The Peoples Voice (Norman, Okla.), Vol. 6, No. 12, Ed. 1 Monday, October 18, 1897 Page: 3 of 8
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V.
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ft
'ARGUMENT EXPLODED.'
\N ABLE DICUSSION OF THE
WHEAT AND SILVER PROBLEM.
Hob. 11. W. Turner, national rommlttea-
m.nortli. National Ml r I'arly taU «
up and an«l)iei tlia arif uniaui Ilia
|wld buy*.
the following table will show: I A SONG OF BAIN.
"Tru«t orders a rite—prices of leath-
er reported to be ho ed up—addition- Ttie **ekoo scurries to and fro:
al annual prottts of #.',000,000 are estl- From green to white and maples blow
The longed-for rain Is coming!
Set every tub beneath Its spout,
For there'll be little stirring out
When all the roofs are drumming!
V"7
FARMER'S WIFE:—"Now. If you had a now coat and n new pair of shoos you would
r_:i
be m.„hty fine.
QUESTION.
AN ABLE DISCUSSION OF THE
SUBJECT BY JOHN DAVIS.
l'raniilrnt ICIpler of tli« Santa Fe Sy.t.iu
1m atmuei ed by a man who ban in tin a j
► tuiiy of the transportation prob.em tin plate from Philadelphia to Chicago,
to Chicago, than from Liverpool to
Chicago:
"The complaintants, who were rep-
resented by John D. Kernan, of New
York, as counsel, cited several instan-
ces of discrimination to prove their
charges. The railroad received IB
cents for transporting 100 pounds of
In all Its (ihaxeM.
[continued from i.ast wekk.]
Editor of the Kausas Commoner:
It is amusing to read the patronizing
language of President Ripley as fol-
lows: You will readily understand
that I have no desire to become in-
volved in the newspaper controversy,
but the inferences which Mr. Brown
draws from certain figures which he
quotes are so absurd and unjust that j ed on agricultural implements brought
it seems a pity to permit his article to from Liverpool, but if they are sent
go unnoticed, as there are a great, from New Orleans to .San I rancisco as
many people who necessarily do not | domestic goods the rate is SI.14. If
know the facts, and who might accept | shipped from New \ork the regular
Mr. Brown's conclusions. Whether ' rate was $l.:io, and from Chicago 81.19,
Mr. Brown himself knows the facts I j while from Liverpool to Sau Francisco
after bringing it from Liverpool, while
the rate on domestic tin plate from
Philadelphia to Chicago was 28 cents.
After vessels had brought linen from
Dunfermline, Scotland, to Philadel-
phia, the railroads charge 4G cents for
carriage to Chicago, while the regular
rate of iinen not brought dircct from
Scotland was <>9 cents.
From New Orleans to San Francisco
79 cents a hundred pounds was charg-
do not pretend to say, but I prefer to
"believe he is writing in ignorance,
rather than that he is deliberately at-
tempting to mislead the people, and to
create prejudice against the railways
and other interests."
It is very kind of this railway Icing
only 89 cents. The same rate was put
on groceries, while if the same grocer-
ies were sent from New Orleans tho
rate was 83.70.
Mark you that these are the rates
charged by each and all of the trunk
lines. There is neither difference nor
competition between them, the reason
to put the more favorable construction j that by some "agreement or
on the matter, and, to consider Mr. I comfoinati0n" through their trafiic as-
Brown a fool instead of a knave, so 80Cja^i0n8 they as completely eliminate
that other uninformed people may not j C0mpetitf0n as if all the roads were
be mislead by Mr. Brown s ignorance, j ovvue(j \yy one miin> it is the perfec-
But, in the absence of detailed public • ^lon pooling, and every member of
official reports for the use of the peo- , ^lQ Commerce Commission knows it.
to learn the facts and conditions at-
tached to the railroads of this country,
that make them so widely different
from the roads in other countries.
very soul that all the roads are violat-
ing the law."—Congressional Record,
June 11, 1890.
