirts of the town, somewhat breathless from her hurried where lots were cheap. Jethro helped preparations, was seated beside him, Lauretta and the babv from the cart dashing rapidly back to the hospital. AS A BIRD TO THE MOUNTAINS 419

Lauretta sat beside the cot, placed age. Even the baby learned to recog- near an open window, to catch the faint nize her touch as more skilful than its breeze, and moistened the baby's hps mother's, her ample bosom as a softer with a tiny bag of crashed ice. Jethro resting-place than Lauretta's emaciated sat at the foot of the cot and looked on, arms, and hushed its feeble wail at the in helpless man fashion. Hope had sound of her voice singing soothing revived in Lauretta's breast at the lullabies in the quiet night-time. doctor's first visit, and nov/, when he And the baby grew better ; the fever entered with the capable, strong-faced and swelling subsided, the feeble heart woman, whom she instinctively recog- grew stronger, and gradually the red nized as a nurse, a power to save only blood began to creep slowly through less than the doctor, her face grew the wax-like limbs. Nurse Lathrop, luminous with joy. from taking a professional interest in "Oh," she whispered as the nurse her patient, began to feel a sincere placed her firm hand on the baby's affection for the tiny being whose wails wrist, "you'll cyo my baby, won't you? were hushed at her approach, and who You'll shore and certain cyo my nestled on her bosom with a sigh of baby?" content, or regarded her with a curious "I hope the doctor and I together look of satisfaction in its great dark can cure it," replied Miss Lathrop eyes — eyes full of pathetic beauty, kindly, "but you must try and be set in a tiny dark face, in which the brave if the worst should happen, for nurse began already to see signs of pos- your baby is very sick." sible loveliness. "You just keep your courage up in One morning she sat rocking the the meantime, Mrs. Dismukes," spoke baby to sleep before she left it in Lau- the cheery young doctor. "I've got retta's charge for the day, gazing into lots of hope since Miss Lathrop has con- the pale face and stroking the sleek, sented to nurse the baby. The best dark head with tender touches. Fi- thing you and your husband can do nally she rose, sighed, laid the baby now is to go to bed at once. You're on the cot, and after her usual careful both worn out, and Miss Lathrop will instructions to the waiting mother, call you if help is needed." wended her way through the quiet, And Lauretta, gazing into the calm, shady streets to her own home. She trustful face of the nurse, knew that it lifted the latch of the white-painted would be well with the child. Their iron gate, walked up the neat path, hearts at rest, that night she and with its borders of dewy, night-fresh- Jethro slept the deep, unbroken sleep ened verbenas, unlocked the front door of utter exhaustion. and entered the dusk of the cool hall. But the baby tossed its feeble arms A big Maltese cat trotted up, rubbing in fevered unrest, peering through against her gown with loud purrs of swollen Uds at the unfamiliar face, and welcome. In the sitting-room could wailed "Mam, mam!" in piteous pro- be heard the doleful chirping of a pair test at its mother's desertion. of canaries—^which speedily changed It was late next morning when Nurse into a song of rejoicing as she opened Lathrop sought a few hours' repose in wide the windows to let in the morning her own quiet cottage. Before leaving freshness, uncovered the cage and hung the baby to Lauretta's care she it in a window, then filled the birds' sponged its swollen body in cooling drinking-glass with fresh water, and alcohol, clothed it in clean linen, and their saucer with birdseed. gave it the morning draught of nour- Out in the backyard could be heard ishing stimulant. Day after day she the hungry cries of broods of young did this, coming back punctually at chickens, impatient for their morning nightfall; and eagerly did Jethro and meal. She hghted a fire in the shining Lauretta greet her return, for her pres- kitchen stove, set the kettle to boil, ence brought renewed hope and cour- and, before making any other prepara- — 420 TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE

tions for her own breakfast, she mixed alert, the light of enthusiasm beaming a panful of meal for the chickens. As from his handsome face—a presence cal- she opened the back door a grave old culated to cheer the most pessimistic of mastiff rose slowly from his bed on the patients. door mat, and welcomed her with dig- "Well, confrere, I've come for the nity, waving his tail slowly, and lifting consultation," he said, dropping on the his head for the customary pat she be- steps at her feet and immediately stowed upon it. He followed her with transferring the Maltese to his own lap, a lordly air of protection down the where it placidly resumed its nap. steps into the yard, where the eager " The truth of the matter. Boy," said fowls crowded round her feet for the Miss Lathrop, "is this: I find that old portions of meal she scattered with a Tom and Towser and the birds and liberal hand. She was a social being chickens don't quite fill my life. I'm taking much comfort in the compan- getting discontented. I want some- ionship of her animals, and usually thing human to pet." had a cheerful morning greeting for "Won't I do?" inquired the "Boy" them all, but this morning she attended soberly. " You can always have me to to their needs in a very silent and ab- pet." stracted fashion. She laughed, patting the curly head The chickens fed, she went into the at her knee. "You're too big, Boy. kitchen and prepared her own break- I want a baby." fast. Her breakfast over, instead of "A baby? Well, if I find any lying preparing to lie down. Miss Lathrop round loose I'll bring you one. Trouble went to the telephone in her hall and is, most folks that own babies have called up Dr. Lorrimer. " I wish you'd objections to giving them away. Was come out here for a few minutes. Boy," it a boy or a girl baby you were want- she called. "I want to consult you." ing?" "All right," came back promptly. "A girl; and I've found her already. " Be with you in ten minutes." I want the Dismukes baby." She took a seat on the cool front The doctor whistled. "I'm afraid porch to await his coming. The Mal- you'll have to take my offer and tese jumped on her lap, she stroked it chance it; that little Mrs. Dismukes abstractedly, indifferent to the loud loves her baby better than her life. purrs with which he demanded conver- She'll never give it up," sation. Miss Lathrop was thinking; "It's just this way, Boy. That thinking of the past—the long years of baby will take months to get well, nursing in crowded cities, followed by with the care I can give her. With the inevitable collapse, when, after a her ignorant young mother's atten- long illness, having a comfortable in- tion, and away in the piney woods come, the result of years of methodical for they can't afford to stay here saving and careful investment, she had much longer—out of reach of proper come to this quiet town to spend the food and medicine, she'll certainly rest of her Hfe in peace and quiet. She die; you know that," made many friends, and, what with her "Yes," responded the doctor, "I'm small household duties, her garden and afraid she will." her pets, had thoroughly enjoyed the "There's no doubt about it. Be- novelty of rest and independence. But sides, her parents will probably have with the advent of Lauretta's baby a half a dozen more, I've saved this strange unrest had taken possession of one, and I want her—and I want you her; there now seemed to be a void in to persuade them to give her to me," the hitherto fulness of her content. "Well, I'll do my best, I'll talk it The click of the gate latch interrupted over with them today, and try and her musings. The doctor was coming, persuade them that it is the best his hat off, for the wind to play through thing possible—for the child, I doubt his close cut curls, his step springy and if the mother will see it in that light. AS A BIRD TO THE MOUNTAINS 421

In the meantime you go to bed and would kill me! When must me and sleep on it." Jethro go home, doctor?" "I'll proceed to obey you," said " I think the sooner the better for Miss Lathrop, rising. "Do your best both; tomorrow morning, say." for me, Boy, and I'll try my powers "All right," replied Lauretta, with tonight." the calmness of despair. "Jethro's uptown somewheres; tell him—and It was with fear and trembling that we'll go!" the doctor broached the subject to The baby stirred on the cot. "Mam, Lauretta when he made his morning mam!" she murmured, opening her call. At first she could not under- eyes sleepily. Lauretta took her up stand how it was possible for anybody very quietly and rocked her to sleep, to want another person's baby. her mind still trying to grasp the Babies had always been regarded as awful problem of death and no death. necessary evils by Lauretta's people; The baby would be alive, well, cared hers was—to herself alone—the most for, yet dead to her; as dead as if she precious thing on earth, but that were buried underground, with the someone else—and that person the worms crawling over her poor, pale nurse, the wisest and most skilful face! Lauretta shuddered involun- woman on earth, to Lauretta—should tarily at the horrible thought. "I'll want her was more than her dazed give her to the nuss," she whispered, mind could grasp. Very gently the with stiff lips. "Tell Jethro, doctor, doctor told of all the advantages of and we'll be a-gwine home." Nurse Lathrop 's plan. She listened so quietly that he began to think he The cart creaked heavily through had overrated her affection for the the sand; Jethro walked beside it and child, and, emboldened by her seem- Lauretta sat up on the roll of bedding ing indifference, he continued: "On within. Her hands were crossed idly the other hand, if you take the baby in her lap, a far-off, unseeing look in back home, even months from now, her apathetic eyes. she will surely die." "We're 'most there, honey," said These words Lauretta's numbed Jethro cheerfully; "we'll soon be a-git- brain could grasp. Die? Her child tin' home." die, when she seemed so much better? On through the woods where the "Oh, doctor, save her! Jest save hands were busily collecting turpentine her pore little life and I'll do anything from the "boxed" trees; past heavily you say. Anything! I cain't see her laden wagons, hauling barrels of the die, I cain't! If the nuss wants her crude turpentine to the still, past the she kin have her, if that'll keep her still where the spirits were manu- alive. Will it ? Will she be shore and factured and where the dwelling of certain to live?" the boss and the company's com- The doctor was unprepared for this missary were located. Still farther, wild outburst; the apathetic creature past the small shacks of the hands, till was transformed; her hollow eyes at last their own was reached, a small, gleamed, her voice trembled, the lonely cabin in the heart of the forest; breath came in gasping sobs from her no garden, no poultry, no dog even to heaving breast. welcome the returned travelers—the "I believe so; yes, I am certain very "abomination of desolation." that, with the care Miss Lathrop can And here they lived on. Jethro give her, she will surely live. Then spent his days at work in the forest, you can come and visit her. I am sometimes miles away , and Lauretta sure Miss Lathrop will not object." saw him only at night. All day, when But Lauretta shook her head. "All she was not busy preparing their I want is for her to live. To come scanty meals, she sat in the doorway and see her when she ain't mine and gazed, with unseeing eyes, into 422 TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE the forest. But there was a night ulted to think how completely at a loss when Jethro came home from the Miss Lathrop would be when she found woods with a congestive chill. Lauretta no trace of her there. For she did not piled all the quilts in the house on intend to take a train at that place; him and gave him hot "yerb teas." no, indeed, she would take her baby A passing turpentine hand summoned and walk miles and miles away, till she the few neighbors to her aid. They came to another town where there was did what they could, but the chill still a railroad. If necessary, she would held him in its death-cold clutches. walk to the mountains; God would The next morning Jethro Dismukes, show her the way. The little tobacco white, occupation laborer, was no bag of money in her bosom would buy longer on the payroll of the com- food. She would get along— if she only pany. had her baby! The company's carpenter made him At the edge of the town she bade the a coffin of pine plank, lined it with driver halt. She wanted to visit a sleazy white muslin and covered it friend who lived nearby, she said, with black calico, and the neighbors and could easily walk to the depot. bore the body of the mountaineer to She took her small bundle—containing the burying-ground among the pines. precious things for the baby—under The boss read a psalm over the grave, her arm and walked swiftly along. She the neighbors sang a hymn and then had thought out the whole plan, and went home. was now ready to act. It was early One of the neighbor women stayed morning, for they had left the turpen- with Lauretta that night, and the boss tine camp before dawn, to avoid the came over and paid her the little bit sultry September sun. Nurse La- of money that was coming to Jethro. throp would be getting breakfast in He also offered to buy her poor house- the kitchen, and the baby would be hold furnishings, and, if she wished, asleep—and alone. he would send her to town, where she She knew the way, for she had car- might take the train for her native ried her baby to the house that dread- State and go to her own people. ful morning. Very few people were Lauretta's heart leaped. Home and stirring, only a few workmen hurrying mother and the mountains! They had to their work and now and then a de- seemed so far away, and she never livery wagon rattling by, taking orders expected to see them again. from customers. Nobody noticed She eagerly accepted his offer, and, Lauretta. She reached the house with- the day after her husband's burial, out difficulty. All the doors and win- seated in the boss's own buggy, drawn dows were open to let in the morning by swift horses, Lauretta was on her coolness. She laid her bundle down way to town. One of the hands, an at the gate; she stealthily lifted the old and stupid negro, drove her. The latch, leaving the gate ajar, walked boss had given minute directions about swiftly but silently up the path, crept, the trains, the price of her ticket, etc., on tiptoe, through the open hall door but Lauretta paid little heed to his in- and into Miss Lathrop 's room. It was structions. Her mind was formulat- dusky and cool, the breeze coming ing a plan of her own—a desperate through half-closed shutters. plan, fraught with danger, yet causing Miss Lathrop 's bed was empty, but her heart to sing with joy at the in a small, white-enameled crib, daint- and whit- thought ! She would steal her baby! ily draped with the thinnest The nurse, in her search for the child, est of canopies, lay sleeping a tiny would of course go to the turpentine bundle of delight—a baby, rosy and camps. The boss would tell her that warm, one pearly arm beneath the Lauretta had taken the train at the head covered with silky ringlets; long station. Then she would question the black lashes sweeping its rose-flushed, all in cam- ticket agent and trainmen ; Lauretta ex- dimpled cheeks; clad snowy — AS A BIRD TO THE MOUNTAINS 423 brie and finest laee, a veritable child etly, "little and warm and sweet—her of luxury, yet—her baby! mother's arms must have been empty Her hungry eyes drank in its beauty, without her!" Then, speaking in his her starved lips yearned to touch its usual quick, decisive fashion: "Laur- dimpled fingers. Her heart beat to etta will surely return to the turpen- sufifocation, but no sound came from tine camps, though she is probably her lips; a moment she gazed, then hiding somewhere now. My buggy is quickly, softly gathered the sleeping at the gate and I see you are ready. child to her bosom, threw over it the We will go at once." loose folds of her homespun apron, On the road to the camps the doctor and swiftly, stealthily, scarce daring was unusually silent. The nurse, ab- to breathe, crept again through the sorbed in her grief, paid little attention hall, down the steps, out into the to anything, only urging him to make street, where she caught up the all the speed possible. It was noon bundle, half dragging, half carrying when they reached their destination. it, and, unmolested and unseen, The boss had just come in from the hurried on and on till the hateful woods for dinner. He was a family town was far behind and the wel- man, and, as he stood by the buggy, come cool greenwoods were all around listening to Miss Lathrop 's story, a her. little two-year-old boy held fast to his father's finger. Miss Lathrop ate her early break- "I don't reckon it'll be worth while fast with tranquillity. She knew at to wait till she comes back," he said v/hat hour the baby usually awoke, slowly, "on account of her takin' the and always arranged it so that her train this morning for her old home, morning work should be done before som'er's in the mountains up in No'th it was time to attend to her nursling. Ca'lina. Jethro bein' dead and buried As she finished her last task she and her havin' no relations here, 'cept

' thought, "The baby's late about wak- her child ' —his hand wandered caress- ing; the morning's so cool she's enjoy- ingly over the curly locks of his own ing her nap," and, with a smile on her "and it belongin' to you, in a manner, lips, she walked softly to the empty I advised her to go back to her own crib and looked in. folks and sent her to town 'fore day Horror froze the scream that died in this morning in my buggy; you'd over- her throat. She stood benumbed with took old Jake comin' back if he hadn't fear; but, the moment her shocked stopped to visit among his friends. So, brain resumed its power to think, she on the whole, ma'am, I don't know as instinctively realized the truth—Laur- waitin' '11 do any good. I know it's etta, and no other, had stolen her pretty hard on you, but Lord, it ain't baby! She flew to the telephone and a circumstance to what that pore cree- called frantically for Dr. Lorrimer. ter suffered without her baby ! I 'd stop That young man, in a deep slumber at the shanty sometimes for a gourd o' after a hard night's work, was aroused water, and the despairin' look in her with difficulty; but, when he compre- face fair made me sick. I believe hended the nurse's incoherent message, Jethro give up and died jest because he ordered his buggy, dressed in haste he couldn't stand seein' it. When I and was at her door in as short a time named goin' back to the mountains to as possible, though it seemed ages to her and seen the light and color o' life the waiting woman. come back to her face that quick, I "She stole my baby!" she wailed, 'lowed it was on account of her folks; " Lauretta has stolen my baby! I feel but now I know what it meant. Well, it, I know it! When I came in from she's off safe, and I don't mind telling the kitchen her crib was empty—my you, ma'am, Fm—mighty glad—of it!'' little, warm, sweet baby!" He looked squarely and rather defi- "Yes," said the young doctor qui- antly into the nurse's face, but she !

424 TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE did not see him for the mist of tears crumbled crackers in the milk, stirring that dimmed her eyes. the mixture till it was soft and pulpy, "My heart is sore," she murmured and fed the baby. The little one brokenly; "I thought I loved the thoroughly enjoyed her breakfast, eat- baby best, but after all—she was the ing eagerly at first, then, when hunger mother!" was appeased, stopping occasionally "And, being the mother," said the to poke a fat finger into the puzzling young doctor softly, "and very deso- face, so strange yet so familiar, or to late, she has taken her own and has say "Mam, mam?" with a note of in- gone 'as a bird to the mountains'!" terrogation, smiling at the rapturous reply: "Mammy's lamb, mammy's Some miles from town Lauretta baby!" turned aside from the traveled road All this was bliss to Lauretta's soul, into the woods, where she sat, with her but bUss mingled with fear. She must head back against a great pine, and get on; it was a long, long way to the rested, panting with fatigue and fear. mountains—^to the dear cabin where At last the child awoke. She stared her own mother would welcome her, into Lauretta's face with a puzzled and help her to care for the baby ; the frown, as if trying to recall a memory. young brothers and sisters would de- "Mam, mam?" inquired the baby. light to tend her, and in the sweet "Mammy's lamb, mammy's baby!" mountain air she would never be sick cooed the mother, and the baby gra- again. Oh, the Lord would surely be ciously smiled, poking a fat finger into good to her and let her get home the loving eyes above her. Lauretta Poor Jethro, lying in his grave be- seized the little hand, covering it with neath the pines, was but a memory. kisses ; the baby stretched her dimpled Lauretta's love and heart and soul be- limbs and sat up, pulling her mother's longed to the baby ; her suffering art its face down with investigating hands. loss had been intense; her joy at its "Honey, if mammy warn't 'fraid she'd recovery was so great that it drowned skeer her child she'd hug you, oh, so all recollection of trouble. hard! till the breath was most out'n But she must be wary, for even now 3'o' little body! But mammy ain't the nurse would be searching for the gwine to skeer her honey babe, no she baby. Lauretta had a vague idea that, ain't. Now let mammy put its coat if she were found, penitentiary for life on, and she'll hunt sump'n to eat fer would perhaps be the punishment for baby." her crime. This poor child of the She spread her apron on the ground mountains was very ignorant. She and set the child upon it. Then she could not even read or write, and kid- unrolled the bundle, taking out a pack- napping her own baby seemed to her age of crackers and a can of condensed a terrible crime, meriting a terrible pun- milk; a little bonnet and a frock of ishment. If she were found—but Laur- checked gingham, belonging to the etta determined that she would not be baby in the old days. Poor Lauretta found. Far off in the mountains—so knew little enough about cutting and high and so lonely—even the powerful sewing, but fortunately the garments, Miss Lathrop could not find her. being much too large when they were Hope bearing up her tired feet, the made, were not too small for the baby child in her arms, the bundle on her now. back, she trudged on her way. The The baby dressed, she opened the baby and mother held sweet converse, can of milk with a small knife, and with broken words and babblings and poured some into a tin cup. The gurgles of happy laughter. At last the trickle of a tiny branch told of water baby grew sleepy, her head bobbed un- close by. Carrying the baby, she soon steadily on the little neck; she nestled found the stream and filled her cup, against her mother's shoulder and then going back to her bundle, she slept. —

AS A BIRD TO THE MOUNTAINS 425

The road was lonely, and Lauretta the Alps and the Andes, and Mount met no travelers. At noon she rested Everest, and the highest mountain in close to a branch where she coiild get the world, in Alaska, and heaps of water, and fed the baby, eating a little others." of the bread and milk herself, for she His mother regarded her son with began to feel faint from hunger. She looks of pride, and Lauretta thought passed cabins, where tow-headed chil- he must know almost as much as the dren came out to stare after her, and doctor and Miss Lathrop. the inevitable yellow dog in the yard "I've hearn 'em call our mountains lifted his head from the dust to bark a the Blue Ridge," she said timidly. dreary defiance; but she stopped at "We-uns come from North Ca'Hna." none of these, till advancing night com- "North Ca'lina is a far ways," said pelled her to think of the baby. At the boy; "you ain't aimin' to walk it?" dusk she came to a cabin, set far back "No, I'm aimin' to take the cyars from the road. The light from its open some place. I got money 'nough for a door showed a woman busily preparing ticket if I knowed where to get it." her evening meal. Lauretta went up "What's the name of the place you to the gate of this dwelling, and after live at in North Ca'lina?" asked the the "cracker" fashion, instead of en- boy. tering, called " Hello !" in rather a shaky "We-uns Hves in the mountains, but voice. pap hauls apples and taters to Ashby A boy of fifteen came out and po- twelve miles from home; if I git to litely invited her to enter. The wo- Ashby I kin walk the balance of the man, who had a pleasant face, was the way." only other occupant of the room. She "Oh," said the boy, "all you got to was placing supper on the table. At do is to keep on till you get to Clay- sight of the coffee, hot biscuits and ville—it's fifteen miles from here, and fried bacon Lauretta grew bold with tell the ticket agent you want to go to hunger. "I'm a-travelin'," she in- Ashby, N. C. He'll tell you how to formed the woman. "My man died get there, all right." in the turpentine camps, and me and "I'm more'n obliged to you," said the baby air gwine back to the moun- Lauretta gratefully; "it's fine to know tains. I'd be glad to stay all night, if how to read and write. I donno as I 'd it won't put ye out any." ever got home if you hadn't told me "You're welcome," replied the how." woman of the house simply. "I see The next morning, after breakfast the baby's 'sleep ; lay it on my bed, and was eaten and the baby fed and bathed set up and eat a bite." This Lauretta —her hospital experience had taught did with alacrity, devouring the hot her the necessity of cleanliness food with such eagerness that her po- Lauretta started forth on her journey lite entertainers exchanged glances of to Clayville. Her kind hostess had mild wonder. given her a package of food, and at After supper the boy brought forth noon she rested by the roadside and his books and began to study. He ate, and fed the baby. A short hour was her only child, his mother said, of rest, then on again, for Clayville and, the teacher told her, head and must be reached and the ticket for shoulders above the other boys of his home secured. Walking was easier, age at school. for the road was now clay instead of "You kin read and write?" queried sand. The country was more culti-

Lauretta, with awe; "then maybe you vated , too . She passed well-kept farms mought tell me how to find the nighest and comfortable dwellings. People in way to the mountains?" buggies and wagons passed her on the "What mountains?" said the boy; road. A kind-looking farmer, going to "they's such a heap of 'em—the Hima- town with a load of "truck," offered layas and the Rocky Mountains, and her a ride, helping her and the baby up "

426 TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE to the seat beside him. It was very train that was to bear her straight to pleasant to ride, even on a jolting Ashby. She would arrive about noon, wagon. Lauretta rested, and the baby the conductor said. stared and babbled as she watched the When at last the train drew into the horses. station how beautiful seemed the "Mighty purty baby," said the man familiar scenes to Lauretta's eyes! admiringly, Lauretta glowed. "Boy The way was plain now, she was al- or gal?" most home ! A psalm of thanksgiving "Gal," said Lauretta. "Herpappy's was singing in her heart as she set foot dead, and me'n her air gwine up to the on her native soil. mountains—to my mammy." She bought a bag of cakes for the "I 'low you aim to take the train at baby from the station lunch counter, Clayville?" said the farmer. pinned a shawl tightly over the little "Yes, sir. Do you know when the one's head—the mountain air was chill train starts for Ashby, N. C. ? —and set bravely forth on the weary "They's a train north leaves 'bout stretch of road that lay between her dark. I'll take ye to the depot and and her father's house. buy your ticket fer ye; 'tain't much, A mountaineer coming home from but it'll be helpin' ye along a little Ashby overtook her before she had grain." walked many miles, and gave her a ride "Thanky, sir," replied Lauretta in his cart as his road lay near her home. simply. When the slow-moving oxen stopped at Arriving at the station, she took the the driver's "turning-off place " it was tobacco bag from her bosom, and gave quite dark. There was only a short the money to the stranger with per- distance to walk. Lauretta hugged fect faith—faith in no wise misplaced, the baby to her bosom, "Oh, precious," for after making minute inquiry con- she whispered rapturously, "we're cerning the route and buying the ticket, here! We've done got home!" the farmer slipped two silver dollars Up the steep path she climbed, joy of his own money in the bag, that she speeding her feet. The cabin door was might have plenty for other needs. closed to the chilly night, but she could Then, finding the conductor of the hear the beloved voices v/ithin. The outgoing train, he explained that Laur- yard dog rose with a growl as she en- etta was a widow, all alone save for the tered the gate—a growl which was baby, that she wished to go to Ashby, quickly changed to a 3^elp of joy as she N, C, and that the conductor must take called to him softly. Creeping to the special care of her, which he faithfully uncurtained window she looked in. Her did. father sat before the blazing log fire, Seated in the car, with the train go- polishing a powder horn with a piece of ing at full speed, Lauretta drew a broken glass ; the children were roasting breath of deep, exulting relief. Her apples and sweet potatoes in the fire ; in baby was safe! The nurse and the the chim.ney corner the mother stood law could never reach her in the beside her wheel, spinning the coarse mountains. yarn. And as she spun she softly sang one of the old songs—the songs The long night in the uncomfortable from over-sea. day coach was over at last, and the Earth had no higher joy to offer conductor had seen Lauretta and her Lauretta. She opened the door and baby safely on the next train—the stood upon the threshold of her home!

A STRAIGHT ticket is too often composed of a lot of crooked politicians. Danger from Republican Radicals

BY THOMAS H. TIBBLES

THE question that confronts the cratic" movement. That movement people of the United States at is not Marxian socialism, such as we the present time is this: Shall have in this country under the name all the increase of wealth that conies of socialism. A writer, Mr. Frank A. from constantly extending science, Vanderlip, in Scribner's Magazine for education and invention be, by the January, accurately describes it as granting of special privileges, con- follows: "The great wave of social- centrated in the hands of a few, or ism which has swept over Germany shall it be equitably distributed among is really only a wave of liberal- the whole population? ism." The same thing is true of The province of government was, France. The most backward coun- until the middle of the last century, try in regard to this movement is considered to be the keeping of order England, but it is gaining headway and protecting life and property. even there. About that time a few thinkers began In the United States it has taken on to assert that government had other the character of a psychological wave duties than acting as a policeman with sweeping over the whole country. a club, who stood by only to see The danger here is that the revolt that no one did outright stealing or from special privileges will go to the maimed or murdered while engaged other extreme, endangering the foun- in the contest to accumulate wealth. dations of society. The extent of this The old idea is still prevalent, though revolt can be seen in the acts of the better class of thinkers begin to several Republican legislatures, and demand that the government shall especially in those of the Legislature of be something more than a policeman. Kansas, where an attempt has been It should see to it that all men have made to fix the price at which a man an opportunity to obtain the neces- shall sell his goods. That is the over- saries of life. It should see to it throw of one of the primary rights of that no special privilege should be man. Any man has a right, whether granted to anyone. It should see to he is a farmer producing wheat or it that all men be equal before the the head of a corporation producing law and that all have an equal share oil, to sell his product at any price in the benefits bestowed by govern- he pleases, to give it away if he so ment. wishes, or sell it at half what it cost If government were conducted in to produce it. He can sell it to one that manner there would be no for- man and give it to another. That is tunes so great as to be a danger to a primary right that cannot be over- the Republic, and no compulsory pov- thrown without destroying society. erty. That sort of legislation is a great deal This new idea of the purpose and more dangerous and radical than what power of government is spreading writers in defense of Plutocracy and among the peoples of the whole special privileges have been in the civilized world. In the countries of habit of caHing "wild-eyed, long-haired continental Europe it finds expression lunacy." in what is called the "social demo- There is one thing that will go a 427 —

428 TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE long way toward excusing the acts of granted a privilege that he also does Republican leaders in Kansas, Illinois not enjoy. and some other States. They have How shall this be done? Shall been deprived of hearing or reading it be attempted through collectivism any discussion of sociology or eco- and the conscious supply of all human nomics for the last twelve years. The wants by some central authority? party to which they belong would not Shall there be a bureau that shall, enter into joint discussions on the years in advance, order our coffee public hustings, and nearly the whole from Brazil and Java, our tea from of the press of the United States has India, Japan and China? Shall the refused to print any article discussing same authority order our chemical the danger of the accumulation of all supplies from Germany, gloves and wealth in few hands or opposing the corsets from France and employ the granting of special privileges. That proper number of persons to raise our leaves these leaders confronting this wheat, corn, pork, beef, parsley and great social evolution without any lettuce? The management of the knowledge on the subjects that force mightiest trust in existence would be themselves upon society for solution. child's play to an undertaking of that The great sale of a few magazines that sort. Where could the executive abil- have permitted such discussion in ity be found? Would not chaos be their pages shows that the closing of the result, if it were attempted? There the press to reform articles was not is not any relief along the plan of because the people would not purchase Marxian socialism. That road leads such papers and magazines, but be- to immediate destruction. cause there was gold to be got by sup- The result of the present system has pressing them. been that while we inhabit a conti- Notwithstanding all efforts to sup- nent with coal and iron everywhere in press the movement for a widening of juxtaposition and almost on the sur- the powers of government, for the face of the earth; where, when a little using of its force and power to ad- distance inland, we come upon a soil as vance the human race, bringing glad- rich as that of the Nile, and find in ness to the hearts of all the people, our mountains gold, silver, copper and enabling them through the develop- every commercial mineral, millions ment of the mind to enjoy the delights obtain only enough of wealth to main- of the intellectual world and to lay up tain life and perpetuate their species, treasures that the cycles of time can- while billions of dollars are wasted in not corrode, it moves on with ever- degenerating amusements and the sup- increasing force. The effort now report of hordes of men and women quired is not so much to spread these as attendants on the dangerously rich, doctrines as to keep the men advocat- throwing away their lives in menial ing changes from attempts to accom- personal services, adding to the class plish the impossible. that consume and do not produce. Paternalism in government has been Where, then, can a practical line a curse resting upon mankind from the of reform be found ? The first and all- dawn of history, and today it is as important thing is to stop special great a curse as ever. No government, privileges. The government should city, State or national, should under- never delegate to any individual or take to direct the private affairs of any corporation any of its powers. Any man. Man should be left free to business that requires governmental work out his own salvation in this powers to carry it on should be owned world as well as for the world to and operated by the government. come. Government can be so extend- Collective ownership should extend to ed as to insure to each man that all those things where competition is he shall have an equal opportunity impossible, and stop right there. There that is, that no other man shall be is no possibility of competition in the DANGER FROM REPUBLICAN RADICALS 429

railroad business. It is a monopoly, struction of competition. It destroys transferred from the government to competition by the control of rail- private parties by delegating to them roads and by the tariff. It was by the a part of the government sovereignty manipulation of rates that the Beef in the right of eminent domain. The Trust was established. It was by that telegraph companies must get a portion means that the Standard Oil ruined all of the power of the government dele- its competitors. Thousands of men, gated to them before they can carry honest, upright men, have been driven on their business. So must compa- out of business and into the ranks of nies operating water-works, street-car wage-earners by secret rates and re- lines, telephones and electric lighting bates. These and other trusts have plants. There is a line so distinct di- been given special privileges through viding those things that should be the tariff. The Steel Trust sells its publicly owned from those that should rails and structural steel eight and ten be privately owned that no one with dollars a ton less to foreigners than it eyes can fail to see it. Where compe- sells the same goods to Americans. It tition is im.possible, public ownership sells armor plate to Russia $ioo a ton should begin; and where competition less than it will sell the same grade to begins, public ownership should end. the United States Government. The It requires a good deal of assurance patient people—more patient than the for a man to attack the public owner- ox—quietly submit to all this, and ship of railroads on the ground that until lately scarcely protested. Every it would centralize government by man who has traveled in Europe knows bringing the managers of railroads and that American hardware and agricul- their employees into politics. Every tural machinery is transported over the man of intelligence knows that the sea and sold to foreigners for just about railroad managers are already in one-half what an American can buy it politics to such an extent that the for at home. Federal Government and that of al- The government ownership of rail- most every State is completely in roads and a remodeling of the tariff their power. would put an end to these things. The prosperity of a country is ab- There is a demand coming from solutely dependent upon its money. every part of the United States, from Any country that has a money where members of every political party, from every dollar or unit is not as good as philanthropic societies, from schools every other dollar, is granting special and colleges, from the workshop and privileges of the most vital importance farm, from all except the privileged to someone. In the United States we few, that the government shall be so have nine or ten kinds of money and extended that the masses of the people no two of- the kinds are equally good. shall be protected from extortion. In When we have a dollar that is re- this universal demand and the vehe- deemable in some other dollar, the mence with which it is made there "other dollar" must be the better of lies danger. The great surging masses the two. That, while men were work- may swing in the wrong direction and ing to establish by law so many different bring greater evils upon themselves kinds of money, they claimed that they than those which now afflict them. wanted money of such a nature that That danger comes from the capture one dollar was as good as every other of the whole press of the country by dollar, is evidence that they were the capitalistic interests, so that the secretly trying to get a special privi- people have had no chance to edu- lege or advantage of some kind. cate themselves upon these great ques- Every economic evil of which the tions. If the daily press and the maga- people of the United States complain zines of the country had for the last comes from the destruction of compe- twelve years welcomed to their columns tition. The trust is based on the de- articles giving every side of the con- 430 TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE tested points, the States today would of healthy, comfortable, bright-eyed not be passing laws trying to regulate and clear-brained men and women, the the price at which men should sell their result of which will be a constant in- goods. The greatest crime of the last crease in the production of wealth. century, the one most portentous of There is a change coming. There evil, was not slavery, but the attempt will be a new alignment of parties. in the last decade of that century to There will be a full discussion of pub- prevent the discussion of public ques- lic questions. During the next three tions in the periodical press and on the years the publications that give infor- public hustings. By that suppression mation about the Steel Trust, the Beef the dupes of the capitalists have be- Trust, the tariff, the atrocities com- come a danger to the Republic, whereas, mitted upon honest men by the Stand- if full public discussion had been per- ard Oil crowd, that show men how mitted and encouraged, those same cities are trodden underfoot or built men would be now our most sturdy up by secret rates and rebates, by and reliable citizens. Whenever the what means all the savings of the peo- writer has been in New York during the ple are concentrated in Wall Street and last few years he has constantly heard loaned out to stock gamblers, how men the statement from the economists and conducting life insurance companies " sociologists : We have no voice. There become almost billionaires in a few is no public journal through which we years, and what the remedies for these can reach the people." But the people things are—these publications will cir- will be reached. Publishers are find- culate among the people by millions. ing that the road to wealth for them Let the people have the question fully lies, not in confining themselves to lit- argued out before them, and then when erature which has the indorsement of they give their decision it will be not Wall Street, but in a literature that only the voice of the people but the points out the way to build up a nation voice of God.

Greatness

By S. E. Riser

'^PHE world looks up at him with envious awe -^ Who rules where millions yield obedience, Whose word is final and whose will is law, Who in his purple apes Omnipotence. The world looks up at him with flattering eyes. And lauds him for the vastness of his state; And for his heaps of treasure calls him wise. And for his army's triumphs calls him great.

But wiser than the one who rules is he Who gives to them that hew and sow and glean The knowledge that the souls of men are free. That pomp is vain, that bigotry is mean. And greater than the leaders whose commands Bring triumphs to their arms are they who teach That dignity may be in calloused hands. That what is right for all is just for each. —

THOROUCHBBEDS Mmy H. FisKer.

