Transcriber’s Notes
Italics and bold face texts have been transcribed between
_underscores_ and =equal signs=, respectively. Small capitals have
been replaced with ALL CAPITALS.
More Transcriber’s Notes may be found at the end of this text.
[Illustration: $1.50 Per YearJANUARY, 1907 15 Cents Per Copy
Watson’s
Jeffersonian
Magazine
THOS. E. WATSON
EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR
ATLANTA, GEORGIA]
THE
Meridian Life & Trust Co.
OF INDIANAPOLIS
ARTHUR JORDAN, President,
is a mutual old line legal reserve company organized and doing
business under The Legal Reserve Compulsory Deposit Law of Indiana,
which is acknowledged by the best Insurance Authorities to be the most
complete law for the protection of the Insured ever enacted in this or
any other country.
Each year the Auditor of the State is required to ascertain the net
cash value of all outstanding policies with three and one-half per
cent. interest thereon, and the company MUST deposit in his office
Government and State Bonds, and first mortgages on real estate of
double the value of the mortgage, to secure the cash value.
Economical management as shown by the following figures has placed
this conservative company at the head of companies in Indiana, its
home state.
Comparative statement showing amount of Insurance gained in the State
of Indiana, the home of THE MERIDIAN, in 1905:
Meridian Life $3,005,008
State Life, Ind. 738,358
Reserve Loan, Ind. 1,223,408
American Central, Ind. 2,285,556
Inter-State, Ind. 1,392,408
Penn Mutual, Pa. 276,249
Aetna Life, Conn. 438,706
A POLICY IN OUR COMPANY
Will “PROTECT” your home and family.
Will “CREATE” wealth.
Will “SAVE” your estate.
Will “GIVE” you a standing of credit.
Will “PAY” off your mortgage at death.
Will “FURNISH” happiness and peace of mind in life.
Will “SUPPORT” you in old age.
Will “SOFTEN” the pangs of death.
Will “GUARANTEE” a dividend not obtained in any other company.
THE MERIDIAN LIFE offers this desirable protection to its policy
holders at a cost worth considering.
Let us tell you more about the opportunity we offer you for a safe
investment, and protection. Your name, address and age, is all that it
will cost you.
_SEND IT TODAY._
$1,000,000 WRITTEN DURING FIRST EIGHT MONTHS IN GEORGIA.
LIVE, ENERGETIC REPRESENTATIVES
can secure a contract that will enable them to double their income, in
either Georgia or Alabama. Either all, or spare time. Write us for
full particulars.
E. C. LESTER, Supt. Southeastern Agency,
600 Austell Building, Atlanta, Ga.
M. C. MORRIS, Director of Agencies, Atlanta, Ga.
THE Publishers Failure
Places in our hands the remainder of Their Greatest Publication
Ridpath’s History of the World
9 Massive Royal Octavo Volumes, 4,000 double-column pages, 2,000
superb illustrations.
Brand New, latest edition, down to 1906, beautifully bound in half
Morocco
At LESS than even DAMAGED SETS were ever sold
We will name our price only in =direct letters= to those sending us
the =Coupon= below. =Tear off the Coupon, write name and address
plainly, and mail to us now before you forget it.=
Dr. Ridpath is dead, his work is done, but his family derive an income
from his history, and =to print our price broadcast=, for the sake of
more quickly selling these few sets, would cause =great injury to
future sales=.
[Illustration: Weighs 55 lbs.]
=Ridpath= takes you back to the dawn of history, long before the
Pyramids of Egypt were built; down through the romantic, troubled
times of Chaldea’s grandeur and Assyria’s magnificence; of Babylonia’s
wealth and luxury; of Greek and Roman splendor; of Mohammedan culture
and refinement; of French elegance and British power; to the rise of
the Western world, including the complete history of the United States
and all other nations down to the close of the Russia-Japan war.
=Ridpath’s= enviable position as an historian is due to his
wonderfully beautiful style, a style no other historian has ever
equaled. He pictures the great historical events as though they were
happening before your eyes; he carries you with him to see the battles
of old; to meet kings and queens and warriors; to sit in the Roman
Senate; to march against Saladin and his dark-skinned followers; to
sail the southern seas with Drake; to circumnavigate the globe with
Magellan; to watch that this line of Greek spearmen work havoc with
the Persian hordes on the field of Marathon; to know Napoleon as you
know Roosevelt. He combines absorbing interest with supreme
reliability, and makes the heroes of history real living men and
women, and about them he weaves the rise and fall of empires in such a
fascinating style that history becomes as absorbingly interesting as
the greatest of fiction.
=Ridpath’s= History is strongly endorsed by Presidents Harrison,
Cleveland, and McKinley, Jefferson Davis, Lew Wallace, John L.
Stoddard, Bishop Vincent, Dr. Cuyler, Rabbi Hirsch, Presidents of Ann
Harbor, Amherst, Brown, Dartmouth, Tufts, Trinity, Bates, Colby,
Smith, Vassar, Yale, and other Colleges, and by the Great American
People, 200,000 of whom own and love it.
=Ridpath= is generally conceded the Greatest History ever written.
=$1 Brings the Complete Set. Balance Small Sums Monthly.=
It is the only general history recognized as an authority.
It is so beautifully written your children will learn to love it.
You should know history in these history-making days.
This is your chance to buy for less than ever before.
You may pay in small sums monthly, if you wish.
SEND COUPON TO-DAY AND WE WILL MAIL SAMPLE PAGES FREE
FOLD HERE, TEAR OUT, SIGN, AND MAIL
FREE COUPON
Western Newspaper Association 204 Dearborn St. Chicago, Ill.
Please mail, without cost to me, sample pages of Ridpath’s History
containing his famous “Race Chart” in colors, map of China and Japan,
diagram of Panama Canal, etc., and write me full particulars of your
special offer to =Watson’s Jeffersonian Magazine readers=
Name................................
Address.............................
HOTEL CUMBERLAND
NEW YORK
S. W. Cor. Broadway at 54th Street.
[Illustration]
Ideal Location. Near Theatres, Shops, and Central Park. Fine Cuisine.
Excellent food and reasonable Prices.
=NEW, MODERN AND ABSOLUTELY FIREPROOF.=
Within one minute’s walk of 6th Ave. “L” and Subway and accessible to
all surface car lines. Transient rates $2.50 with Bath and up.
=SEND FOR BOOKLET=,
Under the Management of
HARRY P. STIMSON GEO. L. SANBORN
Hotel Touraine.
Buffalo, N. Y.
[Illustration]
_=Delaware Avenue at Chippewa St.=_
_=ABSOLUTELY FIREPROOF=_
250 Rooms with Bath and Long Distance Telephone.
=EUROPEAN PLAN--$1.50 PER DAY=
up with Bath connections
Excellent Music and Grill Room.
C. N. Owen, Proprietor
=SEND FOR BOOKLET=
STOP AT THE
NEW PRINCESS HOTEL
WHEN AT
ATLANTIC CITY
[Illustration]
South Carolina Avenue, 200 feet from Beach.
The Princess Hotel is newly furnished throughout with rare taste, and
possesses all modern requisites for convenience and comfort of the
guests. Golf privileges and privilege of the Atlantic City Yacht Club
extended to the guests. American and European Plan.
=A BOOKLET will be gladly furnished upon application.=
Rates, Running from $12.50 to $30.00 per week, according to the
location of the rooms.
For any further information address
CROWELL & COLLIER
The Princess Hotel,
Atlantic City, N. J.
HOTEL NORMANDIE
BROADWAY and 38th STREET, NEW YORK
In the Heart of the City
[Illustration]
Fireproof European Plan
Single Rooms with Baths and in Suites
=$1.50 per Day and Upwards=
=Center of Amusement and Business District=
Telephone in Each Room Restaurant and Palm Room
The Cuisine Unexcelled Moderate Prices
SEND FOR BOOKLET.
ELMER E. ALMY, Prop.
=Also, Osburn House, Rochester, N. Y.=
JAMES W. GREEN J. D. WATSON
GREEN & WATSON
ATTORNEYS AT LAW
THOMSON, GA.
Consulting Counsel THOS. E. WATSON.
Will practice in McDuffie and surrounding counties. Loans negotiated
and Collections made on good terms.
WHEN IN BALTIMORE STOP AT THE
[Illustration: HOTEL JOYCE EUROPEAN]
130 Rooms
Elegantly Furnished
Unexcelled Cuisine
Rooms with Bath and en Suite.
Centrally Located.
Opposite Camden Station
Main Depot B. & O. R. R.
Rates $1.00 per Day and Upwards
SEND FOR BOOKLET
Hotel Joyce Baltimore, Md.
A SPLENDID STORY.
--_New York Times._
JACK LONDON’S
WHITE FANG.
Cloth, 12mo, $1.50
“Typical, graphic, tense, powerful, gripping the reader with a power
that knows no breaking till the story ends.... Shows more gentle
feeling and more charm than anything else the author has written.”
--_Chicago Evening Post._
Illustrated in colors from drawings by Charles Livingstone Bull, and
with special cover design.
Cloth, 12mo, $1.50
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY,
PUBLISHERS,
64-66 Fifth Avenue. NEW YORK.
Speaking of Economy
RED SEAL SHOES
Give double service at about the same price.
[Illustration]
For right down hard ware try our TUF-HIDE for the whole family and
you’ll save a good slice on the shoe bill.