I think, with a moments considera-
"When one uses the best information (tion, even a railway king might see
Attainable by ordinary effort, it is such monagement will "create preju-
hardly fair to blame or insult him, j dice" much faster than anything that
even by insinuation, for unimportant Mr. Brown can say; not against the
inaccuracies. I congratulate Mr. Brown 1 railroads, but against the unjust alien
that his opponent has not disputed his management of them. Then, to make
facts or his figures. 1 the matter worse, and to render it per-
But, against the last sentence of the manent, the U. S. Supreme Court has
above quotation from President Kip- decided that such discriminations
ley, 1 must enter my most earnest pro- against American interests "i9 consti-
tcst. I charge that his position is a tutional." A case like those mention-
direct attempt, constantly made, by ed by Mr. Anderson has since been
the railway kings to mislead the peo- submitted to the Inter State Commerce
pie and to prejudice the people against Commission. That high authority de-
tlie men who are defending the peo- eided against the discriminations and
pie's interests. It is not attempted by 1 pronounced them unlawful. The Cir-
Mr. Brown or any man of us to "create cuit court of New York and the New
prejudice against the railways and York court of Appeals have also decided
their interests." It is not the "rail- 1 against the unlawful, unjust and un-
ways" that the people and their de- p trioticdiscriminations against Amer-
fenders are fighting; but we are oppos- can interests, and in favor of aliens,
ed to the terribly expensive, unjust, But, on final appeal to the Supreme
dangerous and sanguinary manage- Court of the United States the concur-
ment of them by home and alien cor- rent decision of the Commerce Com-
porations for the general spoliation of mission and the two New York courts
the people. i has been revised. [See Tenth Report
The people of the United States have Interstate Commission, p. p. 7-8-9. j
given two hundred million acres of j Such rank injustice as that is the
their best lands, and are carrying a great "creatorof prejudice" among the
burden of more than ten billion dol- people, not only against the managing
lars, in the form of stocks and bonds, corporations, but against the U. S.
all for the sole purpose of enjoying the court, also, as the aider and abettor of
use of an efficient, just and equal sys- the corporations in robbing and op-
tem of railways. They have done, and pressing the American people, in the
they do all this without prejudice or interest of aliens. With a moments
grumbling. But when, in practice, thought any business man will at once
they find that foreign goods are car- perceive that it is quite practicable for
ried all over this country on onr(?) a commodity to leave Liverpool, pay a
American (?) railroads cheaper than heavy protective duty in the New York
American goods are carried, it seems custom-house, and then reach a market
to me that there is cause for "preju- on the Pacific coast of America, either
dice." The corporations create the to be sold there, or for shipment to
prejudice, and then charge its exist- Asia, cheaper than it is for a similar
ence to the "ignorance" of the people. American article to reach the same
I call attention to the following doc- | Western market from any point in the
umentary statement of my predeces- j United States east of the Mississippi
sor in Congress, the late Hon. John A. river. It will be seen that the dis-
Anderson. It is instructive, humiliat- crimination against American goods
ing and shameful. Mr. Anderson said: ou our own American railroads and in
Here is a statement in reference to favor of British goods, may be so great
that matter, the charge being that as to entirely neutralize the usual, or
greater railway rates are demanded on even the unusual protective tariff du-
articles shipped from, say, Nrv York j tnes.
I must not close this discussion ol
the alien management of our American
public highways, without asking Pres-
dent Ripley why his Santa Fe railway
company, in its advertising folders
sometimes flaunts in the face of the
American public, a picture of the Brit-
ish lion tramping under foot the map
of North America? It is bad to be
robbed. It is worse to be both robbed
and insulted! Is there not danger,
that, in view of all the facts, the float-
ing of the British ensign over Ameri-
can soil by a railway corporation may
"create prejudice against the railways
and their interests," even more than
men like Mr. Brown can possibly do?
[to be continued.]