EVER since her babyhood Eliza- for his cousin's child to come as a beth's mother had never missed companion for his only and idolized an opportunity to impress on daughter. Meanwhile he failed to do her daughter's mind that, come what so, and all intercourse between the city might, she must always remember and country relatives was limited to that she was of the race of Wheelers an exchange of greetings through the in fact, doubly so, since her parents mail at Christmas-time. From the had been first cousins. The grandeur society columns of the Boston papers of the Wheelers had passed away long over which Mrs. Wheeler pored, seem- before Elizabeth's day, and the old ing to take a melancholy pleasure in manor house had been turned into a hearing of the high life of others, boys' boarding-school, but she knew Elizabeth was informed when her by heart stories of the time when her cousin Constance was graduated from ancestors owned the whole village in Smith—a most quixotic proceeding which she had been bom and bred. for a descendant of Wheeler stock, As far back as she could remember remarked Mrs. Wheeler, who believed she and her mother had always done in the finishing-school regime for young their own work and worn the same ladies. Later on she treated her clothes year after year—nevertheless daughter to a minute account of the they enjoyed a sort of prestige in the gown Miss Peabody wore at the re- narrow aristocracy of the conservative ception when she made her debut. little New England town. They kept At the same time the fortunes of very much to themselves : Mrs. Wheeler the Wheelers were going from bad to considered very few of the village worse, until, when Elizabeth was in young people fit companions for her her twenty-fifth year, the time came daughter. "When times change, Eliza- when even Mrs. Wheeler was forced to beth," she used to say, "and you enter admit that it was necessary for Eliza- society with your cousin Constance beth to turn her hand to something Peabody, you must have no unde- that would bring in money. Eliza- sirable connections to sever." beth had received no training that Elizabeth followed her mother's pre- would fit her to make her way in the cepts, and as a result led a very lonely world. Education she had none to life during her childhood. She was of speak of; she had never even com- a colorless, unimaginative tempera- pleted the course at the village ment, and never questioned her academy, and although her mother had mother's wishes in bringing her up in encouraged her devoting time to such comparative isolation and keeping her suitable accomplishments as painting from joining in the frolics of the young and music, she had never achieved any people of her own age. Sometimes proficiency in either. she wondered vaguely when times However, she had always been a wotdd change and she should take the great reader, and, as a young girl, had place her mother coveted for her in spent whole days burrowing among Boston society. She knew that her the old dusty volumes in her grandmother confidently expected that some father's really fine library, and at last, day her father's cousin, Albert Pea- when she and her mother were almost body, a wealthy Boston lawyer, would at their wit's end, a position was se- awaken to a sense of kinship and send cured for her, through the influence 431 432 TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE of their clergyman, as assistant to the and children. Elizabeth at first used head of a small branch library in to wonder in her heart how these Boston. The pay was small, as be- patrons would feel if it should sud- fitted unskilled labor, but it was better denly be brought to their knowledge than nothing. that a Wheeler, one of the Wheelers of Mrs. Wheeler felt the disgrace Massachusetts, was serving them. keenly. "I can only hope that the Strange to say, Miss O'Keefe, though Peabodys will not hear of it," she said. apparently an unusually intelligent girl, " Still, if you will always remember that seemed unaware of the very existence you are a Wheeler and hold yourself of such a family. However, as Miss aloof from all objectionable people you O'Keefe, relatively speaking, was new are forced to encounter, the experi- to this country, perhaps her ignorance ence may not hurt. Besides, any- was more or less excusable. thing connected with books might be One September day, after Eliza- classed as literary work, and is not so beth had been working in the library bad as it might be." for several weeks, a young man, tall, The librarian under whose direction dark and strikingly handsome, in the Elizabeth was set to work was a girl early thirties, came in to exchange a hardly older than Elizabeth herself, book. That he was no stranger there Miss Anna O'Keefe by name. At a was evident from the friendly way he glance Elizabeth knew that Miss smiled at Miss O'Keefe. Elizabeth tried O'Keefe was one of the objectionable not to stare at him, but his face was persons against whom her mother had elusively familiar. In turn it seemed warned her. Still, she thought Miss that he was gazing at Elizabeth with O'Keefe was rather attractive, in her a much puzzled expression. After he way, which it need scarcely be said had gone Elizabeth was so far in- was not the Wheeler way. Miss terested as to inquire his name of O'Keefe's pompadour was a trifle too Miss O'Keefe. high, and she displayed rather too "That's Professor Duclos, of Har- many bangles and bracelets, but her vard," replied the librarian cheerfully, tailored shirt waist and walking-skirt resting her elbows on the counter. were simple and perfect fitting, and set "Isn't he grand?" off to advantage a round and well- Elizabeth feeling not prepared to say, proportioned figure. Her features ignored the question by asking an- were, perhaps, somewhat coarse, but other. " Do you know anything about there was a genial turn to the comers him?" of her mouth and a merry twinkle in Miss O'Keefe shook her head. her blue Irish eyes to disarm the " Nothing, except that he teaches hypercritical. She was disposed to be French in the University, and they kind to Elizabeth as evidently hailing say he is awfully popular and terribly from the country and not being used smart." to things. A day or two later Professor Duclos Mrs. Wheeler was very much sur- appeared again. As Miss O'Keefe was prised and a trifle chagrined at the occupied with another patron, Eliza- readiness with which Elizabeth en- beth busied herself in exchanging his tered into her new employment. Miss book. Meanwhile he eyed her so O'Keefe found her rather slow at first, keenly, although politely, that Eliza- but painstaking and conscientious in beth felt relieved when he slipped the all she did. There were three centu- book into his pocket and started on ries of Piiritan ancestry behind her. his way out. He had reached the The work Elizabeth liked best, how- door, when he hesitated and turned ever, was exchanging books for the back to the counter. people who frequented the library. "I beg your pardon," he said, ap- They were such a varied lot, including proaching Elizabeth, "but aren't all sorts and conditions of men, women you Miss Wheeler — Miss Elizabeth 4 —

THOROUGHBREDS 433

"Wheeler, granddaughter of Bishop her illusions were quickly and rudely Wheeler?" shattered. Elizabeth, with dignity, nodded her "Pierre Duclos?" exclaimed her assent. To her surprise, the young mother. "You don't mean to tell me professor extended his hand and that he was bold enough to introduce grasped hers warmly. himself to you?" "I knew I couldn't be mistaken," "Why not?" said Elizabeth, on the he said. "My name is Pierre Duclos. defensive, she knew not why. "He I don't suppose that you remem- knew grandfather." ber me, for you were only a little Mrs. Wheeler snorted contemp- girl when I left home. Your grand- tuously. "You evidently don't recall father was very kind to me, and I just who and what the Ducloses were," can never be grateful enough to his she said. "They were part of that memory." French Canadian tribe that had a Elizabeth's look of inquiry brought settlement down at the Corners. There an explanation. "Bishop Wheeler were only the son and the mother gave me my start in life—lent me the mother worked in the box factory, books and used his influence in getting along with the rest of them, but she me a scholarship to put me through would have nothing but that that college. I'm teaching in the Univer- great long-legged son of hers must sity now," he added simply. have an education. Your grandfather, Elizabeth smiled at the young man very foolishly, I must say, encouraged wiio was a protege of her revered her in it." grandfather's. "I'm afraid I don't "Whv foolishly?" inquired Eliza- remember very well," she confessed. beth, "But I'll tell mother—she probably "Why?" repeated her mother im- will. I know she will be so pleased to patiently. "With his mother working hear of someone who remembers my in the box factory, it would have seemed grandfather." natural and proper for the boy to As Elizabeth's duties called her settle down and learn a trade. But away just then. Professor Duclos took Mrs. Duclos seemed to think that she his departure with a pleasant "Good and her son were above the rest of the morning." Canadians." Miss O'Keefe was plainly consumed Elizabeth meditated for a moment. with curiosity. "You're the sly one," "Perhaps," she suggested, "they may she remarked reproachfully at the first not always have been poor as we re- opportunity. "Why didn't you let on member them. Perhaps they had lost that you and the professor were old all their money and had to go to live friends?" in a strange place where nobody knew Elizabeth felt pleased in spite of them—just like us." herself, and held her head a little Her mother gazed at her, very much higher. "Why," she said, "we aren't displeased. "Don't confuse the Wheel- old friends at all. It is only that my ers with these low-down French Cana- grandfather. Bishop Wheeler, of Mas- dians, I beg of you." sachusetts, knew Mr. Duclos as a boy." Elizabeth persisted. "Professor Du- She picked up her pen and set to work clos seems a gentleman." again as if nothing had happened, Her mother shrugged her shoulders. although she was conscious of a very "Oh, he always was a smooth-spoken decided feeling of elation at having lad. But mark my words, in the long awakened Miss O'Keefe's interest and run, blood will tell," she said. "The even a slight feeling of pique, it must less you have to say to the young man be confessed. She could hardly wait in future, the better. He is probably to get home to interrogate her moth- trying to cultivate your acquaintance er as to the professor's identity and because he has heard you are a cousin antecedents. But from that source of the Peabodys." October, 1905— —

434 TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE

Somehow Elizabeth did not quite regrets that Elizabeth had happened beUeve that, but she had never been to be out. Miss Peabody thought to accustomed to dispute her mother's herself that if Elizabeth were any- word, so she let the matter pass. She thing like the mother—and it was not wondered if it were wrong for her to unfair to imagine she might be—she hope that the jjrofessor would visit the would hardly prove congenial, in spite library again very soon. of the relationship, which, after all, And come again he did, the very was really not close enough to matter. next day. This time he greeted Eliza- She meant to do everything that was beth by name, and asked her advice cousinly and proper, and invite Eliza- as to the choice of a book. He con- beth to Sunday night tea some time, fided to her that he was following out when no other guests were to be there. a systematic course of reading on the Meantime, her days were filled to over- development of the English novel. flowing with the hosts of friends she "You see," he explained, "I was had already, and the Wheelers were forced to devote most of my time in completely lost sight of. college to French reading, as I was From constant association day after preparing to teach in that department, day, Elizabeth found that she was so now I'm trying to make up for my actually growing attached to Miss ignorance of English literature." O'Keefe. She had gradually come to To Elizabeth's surprise and delight suspect that ancestors did not neces- she found that the desultory reading sarily supply one with a pretty figure in her childhood had left her with and the ability to appear always well considerable knowledge of the subject, dressed. Her mother caught her one so that she was able to suggest and night trying to arrange her thin, pale advise him as to what was best worth hair in an imitation of Miss O'Keefe's while. As time went on, little by fluffy locks. Of course she was not little, his reading was more and more to be classed with Miss O'Keefe, but she under her guidance. To be better found herself envying Miss O'Keefe's prepared to help her pupil she herself good time. Miss O'Keefe was always took books home with her at night and coming in late and telling what a pored conscientiously over their pages. glorious time she had had the night The visits of the professor to the li- before at the Knights of Columbus brary became more and more frequent ball, and how the Grand Commander and of longer duration. Elizabeth himself had said she was the most somehow was unable to bring herself graceful dancer on the floor. Eliza- to tell her mother of this fact. It was beth did not exactly want to go to the the first time she had ever concealed Knights of Columbus balls, but she anything from her in her life. She would have liked to go somewhere and could not see that she was doing any have a good time. Previously to real harm by talking books with Pro- meeting Miss O'Keefe she had never fessor Duclos, but nevertheless she was thought very much about her looks fully conscious that her mother would she had taken them very much for seriously object to these delightful granted. She knew that her mother conferences with one of such evident took great satisfaction in the fact that social inferiority. her daughter's nose was just like As to what the Peabodys would that of great-grandfather's, who had think Elizabeth did not care. Con- been Governor of his State, and her stance, obeying the wishes of her chin bore a striking resemblance to father, had called at the boarding- that of her grandaunt Matilda, whose house one afternoon, but had never life, spent in single blessedness, had been heard from again. As a matter been full of good deeds, according to of fact, she had taken a decided dis- the inscription on her tombstone in like to her " Cousin Flora," with her ever the village churchyard. Elizabeth as effusive cordiality and oft-repeated a child had taken an unreasoning and —

THOROUGHBREDS 435 totally unwarranted prejudice against the daughter of the Wheelers did not Aunt Matilda, whose portrait had hung resent the familiarity. "See here, in the gloomy parlor, with all the girl," she began, "you'll take a bit of others in the family portrait gallery. advice from me, won't you? Professor Elizabeth had been taught to view Duclos has taken a fancy to you that these with the utmost veneration means something—I've seen too many they had been Wheelers, either by birth men myself not to know the symptoms. or by marriage, and that fact was suffi- Mind, I don't say he is in love with you cient reason why one should lower yet, but he will be, if you give him half one's voice in an awed hush when one a chance. Now, you don't seem to entered the august presence of their realize what a fine thing it would be likenesses. for a poor girl like yourself to marry a Miss O'Keefe spent much spare time fine man like that." Elizabeth started in trying to make out why Professor involuntarily, but Miss O'Keefe went Duclos evidently preferred Miss Wheel- on. "It isn't many working girls er to herself. She was not conceited, that get such a chance—there isn't a but she was sure that the average society girl in Boston or Cambridge young man would not look at Eliza- that wouldn't give her eyes to get him. beth twice. Moreover, she could not I know all about him—my cousin keeps understand why Elizabeth, who con- a store in Cambridge, and he says the fessed she had never known any young professor is right in with all the best men or had a proposal in her life, people. When you have a chance to should apparently value this very marry a thoroughbred like that don't be desirable young man's attention so a fool, but take him!" lightly. Having had her say, Miss O'Keefe "Professor Duclos has been in here went back to her place. Presently every afternoon this week," she said Elizabeth, who had been doing some one day, watching Elizabeth closely. serious thinking, raised her head. "Yes," answered Elizabeth, the "What is a thoroughbred?" she asked. color rising to her face, "he's very Miss O'Keefe wrinkled her brows. much interested in his work." "A thoroughbred," she began slowly, Miss O'Keefe laughed long and "is one like Professor Duclos—who heartily. "You simple child!" she said. has the manners and appearance of a "Do you think it's books he comes gentleman, with money and education for?" to back it up." Elizabeth did not know what to say; Elizabeth hesitated, not wholly sat- it had recently been dawning on her isfied. "Wouldn't family—ancestors inexperienced heart that Professor and all that—count at all?"

' Duclos liked and was interested in her Miss Keefe , t he immigrant , laughed. —and 'way down deep she was glad, "We live in America and in the twen- glad, glad! tieth century," she said. "It makes "Why don't you ask him to come no difference what you have been or and see you?" inquired the other girl, what you are going to be—it's what you who decided that as her role was un- are today." mistakably to be that of onlooker, she When Elizabeth went home that might as well help things along. night she summed up courage to tell Elizabeth looked her amazement; a her mother all about her intimacy with vision of what her mother would say Professor Duclos, if such it could be came forcibly to her mind, but of called. Mrs. Wheeler listened with course she could not explain that disapproval unexpressed, until Eliza- to Miss O'Keefe, the barbarian. She beth, at the conclusion of her con- hung her head. "I don't know," she fession, asked if she might not ask the stammered. professor to call. She had not under- Miss O'Keefe came over and slipped estimated her mother's prejudice, but her arm around Elizabeth's waist, and she was not prepared for the tirade 436 TOM WiVTSON'S MAGAZINE which followed, and from the first in her ears, was adamant. "I'm word of her mother's reply the death- sorry," she murmured, with face knell of Professor Duclos was sounded averted, "but mother and I are living in Elizabeth's ears. Elizabeth's feeble very quietly, and do not receive call- protests were in vain. ers." The professor bowed, and left "Don't quote that O'Keefe girl to the library. Elizabeth watched his me," said Mrs. Wheeler furiously. "I retreating form until he vanished from suppose she does think the man would sight, and then she returned to her be a desirable acquaintance. He is cataloguing. She caught a glimpse of without doubt quite good enough for herself in the little mirror over Miss her—I should say they were about O'Keefe's desk. "I certainly am get- equal. But he is not good enough for ting to look like Aunt Matilda," she my daughter. Understand me, Eliza- thought. beth, once for all—he never darkens The professor came no more. Eliza- this door with my consent. Also, beth busied herself in her work and this hobnobbing over books must cease, tried to forget him, but the routine of and at once." the library had never seemed so tire- Elizabeth made no reply. "Eliza- some and the days so long. Eliza- beth!" persisted her mother. "Do beth would have given worlds to con- you hear me?" fide in Miss O'Keefe, but she knew "Yes, mother." instinctively that the other girl could "And you will give him up abso- not sympathize with her covirse of ac- lutely—for my sake, and for the sake tion, founded on parental objection of your dear father?" and pride of race. How could Miss Elizabeth drew a deep breath. She O'Keefe understand? had never realized until that moment Autumn turned to winter, and how the bright, agreeable young pro- winter crept slowly by into spring. fessor had grown into her life, and Elizabeth had never seen Professor what the library would be when his Duclos since that well-remembered Oc- coming would no longer be an event tober day. At last, one afternoon the in her day. But the words of the first week in June, she glanced up from commandment learned at her grand- her desk and felt her heart go thump, father's knee,— "Honor thy father and for there was—he—actually entering thy mother " Elizabeth rose and the door. There was a girl with him; twined her arms around her mother's she was tall and slim, and beautifully neck. Mrs. Wheeler caught the girl's gowned. The professor nodded cour- hand and looked eagerly into her face. teously to Elizabeth, who stood in "You promise me, dear?" readiness to accommodate him, and "Yes, mother, I promise." And Mrs. then turned to the shelves of recent Wheeler was content. fiction. His companion stood toying Professor Duclos was very much with a slender jeweled chain, gazing surprised at the girl's sudden change indifferently out of the window at the of manner. Miss Wheeler was per- passers-by. He was a long time in fectly polite, but she showed no further selecting a book, it seemed to Eliza- disposition to linger and chat over the beth, and at last his blonde com- relative merits of Sir Walter Scott and panion awoke to the situation and Jane Austen. Miss O'Keefe wondered touched his arm. likewise, but something in Elizabeth's "Please hurry, Pierre," she said manner forbade questioning. The quietly, but still audibly. "You're young man grew more and more per- keeping the girl waiting." plexed—at last, one day, he ventured Pierre darted a look at Elizabeth, to ask permission to bring her a manu- but her expression was inscrutable as script around to her home, as he de- she mechanically stamped the number sired her criticism. Poor Elizabeth, on his card and handed the book to with her promise to her m^other ringing him. She stood passively watching —

THOROUGHBREDS 437 the two as they left the library and ings. She seldom read any more. started down the avenue together. Presently there was a tap on the door "Swell-looking couple," commented and the maid brought a letter which Miss O'Keefe. the postman had actually left for them. Elizabeth assented. "Who is she It was in a large white envelope. do you know?" she asked, quite in- "You open it, Elizabeth," said her differently. mother, trying to conceal her excite- Miss O'Keefe shook her head. "No, ment. "Perhaps your Cousin Con- but she's the same one he was out stance is going to give a ball." driving with last Sunday. They had Elizabeth's lip curled impercep- a daisy little cart." tibly, but she tore open the letter, Elizabeth trudged home that night glanced down the page, and let the after working hours, wishing more sheet fall into her lap. than she had ever wished before that "Give it to me," said her mother. she had never been obliged to come to "You look as if you had seen a ghost." Boston, but could have spent all her She snatched the missive from her days in the quiet little village where daughter's hands and read aloud: there had been no other girl to envy, no heartaches to conceal. The trees " Mr. Albert Parsons Peabody requests the of your presence were brilliant with their early summer honor at the marriage of his daughter foliage, and the sky was blue, bright Constance Eliza blue above her, but Elizabeth did not to care. To her the streets had never Mr. Pierre Eugene Duclos." seemed so narrow, the boarding-house so dingy or all the boarders so hope- The sheet dropped from her grasp. lessly ordinary. "Elizabeth," she cried sharply. After supper, as usual, Elizabeth and "Elizabeth! Why don't you speak?" her mother betook themselves to their Her daughter, with whitened cheek hall bedroom to pass the evening until and lips, managed to get to her feet. bedtime came. Mrs. Wheeler started "I have nothing to say, mother. she to read the evening paper, while faltered and the door closed behind Elizabeth busied herself darning stock- her.

The Unwilling Contributor

OMYTHE—Did you ever give a swell dinner? *^ Browne—Not directly. However, as I've been paying money into an insurance company for nearly twenty years, I guess I've helped.

'X'HE more rest you get the more tired you become. —

Effective Rate Regulation

BY W. G. JOERNS

[conclusion]

[Note.— In the first part of Mr. Joerns's article attention was called to the total capitalization of the railroads of the country at $13,525,000,000, or at the rate of $65,377 per mile. Mr. Joerns also showed that the entire American railway system could be duplicated today for about $6,300,000,000, or at the rate of $30,000 per mile. Editor.]

for flagrant overcapitalization of $155,000,000. It is claimed by BUTfreight rates might be reduced the railroads that this raise in rates one-fourth, or both freight and was justified by the greater operating passenger rates 15 per cent., and there expense. A sufficient answer to the would still remain to be distributed on railroad contention is that the net in- the 56,06 per cent, of live capital stock come of the roads increased steadily before referred to a dividend of ap- from $605,000,000 in 1899 to $849,000,- proximately 9 per cent. This would 000 in 1903, and that the total in- mean a yearly saving to the American creased net earnings for the four years people of over $280,000,000. If the amounted to about $660,000,000. Government were to acquire the roads Notwithstanding the concessions on at their actual value and pay for them certain export and through traffic, as in bonds bearing the current rate of 2 referred to by President Spencer, it is per cent., it could, on the basis of 1903, a matter of common knowledge that reduce the freight rates another 15 per since 1899, and particularly in 1902-03, cent., or freight and passenger rates repeated and important advances in another 10 per cent., or it could main- freight rates were attempted and made. tain the general reduction first re- In numerous cases the end in view, the ferred to and, emulating German advance in rates, was obtained by the thrift, lay by enough each year to more subtle process of a change in sinking fund account to discharge its classification. These advances aroused entire railroad indebtedness in practi- widespread protest and indignation, cally twenty-five years. This would and in some cases active opposition; certainly be a stupendous result; but but, in the main, they were rigorously it is as nothing to the stupendous folly maintained. As an example of such of the American people in having arbitrary and inequitable action on allowed themselves and the country's the part of the railroads, the reclassifi- natural resources to be plundered ad cation of hay may be mentioned. For libitum in the past or to continue to ten or twelve years without substantial sit idly by while this process of un- interruption hay had been shipped as warranted exploitation is attempted sixth class. Arbitrarily and without to be perpetuated. warning the classification was, on Janu- In 1899 the average per ton mile was ary 21, 1900, changed by the Classifica- .73 cent. The next year this was tion Committee of the railroads from raised to .75 cent. The following two sixth to fifth class. This involved an years it was .76 cent, and in 1903 it increase in freight rates on hay of from was again raised .2 cent to .78 cent. $1 to $2.60 per ton, according to dis- It has been estimated by the Interstate tance and location. Illinois, Wiscon- Commerce Commission and so reported sin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Kan- to Congress that the additional per sas and Nebraska produce well upon ton mile charge in 1903 over 1899 in- half of the hay crop of the nation, and volved an increase, in round numbers, the raise in rates was sufficient to seri- 438 EFFECTIVE RATE REGULATION 439 ously cripple the export business from brought to the notice of the Commis- those States. The National Hay Asso- sion. ciation took up the matter for the pro- In this connection the following ex- ducing interest. Its protests and extract from a report just made by the postulations remained in vain, how- Interstate Commerce Committee to ever, and were received by the rail- the Senate Committee on Interstate roads "almost with indifference." Fi- Commerce will prove of interest, viz.: nally it brought the matter to the The number of informal complaints be- of Interstate attention the Commerce tween January i, 1900, and March i, 1905, Commission, and the Commission, after relating to excessive or exorbitant rates, due investigation, decided against the settled by the Commission, is 139. The number of cases involving excessive or un- railroads and ordered them to re-es- reasonable rates taken to the courts is 15. tablish the old classification. The In 3_ the ruling of the Commission was railroads contemptuously ignored the sustained, and in 12 the orders were not order of the Commission, and when it enforced because it was held the Commission lacked authority to make them. sought the aid of the Court to enforce the order it was met by the Court's ad- In St. Louis County, Minn., there verse ruling on the ground that order- are the greatest iron deposits in the ing a change in classification was world. These are reached by two equivalent to fixing a rate, and that Steel Trust roads and a branch of this, under the decision of the Supreme Mr. Hill's Great Northern system. Court in the Maximum Rate Case, was Last year there were shipped over beyond its power under the law as it these three roads about 15,000,000 now stands. (See testimony of Mr. tons of ore. This year the shipments John B. Daish and Mr. Charles Eng- may reach 20,000,000 tons. It has land, representing the National Hay been reliably claimed that the freight Association, before House Committee charge on the ore thus transported was in 1902.) excessive by not less than fifty cents There could not be a more patent per ton, though the average haul is illustration of the weakness of the law, probably not over 100 miles. If this as now in force, and of the imperative is true, the public, in this single in- necessity of its amendment along the stance, has been exploited to the ex- very lines that are being selfishly and tent of from seven to ten million dol- falsely decried by the railroad interests lars a year. But this overcharge, in as dangerous and revolutionary. True, itself, is in reality the least of the bur- comparatively speaking, not many of den. The high freight rate, which, in such instances have reached the Inter- the case of the two Steel Trust roads state Commerce Commission. In most at least, went into the pockets of the cases the public bears the unjust bur- Trust or its predecessors, was one of den, with indignation, it may be, but the most potent agencies by which one in silence. The ordinary shipper, as a by one the independent mine owners rule, can ill afford to take up the cudg- were forced to the wall and the greatest el against the all - powerful railroad single monopoly the world has so far interest and invite its retaliation. He seen has grown, fattened and become suffers injustice and extortion almost permanently entrenched. without limit, and, unless perhaps he Professor Frank Parsons stated be- happens to be backed up by some fore the Senate Committee on Inter- powerful association, does not strike state Commerce in 1900 that there back until goaded practically to desper- were roads in New England on which ation. Even then, under existing laws, the local tariffs were even then as high he is for the most part foredoomed to as the stage-coach rates* before the failure. These are matters of common days of railroading. No doubt Presi- knowledge and serve to explain why dent Tuttle can find such on his system, there is such intensity of feeling out of for it is one of the best dividend-payers all proportion to the cases actually in the United States, is generously 440 TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE capitalized to the limit and its stock, growers as a class realized no profit; which even as far back as 1901 was many made a loss." He figures the rated to its own stockholders at 190, transportation charges per car of is so closely held that it does not enter 20,000 pounds minimum weight from into the ordinary Stock Exchange oper- Rome, the centre of the North Georgia ations of the country. peach industry, to New York, a dis- Judge S. H. Cowan, representing the tance of 885 miles, as follows: Cattle Raisers' Association of Texas Freight rate at 81 cents per hundred $162 00 and other Western cattle raisers' asso- Refrigerator car charges 67 50 ciations, made a strong presentation before the House Committee on the $229 50 " " unreasonableness per se of railroad Deduct proper icing 35 00 freight charges in cases where competi- Net charge $194 50 tion has been practically eliminated. I quote briefly from his statement on or $18.95 psr ton, which would equal "Advances in Rates" as follows: 2.14 cents per ton mile or 3.24 times the general average per ton for the en- It is a fact that the rates from most points tire country. in Texas have been advanced since 1898 an average of $17.50 to $20.00 per car, and they Mr. Dean's allowance for icing was are today higher than they have been at any more than liberal. A fair and ample time since rates were filed with the Interstate reimbursement for icing wotdd prob- Commerce Commission. It is also a fact ably be less than half the that during the time these rates have been amount advanced the quality and value of the service allowed by him. Yet notwithstand- have deteriorated. It takes a longer time ing the extortionate charge of $67.50 to reach the markets or any other desti- for refrigerator car service, Mr. Dean nation, with a consequent material loss to complains that the refrigerator service the shipper, and this has occasioned general complaint. These advances have likewise was "bad," that large quantities of applied to the Indian Territory, Oklahoma, peaches spoiled en route, that in many New Mexico, Arizona, and from most points places cars could not be had for loading, in Eastern Colorado, Western Nebraska and and that claims for damages were Western Kansas, parts of Wyoming and South Dakota, though the advances in the lustily resisted by the railroads. rates have not been as great from all points The foregoing showing of Mr. Dean in such States as in the State of Texas. is respectfully commended to the at- I believe that it is safe to say that the tention of President Spencer, of the rates of freight based on the present tonnage cost the live-stock shippers of the States Southern Railway, who is one of the named $3,000,000 per annum more today persuasive gentlemen who claim that than would the rates of freight in effect in "unreasonable rates per se have prac- the year 1898, and the average rates col- tically disappeared." lected for the period of ten years next pre- In a recent hearing at Chanute, Kan., ceding 1898. Not only have the live-stock rates been in a suit against the Santa Fe road, it advanced, but in March, 1903, an advance was developed that the railroads were of from 7 to 20 per cent, was made on practi- guilty of the rankest discrimination cally all goods and commodities, with few a against the independent producers and exceptions, from points on the Mississippi River and east thereof to the State of Texas. in favor of the Standard interests, and that the railroads belonging to the Mr. L. A. Dean, Chairman of the Trans-Missouri Freight Bureau had Executive Committee of the North agreed to regulations which practically Georgia Fruit Growers, in the April precluded independent refiners of number of Freight, makes a graphic smaller means from competing with presentation of the overcharge in the Trust. Similar discriminatory transportation rates to which the conditions have been complained of in peach growers in question have been relation to the relative rates on oil subjected as the result of which, to use from Chicago and Cleveland to New his own language, "Out of this mag- Orleans. The difficulty in these cases, nificent crop (some 2,800 cars) the however, lies in the fact that the dis- :

EFFECTIVE RATE REGULATION 441 crimination is open and aboveboard in would adjust in a different manner if I had the published rates, and that the only the power. Mr. Townsend—The railroads themselves way to reach the proposition is by an have recognized that there are unjust differ- order of the Commission equalizing entials existing? the rates between "independent" and Mr. Bird— I think they admit there are "Trust" points. This order, under unwise differentials. existing laws, the Commission is, how- To listen to the testimony of the ever, powerless to make or to enforce. railroad lobby before the Congressional Indeed, it is this "maladjustment" committees one might, from their air of rates, as Governor Cummins, of of injured innocence, imagine the Iowa, aptly it, the unequal terms and average magnate or traffic manager a unfair adjustment of rates generally, most amiable, frank and equitable gen- rates in legal of published due and tleman. Pray, do not let his gentle form, which is by far the most fruitful cooing deceive you! He thoroughly source of complaint. It is this "law- understands men and his job. It is ful" discrimination which is playing his business to coin dollars for the com- havoc with the smaller industries and pany. Business and dividends is what the smaller communities. As shown he is expected to bring at any cost. by a former State Railway Commis- The excessive overcapitalization of sioner of to the Senate Iowa Com- the roads is for him a handicap from mittee, an alarming array of the in- the start. In the mad chase after the dustries of that State have thus been dollar the ordinary emotions are soon forced to the wall, or to removal to so- stifled. It is no longer a question of called great commercial centres, by common fairness between man and this "maladjustment" of "lawful" man. It is get all the traffic you can rates. The so-called "midnight" and every dollar it will bear. So cal- schedules, graphically described by loused have some of these officials be- President Stickney, belong in somewhat come that they do not even balk at the category. same testimony that is dangerously near the oil rates, As in the case of the the verge of perjury, as witness the testi- Interstate Commerce Commission is at mony of several traffic managers at afford relief. present powerless to It the June and October private car line cannot effectively intercede in such hearings of the Interstate Commerce cases of flagrant overcharge and dis- Commission. We will not say that crimination, which remain within the this deplorable state of mind has be- of the law, until the itself bounds law come typical; but it is unfortunately is the Commission clothed changed and true that too often the public is re- with the rate-making power. garded simply as legitimate prey. A brief extract from a little cross- Toward the close of last year rail- examination of Mr. Bird, traffic man- roads combined in a scheme to foist ager of the Gould system, at the hear- upon the country a new and uniform before ing the House Committee at bill of lading. The cardinal features the last session of Congress may prove of the proposed innovation were of interest at this point. It speaks 1. That it was to be non-negotiable. I give it as it appears in volumes. the 2. That the shipper should execute record. a release to the carrier, relieving the Mr. Townsend—I wotild like to ask you latter from its common law liability one or two questions in regard to the testi- relative to the goods while in transit; mony you have given. Do you claim that or, there are any unjust classifications in existence now? 3. If the shipper failed or refused to Mr. Bird—No, sir! I make no claims; sign such release his freight rate was to but I must admit that there are a great many be increased 20 per cent. claims that there are unjust classifications. The brilliant maneuvre had pro- Mr. Townsend—But what is your opinion about that, whether there are any? gressed to the stage of official notice Mr. Bird—I know some cases which I to local divisions (official circular No. 442 TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE

26), with instructions to put its pro- ests to the suggested amendment of visions into effect on January 2 imme- the law. There is absolutely no justi- diately following. fication, except duty well performed, The shipping public had not been for the one; and only sordid greed, considted. It is not as submissive as grown blatant and mad, can explain of yore, however, and as soon as the the other. proposed change became known a roar Time and again the railroad interests of protest went up such as has not been themselves have invoked the aid of the heard in many a day. The Interstate Commission, both in disputes between Commerce Commission, was appealed competing points and in controversies to and other effective measures were between themselves. (See statements adopted to checkmate the nefarious before House Committee of Vice-Presi- proposition. The matter was taken up dent Bird, of the Gould system; Mr. by the Commission, but was not defi- Walker B. Hines, of the Louisville & nitely determined. So aroused and Nashville; Mr. H. L. Bond, Second dangerous has public sentiment be- Vice-President of the Baltimore & come on the matter of transportation Ohio, and others.) The Interstate iniquities, however, that the railroads Commerce Commission, on the invita- found it advisable to beat a retreat. tion of the railroads themselves, has, in An important conference of railroad this year of railroad protest, but just presidents was held in New York on decided the "seaboard differential" December 7, and of traffic men and dispute and named the rate. The de- general managers at Buffalo within ten cision has no legal force, only the sanc- days thereafter, and the carefully mation of agreement. The solution was tured scheme of exploitation and plun- more, however, than the railroads der was reluctantly abandoned; but could arrive at single-handed. It is not without some expression of keen also admitted by the railroad inter- regret that the matter had prematurely ests themselves that over 90 per cent, leaked out and the public thus fore- of the complaints brought before the warned to take measures for its pro- Commission since its inception have tection before the new departure had been voluntarily adjusted through the been actually put in force. intervention of the Commission. Even And yet railroad attorneys, presi- in the Import Rate Case, which finally dents and representatives generally are resulted in a technical defeat for the pouring into the willing ears of the Commission, it appeared that most of Senate Committee the honeyed assur- the roads involved in the controversy ance that the law as it stands is ample had acquiesced in the ruling of the to protect the public against every Commission and adjusted their tariffs possible railroad aggression, that the accordingly. sentiment in favor of the law's amend- It is also true, however, that in most ment is an artificial and thoroughly of the cases in which the railroads re- misguided one, and that therefore the mained defiant and recalcitrant the Senate will place the country under Commission's usefulness was abridged lasting obligation if it will persist in by the restrictions which technical the obstructive tactics that were fatal judicial construction placed upon its to the Esch-Townsend bill at the clos- powers. It is the purpose of the pres- ing session of the last Congress. ent agitation for the rate law's amend- c. There never was anything more un- ment that the powers and attributes fair and illogical than the attacks of the of the Commission shall not thus re- railroad interests upon the Interstate main permanently impaired. The Commerce Commission; nothing more people demand effective supervision narrow and short-sighted, even from and regulation by the Government. the standpoint of their own selfishness, The demand is imperative. It is vehe- than the fierce and subtle opposition ment, it is true, but still conservative. of the combined transportation inter- Time and opposition will fan the flame, EFFECTIVE RATE REGULATION 443 however, and the movement for eman- from Chicago to New York as against the

rate Baltimore or Boston ? . . . cipation from private exploitation will to The making of rates is not an exact science. such propor- soon assume enormous There is not a tariff in the United States, ac- tions that only the most radical meas- cording to my best belief, that has been made ures of relief will satisfy. It is the old on any scientific basis. No one has been that to such story of Privilege blind to its own best found knows enough make a tariff. The fact is that rates are found by people are not as interests; only the comparison, compromise and competition, blind and submissive as they used to be. and those are the underlying forces that

Mr. Bond kindly formulated a plan determine what the rate shall be. . . . of regulation for the benefit of the There is not a man alive that can tell what freight a particular class will furnish, and House Committee in which he went to you cannot fix a rate on any one article the extent of agreeing that the Com- knowing what revenue it will furnish. mission might safely be intrusted with I have never yet in my forty years' the power to fix a rate, provided it did experience been able to make a tariff with any reference to what the service was worth. not go into effect until the Commission had first sought and obtained the sup- Yet Mr. Bird, in answer to some porting order of a court thereon. very close questioning by Congressman The order of the court ! There is the Townsend, was forced to admit that rub. The railroads are perfectly willing the railroads could "arrive at a very to leave the determination to the courts. close approximation" as to whether Their "experts" tell us and our law- they were carrying any particular makers that the Interstate Commerce product at a loss or profit, and that Commission cannot be trusted to make the Interstate Commerce Commission a rate—that is, to name a rate which could do the same! shall be substituted as the reasonable Read further the following brief rate for the rate found and declared additional interrogation, as taken from unless until set aside unreasonable and the record, and ask yourself whether it by judicial review. Schedules and does not wholly and truly dispose of classifications "have grown up gradu- the railroad case in the premises: ally," says Mr. Spencer. "The evolu- it fact the tion is still going on." They say rate Mr. Townsend—Is not a that Interstate Commerce Commission is em- making is a most difficult matter far — powered under these bills (the bills before the too complicated for a "non-expert" Committee from which was reported the body such as they disingenuously Esch-Townsend bill) to obtain all the informa- claim the Interstate Commerce Com- tion that you know? Mr. Bird Yes. mission to be. Mr. Bond says, "it is — Mr. Townsend—And this Commission is a historical fabric" made by the ship- supposed to be an impartial body? pers and railroads together. We might Mr. Bird—Yes. Mr. Now, would it not be as well retort : So was serfdom a histori- Townsend— intrust these interests to a commis- cal fabric woven out of the brute safe to sion having as much knowledge as you have, of the lord the abject and strength and an impartial commission, as it would be to forced submission of the vassal; but trust the people's rights entirely with the rail- emancipation was likewise a historical roads? development. But Mr. Bird, rather Mr. Bird—That may be so, I do not deny despairingly and rather hysterically, it. caps the climax. He treated the Con- How different in this regard the can- gressional Committee to the following: did and emphatic statement to the Senate Committee of Mr. A. B. Stick- knows what just differentials are? Who ney, a broad-gauge railroad man and Who can tell what is a fair differential be- Stick- tween a rate from Kansas City and St. Louis one of the ablest. President on com to Liverpool and a rate on com from ney sees no danger to legitimate inter- Chicago to Liverpool? Who can tell what ests in increasing the powers of the from Kansas City the rate should be on corn Interstate Commerce Commission. In- to New Orleans and to Belgium, and the rate would give it the full and com- to Liverpool? Who can tell these things? deed he original rate-making power. As . . . Who shall tell what is a fair rate plete 444 TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE suggested by him, it has the existing sity but meagerly equipped. If the rates, the practical outcome of years Commissioners, who are constantly of experience, as a guide. It would delving into all phases of the transpor- have the assistance of the arguments tation problem, are non-expert, pray and presentations of traffic officials and what shall be said of the judges? of the shippers. It could draw on its Ah! The courts have a qualifica- own comprehensive experience. It tion all their own, that the railroad would be the arbitrator, and, quoting and corporation interest is well aware Mr. Stickney: "The Commission rep- of. This interest has been a potent resenting the sovereignty, with power force, all too powerful, in American to enforce its decisions, would be the politics. It has made and unmade most disinterested, and at the same public men from poundmaster to Presi- time satisfactory, arbitrator which is dent. Its corrupting influence has possible." been and remains today one of the The Interstate Commerce Commis- most serious problems with which the sion is composed of men of character American people have to deal. To no and ability. There have at all times public office has it more deliberately since its inception been men on it of and insinuatingly extended its ten- superior capacity. Under the peculiar tacles than to the judiciary. It looks manner of its appointment there are upon the judiciary as the bulwark of always veterans in the service upon it. "privilege." It has clways been a hard-working There are judges, and plenty of body, and all phases of the transporta- them, who owe the corporations noth- tion question, practical and theoretical, ing and whose heart-beat is with the have come before it times innumerable. people. There are corporation-made It has. willingly or unwillingly, be- judges who rise above the expectation come an expert body, and the affecta- of the maker. There are also corporation of railroad magnates to the con- tion-made judges whose only disquali- trary is "moonshine." The matter of fication is the peculiar viewpoint rates and classifications has been to it which constitutes their open sesame to a special matter of inquiry, and in the judicial appointment. The special in- elucidation of any question before it terest believes with Mr. Bond, "when a it can command all available informa- member of the Bar is elevated to a tion, not only from the standpoint of court beyond which there is no appeal, the railroads and the traffic manager, that his views on political economy but, what is fully as important and and government generally have some often more important, from that of the effect on his views of the law." But shipper as well. Its members can there are also judges whose only aim practically and mentally easily rank appears to be to perform socage duty the average traffic official; so far as for the private interest to which they ethical qualities go, they are unques- are indebted for their preferment. tionably far his superior. They com- It is unfortunate, I confess, that any mand the respect and confidence of portion of the judiciary should be open the general public, but have not shown to question or suspicion. But is the themselves subservient enough to the statement overdrawn? Is not the transportation interests to win the ap- country, in one form or another, proval of the railway magnate. brought into almost daily touch with The transportation interests object to the corrupting and controlling influ- effective regulation by the Commission, ence of the special interest? Why they deny its capacity to make a rate; deny it? Do not wealth and privilege but, strange to say, they are willing to receive consideration out of all propor- leave all questions to the courts, though tion to that meted out to the great it must be patent that from a practical body of the people? Read Justice point of view the judges, as compared Harlan's dissenting opinion in the In- with the Commissioners, are of neces- come Tax case, and, while you bless EFFECTIVE RATE REGULATION 445 this noble and upright judge, ask your- guished gentlemen evidently know self if a more scathing arraignment of very little of the practical phases of a deplorable condition could well be the rate question, and their proposals possible. Is it strange then that the would hardly merit more than passing railroad interest is unanimous in its attention but for the fact that appar- willingness to leave the question of ently a masked but organized attempt rates to the courts, but is unwilling to is being made by the railroad interest intrust it to the better equipped and to create a semblance of public senti- better informed but also more popular ment in their favor. It should not be and responsive body, the Interstate countenanced for a moment. Only in Commerce Commission? continued singleness of purpose can It is well to keep in mind at this there be any guarantee of ultimate suc- juncture that the simpler the remedial cess for the public as against the aims statute, so long as it is along the right and machinations of the combined line, the better for its ultimate effective- railroad and corporation interests. To ness. Such a bill, as far as it went, desert the general principles and whole- was the Esch-Townsend bill, and the some features of the Esch-Townsend fact that it has met and is meeting with bill (also in the main those of the Hearst the vehement opposition of the pluto- bill) at this juncture for the undigested cratic oligarchy is a strong point in its counterfeit measures referred to would favor. All bills and suggestions at indeed be like "swapping horses while this time, therefore, that propose fun- crossing a stream." From the stand- damental innovations and that are point of the general public it would be aimed at the integrity and existence absolutely suicidal. of the Interstate Commerce Commis- Judge Grosscup affects to fear that sion are to be deprecated and regarded the "present agitation" may become with suspicion. Their source and mo- a movement under cover of which the tive cannot possibly be in sympathy social and political revolutionists will push with the best interests of the people. forward their assault upon the present order