Sold Everywhere.
[Illustration: No. 36 $2.50]
No. 36, Men’s $2.50
No. 112, Boys 2.00
No. 413, Womens 2.00
No. 145, Misses 1.75
J. K. Orr Shoe Co.,
Look for the TRADE MARK
ATLANTA, GA.
Georgia Shoemakers
Watson’s on a Postal brings a Catalogue.
Typewriters AT Half Price
[Illustration]
We have a large assortment of all standard machines, which have been
slightly used, that we will sell on guarantee, viz:--
Fay-Sho or Rem-Sho $25 to $40
Williams (All Models) $20 to $40
Remingtons (All Models) $15 to $60
Densmores (All Models) $15 to $40
Smith Premiers $20 to $60
Yost (All Models) $15 to $50
_Write for special prices on any other machine made. We have them in
stock_
Atlanta Typewriter Exchange
Seventy-One North Pryor Street
REFERENCES: H. M. Ashe Co., Central Bank & Trust Corporation, R. G.
Dun & Co.
What Will You Do During the Xmas Holidays?
You Are Not In It == Without a Gun.
[Illustration]
Anyone Can Afford to Own a Good Gun
Remington 1 Hammer Gun $20.00
Remington K Hammerless Gun 23.50
Remington KED Hammerless Gun 31.50
Remington 1 Automatic Gun 30.00
Remington 2 Automatic Gun 37.50
Parker V-H Hammerless 37.50
Parker P-H Hammerless 48.50
Fox No. A, Hammerless 37.50
Ithaca F, Hammerless 21.50
Ithaca 1, Hammerless 27.50
Ithaca 2, Hammerless 45.00
Winchester Take Down 19.44
Winchester Solid Frame 18.00
Winchester Riot 18.00
Sauer, Hammerless 65.00
Stevens No. 325, Hammerless 20.00
1890 Winchester Repeater, 16 shot, 22 cal. 10.26
1892 Winchester Repeater, 32, 38 or 44 12.50
1903 Winchester Automatic, 22 cal. 16.04
1906 Winchester Repeater, 22 short 8.50
1902 Winchester Single Shot 3.50
1903 Winchester Single Shot, Thumb Trigger 3.00
1904 Winchester Single Shot, extra heavy 4.75
No. 15 Hamilton 1.50
No. 19 Hamilton 2.00
Savage, Jr. 4.00
Savage 30-30 18.00
In presenting this list we only attempt to partially list the large
line of
Guns, Ammunition, Hunting Suits and Sporting Goods,
carried in our stock. We carry all the leading lines.
We guarantee satisfaction to every customer or your money cheerfully
refunded
Mail Orders Given Prompt Attention.
KING HARDWARE COMPANY,
53 Peachtree St., ATLANTA, GA.
“=Yes, do send me a book.=... Not a bargain book, bought from a
haberdasher, but a beautiful book, a book to caress--peculiar,
distinctive, individual: A book that hath first caught your eye and
then pleased your fancy, written by an author with a tender whim, all
right out of his heart. We will read it together in the gloaming, and
when the gathering dusk doth blur the page, we’ll sit with hearts too
full for speech and think it over.”
_Dorothy Wordsworth to Coleridge._
Such a book is
“ANN BOYD” by Will N. Harbin
and
“THE LIFE OF JACKSON” by Mr. Watson
Both begin in this number of Watson’s Jeffersonian Magazine as
serials.
IF YOU ARE INTERESTED
IN
Texas Investments
OF ANY KIND OR SIZE
Address
E. C. ROBERTSON,
Kiam Building, Houston, Texas.
Genuine Gold Specimens
Free
Samples of gold ore direct from the mine, sent free. We have a limited
amount of stock of an exceptionally attractive and promising Nevada
Gold Mine. The company is operated by reliable, responsible and
honorable men, whose references are customers of years’ standing, in
all parts of the country. This stock is not manipulated by speculators
or stock jobbers. It is offered now at a very low price, for rapid
development purposes, and will sell at par soon, we believe, going
higher as the mine develops. If you want to make money rapidly we
advise you to purchase and hold this stock for large and regularly
paid dividends. The stock of one Nevada Gold Mine increased 50 per
cent in one day; 18 Nevada stocks during October 1906 increased in
value Twenty-One Million Dollars. If you like a square deal and to be
in the best of company, you will send us your address at once for full
particulars.
MANHATTAN INVESTMENT CO.
125 EAST 23D STREET, N. Y.
JEWELRY for CHRISTMAS
Give presents that will be appreciated. Good jewelry satisfies
all--sweethearts, wives, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers or
friends. Examine my magnificent brand-new stock. I help you select.
Out-of-town orders carefully attended to. Satisfaction guaranteed.
J. C. MELLICHAMP, 70 Whitehall Street
“ATLANTA’S ONLY POPULAR NEXT DOOR CHAMBERLAIN-
PRICE JEWELRY STORE” JOHNSON-DU BOSE CO.
“Books are the food of youth, the delight of old age; the ornament of
prosperity, the refuge and comfort of adversity; a delight at home,
and no hindrance abroad; companions by night, in traveling, in the
country.”--_Cicero._
THOS. E. WATSON’S “STORY OF FRANCE”
In two beautiful volumes for only eight subscriptions to WATSON’S
JEFFERSONIAN MAGAZINE.
Either Mr. Watson’s Life of Napoleon or Jefferson for only five
subscriptions to WATSON’S JEFFERSONIAN MAGAZINE.
BETHANY,
A true and thrilling story of the Old South and Civil War, by Mr.
Watson, for only four subscriptions.
Club Rates. We Save You Magazine Money. Combinations.
Lord Bacon has said that “Reading makes a full man, conversation a
ready man, and writing an exact man.” If you want to be full--not
physically, but mentally--full of the best information, you should
read the best magazine literature. Foremost among the magazines is
The Metropolitan Magazine.
A beautifully illustrated monthly. A well appointed magazine in every
department. There’s something in it each month to interest the reader.
Are you a subscriber? Why not become one?
Below you will find some very attractive offers to which we direct
your attention:
=The Metropolitan
Magazine=
With one Class A $1.65
With two Class A 2.30
With two Class C 1.70
With one Class C } 2.00
and one Class A }
With two Class B 3.70
With one Class A } 3.00
and one Class B }
=Metropolitan
Magazine= }
Review of Reviews or }
one Class B } 3.00
Woman’s Home Companion }
or one Class A }
Metropolitan }
Worlds Work } 3.65
Delineator }
McClure’s }
=Class A.=
American Magazine $1.00
American Boy 1.00
American Inventor 1.00
American Primary Teacher 1.00
Baby 1.00
Cosmopolitan 1.00
Farming 1.00
Garden 1.00
Good Housekeeping 1.00
Home Magazine 1.00
Kindergarten Magazine 1.00
Little Folks 1.00
Physical Culture 1.00
Pilgrim 1.00
Suburban Life 1.50
Success 1.00
Times Magazine 1.50
Woman’s Home Companion 1.00
World To-Day 1.50
=Class B.=
Automobile $2.00
Motorway 2.00
Out Door News 2.00
Outing 3.00
Reader 3.00
Review of Reviews 3.00
Trained Nurse 2.00
=Class C.=
American Messenger $ .50
Amer. Poul. J. .50
Arkansaw Traveler .50
Boys and Girls .50
Housekeeper .50
Ladies World .50
McCall & Patton .50
Modern Women .50
Modern Priscila .50
New Idea Woman’s Magazine .50
Write for our Catalog.
Watson’s Jeffersonian may be added to any Club for =$1.50 extra=.
Address all orders to
Walker’s Southern Magazine Agency,
212 Leonard Building, Augusta, Georgia.
To Our Readers.
The advertising columns of this Magazine will carry into your homes
only the announcements of those whom we have reason to believe do a
legitimate and honorable business. Almost to the man, our advertisers
were prompted to place their contracts with us, not with a single eye
to the returns which they hoped to get as a result of using our space,
but because they are broadminded men who believe in this Magazine as
you do, enthusiastically predicting and welcoming Mr. Watson’s
success.
They with others, whose advertisements will appear in our next issue,
will continue to extend this evidence of their sincerity and thereby
guarantee WATSON’S JEFFERSONIAN MAGAZINE a financial success if you as
our clientele only patronize them to that extent whereby they can
carry their advertisement with us without doing so at a total loss. We
are careful as to the character of the advertisements which we carry,
which necessarily restricts our revenue from this source, so in your
appreciation of this fact we ask you as our friends to so far as
possible patronize our advertising friends and in doing so, be careful
to mention this Magazine so they may know our people and know they are
appreciative.
Since the time of President Jefferson’s Administration, it has
been sufficient guarantee of the quality of an article to
know it was bought at GALT’S : : : : : : : : : : :
[Illustration]
GALT & BRO.
ESTABLISHED OVER A CENTURY
Jewellers, Silversmiths, Stationers
1107 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE
WASHINGTON, D. C.
Christmas Jewelry
We Guarantee Satisfaction
in our
Service by Mail Department
Give Worth-While Gifts; not necessarily expensive, but good and of
permanent value. Here’s a little bunch of suggestions;
BROOCHES, Plain gold, enameled, pearl-set, jeweled, hand
From $1.50 up engraved.
SIGNET RINGS, Very much sought, splendid for engraved
Children’s $1.50 to $5 monograms.