That "International Bimetallism.'*
There are still echoes of interna-
tional bimetalism, but not of a very
promising kind. The first comes from
the editor of the London Statist, who
assumes that the Wolcott commission,
assuming to represent the United
States, and the French minister to
England representing France, have
submitted some sort of a provisional
proposal to the British government
aiming at the restoration of bimetal-
lism, and it is to this proposal that the
Wolcott commission awaits the answer
indefinitely promised for October.
What that proposal is, the editor of
the Statist, does not essay to divine,
but he makes one shrewd guess that
the tentative proposal submitted to
the British government was, that
France and the United States would
open their respective mints to free sil-
ver coinage, if the British government
would open the Indian mints. And
we doubt not that such proposal was
made. What is more it would have
promptly been accepted by the British
government and a tentative agreement
for the restoration of bimetallism en-
tered into if it had not become appar-
ent to the British government that the
Wolcott commission was promising
something that the United States gov-
ernment would not carry out, tha.
while assuming to represent the Unit-
ed States it had no authority to make
any such offer, and that Mr. McKinlcy
would not back up such proposal by
urging its acceptance by congress if
agreed to by Great Britain. So the
British government did not accept the
joint proposal of the Wolcott commis-
sion and French government and put
off making any response to it until Oc-
tober. And now we have the Statist
asserting that the British government
ought not to reopen the Indian mints
on any such terms while we have the
McKinley organ in Philadelphia, the
Press, asserting in response to the
declaration of the distinguished editor
of the Statist that "It is certainly not
probable that this country will agree
to any such scheme." So we see the
chilling reception given by a leading
Republican paper that has professed
its belief in international bimetallism,
to the first proposal for international
bimetalism. When international bi
metallism is a dream it favors it, when
it becomes a reality it scouts it. And
so it is with the Republican party
In view of all this, the undermining
of the Wolcott commission at home anc
the lack of support given it abroad, i1
is no wonder General Paine has com<
home, in seeming disgust. Asked il
he had seen any indication of England
joining in a movement for the restora-
tion of bimetallism, he replied "I can t
say that I have, we are waiting tc
But General Payne evidently did
see.
not think it worth while to wait. We
are also told Senator Wolcott is ready
to come home in real or feigned dis-
gust at the lack of support accorded
the commission by Mr. McKinley, put
the blame for the failure of the com-
mission to attain international bimet-
allism upon Mr. McKinly, ai he can
very well do, and seek to square him-
self with his constituents by reading
himself out of the party that has failed
to live up to its promises and by vio
lently antagonizing the president.—El
[concluded from last WEEK, j
As an evidence of prosperity, other
than than produced by famine, the
goldbug may point with pride to tho
brutal murder, under forms of law, of
the laboring men of Pennsylvania who,
refusiug to work at starvation wages
for Mark llauua's trusts, were shot
down like dogs.
But Mark pleads, by way of avoid-
ance, that those shot were foreigners.
That is true, but you brought them
here to reduce American labor to the
conditions of the pauper labor of Eu-
rope, and they, as well as property, are
entitled to the protection of govern-
ment, and not to be murdered by it.
Then again, it was they, and the col-
ored voters of tho South, that gave
McKinley his popular and electoral
majority. Tho great body of native-
born Americans of the white race
voted for Bryan, and aro anxious to do
so again. Don't say they were for-
eigners, for they elected your candi-
date, and he himself represents the
gold standard of England. Neither
they nor the present administration
are American, and you should stand
by your allies.
You said to these men, "Vote for
McKinley, for an honest dollar and a
chance to earn it." They took your
advice, and today 255,000 of them are
unemployed in the mining regions of
the country, and not because there is
an overproduction of coal, but because
a shortage of dollars makes an under-
consumption of that article. In fact,
you not only promised them labor, but
at an increased wage. Let us look at
the conditions a moment. In tho Sep-
tember number of the Forum will be
found the following:
"The rates paid in the western Penn-
lylvania raining district in 1893 were
79 cents per ton for thin vein, and 65
:ents for thick vein.
The rates at the time of the strike
(July 4, 1897,) were 47 to 54 cents per
ton for thin vein, and 28 to 30 cents
per ton for thick vein.