They merit, one and all, the em- of American institutions . . . that phatic condemnation of the general grim menace, that no friend of the institution of private property anywhere can public. longer ignore. Congressman Stevens introduced a bill on the rate question in the closing This sentiment, with its banquet days of the last session that is more or flavor, will, however, find little re- less open to criticism. Professor Had- sponse in the minds and hearts of the ley, of Yale, has likewise offered a "so- vast body of shippers and producers of lution." Judge Grosscup, of Chicago, the country, the rank and file of our also delivered himself of a plan at the industrial and commercial life, who Economic Club banquet at Boston in have joined in the great protest against March. The two last-named proposi- corporate exploitation and injustice, tions run in somewhat similar grooves. and are united in their beneficent work They are both inimical to the Com- as never before. The best brawn and mission as at present constituted and brain of the country will rather agree are marked illustrations of the effect with the closing words of Judge Prouty of "point of view." The special griev- in his address to the Lumbermen's ance in both instances lies in concen- Association at Boston in January last, trating the rate-making power in the as follows: courts and in pushing "railroad men" Let not the men, who for eighteen years to the front, to the exclusion of that have defied this law and successfully re- great body of shippers, who, after all, sisted all attempts to correct it, now write are in touch with more phases of the its amendment. The interests of the public and the railway should be alike conserved, "rate question" than the average rail- but some fair measure of regulation should road official or traffic manager, and be enacted which can, if applied, regulate not so blind to some. These distin- tn fact as well as in theory. UNAVENGED. AT LASTI

C. G. Bush, in N. Y. World C. G. Bushy in N. Y, World

LOOKS BIG. W. A. Rogers, in N. Y. Herald 446 SYNOPSIS OP PREVIOUS CHAPTERS of despair. He paused at the well In a small Georgia town a friendship has grown up at the court-house to get a drink of between Pole Baker, reformed moonshiner and an un- usual and likable character, and young Nelson Floyd, water. He drank copiously from the who was left as a baby in a mountain cabin bv an un- big wooden bucket, and wiped his known woman just before her death. Floyd, in the face of many trials and temptations, has worked his mouth on the back of his dusty way up in the world and made a man of himself. Jeff Wade appears at the store, in which Floyd has become hand. It was a very quiet after- a partner, to avenjje on him a rumored injustice to noon at Springtown; scarcely any- Wade's sister. Pole Baker's tact prevents a duel by making Floyd see that the unselfish course is for him one was in sight. Pole moved over to to avoid a meeting. Cynthia Porter comes to the store, alarmed for Floyd's safety. On his way home the steps of the public building and to his family Pole falls a victim to his besetting sin of sat down in abject indecision. "The drink. Cynthia rejects the suit of the Rev. Jason Hillhouse and refuses to act on his warnings against Lord knows I ort to go on home to Floyd's attentions. At a corn-shucking given by Pole, Floyd wins the right to kiss Cynthia, and on Sally an' the childem," he groaned, their way home claims his privilege without actually kin I? kin I?" asking to marry her, and proposes in vain that, since "but how How her mother dislikes him, she meet him at times on He sat there for half an hour, his sigrnal in the grape arbor. That night, while Cynthia is regnretting even her slight weakness, her suspicious head hanging, his great hands twitch- and tactless mother half accuses her and hints that ing nervously. Presently a shadow the worry over Cynthia and Floyd has caused her to fear an attack of insanity. Pole again prevents a fell on the ground before him, and, duel between Floyd and Jeff Wade by showing the latter that his quarrel is ill advised. That night Cyn- looking up, he saw a negro boy ex- thia, alarmed over reports of the duel, responds to tending a letter to him. Floyd's signal for a brief interview, in which she promises to accompany Floyd to bush-arbor meeting. As "A man told me ter give you dis Floyd leaves, he is discovered by Pole and blamed for jeopardizing Cynthia's good name in leaving the Por- here, Mr. Baker," the boy said. ter place by stealth. Captain Duncan, a neighboring man?" Pole asked as he planter, suggests that there may be a clue to Floyd's "What parentage in Atlanta, where there is a man named took the communication. Floyd whose mother was a Nelson. Cynthia's grandmother fears lest Mrs. Porter, who suspects the girl's "I didn't know 'im, suh. I never seed interview with Floyd, may become insane and kill 'im before. He looked ter me like herself as a sister had done. At bush-arbor meeting Pole warns Floyd that if Cynthia suffers at his hands a mountain man. He was ridin' alittle he himself will kill him. On their way home C>Tithia and Floyd are driven by a storm to take refuge for white mule, an' as soon as he gimme night in a deserted mill. The situation and the de letter an' tol' whar you was a-set- Pole's warning complete the awakening of Floyd's me better nature and convince him of his true love for tin' he whipped his mule an' rid off." Cynthia. Cynthia's mother hates Floyd only the more on account of this adventure and offends Cynthia by Pole held the letter in his hand till her insinuations. Her father defends Cynthia. Pole the gone, then he tore the Baker goes to Atlanta and learns from Henry A. Floyd boy had there that Nelson is the son of his dead brother. Pole envelope open and read it. It slipped brings the news back to Springtown, where it creates a sensation. Pole falls a victim again to his besetting from his inert fingers to the ground, vice, and Pole, with glaring eyes, picked it again. To CHAPTER XXII up and read it again and him it was worse than a deathblow. WEEK later Pole Baker came Pole Baker (it began), we, the Mountain- back from Darley on foot. He side White Cap Association, beg leave to in- A was covered with dust, his sat in council at form you that we have clothing was soiled and torn, his hair three separate meetings on your case of family neglect. unkempt. He looked thinner; his big protracted drunkenness and If any other man in the county had done eyes seemed to bum in their deep, as you have he would have met with pun- dark sockets as if fed by the slow oil ishment long ago; but your friends put in 447 —

448 TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE excuses for you and postponed it. How- were taking the part of those he him- again last night and decided ever, we met self had sworn to love and stand by? that it was our duty to act in your case. For ten days now your wife, a sweet, pa- No! The punishment? Yes; but tient woman, has been verging on to de- after that, to his confused brain, all spair through you. We hold that no living was a painful blank. His wife and man has a right to tie a good woman to children had always comforted him in him by cords of love and pity and then tor- trouble, but could they do so now? ture her on the rack night and day just to gratify a beastly appetite. This step is Would not the sight of their anxious being taken with great regret, and by men faces only add to his load of remorse? not known to you, but who admire you in As he went along the road toward his many ways and like you. Punishment has home his rugged breast rose and ex- been dealt out here in the mountains to good eifect, as you yourself have been heard panded under his ragged shirt and to admit, and we confidently believe that then slowly fell. He was a dead man after we have acted in your case you will alive—a breathing, rotting horror in be a better man to them that are dependent his own sight. A shudder went over on you. Tonight at eight o'clock sharp our body will be at the gum spring, halfway him; he heard the commanding voice between your farm and the court-house. If of the leader of the outlaws; he felt you are there to meet us the disagreeable the lash and braced himself for another matter of whipping you will be done there, blow, which he hoped would cut deep out of sight and hearing of your wife and enough to pierce the festering agony children; if not, we will have to do as we have done in the cases of other men, go to within him. Then his lower lip began your house and take you out. We earnestly to quiver, and tears came into his hope you will meet us, and that you will be great, glaring eyes. He was beginning prepared to make us promises that you will keep. to pity himself, for, when all had been Respectfully, said and done, could he really have The Mountain-side acted differently? Had God actually White Cap Association. given him the moral and physical strength to avoid the pits into which Pole stared at the ground for a long he had stumbled with the helplessness time; the veins of his neck and brow of a little child? stood out as if from physical torture. The road led him into the depths of He looked about him suddenly in a a wood where the boughs of mighty spasm of effort to think of some escape trees arched overhead and obscured from his impending doom. There was the sunlit sky. He envied a squirrel Nelson Floyd. He would grant him bounding unhindered to its nest. any request. He could draw upon Nature seemed to hold out her vast, the young merchant for unlimited soothing arms to him. He wanted to funds, and before the fated hour sink into them and sob out his pent-up arrived he could be far away from the agony. In the deepest part of the country and his wife and children. wood, where rugged cliffs bordered the A great lump rose inside of him and road, he came to the spring mentioned tore itself outward through his throat. in the letter. Here he paused and No, he couldn't leave them; it was looked about him. On this spot the further out of his power now than most awful experience of his life ever. Besides, had he not brought all would be enacted. this on himself? Was not the threat- With a shudder he passed on. The ened punishment equally just in his trees grew less dense, and then on a case as it had been in the case of rise ahead of him he saw his humble others among his neighbors? He rose cottage, like a cheerless blot on the to his feet. There was nothing left green lush-sward about it. He for him to do but to go home, and wanted now to search the face of his yes, meet the White Caps at the ap- wife. For ten days, the letter said, pointed place and take what was she had suffered. She had suffered so coming to him bravely. Shoot? De- much that the neighbors had taken up fend his rights? Kill the men who her cause—they had taken it up when 3 —

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he—great God!—when he loved her life. Oh, Pole, I've suffered, I'll ad- and the children with every tortured mit, but that can't equal my joy right cord of his being! They had come to now at seein' you home with that his wife's aid against him, her prime sweet, sorry look in yore eyes. Pole, enemy. Yes, they should whip him, darhn', won't you kiss me? You and he would tell them while they would ef I hadn't turned from you as were at it to lay it on—to lay it on! I did in the house jest now. Don't and God sanction the cause. don't blame me! I hardly knowed He entered the gate. His wife was what I was doin'." sitting in the little hall, a wooden bowl A sob rose in him and burst. She in her lap, shelling peas; on a blanket saw his emotion, and put her arms at her feet lay the baby. He went up around his neck. the steps and stood in the doorway. "It was that meddlesome old Mrs. She raised her eyes and saw him, and Snodgrass who put me up to actin' then lowered her head, saying nothing, that-a-way," she said tenderly. "But though she was deathly pale. He I'll never do it ag'in. The idea! An' stared helplessly for a moment, and me ever' bit as happy as I was the then went out behind the house and day we married one another! Thar sat down in a chair under a tree, near comes little Billy, as hard as he kin his beehives and his bent-toothed, move his little fat legs. Wipe yore stone-weighted harrow. A deeper eyes, Pole; don't let him see you feeling of despair had come over him, a-cryin'. He'd remember it all his for it was the first time his wife had life—childern are so quar. Thar, wipe ever refused to greet him in some way 'em on my apron—no, le' me do it. or other on his return home. On the He's axed about you a hundred banks of a spring branch below the times a day. The neighbors' childern barn he saw his older children playing, talked before him an' made him but he could not bear the sight of wonder." them, and, with his elbows on his The child, red in the face and pant- knees, he covered his face with his ing, ran into his father's outstretched hands. The memory came to him of arms. men who had killed themselves when " Whar you been, papa?" he asked. in deep trouble, but he brushed the "Over to Darley, Billy," Pole man- thought away. They were shirking aged to say. cowards. For half an hour he sat "Are you goin' to stay at home any thus. He heard the children laugh- more, papa?" was the next query. ing as they continued their romp up "Yes, Billy— I hope so. What have and down the stream. Then his wife you childern been playing with down slowly came out to him. She was still at the branch?" pale, and it seemed to him that she was "Johnny made a boat, papa, but it thinner than she had ever been before. wouldn't swim. It sunk when he put "Pole, darlin'," she began, with a sand on it. Will you make me a boat, catch in her voice, "some o' the papa?" neighbors has been tellin' me that I "Yes, Billy." ort not to be kind an' good to you "When, papa?" when you come home after you've "Tomorrow, Billy," Pole pressed done us this-a-way, an' I acknowledge his rough face to the child's smooth, I did try just now to act sorter cold, perspiring brow, and then put him but I can't. Oh, Pole, I ain't mad at down. "Now run and play," he said. you, darlin'! My heart is so full o' "I've put on some coffee to boil," joy at seein' you back home, safe an' said Mrs. Baker when the child had sound, that I don't know what to do. left. "I know you want some, Pole, I know you are sorry, darlin', fer you you look all unstrung. I never seed always are, an' you look more down- you so nervous. Yore hands are cast than I ever seed you in all my twitchin', an' I never seed sech a October, 1905— 450 TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE

awful look in yore face. Don't you now that you are safe at home. You want me to cook some'n' special fer won't spile all my happiness by goin' you to eat, Pole?" off again? Will you, darlin'?" "Not a thing, Sally," he gulped. He caught her wrist with his left "The coffee is enough." hand and held his right steadily up- She went into the house and came ward. back with it. As she drew near he "I'll swear to you, Sally, before noted that the sun was fast going God, that I won't tetch a single drop, down; the shadow of the hill to the and that I'll be back inside of an hour. west of the cottage was creeping You kin trust me now, Sally. You rapidly across the level field below. never heard me speak this way be- It would soon be eight o'clock, and fore." then Their eyes met. "Yes, I kin trust " Here it is," said Sally at his elbow. you when you talk that- a-way," she " It's as strong as I could make it. It said. "Don't be gone longer than an will steady your nerves. Oh, Pole, hour, Pole. I'll set right here on the I'm so glad you got back! I couldn't porch and wait for you." have gone through another night like "All right. I'll keep my word, the others. It would have killed me." Sally." He raised the coffee-cup to keep Out at the gate he passed, moving from seeing her wistful, dark-ringed away, his head down, his long arms eyes. swinging disconsolately at his sides. Night came on apace. He sat in When out of sight of the cottage he his chair while she busied herself with quickened his step. He must not be heeding and putting the children to late. They must not, under any cir- bed. Her voice rang with joy and re- cumstances, come nearer to his house lief as she spoke to them; once she than the spring, and he must try to sang a bar of an old ballad. It vividly secure their promise not to let his recalled their courtship days. He degradation reach the ears of his moved his chair to the porch. He wife and children. He could not stand sat there a while, and then went to that. feed his horse and cattle, telling himself the while that he had made his CHAPTER XXIII wife do his work for the past ten days that he might sink to the level of a Reaching the appointed place, he beast. sat down on the trunk of a fallen tree After supper the two sat together in to wait. By and bye he heard voices the moonlight on the porch, he silent, in the distance, and then the tramp, she talkative and full of joy. The old- tramp of footsteps. A dark blur ap- fashioned clock on the mantel within peared in the moonlight on the road. struck seven. He waited about half It w^as a body of men numbering be- an hour longer, and then he rose to his tween twenty-five and thirty. They feet. were all afoot, and, by way of precau- "I want to go to the store and see tion against identification, they wore Nelson Floyd," he said. "I'll be back white caps over their heads, with holes inside of an hour, sure." for the eyts. In their mouths they She stared at him irresolutely for a had stuffed wads of cotton to muffle moment, then she uttered a low groan. and disguise their voices. "Oh, Pole, Pole, Pole! I don't want "Well, I see you've acted sensible, you to go," she cried. "You know Baker," said a man who seemed in the why. If you get whar any liquor is lead. "Some o' the boys 'lowed you'd now, you—you may go off again. cut an' shoot; but you hain't armed, Stay with me, Pole! I'll give you are you, Pole?" some strong coifee. I'll do anything "No, I hain't armed, Joe Dil- ruther than have you out o' my sight worthy." POLE BAKER 451

" Huh, you think you know me!" the into the pockets of his trousers awk- speaker said, with a start. wardly, and slowly turned his eye- "Yes, I know you," answered Pole. holes upon the eyeholes about him, "I'd know you anywhar in the world but no one made sign or sound. by yore shape an' voice." "Boys, you all hear what Pole "Well, you may think I'm anybody says," finally came from him. "He you like," returned the masked man. seems to —feel— I mought say to real- "That's neither here nur thar. I've ize—that " The voice spent itself in been app'inted to do the talkin' to- the folds of the speaker's mask. night, Pole, an' I want to say, at the "Hold! I want to say a word." start, that this is the most disagree- A tall, lank man stepped from the able job that this association ever group, spitting wads of cotton from tackled. Yore case has been up his mouth and lifting the cap from his before our body time after time, an' head. "I'm Jeff Wade, Pole. You some'n' always throwed it out, fer see who I am. You kin appear agin you've got stacks an' stacks o' friends. me before the Grand Jury an' swear But action was finally tuck, an' here I'm a member o' this gang, ef you we are. Pole, do you know any want to. I don't give a damn. In valid reason why you shouldn't be jinin' the association I tuck the oath treated like other malefactors in these to abide by what the majority done. mountains?" But I didn't take no oath that I There was silence. Pole's head was wouldn't talk when I got ready, an' I hanging down. They could not see want now to explain, as is my right, his face in the moonlight. I reckon, how I happen to be here. "No, I don't see no reason," the I've fit this case agin you fer several condemned man finally said. "I'm meetin's with all my soul an' strength, here to meet you, to tell you that I beca'se I knowed you was too good a deserve more'n you fellows could lay man at heart to whip like a dog fer on me ef you begun now an' kept up what you've done. I fit it an' fit it, a steady lick till the last one of you but last meetin' my wife was down was fagged out. The only trouble, havin' another twelve-pound boy, as gentlemen, is that I hain't a-goin' to maybe you heard, an' somehow in my feel the lash. Thar's a pain inside o' absence the vote went agin you. me so keen an' fur down that what Strong speeches was made by yore you do jest to my body won't count. wife's kin about her treatment, an' You are the friends of my wife an' action was finally tuck. But I'm here childern; you are better friends to 'em to say that every lick that falls on than I've been, an' I want you to strip yore helpless back tonight will hurt me me to my dirty hide an' whip my more than ef they was on me. You've duty into me, ef that is possible. The made a better man out o' me in a few only thing I would ask is to spare my ways, Pole, an', by God! I'm a-goin' folks the knowledge of it, ef you kin to feel like some o' that dirty crowd see it that-a-way. Keep this thing felt away back thar when they went quiet—jest amongst us. I may be along an' sanctioned the death agony able to brace up an' try to do right in of our Saviour. You are too good a the future, but I don't believe I kin man, Pole, to be degraded this-a-way. ef they know o' my humiliation. I What you've done agin yore own was don't ax that as a favor to myself, through weakness that you couldn't you understand, gentlemen, but to well help. We've all got our faults, them you are befriendin'—a weak but I don't know a man in this gang woman an' helpless little childern." that's got as many good p'ints to coun- Pole ceased speaking. There was teract the bad as you have." profound silence, broken only by the "That's all right, Jeff," Pole said croaking of frogs in the spring branch stolidly. "What you say don't ex- nearby. Dilworthy thrust his hands cuse me. I stand here tonight con- 452 TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE victed by my neighbors of mistreatin' Now, all in favor of enactin' the ver- my own blood an' heart kin, an' I dict of our court in this case hold up don't want nobody to defend me when yore hands." sech men as Sandy McHugh tuck what There was a portentous pause. Not was comin' to them without a whimper. a hand was raised. I don't know what effect it's goin' to "See thar? What did I tell you?" have on me. I cayn't see that fur Dilworthy exclaimed in disgust. "Not ahead. I've tried to quit hquor about a man amongst you knows his own as hard as any man alive, an' I'm not mind. Now, to the contrary: all in goin' to make promises an' break 'em. favor o' sendin' Baker home without After this is over I reckon I'll do what- tetchin' him raise yore hands." ever the Lord has laid out fer me to Every hand went up. Pole stared do." blankly from one stiff token of pity "Pole, I'm Mel Jones!" Another to another, then his head went down. tall man divested himself of cap and The brim of his old hat hid his face. mask and stood out in full view. "I He was silent. The crowd was filter- voted agin this, too. I'm yore friend, ing away. Soon only Jeff Wade was Pole. That's all I got to say." left. He gave Pole his hand, and in an "That's all right, Mel," said Pole, awkward voice said: "Go home now, "an' I'm much obliged to you. But, old friend. Don't let Sally suspicion gentlemen, I told my wife I was goin' this. It would hurt her mighty bad." to town an' would be straight back. Pole said nothing at all, but, return- You hain't said whether it would be ing Wade's hand-pressure, he moved " possible to keep this thing quiet away in the soft moonlight. "Quiet hell!" snorted Dilworthy. " Do you damn fools think I'm goin' to act as leader fer a lot o' snifflin' idiots CHAPTER XXIV that don't know whar they are at or how they got thar? It may not be The following Sunday morning Nel- parliamentary by a long shot, but as son Floyd went to church. From the chairman o' this meetin' I'm goin' to doorway he descried a vacant seat on say that I think you've all made a the side of the house occupied by the mess of the whole thing. I 'lowed I men and boys, and when he had taken could abide by what the majority done it and looked over the well- filled room, in any matter that was pendin' before he saw that he had Cynthia Porter in us, but I'll be demed ef I'm in favor plain view. She had come alone. A o' tetchin' that thar man. I'd every few seats behind her he saw Pole bit as soon drag mj^ old mammy from Baker and his wife. Pole had never the grave an' whip her as a man feelin' looked better. He wore a new suit of like that thar 'un. I believe Pole clothes and had recently had his hair Baker's tried as hard as any livin' trimmed. Floyd tried to catch his mortal to behave hisse'f, an' that's eye, but Pole looked neither to the enough. A gang o' men that's goin' right nor left, seeming only intent on about whippin' folks who's doin' the'r Hillhouse, who had risen to read the level best ort to be in better business, chapter from the Bible which con- an' from tonight on—oath or no oath tained the text for his sermon. In —I'm a-goin' to let the law o' the land their accustomed places sat Captain manage the conduct o' my neighbors, Duncan and his daughter Evelyn. as fur as I am concerned. It may be The old gentleman had placed his silk contrary to parliamentary rules, as I hat on the floor at the end of the bench say, but this damn thing is so lopsided on which he sat, and his kid-gloved tonight that I'm a-goin' to put it to hands rested on his gold-headed, another vote. Maybe, ef Pole had ebony cane, which stood erect between 'a' been allowed to 'a' made a statement his knees. you'd 'a' seed this thing different. When the service was over and the POLE BAKER 453

congregation was passing out, Floyd They were traversing a cool, shaded waited for Cynthia, whom he saw road now, and as most of the congre- coming out immediately behind the gation had taken other directions, they Duncans. "Hello, Floyd; how are were comparatively alone. you?" the captain exclaimed cordially "Evelyn Duncan is in love with " as he came up. Going home ? Daugh- you," Cynthia said abruptly, her glance ter and I have a place for you in the on the ground. carriage and will drop you at the "That's ridiculous," Floyd laughed. hotel—that is, if you won't let us take "Simply ridiculous." you on to dinner." "I know—I saw it in her face when Floyd flushed. Cynthia was now you said you were going home with quite near, and he saw from her face me. She could have bitten my head that she had overheard the invitation. off." "I thank you very much, captain," "Good gracious, I've never talked Floyd said as he smiled and nodded to with her more than two or three times her, "but I see that Miss Cynthia is in all my life." alone, and I was just waiting to ask "That may be, but she has heard her to let me walk home with her." dozens of people say it will be just the "Ah, I see!" Duncan exclaimed, thing for you—to marry her, and she with a gallant bow and smile to Cyn- has wondered " Cynthia stopped. thia, "I wouldn't break up a nice "Look here, little woman, we've thing like that if I could. I haven't had enough of this," Floyd said forgotten my young days, and this is abruptly. "I saw the light in your the time of the year, my boy, when the room the other night, and I stood grass is green and the sun drives you and whistled and whistled, but you into the shade." wouldn't come to me. I had a lot to With a very haughty nod to Floyd tell you." and Cynthia together, Evelyn Duncan " I told you I'd never meet you that walked stiffly on ahead of her father. way again, and I meant it." Cynthia Outside, Cynthia looked straight into was looking straight into his eyes. the eyes of her escort. "I know you did, but I thought you "Why did you refuse Captain Dun- might relent. I was chock-full of my can's invitation?" she asked. new discovery—or rather Pole Baker's "Why did I?" He laughed mys- —and I wanted to pour it out on you." teriously. "Because during service I "Of course, you are happy over it?" made up my mind that I'd get to you Cynthia said tentatively. before the parson did; and then I had "It has been the one great experi- other reasons." ence of my life," said Floyd impress- "What were they?" ively. "No one who has not been "Gossip," he said, with a low, sig- through it, Cynthia, can have any idea nificant laugh. of what it means. It is on my mind "Gossip? I don't understand," Cyn- at night when I go to bed; it is in my thia said, perplexed. dreams; it is in my thoughts 'when I "Well, I heard," Floyd replied, get up." "that since I've been finally invited "I wanted to know about your to Duncan's house I'll run there night mother," ventured the girl reverently. and day, and that it will end in my "What was she like?" marrying that little bunch of lace and "That is right where I'm in the ribbons. I heard other speculations, dark," Floyd answered. "Pole didn't too, on my future conduct, and as I get my new relative to say a thing saw our village talker, Mrs. Snodgrass, about her. I would have written to was listening just now, I was tickled him at length, but Pole advised me to at the chance to decline the invitation wait till I could see him personally. and walk home with you. It will be My uncle seems to be a crusty, de- all over the country by night." spondent, unlucky sort of old fellow, 454 TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE and, as there was a kind of estrange- " He came in then and noticed her ment between him and my father, Pole red eyes, and I saw him tvirn pale as he thinks it would irritate him to have sat studying her face. Then to throw to answer my letters. However, I am him off she told him a fib. She told going down to Atlanta to call on him him I'd been taking her into my con- next Wednesday." fidence about something which she was "Oh, I see," said Cynthia. "Speak- not at liberty to reveal." ing of Pole Baker—I suppose you "Ah, I see," exclaimed Floyd ad- heard of what the White Caps did the miringly. "She's a shrewd little wo- other night?" man—nearly as shrewd as he is." "Yes, and it pained me deeply," "But he acted queerly after that, I said Floyd, "for I was the indirect must say," Cynthia went on, "He at cause of the whole trouble." once quit looking at her, and sat star- "You?" ing at me in the oddest way. I "Yes, Pole is this way: it is usually spoke to him, but he wouldn't answer. some big trouble or great joy that When I was going home he followed throws him off his balance, and it was me as far as the barn. ' You couldn't the good news he brought to me that tell me that secret, could you, little upset him. It was in my own room sister?' he said, with a strange, ex- at the hotel, too, that he found the cited look on his face. Of cotuse, I whisky. A bottle of it was on my saw that he thought it was some table, and he slipped it into his pocket trouble of mine, but I couldn't set him and took ' it off with him. I never right and be true to his wife, and so I missed it till I heard he was on a spree. said nothing. He walked on with His friends are trying to keep his wife me to the branch, still looking wor- from finding out about the White ried; then, when we were about to part, Caps." he held out his hand, 'I want to say "They needn't trouble further," right here, little sister,' he said, 'that Cynthia said bitterly, "I was over I love you like a brother, and if any there yesterday. Mrs. Snodgrass had harm comes to you, in any way, I'll be " just told her about it, and I thought with you.' the poor woman would die. She " He's very queer," said Floyd ordered Mrs. Snodgrass out of the thoughtfully. They were now near house, telling her never to darken her the house and he paused, "I'll not door again, and she stood on the porch, go any farther," he said, "It will do as white as death, screaming after her no good to disturb your mother. She at the top of her voice. Mrs. Snod- hates the ground I walk on. She will grass was so frightened that she act- only make it unpleasant for you if she ually broke into a run." sees us together. Good-bye, I'll see "The old hag!" Floyd said darkly. "I you when I get back from Atlanta." wish the same gang would take her out some night and tie her tongue at least." " Mrs. Baker came back to me then," CHAPTER XXV Cynthia went on. " She put her head in my lap and sobbed as if her heart The following Wednesday afternoon, would break. Nothing I could possibly when he had concluded his business at say would comfort her. She worships one of the larger wholesale houses in the ground Pole walks on. And she Atlanta, Nelson Floyd took a street- ought to love him. He's good and car for his uncle's residence. Reach- noble and full of tenderness. She saw ing it, he was met at the door by the him coming while we were talking, white woman who had admitted Pole and quickly dried her eyes. Baker to the house on his visit to At- "'He mustn't see me crying,' she lanta. She explained that her master said. *If he thought I knew this he had only gone across the street to see would never get over it.' a neighbor and that he would be back POLE BAKER 455

at once. She led Floyd into the old- She went to one of the front win- fashioned parlor and gave him one dows and parted the curtains and of the dilapidated, haircloth chairs, looked out. remaining in the room to put a few "Yes, that's him. I'll go and tell things to rights, and dusting the fur- him you are here." niture with her apron. On either side Nelson heard the door open and of the mantelpiece hung a crude oil- close and then muffled voices, a gruff, portrait, in cracked and chipped gilt masculine one and that of the servant frames of very massive make. The lowered persuasively. Heavy steps one on the right was that of a dark- passed on down the hall, and then the haired gentleman in the conventional woman came back. dress of seventy- five years previous. "I told him you was here, sir," she The other was evidently his wife, a said. "He's gone to his room, but woman of no little beauty. They were will be back in a minute. He's queer, doubtless family portraits, and Floyd sir; if you haven't seen him before you regarded them with reverential in- had as well be prepared for that. I terest. The servant saw him looking heard Dr. Plympton say the other day at them and remarked: that if he didn't stop worrying as he "They are Mr. Floyd's mother and is that he'd have a stroke of paralysis." father, sir. The pictures were made a The woman retired and the visitor long time ago. Old Mr. Floyd was a sat for several moments alone. Pres- very smart man in his day, and his ently he heard the heavy steps in the wife was considered a great beauty hall and Henry A. Floyd came in. He and a belle, so I've heard folks say, was very pale, his skin appearing though I'm sure I don't see how any almost ashen in color, and his eyes, woman could be popular with her under their heavy brows, had a rest- hair fixed that bungly way. But Mr. less, shifting expression. Nelson felt Floyd is very proud of the pictures. repelled in a way he could not account He wouldn't sell them for any price. for. The old man failed to offer any We thought the house was going to greeting, and it was only the caller's burn down one day when the kitchen extended hand that seemed to remind stove turned over, and he sprained his him of the courtesy due a stranger. ankle climbing up in a chair to get Even then only the ends of his cold them down." fingers touched those of the young "They are my grandparents," he man. A thrill of intense and disagree- told her. able surprise passed over Nelson, for "You don't say! Then you are Mr. his uncle stood staring at him steadily Floyd's ?" without uttering a word. "I'm his nephew. My name is "Did your servant tell you who I Floyd—Nelson Floyd. I've never met am?" the young man ventured, in no my uncle." little embarrassment. "Oh, I see!" The woman's brow "Yes, she told me," old Floyd an- was corrugated. " Mr. Floyd did have swered. "She told me." a brother who died young, but I don't "From your standpoint, sir," Nel- think I ever heard him speak of him. son said, "perhaps I have little ex- But he don't talk much to anybody, cuse for coming to see you without an and now—la me!—he's so worried over intimation from you that such a visit his business that he's as near crazy as would be welcome, but I confess I any man I ever saw. You say you was so anxious to hear something from I couldn't haven't ever seen him ! Then you'd bet- you about my parents that ter not expect him to be very sociable. wait longer." As I say, he's all upset over business. "Huh, I see, I see!" exclaimed the The way he's doing is the talk of the old man, his glance on the floor. neighborhood. There, I heard the "You may understand my eager- gate shut. I reckon that's him now." ness more fully," said Nelson, "when —

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I tell you that you are the first and Nelson said. " I hardly know what to only blood relative I remember ever say." to have seen." "I reckon you don't—now that I The old man shrugged his bent hurl the unexpected truth into your shoulders, and Nelson was almost sure teeth. You didn't think I'd be sharp that he sneered, but no sound came enough to inquire about that fellow from his tightly compressed Hps. Baker, did you? You thought a man The young man, in even greater em- living here in a city as big as this barrassment, looked at the portraits would let a green country lout like that on the wall, and, for the lack of any- get him in a trap. Huh! But I thing more appropriate to say, re- wasn't a fool, sir. You thought you marked: "Your servant tells me that were getting facts from me through him, these are my grandparents—your but you were not, by a long shot. I father and mother." wasn't going to tell a stranger like that "Yes, they are my parents," the old delicate family matters. God knows man said, deep down in his throat. your father's conduct was disgraceful Then all of a sudden his eyes began to enough without my unfolding his life flash angrily. "That old hussy's been to a coarse greenhorn so long after his talking behind my back, has she? I'll death. You know the reputation my teach her what her place is in my brother Charles had, don't you?" " house, if "Not till it came from you, sir," "Oh, she only answered a question said Nelson coldly. "Baker told me or two of mine," said Nelson pacific- you said he was a little wild, that he " ally. "I told her you were my uncle drank and for that reason I was interested in "My father kicked him out of our family portraits." home, I tell you," the old man snapped. " " Your uncle!" That was all the He told him never to darken his door reply old Floyd made. again, after the way he lived before Nelson stared at him in deep per- the war and during it. It completely plexity for a moment, then he said: broke that woman's heart." Old Floyd "I hope I am not on the wrong track, pointed a trembling finger at his sir. A friend of mine—a rough moun- mother's portrait. "I don't under- taineer, it's true, but a sterling fellow stand why you—how you can come called here some time ago, and he came here as you do, calling me your uncle " back and told me that you said as if you had a right to do so." "He came here like the spy that he "Right to do so?—stop!" Nelson was," snorted the old man. "He took him up sharply. "What do you came here to my house pretending to mean? I've the right to ask that, sir, want to rent land, and in that way got anyway." into my confidence and had me talk "Oh, you know what I mean, I about family matters; but he didn't reckon. That man Baker intimated want to rent land. When he failed to that you knew all about your family come back my suspicions were roused history. You know that your mother and I made inquiries. I found out and my poor, deluded brother were " that he was the sharpest, keenest man never married, that they among mountain revenue detectives, "Not married!" Nelson Floyd and that he had no idea of leaving his shrank as if he had been struck in the present location. Now I'd simply like face. "For God's sake, don't say to know what you and he are after. that! I can stand anything but that." I haven't got anything for you—not a "I won't ask you to believe me dollar in the world, nor any property without ample proof," old Floyd an- that isn't mortgaged up to the hilt. sv/ered harshly. "Wait here a min- Why did you send a man of that kind ute." to me?" Nelson sank into a chair, and pale "You actually astound me, sir," and trembling and with a heart that :