Women’s $5 to $10
BARETTES, The smartest new hair-clasps and veil-pins.
From $1 to $25
Jeweled $25 to $50
SHIRT-WAIST PINS, Dainty and practical fastenings, more popular
Silver $1 to $4 than ever.
Gold $5 to $40
GOLD-BEADS, Always stylish and ornaments of real beauty.
$6.50 to $20
COMBS, The smart coiffure necessitates these; we have
$1.50 to $75 some beauties.
HAT PINS, We have right now the prettiest and largest
Gold $2.50 to $35 line we’ve ever carried.
Silver 35c to $2.60
BRACELETS, Something every woman wants. All styles. Very
$1.50 to $800 smart.
Suggestions Merely. Write to-day for our Catalog W, a splendid book
which will be a dependable guide to your holiday shopping. It is full
of PICTURES and PRICES. Covers our entire stock of
SILVERWARE, CRYSTAL, PRECIOUS STONES, CHINA CLOCKS, WATCHES, ART
WARES, ORIENTAL BRIC-A-BRAC.
_A request brings you the Catalog by return post._
_MAIER and BERKELE_
The South’s Leading Jewelers
ATLANTA, GEORGIA
BOYS’ INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL,
ROME, GEORGIA.
FOUNDED BY MARTHA BERRY.
THE ONLY SCHOOL IN THE SOUTH FOR BOYS FROM THE COUNTRY EXCLUSIVELY.
NO BOY FROM THE CITY WILL BE ACCEPTED.
Expenses for Board, Tuition and Plain Washing for term of sixteen
weeks are $25.50--just one-half the actual cost to the school. The
balance due for the expenses of each student is raised by the personal
efforts of the founder of the school.
There are now 125 students in attendance, representing twenty-four
counties in Georgia. Many of these boys would have no other
opportunity to obtain an education.
Here is a golden opportunity for the people of Georgia to help develop
the manhood, the citizenship, the sterling Christian Character of the
most worthy boys in the State.
$51.00 pays the deficit on one student one year.
$25.50 pays the deficit on one student one term.
WILL YOU NOT AID US IN THIS IMPORTANT WORK? Contributions, large or
small, gratefully received.
Address all communications to
MISS MARTHA BERRY, Rome, Ga.
1879------------1906
GEORGIA MILITARY COLLEGE
A UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA PREPARATORY SCHOOL
MILLEDGEVILLE, GA.
THREE COURSES: Classical, Scientific, Commercial; Music and Art.
Honest work done by teachers. Exacted of Students.
GOVERNMENT: Military, after West Point Model. U. S. Army Officer,
Commandant of Cadets and Instructor in Military Science, French and
Spanish. Military Equipment furnished by U. S. Government.
EXPENSES: Total cost for year of 38 weeks, $150.00. Includes Board and
Laundry, two Uniforms. Books from $5.00 to $10.00. This school brings
an Education within the reach of the poor boy.
OUR AIM: The complete training of the boy.
Twenty-Seventh Session.
Opened September 4th, 1906.
For New Illustrated Catalogue, Address,
W. E. REYNOLDS, A. M., President, Milledgeville, Ga.
The McDuffie Bank
A STATE BANK OF LOANS AND DISCOUNTS.
Thomson, Ga.
[Illustration]
=J. F. WATSON. President.=
H. T. CLARY, VICE-PRESIDENT.
W. S. LAZENBY, CASHIER.
J. GLENN STOVALL, ATTORNEY.
Capital Stock, $25,000.00.
MODERN EQUIPMENT, CONSERVATIVE MANAGEMENT, COURTEOUS TREATMENT,
ACCOUNTS SOLICITED.
DIRECTORS:
J. F. WATSON, H. T. CLARY, W. A. WATSON, O. S. LEE, B. T. BUSSEY,
THOS. E. WATSON, J. C. FANNING, W. R. HADLEY, J. DURHAM WATSON, W. S.
LAZENBY, J. GLENN STOVALL.
A Request.
WATSON’S JEFFERSONIAN MAGAZINE stands for all that is best in the life
of the people and the future of the republic. It will advocate those
principles for which its editor has so long fought. It is Mr. Watson’s
unselfish ambition to establish this Magazine in the minds, hearts and
thoughts of our people; to make it a power for the right against the
wrong and to make it a factor in moulding the minds of our young
manhood and womanhood for the future.
_OUR REQUEST._
If you believe in the principles which this Magazine represents. If
you would see it succeed, First, read it, every department. Then talk
WATSON’S JEFFERSONIAN MAGAZINE enthusiastically with every one with
whom you come in contact, make up your mind to send at least five (5)
yearly subscriptions before our next issue is out, and send them. You
will find this an easy task if you will make it a point to call on
those whom you know to believe in justice and freedom.
It is impossible to portray in words our appreciation to the many
hundreds who have more than granted this request already. We can only
predict greater results from them in the near future, which bespeaks
our absolute confidence in their unselfish devotion to a cause which
has had more than one martyr.
The National Sanitary Felt Mattress
Is Superior to the Best Hair Mattress. Noted for its Elasticity,
Durability and Comfort.
[Illustration]
Is as elastic as a feather bed. Is conducive alike to health and
repose. Is manufactured from best Staple Cotton woven into layers of
Felt by special designed machinery.
OUR GUARANTEE:
Give this mattress a 60-day trial and if it does not fulfill all the
conditions of our guarantee, return it to the dealer (if the tick is
clean) and your money will be refunded.
_The_ FAMOUS “FOUR HUNDRED” SPRING
Manufactured by us Exclusively.
THE “400”
Contains 88 Oil Tempered Springs
Enameled Finish, Absolutely Noiseless.
[Illustration]
THE “400”
GUARANTEED THE BEST
SPRING BED ON EARTH.
Gholstin-Cunningham Spring Bed Co.
Manufacturers, Atlanta, Georgia.
AN EARNEST REQUEST
Made to All Editors Who Believe in Fair Play.
=Gentlemen:=
By as foul a deal as was ever made, “Watson’s Magazine,” of New York,
has been taken out of my hands.
The written Contract, upon which I relied, has been shamelessly set
aside.
A man whom I selected as my personal representative, and placed in the
office at a fine salary, =which has always been paid=, betrayed me.
He and Col. Mann formed a new company, seized the Magazine under legal
forms, and are now running it for themselves.
=Col. Mann of Town Topics is Editor-in-Chief.=
C. Q. DeFrance is Associate Editor and Business Manager.
They have flooded the country with =a lying circular letter=, intended
to deceive the people as to the cause of my withdrawal.
=Col. Mann’s name is not even mentioned in this circular.=
Almost every statement made about me in that circular is a base,
malicious falsehood. They are simply =trying to hide their own guilt
in a cloud of slanderous fabrications=.
In the November number of “Watson’s Magazine” appeared an article with
the title of “=Explanatory=.” It should have been labelled
“=Defamatory=.”
It reeks with venom and lies. =Col. Mann wrote part of it=, and
DeFrance wrote the balance.
These publications of theirs do me the rankest injustice.
=I have no mailing list of the magazine which bears my name, and never
had one.=
=Consequently, I am at present powerless to reach the subscribers and
readers of “Watson’s Magazine.” I have no way of letting them know the
real state of the case.=
=On account of this very serious disadvantage, I make this appeal to
you:=
=Pray, inform your readers that I am now publishing the genuine
Watson’s Jeffersonian Magazine in Atlanta, Ga., of which this is the
first number.=
And that in the “Foreword” of this number is given =a full history of
my connection with the New York Magazine, together with my reasons for
quitting.=
In the interest of =Fair Play=, I beg that you do me this favor.
It is one which, under similar circumstances =you would not ask of me
in vain=.
THOS. E. WATSON.
WATSON’S
JEFFERSONIAN MAGAZINE.
THOS. E. WATSON,
Editor and Proprietor.
VOL. I. JANUARY, 1907 NO. 1
CONTENTS.
THE BODY-SNATCHERS. Frontispiece. _A. K. Taylor_
FOREWORD. _Thos. E. Watson_ 3
Illustrated by W. Gordon Nye.
EDITORIALS. _Thos. E. Watson_ 29
Illustrated by W. Gordon Nye and A. K. Taylor.
The New Year--Mr. Bryan and Mr. Watson.--
Socialism at War With Love of Home and Country--
National Finance Run Mad--As to Hearst--
Ornamental Flag-Poles--Eastern Insurance
Companies--Abraham Lincoln’s Silly Biographers--
Shoot, Luke, or Give Up the Gun--The Dismissal of
those Negro Troops--The Proposed Ship Subsidy--An
Appeal to Patriotism--Love Licks--After All, It
Depends Upon Who Owns the Ox.
YOU OLD CONFEDS. Poem. _William E. 50
From _The Confederate Veteran_. Fowler_
A SURVEY OF THE WORLD. _Charles J. Bayne_ 51
Illustrated with Portraits and Cartoons.
ANN BOYD. Serial Story. _Will N. Harben_ 73
Illustrated by W. Gordon Nye.
TWELFTH NIGHT. Poem. _Charles J. Bayne_ 89
Illustrated, from Painting by Jan Steen.
LIFE AND TIMES OF ANDREW JACKSON _Thos. E. Watson_ 91
Illustrated by W. Gordon Nye.