In Ohio and Indiana, the prices in
1893 were 75 and 70 cents per ton re-
ipectively for thin and thick vein min-
ing. The 1897 rates were 51 cents per
ton, with an offer of a reduction to 45
ents per ton, occasioned by tho low
prices in Western Pennsylvania. In
every mining district about tho same
ratio in the reduction of wages was en-
forced.
"According to a written statement
if a mining company in the Hocking
Valley district of Ohio, 39 miners were
paid in wages an aggregate of 8223.98
lor two week's work, or $2. 87 a man per
week. From this is deducted the cost
jf powder, tool-sharpening and wear
End tear of pick, shovel, etc. The ar-
ticles purchased by the families of the
39 men at the company's store in the
same two week's amounted in the ag-
gregate to $178.05—an average of a
fraction over $2.28 for each family, not
including rent. This statement it must
be borne in mind, is that of the em-
ployers, not the men, and, therefore,
is certainly not overdrawn to elicit
sympathy for the condition of the lat-
ter. Nor was this condition excep-
tional; it was unfortunately a general
one. In 1895, when the mining rates
were 55 cents per ton, 4 cents higher
than the present rates, the chief min-
ing inspector of Ohio ascertained that,
on the average, the wages of the min-
ers were SIS.48 per month, including
deduction and expenses.
"It is not the intention of the writer
to picture here the woeful talc of the
misery ang degradation to which the
miners have been gradually crowded.
It will not be amiss, however, to quote
from the official statement of the min-
ers'organization, concerning the causes
which impelled the present suspension:
"Our suspension is not a choice, but
an alternative. It is the voice of an
enslaved class urged to action by cruel
and unbearable conditions; the protest
of an overworked, underpaid people
against longer continuing a semi-starv"
ed existence. The limit of endurance
was reached when honest labor cculd
no longer sustain itself. On one side
we were confronted by a heartless ar-
ray of employers, whose combined wis-
dom and wealth suggested no remedy
other than continued submission to
avarice and greed; on the other side we
were met by the cries of nearly one
million men, women and children ap
pealing for their rights, for the oppor-
tunities of life and wages to sustain
them compatible with economy, civili-
zation and present industrial condi-
tions."
But they are not the only sufferers.
Very recently 20,000 tin-plate workers,
30,000 sheet-rollers, 10,000 puddlers
and finishers, 20,000 sheet-workers and
40,000 unskilled laborers joined the
army of the unemployed, and to-day
there are 500,000 actual tramps scat-
tered through the different states of the
Union.
Has any prosperity come? Yes, it
has come to the food-producing classes
of this country by reason of famine
and distress abroad, and it has reached
the Mark Hanna class of statesmen, a>
timated."
Then follows a table which may in-
terest people who wear boots and
lots of people do:
TUB LEATHER TRUST.
United States leather company, cap-
tain 120,000,000; annual sales $15,000, •
000; annual sales ou hemlock soles,
Forth creeps the thirsty, wrinkled toad;
The dust goes whirling down the road;
The slender birches shiver.
Uncertain little flurries break
$9,000,000; annual sales on union soles, The glassy surface of the lake,
$2,000,000.
ITS PROFITS ESTIMATED.
Advance of 1?^ cents to 2 cents on
hemlock, equals $1,000,000; advance of
4 cents on union, equals 8600,000; ad-
vance of 0 cents of oak, equals $400,000|
total $2,000,000.
This means that from 1896 to the
present time there has been an in-
crease in foot-wear of 35 per cent; bags,
trunks, purses, bolts, etc., about 13
per cent.
And some people think prosperity is
not here! Look at those figures. And
right on the next page of the daily we
learn that eight Chicago gas compan-
ies consolidated with a capital stock of
825,000,000, the result of u speculative
increase of the value ou New York
stock exchange of nearly $1,200,000 at
a single session.