POLE BAKER 457 seemed dead within him, he watched he saw his father's signature. With the old man move slowly from the lifeless fingers he opened one or two room. Old Floyd returned presently. of the other letters. He tried to An expression that seemed bom of glance at the fly-leaves of the books grim, palpitating satisfaction lay on on his quivering knees, but there was his colorless face ; a triumphant light a blur before his sight. The scrawny blazed in his sullen eyes. He held hands of the old man were stretched some books and a package of letters out to prevent the mass from falling in his hands. to the floor. "Here are your father's letters to "Are you satisfied? That's the my parents," he began. "The letters main thing," he said. "Because, if will tell the whole story. They bear you are not, there are plenty of legal " his signature. If you doubt their records which authenticity—if you think the name "I am satisfied." Nelson stood up, is forged, you can compare it to all the his inert hand on the back of the specimens of his writing in these old rocking-chair he had just vacated. school-books of his. This is a diary "I was going to say if you were not he kept in college. You can see from I can give you further proof. I can its character how his life was tending. cite to you old legal documents to The letters are later, after he met your which my brother signed his name. mother—a French girl—in New Or- He got hard-up and sold a piece of leans." land to me once. I have that deed. " For a moment Nelson stared up You are welcome to into the withered face above him, and "I am satisfied." Those words then, with a groan of dawning convic- seemed the only ones of which the tion, he took the letters. He opened young man's bewildered brain were the one on the top. capable. But he was a gentleman to How strange! The handwriting the core of his being. "I'm sorry I was not unlike his own. But that was intruded on you, Mr. Floyd.— Only too trivial to marvel over. It was the blind ignorance on my part " He contents of the letter that at once went no further. benumbed and tore his heart in twain. The inanimate objects about him, the chairs, the table, the door toward Dear Father and Mother (it began) I am longing for the old home tonight; but, which he was moving, seemed to have as you say, it is perhaps best that I should life. never come back again, especially as the "Well, good day." Old Floyd re- facts are known in the neighborhood. The in the centre of the room, the things you write me in regard to Annette's mained past are, alas! only too true. I don't deny books and letters held awkwardly them. Perhaps I'm the only one in the under his stifE arm. "I see that you world who will overlook them, for I happen were not expecting this revelation, but to know how she was tried by poverty and as well have been told to- temptation when she was hardly more than you might a child. But on one point I can set your day as later. I understand that the minds at rest. You seem to think that I in- Duncans and Prices up your way are tend to marry her; but I promise you now under wrong impressions about your that I shall never link your honored name social standing, but I didn't want to be to hers. Really the poor girl doesn't wish I really it. She seems to understand how you feel the one to open their eyes. exactly. And the baby! you are worried don't care myself. However, a thing as over its future. Let that go. As soon like that is sure to get out sooner or the war is over, I shall do my full duty by it. later." It is nameless, as you say, and that fact may truth," said sting it later in life, but such things have "They shall know the happened before, and, my dear father and Floyd, with the lips of a dead man. mother, young men have fallen into bad "I shall not sail under false colors. ways before, and Good day, Mr. Floyd." Nelson Floyd read no further. Out into the broad, balmy sunlight Turning the time-stained sheet over, the young man went. There was a 458 TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE despondent droop upon him. His step But he did not come. Seven o'clock was slow and uncertain, his feet struck—eight; supper was over and seemed to him to have weights at- her parents and her grandmother were tached to them. He walked on to the in bed. corner of the next street and leaned " I simply will not go to meet him in against a tree. From the city's palpi- the grape arbor any more," she said to tating heart and stony veins came the herself. "He is waiting to come later, hum of traffic on wheels, the clanging but I'll not go out, as much as I'd like of bells, the escaping of steam. Near- to hear about his mother. He thinks by someone was practicing a monot- my curiosity will drive me to it, but he onous exercise on a piano. He looked shall see." up at the sky with the stare of a sub- However, when alone in her room ject under hypnotic influence. she paced the floor in an agony of in- A lump was in his dry throat. He decision and beset by strange, unac- made an effort to swallow it down, countable forebodings. Might not but it stuck and pained him. Per- something have happened to him? At sons passing caught sight of his face nine o'clock she was in bed, but not and threw back stares of mute in- asleep. At half-past nine she got up. quiry as they moved on. After half The big bed of feathers seemed a great, an hour of aimless wandering here and smothering instrument of torture; she there through the crowded streets he could scarcely get her breath. Throw- paused at the door of a barroom. He ing a shawl over her, she went out on recognized the big gilt sign on the the porch and sat down in a chair. plate-glass windows, and remembered She had been there only a moment being there years before at midnight when she heard her mother's step in with some jolly friends and being taken the hall, and, turning her head, she to his hotel in a cab. After all, saw the gaunt old woman's form in the whisky now, as then, would furnish doorway. forgetfulness, and that was his right. "I heard you walking about," Mrs. He went in and sat down at a little Porter said coldly, "and got up to round table in the corner of the room. see what was the matter. Are you On a shelf near him was a bowl of sick?" brown pretzels, a plate of salted pop- "No, mother; I simply am not corn, a saucer of parched coffee- sleepy, that's all." beans mixed with cloves. One of the The old woman advanced a step bartenders came to him, a towel over nearer, her sharp eyes on the girl's his arms. "What will you have, sir?" white nightgown and bare feet. he asked. "Good gracious!" she cried. "You'll "Rye whisky straight," said the catch your death of cold. Go in the customer, his eyes on the sawdust at house this minute. I'll bet I know his feet. "Bring the bottle along." why you can't sleep. You are worried about what people are saying about Nelson Floyd's marrying Evelyn Dun- CHAPTER XXVI can and throwing you over, as he no doubt has many other girls." To Cynthia the day on which she "I wasn't thinking of it, mother." expected Floyd to return from Atlanta Cynthia rose and started in. "He can passed slowly. Something told her marry her if he wants to." that he would come straight to her "Oh, well, you can pretend all you from the station, on his arrival, and like. I reckon your pride would make she was impatient to hear his news. you defend yourself. Now, go in the The hack usually brought passengers house." over at six o'clock, and at that time she In the darkness of her room Cyn- was on the porch looking expectantly thia sat on the side of her bed. She down the road leading to the village. heard her mother's bare feet as the POLE BAKER 459 old woman went along the hall back old gossip seemed to talk of every- to her room in the rear. Floyd might thing except the subject to which her be in the grape arbor now. As her soul was bound. light was extinguished, he would About the middle of the afternoon think she had gone to bed, and he Mrs. Porter said she wanted a spool would not whistle. Then a great, of cotton thread, and Cynthia offered chilling doubt struck her. Perhaps he to go to the village for it. had really gone to Duncan's to see "Not in this hot sun," the old Evelyn. But no, a warm glow stole woman objected. over her as she remembered that he "I could keep in the shade all the had declined to go home from church way," Cynthia told her. in the captain's carriage that he might "Well, if you'll do that, you may walk with her. No, it was not that; go," Mrs. Porter gave in. "I don't but perhaps some accident had hap- know but what the exercise will do pened to him—the stage-horses might you good. I tell you, I don't like the have become frightened on that dan- looks of your skin and eyes. I'm gerous mountain road. The driver afraid you are going to take down was often intoxicated, and in that sick. You didn't touch breakfast and condition was known to be reckless. ate very little dinner." Cynthia threw herself back in bed and Cynthia managed to laugh reassur- pulled the light covering over her, ingly as she went for her hat and sun- but she did not go to sleep till far shade. Indeed, the prospect even of toward morning. activity had driven touches of color The sun was up when she awoke. into her cheeks, and her step was light Her mother was standing near her, and alert as she started off—so at a half-repentant look flitting over her least thought Mrs. Porter, who was wrinkled face. looking after her from a window. But "Don't get up unless you feel like what did the trip amount to? At it," she said. "I've done your work Mayhew & Floyd's store Joe Peters and am keeping your coffee and break- waited on her, and had nothing to fast warm." say of Floyd. While the clerk's back "Thank you, mother." Cynthia sat was turned Cynthia threw a guarded up, her mind battling with both glance in the direction of Floyd's desk, dreams and realities. but the shadows of the afternoon had "You don't look like you are well," enveloped that part of the room in Mrs. Porter said. "I watched you be- obscurity, and she saw nothing that fore you waked up. You are awfully would even indirectly reply to her dark under the eyes." heart's question. It was on her "I'll feel all right when I am up tongue to inquire if Mr. Floyd had re- and stirring around," Cynthia said, turned, but her pride laid a firm hand avoiding her mother's close scrutiny. over her pretty mouth, and with her "I tell you I'm not sick." small purchase tightly clasped in her When she had dressed herself and tense fingers she went out into the gone out into the dining-room she street and turned her face homeward. found a delicious breakfast waiting The next day passed in much the for her, but she scarcely touched the same way, and the night. Then two food. The coffee she drank for its other days and nights of racking tor- stimulating effect, and felt better. ture came and went. The very lack All that morning, however, she was the of interest in the subject, of those helpless victim of recurring forebodings. about her, was maddening. She was When her father came in from the sure now that something vital had hap- village at noon she hung about him, pened to her lover, and Saturday at hopmg that iie would drop some ob- noon, when her father came from the servation from which she might learn village, she saw that he was the bearer if Floyd had returned, but the quaint of news. She knew, too, that it con- 460 TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE cerned Floyd before the old man had They all had to go back without trans- opened his lips. actin' business, fer Floyd didn't turn "Well, what you reckon has hap- up. Nor he didn't write a line, nuther. pened?" Nathan asked, with one of And, although old Mayhew has been his unctuous smiles. "You two firin' telegrams down thar, fust to women could guess, an' guess, fer two Nelson an' later to business houses, not thousand years, an' then never git in a thing has been heard o' the young a mile o' what everybody in town is man since last Wednesday. He hain't talkin' about." registered at no hotel in Atlanta. Cynthia's heart sank like a plummet. One man has been found that said he It was coming—the grim, horrible knowed Floyd by sight, an' that he revelation she had feared. But her had seed 'im walkin' about at night father was subtly enjoying the blank in the vilest street in Atlanta lookin' stare in her eyes, the depth of which like a dead man or one plumb bereft was beyond his comprehension. As of his senses." usual, he purposely hung fire. Cynthia stood staring at her father "What is it, Nathan?" his wife said with expanded eyes, and then she sat entreatingly. "Don't keep us waiting down near a window, her face averted as you always do." She looked at from the others. She said nothing. Cynthia and remarked; "It's some- "He's crazy," said Mrs. Porter. thing out of the common. I can see "I've always thought something was that from the way he begins." wrong with that man. His whole life Porter laughed drily. "You kin bet shows it. He was an outlaw when he yore sweet lives it's out o' the common, was a child, and when he grew up he but I hain't no hand to talk when my put on high an' mighty airs, an' throat's parched dry with thirst. I started to drinkin' like a lord. He'd cayn't drink that town water, nohow. no sooner let up on that than he got " Has any fresh been fetched?" into that Wade trouble, an' "Just this minute," declared his "Some think he was drugged, an' wife, and she hastened to the water- maybe put out of the way on the sly," shelf in the entry, returning with a said Porter bluntly. "But I don't dripping gourd. "Here, drink it! You know. Thoughts is cheap." v/on't say a word till you are ready." "Hush, Nathan!" Mrs. Porter said, Porter drank slowly. "You may under her breath, for Cynthia had call that fresh water," he sneered, risen, and without looking to the right "but 3^ou woiildn't ef you had it to or left was moving from the room. swallow, I reckon you'd call old "This may kill that poor child." stump-water fresh ef you could git " Kill her, a dog's hind foot!" Porter news any the quicker by it. Well, it's sneered. "To be a woman yorese'f, about Nelson Floyd." you are the porest judge of 'em I ever "Nelson Floyd!" gasped Mrs. Porter. seed. You women are so dead anx- "He's gone and married Evelyn Dtm- ious to have some man die fer you can—that's my guess." that you think the same reckless streak "No, it ain't that," declared Porter. runs in yore own veins. You all said "An' it ain't another Wade gal scrape Minnie Wade had tuck powdered that anybody knows of. The fact is glass when she was sick that time an' nobody don't know ivliat it is. Floyd was goin' to pass in 'er checks on this went down to Atlanta Wednesday, so feller's account, but she didn't die fer Mayhew says, to lay in a few articles him, nor fer Thad Pelham, nor the two o' stock that was out, an' to call on Thomas boys, nor Abe Spring, nor that new uncle o' his. He was to be none o' the rest." back Wednesday night, without fail, " You ought to be ashamed of speak- to draw up some important mortgages ing of your own child in the same fer the firm, an' a dozen customers has breath with that girl," said Mrs. Porter been helt over in town fer two days. insincerely, her eyes anxiously on the POLE BAKER 461

door through which Cynthia had this family before long, but it looks gone. like I was off in my calculations. To "I hain't bunchin' 'em together at look at her now, a body wouldn't all," Porter declared. "I was only- think she was holdin' the drivin '-reins tryin' to keep you from layin' in a very tight. But come what may, burial outfit that may go out o' fashion storm, hail, wind, rain, or sunshine an' 'fore Cynthy wants to use it. You fine crops, I'll be the only one, I reckon, watch 'er an' you'll see 'er pick up in in this house that will sleep sound to- a day or so. I've seed widows wear night. An' that's whar you are all a black so heavy that the dye in the set o' fools. A person that loses sleep goods seemed to soak into the'r skins wonderin' whether another person is an' drip off'n the'r eyelashes, an' them dead or alive mought be in a better same women was wearin' red stockin's business, in this day and time, when an' flirtin' 'em at another fool inside just anybody is liable to drap dead in of a month." the'r tracks. La, me! What you got "You don't know what you're fer dinner? I smell some'n' a- cook- talking about," responded Mrs. Porter. in'." "It is going hard with her, but I really And Porter went into the kitchen, hope Floyd'll not come back to got down on his knees at the stove, Springtown. I don't feel safe with and looked into it. him around." "That's all right," he said to him- "You don't want 'im here," sneered self, with a chuckle, "but she hain't Porter, "but yore dead sure his ab- put half enough gravy on it, an' ef I sence is a-goin' to lay our only child hadn't 'a' been here to 'a' turned it, it under the sod. That's about as sen- 'ud not 'a' got cooked clean through. sible as the stand a woman takes on If it's tough I'll raise a row. I told most questions. As fer me, I confess 'em to sell the tough 'uns. What's I'm sorter upset. I'd about made up the use o' raisin' hens ef you have to my mind that our little gal was goin' eat the scrubs an' don't git half-pay to yank that chap an' his boodle into fer the ones you send to market?" (To be continued.)

By Way of Excuse

(CRAWFORD—What makes that Senator so dishonest? ^^ Crab SHAW—He says he is merely getting back the money it cost him to be elected.

"PADS are costly, especially the one of giving money away. What Buzz-Saw Morgan Thinks

BY W. S. MORGAN

SCANDAL doesn't amount to a change of present conditions. We much unless the parties are should pay some attention, however, ' A prominent. to the complaint of the fellows who Opposition breeds revolution. are being robbed. The Republican machine is simply The main question is, Shall the laughing at Teddy's "big stick." dollar or the man rule in this country? When the people quit voting for Public opinion should be heeded what they don't want, the trusts and before it is compelled to express itself corporations will stop getting what with a rope. they do want. There have always been two classes No man who accepts an office of of people in the world—one that lived public trust should be permitted to re- by honest labor and one that lived off ceive a salary or fee from a corpora- honest labor. tion. The castles of feudal robbers have It is expected now that Secretary given way to trusts and boards of Wilson will do a little "weeding" in trade. his own domain. The modern brigand is called a The farmers are laying in a good captain of industry. supply of home-made common sense. Calling a crime by a different name They are organizing and will here- doesn't make it any less a crime. after look out for themselves. If they While poverty may be respectable I will let political demagogues who enough, no man should be proud of it. want office alone you will hear some- The rich are having some trouble thing "drap" one of these days. now, and they will have more if they Some men would rather be skinned don't stop violating the laws. by Republican thieves, and some pre- In England the king is little more fer that the operation be performed than a figurehead, but in the United by Democratic rascals. It's pretty States the machine politician is a much a matter of how they are raised. power. Most of them prefer to be skinned The people pay for the transporta- after the manner of their daddies, and tion of every man who rides on a pass. therefore vote that way. The question is this: Is it better for The ten million dollars which Rocke- the people to be divided in two parties feller recently gave in the interests of and continuously engage in mud- "higher education" will not weigh as slinging at each other, or to take the much in the scales of God's justice as bit in their teeth and "turn the one tear wrenched from humanity by rascals out"? the oppressions of the Standard Oil Governor Folk has well said that Company. "the country needs soldiers of peace Standing pat means opposition to as well as soldiers of war." progress. The strength of a nation lies in the Some of our "infant industries" are common people. Very few rich men old enough to want a pension. do any fighting, except with their It is the fellows that are enjoying mouths. special privileges who are opposed to In Norway farmers can borrow 462 WHAT BUZZ-SAW MORGAN THINKS 463 money at 3 per cent. New Zealand thieves and rascals who ask most fre- loans its farmers money at 4^ per quently for injunctions in matters cent. Many other countries loan the where the public is concerned. This farmers money at a low rate of in- fact is no credit to the courts. terest, but the United States Govern- Some of the big insurance comment refuses to loan to the farmers panies are changing the thieves at the and loans money to the bankers at head of their affairs—getting bigger one -half of i per cent. And the and better ones. bankers loan it to the farmers at 8 Elect a thief to office and you'll and 10 per cent. Yet this is called a be robbed. Elect a man whom the country of equal rights and oppor- thieves want and you'll be robbed tunities. just the same. A few years longer under the pres- Every public utility is made the ent commercial system and men will means of despoiling the people by the think it dishonest to be honest. men who have obtained the right to The Wall Street pirates are calling tax them for a public service. Tom Lawson all kinds of things, but Private ownership of public utilities they seem to be afraid to go into has bred corruption in politics. Re- court and prove them. move the cause and the disease will It is almost as hard to put a boodler disappear. in jail as it is to go through the eye of Mr. Bryan admits that the Demo- a needle. cratic Party needs fumigating, but Whenever a rich man like Senator that is no credit to either his honesty Depew is caught in the act, or with or his astuteness. What the old the goods in his hands, his photo- thing needs most is burying. graph ought to be put in the " Rogues' A statesman is a man who first Gallery." learns just what the people want and When the operation of a public then proceeds to advocate it as utility is based upon private greed though it were an idea of his own. any sensible man knows that the When a man starts in to own more public is going to suffer. of the world than he ought he usually The only divine right that exists in begins by mortgaging himself to the government is the right of the people devil. to rule themselves, and this can be Some men have to be made hungry done only by the adoption of the In- before you can start their thinking itiative and Referendum and the right machine going. of Recall. At any rate, Tom Lawson has Representative government is all pulled the nigger out of the Wall right only when you keep the Refer- Street woodpile. endum string tied to it. Mr. Thomas Taggart is the proprie-. The foolosophy of the plutocrats is tor of a gambling - house at French to get their feet in the trough and Lick Springs, Ind. He is also pro- keep them there; and the yellow dogs prietor of the Democratic Party, and say "Amen." there are over six million Democrats The Missouri boodlers have loaned tagging along behind Taggart, the their best lawyers to the Standard Oil proprietor of the gambling-hell. Isn't Company. this a nice spectacle.? Why do they The financial fleas who live on the do it, you ask? Why, they just can't people through special privileges are help it. It's the yellow-dogism that's not to be blamed. Any kind of an old in 'em. flea will bore for blood when he gets Perhaps one reason the plutocrats hungry and has the opportunity. It's have no more regard for the law than the fool people who grant these special they do is that they own it—that is, privileges that are to be blamed. they paid to have it passed. If you will just notice it is the Rockefeller is doing just what the —

464 TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE people are voting for him to do. Half The Democratic Party is Demo- of them are voting the same ticket he cratic in its promises and Republican does, and the other half are voting in its performances. In fact, it is a with a fellow just like him. It is the consummate old fraud. But there system that is at fault, and both old are lots of good people in it, lots of parties stand for the system. 'em. But what they are there for?— The railroad bill that will be able to well, I give it up. pass the gantlet of the corporation- One trouble with the banks of this owned United States Senate will be country seems to be that the bankers about what the railroad companies loan themselves too much money. want. The majority of the senators Populism is the march of an army are not up there for their health. of facts. It is democracy applied to The people of this country have the modern conditions. It is the putting right and the power to make the Gov- of the brakes on official corruption ernment just what they want it to be and the wiping out of special privi- and just what it was intended to be, leges. It is the one thing that preda- but they can't do it by standing on tory wealth fears. It is not only a their hind feet and howling at each cure for political corruption, but a other. preventive. It is said that Populist measures are The worst trouble is that about too radical; but it will require someone-half of the people favor one set of thing radical to pry the privileged thieves, while the other half favor class loose from the cinch it has on another set. Wall Street favors both the public. sets, and therefore Wall Street wins. The farmers and wage-workers in So Wall Street, the thieves and poli- this country could have things their ticians get the swag, and the people own way if they would only do so. oh, well, the people get the oppor- But when it comes to politics they tunity to vote 'er straight. fight each other, divide their forces, What is a national bank-note? and the thieves and grafters have a Why, it is simply evidence that the rich harvest. bank owes the holder of the note the So long as we have bossism in poli- amount expressed on its face and is tics we will have corruption and graft. collecting interest on what it owes. The way to eliminate the corrupt boss Just that, and you can't make any- is to adopt direct legislation. thing else out of it. It is simply five In his speech before the Iroquois men, or more, going in debt, and then Club, in Chicago, President Roosevelt collecting interest on that debt. But said: "This is not nor will not be a don't tell the yellow dogs about this. government of plutocracy," yet if They might hunt a cool place and lie there is anything that plutocracy wants down and think about it. that it hasn't got it has never been The trouble with the proposed sys- put out where the public could see it. tem of control of railroads is and Some of the great dailies are claim- always has been that the railroads do ing that this country is not yet ready most of the controlling. To under- for public ownership; and, come to take to pass laws to regulate traffic on think about it, it might be best, as a the railroads is to invite extra efforts preliminary step, to put about a on the part of the lobby and to cause million thieves and grafters in jail. an increase in the price of votes for Who made the fortunes of the great the legislative grafters. The effort to insurance companies that pay salaries control has always been a failure and of $100,000 a year to their officers? always will be. The people, of course. As there is no Just why the common people, as the law to prevent a fool and his money plutocrats call us, want to be servants from parting, I suppose the thing will to those they feed and clothe I never continue. could tell. Why, if every man would 6

WHAT BUZZ-SAW MORGAN THINKS 465 stand up for his rights those fellows while under the new system they do it who are now making money through under a franchise obtained by fraud special privileges, which we have given from the people and never fail. them, would have to get out and dig. Back of political corruption, false Wouldn't that be a sight on earth? systems and rotten social conditions Yet the medicine would do them is the vote of the people. Directed good. by intelligence and unencumbered by A railroad company may take every party prejudice, that vote will remedy dollar a thing is worth for hauling it the existing evils. It is up to you, to market. Under the old feudal sys- Mr. Workingman and Mr. Farmer, tem of robbery the robber barons often to cast that vote as a free and in- took every dollar a man had on his dependent citizen should cast it. In person while he was coming from countries where people have no votes market. Now, what is the difference they have a right to complain of ex- in reality? Under the old system isting evils, but in this country you they used force and sometimes failed, get what you vote for.

The Montana Copper War

HEINZE VS. AMALGAMATED

BY THOMAS ALOYSIUS HICKEY

A FOREWORD tem." But in Montana the field of battle is the Armageddon of a State. I believe that the story of the Copper War The fate of a single industry is not the that is raging in Montana today should be given the widest publicity. I have worked sole guerdon for which the combatants as a quartz miner for all the Copper magnates are struggling; it is the honor of a who are now battling for the Copper crown. sovereign commonwealth and the free- I stood never for a moment under the flag of dom of its citizens which are at stake. any of the contestants, and consequently I right am able to write this story without any of It is the last struggle for the of the prejudices of a partisan. —T. A. H. individual initiative in the Treasure State. The hand of the "System" is MONTANA, third of these United at the throat of her industrial inde- States in area, first in the pendence, is throttling her civil insti- production of copper and tutions and prostituting her citizen- silver, famed throughout the land for ship. its beef and barley, has been for seven The "System," in Montana, means troublous years, and is today, in the the Amalgamated Copper Company, throes of an industrial war, compared of which Henry H. Rogers, of New with which the Kansas oil fight is but York, is president. His relation to as the babblings of the saucy brook the Standard Oil Company is well pitted against the angry thunder of understood. With the Amalgamated the sea. stand the railroad magnates, James J. The fight here, as in Kansas, is Hill and E, H. Harriman, controlling against that silent, terrifying Cyclo- the three great trunk lines of Montana, pean figure which sits enthroned at No. the Great Northern, the Northern 26 Broadway, New York, the Standard Pacific and the Oregon Short Line, and Oil "interests," known as the "Sys- 97 per cent, of the railroad traffic of Ottober, 1905— 466 TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE

the State. Senator William A. Clark the lumber business of the Amalga- is absolute master of the Democratic mated and of Clark. Cokedale and Party (except the present Governor), Storrs, with their coal mines and coke and he has knelt before the shrine at ovens, are owned in fee simple. No. 26 Broadway and smoked the pipe Eighteen thousand men are on the of peace with the big chiefs of the payrolls of the Amalgamated. Sena- "System." Senator Thomas Carter tor Clark employs a thousand more in is boss of the Republican Party. He mines, smelters and lumber camps. maintains a law office at Helena, and Added to these are the employees of draws a yearly retainer of $25,000 the great railway systems and the from the " System.'- Every daily news- powerful influence of Federal patron- paper published in Montana, except age. the Butte Evening News, is carried Such are the intrenchments, the ar- as an asset, or rather as a liability, mies, the flying squadrons, the engi- upon the books either of the Amalga- neering corps, the general staff of the mated Copper Company or of Senator Amalgamated. No public loans are Clark. The judges of the Supreme necessary to provide the munitions Court of the State have repeatedly of war. Gold in increasing measure demonstrated their allegiance to the pours from the breast of Montana into "System," and, since the election of the coffers of the "System" sufficient 1904, the District Bench of Silver Bow in itself to complete the enslavement County, in which the city of Butte is of the State. Behind it are the im- located, has been strongly permeated perial resources of the " System." Said with the odor of kerosene. H. H. Rogers, "The flag has never been The Amalgamated owns the great lowered at No. 26 Broadway, and I'll Anaconda mine in Butte, on which drive Heinze out of Montana, if it costs Marcus Daly built his fortune, also the ten millions to do it." I quote from Parrot, Pennsylvania, Mountain View, an interview published in the Wall Mountain Consolidated, Leonard, Gag- Street Journal in January, 1904. non, Green Mountain, High Ore, Never- Who are the people of Montana who sweat, St. Lawrence, Belle Diamond, stand arrayed against these tremen- Silver Bow, Moonlight and Gray Rock dous forces ? They are the hardy and mines, two smelters and the company independent miners of the moimtain store, the Hennessey office building, and the farmers and stockmen out the Butte Daily Intermountain and the upon the great plateau of the "Cow Florence Hotel. It owns other mines Country," the miners who are fight- at Dillon, Camp Creek and Danielsville. ing for an opportunity to become Mar- It owns one-half of the town site of cus Dalys and WilUam A. Clarks, but Anaconda, the largest smelter in the who see that opportunity dying in the world, the Daly Bank, the company grasp of the Amalgamated; the farm- store, the Butte, Anaconda & Pacific ers who raise the barley and the stock- Railroad, the gas and electric-lighting men who raise the beef, and who have plants, the water-works, the street-cars, seen their Governor and their Legis- the Montana Hotel and the Anaconda lature and their courts bow down in Daily Standard. In Great Falls, next helpless wrath or in still worse igno- to Butte the largest city in the State, miny to the spoken will of the it owns the smelters, all of the public "System." utilities and one of the daily news- The honest burghers of the Trans- papers, the Great Falls Leader. In vaal, driven to desperation by the en- Belt, a coal-mining town, its grip is as croachments of British greed, carried thorough as at Anaconda. The lum- their forlorn hope to the field of battle. ber towns of Hamilton and Bonner are The brilliant and resourceful De Wet similarly controlled. Missoula, with captured a British regiment with its 6,000 inhabitants, is dependent for its mutton-headed officers. Two regiments commercial and industrial life upon were sent against him. He captured THE MONTANA COPPER WAR 467 those. Four more marched out to heard the story of Mr. Baer and his defeat, then eight, then sixteen, until partnership with God in the anthracite at last, surrounded and overwhelmed coalfields of Pennsylvania, of the com- by material resources which his genius pany store and the company shack, could not overcome, De Wet was with its yellow-fever paint by way of obliged to give up the unequal struggle. decoration. In company with their The De Wet of Montana is F. Augustus American brothers they started across Heinze. He is the leader of a hope the continent to the Hocking Valley not yet forlorn, brilliant, resourceful, of Ohio, thence to the copper penin- magnetic, standing erect, defiant, smil- sula of Michigan, to the coal mines of ing and seemingly unconquerable. The Illinois, Missouri and Kansas, on to the story of the prostitution of the State gold and silver lodes of Colorado and of Montana is inextricably linked with Utah, and finally to the miner's para- the story of the long and bitter dise of Butte, where eight hours is the struggle between the Amalgamated day's work and one hundred and five Copper Company and F. Augustus dollars the monthly wage. Heinze. Beyond, the Butte miner has his The city of Butte, with its 60,000 eyes fixed on Alaska. Butte is but a people, largest city in the State, is a way station on the road to Cape Nome. mining camp. It is the greatest twen- Butte has a public library, and ty-four-hour town on earth. It is the churches that rank well with similar twentieth- century Tombstone. Lead- institutions in any American city. ville is a female seminary compared They are well patronized by the with Butte. As of another Western miners. It has beautiful and costly mining camp, they sing: public buildings, hotels, business blocks and private residences. Oh, it's day, all day in Butte, Butte is rightly called the Gibraltar And there is no such thing as night. of trades-unionism. Every conceivable For five years a stud-poker game occupation is organized; from the pin- at the California Club in Main Street, boys in the bowling alleys and the Butte, has never halted for an hour. shoeblacks on the streets to the re- If the lambs flee for the nonce, boosters porters on the daily papers, all are or- sit in until other lambs appear—which ganized. Wages are high. Plumbers is never long. get eight dollars per day, and printers Probably nowhere in the world is get six and a half for a seven and a there such a forceful, virile body of half hour day. workers as are the miners of Butte. It is the proud boast of Butte that There are no graybeards. They are the greatest mining camp on earth has social rebels; not that they chant the never had a boom. Carmagnole to the waving of the black The theatre of the Copper War is flag of anarchy, but in the sense that this city of Butte. In a natural basin, back in the well-ordered civilization of fifteen miles across, surrounded by the the East they rebelled against pov- foothills of the Rocky Mountains, rises erty and pushed on to the frontier, big- a tortoise - shaped hill, the last up- muscled, red-blooded, determined to heaval of the congealing contents of sail the ship of their destiny into pleas- the caldron. This is the hill of Butte, anter places than their boyhood knew. three miles long and two miles wide, From the copper mines of Berehaven, comprising two thousand acres. in the County Cork, from the coal Externally, the hill presents the mines of Tipperary, from the tin mines familiar aspects of many mining locali- of Cornwall and from wherever in West- ties. Its surface is marked by im- ern Europe men go down into the bow- mense steel frameworks, like enlarged els of the earth for treasure, the sturdy oil derricks, which stand over the young men of the mines came to Amer- shafts. Steel cables drop from them ica. At the Atlantic seaboard they into the shafts and bring up the skips, : —

468 TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE

loaded with six tons of rock at a time, From this hill of Butte five million raising them two thousand feet in tons of ore are taken every year twenty-five seconds. Alongside are 25 per cent, of all the copper pro- the big iron smokestacks of the en- duced in the world. The Rarus, a gine houses. The Belle Diamond mine Heinze mine, has one slope in which has thirteen smokestacks; the Corra a skyscraper like the Flatiron Build- has five. Thus the visitor to Butte ing of New York or the Masonic Tem- soon learns to know the location of the ple of Chicago could be completely different shafts by the number of the engulfed. In the Mountain-Consoli- smokestacks. dated mine there is a slope five hun- The hill and all the surrounding flats dred feet wide. The great Anaconda are utterly without vegetation, and as —St. Lawrence—Rarus lode will aver- bleak as a rock in the Atlantic. The age one hundred and sixty feet wide. smelter smoke is charged with sulphur Other lodes are phenomenally large. and destroys all vegetable life. If the "System" had secured con- At night the hill is lighted by a trol of the hill of Butte and their other thousand arc lights, supplied by the possessions in Montana by the old-time big mining companies. They have an Marcus Daly method of being on the uncanny appearance as they twinkle spot, mixing with the people, com- through the thick haze of smelter peting with their fellows and develop- smoke which hangs over the city like ing the mines, the feeling would not be a pall. Through the darkness can be so intense against them, no matter seen the red torrent of slag which pours though their crime were as black as the down the dumps from the smelters that ore they coveted. The miners know, surround the city. however, that it was in the kid-glove It is for the possession of this hill of war of the Stock Exchange and not in Butte that the giants of the financial the rude shock of mining conflict that and industrial world have attempted the " System " came into its possessions. to set their foot upon the necks of the So the miners listen to the Stock Ex- independent miners, and into this change story which Heinze and his titanic struggle they have incidentally writers and orators tell, and they be- drawn the whole people of Montana. lieve it for gospel tn^th. And this is Beneath the streets of Butte, ten the gist of the story thousand men, throughout the twenty- Marcus Daly controlled a group of four hours of every day, tunnel and mines, the principal one being the drift and blast the precious ore through world-famed Anaconda. He and his catacombs more wonderful than those associates agreed to give H. H. Rogers, of ancient Rome. So rich is the quartz Vice-President of the Standard Oil in copper that it is as black as anthra- Company, an option upon them for cite coal. Gold and silver are mere $39,000,000. The Amalgamated Cop- by-products, yet enough silver is proper Company was formed, and the duced to make Butte the greatest silver Daly properties were sold to the centre in the world. Amalgamated for $75,000,000. The The veins in this hill pitch and dip stock of the Amalgamated was placed and criss-cross in the most contra- upon the market, backed by the dictory and confusing manner. John Standard Oil name. The gullible in- Hayes Hammond, Rothschild's famous vestors, widows with insurance re- mining expert, who is equally at home turns, clergymen, doctors, lav/yers, at Cripple Creek or Johannesburg, business men and others, besieged the says the interior of the hill of Butte re- City Bank for three days, while sixty sembles a crazy quilt. This is an im- extra clerks took in the money and portant fact and should be borne in piled it ceiling high in sacks. Then mind by the reader, as I shall have Mr. Rogers quietly took the $75,000,- occasion to use it again in the develop- 000, put $36,000,000 in his pocket to ment of this story. divide with a few friends, and the in- THE MONTANA COPPER WAR 469