THE BLUE CHAMBER. Short Story. _Prosper Merimee_ 105
THE LAKE OF THE DISMAL SWAMP. A Legend. _Jeannette Holly_ 114
EDUCATIONAL DEPARTMENT. _Thos. E. Watson_ 117
Illustrated by W. Gordon Nye.
BOOK REVIEWS. _Thos. E. Watson_ 123
Illustrated.
A PEEP INTO THE WEEKLY PAPERS. 125
LETTERS FROM THE PEOPLE. 132
RETURNING THANKS TO MY FRIENDS. _Thos. E. Watson_ 141
WITTY FLINGS BY THE PARAGRAPHERS. 148
Published Monthly by
THOS. E. WATSON
$1.50 Per Year.
Atlanta, Ga.
15 Cents Per Copy
_Application made for entry as second class matter at Atlanta Ga. Post
Office._
[Illustration: THE BODY SNATCHERS.
THEY GET THE CORPSE BUT THE SPIRIT HAS FLOWN.]
WATSON’S
JEFFERSONIAN MAGAZINE.
THOS. E. WATSON,
Editor and Proprietor.
VOL. I.
JANUARY, 1907
NO. 1
Foreword.
Before me lies a Thing, bearing on its cover the legend,
“WATSON’S MAGAZINE.”
The familiar emblem, the Liberty Bell, is in the center of the space,
and below is the address of
“Watson’s Magazine Company,”
121 West 42nd Street, New York.
Opening this Thing and scanning the Table of Contents, I note the
absence of the name of Mr. Watson, former Editor-in-Chief.
He’s out.
Nor do I see the name of the former Managing Editor, Mr. Duffy.
He’s out, also.
C. Q. DeFrance is still on deck, however, and Ted Flaacke is still
Advertising Manager--with no advertisements to manage.
Then comes a statement of the Contents of the November number. First the
old familiar word, “EDITORIALS,” meets my eyes. But the name of the
writer is not given.
It used to be Mr. Watson. WHO IS IT NOW?
The Table of Contents does not state.
The Editor is a Man of Mystery. Was he ashamed of his Editorials, or
were the Editorials ashamed of _him_? Deponent sayeth not--because he
doesn’t know.
Everybody else’s name is given, save that of the only man whose name
there was any special reason for giving--to wit, THE EDITOR.
Is THIS the way they send you into the world, MY CHILD? Offspring of my
hand, my heart and my soul--Benjamin of my old age! Is THIS the
orphanage upon which you have fallen?
Glancing down the list of writers who have contributed to this November
number, I am startled to find the name of Thos. E. Watson.
Who is _he_, anyhow? Isn’t he the man whom Colonel Mann and DeFrance
have been slandering through the newspapers? Why put _his_ name into
_this_ pot?
Curious to see what Mr. Watson may have written for the Thing, I follow
the page reference (103) and find the familiar headline “EDUCATIONAL
DEPARTMENT.” This department was my own creation, primarily intended for
the instruction of the younger members of the family. Under the headline
of “Educational Department,” the Thing puts a list of books.
Some boy wrote to me last winter asking me to name one hundred books
which would be useful to the general reader. I made out the list, last
February, and mailed it to New York.
In their quandary of dismissing Watson, the man, and holding on to
Watson, the Reputation, _they fished that list of books out of the
waste-basket_ and published it. _They_ signed my name to it.
That’s the only item in the Thing’s “Educational Department.”
Pitiful!
At the very time when they are slandering me in the newspapers, and
denying to me any share in the Magazine which my unpaid labor built up,
Mann and DeFrance have the cynical indecency to continue to use my name
as a writer for _their_ magazine.
Turning to “LETTERS FROM THE PEOPLE,” a Department which owes its
creation to me, I find letters praising “Watson’s Magazine.”
The dates are not given. These would have disclosed the fact that the
letters were written before the severance of my connection with the
Magazine. The writers were _my friends_, and by their letters _they had
meant to encourage me in my work_.
The cover of the Magazine bears the name
“WATSON’S MAGAZINE COMPANY.”
The two individuals who compose this “Company” are Col. W. D. Mann and
C. Q. DeFrance--a very precious “Company.”
Of my Magazine, Mann took half, and DeFrance took half.
By what right?
Concede that Col. Mann was entitled to grab half of the Magazine because
of the money which he had lost through the stupid mismanagement of the
Business Department--where did DeFrance get _his_ right to _the other
half_? HE HAS NEVER DONE A LICK OF WORK FOR THE MAGAZINE THAT WASN’T
PAID FOR AT FULL PRICE.
Where, then, was HIS right to seize, under legal form, one half of the
Magazine?
I called him from a very modest position in Nebraska, and put him in the
office as my personal and political representative. Starting him at $40
per week, I soon advanced him to $60 per week--a higher salary than he
had ever been paid, by far. I trusted him, implicitly. To the last
moment, I relied upon him, absolutely.
_And he betrayed me._ Often have I, like other men, experienced
ingratitude; sometimes perfidy--but never have I been stung by such
venomous and unexpected treachery as that of DeFrance.
Let it pass.
* * * * *
There is another deceptive inscription upon the cover of the November
number of the spurious “Watson’s Magazine.” It is the address,
121 WEST 42 STREET.
That is NOT the true address which should be used now. Colonel Mann has
taken the spurious “Watson’s” into the quarters of his TOWN TOPICS AND
SMART SET. You have perhaps heard of TOWN TOPICS. Also of SMART SET. And
a _mighty_ smart set it is, too.
Hereafter, you might as well address all communications intended for the
_spurious_ “Watson’s” IN CARE OF COL. MANN’S TOWN TOPICS.
[Illustration: THE FAKIR AND THE MANIKIN. COL. MANN AND DEFRANCE
VENTRILOQUISING THE BOGUS “WATSON’S MAGAZINE,” NEW YORK.]
Or, if you prefer, IN CARE OF COL. MANN’S SMART SET.
Last March the blustering old scamp who rolls around beneath the name of
Colonel W. D. Mann, wanted to remove the genuine “Watson’s Magazine”
from 42nd Street over to the Smart Set den.
I declined to let him do it. At that time, DeFrance was still true to
me, and he took the same view of the matter. So anxious was he not to
get mired up in Town Topics mud that he telegraphed me to stand out
against Col. Mann and _not_ allow him to make the removal.
Tray, _the faithful_, wanted to keep out of bad company. Tray, the
unfaithful, has now, of his own free will, got into the bad company
which he _then_ avoided.
Watch out, Tray.
* * * * *
The first article in the November number of the spurious “Watson’s” is
entitled “EXPLANATORY.” Most of it had already appeared in Colonel
Mann’s TOWN TOPICS. The rest of it bears the earmark of DeFrance.
“EXPLANATORY” was prepared by THE PRESENT EDITORS of the New York
“Watson’s Magazine”--COL. MANN AND DEFRANCE. Well aware of the fact that
the Public would not patronize _a Reform magazine_ edited by such a
creature as himself, Col. Mann has rushed into the newspapers with a
declaration _that he never saw or heard of_ “EXPLANATORY” _until after
its appearance in the November “Watson’s.”_
What a shameless falsehood!
Col. Mann and DeFrance fixed up that “EXPLANATORY” mess, and _Mr. Gordon
Nye, the artist, was commissioned to take the “Proofs” to Col. Mann for
correction_.
MR. NYE, who is now living with me, ASSURES ME THAT HE CARRIED THESE
“PROOFS” TO COL. MANN’S HOUSE ON 72ND STREET, THAT COL. MANN READ AND
CORRECTED THE “PROOFS,” AND THAT HE MADE CERTAIN ALTERATIONS IN THE
ARTICLE.
Then Mr. Nye took the Proofs of “EXPLANATORY” _back to DeFrance_, and
delivered to that person _the orders of_ THE REAL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF of the
New York “Watson’s Magazine.”
For THE REAL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF of the bogus “Watson’s Magazine” IS COL.
MANN, EDITOR OF TOWN TOPICS AND SMART SET.
Nice Editor-in-Chief _for a reform magazine_, isn’t he?
* * * * *
I am going to give, once for all, a simple statement of the whole
transaction, and then I will try to forget it, in higher, nobler work.
Nothing is a more thankless task than the narration of the events
leading to such a climax as this.
* * * * *
After the national election of 1904, I went to New York to hold a
conference with our National Chairman, Mr. Ferriss, and with other men
who had been prominently identified with our side of the campaign. The
conference was held at the office of Mr. Palliser who had been acting
manager of the campaign in New York. I also wished to confer with Mr.
Brisbane, who had long been urging me to join him in editing the Hearst
papers. He had repeatedly written and telegraphed. A definite offer of
$10,000 to edit Mr. Hearst’s morning paper, the American, had been made.
If I had been ready to accept a thousand dollars per month, there is no
doubt that it would have been paid. But while I was powerfully inclined
to cooperate with Brisbane, I did not like to be swallowed up in Hearst.
Besides, to edit a daily paper necessitated my residence in New York,
whereas my interests, as well as local attachments, were too great to
make the removal one to which I could readily gain my own consent.
While in this uncertain state of mind, Colonel Mann burst in upon me, at
my hotel, in all the glory and pomposity of white whiskers, white hair,
wine-colored face, spotted waistcoat, gold-headed cane, baywindow belly,
eyes that looked like hard boiled eggs, and a voice thick with
high-living and constant use.
As I may have remarked before, he looked just like a picture taken out
of a child’s colored picture book.