While you aro thinking about it, tell
us why you do not protect tho Ameri-
can laborer as well as tho trusts? for
it seems that your legislative prosperi-
ty is not for all alike, as would bo leg-
islation providing for tho free coinage
of gold and silver. By reason of the
bubonic plague, shortage of crops and
famiue abroad, our food producers
have had a rise in tho price of their
products, but your legislative prosper-
ity has been in tho interests of the su-
gar, leather and other trusts—that is,
in the interests of capital and against
the laborer and producer. It would
seem from the following clipping, tak-
en from the Clarion, London, Englaud,
that our laborers needs protection:
"The following figures represent the
average division of wealth between la-
bor and capital in the countries named
in per cents:
Capital.
Labor.
.. fil.
49.
.. 03.4
86.6
.. 05.4
34.0
.. 67.4
0
.. 08.8
31.2
32.1
.. 71.0
28.4
.. 73.2
86.8
74.5
88.5
82.2
17.8
Country.
Italy
Austria
Switzerland ....
Spain
Russia
France
Germany
Britain
Belgium
United States ..
But notwithstanding the rise in the
price of food-supplies, caused by fam-
ine, and the rise in sugar, leather
goods, cloth, etc., caused by legislation
in the interests of the trusts, the gen-
eral levy of prices are falling, as shown
by the following clipping from tho
New Time:
Bryan defends an honest dollar. His
definition suits us:
I am on sound and scientific ground,
therefore, when I say that tho dollar
approaches honesty as its purchasing
power approaches stability. If I bor-
row a thousand dollars to-day, and
next year pay the debt with a thous.
and dollars which will aecure exactly
as much of all things desirable as tin
one thousand which I borrowed, I have
paid in honest dollars. If the money
has increased or decreased in purchas-
ing power, I have satisfied my debt
with dishonest dollars. While the gov-
ernment can say that a given weight
of gold or silver shall constitute a dol-
lar, and invest that dollar with legal-
tender qualities, it can no', fix the pur-
chasing power of the dollar. That
much depends upon the law of supply
and demand; and it may be well to
suggest that this government never
tried to fix the exchangeable value of
a dollar until it began to limit tho
number of dollars coined."
A stable dollar, however, is not what
money-lender wants but a dollar
whose purchasing power is constantly
increasing.
But you answer, "I am a biraetallist.
I know that the single gold standard
is against general prosperity, and so
does ray party; and for that reason the
President has f>ent a commission to
Europe to promote international bimet-
allism." My friend, in international
diplomacy,force is the only commission
that is recognized. Commissions aro
not worth the paper on which is writ-
ten their delegation of authority un-
less force is behind them. Talleyrand
said, "Treaties are supported by pow-
der and ball"; and Bismarck recognized
the same principle when he said they
all rested on "blood and iron." By
this is not meant that bimetallism
should be established by physical
force; but by it is meant that we should
say to the world that we are ready
and intend to freely coin both gold and
silver, and use them both as standard
money in the payment of debts. The
other nations are holding 88,000,009,000
of our securities, the greater part of
which is payable in either gold or sil-
ver. In fact, we have paid a higher
interest in many instances to preserve
this option, and when we declare, as a
nation, that we are going to exercise
this option and pay in silver, the na-
tions that hold our secureties will be
equally interested with us in main-
taining the use of both metals as
standard money. Such a declaration
is the force we should use, and not
send a commission to Europe to beg
its consent in the r.iauagement of our
own affairs
And scad across the river.
Now darker grows the drifting sky.
And robin, with a startled cry,
Wheels rount his rootless dwelling.
The trees begin to toss and lash;
Far off, there gleams a forked flash.
Followed by thunder's swelling.
Hark! 'tis the rustle of the drop?
Among the tossing maple-tops—
The first cool dash and patter.
The air grows wondrous soft and sweet
With smell of woods and grass and
wheat.
And marshes all a-spatter!
Now thunders down the mighty flood,
That turns the dusty road to mud,
And sets the eaves to spouting.
Hurrah! the silver ranks have come,
With tempest-fife and thunder-drum.
And swollen torrents shouting!
—James Buckham, in Youths' Com-
panion.
