The Peoples Voice. (Norman, Okla.), Vol. 4, No. 30, Ed. 1 Friday, February 21, 1896 Page: 8 of 10
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AT VALLEY FORGE.
i«j ALLlif Forge Is a
rough piece of
ground on the
banks of the
Schuylkill, twenty-
one mile from Phil-
adelphia and six
duty, from me major-generals to the I wrote for him. If I were asked to men-
drummers. Ail the tools were fairly | tiou the finest exhibition that a eom-
dlvitled; eacli regiment had it^ ground ; maiuler lias ever given of great quali-
; sslgned it; tile streets and intervals : ties, both of heart and mind, I should
wero marked out. and when the work i answer: Washington at Valley Forge,
vas begun the valley was alive with j One unexpected consolation that he en-
sy builders. j joyed at this period was the affection-
Each volnnel divided Ills regiment j at0 enthusiasm of Lafayette, then just
into parties of twelve, gave them their i recovering frem his wound received at
share of axes and shovels, and let them I Brandywlne. The young and ardent
As
from
large town,
mere land. It is ot
worth much. But
it the Pass of Ther-
mopylae >s classic ground, Valley Forge
is classic. If there is one spot on this
continent more III than any other tor
a final and sufficient monument to the
man and to the men of the American
He volution, it Is Valley Forge. I do
not refer merely to the hunger, thirst
and cold endured there by eleven thou-
sand soldiers, after an exhausting cani-
paigu in the field. The worst of all
that misery was over in six weeks. The
suffering was acute while It lasted, but
it was followed soon by comparative
abundance; then by the cheering news
of the French alliance; then by the
flight of the enemy from Philadelphia,
and the swift pursuit of them by Gen.
Washington. What the troops endured
there would alone make the place for-
ever interesting lo posterity. Hut Val-
ley Forge means more than that. It
witnessed some of the most important |
nd striking scenes in the war. It was
there, too. through the constancy and
tireless energy of the commander-in-
chief. that the cause was saved and final
victory made possible. The selection
of the ground was Itself a piece of no-
table generalship, as daring as It was
wise. The occupation of Philadelphia
by the llritish had lllled every other
town of Pennsylvania with refugees.
The middle of December had passed
before the army had repulsed the last
demonstration of the British, and af-
forded the American commander
the nearest j know that I hey were building a home Frenchman, in his letters to his wife
and family, gives the warmest expres-
sion to his love and admiration. He
speaks of Washington as a man ex-
pressly "made for" the work ho was
doing, he alone having the patience
and tact to conciliate the discordant
elements.
"Every day." wrote the marquis, "I
admire more the beauty of his charac-
ter and of his soul. Jealous intriguers
wish to tarnish his reputation, but his
name will be revered in all ages by
every one who loves liberty and hu-
manity."
Many such passages, written In one
of the log-cabins of Valley Forge, I
notice in the family letters of the
youthful enthusiast. In such circum-
stances. the American army was recon-
structed, reinforced, becomingly clad,
well drilled, and at last abundantly
supplied, while the English were cir-
cumscribed so closely that it required
two regiments to escort a foraging par-
ty, if it went more than two miles Into
the country. Valley Forge it was that
rendered the possession of Philadelphia
a trap instead of a capture. June 18,
1778, Gen. Washington received infor-
mation that the British had secretly
and suddenly evacuated Philadelphia,
lie was in such perfect readiness for
the news. that, within an hour, six
for themselves. A cabin was to be oc-
cupied by twelve men. Gen. Washing-
Ion added the stimulant of a reward to
the party that should build the best
hut. An order of the day had this in-
teresting passage:
As an encouragement to Industry
and art. the general promises to reward
the party In each regiment w£iich fin-
ishes its hut in the quickest and most
workmanlike manner with twelve dol-
lars. And as there is reason to believe
that boards for covering the huts may
be found scarce and difficult to be got,
he offers one hundred dollars to any
officer or soldier who, in the opinion
of three gentlemen that he shall ap-
point as Judges, shall substitute some
other covering that may be cheaper
and more quickly made, and will in
every respect answer the end."
The huts were fourteen feet by six-
| teen, and six and a half feet high. The
officers' huts were ranged in a line be-
hind those of the soldiers, and only
generals were accorded the conven-
ience of having a whole house to them-
selves. Gen. Washington inhabited a
cabin of one room until later in the
season, when a second was added for
the accommodation of Mrs. Washing-
ton. He said, in another order of the
day, that "the general himself will
share in the hardships and partake of
STATES EVIDENCE.!