While he talked to me, I sat there trying to make up my mind as to which
he resembled most, an idealized portrayal of Santa Claus, or of John
Bull, or of John Barlycorn. I finally decided that he would do for a
composite photograph of all three.
This funny looking old chap I had never heard of before. His Town Topics
I had never seen--didn’t know of its existence.
He introduced the purpose of his visit by saying that he had heard of
Mr. Hearst’s proposition to me. If I had committed myself to Mr. Hearst,
he had no more to say; otherwise he had a proposition to submit. Told
that I was free, he outlined his project.
He would finance a great national magazine, if I would edit the same.
Casually and lightly, he mentioned $100,000 as the amount he would risk
on the venture.
With that amount he had made _Smart Set_ “go,” and he did not doubt that
a like amount would make another magazine “go.”
Everything must be in my name--corporation, magazine, signboard,
tail-piece and all. Not being particularly ashamed of my name, I had no
objection to this.
Inasmuch as I belonged to a political party which had just demonstrated
to its own satisfaction that it was the most unpopular political
conglomeration on the face of the earth, I imagined that such a fine
looking old personage as Col. Mann--calling himself a Democrat--was
afraid he would deface his own reputation by associating with a
political outcast, like me, and that, therefore, while willing to
pocket all the money the magazine might earn, he didn’t want his name to
appear.
Considerate old buck, he wouldn’t hurt my feelings by using the plebeian
word “salary.” The word “compensation” was likewise too vulgar to be
applied to my monthly and yearly stipend. With a rich roll in his deep
bass voice, he mentioned the “_honorarium_” which I was to receive for
my work. My “_honorarium_” was to be $500 per month. Besides, my
traveling expenses to and from New York were to be paid.
He emphasized the fact that, under his proposition, I would not have to
live in New York. A monthly visit was contemplated, but never made
compulsory, save upon the summons of the Board of Directors.
[Illustration: EVEN IF THEY COULD BEND THE BOW, THEY HAVE NOT THE
ARROWS.]
For several reasons, Col. Mann’s proposition impressed me favorably.
First, it preserved my identity. Second, it left me free to say just
what I pleased. Third, it did not take me away from my home--to which I
am tenderly attached. My ancestors helped to clear the primeval forest
off these old red hills of Georgia, and I love them, as I could love no
other land under the sun.
For these several reasons, I practically decided, then and there, to
accept Col. Mann’s proposition. He saw this--being a shrewd old
fellow--and did his utmost to get me to his office, in order that the
contract might be drawn up and signed before I left New York.
But I was not _quite_ so much of a greenhorn as all that. I refused to
close the deal, then, but asked him to send his proposition, in writing,
to me in Georgia.
Returning home, I fell sick. Overwork, mental strain, sleeplessness,
worry, etc., stretched me out. Unable to return to New York after Col.
Mann had mailed me the proposed contract, I decided to place myself in
the hands of a friend.
* * * * *
Dr. John H. Girdner, a native of Greenville, Tenn., had been one of my
most prominent and active supporters in New York during the campaign of
1904. Previously he had been widely known as the political lieutenant
and confidential friend of Mr. Bryan. Previous to that, he was well
known as the family physician and political follower of Mr. Cleveland.
Having long been a resident of New York, Dr. Girdner seemed to me the
ideal man to represent me in the negotiations with Col. Mann.
The Doctor accepted the trust, and finally sent me the contract for
signature. Some alterations in it had been made. One of these, and the
most important, was the creation of the office of Associate Editor, at a
salary of “_not exceeding_” $4,000 per year. This office was to be
personal to me. That is, I could make and unmake Associate Editors at
will, _provided_ Col. Mann did not have to pay them _more_ than $4,000
per year.
In communicating this feature of the contract to me, Dr. Girdner
signified his willingness to fill that position. It gave me great
pleasure to appoint him. Nothing was ever said by the Doctor or myself
concerning the amount that he was to receive, but he assumed, quite
correctly, that it would be proper for him to draw the full $4,000, and
he began to do so.
Not once did Dr. Girdner intimate to me that a business connection with
Col. Mann would disgrace me. How could I suppose that such a connection
was undesirable when Dr. Girdner himself was willing to make it? I am
sure that the Doctor did not know what all the world now knows.
It cost the Colliers $75,000 and months of hard work, to gather up the
evidence which proved what kind of a person Col. Mann is. How could Dr.
Girdner know, IN 1904, those facts which it cost Collier $75,000 to
prove IN 1905? The Doctor knew no more about it than I did--or he would
have warned me to keep out, and would have kept out himself.
When I went to New York in the mid-winter of 1904-5 to organize the
Company, Col. Mann opened another leaf in his book.
He presented a paper containing stock subscriptions to his Syndicate,
and asked me to “come in.” I was fool enough to sign for $2,500.
Had the old scamp not over-reached himself, he would have got me for
$2,500, _besides the $9,000 hereinafter mentioned_. But he _did
overreach_ himself. He had his man, Daniels, to present _another paper_
for me to sign. It was the lease of the house we were to occupy, 121
West 42nd Street. The amount was $1,200.
THEN, I smelt the rat. I not only refused to sign the lease, but, acting
under a natural revulsion of feeling, I cancelled my subscription to the
Syndicate. Had Col. Mann said a single word against my doing so, _I
would have cancelled the whole contract_--for the suspicion had then
crept into my mind that he was--what I now know him to be--A GRAND OLD
RASCAL.
* * * * *
Why, then, did I go on with the Magazine?
Because I was fastened. Because I had publicly pledged my word. Because
the contract gave me complete control of the Magazine, therefore Col.
Mann could not hurt it. Me he _could_ hurt; me he _did_ hurt, but the
MAGAZINE WAS, IS NOW, AND EVER SHALL BE, ABOVE AND BEYOND HIS REACH.
Thank God!
The soul of the Magazine was the breath of life which Jehovah breathed
into _me_; and Col. Mann can no more defile it by his touch than he can
defile me.
* * * * *
I commenced working industriously for the Magazine in December 1904.
Hundreds of letters were mailed from my house every month. Hundreds of
subscribers enrolled themselves and paid their money in advance of the
publication. I paid my own assistants, paid the postage, worked for
nothing. _It wasn’t the money that I was after._ Col. Mann saw that,
_and took every advantage of it_.
Not a cent of the small sum that was paid me came out of _his_ pocket. I
am glad to be able to say so.
But while money-making was not my purpose, I could not contemplate with
any satisfaction the prospect of _never_ being able to get anything for
my labor. The Magazine was bearing upon me heavily. The contract only
asked 3,000 words per month of me. After the first few numbers, my task
was never less than about 20,000 words
All this work I did with my own hand. Mr. Duffy, the Managing Editor,
had a stenographer. Mr. Flaacke, Advertising Manager, had a
stenographer; Mr. DeFrance, Business Manager, had a stenographer. I am
not sure about Mr. Hoffman and the office boy, Robert, but I guess they
had one too. _The Editor-in-Chief was the only member of the staff who
had to do his own work._
Finally, the toil became so irksome--especially during the Georgia
campaign of 1906, when Everybody and his Uncle and his Aunt were jumping
on me--that _I begged DeFrance to allow me six dollars per week for a
stenographer_. He did so for several weeks and then quit. In ceasing to
help me to this pitiful extent, he gave me neither excuse nor
explanation.
He himself was all the while drawing his $60 per week, for dictating to
a fifteen-dollar-per-week stenographer.
* * * * *
“EXPLANATORY” alleges that I usurped authority, and began to discharge
employes as though the Magazine were my personal property.
“EXPLANATORY” says that, unfortunately, I was allowed to have my way in
a great many business matters.
The new Editors, Mann and DeFrance, give _no specifications_.
I WILL GIVE SOME.
Into _the very first number of the Magazine_, Col. Mann inserted a full
page _advertisement of some of his nasty_ “SMART SET” _books_. When I
saw that advertisement, which _had been slipped into the magazine
without my knowledge_, Ted Flaacke, Advertising Manager, was summoned to
my room, and _told that there wasn’t money enough in New York to buy
space in my Magazine for prurient literature of that sort_.
I peremptorily demanded that the filthy thing be kept out, and _it was
kept out_. It is due Mr. Flaacke to say, that _he, himself, had known
nothing of the ad. until the magazine was out_.
This was the beginning of Col. Mann’s displeasure. He realized that he
could _never make a tool of me_--as he is now making of DeFrance.
The _Titles_ of some of those books are as follows:
“An Eclipse of Virtue,”
“Margaret’s Misadventure,”
“Naughty Elizabeth,”
“Sweet Sin,”
“The Ashes of Desire,”
“An Unspeakable Siren,” etc., etc.
Now, it may be that these books are not so bad as their names would
indicate--I have never read them--_but Col. Mann meant_ by these titles,
_to cater to the diseased taste for erotic literature_. Hence HE SLIPPED
THE AD. IN, without notice to me or to Ted Flaacke. THAT AD., IN OUR
VERY FIRST NUMBER, HURT THE MAGAZINE SERIOUSLY. I felt that Col. Mann
had no right to degrade the Magazine by making it a distributor of vile
books, hence my positive instructions to Mr. Flaacke. In justice to this
gentleman, I should say that he agreed with me fully.