A Lreton In Tart.
Almost every large American city has
its Ghetto, or Jewish quarter, that
swarms with peddlers, old clothes deal-
ers and sweat-shops. Mercy Is not to
be expected here, and tact Is supposed
to be unknown among such people, ex-
cept among traders in selling their
goods. The following incident hap-
pened in the Jewish quarter in Boston
last winter, and is worth telling, be-
cause it commends human nature, ese
eially the human nature found In the
slums:
A child was born in a short street
where nearly all the signs upon the
stores are printetl In Hebrew characters
The parents were very poor and very
proud. In the neighborhood was a
Christian mission, and although Jewish
children attended singing and sewing
classes within Its doors, some of their
parents preferred to starve rather than
accept its charity, and the family in
whieh this child was born was one o!
that class. The father and mother per-
sistently refused all aid, although there
was no coal in the house, and no money
for food. Then for some reason, prob-
ably pride, they refused help from peo-
ple of their own religion.
All the dwellers in the neighborhood
were exceedingly poor, and could ill af-
ford to give in charity; but here was a
starving family and a dying baby,
united with stubborn pride, and some-
thing had to be done.
So a pure was made up by these poci
people out of their petty earnings an<!
divided into three parts. Each little
sum was intrusted to a different Jewish
tradesman. That same day one of theii
small tradesmen climbed up to the
poverty-stricken tenement and repre*
sented himself as a coal agent.
"Can I sell you some coal this morn*
ing?" he asked, opening the door.
The man shook his head apathetic
ally.
"But," replied the improvised agent
"I gil' you drust. Oone mont—two mom
—tree mont—all you want. I drust
you.
"Ah!" answered the man with sur
prise. "Why do you trust n?e?"
"You haf a good name," said thi
agent. "J must introdooce mine pees
ness."
Soon a load of coal was on its way tc
the house to warm the mother and hei
infant.
The coal dealer had hardly left be-
fore a man from a butcher's shop neal
by came and repeated the drama ol
charity. Then, not long after, followed
a new milkman, profuse with offers ol
"drust," who promised a quart of milk
a day until the baby could get better.
Thus was the family saved from freez-
ing and starvation.
Now this happened in what is knowc
as the slums. This delicate way o!
meeting a crisis was not the act of £
refined and aristocratic philanthropist.
As the narrator told the writer, "II
was the act of dirty Russian Jew ped-
dlers." One can almost pardon the dirf
when such gentle consideration i/
shown.—Youth's Comanion.
Telegraphing Through IIIIla.
Tcala's utterances about wireless
telegraphy recall the fact that an Ital-
ian some time ago claimed its inven-
tion and application in numerous ex-
periments. His name is Uuglielmo
(William) Marconi. He even succeeded
in transmitting signals through a hill.
These first experiments remained the
secret of the family circle till he went
to London last year with his mother,
who is an Englishwoman. There he
soon attracted the attention of the di-
rector of the telegraphic service in
Kngland, who gave a lecture, which
Marconi illustrated with his experi-
ments. Private and public experiment*
soon followed. Some were given in the
ministry of war and others in the gen-
eral postoHice, in tho presence of high
authorities. The experiments wer,
made wilh the primitive apparatus
made in 1 aly, and yet, even then, tele-
grams weie sent to very great dis-
tances in all directions and also
through a little hill. Since then Mar-
coni has been enabled to improve hi
01 ginal apparatus and hopes soon to
so.. 1 telegrams through hills and rivers
by his new method cf telegraphing.
In these preserving days it is well to
know that tnere Is. nothing hopelesa
about the rubber rings of jars, which
seem to be stretched out of shape. Soak
thera for awhile in weak ammonia and
they will recover the!.- elasticity and
I usefulness.
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Allan, John S. The Peoples Voice (Norman, Okla.), Vol. 6, No. 12, Ed. 1 Monday, October 18, 1897, newspaper, October 18, 1897; Norman, Oklahoma Territory. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc116976/m1/3/: accessed April 24, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.