I EX-COV.CIBBS OF TEXAS LAM-
BASTS THE OLD PARTIES.
"• Th®y Are Mlluj,* It.inds O*-
ttftlug Nniv Njtmimiim of Taxation 1 n-
• t«ad of Laboring to l.l.-l.tiii ti..- Har-
den. Atrea.ly l tin, 1'ropio.
Another prominent democrat has
taken the witness stand and scored the
j democratic party. This time it is ex-
Governor Gibbs of Texas. He gives
j the following reasons for the change.
He says:
i "It used to be that a democratic plat-
form was no longer than the ten com-
mandments, and as easy of comprelien-
i *iou. Now It takes Roger Q. Mills and
Horace ('hilton two hours each to tell
, a crowd what It is, ami when they get
j through talking the oldest democrats
i are as badly mixed as if they had been
alternating between beer and red II-
; quor. Mills says that gold with just a
little silver mixed in makes democracy.
I Chilton says that Mills is wrong; that
j democracy consists of an allopathic In-
j stead of a homeopathic dose of silver.
Which is the right prescript ion for
democrats? They differ on the size
of the dese. Which will kill or cure?
When it comes lo the tariff. Cleveland
and Mills think that it is democratic
for the men, women and children who
herd sheep and round-up cattle to do
this in the teeth of the northern and |
tho compt tllion of Ihe world, but that it
Is also democratic for corporations who
manufacture woolen goods and shoes ;
in big brick buildings to have 50 per '
I ent protection.
j "Old Bill Morrison of the old-line j
. democrats was retired to a soft job on
| the Interstate commerce commission
because he thought the tariff ought to
be on a strictly revenue basis, and
while It was getting there that all
should have the same amount of protec-
tion. He did not believe that, the sheep
and cattle industries of the south and
west, pursued by Individuals for a live-
lihood. should be laid out to hold the
campaign fund and votes of eastern cor-
porations. They killed old Morrison
and the fact that he was choked to
death on soft official butter doesn't fool
a man at the forks of the creek.
"We know that republicanism stands
for protective tariff and extravagant
appropriations every day in the week
and Sunday, too. We know that it
stands for big pensions to the rich,
when Texas, looking to the condition of
those who had to pay pensions to its
grand veterans, provided that where
one ot these heroes was worth more
than $1,000 that he should draw no pen-
sion, and those grand veterans left out
from reasons of justice and equity
never complained. When the demo-
crats had congress they never had the
nerve to pass such an amendment to
the pension law of the United States,
but left the country to pay more than
one-half of the immense pension list
to men and women of wealth. Under
the tariff system the poor people pay
the most of this pension money. The
democrats did not tackle this and other
manifest abuses of government because
they wanted to win with eastern votes
and get appointments to foreign mis-
sions and other fat offices. In their
anxiety to get and hold office they have
made platforms and congressional rec-
ords that look as bad and contradictory
as some old woman's crazy quilt made
of rags just as they come to hand.
Free perfumery and taxed wool hats Is
a more ludicrous political sight und
"THE DAWN OF PROSPERITY."
(For the silver-using Nation*.)
\v-" \ jjriM
W*
\Mi I ;<// '
;
v—1 v
) A/M .
\ I nele Sam's outlook for the future is
anything but reassuring:- How long
I before his children, the American peo-
j pie, will discover the real cause of his
l dejected mood and. recognising the
situation from his present point of view,
resolve upon the only dignified course
ees. Lead put in the right place will
quiet these tax producers.
"We can get money to build warships
to float around the world and flre sa-
lutes and to pay big pensions to the al-
ready licli, but when it conies to doin£
something practical for the benefit of
the masses we are as the Chinaman
says: 'Alee times busted,'
"The canalization of the Trinity
river at a cost of $1,000,000 would saw j a democrat ov a
to the producers of Texas about $2,50 | give them
per bale on their cotton freights, but ; They might teach tho world that th
our representatives won't demand it. j mud-sillers of America make just as
either because it will scare eastern good office holders us beasts of burden
democrats or won't appear economical. They might prove to the world that re-
ir lexas is safely democratic, what it: : publican governments can reform
tne use of giving them any relief? If | themselves, and that democratic insti-
tilions can live beyond the usual age of
open to a dutiful, Intelligent and pa-
triotic people? If you are a responsible
voter, tako a look at the situation with
your own eyes -your conscience and
common sense will do the rest In No-
vember, 189G. From the Chicago Na-
tional Bimetallist.