vestors had paper stamped $75,000,000 Senator Aldrich, of Rhode Island, stood at par, which promptly dropped to on guard in the Senate. Hence, Wil- 75 cents on the dollar, at which figure liam A. Clark became the ally of the the aforesaid gullible people sold hur- Amalgamated and United States Sena- riedly. Mr. Rogers got it back at this tor from the State of Montana. figure, forced it up to $1.30, unloaded At this time the death of Marcus at that figure to some more gullible Daly occurred. Clark had gone over ones, then smash went the stock to 33. to the "System." There was no one The groans that arose from the can- left to do battle with the Amalgamated yon-like streets of lower New York on behalf of the independent miners would, if caught on phonograph rec- of Montana. At this juncture F. ords, supply the world with sounds of Augustus Heinze stepped to the front grief for centuries to come. Weeping- and accepted the gage of battle. willows were in fashion while the funeral It was another incident of a David corteges of the suicides went by, the and Goliath. Heinze was only twenty- penitentiary doors clanged, and over eight years old, a rosy-faced boy. all the red flag of the auctioneer, flying When the apple tree blossomed at on hundreds of small business estab- Appomattox he had not been born. lishments, completed the whole. When the panic of '73 swept over the Later on the Butte & Boston and country he was just learning of Santa the Boston & Montana companies Claus. Heinze was born in Brooklyn, were added to the original group. N. Y., in 1 87 1. His mother came from Eighty millions more stock were added, the famous Irish family of De Lacy, thirty-two of which were water, mak- which traces back its ancestry to 11 50 ing the total capitalization of the Amal- A.D. His father was an American gamated Copper Company $155,000,- Hebrew. Those who make a study of 000. such matters say it is a magnificent In 1898, before the "System" de- cross. On the mother's side there is scended upon Butte, two men were all the splendid imagination, fighting fighting for pre-eminence in the indus- spirit and audacity of the Irish, while trial, financial and political circles of on the paternal side there is the cool, Montana. They were Marcus Daly calm judgment and immense grasp of and William A. Clark. They had been detail of the Hebrew. Heinze was rivals in business and politics for twen- educated in the public schools of Brook- ty years, and the rivalry had developed lyn, and took a course in mining engi- into a bitter personal feud. In 1898 neering in Columbia University. Daly sold all of his immense interests In 1889, at the age of eighteen, he in Montana to the "System," and became to Butte to work for the Boston came first president of the Amalga- & Montana Mining Company, at a mated. salary of $5 a day. He lived alone in After romantic careers as gold and a little log cabin in East Butte, and silver miners in Nevada and California, did his work underground to the satis- Hearst and Fair had rounded out their faction of his employers. He soon days in the Senate Chamber at Wash- became known as a man-about-town. ington. Clark, the copper king of He was hail-fellow-well-met with all, Montana, had set his eyes upon the and made friends rapidly. He was same lofty wing of the Capitol. For called the handsomest man in the State, seven long years, with bleeding feet, and he looked the part, standing five he climbed the Washington trail amid feet ten inches in height, weighing 200 the rocks which his old enemy, Daly, pounds, with the torso of a Yale half- took care to place in his path. Fin- back, muscles of steel, and a face of ally, at the very culmination of success, ivory whiteness, lighted up with a pair he discovered that it would turn into of large blue eyes. Heinze conquered ashes unless he made his peace with the feminine portion of the rough min- the "System," whose representative, ing camp without effort. The young " 470 TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE engineer was a fine musician, a brilliant for him in Butte. He stayed one year linguist, and, when necessary, could and then went back to New York and box like a professional. Later events organized the Montana Ore Purchas- showed that, in spite of all his gaiety, ing Company, with money left him by no man ever went underground, tripod a wealthy uncle. He spent a year on in hand, who had a more intimate the Engineering and Mining journal, knowledge of the Butte ore bodies of New York. His position there en- than he. abled him to study the mineral re- Shortly after this Heinze ran up a sources and metal markets of the world, bill with a grocer for supplies, candles, and thus was Heinze training himself powder, tools, and so on, to the tune for the career that has since been so of some $500. Turning to one of his wonderfully successful. " clerks one day the grocer said: Billy, In 1 89 1 he returned to Butte and go down to the mine on the flat, where erected a small smelter and made his that young fellow Heinze is. working, first venture as a mine operator. He and see what ore he has mined." The leased a mine, called the Estrella, from clerk came back and reported that a millionaire mine owner named Jim Heinze had a beautiful bunch of ore on Murray, who had the reputation of be- the dump. The grocer swore out an ing the shrewdest man in Butte. Mur- attachment and sent it down by a ray knew that all the ore in sight ran deputy sheriff to levy on his ore. The 12^ per cent, and more copper. Heinze deputy came down to the shaft, saw knew it also, but Murray didn't know Heinze, and said he would be back in he knew it. Murray stipulated in the half an hour with some wagons. As lease that all the ore which ran 12^ per soon as his back was turned Heinze cent, and over was to go to him, every- leaned over the shaft and shouted to thing under that was to belong to his partner: "Oh, Jack, come up at Heinze. He expected, in this way, to once!" When his partner got on top get his mine worked for nothing and Heinze said: " Now, pitch in and work bankrupt the young Eastern upstart at ' as you never worked before. ' The two the very beginning of his business career. men, by a herculean effort, moved Heinze accepted the lease and went to the ore and filled the platform with work. Instead of blasting copper- waste rock. None but a thoroughly bearing ore alone, as Murray expected trained miner can tell the difference be- would be done, Heinze instructed his tween ore and waste. I had been un- miners to blast both ore and waste rock derground in Butte for a year before I together, and when the ore went to the felt competent to separate ore from top it ran considerably less than waste. When the deputy sheriff came 12^ per cent. Heinze got all the pro- down with his carts he proceeded to ceeds, and the crafty Murray became load them up with waste and carted the laughing-stock of the camp. He it off to the smelter. A week later the sued Heinze, but was beaten, and to grocer telephoned the smelter and this day his prestige has never re- asked what returns were coming from covered from the blow. the Heinze ore. " Returns? " came the Another incident that taught his en- reply. "Why, you've sent us the emies that Heinze was master of all the blankety-blankest lot of waste that wiles of the most accomplished game- lies out of doors! We've got a big bill ster happened about the time when against you for smelting charges! Senator Clark became the ally of the Three months later, when he was "System." ready, Heinze paid the bill. When Clark needed Heinze 's polit- While engaged in his work Heinze ical support in his fight for the senator- formed a good idea of the mineral ship he went on Heinze 's bond for wealth of Butte and of the value of the $1,000,000 in a suit that the Butte & properties owned by the big compa- Boston Company had brought against nies. He decided that there was room Heinze. When Clark made his alii- THE MONTANA COPPER WAR 471 ance with the Amalgamated he went had a cat-that-swallowed-the-canary before the Supreme Court and asked look in his eyes while the venerable permission to remove his name from jurist was speaking. the bond, which request the Supreme Heinze next secured a lease on the Court denied. Shortly afterward a suit Glengeary and took out $500,000 from a was commenced against Heinze in the mine that was the despair of those who Supreme Court in which he was obliged had worked it before him. With this to furnish a bond for $700,000. Clark money he bought the Rarus for $400,- was able, by his influence, to prevent 000. The Rarus was the east exten- Heinze from getting any Montana men sion of the Great Anaconda-St. Law- to furnish this bond. rence lode, and in that ground was also Great was the joy in the Amalga- a lode connecting it with that of the mated camp that night. The "Sys- famous Mountain View, one of the Bos- tem" believed that Heinze could not ton & Montana's great producers. In possibly get a bond for such an im- twelve months Heinze made a $10,- mense sum, and, as Heinze 's policy of 000,000 mine out of the Rarus and expansion had involved every dollar looked about, Alexander-like, for other of his available capital, they stood back worlds to conquer. British Columbia with joyous hearts to await the crash. seemed good to him. He secured char- The court would order his mines closed, ters and grants there and built a rail- his smelter would shut down, his bank road and a smelter. The sedate old collapse and Heinze would walk out of directors of the Canadian Pacific Rail- Butte dead-broke. To the amazement road looked askance at the audacious of the "System," Heinze walked into young American who had, without a the Supreme Court the next morning tremor, invaded their territory. They and filed a bond for $700,000, given by feared that if he were not stopped, the Wilmington (Delaware) Bonding & their interests would be seriously jeop- Casualty Company, and decorated with ardized. They immediately proceeded the big golden seal of the State of Dela- to divert from him the aid he was re- ware. Four months later, when Heinze ceiving from the Dominion and Pro-. had gotten out of his tight place and vincial Parliaments. With character- was once more on Easy Street, the an- istic pluck, Heinze started in to fight ger of the "System" can be imagined the greatest power in Canada. He when they learned how they had been would be fighting yet, and probably tricked. A month before Clark be- winning, were it not that a cry for help trayed Heinze in the Supreme Court, came to him from the officers whom he Heinze, who was watching for signs had left in charge of affairs in Butte. and sensed what was coming, walked Like a mariner without a compass into his office in a towering rage one would be the man who would try to un- day and summarily discharged five of derstand the complex legal tangle in his clerks and bookkeepers. They dis- Butte, unless he knew the Apex law, appeared with $25,000 of Heinze 's or law of Extra-lateral Rights. money, but speedily arrived in Wil- Condensed in the smallest space and mington, Del., where they opened mag- told in the language of a layman, it is: nificent offices and applied to the That the individual or company, upon proper authorities for the right to do whose property a vein of ore crops out business. This was granted; but all or apexes, can sink a shaft there and the business they ever did was to follow the vein into an adjoining prop- send a beautiful bond, a triumph of erty that may be owned by another the engraver's art, to their employer individual or company, and from that when he telegraphed for it. The Su- to still another claim, and so on for ten preme Court called Heinze into its miles or more, and down to China. august presence and lectured him This law is not peculiar to Montana. severely. Heinze listened gravely, It is a United States mining law. though there are people who say that he Heinze used this law whenever possi- 472 TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE ble to beat the "Amalgamated." For gage of battle. I'll tie up 3'our prop- instance, on the hill, near the Ana- erties in a hundred lawsuits." conda road, wedged in between the Heinze returned to Butte and bought Anaconda mine and the St. Lawrence, properties right and left. He bought was a small fraction of a claim, ten a half- interest in the Snohomish for feet long and tapering off to a point $100,000. He paid another $100,000 fifteen feet away. In the rough and for the Sullivan. He bought thirty-one tumble surveys of the mining camp thirt3^-sixths of the Nipper, the west this scrap of ground, not larger than a extension of the Anaconda. Alto- lady's boudoir, had been overlooked. gether he spent $1,500,000 in two Heinze found it while studying the years for claims and fractions. He records, located the claim and named hired the ablest legal talent and best it the "Copper Trust." On this frac- experts in the West, regardless of price. tion Heinze, through his experts, de- Then ensued the most startling legal clared he found not only the apex of battle that has ever taken place in the great Anaconda lode, but that the mining, or possibly any other circles. vein went off in wedge-shaped fashion Suits to recover for ore mined in his into the Neversweat and St. Law- ground, extra-lateral right suits, water rence mines. Judge Clancy, of the Dis- rights and injunctions he entered into, trict Court of Silver Bow County, de- until at one time there were one hun- cided that the evidence was sufficiently dred and ninety-three suits pending in strong to warrant an injunction being the Silver Bow County Court. Thirty- served on the Amalgamated, restrain- seven lawyers were on his legal staff, ing them from mining their three great- plotting, studying and pleading his est producers. Fifteen hundred men cases. were thrown out of employment, and Of course counter legal attacks were they raised such an outcry that Heinze made on him. When Mr. Rogers agreed to have the injunction dis- formed the Amalgamated Company solved. So much for the practical he brought himself into all this litiga- workings of the law. tion, and found himself the target for When Heinze hastened from Can- much more. At the present time ada back to Butte he found that his mining suits for ore, which the Amal- superintendent, C. S. Batterman, had gated claims Heinze has taken from deserted him and gone over to the their properties, amounting in the ag- Boston & Montana Company, with gregate to $32,500,000, are entered all of Heinze's plans and maps. This in the Silver Bow County Court against was in 1897. Batterman made the Heinze. Rogers says that if he v/ins president of the Boston & Montana these suits, he will make Heinze walk Company, Bigelow, of Boston, be- out of Butte on the ties. Heinze lieve that Heinze had no extra-lateral laughs and fights on, although he is rights in the Rarus mine—^that is, that being sued for a larger amount than the Rarus lode apexed upon the Michael ever a litigant was sued for in all the Davitt and Pennsylvania mines, both history of jurisprudence. And so the Boston & Montana properties. Mr. merry battle goes on—the battle of the Bigelow thought he saw his way clear man against the "System." to get Heinze's Rarus without the cost But to return a moment to the Nip- of a dollar. Heinze crossed the coun- per mine, upon which the hopes of the try to Boston and offered $350,000 for free spirits of Montana today in a a half-interest in the Snohomish mine, measure rest. If Heinze should suc- the east extension of the Rarus, proceed in gaining political power in the vided they quit all claims to the Rarus State, he will be able, through the Nip- lode. Bigelow refused, and said he per mine and the law of extra-lateral would make an example of Heinze. rights, to drive the Amalgamated out Heinze arose and said impressively: of the copper business in Butte. "All right, Mr. Bigelow, I accept your Heinze bought thirty-one thirty- THE MONTANA COPPER WAR 473 sixths of the Nipper mine from Mar- Money is poured out in a golden cus Daly for $150,000. Daly believed stream by the copper kings; glee clubs that the apex of the great Anaconda are brought on from the East to sing lode was on another claim, the Oden, the merits of the rival candidates; which he owned, Heinze, however, physical arguments take place all over from his close study of the hill of Butte, the city; every union and society is believed the Anaconda lode apexed invaded by the adherents of one or upon the Nipper claim. Neutral ex- another of the parties. From a hun- perts declare that Heinze is right. dred trunks, soap-boxes, theatres and The Amalgamated secured the other hotel balconies local and imported five thirty-sixths of the Nipper claim, orators stridently shout the praises of and got an injunction from Judge their men. The strenuous Socialist Knowles, of the United States Circuit stands in the mud-gutter, and with Court, preventing Heinze from work- bitter invective pours an anathema ing the Nipper and even forbidding his on all the other contestants and going down the shaft. For five years shouts for the confiscation of the con- the Nipper mine has stood idle. In fiscators. The daily papers come out

1 90 1 Heinze sought relief from the Leg- with broadsides of denunciation and islature and secured the passage of a scare headlines, proclaiming the vil- law providing that the owner of a lainy of their opponents; the ablest majority of the stock could operate a cartoonists in the West sketch a mine, and that the minority stock- Heinze or a Rockefeller as a fiend in- holders could at all times have access carnate. So the battle rages until to the property and books. This law Election Day, after which a breathing would have enabled Heinze to develop spell is taken, and then the battle the Nipper mine and prove his conten- starts off again with a vigor that time tion that the Anaconda lode apexed seems but to strengthen. upon it. The Supreme Court, however, From the negro dog-catcher, blasted his hopes by declaring this law proudly displaying his tin star, to the unconstitutional. dignified judge of the Supreme The spirit of revolt against the Court, every official in the State is "System" finds expression in the lined up on one side or the other. Anti-Trust Democratic Party, the United States senators are elected to Anti-Trust Republican Party, the wear the toga in Washington, not be- Populist Party and the Labor Party, cause of their devotion to the prin- all of which fuse on candidates at the ciples of Jefferson or Lincoln, but be- elections and are led by F. Augustus cause of the copper flag under which Heinze. The fusion of these four they fight. Heinze helped send W. parties, and a few others which A. Clark to Washington in '99. The Heinze always keeps on hand ready Amalgamated sent Thomas W. Carter for instant use, has led the wags to in 1905. So it is with the Governor, say that Heinze has "fifty-seven the State Legislature and every daily varieties" of political parties. Heinze and weekly newspaper. In Butte won the national election in 1900 and most of the stores, saloons, hotels and the again in 1902. In 1904 he indorsed boarding-houses are pulled into fray, and those who profess neu- Governor J. K. Toole, who was elected, usually and won the election in Butte, but lost trality, whenever they dare, the the pivotal point, the two judges of hoist the colors of Heinze when goes on, the District Court. The "System" fray gets hottest. So the war is a controlled both branches of the Legis- and the man who cries "Peace" army. lature, and elected Thomas W. Carter target for the bullets of each United States Senator. "Why do these men of Montana In Butte the political campaigns struggle so fiercely over politics?" is a fire- are continuous and are__ fought with a question often asked at the quiet bitterness that borders on savagery. sides of the East. " It is the altitude," 474 TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE says the agent of the "System," who three thousand miles away from our would beHttle the struggle. "At mountains. We are fighting to pre- seven thousand feet above sea level vent Montana from becoming a one- the air is like champagne and gets into company State that can be opened up the people's heads, so that they or shut down at the whim or caprice struggle like Titans over pigmy of one man. We object to being affairs." The anti-trust man replies: starved into giving special legislation "We are struggling for independence. to the Amalgamated Copper Com- We are struggling for the right to pany and the three railroads who do manage our own affairs, and not to be 97 per cent, of the freight and pas- ruled from a financial king's office, senger business of the State." (To be concluded.)

The Loneliness of the City

BY THEODORE DREISER

of the most painful results better, will sometimes fill the void of ONEof modern congestion in cities, despair. Men do not really interest with the accompanying stress us. The hum.or and tragedy of their of labor to live, is the utter isolation social impulses do not attract, save as and loneliness of heart forced upon the a spectacle. We have no time and no average individual. So exacting are patience for anything but what are the conditions under which we are considered the larger interests—music, compelled to work, so disturbing the the drama, society in its most blatant show of pleasures and diversions we and impossible phase, and life as a cannot obtain, that the normal sat- whole. isfaction in normal wants is almost I live in a neighborhood which is entirely destroyed. an excellent illustration of this. There Not only is the whole energy of our are perhaps a hundred people in our lives turned into a miserable struggle apartment house, a thousand, or it for the unattainable, namely, the un- may be two or three thousand, in our interrupted and complete gratifica- block. They live in small, comfortably tion of our desires, but our hearts are furnished and very convenient apart- soured and our natures warped by the ments, but they live alone. No one grimness of the struggle. Life is made ever sees any exchange of courtesies bitter. The natural hunger of the between them. They are not inter- heart for righteous relationship is ested in the progress of the lives of stifled. We become harsh, cold, in- the people about them. You might different. live there a year, or ten years, and I The effect of such an unnatural order doubt if your next-door neighbor of existence is the almost complete would even so much as know of your disappearance of the social amenities. existence. He is too busy. Your We do not interest ourselves in the business might fail, your children hardships, discomforts and toil of our perish. You might suffer every ca- fellow-citizens, or rather, neighbors. lamity from heartache to literal phys- We fail even in the superficial cor- ical destruction, and I doubt whether diality that might pass for friendship he wovild ever hear of it. Marriage, and which, for want of something birth, death, anv and all of the other !

THE LONELINESS OF THE CITY 475 homely and really essential happenings not aid them then. They are alone, of life are all trivial under the new dis- left longing for a personal relation- pensation. Neither you nor your wife ship, with an aching and, too often, a nor children nor your children's chil- breaking heart. Friendship, affection, dren have any interest for him. It is tenderness, how they loom large in all as if you really did not exist. the hour of despair The pathos of all this is that these I do not think the world quite real- people never quite realize, until some izes what an essential element the of the real calamities of life overtake affections and the tenderness really them, what they have been ignoring are. We are disturbed for the time and casting aside. Until they are old, by the clamor of the hours. We are until they are stricken with illness, deluded by the seeming importances. until they stand bereft of fortune, or Life cannot go on without affection until they are visited by death—then, and tenderness—be sure of that. We and then only, do they become aware cannot forever crowd into cities and of the importance of the individual forget man for mammon. There will relationship. It matters not in such come a day, and an hour, in each and an hour what the prime importance of every individual life when the need of the world may be. It will not avail despised and neglected relationships will them to know that the world still goes weigh heavy on the soul. We cannot on and that the principal thorough- do without them. After all is said and fares of the great cities are alive with done, we must truly love one another or a spectacle forever fascinating and we must die—alone, neglected, despised forever new. Life in the abstract can- and forgotten, as too many of us die.

Plutocracy

THE EVIL GENIUS OF AMERICA

BY CONSTANTINE RALLI

the occasion of Washington's terances set forth in the Books of the ON retirement into private life Prophets. he published a farewell ad- For the purpose of my theme it is dress to the nation he had created. necessary to extract only one passage It was, and, in my humble opinion, from Washington's address, and that ever will be, the most remarkable passage is the one in which the retiring state paper penned by mortal man. President warns his successors and the It is more. In divine foresight—and people themselves against the direst I write down the adjective with all peril he foresees to the safety and life reverence for its customary association of the Republic. —in profound depth of wisdom, in its That peril, in the President's own majestic simplicity of phrase, in its tre- simple yet noble phrase, "lies in mendous power to penetrate the se- THE accumulation OF GREAT MASSES crets of the hearts of men and, lastly, OF CAPITAL IN THE HANDS OF A PRIVI- in its abiding faith in the superb des- LEGED FEW." tiny in store for the American Common- Little more than a century has wealth, this Act of Consecration of a elapsed since this warning was deliv- nation's life is second only to the ut- ered, and the American people stand — — 476 TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE today face to face with the GoHath of is an American? An American is es- Plutocracy. If the axiom—dear to sentially a product of conditions that the heart of every American vox exist in no other country of the world populi vox del—be wholly true, then outside his own. Ethnologically speak- the metaphor I have chosen is equally ing, he is of the Protean order; but so and the Titan of Plutocracy has, in this fact alone does not account for the words of David, "challenged the his rare gift of acquisitiveness, nor armies of the Living God." What for the marvelous power of conception will be the issue of the crisis, when it which leads him to apply his genius arrives, no man can tell, nor is it the only to the abnormal and the grandiose, concern of the writer. The task of to breathe contempt upon a livelihood extracting from a hundred years of and to count a career as lost which has American national life the initial nothing to show at its close but a mod- causes, which have given birth to and est competence or a reasonable reward fostered the growth of this crisis, is in for labor. It is my conviction that the itself no mean achievement of arrange- American owes his peculiar type and ment and condensation. his acumen to a subtle and yet wholly The birth of American Plutocracy intelligible thing, and that is the high may, roughly speaking, be termed co- preponderance of ozone in the atmos- eval with the inauguration of the phere which he inhales. No one who railway age in America, and the rail- has not breathed the air of North way age may be subdivided into three America can realize the intensity of its epochs, viz., transportation, specula- stimulative properties. The atmos- tion and amalgamation.* The dis- phere, highly charged as it is with oxy- covery of gold in California in 1849, gen, acts upon the nervous system the equally important discovery of after the manner of a light and heady oil wells, the opening up of the min- wine, without, however, entailing the eral wealth of the country and, lastly, subsequent lethargy of mind and the sudden and colossal growth of body that is the characteristic re- manufactures—notably that of steel actionary effect of alcohol. not to speak of the development of the I remember, as if it were yesterday, anthracite and bituminous coalfields, the strange sensation of excitement have each in turn subscribed to the which I experienced during the first amassment of riches. The passing of year of my residence in New York, an these riches into "the hands of a excitement akin to the infection of privileged few" is the story with merriment. It led, by a species of which we have to do. To those who natural evolution, to the contempla- have not been in more or less close tion only of the possible at the expense contact, for a period of twenty-five of the prudent, to the craving for that years, with the growth of American which was beyond in place of that Plutocracy, the story would read like which was more easily within reach. an "Arabian Nights" legend. Moreover, this atmospheric intoxica- To dissipate this fanciful impression, tion begets an elasticity of tempera- and to insure a better understanding, ment that not only fires ambition, but perhaps, of the whole subject of the es- robs failure of many of its terrors, and tablishment, in a country consecrated the theory has become almost axio- to freedom and democratic institutions, matic in America that success is oftener of what has become in later years al- achieved by initiative and enterprise most a ruling class, it is necessary for than by caution and diffidence. me to propound what seems an extra- That this is no hasty conclusion is ordinary question, and that is—What patent to every close observer of American business life and methods. * In the American fondness for varied forms If the theory were not sound, there of nomenclature to convey one and the same as idea, the terms "Combination" or "Consoli- would be no American Plutocracy dation " would be equally illustrative. it exists today, for ancestral wealth is —

PLUTOCRACY 477 not frequently met with in America, time the flourishing leader of a small and, besides, is not the outcome of a host of prosperous well-diggers. I do century, but of centuries. If it be not believe that Mr. John D. Rocke- argued that this rule does not apply to feller, whose acquaintance I made at America, where the pauper of today this period (in the company's unpreten- is the millionaire of tomorrow, the an- tious offices in Pearl Street, New York), swer is to be found in the fact that so much as dreamed that twenty years the millionaire of tomorrow may be after our meeting his fortune would the pauper of the day following. In be capable of liquidating two-thirds other words. Plutocracy in America of the national debt of the United owes its origin and its existence to a States. Certainly no one else dreamed supremacy of brains among "a privi- it. leged few," and these few owe the re- In the world of manufactures the tention of the position they have won firm of Carnegie, Phipps & Co. was a —in a world wherein fortunes change great and growing concern, but fight- hands with lightning rapidity—to the ing for the lead with equally great and audacity and cunning with which they powerful joint stock companies. If conduct their operations—operations Mr. Carnegie had in that day enjoyed, wherein the greatest possible gain is at- like Don Roderick, a glimpse into the tainable at the smallest personal risk. future, through the blazing caverns To the elucidation of these methods of his smelting furnaces and witnessed I must fall back upon personal remi- the transfer of his property to the niscence and carry my readers back to United States Steel Corporation for a the year 1877. At that period few consideration of two hundred million great fortunes existed in America. dollars (;^40,ooo,ooo) he would prob- Strictly commercial enterprises were ably have opened his eyes even wider conducted along the lines well known than he has his bottomless purse to in the old world. Individual effort found and endow innumerable libra- was still in flower, the small merchant ries. In the world of dry goods there throve, the broker or middleman flour- were mighty men, it is true, to wit: ished and the petty tradesman en- A. T. Stewart and H. B. Claflin, of New countered no worse foe than a healthy York, and in the Queen City of the competition. It was the blossoming "West, gazing from her industrial epoch of wide margins of profit, ex- throne over the broad waters of Lake panding industries and boundless op- Michigan, toiled one who scarcely portunities. The clerk and the ap- dreamed then, in the wildest flights of prentice took up their calling only "to his imagination, that the diadem of learn the ropes" and "how to swim," the Vicereine of India hovered over and then "struck out for themselves." the brows of his child-daughter, the There was room for all men and all pearl of his affections. kinds of enterprise. With the excep- More than three-quarters of a cen- tion of the Pennsylvania System and tury had elapsed, at the epoch of which the Vanderbilt System of railroads, I write, since the prophet's warning no "accumulations of vast masses of and the threatened peril of Plutocracy capital" existed in the railway world. had not yet overclouded the clear hori- The Gould System was not yet in being. zon of American destiny. But the The transcontinental lines were mere peril lurked beyond the skyline. Like connecting links of independent com- one v/ho ascends a towering cliff and is panies. smitten with the view of things unseen In the mining industry the Big by those who are gathering pebbles on Bonanza was making fortunes rapidly the shore deep down beneath his feet, for the three kings of California so did I, by the merest chance, find James C. Flood, John G. Fair and John myself one day standing before the W. Mackay. In the oil field the seats of the mighty and felt in my face Standard Oil Company was at this the first chill touch of the shadow that 478 TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE stealthily approached the land of the ment, I met the deserts of all eaves- free. droppers. But only for a moment. It was far into the summer of 1879 Although the last to arrive, Mr. Gould and I was the guest at the famous was the first to retire with Dr. Gray United States Hotel at Saratoga, N. Y., into the latter 's consulting-room. On of my wise and aged friend, Dr. John Mr. Gould's reappearance and Mr. F. Gray, the pioneer practitioner of Vanderbilt 's withdrawal to the inner homeopathy in America. To a charm- room I found my opportunity. ing personality he added an extraordi- "It is not often," I observed, "that nary physical resemblance to Count a man makes the acquaintance of two Lyof Tolstoy. Saratoga is famous for celebrities in ten minutes. Today will its mineral springs, of which there is be memorable in my life!" a sufficient variety to effect the cure Mr. Gould smiled. He was famil- of at least a dozen human ills. To iarly known in Wall Street as "The this valley of enchantment, hygiene Little Wizard," and I made my first and pleasure thousands of the most acquaintance with a wizard's smile. prominent and wealthy people in "My young English friend," ob- America repair during the hot weather, served Mr. Jewett, "is somewhat sur- and on the occasion of which I write prised that you and Mr. Vanderbilt had among the visitors to Saratoga were not more to say to each other." The the late William H. Vanderbil©- and great man smiled again and said, " Oh! Jay Gould. I know him and he knows me; that's The doctor and I had finished our enough." I ventured on a remark. breakfast one morning and were seated "I should say there was room enough in the veranda outside his apartments, in this country for the most powerful which were on the ground floor of the and ambitious of men to be on the best hotel and in that portion of the build- of terms with each other." Mr. Gould ing which encircled a spacious garden, regarded me curiously and replied: "I when a tall and massive figure came up guess you're right, but it won't al- the steps leading down to the lawn and ways be so. We are coming along shut out the sunlight. It was the fast in this country, and where there railway king of his day, Mr. W. H, is plenty of room for everybody now Vanderbilt. Introductions followed there won't be room for a dozen twenty and the king and his physician retired years hence!" And he took his leave. into the sitting-room behind me, and Mr. Vanderbilt came out and, to my through the open windows I heard secret satisfaction, sat down in a chair them talking about the weather. A between the doctor and me. He had few minutes later a slightl}'' built, dark- an impressive personality and that haired man, with a long face and mysterious air about him which an- shrewd eyes, approached the doctor's nounces the presence of a singular apartments. He was accompanied by identity. To those who are not the Mr. Hugh J. Jewett, at that time fortunate possessors of certificates of President of the Erie Railroad, who New York Central & Hudson River was personally known to me. An- Railroad stock—on which an excellent other introduction followed, and I was vignette likeness of Mr. Vanderbilt made acquainted with ]\Ir. Jay Gould. appears—it remains for me to say The latter entered the doctor's that he was tall, rather portly, with drawing-room and sat down on the a large, well-shaped head, and a broad sofa beside Mr. Vanderbilt. The sofa and high forehead, which imparted an became an incident of history. I am impression of baldness. He had a afraid I committed a breach of man- fine complexion, long, thin and dark ners by ignoring the Erie Railroad and whiskers, a finely formed mouth and playing the eavesdropper. However, drooping eyelids; but he was not so the Titans on the sofa merely ex- impressive as his father, known as changed salutations, and, for the mo- "Commodore" Vanderbilt, the founder ' "

PLUTOCRACY 479 of the family fortunes, and a singu- of a few men of genius and enterprise. larly handsome man. The day of small conceptions and Dr. Gray opened the conversation by ordinary brains is rapidly fading away observing, "My friend is an English- in this country—the weak will go to man of Greek descent. He is not a the wall and only the fittest will sur- journalist nor a stockbroker, so you vive." can talk to him with perfect freedom." " You Americans are inclined to take After 1 had replied to a series of in- a merciless view of the future," I quiries from Mr. Vanderbilt I ven- replied. " What is going to become of tured to assume in turn the position of the rising generation, which will have interrogator with a question relative to to contend with such a state of things ? the Hudson River Railroad. "That is for the rising generation to "You may not be aware," rejoined answer," retorted the railroad king Mr. Vanderbilt, "that the road was not shortly. "However, we Americans originally a single enterprise. It is the are an adaptable people and usually outcome of a number of small lines, find a way through our difficulties." which formed broken links between "Yes, you do," was my rejoinder, Albany and New York. It was my "but some ways are decidedly un- father's conception to obtain control of pleasant." these roads—which served no really use- "Possibly," retorted Mr. Vander- ful purpose—and to weld them into the bilt. "But it must not be taken for trunk line of today. The Lake Shore granted that just because certain & Michigan Southern Railroad, which lines of business are closed to compe- extends our system from Buffalo to tition other opportunities will not Chicago, was a homogeneous enter- offer themselves. For my part, I re- prise from the beginning. The New gard the resources of this country as York Central Railroad from Albany to inexhaustible; but the cream will go, Buffalo, originally a consolidation of as it always has gone, to the clearest smaller roads, which followed a cir- brains, the longest purse and the cuitous route between the two cities, boldest speculator." now runs in a line as straight as a stair- "You count, then, upon speculation rod between the two points. You will as a great factor in success ? ' observe that though ours is a new coun- "Necessarily so—it is the motive try, the tendency toward consolidation power in the development of a new of enterprises is advancing with great country." rapidity and, in my opinion, will con- "This is true; but the majority of tinue to advance." "But surely in speculators fail, and, besides, it is only a country as large as the United the few who are born with the rare States, it will be a long time before gift of accurate foresight." we reach the epoch of consolidation. "Precisely," rejoined Mr. Vander- There must yet be ample time for the bilt, rising to take his departure; exploiting of individual enterprises." "and that is why I believe that the "Your remark betrays your foreign control of leading lines of business in character," replied Mr. Vanderbilt this country will eventually rest in the pleasantly. "An American would not hands of a corporal's guard of highly commit himself to such a view. I gifted and enterprising men." consider that my father, with all his So ended our conversation. I saw great talents and breadth of view, has Mr. Vanderbilt only once again in my been but the pioneer of the vast de- life, and that was a few days later velopments to be witnessed in the when he passed me in his phaeton on next twenty years at the outside. You his wa}^ to the Saratoga races, behind will probably live to see the American his famous pair of trotters, "Small continent gridironed by at least half Hopes" and "Lady Mae," which, a dozen great belts of railway, the stepping as lightly as ballet girls, out- control of which will rest in the hands stripped everybody on the road. 480 TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE

The first-named mare bore a title New York when it became known that singularly adapted to the prospects of the Havemeyers had obtained con- "Young America," for all that I did trol of a majority of the leading not realize in those days that I had refineries in New York, Philadelphia spent an hour of a summer morning and the Middle West. The amalga- beside the cradle of a rising and ruth- mation was ineffectually contested in less Plutocracy. the courts, the sole result being the Three years later—in 1882 —the rapid enrichment of sundry prominent infant disclosed his ability to walk. lawyers. A ghastly array of dis- Certain individuals with more enter- mantled refineries on the East River prise than money behind them had the attested the final victory of the sugar audacity to attempt the construction king, and the public, of whom I was of a railway along the west shore of the one, hastened to inquire "whither we Hudson River, parallel to and conse- were drifting." quently in direct competition with the "It is nothing more nor less than Vanderbilt road. The road came to a natural evolution of business meth- grief and passed into the hands of a ods," Mr. Havemeyer replied; "the receiver. At the receiver's sale the operation, I may say, of great natural New York Central & Hudson River laws. There is not room for so many Railroad—alias Mr. W. H. Vanderbilt of us. In America, if a man is reputed —swallowed up the West Shore Rail- to be making money in his special line, of people rush in to emu- road at forty cents on the dollar ! Great a host and mournful was the hue and cry of late him. They talk of fabulous the disconsolate bondholders of the profits. Now look here, the cost of a West Shore fiasco. "Sheer robbery!" pound of centrifugal sugar is so much, cried the disconsolate. "Sheer black- laid down in New York from Cuba, * mail—your enterprise!" retorted the we will say ; the duty is so much ; the Vanderbilt cohorts. The generally ac- cost of refining, we will say, fluctuates cepted idea was that the scheme, from from five-eighths of a cent to one and its inception, was merely a scheme to one-sixteenth cents per pound, and force Mr. Vanderbilt and his associates taxes, insurance, brokerages on the re- either to purchase a useless article or to fined article, and so on, bring the total enter upon a ruinous competition. As up to so much, which, plus our reason- it was, Mr. Vanderbilt paid what he able profit, must be covered by our pleased for the property — and got sales price. Now, thanks to competi- it! tion, our margin of profit is steadily In the year 1884, so marvelously dwindling. We are not in business for rapid was the evolution of the pluto- health or pleasure, but to make money, cratic infant into manhood that he and we can do this last only by re- was old enough to marry—polygamous- ducing competition, which, by resort- ly, too—for he contracted an alliance ing to the system of amalgamation, with commerce and took unto him- leads also to a reduction of expenses." self two wives, viz., Oil and Sugar. "Which is all very true," I ob- I was an occasional visitor at the served, "but the logical conclusion is residence of the late Mr. Theodore that you will reduce the business com- Havemeyer, the sugar king. I re- munity of America to a world of five member something more than the employers and five million clerks!" outlines of a conversation I had with "I guess that's about the size of him shortly after the formation of it!" retorted the sugar king com- the American Sugar Refining Com- pany, which is historically known as * The United States, through its tariff, the second great trust in the com- levies annually in duties on sugar §56,000,- 000 to protect (?) a few plantations in the mercial world, its predecessor being State of Louisiana, on which there is grown the Standard Oil Company. annually a crop of cane, which yields a few Profound excitement prevailed in thousand tons of inferior sugar! 7 —

PLUTOCRACY 481 posedly; "but that's someone else's separated from each other by the business—not mine!" North Atlantic Ocean well illustrates From the foregoing events and the point I would make. Centuries of conversations I have endeavored to accumulated wealth—notably in the convey some idea of the sources from hands of the aristocracy and the which the flood of Plutocracy took its merchant princes of Great Britain rise and of the spirit in which it was have not brought the slightest sense let loose from its confinement to sweep of oppression upon the English people, away the time-honored principle of nor closed one avenue of advancement "each for himself and God for us all!" to the youth who seeks to earn an With marvelous rapidity the examples honest livelihood. Little more than a set by a leading railroad system and century has elapsed since George two concerns doing business in two Washington delivered his prophetic great staple commodities were fol- adjuration to his countrymen, and the lowed by other railroads and other growth of Plutocracy has practically commercial magnates, all fearful of closed every avenue to the acquisition being left behind in the race for su- of a competence by the youth of premacy in their various lines of America — save three, viz., the pro- industry and trade, and all eager to fessions of the Law, the Church and seize the opportunity to amass fabu- the Medical Fraternity. The Naval f lous fortunes in the shortest possible and Military establishments of the period, at the expense of their weaker United State's are, as yet, too re- competitors. This is not the place for stricted as to personnel to warrant me to trace in detail the various foci their classification with the three whence the cancer of Plutocracy has above-mentioned professions. Surely derived its sustenance until it has the underlying cause of this wide grown to be a malignant excrescence variation between the Plutocracy of upon the American body politic. I Great Britain and that of America is ' would only point out that the ' amal- too obvious for extended elucidation. gamations"* of the last eight years The cause lies, to my mind, in the are at once the logical outcome and simple fact that Plutocracy is a the grim trophies of .nothing less than passive factor in English and an ag- a fratricidal trade war, which has gressive factor in American life. In riveted the shackles of an economic England the wealth of the aristocracy slavery upon the population of the has worked to the benefit of the people United States. at large in furnishing employment of I will now endeavor to demonstrate various kinds on vast estates and, in the fitness of this metaphor. Before many cases, in the promotion of in- doing so, however, I desire that it dustries, including manufactures and should be clearly understood that I mining. In the world of commerce do not condemn the acquisition of the vast majority of enterprises, in wealth per se. I believe that the ac- wholesale and retail trade, have been quisition of a fortune has an ennobling conducted for decades and, in some influence upon the character of a wonderfully rapid development of right-minded man. It is only in the t The the United States Navy will doubtless open means by which wealth is amassed a channel of employment to American man- and the uses to which that wealth is put hood and youth; but, even then, there will that the elements of tyranny and have to be some radical change in the system to the turpitude creep into the question. of obtaining commissions. Owing requirements of the course in vogue a.t comparison between the conditions strict A the Naval Academy at Annapolis, the Ameri- existing in the two great countries can warships are notoriously under-manned, so far as officers are concerned, and, for ob- * Of which the most notorious examples are vious reasons, promotion is slow, and be- the formation of the "United States Steel sides the inducements to enter the service Corporation" and the "Northern Securities do not appeal any too strongly to the acquis- Company." itiveness of the American temperament. October, 1903— •

482 TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE

cases for centuries, by private firms, bull and bear movements in its se- which, each operating in its separate curities from which it reaps annually sphere, have left room for all and have untold millions of dollars. I say interfered with none. It is true that, ruthless, because the operations re- in spite of colonization and emigra- ferred to, as a rule, wholly ignore tion, the number of the unemployed prevailing financial and trade con- is excessive, but this arises from ditions, and the result very often is natural and unavoidable causes and is that a huge mass of undigested or, not chargeable to the rapaciousness, rather, indigestible securities is created oppressiveness or greed of any ruling which require years for absorption— or particular class. It is far different if they are ever absorbed at all—and with American Plutocracy. With the constitute a heavy mortgage upon the exception of those fortunes which future development of the country at have grown out of the natural in- large and a detriment to the progress crement in the value of land in the and welfare of the people. great cities of the East and Middle It is far from my intention to try West, the accumulation of wealth has and prove that the selfish spirit of been the outcome of the stifling of American Plutocracy is the offspring competition and the annihilation of of cruelty. The American tempera- the weak. I am, of course, perfectly ment is the reverse of cruel. Plutoc- well aware that no business enterprise racy in the United States is the child can continue to prosper for a long of envy and acquisitiveness. It is period of time whose conductors fail akin to the impulse which impels men to recognize the inevitable and in- to the gathering of unripe fruit. It exorable changes of method which is an unquenchable national thirst for time and conditions impose upon every the unknown— I had almost said the form of human undertaking. But unattainable—an impulse toward the there is all the difference of black great beyond to the exclusion of the from white between a system which barely contemplated present. America noiselessly and harmlessly adapts it- is the great discount office of the self to changed conditions and a future. ruthless spirit of capacity which None the less the ultra- enrichment seizes time by the forelock and plunges of the few is the impoverishment of into the lists, incased in golden mail, the many, and, in my humble opinion, with the sole and selfish purpose of what America most needs is a patron putting buckram-clad Effort to the saint, after the likeness of our own sword. St. George, to curb the depredations I use the word rapacity advisedly, of her golden dragon. In a land con- for the reason that in America not secrated to every form of human free- only is the motive one purely of dom, economic slavery becomes a conquest and extermination, but ex- hopeless paradox and an anachronism. traneous methods are employed to I have, however, an abiding faith in encompass the design. Not content the resourcefulness, the indomitable to employ its capital along one line of energy, the inflexible will and supreme warfare. Plutocracy has long ago in- power of self-reliance of the American vaded the stock market to recruit Democracy. Other nations have en- further its colossal resources. With a dured and safely emerged from mighty perfect knowledge of the status, pros- cataclysms in their life of centuries; pective and otherwise, of its railroads, but, in the brief space of one cen- its industries and its enterprises gen- tury, the American people have sur- erally, the true condition of which is mounted national perils second to carefully concealed from the public, none in fierceness and dreadful con- Plutocracy engineers alternately great sequence. McCutcheon, in Chicago Tribune The Ancient Chinese Method. They Burn Down the House to Roast the Pig Maybell, m Brooklyn Eagle 483 Of The Tiger God\ FRanKSTUHMN. * m 1 I m il III