Again: Col. Mann placed the Business Management in the hands of a young
coal-dealer who knew nothing whatever about Circulation Management, nor
about Business Management of that kind. He was a most amiable young
gentleman and perfectly honest. I liked him personally, very much. But,
unfortunately, he was addicted to the use of intoxicating liquors--even
during business hours--and frequently attempted to perform the duties
when too much inebriated to do so. Dr. Girdner first called my attention
to this, and then DeFrance. Our business affairs soon suffered so much
from the young man’s infirmity, that both Dr. Girdner and DeFrance
suggested that we make a change. I took the matter up with Col. Mann,
_who had himself began to find fault with the young man_, and the result
was that he was requested to resign.
[Illustration: CROCKETT MANN AND THE SOCIETY COONS.]
DeFrance had wanted the young man’s place, and he got it, _with an
increase of salary_. It was at my instance that DeFrance was thus
advanced.
* * * * *
Every change made by me was made in the interest of economy, and
resulted in benefit.
I wanted to make other changes, for the same reason.
We paid Mr. Flaacke in salary and expense account, about $5,000 per
year, and never got advertising enough to pay the bill. I wanted to stop
that nonsense, and to put Mr. Flaacke on the commission basis.
_I shouldn’t wonder if Col. Mann has, himself, now made that very
change._
The Managing Editor was getting $50 per week for doing work which his
assistant, Mr. Hoffman, could, as I thought, do as well. I wanted to put
the work on Mr. Hoffman, and save the larger salary.
_I note with interest that Col. Mann has, himself, made that very
change._
Thus THEY, THEMSELVES, VINDICATE ME, unintentionally, from the
accusations they make.
_Col. Mann approved every change I made while I was in charge, and he
now makes the other changes for which I contended._
* * * * *
When Edgerton went out, it had been demonstrated that the Magazine was
not going to “boom” as Colonel Mann had expected, and that _economy_
would be the law of its life.
Seeing that two offices could be combined, at a saving of $45 per week,
I made the change, _after full consultation with Col. Mann at Col.
Mann’s house_.
As to Dr. Girdner, Col. Mann had kicked at that from the beginning.
From what others told me, I know that Col. Mann vigorously objected to
Dr. Girdner as Associate Editor.
I know that from time to time Col. Mann would inquire, “_Does Watson
still want that fellow Girdner?_” I myself heard Col. Mann find fault
with the Doctor for putting two signed articles in one number of the
Magazine.
And I MYSELF HEARD COL. MANN SAY, to me and others, in his own office,
“_I don’t believe Dr. Girdner could ever write a good article._”
When Col. Mann asked me whether Dr. Girdner were INDISPENSABLE TO ME, I
frankly and truthfully said that he was not. THE COLONEL WANTED TO STOP
THAT SALARY. The Doctor was not willing to let his “_honorarium_”
accumulate on the books. Like a sensible man, he was insisting upon
drawing what was due him.
This was HURTING COL. MANN. Hurting him very much. Therefore, AFTER
FIRST ASCERTAINING THAT I WOULD REMAIN IN OFFICE, he put Girdner out,
himself. As between an Editor who cashed in his “_honorarium_,” and one
that allowed _his_ to accumulate on the books, who could doubt which the
Colonel would prefer?
It was I who INSISTED THAT COLONEL MANN PAY DR. GIRDNER A SUM WHICH THE
DOCTOR NATURALLY CLAIMED AS COMPENSATION FOR BREACH OF CONTRACT.
Dr. Girdner himself should know best why he quit us, and the Doctor has
written me a letter in which he says,
“I resigned the position of associate editor because my salary had not
been paid for several months, and from the methods of the company and
the report of its treasurer I did not think it was likely to be paid
in future.
Very truly yours,
JOHN H. GIRDNER.”
* * * * *
“EXPLANATORY” has much to say about my son.
The facts are these:
My son had been under Dr. Girdner’s professional treatment. He soon
began to show a marked improvement, and I realized the helpfulness to my
boy of _giving him something to do_. He was naturally eager to work with
his father. I, therefore, went to the Business Manager and sought work
for my son, just as I would have done for a stranger.
I said, both to Mr. Green and Col. Mann, “I don’t know _how_ he will do,
or _what_ he will be worth, but please _give him a trial_. If he makes
good, pay him what the work is worth. If he does not make good, I will
not expect you to keep him, and you can charge his salary up to me
during the time he will have been here.”
That’s exactly the way it was. My son commenced work, and when I next
went to New York all of them told me--and were apparently delighted to
tell me--that he had made good.
From Dr. Girdner down, they all spoke affectionately of him, and
declared that he was one of the steadiest, quietest employes at the
office.
As his strength returned, his usefulness increased and I advanced him to
more important and responsible duties than had at first been put upon
him.
To encourage my boy, and bring out what was best in him, I _did_ advance
him from time to time. WHO WILL BLAME ME FOR WANTING TO MAKE A MAN OUT
OF MY ONLY SON?
It was my most earnest desire to train my son in journalism, so that he
could take my place when I should have served out my time and passed
away:--to that purpose I _still_ cling with a resolution that nothing
can break.
At the time DeFrance and Col. Mann kicked him out, he was doing the
“News Record” and “The Say of Other Editors.” He was doing it well, as
the Magazine will show for itself.
He was being paid $40 per week. This was $10 per week _less_ than
Edgerton had received for the same work.
When I gave my son the place, another position which he had filled
acceptably to the Business Manager, at $15 per week, was abolished.
_Thus, even at the highest salary ever paid my son, he saved the Company
$25 per week._
I am accused of having mistreated Mr. Edgerton. The facts are these: _he
was already working in New York_ when he applied to me for a job on the
Magazine. I personally requested Col. Mann to take him on. After much
hesitation and seeming reluctance, Col. Mann consented. When reductions
of expenses became necessary, Mr. Edgerton’s _weekly salary_ was reduced
to $40. He told me that he would hold the job _until he could get
another_. I did not think he could render us very good service _in that
state of mind_, and I therefore relieved him of duty. _He had already
made $1,200 out of the job_--probably THE EASIEST MONEY THAT HE HAD EVER
EARNED.
* * * * *
“EXPLANATORY” says that at a meeting of the Board of Directors in
November 1905, I agreed to contribute $5,000 to a fund of $25,000, and
then broke my word.
The facts are these:
After repeated efforts to get some satisfaction out of Col. Mann, I was
drawn to New York in November 1905 by a most positive written promise of
his to settle with me if I would come to see him.
I went.
At Col. Mann’s house on 72nd Street, there was a gathering of the
leading stockholders and leading employes. As each reported for his own
department the employes were excused, and they went away. Mr. Flaacke
spoke his piece and departed. Mr. Duffy, ditto. Finally the assemblage
dwindled down to just me and the Colonel.
But, _before this_, Col. Mann had suggested that we raise some money,
and asked me IF I DID NOT HAVE SOME FRIENDS THAT I COULD PREVAIL ON TO
“COME IN.” The suggestion was put out of business immediately. I was in
the trap all right enough, and I DIDN’T INTEND TO BE USED AS A BAIT.
Then he asked if I would not continue to work for the Magazine without
pay to the amount of $5,000.
I ANSWERED, “YES.”
In that very connection, however, he had stated, again, his intention to
pay me the amount already due, and which he had promised to pay if I
would come to New York.
[Illustration: THE TOWN TOPICS DEN INTO WHICH COL. MANN HAS MOVED THE
BOGUS WATSON’S MAGAZINE.]
But to my amazement he had stated it this way:
“I WILL PAY IT, BUT NOT NOW.”
Every one who was present must remember these words.
I said nothing at all in reply, but after all the others had retired, _I
remained behind and I reminded the Colonel courteously, of his pledge_
to pay me when I came to New York. I asked that he pay me at least HALF
THE AMOUNT DUE.
He hung his head, for an instant only, and then, raising a flushed face,
told me he would see what he could do, and give me a reply next day.
He complained of the heavy expense of his recent litigation, alluding of
course to the celebrated Collier-Hapgood Libel Case and the subsequent
prosecution of himself for perjury.
Next day he wrote me a long, sweet, persuasive letter begging me to WAIT
ON HIM UNTIL JULY, 1906, at which time he would most assuredly pay. It
was _then_ that I did what I should have done at first--consulted a New
York lawyer.
Mr. Palliser advised me to make an end of the matter _then_, and I
should have taken his advice; but I loved my work and my Magazine, and
at the last moment I yielded and let Col. Mann have his own way.
From motives that he is unable to understand or appreciate, I WOULD HAVE
CONTINUED THE UNPAID SLAVE OF THE MAGAZINE, INDEFINITELY, HAD NOT HE AND
DEFRANCE MADE THE SITUATION INTOLERABLE. I felt my obligations to the
subscribers: my pride in the success of the Magazine which bore my name
was deeply involved. This was well known both to Col. Mann and DeFrance,
_and they presumed, upon it--once too often_.
* * * * *
It may be asked why I did not cut loose from THE TOWN TOPICS GANG
_after_ the exposures in the Collier-Hapgood Case. Simply because Col.
Mann had nothing on earth to do with what I regarded as the Magazine, to
wit--its policy, its purpose, its message. _That_ was the life of the
Magazine. THAT, in my eyes, WAS THE MAGAZINE.
I did not want to leave the subscribers in the lurch, nor did I want to
abandon a field of labor in which I seemed to be doing a good work.
Every man who has a purpose in life and who loves his work, will
understand me.