reduce expenses to a basis where tlia
money in circulation would abide more
iu the pockets of the people than in the
government treasury or official pocket-
books. They might cause the people
to find out that just as efficient officers
could he obtained for one-half the pres-
ent salaries, just as in tho best and
most honest days of the republic. They
might teach the official class that being
republican does not
•inch 011 official holding
we canalize the Trinity river it will
save the producers several millions
every year, but it will make the hold-
ers of railroad stocks and bonds in the
east mad, und they won't put up any
democratic campaign fund. Instead of
canalizing the Trinity river they will
build a warship at a cost of $2,000,000
and call her Texas and let Texas girls
baptize her, and this won't hurt or of-
fend the railroads and will quiet tho
mud sillers,' who will vote ticket, al-
though ship won't float. This is the
game the democratic and republican
leaders give the people, and then tell
us that tills Is the government of the
people, bj' the people, and for the peo-
ple—but which people?
corroding corruption. It might teacli
us that there is enough political vigor
anil independence always inherent in
the people to make formation of the
political rings dangerous to political
safety. If they taught us this much,
we can stand their mistakes In financial
theories; which, after all, would not
cost as much as quasi proclamations
and do-nothing congressional sessions
Political opiates have ceased to lull the
masses to sleep, and there has got to be
a political upheaval before there is any
reform or check to the arrogance of
party power. If the mud-slllers of our
social and political organism are igno
rant, they may compensate us for their
every Inconvenience.' | gc[f joined the advance. Ten days
It does not appear that any one in- ' after the first troops left their cabins
vented a better roofing than slabs, nor In Pennsylvania, he fought the battle
has any one recorded what company of ! of Monmouth, which turned their re-
soldiers won the twelve-dollar prize. ; treat into a flight and shut them up in
breathing time to consider the quos- j only know that the cabin-bulldlng New York If neither congress nor
tlon of his winter quarters. Then he was begun early in the morning of De- i Pennsylvania shows an Inclination to
said, in substance, to the troops: Since comber 10, and That most of the army 1 possess the scene of so many memorable
there is no town for us to retire to ! would have eaten their Christmas din- events, then let some patriotic capital-
brigades were on the march for the : smeHg worse to c(lucate(1 11Ucl,
Delaware river. The next day, he him- I ... -,•
r:., M,i*:
mmiL
ner In their cabins if there had been ' 1st convert It Into a summer resort, i °®clal garlic is the only distinctive
any Christmas dinner to eat. It was
just then that the worst of the starv-
ing time began. While the men were
building their cabin city they lived
chiefly upon cakes made of flour and
water, and there was a lamentable
scarcity of all the most necessary sup-
plies—shoes, clothes, blankets and
straw. Nothing saved the army from
i. ssolution but the fiery remonstrances
and energetic action of tk" "ommandei-
in-chlef. There Is preserved at Phila-
delphia a hand-bill issued by him while
the army was building its huts. In
this he notified the farmers to thrash
out their grain with all convenient
■peed, on pain of having the sheaves] WASHINGTON'S
nose than the oft-ridiculed populist
pumpkin in the government subtreas-
ury. A man wanting office may swal-
low ad nauseam all this hybrid tariff
and financial policy just as a child will
take sheep saffron tea when he has the
bellyache. The democracy now dished
out by the leaders has as many ingred-
ients as Rio Grande hash, but the smell
VALLEY FORGE TO-DAY.
let us create a town for ourselves, here,
close to the enemy, limiting his range,
curtailing bis supplies, protecting j
Pennsylvania and holding ourselves
ready to resume the aggressive as soon
as he abandons the city, iu which he
will be by us practically besieged. He
Chose Valley Forge, a deep cleft In a
lofty lull, with a stream at the bottom
of it emptying into the Schuylkill.