CAN hardly realize tonight, as I of our home, spent a fortnight with sit by the cheerful hearth-fire us. I in my old home, where my an- It did not take the savant long to cestors have dwelt since the early make friends with me, and before colonial days, that the things I am many days he was investigating with about to set forth are true and not the manifest delight my store of plant visions of a baleful dream. specimens. The outcome was that I hear the sullen boom of the surf as I went away with the professor and, it breaks and thunders against the under his teaching combined with granite rocks of Paul's Head, while the my love for natural science and wild dark pines behind the house moan and life, I became, to use Witherworth's shriek as the pitiless north wind sweeps words, "the keenest plant-hunter be- from icy Labrador over our rugged tween the two oceans." State. Let it roar and howl! This Professor Witherworth, in addition ancient room seems only the brighter to being a leader in botanical science, for it, as the fat, pitchy fagots flame was a great student in the vast field of in high glee, throwing a red defiance to Oriental literature. All the cities of the Frost King. Perhaps it is this the East were ransacked by his agents. very contrast that recalls to me what One day while in Washington I re- passed under burning skies in torrid ceived a note asking me to come to climes, and, yet, is it not always with the professor's residence that evening. me? I would call it some dreadful Seven o'clock found me at his door. delusion, but as I glance in the old- He answered the bell himself. fashioned mirror over my desk there it "Come in, Long, come in! Say, man," is on my forehead, the mark of that he exclaimed in his abrupt manner, devil—those five little red spots, as if "but I've a wonderful find!" He took a cat had struck its paw against the off his spectacles and replaced them flesh and drawn blood. rapidly in a way that told of suppressed I shall have to begin at the be- excitement. I followed him to his ginning, as the children say. My study, which was crowded to overflow- name is Abijah Long. From my ing with all kinds of specimens. The earliest youth I was possessed with a professor cleared a mass of roots and love for the plant world. I would seek leaves from a chair and offered it to for days new varieties of native growth me. He sat tapping the table with to add to my collection of treasures. his pencil until he broke out: "Say, When I was about sixteen the current Long, can you go to India?" of my life was changed by the advent "As well India as anywhere," I an- into our home of a learned man as a swered. I knew the professor too well summer boarder. Professor James C. to be surprised at any project he might Witherworth, trustee of the Smith- have in hand. sonian Institution, was enjoying his "I think," he continued, "you had well-earned vacation along the Maine better take two men with you. Have coast, and, charmed with the location you any good men in mind?" 484 IN THE REALM OF THE TIGER GOD 485

"Yes; there's Haskins, who was in Witherworth informs me that you need the Arizona expedition, brave as a a man experienced in jungle work to lion and cool as ice; and there's a young accompany a scientific expedition?" fellow, neighbor of ours in Maine, no "Yes. I'm the agent of Professor experience, but intelligent and tough Witherworth. I'm not sure that this as a whipcord." is not a wild-goose chase. But the ",How soon can you get them?" in- professor has an old manuscript tell- quired the professor. ing of a strange bit of country about "Two weeks. , Haskins is in St. two hundred miles north of Haidara- Louis and Tom Emmons will want a bad. It's supposed to be covered with little time." the vegetation of an extinct period. "That will do; you needn't spare I am to collect specimens of rare expense. Our society will furnish the plants. I guess it must be a great money." place for tigers, for it was spoken of "Hold on, professor; if you have no as the Land of the Tiger God." objection, I would like to know what The Anglo-Indian shifted uneasily we are expected to do?" as he answered. " Have you heard "Ah, yes; it slipped my mind that much about it?" He gave me a keen you didn't know. In my last pur- glance. "The natives tell some strange chase of books from the East I found stories about that place and the Road a fragment of an ancient manuscript of Death that bounds it. One thing I written in the earliest form of Sanscrit, know—no white man has ever re- and telling of a mysterious tableland of turned from there. There was Allen some twenty miles in extent wherein in '32, and Langley in '46, and Brown- the human race first existed. In son in '52. None of them came back, consideration of this the gods have I think, Mr. Long, you'd better give up left it unchanged. Though the rest of this trip. There's something devilish the world has undergone marvelous queer about that land." transformations, that portion retains "Oh, well," I said, for I was a little its primitive state. So I translate it. touched at the man's trying to play on Then follows a fable about a Tiger God, my fears, "if you are afraid you which will not interest you. Now the needn't go." society wants you to procure speci- Under his sunburned cheek the blood mens of as many of the flora of that mantled and his bright eyes flashed, region as are still unknown to science. but he spoke carelessly: "Oh, I'll go, I have deciphered the names and com- John Forbes holds his life as lightly as pared them with the best maps, and any man. If it is to be, it is to be," he you will have no difficulty in locating concluded, with the grim fatalism that the place. Professor Guy, of Madras, no one escapes in the brooding East. recommends a guide, John Forbes by "I've a few affairs to arrange and will name, whose services you are to pro- be ready in two days." cure. Buy whatever stores Forbes The third day Forbes was on hand deems necessary and hire as many and bargained with some boatmen to coolies as you need." carry us and our trappings to Haidara- I was not much impressed with bad. We rowed up the river through the professor's discovery, but was de- dense jungles pierced here and there lighted to have the opportunity to visit by paths where elephants and other India. I will pass over our voyage. denizens of the forest came to drink. At Madras John Forbes called on me Sometimes a tawny tiger skulked off to the second day after our arrival. his lair as we approached. "John Forbes, I presume," I ven- Finally we arrived at the city where tured as a dark-faced, rather under- our real task began. I gave over all sized man was inquiring for me of the authority to Forbes, who cursed and clerk of the European Hotel. bullied the unscrupulous tradesmen " The same, " he replied. " Professor until our supplies were obtained. The :

486 TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE greatest difficulty was to procure car- increased. He possessed indefatigable riers. The coolies shrank from him as energy and, being a natural leader of from a pestilence when they heard men, kept our motley crew in proper of our destination. In five days, subjection. His wide knowledge of although double pay was offered, only jungle- craft, together with his cool one man was hired. On the sixth day, courage, made me heartily ashamed of as Forbes was about to despair, he was my remark at our first meeting. approached by a tall, lean man who The eleventh day the way became cringed and salaamed in the manner of more open. The ground rose before the natives. But the untamed flash us with a gradual slope. The air got in his eyes proclaimed that he was not purer and Emmons was quite himself of that much-conquered race. again. "What does Alcazor, the Afghan, During the afternoon Forbes missed want?" asked Forbes, to whom the one of the coolies. Turning to the brown giant was no stranger. head man he demanded, "Where's "Forbes Sahib wishes to go to the Mahada?" land of the God- tiger? Has he men The tall Afghan bowed and answered enough?" " His grandfather lives but a few hours' "Do you want to go?" growled journey from here and Mahada goes Forbes, for he distrusted the evil-look- to visit him. The gods have coming Afghan. manded us to respect our ancestors. "If the worshipful masters will give He will be with us on the morrow." me one hundred rupees and double Forbes looked dissatisfied but said pay for each carrier I will have you ten nothing. Toward evening we came men before tomorrow night. But the upon a marvelous sight. Running at Sahib knows that they who would re- right angles to our course was a road turn through the Road of Death must through the forest about two rods wide pay tribute to the Tiger God?" and bare of vegetation as a city pave- "Damn your Tiger God!" cried ment. As far as the eye could reach Forbes. "Get your coolies and you'll on either side, leaving but a narrow have your money!" gateway, the road was covered with "I guess I can 'tend to your Tiger whitened bones. The coolies flung God," drawled Haskins as he patted down their burdens. The head man the stock of his Winchester. approached Forbes and said: "My men "The hunter is very great. He can are very tired and must rest. Tomor- even destroy the gods," sneered the row we will go on." Afghan. "But the Sahib," turning to Forbes glanced sharply at the speaker, Forbes, "shall have his men." but his knowledge of Oriental charac- The next day, true to his promise, ter told him it was useless to protest. came Alcazor with a retinue of the most "Very well," he answered, and gave villainous-looking rascals it was ever orders to camp. my fortune to behold. As preparations were being made "Brigands," whispered Forbes to for the night we walked over to inspect me. "But there's no choice in the the trail. Haskins was the first to matter. It's these or none." reach the weird pathway. He gazed "Take them," I said, for I had no a moment, then turned to us, his face mind to have crossed the ocean for death-white. "My God," he whis- naught. pered, "they're human bones! What ? ' The following morning we crossed does it mean ' Forbes shook his head, the Godavari and struck north. Then his face shadowed with gloom. After ensued ten days of the most exhausting the usual night's routine Forbes called travel I have ever experienced. Has- the Afghan over to him: "Alcazor, tell kins was tireless and climate-proof, but the Sahibs about the land before us." Emmons was about used up. Day "There is little to tell," said the by day my admiration for Forbes head man in fairly intelligible English. IN THE REALM OF THE TIGER GOD 487

"It IS said that one of the Great Wan- claw-like hands were smeared with derers is doomed to dwell in tiger shape blood. As we passed the creature until the Road of Death is covered with uttered uncouth sounds like curses. the bones of men. None enters here to Haskins threw his rifle to his shoulder return except those who pay tribute and the gleaming barrel pointed to Markila the Tiger God." straight at the foul being. With a "And the tribute?" I interrupted. bound the Afghan sprang forward. "A human body for his altar. If " Are you mad ?" he cried. All trace of the Sahibs do not furnish a sacrifice, servility had vanished. "Fool, would then their own bones must become a you die today that you dare insult the part of the circle that bounds the prison priest of Markila?" of Markila." Haskins dropped his rifle, ashamed of "Are you going in?" asked Forbes. his intention. " You were just in time, "We go. We have made the sacri- Alcazor," he said grimly. "Though fice, but it will not avail for you of a I doubt whether you did the world a different race. The gods have been service." kind to us. Mahada found a dead All that day we toiled up a constant child in the jungle. Perchance it had ascent. Although the air lost its eaten of the poison berry or a serpent tropic heat it became benumbing as stung it. Mahada has given it to the that of a vault. The vegetation was priest of the Tiger God." Alcazor's utterly foreign to me. At night we eyes fell. camped near a grove of short thick Forbes thundered: "You infernal trees having distorted limbs ladened dog—that child was murdered!" with repulsive flowers that exuded red, Sullenly the head man answered: viscid drops like blood. At any other "It is not for me to give the Sahib the time I would not have rested without lie, but it is as I have said." first obtaining one of the curious blos- We looked at each other in horror. soms and examining it. But a lan- A premonition of evil burdened the air. guor enfolded me. Emmons lay A booming roar came through the asleep on the ground and Haskins sat darkness. nearby with listless eyes, his rifle upon "Markila," whispered the coolies his knees. The forms of the natives as they huddled together, "comes for passed to and fro like shadows. his tribute!" Forbes ordered the camp in a dogged The dawn found us ready for the manner as if by sheer force of will. march. The natives were restless, and I have no recollection how the even- only the drastic measures of the ing passed. The morning sun rose Afghan prevented them from deserting. dulled by a filmy haze. Emmons, In a few minutes we reached the nar- who was something of a dandy, was row gap with its ghastly trail on either finishing his toilet with the aid of a hand. Emmons touched my arm. glass, when he exclaimed: "Something "Look!" he said, with a shudder. To has bitten me five times on the fore- the right were a few little bones with head! And you, Forbes! And Has- particles of red flesh upon them—the kins too! Long, look up, you also!" remains of Mahada 's tribute. There we stood gazing at one an- Before us rose the dome of a temple, other, each of us with five tiny blood- circular in form and painted with rude red spots upon his forehead like the art. From ground to roof it was print of a paw. The awestruck cool- crowded with figures of tigers in every ies clustered about. "The sign of conceivable position. At the door Markila!" I heard the Afghan mutter. crouched a half-human monster, more With an uneasiness we would have beast than man. It was clad in a robe been ashamed to own, we traveled all of tiger- skins, the brutish face grinning that day through the most unholy and with a ghoulish leer. Long yellow monstrous vegetation the earth ever fangs protruded from his lips and his produced. The trees were misshapen 488 TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE

dwarfs with livid, leprous bark. was accomplished. I was not much Great, slimy creepers, blotched and worried about the future. With the ridged like loathsome serpents, twined exception of Emmons, all were veteran in leafless festoons over twisted campaigners who, with fewer re- branches that seemed racked in bitter sources, had often faced miles of wilder- agony. Flowers there were in profu- ness. sion, but deadly, unwholesome crea- The sun had begun to sink in the tions with an intolerable odor. If all west and Forbes did not return. I the shames and unspeakable thoughts suggested that Emmons and I go in that the Father of Evil puts into the search of Forbes, and that Haskins remind of man were translated into main to guard our stores and to fire a blossoms they would be like these. rifle shot to recall us if Forbes re- My science forsook me. I would not turned. have plucked one of those hideous We struck out for the tree. My blooms if they had been made of only fear was that Forbes had fallen jewels. from the tree and injured himself. It "This looks like the garden of Hell," was not very arduous traveling, in said Haskins. spite of the creepers that beset our way. "That and more," rejoined Forbes, When we reached the giant conifer we with set lips. looked about in surprise and horror. The bearers were moody and sullen. At our feet the mat of fleshy vines was Another night passed. In the morn- broken and trampled as if a struggle ing we found that our retinue had van- had taken place. In the damp soil ished taking as much of our commodi- were the paw prints of a mammoth ties as suited their pleasure. For a tiger. time this misfortune made Forbes him- We stood paralyzed. Then a rifle self again. He cursed and swore with shot rang through the clinging air. a hearty vigor that put us all in better "Hurrah," I shouted, "it's Haskins! spirits. He turned to me, saying, Thank heaven! Forbes has returned!" " Well, what's to be done now?" Emmons fired a shot to answer the "We'll have to return. It's useless signal, and we turned and rushed to- to proceed without carriers." I spoke ward the camp. in a tone of regret, but at heart I was "No need of running," said Tom glad the coolies had deserted and given crossly, after a few minutes of break- us a pretext for leaving this uncanny neck pace. land. "None at all," I replied, and we "Shall we gather a few specimens?" slowed to a walk. Emmons inquired. But the dread in my heart was met "Curse specimens!" roared Haskins. by the look in his face; and before we " I wouldn't carry one for the best were aware of it we were again running ranch in California!" as if all the tigers of India were at our "No," I replied, "we'll be burdened heels. Out of breath we burst in enough with the supplies we must have. upon the place where our burdens lay Witherworth won't get much for his piled ready for the journey. To our money this time." dismay no one was in sigkt. About a mile from camp stood a tall "Haskins, Haskins!" I shouted. tree, a conifer of some species. Forbes There was no reply. Again and again proposed to go and climb the tree for a I called his name, when I was interview of the country, and, also, to see if rupted by a shriek from my comrade. he could locate our recreant coolies, I turned, only to see him crouching on while we sorted and made up packs of the ground sobbing like a woman in provisions for our return. hysteria. Before him lay Haskins's The matter of adjusting our sup- rifle, its stock in splinters and the steel plies was a task of some difficulty and barrel twisted into incredible contor- the hours passed swiftly. At last it tions. The ground was splashed with IN THE REALM OF THE TIGER GOD 489 blood and covered with huge tiger stunted trees and, tying myself in my tracks. insecure position with portions of my Einmons seemed frenzied with ter- clothing, obtained a little sleep. At ror. "The sign of Markila!" he dawn I would resume my headlong moaned. "We're doomed, doomed!" flight. It seemed as if something was "Tom," I cried, "for heaven's sake, always just at my heels ready to brace up! This is bad enough, but if spring. A hundred times my flesh you let that cursed superstition get quivered in expectation of the awful hold of you, you'll go mad! We must claws rending me, yet I dared not keep together and kill the brute, that's look back. all!" One morning I passed the ghoulish After a time Tom regained his nerve. tree with blood-dripping blossoms, We gathered great heaps of dead wood near which we had camped the first and built two fires. I was to watch night after entering Markila 's king- the first half of the night and keep the dom. I had lost all perception of fires blazing. Emmons rolled him- locality, but now hope revived in my self in his blanket and fell asleep, while heart, for I was not far from the bound- I paced back and forth, throwing wood ary of this land of slaughter. into the flames from time to time. I It must have been some time after shall never forget the blackness of the sun had passed its zenith when, that night. The darkness fell in solid directly in front of me, not more than masses and pressed about us like a a score of feet away, sprang the mon- dense wall. The firelight did not ster I had so long dreaded, towering radiate in the murk, but looked like above my head, its evil eyes gleaming two dull red balls in a sea of ink. No with a demon's ferocity. But, at the sound broke the tomb-like silence. The sight of danger in tangible shape my very insects refused to live in this ac- self-possession returned. I never was cursed domain, barren of all animal cooler in my life. Quick as thought life except the tiger-monster. At I threw my rifle to my shoulder and length my vigil was over and I woke pumped the lead, one cartridge after Emmons to go on guard. the other, full into the breast of the My experience had taught me the beast. Any one of the bullets would art of sleeping under all circumstances, have drained the life from any mortal and the next thing I realized the sun tiger that ever trod jungle. was shining on my upturned face. I Was I mad? The balls from the shook off sleep and looked about. The Winchester fell harmlessly from his fires were heaps of smoldering ashes. hide. The last shell in the repeater My first feeling was one of impatience was emptied when the thing was upon with Emmons, who, I thought, must me. A forgotten prayer of childhood have fallen asleep in his watch. I came to my lips. The tiger put up his walked around the extinct fires, but mighty paw and swept my useless no sleeping form met my gaze. A weapon aside. And then, I swear, cold shiver passed over me. In one the Thing laughed, a horrible, shriek- place I saw a few drops of blood on the ing, half-human, half-devilish burst fallen leaves, and beyond them the of merriment. Its foul breath was fateful marks of the immense paws. hot in my face. A black mist Markila, tiger, god or devil, had added floated before my eyes and conscious- another victim to his score. ness left me. A wild panic seized me. Thence- How long I lay I know not. When forth I had no sense of time. I ran I staggered to my feet the creature was until breathless and then flung myself gone. As my senses came back I rec- upon the ground, panting like a dog, ognized my locality. It was the very until strength enough returned to en- place where our doomed party had enable me to run again. At night, I tered. I looked for the temple. It clambered into the branches of the was not there. I walked on. Yes, 490 TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE there was the Road of Death strewn him an enviable reputation as an explorer. In his youth he had the good fortune to with its ghastly fragments. But, God become the protege of Professor Wither- in heaven! The circle was complete! worth, whose monumental work, "The Freshly gnawed bones closed up the Known and Unknown Flora of the Old narrow gap in that ring of hell! I and New Worlds," is the authority on the subject both in Europe and America. then knew why I had been spared. It was finally my uncle's lot to lead into furnished the Poor Emmons had the heart of India a party, of which all the last sacrifice required by Markila the white members perished with the exception Tiger God. of himself. The hardships he endured seemed to have affected his mind. After NOTE BY MATTHEW LONG, M.D., his return he retired to his old home, seldom OF WISCASSET, ME. leaving it. He saw but few people, as he was very sensitive over a peculiar blood- The foregoing document was found red scar or mark upon his forehead. To among the papers of my late uncle, Abijah mention this would throw him into a Long. My esteemed relative was a man gloomy despondency for days. The strange of slight scholastic education, but he was story found among his papers accounts for possessed of a passion for botany combined his mysterious conduct in reference to this with an adventurous spirit that gained for marking.

Monarchy Within the Republic

JOHN Marshall's doctrine of implied powers—the present condition of THE AMERICAN SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT

BY FONTAINE T. FOX

[conclusion]

HAVING advanced thus far have been executed for that reason, in the argument, let us as- then it was bad policy to have enacted certain who are the parties the law, and the injunction could not to this action—the real parties in have been issued to prevent its execu- interest and the matter at issue be- tion unless and for the reason that the tween them. By an injunction enactment of this law was bad in against the collector to prevent the policy. To pass on the policy of a payment of this tax the President was law by judicial decision is simply to really enjoined from the execution of assert the principle that Congress is this law through the collector, whom not the judge of the policy of the he had appointed his agent for that public measures passed for the gov- very purpose — this injunction is ernment of this people, but that the therefore issued upon the asserted judges of the Federal court are. This principle that the policy of this law Government was founded by this was bad—that it was bad policy to people, and by its organic law and enact a law by which the rich should according to its provisions this people pay a tax on their property to that have empowered and authorized their government from which they had de- agents, the members of Congress, to manded, and had an inalienable right pass such laws as they, and not the to demand, protection for that prop- courts, may deem necessary for their erty. government—among others to raise If this law ought not in policy to by law a revenue to pay the expense MONARCHY WITHIN THE REPUBLIC 491 of that Government. Consequently nounce arbitrary interference by Fed- in deciding that it was bad policy to eral authority in local affairs as a raise a revenue in this way the court violation of the Constitution of the was simply asserting the right to dic- United States and as a crime against tate to Congress what laws it should free institutions, and we are especially pass. opposed to government by injunction The issue, then, is extremely simple as a new and highly dangerous form and very plain and the parties very of oppression by which Federal judges, clear. The parties are the Federal in contempt of the laws of the States courts and the American people; the and the rights of citizens, become at issue is, have the representatives, the once legislators, jurors and execu- agents of the people in Congress, the tioners." right to pass laws without the previous All that has been profoundly and revision of the Supreme Court as to impressively illustrated by Federal the policy of any particular measure judges attempting by injunction to before Congress? In other words, deny and prevent citizens of this have we a representative govern- country exercising their rights to ment? What is left of the executive meet and discuss their grievances, and legislative departments if this de- private or public, and to walk the cision is law and the American people open highways of their country, to go are to accept it or intend to submit to to their places of assembly. Its use it? Has the Supreme Court abolished was attempted to be justified for these the executive department and ab- purposes under the thin covering of sorbed the legislative? the word "conspiracy," a word ex- But this decision has received very pressive of crime at common law. recent and alarming illustrations of Ten thousand men cannot form a con- the use to which it may be applied spiracy under the common law, nor and the purposes which it may serve. can an indictment be framed against Courts do not always fix the limita- a nation or people. One Federal judge tions of new principles originated by undertook to enjoin a clergyman from their judges, nor have they foresight preaching the Gospel of Christ to these to see how improperly they may be miners. sometimes applied by other judges. Excuse me if I try to touch the root Recent events have given to the of this matter, because every man, Democratic platform of 1896 a start- woman and child, black or white, is ling and significant prominence and involved in the settlement of this tre- opened afresh the discussion upon mendous question that goes back home that plank of the platform based upon —to the very foundation of our Gov- the radical principles announced by ernment—if it be true that all govern- the Federal court in these "Income ment rests upon the consent of the Tax Cases." governed. Whatever may have been the folly, What is the underlying fact or the almost to a crime, of the declara- only great political principle which tion of the Chicago platform, the wis- marks in letters of living light and dom of its forecast has been most separates English history from the signally vindicated by the action of history of all other peoples or nations, the Federal judiciary in the fall of and from the womb of which every 1897 to the striking miners in Penn- other principle of civil and religious sylvania. What was then denounced liberty has come forth as her children? as a threat of revolution or an attempt It is the grand principle or natural "to array the masses against the right of the people to meet in open classes" might well assert itself to assembly when and where they see fit have been a prophecy, and now a to discuss their grievances, public or prophecy fulfilled. private, and to suggest or to provide I quote from the platform: "We de- the remedies of their correction. I —

492 TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE quote from Jefferson: "A right of free for making a monarchy at once with- correspondence between citizens and out passing through the throes and citizens in their joint interests, whether blood of a revolution. If the crime of pubHc or private, and under whatever conspiracy can be stopped by injunc- laws these interests arise (to wit: of tion, why not murder, theft, burglary the State, of Congress, France, Spain in fact, every crime known to the crim- It is exceedingly brief, or Turkey) , is a natural right ; it is not inal code? an the gift of any municipal law, either sure and comprehensive method, by of England or Virginia, or of Congress; which the land can be rid of crime and but in common with all other natural criminals. The slow and cumbersome rights it is one of the objects for the process of indictment by the grand protection of which society is formed jury, trial by petit jury and sentence and municipal laws established." by the court are no longer needed From the exercise of this right by all expense is saved and taxation is the English people came representa- reduced to almost nothing. Judge tive government, and the people se- Stowe was uttering a striking commen- lecting men to represent them in an tary upon the history of the trial by assembly to discuss their grievances jury. Its very beginning in English and fixing a place for that assembly history can be traced back in a line as to meet. Representatives for the straight as a stretched string to this people became necessary by the right of the people to assemble to dis- growth in population after the as- cuss their affairs. The jury of twelve sembly of the barons at Runny- men trying a criminal or civil suit is mede, who met for the same pur- the outcome of this right of govern- pose and in the same way and used ment by representation when the the common highways to that as- people had become too numerous to sembly as those murdered miners did decide their legal affairs in their natu- at Hazleton. King John denounced ral capacity as citizens, as they did them as traitors and called their originally. They delegated the right and action a conspiracy, but he did not power to twelve men to represent them dare to order his chief-justice to issue in such matters. Guizot, in his "His- an injunction to prevent their as- tory of Representative Government," sembly. If he had, those sturdy and says that "in these meetings, also, we indignant barons would have treated discern the origin of the jury." I quote that writ with such lofty contempt as from page 302 of the same work: " Lib- would have given a passing dignity to erties are nothing until they become government by injunction. rights—positive rights formally recog- If the people have not the right to nized and consecrated. Rights, even meet in their original capacity as citi- when recognized, are nothing so long zens to discuss their grievances, then as they are not entrenched within guar- they have no right to elect representa- antees. And lastly, guarantees are tives to do it for them, and conse- nothing so long as they are not main- quently no right to form a government tained by forces independent of them founded on the principle of representa- in the limit of their rights. Convert tion, by which authority is given to liberties into rights, surround rights certain men as their representatives to with guarantees, intrust the keeping discuss their affairs and to pass laws of these guarantees to forces capable to remedy their wrongs. Is it to be of maintaining them. Such are the wondered at that the saying was com- successive steps in the progress toward mon in the early days of our Republic, a free government." " If you get below the skin of a Feder- The framers of the Federal and State alist you find a friend to monarchy"! Constitutions thought they had en- Judge Stowe publicly announced, "We trenched the right of free correspond- are the judges and the jury"—a most ence of the citizens one with the other succinct and comprehensive formula and the trial by jury in the organic —;

MONARCHY WITHIN THE REPUBLIC 493 laws of the land, which all the judges history of all past peoples and na- swear to observe and execute when they tions. Their hope was in the States enter upon their official duties. They and their governments, and therefore fondly imagined these sacred rights, they demanded more power for them thus guaranteed to the citizens and that is our hope and the last resting- entrenched behind and within a consti- place for the weary foot of Liberty in tutional Gibraltar, could not be at- her long struggles. That fear would tacked, much less destroyed, by any be greatly less and that hope greatly power known to their dual form of more if the Supreme Court had con- government. The fundamental prin- sulted the facts of our history and con- ciple from which flows all representa- strued the provisions of the Constitu- tive government—government by the tion according to the reasons to be people—is the logical sequence of po- found in those facts, from the womb of litical development and the exercise of which it came into being. But the which has driven one king of England court originated a new form of the from his throne and country, brought doctrine of implied powers, adapted to another to the block and taught her the political fortunes and final exigen- judges obedience to the laws and re- cies of the old Federalist Party, as if the spect for the people and their rights, life of its principle in our Government has, in this land of written freedom, and its administration was more valu- been by a Federal judge kicked out of able than the perpetuity of the Repub- his pathway as if it were a loathsome lic, and now what is the result? We weed. are drifting—simply drifting—and our If it be true, as so often asserted by only hope is the State governments. publicists, that this dual form or sys- While the rights of the States are in tem of policy was an advance or an reality what they originally were, yet improvement in the art of government, the question of the future is, How can and that its fixed and separate depart- they recover the actual exercise of ments were a distinct and positive ad- those undoubted rights in their courts, dition to the science of politics, we have and the execution of their statutes, indeed killed the hopes of progress if without some violent assertion of we have only changed the constitu- them, perhaps almost revolutionary in tional monarchy of England for the its nature, unless the Supreme Court monarchy of a judicial court whose will, in justice to its own dignity, its laws can only be known from the ut- official oath and the patriotic considera- terance of their opinions, and which tion of the rights of the States, volun- may be dependent upon the whims of tarily retrace its steps, regardless of the court for their stability, upon its John Marshah's fame and name and passions for their nature or upon its intellectual domination? There were ambition for their objects. great men before Agamemnon—the race is not yet extinct. The discussions of imperialism in the The two schools of construction have present day are proof of the almost based their theories on diametrically inspired wisdom of the men who formed opposite principles—the school of strict the Federal Constitution as it is, and construction on the theory of the rights not as it has been construed by the of man being the starting-point of all Supreme Court. Through the debates government, and that therefore all of the conventions of the various government belongs to its citizens and States which discussed it before its rests upon the consent of the governed adoption there runs a strong, full cur- the loose school of construction, on the rent of positive fear that it would, un- theory of the rights of the government, der the undefined power of this court, that therefore the citizen has no lead to a centralized, consolidated rights outside of the provisions of the government and ultimately to a mon- Constitution, and consequently, that archy, thus traveling the cycle of the the citizen belongs to the Government. —

494 TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE

The ultimate political truth involved commerce only to be supplied by con- in the controversy Is simply this—The quest and its resultant military spirit, government has no rights ; only powers the ultimate question before the Ameri- to do certain acts in certain ways de- can people is easily and comprehen- fined in the letter of instruction (the sively put in this form—how soon be- Constitution) to the agent of the peo- fore it will be in reality a monarchy ? ple (the Government), and when that This Republic could not exist half letter needs construction to guide the free and half slave, and this Govern- will not continue half republican agent in the execution of the duties and , ment powers of its agency it must be con- and half colonial. Aguinaldo, or some strued according to the surrounding cir- other Jugurtha of our history, can soon cumstances and facts which caused it come and take his stand on the "Capi- to be written. The former might oc- toline Hill" at Washington, utter the casionally run into a license beyond old question as he looks abroad over the express powers of the Government our country, 'Oh, venal city and soon to control. The latter is absolutely to perish, if thou canst find a pur- sure to destroy much of that liberty chaser!" which is unquestionably necessary to It is a remarkable coincidence that keep this Government republican and this dramatic event happened just after dual in form and fact as organized by Rome had fully entered upon her ca- the fathers with the rights of the States reer of wide and far-reaching colonial in full exercise and vigorous health conquests. The republic was then in the agony of its death. the first, , last and only stable anchor for the people in the assertion of the We have annexed the Island of Ha- original fundamental rights of men. waii ; we have thrown our protectorate Such is the government situation over the Island of Cuba; we have made today under the construction of the a conquest of Porto Rico; we have Supreme Court according to Mar- given poor, effete, exhausted Spain shall's doctrine of implied powers that $20,000,000 cash for a chance in the it is not a misrepresentation of the game of war to conquer the Philip- facts to assert that the American peo- pines; we have entered upon a career ple have no Constitution, no govern- of colonial acquisition, the consequences ment outside of the opinions of the of which cannot be foreseen, and the Supreme Court. The judgment in the evil effects of which cannot be regu- income tax cases was virtually an lated or checked by the puny arm of abolition of the whole instrument, for finite man. the same principle by the same logic How are they to be governed? By applied to any law of Congress or de- consular agents, satraps, governors- partment of the Government would general ? No matter how or by whom inevitably reach the same conclusion. governed, we have undertaken the And we who love this form of govern- guardianship of those countries, whose ment and desire its permanent exist- citizens are ignorant of the art of ence must wait with patience to see government and the science of law and what the trusts and monopolies, the unexercised in the rights of liberty.

capitalists and corporations , will do or These great trusts will be sacrificed to demand. History tells us what they the bankers, who are waxing fat on can do if all combine, as they always usury and speculation in the public have and always will, unless they have funds; to enterprising merchants and changed their natxire because born on manufacturers whose vast profits are American soil. used to shape Federal legislation in the Under the doctrine of implied powers, interest of the rights of property as as applied by this court of last resort, against the rights of man, and to the de- and the vast and comprehensive spread cayed politicians whose devoted serv- of corruption and greed in the people ices to their party impoverish their and the craving for new fields for our fortunes at home which can be easily MONARCHY WITHIN THE REPUBLIC 495

and rapidly regained through the un- But why ? Nations rise and fall into developed riches and resources of these decay, but man remains, his virtues outlying islands of the ocean, the and his vices always the same, yester- storms around whose coasts will serve day, today and tomorrow, and thus he to prefigure the storms yet to be heard goes round the cycles in the life of and seen in our capital. nations, planned or marked out by his And it was in the interest of these virtues, but obliterated by his vices. wicked classes, whose wealth is made Each plays its successive part upon the without labor, that these conquests stage of politics when demanded by and revolutionary changes and radical the times and their exigencies. Every departures in our Government were government in the world, regardless made. It does not require the utter- of its form, is the national expression ance of a dogmatic theologian to an- of its political citizenship. What the nounce that sin is an act of the self- one is the other will soon become, and will, and all history proves that govern- where the same causes operate in differ- ments never become rotten and fall to ent nations the same effects will follow. pieces until their citizens have become For this reason alone history is a guide corrupt and places of trust have be- for the future. come a commodity in the mart of poli- If it is true, on the theory of John tics; and at such times self-will is the Marshall's doctrine of implied powers, only guide, the only monitor listened that the Federal Constitution was too to by scandalous politicians whose narrow in its powers expressly granted selfish aims furnish their only ideal of for the exigencies of its administration patriotism, or by bankers who demand in its early history—and such* must be a province as their security. the theory that originated this extra- Mistress of these outlying lands, if ordinary doctrine—what will be the their citizens are such that we cannot construction of this court in its appli- extend to them the rights and liberties cation of this doctrine to the changed of that common country and govern- condition of our internal affairs and in ment of which they have become an all our external relations with other integral portion, the days of our own nations? Is not this court assuming self-government are at an end and our legislative powers and dictatorial au- Constitution has lived its natural and thority? Justice is the very bedrock appointed period and must give place of all government, and, no matter to another order of political arrange- what its form, without justice each ment more adapted to the changed and every one is unlikely a tyranny. conditions of affairs. The revolution There is not today an election held in may be peaceful, may be guarded and any State of the Union but that the may be conducted under the forms of charge of corruption and of injustice is the Republic, but it has unquestionably made by one of the political parties begun in obedience to the altered spirit against the other, and the cry of in- which has sprung up in what are called justice, dishonest or really sincere, is the "upper classes" and among the heard from every tongue only as a pre- "ambitious politicians." It was an- lude to a demand for military inter- nounced by the first gun fired in the ference that justice may be done. But war with Cuba. The shell is yet sound what one party demands as justice the and whole, but it will some time be other denounces as injustice to itself cracked by a Caesar or a Cromwell, and and as a justification for the use of the not by a Washington or a William the military, and in this way the prepara- Silent. That will close the last act of tions are made for future changes. our historic drama, a fit ending to the Those acts are necessary for the success final page of the history of the Ameri- of one party and the defeat of the can Republic as it is today. Thus it other which remembers and uses them always has been in history, and thus in time for its own success, and the de- it always will be. feat of the one and the success of the 49S TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE other unconsciously combine to pro- listen to none of these, but will answer duce these changes. itself in its own way—it will follow the The common people, who, more deep- track of history, for it knows that way ly interested than the political leaders, of old and needs no guide. It is its do not note the real meaning and sig- own unerring guide, and the path is nificance of passing events, permit this rapidly being cleai^d of all obstacles insidious and iniquitous precedent to so that its step will become faster and grow into a right which becomes a law faster as it approaches the end of its to itself as well as to them. These very manifest destiny. decisions which we have been consider- Can it be possible that God, in His ing, coming from the very highest inscrutable providence, intends again judicial tribunal known to our system to pass this people through the Revolu- of government, are proof, as clear as tion of 1776, or, rather, is it true that "confirmation of Holy Writ," that the to this people all past history is a fable deficiencies of its organic law could only or a fraud ? be remedied by their canons of judicial I cannot end with words more fit- construction which have not been ting or impressive than these taken based on the facts of its history. This from "Junius" and addressed almost court in its wisdom has tried it and a quarter of a century before the pronounced it unable to perform its American Revolution, to the people of functions without the powers injected England: into it by that construction and its ap- Let me exhort you and conjure you never plication of these implied powers origi- to suffer an invasion of your political Con- nated, granted and operated through stitution, however minute this instance may appear, to pass by without a determined, its decisions. own persevering resistance. One precedent cre- Sarcasm may utter, in bitter words, ates another. They soon accumulate and its most cowardly malice ; ridicule may constitute law. What yesterday was fact, is doctrine. wing its most delicate and sharpest today Examples are supposed to justify the most dangerous measures, and shaft poisoned to its point with the where they do not suit exactly, the defect is keenest wit; caricature may sketch in supplied by analogy. Be assured that the its boldest outline its most grotesque laws which protect us in our civil rights and startling figures; patriotism may grow out of the Constitution, and they must fall or flourish with it. This is not the cause use again its time-honored platit\ides of faction or of party or of any individual, expressed in its purest English and but the common interest of every man in finest rhetoric, yet this question will this whole country.

Solution

'T^HE SOUTH POLE—What use would we be if discovered? -^ The North Pole—I suppose the President might use me for a big stick. President Roosevelt— ^' Now, Wilson, I want you to clean out every vestige of graft in the Agricultural Department." Warren-, in Boston Herald T. S. Sullivant, in N. Y. American

''Consarn 'em, I've got to watch 'em all the time!" DonaAey, in Cleveland Plain Dealer October, 1905—8—497 * ThePeople

Our readers are requested to be as brief as possible in their welcome letters to the Magazine, as the great number of communications daily received makes it in^possible to publish all of them or even to use more than extracts from many that are printed. Every effort, however, will be made to give the people all possible space for a direct voice in the Magazine, and this Department is freely open to them.