Therefore, when Clark Howell and others jumped on me for being connected
with a person who was being denounced throughout the land as a
blackmailer, I put the case on the strongest ground by saying, “I AM THE
MAGAZINE.” That was true. DeFrance and Mann _were glad enough to have me
check defection_ from the Magazine by saying it THEN.
In a very short while _they will_ WISH THAT THEY HAD ANOTHER METHOD,
EQUALLY GOOD, OF CHECKING DEFECTION. The subscribers to the magazine
that was mine are not going to endorse what Col. Mann has done, nor
remain with a magazine which HE controls--_never in the world_.
* * * * *
If Colonel Mann had not lost his senses, in his haste to grab the
Magazine, name and all, he would have foreseen _the utter folly of
trying to run the thing in my name_ AFTER I HAD GONE OUT. A _new_
Magazine, under a _new_ name, he could establish at LESS EXPENSE THAN HE
WILL INCUR IN THE VAIN EFFORT TO MAINTAIN A WATSON’S MAGAZINE WITHOUT
WATSON. A child ought to be able to see that. What possible good will
_my name_ be to him when he himself publishes the statement that _I_ am
out?
THE NAME WITHOUT THE MAN WILL BE A DEAD WEIGHT TO THE MAGAZINE, as Col.
Mann has, doubtless, begun to find out.
[Illustration: THEY HAVE A CORPSE ON THEIR HANDS; THE SPIRIT ESCAPED
THEIR CLUTCH.]
HONESTY, in THIS case at least, should have been his POLICY. It would
have paid him better in the long run.
Col. Mann rushed into court, got a judgment against the Magazine for
$60,000; _and sold it_, at Sheriff’s sale, _to himself_.
He actually _had the Sheriff to sell my name, and was ass enough to buy
it_.
But he didn’t buy _me_, along with the name, and he didn’t buy _the
spirit of the Magazine_ when he bought the desks, the iron-safe and the
trade name.
The most valuable asset, he could not, and _cannot_ reach.
That’s the Good Will, the Reputation, the Demand!
This is the _real asset_--THE ONLY ASSET WORTH HAVING.
This asset, in equity and good conscience, _belongs to me, by the most
sacred of all titles_--THE WORKMAN’S RIGHT TO THE PRODUCT OF HIS LABOR.
Since it is mine, I mean to have it--in spite of all that Col. Mann may
do.
* * * * *
“EXPLANATORY” will seek in vain to convince any considerable number of
people that I quit the Magazine on a mere question of salary.
_That is the very thing that I always subordinated to other and higher
considerations._
In some directions Col. Mann lavished money like a prince; in others, he
doled it out like a miser.
Thus he squandered $12,000 in advertisements in daily newspapers, where
they were not worth a hill of beans, and REFUSED TO FURNISH MONEY TO PAY
ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY POSTAGE on sample copies.
He wasted $5,000 trying to run the advertising department on a fancy
schedule, and REFUSED TO PAY THE AUTHORS WHO SUPPLIED US WITH THE
NECESSARIES OF LIFE. Sometimes the writers who had been so badly treated
had to threaten attachments, before they could get their money; and upon
one occasion DEFRANCE HAD TO SNEAK OUT OF THE OFFICE TO AVOID AN IRATE
AUTHOR WHO HAD COME UPON THE SCENE WITH THE RIOT ACT IN HIS HAND.
Talk about _me_ as the man who acted as if I wanted to “wreck” my
namesake? What could damage the Magazine more surely and seriously than
such management as _this_? We got a bad name among _writers_, because we
took their MSS. and then failed to pay. We got a bad name among
_advertisers_, because ads were inserted upon almost any terms. We got a
bad name among _subscribers_, because DeFrance allowed business letters
to go unanswered, and because Wm. Green, the Publisher, dribbled the
mailing of every issue through TWO FULL WEEKS.
These were the difficulties with which I had to contend. The country is
full of people who wanted to patronize us and befriend us and help us,
but who became so disgusted at not getting their magazines, and not
getting answers to their letters, that they simply quit us in despair.
_Would DeFrance like to see a list of their names?_
I can furnish him with a good long one.
* * * * *
On one occasion Col. Mann was eager to have me send a cablegram, through
our State Department, to our Minister at St. Petersburg, offering a
thousand dollars to Maxim Gorky--then in prison--for an article for the
Magazine.
THAT VERY WEEK I HAD TO TAKE THE MONEY OUT OF MY POCKET TO PAY THE GIRLS
WHO WORKED IN THE OFFICE.
Upon another occasion, he ordered the sale, AS JUNK, of 60,000 copies of
the Magazine WHICH HAD ALREADY BEEN WRAPPED AND ADDRESSED AND MADE READY
FOR MAILING AS SAMPLE COPIES. They were SOLD AS WASTE PAPER BECAUSE HE
REFUSED TO FURNISH MONEY TO PAY POSTAGE.
Colonel Mann’s business was the publishing of magazines. Naturally, I
assumed that _he was an expert at that business_. It never occurred to
me that I could be of any service in the business management until his
absurd mistakes forced themselves upon my attention.
THE COLLIER TRIAL SEEMED TO ESTABLISH THE FACT THAT HIS WAY OF MAKING
MONEY OUT OF HIS OTHER MAGAZINES WAS THE SYSTEMATIC BLACKMAILING OF
SOCIETY SWELLS AND WALL STREET THIEVES.
When he stands his trial for Perjury in the case now pending, the world
will doubtless learn other peculiarities which characterize his
management of magazines.
* * * * *
I wanted the Magazine to be a success, and I knew that it could _not_
succeed as then managed. Hence, my offer to continue, indefinitely, to
work without compensation provided I were allowed to make those changes
which I knew to be absolutely essential to final success.
To this effect I wrote to the Managing Editor, and to DeFrance. No reply
was made by the management.
Then I overcame my repugnance to Col. Mann, and wrote _him_--telling him
what ailed the Magazine, how it could be put on its feet and offering to
make a success, of it--without salary in the meanwhile--if he would let
me do it.
To my original conditions, however, I added another, namely, THAT
DEFRANCE MUST GO. After the way in which he had acted, and after the two
insulting letters which he had written me, it was no longer possible for
us to work together.
Col. Mann did not answer my letter at all.
He had _DeFrance_ to telegraph me _a request_ that I send the
Editorials, and _a promise_ that they would treat me right.
By having DeFrance send the message, I knew that he meant to keep
DeFrance--and that let me out.
DeFrance had already notified me that half of my magazine belonged to
_him_, and half to Col. Mann, and there was no arrangement that could be
made on that basis.
Besides, Col. Mann, after my letter was written and before its receipt,
by him, had rushed into the New York _World_ with an interview which
libelled me basely and cruelly.
* * * * *
Let me say, in justice to a most estimable gentleman, that I had no
quarrel with Mr. Richard Duffy. He is peculiarly well fitted to make a
first-class editor of a literary magazine. His standards are high and
his judgment sound. He was not, however, particularly suited to a
political magazine--never having devoted any special study to Political
Economy and Governmental questions. In my contemplated change in the
Editorial Staff, I was not actuated by any dislike of Mr. Duffy. My
motive was simply that of the mariner who sacrifices a portion of his
cargo to save his ship.
* * * * *
“EXPLANATORY” makes as much as possible out of the weekly cheque of
$125, sent to me “during the busy part of the subscription season.”
Yes, they sent me cheques to the amount of one thousand dollars, at a
time when _subscriptions were pouring in at the rate of two and three
thousand per week_.
But “EXPLANATORY” does not state the fact that NINE THOUSAND DOLLARS
REPRESENTS THE AMOUNT OF UNPAID HONEST, HARD WORK DONE BY ME ON THE
MAGAZINE and that Col. Mann told the newspaper reporters, brazenly, that
HE NEVER INTENDED TO PAY A RED CENT OF IT.
_Perhaps_, the sum-total paid me during the two years _would cover my
actual expense-account in working for the Magazine_. It certainly would
not do more than that.
* * * * *
“EXPLANATORY” dwells upon my ceasing to visit New York, once a month.
Drawing no salary, paying my own traveling expenses, and being made more
or less ill by each of these long trips, I discontinued them. Editorials
for a monthly magazine can be written down here in Georgia just about as
well as in New York, and postage stamps cost less than railroad tickets.
Everything that I was allowed to do for the Magazine could be done just
as well by mail as by personal presence.
As to refusing to make a final trip to seek “an amicable adjustment,” I
wrote to DeFrance that the proposition referred to already WAS MY LAST
WORD, and that there was no use in my coming to New York to say it
again. Col. Mann could accept or reject--I was not going there to listen
to any more of his coaxing, bluffing and lies.
Besides, to tell the whole truth, I was not sorry that THE TIME HAD COME
WHEN I COULD CUT LOOSE FROM THIS FAT RASCAL. _After_ I had worked on and
on; _after_ he had broken promise upon promise; _after_ he had sued the
Magazine for $60,000 and got an execution against it; _after_ he had
shown that he wanted me to continue indefinitely to do ten times as much
work as the contract called for, and to _never have any share in the
reward that might be reaped from my labors_; _after_ he had broken the
contract by dismissing my son from a position which was my personal
appointment; _after_ he had rushed into the newspapers and confirmed my
suspicion of his villainous purpose by revealing his utter and shameless
disregard for his contracts, THEN my conscience and my judgment
concurred in the decision to cut loose from the New York concern and
START A MAGAZINE OF MY OWN.