There was nothing iu this valley for
human use except the primeval forest
that densely covered it and the streams
of water that flowed by and through
It. But Washington, himself well
skilled in woodcraft, commanded sol-
diers most ofVhom had built or inhab-
ited log-cabins. When he told them
that log huts could be quickly made
warm and dry, he said what they all
knew to be true. He also knew pre-
cisely what was necessary for the con-
struction of the huts, what tools were
needed and what materials. His or-
der of December 18, 1777, transformed
the whole army into a cabin-bulldlng
hOlt. Every man had his place and
seized by the commissaries and paid
( for at the price of straw. The conduct
j of the commander during these agoniz-
i ing weeks can only be estimated aright
j by persons familiarly acquainted with
(he circumstances. No man ever gave
j a higher example either of fortitude or
wisdom; and it was directly through
: ihe exercise of those virtues by him
that the army was saved. While the
men were busy building, news was
brought to the camp that a force of
the enemy was approaching. The
troops were in such dire need of food
and shoes that they were unable to
stir. There was not a pound of meat
in the camp, and not a ration of flour
per man. It was while he was con-
tending with such dffiiculties as these
that the intrigue to supplant the gen-
eral was most active and the clamor
loudest for a winter campaign.
"I can assure those gentleman,"
wrote the general, "that it is a much
easier and less distressing thing to
draw remonstrances in a comfortable
room, by a good fireside, than to oc-
cupy a cold, bleak hill, and sleep un-
der frost and snow without clothes or
blankets."
This dispatch to the president of con-
gress abounds in force and pathos, and
shows how much better a writer its
author was than any man who ever
HEADQUARTER?
AT VALLEY FORGE,
carefully restoring the old camp roads,
marking all the sites and making the
place an object-lesson in history.—
James Parton in New York Ledger.
Waahlnifton'a farming Operation!.
Washington inherited Mount Vernon
In 1759 from his half-brother. Lawrence
Washington, who died in 1757. This
brother had a daughter Sarah, who was
heiress to the estate, but she died two
years later and the property then re-
verted to George, who was then just 27
years old. The estate then comprised
less than 3.000 acres, but soon after he
came into possession he added 5,500
acres by purchase, which gave him ten
miles of river front. Then began the
system of improvements and cultiva-
tion which subsequently made Mount
Vernon the most valuable landed prop-
erty in Virginia. He drained the land
wherever needed, lie rotated crops, got
the best farm Implements then in exist-
ence, built aud repaired fences, had his
grist mill, his own distillery, had his
own smithy for repairing tools, his own
carpenter shop, looms, and he built
scores of houses and cabins for his
slaves. His five farms ranged from
1,000 to 2,000 acres each, and each farm
had Its overseer and its allotment of
negroes an* stock.
quality, whether it is Hogg or Clark
I hash or Cleveland and Mills hash. The
| recipe for making this hash is so com-
j plicated that even our governor
j understands It one way the day
before and another way the day
after. The uncertainty of what
constitutes Simon pure demo-
cratic hash has turned the political
stomachs of even Kentucky and Texas
democrats.
"The result of all this democratic
and republican strife for office is that
we have had class legislation and spe-
cial indigencies until the people are
eaten up by the office-holding, protected
and pensioned classes. They are issu-
ing bonds and devising new systems of
tax levy and collection and trying to
create money out of everything, instead
of trying to reduce taxation and ex-
penses and the too tempting official sal-
aries. The national, state and county
governments are on too highahorse.but
their dignity won't permit them to ride
a smaller one. When the people kick
they give them a war commission or an
agricultural commissioner to spend
more money and inquire of somebody
else living on government money what
is the trouble with the mudsill fellows
who are not on a government horse, but
are walking. The mudsill people have
got afraid to complain for fear they
will have some more expensive commis-
sions or special committees to use up
the contingent funds, which have to be
filled up again by taxation. It takes
a mule to pull a copy of the United
States statutes, and two mules to pull
a copy of the state statutes, and still
they are adding to them and every page
creates more officials. Increased taxe3
and floating warrants don't breed demo-
crats.
"When the people begin to kick
against so much officialism, so much
taxation, the democratic and republic-
an leaders begin to levy more taxes,
ipejd more money and create more offl-
■ niF Ca',' 'A11"'1 n $1,000'000 l>ark ln 1,10 | ignorance by their economy and hon-
middle of the Potomac river, for the
official class to play hide and seek in,
but we cannot get any tax money to fa-
cilitate the commerce of the state. Oh,
yes, this is a government of the people,
but it is the people controlling the
democratic and republican rings. There
is not a representative in congress from
Texas but feels all be needs to do is talk |
esty, just as old Andrew Jackson did
If he makes a good tax-producer in
time ot peace, and a good soldier in
time of war, why not a good office-
holder? It is not as brutal nor ex-
pensive to us for him to murder the
queen's English as to murder the
queen's subjects.