Marion Nelson, Tatum, Tex. tion. You have many admirers in this I am sorry that your Magazine is not in country. You are stronger here than ever the hands of every lover of liberty in these before. The principles you advocate are United States. popular. I reserved two sample numbers. I read one of them from start to finish. I gave the other one to a gentleman in another com- W. T. Stewart, Thomaston, Ga. munity, and will now give the one I have to I am devoted to you and proud of you as a a neighbor to read and pass it around great leader of a noble cause. through the country in hopes of getting at I know, as we might say, you have been least a few subscribers. thrown into the fiery furnace and cast into the lion's den, but you have shown your faith true for the right cause, and the great William E. Pope, Knoxville, Tenn. nation is beginning to wake up to the fact Your Magazine is the worthy work of a that the cause you advocate is the only worthy man toiling for the greatest good of political salvation of this country. the greatest number. I take the Magazine and consider it the finest reading matter I ever saw. You didn't even leave enough of Booker T. Washington to tell what went with the balance. J. S. Lee, Jr., Trout Creek, Mont. Through my life I have been a careful stu- Success to you and the Magazine. dent of history, both sacred and profane, and have watched the struggles of the common people for education and liberty, and P. H. Larey, Battelle, Ala. the crushing effects of tyranny upon them. Your Magazine is on the right line to The dawn of liberty was the master force arouse the common people to a proper sense of our Revolution, and woe to the tyrannical of the political condition of the country and government that attempts to stay its prog- the absolute necessity of present action. ress. The unseen intelligent forces govern- The ballot must come to the relief of an op- ing the universe have so ordered it, and pressed people in a few years hence, or the though this earth be deluged with the blood irrepressible conflict ynW be settled with the of man, yet those who remain will be free bayonet. Patriots prefer the former solu- and equal and the mighty work will be tion. Will the Hamiltonian spirit force a accomplished in this century. resort to the latter? I approve your course, your methods. If the people can be aroused from their lethargy

S. P. Dinsvioor , Lucas, Kan. the country can be saved. The Magazine is O. K. I could not improve it, but I think a stronger position on Government banking would help. C. E. Reevjs, Benton Harbor, Mich. I note what you have to say in your June Magazine in "Our Creed" in regard to na- W. M. Hunter, Liberty, La. tional money. I want to indorse all you I want to congratulate you for your loy- say. alty to those principles that lead you out of You remember John Wanamaker's four the Democratic Party and on account of reasons why the parcel post, which he your persistent efforts to educate the people recommended, was not adopted. The rea- up to that high standard of patriotism that sons were the Four Great Express Com- will enable them to shake off the shackles panies. In the same way the bankers are that bind them to boss rule and class legisla- the reasons why we get no currency reforms. 498 LETTERS FROM THE PEOPLE 499

John S. Buiiner, Rockwell City, la. racy, vibrate to the uttermost borders of I am much pleased with your fearless this, be borne across the seas of other conti- Magazine and would not be without it at any nents, spreading its light to the torpid, price. spiritless people that better days may draw nigh, a more complete self-mastery, fuller

freedom ; that our day of twenty-four hours P. Harlow, Spokane, N. Y. shall be thus divided : Eight hours for labor, I like your editorials, and the stories in eight hours for sleep and rest, eight hours for first class. your Magazine are contemplation, character-building, recrea-. tion, reading, and so on; that righteousness shall shortly reign as summer sunlight on the A . Page, Rodi Port, Miss. hills; that Justice shall be enthroned in I never saw any literature that I think every land; that all true relations may be half as much of as I do of the Magazine. It recovered and established among mankind fills the bill. Nothing can beat it. Nothing and nations; and that God may reign, can fill the place of this wonderful work. supreme and splendid, over a people delight- No man will dare reply fo it in the way of ing in His law and enjoying the reasonable criticisms. I have shown those magazines to service and worship that we all owe unto several Democrats and they frankly ac- Him. knowledged that they never saw anything I wish you the harmony of health, the to compare with it. inspiration of a full current of ennobling thoughts, the illumination that cometh from an acquaintance with the Divine Gov- J. M. Hall, Hamilton, N. Y. ernment as It sways the universe in move- Tom Watson's Magazine is always a wel- ments majestic and orderly. come guest. If it has any fault it is in its binding. Joe Henry Eagle, Houston, Tex. Your editorial on the question "Is the yantes B. Lloyd, Tarboro, N. C. Black Superior " The Magazine shows improvement with Man to the White? appearing in the June number of your Magazine, every issue. I read, with interest, Mr. Tib- is a classic gem—Southern and American bles's article. I had a suspicion that " some- and philosophic to the core. Allow me to thing was rotten in the State of Denmark" congratulate you, and also to wish the Maga- before his letter appeared in Watson's zine a full measure of success. Magazine. No reform can ever be accomplished through the Southern Democratic Party. It is corrupt now, and always has A. Leary, South Norwalk, Conn. been so. It has no principle now, nor will I like the Magazine immensely and shall ever have any. do whatever is possible to promote its success. I am proud of the fact that I am one " Theodore C. Yinkans, Washington, Ind. of the "old guard that held aloft the banner of Populism in this State since I am a subscriber to your Magazine, and 1884, and have been on the "firing line" ever since. am well pleased with it. Populist doctrine always pleases me. I have been voting that ticket all my life since I have been a voter. G. S. Floyd, Seattle, Wash. My opinion, favorable in every respect, for D. H. Welch, Winchester, III. but would not suggest improvements the I am still in the field for battle for the reason that the business part of the enter- true Populist principles. Always ready to prise is of prime consideration, and that I do my duty. I am an old ex-Union soldier know comparatively nothing about it; I and a Peter Cooper Greenbacker. Always would say, however, that the fiction used in on the line ready to fight. Can't be whipped such a publication I consider a kind of neces- or bluffed. Now is our time to fight. The sary evil. enemy is getting scared. The Democrats in my State are coming to the Populists ask- Henry L. Clark, Utica, N. Y. ing their advice. I am a disciple of what is, to me, the new political faith, and read eagerly every word John McBoyle, Lowe, Ida. on political subjects contained in your glori- I have the copies of your Magazine issued ous Magazine each month. I have realized for March, April, May, 1905, but am now for a long time that something was wrong, far inland on a ranch claim. The three but kept along in the ranks of the Repub- copies I have seen are strong, true and able. lican Party, blind to my own interests and May I bespeak for your Magazine success, to those of the people about me. Now I the wish and hope that it shall grow and in- have awakened to life and begin to under- crease as the months pass by? May it ring stand a little of what the something is that clear as a flawless bell for genuine Democ- is wrong. 500 TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE

K. Graham, Rohinsonville, Ala. Irl Dean, Summer, la. I have received every copy of your Maga- I am and shall remain an advocate of the zine and am more than pleased. I am proud Populist principles for all time. of it. You are hitting the nail on the head and making the sparks fly. The Populist doctrine is growing and be- W. M. Barnum, Director "Barnunt's Mid- coming more fixed every day. land Farmer," St. Louis, Mo. " As to The Magazine—"more power to it! We are quoting and commending almost every issue. I hope to yet vote for Watson Buck Barry, Walnut Springs, Tex. for President. Though nearing my eighty-fourth (84) year, nearly blind, and have to do my reading and writing through the eyes and ears of Tom J. Erwin, Mount Vernon, Ind. is I so others, there nothing appreciate I appreciate all the numbers. I think the as the corresponding contributors to highly July number is a hummer. Keep up the

. to vigilantly at your Magazine They seem be good fight. I hope to see you some day at work trying to unearth the truth from be- the head of this Government. Ever yours neath the rubbish that has been heaped for the cause of reform. upon it by political idiots and the indifference of the masses of the people, heaped upon it by the aspiring politician, pride and arro- E. J. Anglen, Canton, Mont. deceptive fraud, gance, falsehood and Tom Watson's Magazine is good enough greed and, I might say, treason avaricious for me. The only thing to make it win is to individual liberty and free government. to get everybody to read it. Brother Populists, liberty free equal Without individual and after you read the Magazine pass it along to rights, free government is a farce. I hope your neighbor and have him read it. Don't will not suspend work until the slow you keep it lying on the table. I have three or and tardy steps of truth will finally over- four read mine. take and put to flight the falsehoods and deceptive frauds that have been oppressing productive labor for so many years. R. A. Dague, Alameda, Cat. I admire your Magazine so much because I like your Magazine very much. You it seems that you have planted it firmly on are doing a great and good work. the platform that God Almighty made for His people to stand upon—that platform is ''Truth, Right and Justice." It is the plat- Richard S. Rogers, Winamac, Ind. form upon which Jesus Christ sacrificed His Have read every copy of your Magazine life trying to carry it out ; it is the platform along with eight or ten others. We take it that we should all strive to enthrone to rule through our local news agent. Make all over posterity. It is the just, right and your Magazines as good as the August num- sacred debt that we owe to the coming gen- ber, and she is a winner. erations, and none but the miscreant or the traitor to free government by the people will repudiate it. Stephen Lends, Martin's Ferry, O. I must say that I enjoy reading your editorial comments very much, and your way Hill, Kendalia, Va. O. D. W. of calling things by their right name. Tom Watson's Mag.a.zine is so good, so I do not like the color of the cover of your full truth wisdom, that I can hardly of and Magazine, and would like to see the color it. times see how we could improve The changed. call and call and call for some true patriotic men like Tom Watson who will stand up for the right as God gives them to see the right John Lloyd, Madisonville, Ky. and fight the battles for God's "great com- I was one among the first to subscribe. I mon people" and truth and righteousness. could not get along without Tom Watson's Liberty and Equity is the heritage of all the Magazine. people, and if the Republic of Washington is perpetuated the principles as advocated "The Advocate," El by Tom Watson must become the policy of George F. Fullinwider, our Government. They are the voiced prin- Dorado, Kan. Magazine and heartily indorse ciples of a government of all the people by I like the advocates and the teaching all the people. the principles it it inculcates. I believe the time is coming when the financial strongholds of this coun- that John B. Gibson, Yatesville, Ga. try will crumble, the gigantic fortunes melt away Inasmuch as I regard Mr. Watson as the have been wrung from the people the foremost writer of political thoughts of to- like frost before the noonday^ sun and their rights. In day, so do I, in like manner, estimate his common people will have Magazine. order to bring this about, however, the very LETTERS FROM THE PEOPLE 501

reforms and the principles of the PopuUsts stupendous job, I sincerely hope you may will have to be not only adopted by a few, live long and grow in courage and faith to but inaugurated and engrafted into our continue the good work so ably commenced. Government, national, State and municipal, Oh, that we had a few more Tom Watsons the great wall, which was constructed by to show up the greed, corruption and base the iniquitous McKinley tariff, will have to idolatry in high places! If I were able I be razed and, in fact, there must take place would subscribe for roo copies of your Maga- the greatest political reform the world has zine just to distribute. I would like to keep ever known. I look for all of it; I hope for my own and file them away for future refer- and confidently expect it. ence, but I could never keep a good thing, and they go to others as soon as read. I do hope that you will get at the head of this E. B. Lamb, Grundy Center, la. great nation, for even that, I feel, will not be Your Magazine is gaining a large demand reward sufficient for your devoted labors in here. The newsdealer's supply gave out its behalf. the second day.

C. B. Kenton, Rensselaer, Ind. William C. Green, Orlando, Fla. I am much pleased with your work through I like your writings very much. You the medium of the Magazine and confident wield a trenchant and fearless pen, and your of its results, especially in advocating gov- work must do good. I do not agree with you ernment ownership of railroads. as to your conclusions in a political way.

Joel M. Berry, National Military Home, Ohio. C. F. Younkin, Great Bend, Kan. We are in sympathy with all publications I have been reading your paper and like that take scientific truth and reason for their it very much. In "Good Old Barton" basis with Equal Rights to all and special the People's Party not all County men have privileges to none. gone to oblivion, and Kansas people are still I have introduced the Magazine to sev- loyal to the principles of good, sound doc- eral of my comrades here in the Home, and trine enunciated in the People's Party prin- so far have heard nothing but words of ciples. cheer in its favor. No amount of investiga- party has served a great purpose The in tion can injure the truth, and the oftener a bringing the great demands of the people to truth is repeated the brighter it shines. the front. are great There many changes Nothing should be taught as true that can- that will eventually come, and we cannot not be demonstrated. All should be taught expect it from the two older parties that that there is nothing too sacred to be inves- have been in power these many years. tigated, nothing too holy to be understood. trust that you will push the shots We Intelligence is the only light. It enables us straight from the shoulder, and that your to keep the highway, to avoid obstructions Magazine will continue to grow in strength and to take advantage of the forces of nature. and popularity in the minds of the masses It is the only lever capable of raising man- of the people. kind. To develop the brain is to civilize the L. H. McAteer, Columbia, S. C. world. The noblest occupation is to search As I have been an admirer of your policies, for truth ; and with a truthful Magazine, and am in full sympathy with you, believing such as Thomas E. Watson's, to publish them that if your Magazine were circulated in, a vast amount of good may be done in a throughout this State, you would make very neat way. many friends that do not know you. If you will send me a number of your Maga- 5. A. Hauser, Winston, N. C. I will all I zines circulate them and do I can see no reason why the Populist and can at spare moments to get them to read Socialist should not join forces and sweep your Magazine. If they will read it, no the country in 1908. It can be done, and question but that it will be one more added why not do it? There ought to be mighty to your support. I would be pleased to efforts to unite the Socialist and Populist, assist in circulating it. I am a mechanic Grangers, union laborers, or organized labor and have to be at my post every day, like of every kind. Remember, in union there is all poor men with large families, but I will strength. "United we stand: divided we put in a word for you every chance I get. fall." In the multitude of counsel there is safety.

M. H. Cole, Morgan, Tex. I have just been reading your editorials in E. U. Zellers, Athens, III. the August number of your Magazine, and I write you to express my appreciation of am constrained to write and congratulate your Magazine, which I have read with great you on the ability and courage displayed satisfaction. therein. While I think you have tackled a Beginning with the first number, your 502 TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE argument on the money question, and your B. M. Billings, Osage City, Kan. remedy for the trust evil by government The article by Albert Griffin, of Topeka, ownership seems to me to be exactly right, has brought up to my mind that old war but there is one evil, to my mind the greatest horse and his past history, as I have known of all in the world today, that in all your of him and his works. I heartily indorse heroic battle for humanity you have not every word he has written in the cause of touched. I refer to the saloon evil or liquor reform. Your editorials are fine. The more traffic. Would you be willing to write an you lambast the old Pluts the better you editorial on this question and publish in will suit me. I look upon Folk and FoUette your Magazine? I vote the Prohibition and Douglas as men worthy of all praise, and ticket and would like, for the sake of the I would like to see the two former with oppressed of this country, to support Popu- Tommy in senatorial halls to shake up the list principles also. Cannot we reformers dry bones of that ossified plutocratic assem- get together by supporting everything good bly till the very walls should cry out for a and fighting all evil? change in the system that foists upon the nation a body of legislators that have no sympathy for the cause of the people. George N. Falconer, Denver, Col. I look to see great good come from the I have read several copies of your Maga- Magazine, and say godspeed to it in its zine; also your "Napoleon" and "Story of course of educating the people. France." Nothing, however, has appealed to me so strongly as that editorial of yours A. T. Cole, Fargo, N. D. in the August number, "Convalescent." By I have been a reader of your Magazine, God! That page is surely from the story of beginning with the first number issued. I your heart! That is great writing! But am a "wicked Republican," and therefore greater still is the man capable of writing may differ with you as to party in politics, such a life. I am your friend, Tom—always, but I believe I am in accord with you in here's my hand! principle, and also believe that the same is I shall take great pleasure in advancing true of a vast majority of the people when the sale of your Magazine. they read your Magazine with the view of getting something good out of it, instead of finding a place for captious criticism. E. Reed, ColUnsville, Tex. J. I am reading with care your editorials I am a Democrat of the Jeflersonian type, from month to month, and while sometimes but I have been a constant and candid the language seems a little "vigorous," yet reader of your Magazine from its very incep- it certainly has a sound ring, and I believe tion, and believe it is destined to become the will do much good. most popular and instructive magazine of It is comforting to note that your editorials America and, therefore, a potent factor in are not aimed at the common, everyday, the reorganization of the reform of the Pop- petty larceny criminals, whom everybody ulist Party. Mr. Watson, from the signs of seems to think it popular to condemn, but the times we believe there is a reform wave at the " eminently respectable grafters" and coming, and that your efforts in behalf of thieves in high places, who, although many reform are to be crowned by a term in the of them are now being exposed, seem to be nation's highest executive chair. Pardon able to so manipulate things, in court and the personality, but I believe that you are outside, that they escape prosecution in most more followed by the masses than any other instances, and where prosecutions are had man in American politics. You are spoken they fail to convict, because many of these are of with respect by all people regardless of undertaken only in a "Pickwickian" sense. party or party affiliations. I am not an alarmist, but our entire country certainly needs a shaking up and a. "cleaning out," and nothing needs this Dickey, St. Joseph, Mo. J. B. "going over" worse than our courts. In I have been a reader of your Magazine the judgment of the writer, we have the best from the first number and I find it to be a judicial system in the world, but it is sadly persistent advocate of the genuine Demo- in need of a sifting out of its incompetents cratic doctrine of "Equal rights to all; spe- and corrupt members—and they are many. cial privileges to none," and no party, no I desire to say, still as a "wicked Repub- matter under what name it fights its bat- lican," that it is certainly comforting to think tles, can ever expect to reform and purify that we have at least one magazine^ edited the politics of the country so long as its by a man who is not afraid to call things by legislation favors the few to the detriment their right names, in good, plain and vigor- of the many. I voted for W. Bryan twice. J. ous English. In the last election I voted for you. If you continue to advocate the measures of reform which you now indorse—and I have no doubt /. P. Taylor, Winston-Salem, N. C. that you will—in 1908 the party that em- I think it is the most successful Magazine bodies them in its platform, no matter under I know of. It is telling what everyone ought what name, will be triumphant. to know. Atlanta, Ga., August 17, 1905. bers of that honorable body would then, Hon. Thomas E. Watson, Thomson, Ga. perhaps, demand something more than a Sir: Will you please answer for me the pocketful of free passes before they sold out. following questions in the Educational De- The most amazing thing about the present partment of your Magazine ? situation is the low price which corpora- (i) What are the principal bills that have tions pay for legislative votes. The South- been killed by the Georgia Senate that were em members who annually sell themselves passed by the House of Representatives to Northern capitalists are certainly the that, in your opinion, were for the good of cheapest lot of rascals on the face of the the State and for the benefit of the people? earth. (2) Could the State of Georgia get along They don't get as much from Sam Spen- without a Senate and only have the Lower cer and J. Pierpont Morgan and August Bel- House? And if so, what steps could be mont and Tom Ryan as the niggers used to taken by the people to do away with the get in the carpet-bag legislatures of Recon- Senate ? struction times. Third Question. lobbyist (3) Which does the lobbyist watch closer, —The watches the House or the Senate? both Houses the closest. He never bats an either. (4) Do you think a judge should have the eye on He comes to the Capital on power to stop proceedings in the midst of a the same train which brings the honorable case and tell the jury to make a verdict? member himself. If anything, he gets into Would it not be better to leave the matter the Capital "a leetle ahead" of the honor- with the jury? able member. And he becomes at once the joUiest friend the makes. (5) Can the Supreme Court of Georgia new member He reverse the decision of any Georgia jury, is flush and spends freely. The new mem- and if so, why have trial at all by jury? ber finds himself smoking ten-cent cigars, Why not make briefs of the case and send drinking stomach-stirring beverages, eating to the Supreme Court? In other words, rarely delicious dishes and having a good does the Supreme Court not impair trial by time generally without it costing him a cent. jury? Have we had a Supreme Court as And then the free rides! Oh, how that long as other courts? If not, please give luxurious seat in the Pullman does make us the origin and motive for the Supreme the Spartan virtues cave in! Court. Then, when a certain little bill bobs up Do all States have jury commissioners, in the House, how easy it is for the jolly as Georgia has, to put names in the jury lobbyist to persuade the honorable member box? Do you think the Georgia system is that the author of the bill is a demagogue, are long- fair ? If not, tell us how it can be improved that the corporations the most upon. Very respectfully, suffering victims political persecution has ever known, and that any measure calculated to interfere with their conduct of their own business, in their own way, will be the ruin of "widows and orphans" throughout First Question.— I would not undertake to the land. mention all the good bills which the Georgia But while the corporations watch and Senate has killed after the House had passed control both Houses, the Upper House, being them, but the number is considerable. As smaller and being the house of final resort, a general thing, the House of Representa- is their especial hope, reliance and bulwark. tives is in closer touch with the people than Count the number of railroad lawyers in the the Senate is and responds more promptly Senate and you will see what's what. to the will of the people. Fourth Question. —The modem way of try- Second Question. —The State of Georgia ing law cases is not much better than spit- could probably manage to worry along with- ting at a mark; but so long as we grind out the Senate, but as long as political con- away on the present system, it is well enough ditions remain as they are the corporations to let the judge stop a case when the evi- would control legislation just as they do dence shows such a state of things as makes now. Lobbyists would concentrate their rule of law clearly applicable and decisive attention upon the Lower House, and mem- of the restilt. 503 504 TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE

Fifth Question. —The Supreme Court of Georgia has the legal right to interfere with the verdict of a jury under certain condi- The above is very suggestive. Orthodox tions only. For instance, if the verdict is journals do not publish things of that sort, without evidence to support it, or is con- for the reason that they are dangerous. trary to the evidence, or is plainly and de- The huge system of class-robbery called cidedly against the greater weight of the Protection is built upon false pretenses. evidence. This does not impair the right American manufacturers are shielded from of trial by jury. The purpose is to prevent foreign competition upon the pretense that the abuse of the right of trial by jury. The the "pauper labor of Europe" is a menace jury remain masters of the situation to a to American labor and that protective tar- very great extent, because tJiey are sole iffs enable American capitalists to pay judges of the facts, and most cases turn upon higher wages than are paid abroad. the facts. If this claim were well founded and the We have not had a Supreme Court as long tariff schedules were framed solely with the as we have had other courts. At first we view of protecting American labor, it would had a convention of lower court judges, be sufficient in each case to levy a Custom whicli acted in the place of a Supreme Court. House duty equal to the difference between This was found to be unsatisfactory, and it American wages and foreign wages. was thought best to have the higher court Is the tariff ever fixed on that basis? organized as a separate body, with a fixed Never. place of sitting and a fixed membership; A few years ago I made a study of this hence the present tribunal. phase of the protective system and discov- All States have some method of choosing ered some facts which illustrate the true names for the jury box, but they are not all spirit of all tariffs. like ours. In Georgia the system is liable The market price of steel rails was then to great abuses. The judge usually names 537-50 per ton. The tariff duty was $17 as jury commissioners the men who are fa- per ton. vored by the most influential lawyers at the If the duty was put there for the benefit Bar, and the commissioners so chosen some- of the American wage-earner, he should times reflect the personal, professional or have got $17 per ton for the labor involved political bias of the lawyers who secure their in turning out a ton of steel rails. appointment. How much did he get? He got $4.09! Populists throughout Georgia were thrown In the production of pig iron, the price out of the jury boxes by wholesale during being $11 per ton, the tariff duty was $6.72 the hot times of 1892, 1893 ^^^ 1894, and and labor got $1.64. many of these names have never been re- A car wheel of 500 pounds sold for $13. stored to the lists. The tariff duty was $12.50. An improvement in the present method Now, how much do you suppose the la- would be to have the jury commissioners borer got for his work in producing the wheel ? chosen by direct vote of the people. He got 85 cents. The illustrations could be continued in- definitely. They prove the true inward- ness of all tariffs—to enrich one class at the expense of all others. Chicago, August 17, 1905. Senator Beck, of Kentucky, challenged the Protectionist senators to levy the tariff Mr. Tom Watson. duties so as to give to American laborers the Sir: I think Dear an answer to the fol- full protection of 50 per cent, which it was lowing would interest a great many of your claimed would be necessary to equalize readers. What, if any, effprt has ever been wages here and in England. made in Congress on behalf of workingmen The Protectionist senators did not accept to secure a duty on labor equal to the the challenge. amount of the protection which the manufactured articles may get in the industry in which the labor is employed? In other words, the contention of the writer is that Thomas E. Watson, New York. if shoes are protected by a duty of 25 per cent., the manufacturers ought to be com- Dear Sir: (i) Would you advise a young pelled to pay a duty of 25 per cent, on man to spend four years in college securing every dollar they expend for labor that is a general education before specializing on sold to them by men who are not citizens one study or occupation? either by nativity or naturalization of this (2) Which is preferable, the law school or country. the law office in order to study law? If I have sent this question to many of the you had your life to go over, would you go to leading newspapers of this country, but no a law school for your law education? reply was ever vouchsafed. (3) What do you think of the journalistic Yours truly, field for a young man, provided he is first fit to be an editor? What do you think of —

EDUCATIONAL DEPARTMENT 505

law for a young man who is willing to work? ASHEVILLE, FlA., AugUSt 2, I905. Which would you prefer? Thomas E. Watson, Esq., New York. (4) Do you believe it essential to read Dear Sir: I desire to know, through the much fiction in order to get a deep and Educational Department of your Magazine, thorough knowledge of human nature and the effect on international trade should this life? Please give your opinion of Hugo's Government discontinue the use of gold and "Les Miserables." silver coin and gold and silver certificates and adopt a money system based on the Government's credit. Yours truly,

First Question.— I would not. If you are going to specialize, don't waste four years in Here's another wayfaring brother who is a general course in college. Unless you your- afraid that we may get hold of a currency self expect to become a professional teacher, which will not be "good in Europe." you only need a thorough English education Why not let Europe sweat over this ques- as a basis for specializing for an occupation a while? Should we eternally talk in tion. our sleep about things which Europe may Second Question.—A law office school is like or not like? Why not fix things as the better training, provided you study as we want them and then let Europe hitch on ? well as work and do not linger as office During the campaigns of the nineties I clerk too long. used to hear fog-horn Democrats, whose No. If I had my life to go over I would available cash assets had never amounted to study twelve months with some successful ten dollars, almost froth at the mouth as lawyer, learning how office business is done, they proclaimed their determination to have how papers are drawn, etc., and then I "a currency which will be good in Europe." would branch out for myself. Being interpreted, this meant gold, of course. Third Question.—I think so highly of jour- Answering my Florida friend, I beg to nalism and law that I have dipped into both. suggest that international trade balances are Journalism is a noble field, rich in reward rarely paid in coin. Credits are transferred, of many kinds. "The tools to him who drafts drawn, bills of exchange furnished, etc. can use them." If you have the talent to Nearly all great American financial insti- be an editor, sail in. tutions have European correspondents or I know one editor who earns and gets branch houses—and vice versa. $47,000 per year. I know others who make With the utmost ease any amount which and get less. an American owes in Europe can be paid In confidence, I don't mind telling you in European money provided the American Amer- that I am one of these "others." first satisfy the American banker with As to law, it was my first love. I stuck ican money. In like manner, any sum to it for twenty-odd years. The fees I made which a European owes to an American on in the court-house would amount to a great a trade balance can be paid in American deal more than my weight in gold. If I money («o matter what that money may be), were once more a young man I think I provided he first satisfy the European should again prefer the law. banker with European money. that Fourth Question.—It is doubtful whether My Florida friend should remember you would ever learn much about human this business of international exchange is a nature and life from reading fiction. Sir regular part of the banking business. Walter Scott, for example, was a Tory, But I must add that the Populists do not Charles Dickens a hopeful Democrat, Thack- demand the "discontinuance" of gold and eray a good-humored cynic and Bulwer a silver as money. We stand for the money star-gazing idealist. of the Constitution as that instrument has Could you really come to know human been construed by the Supreme Court papers. nature and life by reading all these men gold, silver and full legal tender Madi- wrote? I doubt it. One month in New This was the currency of Jefferson, of York City during the winter would teach son, of Jackson, of Lincoln. that you more than all these novels. The People's Party merely demands Victor Hugo's "Les Miserables" is a mas- the system of currency devised by our fa- terpiece of its kind, a wonderfully pathetic thers and practiced by our greatest men be story of suffering and sacrifice. restored to us. — — —— — — —

" We believe that the United States ought partments of the several States. In general to establish a parcels service. There are it may be rudely stated that the insurance instances in which the express companies officers blackmail the insurance companies depend upon the Post-Office Department or that the insurance companies own the for facilities for which they charge the public insurance officers. Here in this State the extortionate rates. Cleveland Leader." best opinion is that the latter practice has The demand for a parcels post, as voiced prevailed, and that the whole legislative through the newspapers of the country, is relation of the State to insurance has been becoming stronger than ever. Other ad- practically controlled by the companies. vanced nations have long made the trans- The law has been framed at their dictation portation of parcels part of the work of their and has been administered at their discretion. post-office departments, and the Leader —New York Sun. argues that the service could be made to pay its way from the start. New York Herald. The Philadelphia gang of pirates, with their heads just a little above the water, are shouting to each other, "The tide is closed In Norway on payday saloons are running our way now." Yes, and the are open until midnight. and savings banks penitentiary will be running the same way Servant girls hire for half a year at a before the run is over. Valley View, East public registry office. time by contract at Grand Forks, Minn. There is a telegraph box on every street car. Write message, put on right number of stamps and drop into the box. Young farmers can borrow money from of the Government at 3 per cent. Phil Stern, a former member Mayor Illiterates: Two men in 1,000 in Sweden, Knight's Civil Service Commission, has an- three in Norway and Denmark, seventy- nounced his candidacy for Mayor on the eight in Russia, which wants to "improve" Democratic ticket. In a statement given Norway and Sweden by dividing and con- to the press yesterday Mr. Stem gives his quering them; 13.6 even in England. views on some reforms in municipal govern- Chicago Evening Post. ment. Whether or not Mr. Stem will ever be nominated for Mayor is difficult to an- ticipate, but his statement is interesting to the new generation of voters. Not that It is a great mistake to suppose that he has advanced any particularly new ideas every rich man is money-mad, for maiiy as to needed reforms, but his views indicate rich men are money-sick, and it is a still that he is thinking along the right line. He greater mistake to suppose that the only has the democratic idea of popular govern- money-mad people in the world are rich ment, and it is an excellent thing to observe people. A man who is poor but bent on that the younger men are giving thought becoming rich is much more likely to be to those questions. Buffalo Evening Times. money-mad than a man who has an independent fortune, only he shows it in a different way. A man of large fortune who is money-mad shows it by his continued ac- The Diamond Match Trust recently de- tivity in money-making. The poor man who clared a dividend of 25 per cent, on $15,000,- is money-mad shows it by envying and 000 capital stock. This is the result of a hating those who are more successful. protective tariff that prohibits the importa- Chicago Chronicle. tion of matches made in other countries into this country. The men who make the matches do not derive any benefit from it, Nothing, not even the Equitable scandal but the Trust stockholders are adding to itself, furnishes so strong an argument in their millions and the fool people foot the favor of the Federal regulation of life insur- bills, just to save their old parties. A big ance as does the general relation of the profit is in matches at forty cents a gross. insurance companies to the insurance de- Dalton {Ga.) Herald. 506 — ——— — — — —— — —

THE SAY OF OTHER EDITORS 507

The Anti-Trust law does not reach such The bill has been beaten by the human trusts as the Steel Trust. The Steel Trust is vermin sent to the Legislature, and that put one corporation, not an agreement of cor- themselves up for sale to the highest bidder. porations. Teddy, the "trust buster," has The highest bidder in this case—the only never recommended the passage of a law bidder, in fact—is the man that wants to to reach such monopolies as the Steel Trust, grind up children in his industrial slaughter- Sugar Trust, Lead Trust, etc. Missouri house. So the bill was beaten, and the World. children must go on passing through the mill and out into the graveyard until the people shall speak loudly enough to make Making money is not all there is to life. even the miserable thieves in the Legislature Neither is growing big crops all there is to hear and understand. farming. Make your home attractive. New York American. Widen the lawn and level up the holes. Make grass and shrubbery and flowers beau- Since it became fashionable for tify and adorn the premises. You will think Republican papers to expose the exactions of the trusts more of home, and your children will better enjoy staying on the farm. Farmers' Ad- and graft in public office we old Pops have enjoyed a well-earned rest. are vocate, Topeka, Kan. We patiently awaiting to see some remedies applied. When the Pops denounced the trusts they also proposed remedies, but in spite of this "Of course, it would be a bad thing to have they were bawled out of court as "calamity a Democratic President, but it would be howlers." better to have a Democrat like Folk than a What name will meet the re- Republican like Spooner, Depew, Elkins, or quirement when the party whip cracks and all the present old any of that class. Lawrence World (Re- party organs align publican)." themselves to support the same old system in the next campaign? This is another "straw" showing that the Willmar {Minn.) Tribune. tendency of the times is toward independent political action. You can scarcely pick up a paper of influence, either Democratic or Republican, that does not give expression Attorney-General Moody's statement, after his interview with the to independent sentiment. When the in- President, that " dependent voters take the place of the hide- the entire criminal law of the United bound partisans the political millennium States badly needs revision," is doubtless a will have arrived. Independent Review, reflection of the difficulty which he has Garnett, Kan. found in fitting the statutes to the offenses of Government employees. It is probably as true that the criminal codes of the various Continuous reports coming from the States need to be brought level with the in- Panama Canal prove conclusively that genious modes of evading them. Criminal political preference and graft, coupled with prosecution of certain financial buccaneers horrible sanitary conditions, are about the would be easier, and more likely to result in best the people are getting out of the gold convictions, if the law more precisely fore- brick foisted upon them by the DeLesseps, saw and penalized their operations. The aided by J. Pierpont Morgan and a few of his efforts of delinquents to steer clear of the friends. Ex Porte, Florence, Col. law are not unlike the old struggle between the maker of guns and the maker of armor. Each has to study the improvements of The Legislature of the State of Georgia the other. There have been many refine- has rejected a child labor bill intended to ments in the methods of our superior protect thousands of children of tender age criminals, and there is little doubt that the from premature death in the factories. laws should be more carefully drawn, so as to Thousands of young lives are being gradu- prevent their slipping through the meshes. ally turned into dollars in the mills of the New York Evemng Post. State. The money-owners that have built the mills are delighted with their dividends. Would you_ believe a man who had done The cotton is there Cheap. nothing but lie to you for the past forty The little child lives are there in plenty years? Certainly not. Then why will you Dirt Cheap. go on believing the Republican and Demo- If those thousands of children were taken, cratic parties? Both of these old parties killed painlessly, made into sausages and are notorious liars. National Rip-Saw, St. sold in the public markets, the child-killing Louis, Mo. factories would do the very work that they are doing now. But they would do it more humanely, more kindly. Government ownership of the public high- Fortunately, the People of Georgia must ways, and the making of all money and the not be held guilty for this crime against control of its quantity, are two things that human nature. seem to us necessary to stop the "system" — — — ——

508 TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE in its high-handed career. Mr. Lawson only in the degree of punishment. A negro can see no relief outside the stock market. steals a ham and is sent to the penitentiary; According to Mr. Lawson, reUef will not a senator steals a whole county and a rail- come from the courts, because, as he ex- road and gets a fine and a bundle of sympa- plains, corporations "do not hesitate to thetic telegrams sent by his colleagues on a suborn perjury, bribe juries and pay judges frank. Marietta (Ga.) Courier. for favorable decisions." So without hope from courts or the ballot, he seems to rely on the cure of refusing to buy stocks or bonds. Last February J. J. Eager, State Chair- The cure is to take possession of our own man of the People's Party, of Texas, ap- and use our ballots. Plutocracy, the greed pointed Hon. H. L. Bentley, of Abilene, of gain and the tendency of the strong to Tex., as State Organizer. Mr. Bentley oppress the weak can only be prevented by began work in April. On June 5 Chairman the people. If they fail to do the governing Eager issued a proclamation fixing July 15 they must expect to be ground to dust. as the day for Texas Populists to meet and, Plutocracy or Democracy: One must rule. in their several school districts, organize —American Standard, Frankfort, hid. Old Guard Clubs. On August 1 5 Organizer Bentley reported that clubs had been organized in 102 counties, and that he was in close touch with 39 other counties where once had a The express companies mo- clubs could soon be formed. In the 102 nopoly of transmitting money and charged counties there were 277 clubs fully organized rates for the service. Then the exorbitant "or in definite process of organization," Government went into the business and and Mr. Bentley had letters from 71 other express companies reduced the rates. The clubs, where enrollment had been done, but to the Government were compelled to come the crop season being on, the members had get any business. Now, why rates or not postponed election of officers. Organizer to its postal sys- can't the Government add Bentley confidently expects to have an to ten tem the carrying of parcels, say up Old Guard Club fully organized and hold- telegraph or twelve pounds weight, and a ing regular meetings, in at least 1,000 and telephone system? The latter are just Texas school districts by January i , 1 906. former. as legitimate and necessary as the —Abridged from Cleburne {Tex.) Watch- In England they have the parcels post and m-an. the Government telegraph, and they save (Tom Watson's Magazine hastens to the people millions of dollars. A majority congratulate Mr. Bentley upon this splendid of postmasters-general have recommended showing, and desires to urge upon Texas it and the people demand it, yet the Con- Populists the necessity of assisting him gress fails to enact the necessary laws. financially and otherwise in the great work Wabaunsee Picayune, Alma, Kan. he has so well begun. Send Mr. Bentley a $5 bill if you can spare it—or Si, 50 cents, 25 cents, as fits the case. It will be wisely The Panama Canal will become an expended for the cause of Populism, in per- educator. After the completion of the fecting an organization which can be a great Canal every subscriber to the Ohio Liberty power in 1906 —and a winner in 1908. Bell will be presented with a year's sub- Don't be skeptical. Missouri was once scription free. Now's your time, don't de- hopelessly Bourbon. There are farmers lay. In the meantime, let me tell you a enough in Texas to win the day—if they story: A Pole, a Hungarian, a Bohemian, will stand together. The Editors.) three ne'er-do-wells, sauntered down the street past a pawnshop. The Pole said, "We ought to nip that gold watch"; the One of two things is certain: Bank Hungarian said, "Yes, that is a good idea"; officials who have gone wrong are wonder- the Bohemian said, "I have it." When fully smooth in covering their tracks, or else we are ready to get a parcels post or postal bank examiners are not doing their duty notes, the party in power will gobble up the properly. When crashes come, due to def- Idea and take credit for it all. Well, that alcations or reckless management, it is is what we are here for. Our forefathers, always shown that the wrongdoing has been great reformers that they were, never lived going on for months and sometimes for to see their wishes established, and sons years. In the meantime the bank has been of their opponents fulfilled their cherished examined several times. Why do the ex- reforms. Ohio Liberty Bell. aminers not find that something is crooked? If they do, why do they pass the matter in the hope that the bank can worry along Three United States senators have been somehow instead of at once protecting the indicted and two have been tried and con- depositors? It looks like examiners are victed of serious crimes involving corrup- needed who will examine. If these officials tion and graft during their administration. cannot detect mismanagement, what is the The percentage is about in the same ratio as use of having them? Rockville Republican, the ordinary criminal, the difference being Rockvtlle, Ind. COTV~N -^t J^. C. jEiJ*£>rE.TX