„ , ., I "He may have sense enough to run
tariff and silver and cuss republicans! the government for a fair and equal
and ridicule populists to get a nomina- j toll, and ieturn to the 'pay as you g
j policy.' He may not have a university
tlon by a convention and then be
elected. As long as it is this way Texas
will he in the soup.
"In return for all the racket we have
raised at the forks of the creek the
state administration has given us a
railroad commission without power to
act; higher taxes and more officials.
Even the national government and
monarchies limit the amount of fees
an officer can pocket, but this people's
democratic administration fixes no
limit, anil when the people talk about
reforming this abuse, the leaders begin
to talk tariff or silver or hunt some
popular individual to put into office.
In many counties the excess of fees over
$2,500 per annum to each officer would
put the roads in good order, but the
Texas democracy is afraid to reform this
system, for fear it will lose ward organ-
izers or voters,so authorized an increase
of taxes. In Kentucky the leaders
thought that fool democrats could be
depended on to vote the ticket forever.
Now where are they? What has hap-
pened in Kentucky will happen in
Texas, for the people are politically
weary. They feel like killing snakes
at home instead of in South America.
The next democratic primaries in Texas
will be sllmly attended, for thousands
of democrats, without changing their
principles, believe that the party can
never be depended on for reform, and
know that it is a political impossibility
to reorganise a political party In power,
with the political patronage and elec-
tion machinery In its hands. Demo-
cratic votes beat the party In Kentucky
ind will defeat it in Texas.
"There are enough democrats and
republicans in Texas who hold Texas
prosperity and genuine reform of more
worth than party fealty, to defeat with
their votes any ticket put up, and for
I the good of the state without yielding
: any convictions. They can flock to-
j gether one day and argue with each
other the next. Populists could not
give us anything worse than the official
fee system and the ornamental railroad
commission in state politics; and in na-
tional politics no more extravagance
and demoralization and unequal taxa-
tion than the last democratic and re-
publican congresses. In congress they
could demand in behalf of the people
fair treatment in a tariff bill or an ap-
propriation bill. They could be earn-
est. if not eloquent; honest, if not pol-
ished, and preach and vote against the
autocratic tendencies of democratic and
republican congressmen. They mi*ht
education, and yet may know more
than the financier who killed the goose
that laid the golden egg. No matter
how uncouth the mud-siller may ap-
pear, when he gets behind the pie
counter with his official apron on, he
will be transmogrified into a thing of
w isdom and beauty, and handle the offi-
cial baton and draw the official salary
with the grace of a Sir Miles Crowley
or a Sir Roger. If he can't shoot duck s
on the Chesapeake bay, he can go over
on the Virginia side and make the coons
and opossums think that the world was
at war. If he gave us much trouble as
a living congressman, he would at least
compensate us by an economical fun-
eral. Peffer says that any good popu-
list will be satisfied with one govern-
ment paid mourner. The shrewd Yan-
kee congressman could not get
away with any more of the
populist wool and hide than
he has with the democratic wool
and iiide. If he did not prove himself
a good performer and breeder we could
turn him out on the commons and try
a nev breed, for after all government
is but an experiment. Why not give
the populist or mud-siller the benefit
of the doubt, for we do this much for
the criminal. If he can raise any more
political hell, or make times any-
harder, or be bossed any more by cor-
porations than the democratic and re-
publican parties of to-day are, it will
be because he gets up earlier ami put.!
in more time at It. It will require
gieat wisdom for him to get up a more
Dolly Varden tariff or financial system
"Some of these one-gallused fellows
know as much about what constitutes
good government as some of these polit-
ical dudes, who pose as statesmen and
teachers of democracy, and get on both
sides of silver and the railroad, and
every other political question, and ex-
pect democrats to make jumping-jacks
of themselves in trying to follow them
"When the democratic party is de-
feated it will be re-organized on a basis
of honest, economical, equal govern-
ment."
The Democratic party never was so
demoralized as it is now. It has noth-
ing but broken pledges upon which to
make the campaign.
0
> i"
i
It is evident now that about all the
present Congress will do is to pass the
usual appropriation bills, draw its sal-
ary and go home.
♦
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Allan, John S. The Peoples Voice. (Norman, Okla.), Vol. 4, No. 30, Ed. 1 Friday, February 21, 1896, newspaper, February 21, 1896; Norman, Oklahoma Territory. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc116817/m1/8/: accessed March 19, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.