FROM AUGUST 8 TO SEPTEMBER 7, 1905

Government and Politics August 23. —F. A. Peckham, a New York broker, is arrested for conspiracy in August 10. —President Roosevelt addresses the Government crop report leaks. a meeting of miners at Wilkesbarre, Pa. General Wood visits President Roosevelt The New York Legislative Committee to discuss conditions in the Philippines. select James McKeen and Charles E. August 24. —The Citizens' Union asks William Hughes for counsel and Joseph H. Travers Jerome to accept the nomina- Choate as adviser in the investigation tion for Mayor of New York City, in- of insurance companies. stead of running for District Attorney. Japan presents her peace terms to the August 25. —President Roosevelt spends Russians and the convention adjourns, fifty minutes under water en the sub- pending consideration here and in marine boat Plunger. St. Petersburg. E. S. Holmes, Jr., is indicted for con- August II. —Secretary of State Root resigns spiracy to defraud the Government in as a director from several corporations the cotton reports. to be free from corporate influence. Moses Haas is indicted as one of the President Roosevelt addresses the Chau- conspirators in the crop report leaks. tauqua Assembly on the Monroe Doc- The Equitable files answer to the suit trine. brought by the State of New York, and President Roosevelt notifies Minister joins with the State in a prayer for Rockhill to warn the Chinese Govern- relief. ment not to disregard her treaty with August 30. —Secretary Bonaparte orders the United States. Captain Young and Ensign Wade August 12.—The trial of the Beef Trust is court-martialed on account of the set for October 2, at Chicago. disaster to the Bennington. The States of Louisiana, Mississippi and The New York Legislative Committee Texas raise a fund to fight yellow decides to investigate the record of fever and maintain quarantine. State Superintendent of Insurance Battleship Kansas launched at Phila- Francis Hendricks. delphia. President Roosevelt is praised by all the August 17. —The National Reciprocity con- European powers for bringing the ference forms a permanent organiza- war between Japan and Russia to an tion and arranges for a committee to end. prosecute plans for extending the General Wood declares himself in favor foreign markets of American producers. of free trade for the Philippine Islands. President Roosevelt will send ex-Minister It is generally conceded that President Conger to China to check the boycott. Roosevelt will be given the Nobel Peace Chairman Shonts admits the Isthmus of Prize, valued at $40,000. Panama to be in an unsanitary con- August 31. —The Treasury deficit reaches dition, and that commissaries must be $50,000,000. established. The Republicans, the Citizens' Union, the August 19. —Contempt proceedings are be- Municipal Ownership League and the gun against several railroads, in Kansas German-American League unite against City, for violating the rebate rulings. Tammany and will put up a candidate The United States informs China that for Mayor of Greater New York on a unless the boycott on American goods Municipal Ownership platform. is stopped, negotiations for the new September i. —The Legislative Committee treaty will be abandoned. will investigate the Equitable's loan of August 21. —The National Irrigation Con- $250,000 to the Depew Improvement gress meets at Portland, Ore. Company. The Court of Inquiry for the investigation September 2. —The envoys finish work on of the Bennington explosion orders the peace treaty. Ensign Charles T. Wade court-martialed. Mr. Jerome announces that he will not 509 510 TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE

run for Mayor of New York on any The National Reciprocity Convention ticket, but will ask for re-election as Dis- meets in Chicago. trict Attorney, as an independent. Mayor Dunne stops all tunneling in September 4. —Francis B. Loomis resigns Chicago until methods are perfected to as Assistant Secretary of State, and prevent the sinking of streets and build- Robert Bacon, of New York, is ap- ings. pointed to succeed him. One hundred and eighty-eight deaths to September 5. — President Roosevelt requests date is the yellow fever record in New Public Printer F. W. Palmer to resign. Orleans. The fever seems to be con- September 6. —Drivers of United States mail fined to Italians. wagons strike in New York City. August 20.—There are forty-five new cases Investigation of the life insurance com- and four deaths from yellow fever at panies in New York shows that the big New Orleans. mutual companies are controlled by August 22.—Seventy sailors on the Ham- one, or a few men. burg-American liner Deutschland de- Governor Folk, of Missouri, will pay his sert in New York because of the in- own railroad fare to the Lewis and human treatment of the officers in Clark Exposition, and insists that each driving a lad of seventeen years to member of his staff do the same. suicide. The Interstate Commerce Commission August 23.—Roy Knabenshue sails five finds prima facie evidence of flagrant miles over New York City in a new rebates given by the Great Northern airship. Railroad. Yellow fever spreads to several small The Maryland State Republican Con- towns near New Orleans. vention adopts a platform decrying August 24. —Seven more deaths from yellow negro domination, and expressing an fever at New Orleans. unalterable opposition to social equal- Dr. G. A. Witzhoff is arrested in New ity- York charged with having married . ... September 7. —The insurance investigation about fifty wives. shows that officers of the Mutual Life Dr. John F. Russell, of New York City, Insurance Company are interested in discovers a new cure for consumption. syndicates, and use the money of the More than fifty patients have been company for syndicate purposes. cured during the past six months. August 2 7 . —Thirteen rnore deaths from yellow fever at New Orleans. Natchez, General Home News Miss., also reports many cases. August 8. —Thirteen persons are killed by August 28.—The steamship Peconic sinks the collapse of a department store in near Femandina, Fla., and twenty of Albany, N. Y. her crew are drowned. Telegraphers on Great Northern and Five more deaths from yellow fever in Northern Pacific Railroads return to New Orleans. work, ending the strike. Total number of cases to date 1,788, and The Jews of New York City decide to pre- 260 deaths. sent an appeal to M. Witte in behalf of August 30.—Thieves remove an 800-pound their kinsmen in Russia. safe containing $20,000 worth of jewels August 10. —The Westinghouse interests from a home in Stamford, Conn. form a new syndicate which absorbs A cyclone sweeps Carbondale, Pa., de- the Niagara Power Company. stroying twenty homes; no lives were The Louisiana Board of Health reports lost. the spread of yellow fever to the sugar Yellow fever has spread from New Orleans plantations. Total number of deaths to into Mississippi. Four more deaths at date is 126. New Orleans. August 13. —Twelve persons are killed and The Subway Tavern, dedicated by Bishop twenty-five injured in a railroad wreck Potter, fails. near Lorain, O. The cattle raisers and sheep men are again Efforts are made to clean all fever-infected at war in Wyoming. Masked cattle- districts in New Orleans. men attack one sheep camp, killing August 14. —Twelve deaths result from 8,000 sheep. yellow fever at New Orleans; total to August 31. —Senator Depew pays back the date, 173. $250,000 loaned the Depew Improve- The strike of the New York bakers ends. ment Company by the Equitable. August 15. — Six more deaths from yellow Professor John Baldwin, aeronaut, is fever occur in New Orleans. blown to pieces by dynamite while August 16. —According to the report of the making experiments in a balloon 1,000 Interstate Commerce Commission there feet up in the air. are 297,973 miles of railroad track in September i. —Two thousand five hundred the United States. sheet-metal workers strike in New York landslide in a quarry at Ormrod, Pa City, work many big A , stopping on kills eighteen. buildings. NEWS RECORD 511

September 4. —Two persons are killed and the Russians to their demands and ask thirteen injured in a trolley car col- to consider each term separately. lision near Charlton, Mass. The Japanese army is in position to at- Severe storms cause much damage to tack the Russians if no agreement is shipping on the Great Lakes. The reached by the peace envoys. Scvona sinks in Lake Superior and August 13. —The Venezuelan Government seven of her crew are drowned. buys twelve batteries of Creusot guns Labor Day is observed throughout the costing $1,000,000. United States. Norway decides, by an almost unanimous September 5. —Yellow fever continues to vote, to dissolve the union with Sweden, spread in Mississippi. Deaths at New The Chinese boycott of American goods Orleans to date number 294. cannot be stopped by Chinese authori- September 7. —Three persons are killed and ties. many injured by the collapse of a August 14. —One thousand laborers in tenement house in New York City. Andalusia, Spain, are reported without The mail drivers' strike in New York City necessities of life. Troops have been fails to accomplish anything. sent to quell the riots. Colonel George Harvey dines M. Witte and Canada decides to strengthen her fortifica- Baron Rosen at the Metropolitan Club, tions at Quebec and Kingston to better New York City. guard the entrance to the St. Lawrence The thirty-ninth annual encampment of River. the G. A. R. is held in Denver. M. Witte has a conference with leading Jewish bankers of New York. Foreign The peace envoys agree on three of Japan's conditions. August 8. —A Russian gunboat destroys the The Russian Sixteenth Army Corps is town of Castelli, Crete. ordered to leave for the front on The Czar of Russia consents to call an As- August 17. sembly to enact reforms. August 15. —The peace envoys agree on two August 9. —Twenty thousand laborers strike more demands. in Riga, Russia. Many people commit crimes in Spain to be Ex- Minister Wu Ting Fang declares that put m prison where they can get food. the Chinese boycott of American goods China reports that the boycott of Ameri- is thoroughly organized and that the can goods is a failure outside of Shang- Chinese exclusion act should be modified. hai. Negotiations for peace are begun at August 16. —The Chinese Government or- Portsmouth. ders the Viceroy at Shanghai to sup- Seven more deaths result from yellow fever press the boycott on American goods. in New Orleans, making a total of 123. Panama merchants protest against estab- Striking Hebrew bakers wreck several lishing commissaries on the Isthmus. stores in New York City. British and Russian troops fight insur- August 10. —Norway reports the rescue of gents in Crete. the Ziegler Arctic expedition by a relief Plans to have Prince Charles, of Den- party under W. S. Champ. mark, elected King of Norway fail, and St. Petersburg advices state that dis- Norway will become a republic. criminating duties on American ma- August 17. —The Czar of Russia authorizes chinery will be removed. the issuance of a $100,000,000 5 per August II. —Serious famine riots spread cent. loan. throughout Spain. Because of a yellow fever epidemic, Hon- An unsuccessful attempt is made to duras will ask the United States Marine assassinate the President of the Argen- Hospital service to take charge of the tine Republic. situation. Despatches from Manila state that Secre- Chinese rebels surprise Dutch posts and tary Taft promises the Filipinos an kill several officers in the Dutch East Assembly in 1907, if no insurrection Indies. then exists. Japan is reported buying more modem guns. M. Witte rejects Japan's terms for peace. August 18. —The Peace Conference ad- August 12. socialists killed, —Two are journs to August 2 1 ; it is uncertain that eighteen wounded and 400 taken the envoys can agree on terms. prisoners near Warsaw. The Czar of Russia fixes January next as The Venezuelan Congress votes an ap- the date for an Assembly to meet. propriation of $11,000,000 to pay off Owing to its limited powers no reforms foreign debts, and increase her army are expected. and navy. The Cuban Senate refuses to open Cuban Ruins of an ancient Roman city are un- markets to American rice. earthed in Hampshire, England. The International Typographical Union American surgeons at Manila discover a adopts an eight-hour workday, to begin cure for leprosy. January i. The Japanese envoys receive the reply of Two German officers, two missionaries, one 512 TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE

bishop and seventeen Sudanese soldiers Japan will adopt the "Open Door" are massacred by the natives of German policy. East Africa. China forces the American-China Devel- August 19. — President Roosevelt holds a opment Company to sell the Canton- conference with Baron Rosen and urges Han- Kow Railroad concessions back peace. to the Chinese Government. Weather conditions have forced an August 30.—The peace treaty is being drawn armistice in Manchuria. up in proper form and will soon be The Czar appoints commissioners to dis- signed by the envoys. The people of cuss procedure for elections to the Japan- seem dissatisfied with the terms; Duma in Poland and other districts. they are also displeasing to the war August 20. —Russia decides to make no party in Russia. further concessions to Japan's de- September i. —Chinese Government issues mands. a decree declaring the boycott on Lord Curzon disapproves the new army- American goods off. administration in India and resigns; Forty-three cases of cholera are reported King Edward has appointed the Earl in Prussia. of Minto as his successor. September 2. —On account of cholera at The Japanese Cabinet meets and discusses Hamburg, Germany, emigration from peace terms. that port to the United States has August 21. —Revolt breaks out in Poland. been stopped. Eight persons are killed in Warsaw and Russia insists that Japan shall not build martial law is proclaimed. ports on La Perouse Straits. August 22. —At a public meeting in Moscow News of peace reaches the Russian army the people demand immediate civil and is gladly received. rights. The Japanese army is displeased with Russians murder eighteen Japanese sealers peace terms and fear for the present off the coast of Kamchatka. Japanese Government is felt, as the President Roosevelt brings strong pres- army rules the country. sure to bear on the envoys for peace. September 3. —Fire destroys most of Ad- Latest despatches from Tokio and St. rianople, Eiiropean Turkey. Many Petersburg indicate that both Japan lives are lost, and more than 7,000 and Russia will make more concessions. houses are burned. August 23. —Japan and Russia almost agree Revolution is feared in Japan because of the on terms. Russia declares the war will peace terms. All cables have been cut. not end if she has to pay indemnity. Secretary Taft and party reach Canton, President Roosevelt sends a long mes- China. sage to the Czar advising acceptance September 4. —One hundred persons are of Japan's terms. killed in riots at Baku, Caucasia. August 25. —The Czar of Russia replies Russian troops charge a procession of favorably to President Roosevelt's over- Jews at Kishineff, Russia, killing and tures to make concessions for peace. wounding many. Drunken Russian troops kill women and Marshall Field, the Chicago millionaire, children at Bialistok, Russia. marries Mrs. Caton, of Chicago, in August 27. —The conference of the peace London. envoys is postponed one day to allow September 5. —The treaty of peace is signed Japan time to reply to President Roose- at Portsmouth, N. H. The envoys velt's request for concessions. drink to each other's health and the The Russian army is completely blocked conference ends. by Marshal Oyama's lines. September 6. —The peace terms provoke a August 28.—Japan makes more concessions riot in Tokio, Japan, in which two to Russia, hoping to secure peace. persons are killed and 500 injured. August 29.—The envoys of Japan and Rioting continues in Kishineff, Russia. Russia agree on terms for peace. The Tartar and Armenian warring forces Japan agrees to no indemnity, and are beyond control at Baku, Trans- withdraws her claim for the interned caucasia, Russia. Russian ships in neutral ports. Russia September 7. —Mob riots in Tokio, burning yields the railroad between Port Arthur Christian churches and threatening to and Kunshien; all docks and military destroy the Government buildings. works at Port Arthur and Dalny; the The city is now under martial law. return of Manchuria to China; the re- The Tokio mob stones the home of Marquis lease of the lease on Liaotung Penin- Ito and threatens E. H. Harriman and sula, one-half of Saghalien Island. party. President Roosevelt's pressure is said Mobs continue to pillage and bum at to be mainly the cause of Japan's Baku. Despatches state that more liberality. than 1,000 persons have been killed. All Europe rejoices over the ending of the Professor Martens, the Russian legal war. adviser, states that the envoys made Prominent Japanese officials declare that a secret treaty at Portsmouth. TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE ADVERTISER

Pay Day What Does It Mean to You?

If you are in that discouraged line of men who get the same pittance week after week, yuar after year without hope or prospect of something better, it's time you appealed to the Interna- tional Correspondence Schools. Ask them how you can in your spare time, qualify for a better position, a higher salary and a safe future. They will make the way so plaifi and easy for you that your only wonder will be that every worker in the world is not following the thousands who have already reached success over this highway. Mark on the coupon the occupation j-ou prefer and mail it to the I. C. S. It costs nothing. It will surely help you some. li may make your fortioie.

INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENCE SCHOOLS, Box 907, Scranton, Pa.

Please explain, without further ob rt, how I can qualify for a larce 1 th'^ position before which I have marked X

Bookkeeper TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE ADVERTISER

a¥«aSB*tti3B3R*B£»?*»»Sfe''.w--

,ir^r*"'''^'_:--%f

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The Grea.t Intermediate Route Bet\veen THE EAST AND WEST

through Car SevVice t's Operated "Bettveen NEW YORK. BOSTON and CHICAGO ^nd ST. LOUIS. atnd with but one cha^nge to KANSAS CITY and OMAHA

.5-. All Trains are served by Dining C. C'RA.JVE

% Cars, on which service is first- Gen' I Ta^s. and UKi- Agt.

t \ "%>i^- class in every particular. ST. LOUIS. MO. — — — TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE ADVERTISER HOW ONE HAN HADE nONEY

A Story of Success.

ys the cost For Coal (even less in many cases) is the claim made for the Peck« Williamson UNDERFEED Furnace. This claim is made by Well known people Living in the coldest sections After the severest tests. A recent correspondent, referring to our UNDERFKED, stated: "I have used it for tTiepast two ivinters, heating ten rootns and an Mpper liall at a cost of $35 pev annum." Hundreds of such letters come to us. 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 cosily 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 GEORGE W. HonAN. they pass up through the fire; immunity

from gas, smoke and dirt ; less ashes and no clinkers; simple and strong in One year ago Georfre W. Honian, of 221 South Linden Street, Carthage, Ohio, was situated like thousands of youny; men who construction, easy to operate. have no particular employment. He earned little, spent it all, Let us send you FREE our UNDER- and made no progress toward that success which all youns men FEED Book and fac-simile voluntary crave. He was more than halfway satisfied with himself be- letters proving every claim we make. cause he dill not appreciate the \aiuc uf the time he was wast- ing. An idle hnur meant mi appreciable luss to him. THE PECK=WILLIAMSON CO., One (lay he picked up a paper and discovered that he couUl learn bookkeeping at Ids own home at a small cost and have Cincinnati, O. 367 W. Fifth Street, someone outside of himself interested in getting a position Dealers aru invited to write for our very attractive proposition. for him. This made him think. The result was that he wrote to the Commercial Correspondence Schools, Rochester, N. Y., for full information. After considering it carefully he took up their course. This is an extract from a letter written eight months afterward: "Thrf)ugh the knowledge I received from jour course, I was offered three tine positions. I took the one I now luive. My wages have been increased, and I am earning more than twice as much money as at first. I am now married and have money to spare and have a nice home. I owe it to you. I do not keep books at jiresent, and I tell this l)ecause one of the arguments used against my taking bookkeeiiing was 'Once a l>ookkeei)er, always one.' I said it was not so and I have jiroved it. Bookkeeping is the stepping-stone to a higher jKisition in the business world. If it were not for the knowledge 1 received from your course, I would not be where I am now in business." The Commercial Correspondence Schools will send you its free liook. "IIow to Suci-eed in Business." This is tlie book that started yir. Honian on the road to success. It tells you how you can learn liookkeeping and pay yoiu- tuition after you have been placed in a profitalile and permanent jiosition. It tells about tlie best system of accounting ever devised. It is full of valuable information that will help you succeed in life and i)ush your way forward in business. A limited number of these books will at present l)e sent UNDERFEED absolutely free to any ambitions person wlio sincerely desires to better his jiosition in life. Write to Commercial Corre- FURNACE/ spondence Schools, 147A, Commercial Bldg., Rochester, N. Y. All you need to do is to send your name and address on a postal card. You will receive the book by return mail. ' TOM WATSON'S MAOAZIXE ADVP-RTISER You Are Too Shor

IF you are short you will appreciate the unpleasant ' and humiliating position of the little man in the illustration. But you are probably unaware that it is no longer necessary to be short and uncomfortable.

The Cartilage Company, of Rochester, N. Y., is the owner of a method whereby it is possible to add from two to three inches to the stature. It is called the "Cartilage System" because it is based upon a scientific and physiological method of expanding the cartilage, all of which is clearly and fully explained in a booklet entitled " How to Grow Tall," which is yours for the asking.

The Cartilage System builds up the entire body har- moniously. It not only increases the height, but its use means better health, more nerve force, increased bodily development and longer lite, its use necessitates no drugs, no internal treating, no operation, no hard work, no big expense. Your height can be increased, no matter what your age or sex may be, iind this can be done at home without the knowledge of others. This new and original method of increasing one's height has received the enthusiastic endorsement of physicians and instructors in physical culture. If you would like to add to your height, so as to be able to see in a crowd, walk without embarrassment with those who are tall, and enjoy the other advantages of proper height, you should write at once for a copy of our free booklet "How to Grow Tall." It tells you how to accomplish these results quickly, surely and permanently. Nothing is left unexplained. After you read it, j-our only wonder will be "\\ hy did not someone think ot it before?" Write to-day. THE CARTILAGE COMPANY 147 A Unity BIdg, ROCHESTER, N.

POLITICS IN NEW ZEALAND

Some time ago Dr. Charles F. Taylor, editor of the Medical World and publisher of the "Equity Series," secured the services of Prof. Frank Parsons to gather material for "The Story of New Zea- land." The result was a large volume, carefully edited by Dr. Taylor, giving more accurate information regarding this progressive country than can be had in any half-dozen other books. But the price, $3.00, made "The Story of New Zealand" difficult to circulate among the masses, and Dr. Taylor later selected the political facts and published them in paper covers, 108 pages, at 25 cents. "My purpose," he says in the preface, "has been to place the enlightening and inspiring facts of New Zealand's government and institutions before the people of our country." One little item will be of more than ordinary interest at this time. A Government Life Insurance Department was established in 1870. Among the objects sought was the elimination of expenses and profits of insurance as far as possible, and to put the Government guarantee behind it, so that it may reach as many people and afford as much security as may be. The last official report noted in "Politics in New Zealand" was that of 1901. At that time the Government Insurance Department had in force 42,570 policies, covering $51,000,000 of insurance, or practically half of the total business of the Colony. Our own Equitable Life, so much talked of today, had been at that time doing business fifteen years in New Zealand. It had 717 policies in force! Think of it. The largest insurance company in the world in competition with the insurance department of a little colony like New Zealand, in fifteen years secured less than two per cent, as much business as came to the Government Department. The following are some of the chapters which will prove of especial interest to American reformers: The Torrens System of Title Registration; Public Telegraphs and Telephones; Postal Savings Banks; Direct Nominations; Questioning Candidates and Voting by Mail; A New Land Policy; Gov- ernment Loans at Low Interest to Farmers, Traders and Workingmen; The Labor Department; The

State Farm; The Factory Laws; The Eight Hour Day; Industrial Arbitr,ation ; Co-operation, etc., etc. We wish every reader of Tom Watson's Magazine had a copy of "Politics in New Zealand." We would like to place ten thousand copies in the hands of new subscribers. The Magazine a year and "Politics in New Zealand" sent postpaid for only $1.15. Book alone, 15 cents: Address, TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE, 121 West 42d Street, New York. — —— TOM WATSON'S MAOAZIVR ADVERTISER

Hotel Belleeiaire

Broaawag and 77th street. New Yorh. Seventh Avenue, Amsterdam Ave. andVVest 130th St. Cars pass the door. Luxurious rooms for permanent, and transient guests. Restaurant a Feature. Exquisite Palm Room. Art Nouveau Cafe. ACCIDENT Royal Hungarian PROOF Mother retires knowing Orchestra. baby's safe in an Ideal Crib. High sliding sides, closely spaced spindles, " ^Tost Artistically Beautiful Hotel in the woven vnre springs, patented rail fastener (on our World." Can offer few single rooms, with cribs only) guaranteed not to bath, beautifully furnished, suitable for two — break. Different styles people, J60 per month. and prices. Enamelled white or colors. TRANSIENT RATES: This on One Room, with bath $2.50 per day Parlor, Trade Mark all our goods. Bedroom, with bath, I3 and $5 per day Parlor, 2 Bedrooms, with bath, and per d av J5 $7 Write for booklet, "A Mother's Invention, sent free with Every improvement known to modern in- genuity. Dame of dealer who sells the cribs. Write for our magazine, "The Hotel Belle- FOSTER BROS. MFG. CO., claire World." 46 Broad St,,Utica, N. Y. 1446 16th St., St. Louis, Mo. MILTON ROBLEE. Proprietor. Ideal and Four Hundred Spiins Beds, Iron Beds, Mattresses, Etc

fsr. 1878 "TOM WATSON" is the one historian througfh whom we get ^4 the point of view of the laborer, the mechanic, the plain man, in a style that is bold, strong: and unconveniional. There is no other who traces so vividly the life of a people from the time they were sav- ages until they became the most polite % electK^ and cultured of European nations, as he does in ^ HAIR BRH THE STORY OF FRANCE This brush infuses In two handsome volumes, dark red cloth, new life into the hair filt tops, price $5.00. roots, stimulates the " It is well called a story, for it reads like a growth, stops falling fascinating romance." Plaindealer, Cleve- liair, cures dandrufi'and land. all scalp disorders. "A most brilliant, vigorous, human-hearted The circulation in the scalp is story this; so broad in its .sympathies, so vig- eaiily obstructed. The hair falls out orous in its presentations, so vital, so piquant, V from lack of nourishment— the skin dries lively and interesting. It will be read wher- in the form of dandruff. ever the history of France interests men, Electricity stimulates the circulation which is everywhere." New York Times' bringrs back the blood to the hair roots, Saturday Review. resulting in a healthy growth of hair. The Brush furnishes a mild, continuous These books make history as readable current of electricity and is made of as a novel of the best sort. The Pure Bristles, No 'Wxr^—Beware o) author imitations. tells the truth with fire and life, not only Price $1, postpaid. I will refund your of events and causes, of their money after thirty days' trial if it is not but conse- satisfactory. Send for my Treatise on Elec- quences to and their influence on the tricity, it's free. Agents Wanted. great mass of people at For sale at all the better class stores large. They are ~-iffor afiy reason you cannot get it, epoch-making books which every Ameri- it write direct to Sl'lTK O. can should read and own. Dr. George A. Scott, 870 Broadway. N. Y ORDERS FOR THE ABOVE BOOKS WILL'BE FILLED BY TOM WATSON'S ik^'&Wimssa^s&'afAi MAGAZINE, 121 West 42d St., New York City. ( TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE ADVERTISER

FOR ONLY 10c. Tlio \!nit ilus is a monthly New Thoiiglit magazine, eilitod by Elizal)eth and \V tlli.-iiu E, Towne. It teaches the lioaliii;; potver of niintl and spirit, and tells how to apply mental and spiritual healing in a practifal way in your own life. It is

a niaga/.ineof K«'ir-li»'lpandseIf-«lov«'Ioiniioiil . It tellsyou ho^v to gain licalth, Iiai-iiioiiy. success and potter. The Nautilus treats of ilcop brpatliiuj;, rational diet, ex- Letter Through Scientific Business Writing ercise, etc., in their true relations to mental and spiritual well You learn at the end of the week what you are worth being. KLLA WIIKKL.ER 'WILCOX, the leading i<:A.\OK We will fit you to conduct the correspuidence of any HIKK. SI'KCIAL: .Send lO cenr«i for Tlic concern in a scieiitilic manner; ue will teach you to »KKY \autilus -1 inoiitlis on t rial. Or, better still, send .'.o ceiilK conduct a mail-order depart uient; we will give y u the of IWi.'; all nf 1'.k»; as sound, proved principles of a successful concern; we and ask for the leniaiiiing numbers and 15 for iW ets. to-ilay. Address will develop your faculties for better business. issued— numbers Write If you desire to possess knowledge gained by success- ELIZABETH TOWNE, Box D 496, HOLYOKE, MASS. ful men throuj^h years of experience; if you want to know more about a profession that is the climax of modern methods, write at once for our announcement— it ex- plains all. Address Scientific LetterWritiuij Department,

Address C Dept. 2fiS, 90 IVahash Ave., Chieapo Kept. •iGIl, l.'.d .VnsMiu St., New York PIGE-DIVISOO. either offlfe ( " To Those Who are Poor and Wish to Become Rich, or Who are Rich and Wish to Become Richer" BECOME t NEWSPAPER CDRRESPOHDENT FREE AMERICA They are in demand everywhere. Make your By BOLTON HALL spare time count for something-. Newspapers want the news everywhere. In every town, viK- is dedicated. The book, consisting of short chap- \ge and city there is room for a correspondent. ters, shows, in an interesting and amusing way, the To previous experience necessary. We teach you evils from which we suffer as individuals and as a )w to get news, where to get it, how to write society, the causes for them and their cure—which is how and where to sell it. There is no reason liberty. y any ordinary intelligent and observant son, no matter where situated, should not i6mo, cloth, 219 pages, 75 cents, postpaid. Paper, n from $25 to $100 per month corresponding- 25 cents, postpaid. Send for catalogue of books and newspapers during-spare time, evening-s,holi- specimen copies of THE PUBLIC—the important /s,etc. Send for our booklet, "How to Write literature of fundamental democracy, r IVloney," telling- how any person of average PUBLIC PUBLISHIN'G fell igence can understand and apply the course we teach. THE COMPANY, NORTHWESTERN SCHOOL of JOURNALISM First National Bank Building, Chicago. 2319NorthDupontAve.,Dept. J, Minneapolis, Minn. ALL FOUR PREMIUMS The Missouri World FREE Published weekly at Chillicothe, Mo., is a TO Populist paper intended for and having a Ladies & Girls national circulation. It gives the general Bubien and P.arls To introduce our house we are giving away news but no local news and makes a setoDeBing ALL FOUIt of these beautiful premiums forsellingonly 4 of our beautiful art pictures at 25c each. They specialty of Populist Party news and cor- in many colors, and sell like " hot are large size for framing, respondence. The many letters it pub- you get all 4 premiums for selling only 4 cakes." Remember, '^ pictures (lio " lishes from the rank and file in the various inore).Wepay 1 \a.\\ postage— States inspire hope ^ind courage. The size ' tru»t you with the is four large eight-column pages. Price back goods and take fifty cents a year (fifty-two copies), Always any not sold. Just write today. Address a reform paper and now in its 17th year. SEARIOHT, Hgr ., 63 Wash- 9-pi*ce Elo^v Sbir B. S. Watson's Magazine will receive and ineton St., Dept. 159, Chicago, III. Tom forward subscriptions to the World. Gold Watch AND RING An American movement watch, fully warranted to keep correct time, with a 14 karat Solid Gold Plated Case, beautifully engraved on both sidea, equal in finiah to any Solid (iold Watch warran- ted25 years. Al o a Solid Rolled Gold Hins EARN MONEY set wi h a rare Ciaco Gem, aparkllng with the fierj brilliancy of a SoO diamond, are given abaolutelj Free pleoea onr Soliciting Subscriptions for ) anyone for Belling 20 of ndaome jewelry at lOo each. Order 20 pieces a^ when sold send ua the 12. and we poaltlvely aend jou both 111' watch and ring, and a chain, ladies or centaaiyle. ERIE MFO.CO..DEPT. 14 CHICAOO. Tom Watson's Magazine

[k) Son g s & Music Free JB In'th??h!Te of th^T^^rK^wTTm Trying So Uard to tur- FOR PARTICULARS WRITE pet You; Come Take a Trip in My Airship; You're as Welcome as the Flowers in May; tiood liye My Lady Love; Under the .\nheu8- er Bush; Teasing Blue Bell: Bedelia; Navajo; Hiawatha; Always CIRCULATIOrsJ IVIAIMAGER I've Got a ntheWav; Holy City ; Alexander. Coax Me, Good By Little Girl, F*lln' for You. Hello I'entral, I'm Wearing My Heart Away for You. ALL above 121 W, 42D Street, NEW YORK CITY. T Utest .SONGS, with MUSIC for piano, sent FREE if you aend uE TEN cents for the HOUSEHOLD GEM magazine one year. You'll be delighted. Uome Music Co., 1634 Ohio St., Chicago. : TOM WATSON'S MAC;AZINE ADVETLTlSi^.R

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razor is yours ; if it is not cents, iMistpaiil to any part of the world. satisfactory return by "BOKX AGAIN ""is, without doubt, the most beautiful, powerful and ini])resslve story ever written. Notliini,' like it mail ^\'ithin 10 days and iEll*. ZH», and yi>ur has ever been known before. It contains a variety of orlKinal we will refund yovir shaving's done. and remarkalile ideas produced a hundred years ahead of time. money. It is the masterpiece of a master mind. "BORN AGAIN" is now being translated into the German, Don't French, Italian and .Japanese languages, and it is predicted that Cut Your Skin this great work will have the phenomenal sale of from five to The Victor Safety Razor is iinoqualod for its sim- ten million copies. plicity and wearing qualities. The blade is thin hollow The Philadelphia P/'(SS says of "BORN AGAIX": groimd, aad will require no honing for rears. It is "Mr. Lawson has written conscientiously. His book shows every made of the best English steel in Sheffield, England. evidence of hard work and painstaking labor. He deals with the We guarantee to keep it in order for one year Free. subjei-t broadly and bolilly: his words are plainly those of one who has the courage of conviction, and the result is impressive." This is the razor that you always wanted. Now ixi your chance. The Victor is adapted to any beard. Its Do not fail to take advantage of this low price while it lasts action is as smooth as velvet. It never cuts, scrapes, and order a copy without delay. or even scratches the most delicate skin. Equally Price, cloth bound, 287 pages, .M) cents. invaluable when traveling or at home. Can be used Price, paper cover, 3.5 cents. as safely on thi IS-hour limited'as in your o\\-n room. For thirty days only. TVOX, COMPANY, Publishers 92 CONRAD Kirtland Bros., Chambers St., New York, N. Y. 113 East 59tli .Street, Dept. U., New York City, N. V

'^ C for the best answer : Why <|J ^^^ is "To-Morrow" the most PRIZE vital publication To-day?

TO-MORROW MAGAZINE For People Who Think

The September number contains Editorial—Roosevelt as Preacher, $500 or hang- Hoch. P. O. Press Censorship, etc. Insurance Corruption in Illinois. Confessions of a Divorcee. Abolish Indian Aid and Reservations Hioh Finance in Mexico, etc.

ONE COLLAR A YEAR TEN CENTS A COPY = On All News Stands

TO-MORROW, 2233 Calumet Avenue, Chicago TOM WATSON'S MAGAZINE ADVERTISER

This United States History is FR.EE

Patton's History of the United States is the best and most complete work of its kind ever published. It contains almost 2,000 pages, with beautiful illustrations in colors, 120 full-page plates, numerous maps, portraits,-

etc. hi preparing it. Prof. Patton was assisted by many of the foremost scholars and educators of the day.

It is designed for popular reading as well as home •4 LARGE VOLS. , ALMOST 2,000 PAGES study, being written in that easy narrative style which makes historical literature so interesting and instructive. 50,000 sets have already been sold by subscription at prices ranging from ^12 to $20 a set. We will give away 250 sets, absolutely free of charge, with the first 250 orders received for The International Shakespeare

This edition of Sliakespeare's works is the newest and by far the most satisfactory now before the American public. It is complete in 13 volumes, library size—7>^x5M inches, containing over 7,000 pages, with 400 illustrations, many of which are beautiful full-page plates in colors. We commend it to all who desire a good library edition at a moderate price. It contains tlie following unique and exclusive features, which are absolutely essential to a proper understanding of Shal

The regular price of the International Shakespeare is $42 in cloth binding, or $48 in half leather, but by ordering now you mav secure a set for $22 in cloth, or $26 in half leather, besides receiving the United States History described above, absolutely free of charge. You run no risl< whatever in ordering, for we will send both sets on approval, prepaid, subject to return at our expense if they are not satisfactory. The payments are $1.00 on acceptance and $2.00 a month thereafter. Do not send any money with your order, but wait until you see the books before you pay a cent or obligate^r yourself in any way.^r THe XVvv UNIVERSITY X A°/^ SOCIETY, ,'^.//^V. 7»<*-.'''!:^>>''' 78 Fifth Ave., rf" NEW A^'^/Vy-^-^ YORK. /Q

THE BEST LIBRARY EDITION EVER PUBLISHED. //«*' Of Vital lmportao(e to Patriolk (ilizeos

National Documents a collection of notable state papers chronologically arranged to form a documentary history of this country. It opens with the first Virginia Charter of 1606 and closes with the Panama Canal Act of 1904, and comprises all the important diplomatic treaties, official proclama- tions and legislative acts in American history.

Settle All Disputes Intelligently

You can trace from the original sources the development of this country as an independent power. Never before have these sources been brought together for your benefit. The volume contains 504 pages and a complete index enabling the reader to turn readily to any subject in which he may be interested. Bound in an artistic green crash cloth, stamped in gold. Printed in a plain, readable type on an opaque featherweight paper. As a Special Offer to the readers of Tom Watson's Magazine, we will send this book postpaid for 80 cents. Your order and remittance should be sent direct to TOM WATSON'S 121 St. N.Y. people know the Ingersoll watch, but some MOST " people sav : How can they make a good watch for a dollar?" The point is that we do make a good watch for a dollar. We have sold ten million of them. People buy them the first time because ihe for All Aaes Delicious guarantee covers the watch The guarantee simply

Invipforatir.g,sustainingf, and nourishing, at raeab anl 'tween sa\s that the Ingersoll Watch will keep acrurate time meals. Superior to tea, coffee, or co^oa as a table drink. for a ye.ir, or a new watch. Ingersoll Watches are not Aerees with the weakest stomach, as it aids digestion. Pure, toys, or novelties, or makeshifts. They are time- rich milk with the extract of choice malted grains. In powder or Lunch Tablet form. Samnle Free pieces. $r GO. $1 50 and $1.75. Sold by 50,000 dealers, tn request. At all druggists. Ask for Horllck's. or postpaid by us. Askforthe Ingersoll—nameondiaL Horlick's Food Company, Racine, Wis., U. S. A. ROBT. H. INGERSOLL & BRO. Dept. 43. 51 Maiden Lane. New York

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