* * * * *
Not a second thought have I given to the loss of the $9,000. But THAT
wasn’t all. Col. Mann assailed me. The odium of a catastrophe which was
the result of his own folly, faithlessness and lack of honor, he tried
to cast upon me. In his efforts to escape universal contempt, he lied
like a bulletin.
Betrayed by one whom I selected as my personal representative in the
office and whom I advanced from Circulation Clerk to Business Manager;
accused of a mismanagement which I endeavored in vain to correct; held
up to public criticism for mistreatment of employes when I had never
uttered an unkind word to a single one of them, high or low, during the
whole time of my service, and when I had never made a change in the
force that was not sanctioned in advance, by Colonel Mann himself, I now
feel that burning sense of the injustice and outrage which any other man
of spirit would feel under the same circumstances.
* * * * *
With an effrontery which nothing could surpass, the two men who have
seized my magazine on the half and half plan _are mailing out a circular
letter begging Reformers to take shares in the stock of the new
Company_.
This circular carries Deception on its very face. It purports to hail
from “_2 West 40th Street_.”
What is “2 West 40th Street”?
Why, IT IS THE SIDE-DOOR TO THE NOTORIOUS TOWN TOPICS DEN INTO WHICH
DEFRANCE AND COL. MANN HAVE DRAGGED THE CORPSE OF “WATSON’S MAGAZINE.”
The FRONT of Col. Mann’s trap is on FIFTH AVENUE.
[Illustration: ARCADES AMBO!]
Now DeFrance and Mann _knew very well that there wasn’t a decent man in
America who would knowingly send a dollar to buy stock of Col. Mann at
the Town Topics address_. Hence in their efforts to lure pigeons into
the net, they use _the side-door address which no one who is not
familiar with the building would ever know to be the same building_.
OH, THE SHAME OF IT, DEFRANCE! And YOU were the man whom I selected AS
MY PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE IN THE OFFICE, and who TELEGRAPHED ME TO FORT
LAUDERDALE LAST WINTER URGING ME TO RESIST COL. MANN’S REMOVAL OF THE
MAGAZINE TO THE TOWN TOPICS BUILDING!
With pathetic insistence, they are sending out this circular letter from
this Town Topics Side-Entrance addressed,
“_Dear Friend._”
I wonder how many dear friends Col. Mann imagines himself to possess.
_I wonder how many of DeFrance’s dear friends will follow him into_ THAT
MANN-HOLE.
The letter makes the modest request that a few thousand ardent admirers
of DeFrance buy stock in the Side-Door concern at $10 per share.
DeFrance tearfully ejaculates, “_I don’t ask you to donate the Money.
Far from it._”
_How_ far from it, he doesn’t say. _The confiding individual who bites
at that bait, and pours ten dollars into that Mann-hole will see a good
deal of ice in August before he will ever see his money again._
Think of the impudent falsehood of the assertion made in this circular
letter:
“The magazine, while not yet profitable, has nearly reached that point.”
Therefore, send your money to the Side-Door concern right away. Yet, in
the next breath, he claims that Col. Mann lost $180,000 in less than two
years on the Magazine.
To cap the climax of his wrong-doing, DeFrance actually signs the
Begging Letter as _Secretary of the People’s Party National Committee_.
By what right?
Under whose authority does he act _when he thus prostitutes that office
to the service of Col. W. D. Mann_?
What will our National Committee think of it when they _behold their
Secretary standing at the Side Door of the Town Topics building and hear
him calling for Populists to walk up and enter the Mann-hole, to the
tune of_ “TEN DOLLARS ADMISSION FEE, PLEASE”?
DeFrance has now stooped _to do the very thing that Col. Mann tried
vainly to get me to do_.
* * * * *
I wonder if those New York rascals really thought that I would quietly
sit down and twiddle my thumbs while they were making off with “Watson’s
Magazine”? I wonder if it never entered into those heads, which were
bent together to plot and to scheme, that the consequence of their
pretty little game MIGHT be a Revolt of Watson and HIS FRIENDS.
Unless I am greatly mistaken, _the subscribers_ to “Watson’s Magazine”
_are Mr. Watson’s friends_, and THEY ARE GOING TO STAND BY HIM. We shall
see.
* * * * *
After all, why worry over it? Life is too short to waste many of its
precious hours upon such a theme. Looked at in one way, those who
thought to crush me have done me a service.
They have put into me, once more, that intensity of energy and purpose
which, otherwise, might never have been mine again. What the spur is to
the thoroughbred, what the bugle-call is to the cavalier, the recent
attempts of my enemies to compass my ruin has been to me.
By the living God! HERE is no thought of surrender, no weakness of doubt
or hesitation, but a resolution, fixed as hardened steel, to MARCH ON.
What! Be a quitter NOW? Falter or flicker NOW? Lower the flag and stack
arms, NOW?
Rather, would I die.
The ear of the world is at last inclined to us, and the heart of mankind
is at length being touched by our message.
The long march of the despised Reformer is nearing its end. His final
triumph no sane observer, no watchman upon the tower, can longer doubt.
Halt NOW? Never in the world.
Desert NOW? Heaven forbid!
Why, for fifteen years we have walked amid the shadows of social and
political ostracism, never swerving an inch from the rocky road of
Duty--do they think we shall walk less firmly _now_, when the sunlight
is falling upon the path?
Times have changed. Men have changed. The principles for which we fought
have _not_ changed. THEY HAVE CONQUERED.
The strong man and shrewd politician at the White House laid his
attentive ear to the ground, quite a while ago, and heard distant
rumblings that taught him useful lessons.
The strong man and shrewd politician at Fair View, Nebraska, has had his
attentive ear to the ground and he, likewise, has learned his lesson.
The next time Mr. Watson of Georgia goes to Nebraska for the purpose of
helping Mr. Bryan to carry his home State for Reform, I venture the
prediction that Mr. Bryan will not leave Nebraska to avoid contact with
Mr. Watson--as he did in 1896.
The battle-flag of a great people, inspired by a resistless purpose to
assert the right of THE INDIVIDUAL to wrest the government of the
country out of the hands of the MONSTER CORPORATION will, beyond all
possible doubt, be inscribed with those mottoes which for fifteen years
have been our watchwords in the fight and our solace in defeat.
Courage, Comrades--COURAGE! And FORWARD MARCH!
* * * * *
On this mellow, radiant, opulent day of Indian Summer--when the golden
hours step quietly by, leading November into the dim realms which we
call the Past--I write these lines; and, having done so, cast behind me
that ugly dream, my New York experience.
Betrayed, _I will trust again_, AND GO ON. Better ten thousand
treacheries _than loss of faith_ in my fellow man. Repulsed, I will
rally, re-form, and CHARGE AGAIN. Better a hundred defeats than one
capitulation.
* * * * *
In March 1898, the Populists nominated me for Governor of Georgia. In
declining to make the race, my decision was controlled by the fact that
our organization had been wrecked by the Traitors who controlled our
National Committee, that I myself was exhausted--mentally, physically,
financially--and that Populism must henceforth do its work as A LEAVEN
TO THE LOAF.
The fatal Fusion of 1896 had done our organization deadly damage, and
the Spanish War finished us.
The blare of the bugle drowned the voice of the Reformer. With the
Cannon-boom shaking the world, men had no ear for Political economy--or
economy of any other sort.
Roosevelt rushed into war paint, and leaped into fame.
Bryan stuck a feather in his cap, and vowed that he, too, would become a
soldier in spite of those vile guns.
Hearst, also, went as close to the enemy as McKinley would let him.
HOW COULD I TALK ECONOMICS WITH ANY PROSPECT OF SUCCESS AT SUCH A TIME?
Loathing the war, foreseeing many of the evil consequences that it has
brought upon us, I quit the active agitation of Populism, and shut
myself up in my library to write books. _But if any soldier of the
Southern Confederacy carried away from Appomattox a heavier heart than I
took with me into my enforced retirement_, IT WOULD HAVE BEEN A MERCIFUL
DISPENSATION OF PROVIDENCE HAD THE ETERNAL SLEEP TAKEN THAT SOLDIER INTO
HER COLD, WHITE ARMS.
What I suffered during those awful years is known to none but the wife
who shared my lot and the God who gave me strength to endure it.
* * * * *
To continue a hopeless fight with a broken-down organization was not the
part of wisdom. The thing to do was to wait, educate the people, let
events demonstrate that we had been right, and let the Spirit of
Populism enter into and inspire the leaders of other parties.
I knew that OUR PRINCIPLES would finally triumph--as to THE PARTY, that
was a secondary consideration.
In taking leave of my comrades in 1898, before quitting the field to go
back into the court-house to earn money to pay pressing debts, here is
what my letter said to them:
“Let no man believe that I despair of your principles, for I do not. You
stand for the yearning, upward-tendency, of the middle and lower
classes. You stand where the reformer has always stood; for improvement,
for beneficial changes, for recognition of human brotherhood in its
highest sense, for equality before the law, and for an industrial system
which is not based upon the right of the strong to pillage the weak. You
stand as sworn foes of monopoly--not monopoly in the narrow sense of the
word--but monopoly of power, of place, of privilege, of wealth, of
progress.
“You stand knocking at the closed door of privilege, as the reformer has
ever done, and saying to those within, ‘Open wide the doors! Let all who
are worthy, enter. Let all who deserve, enjoy. Form no conspiracy
against the unborn. Shut out no generations that are to be. God made it
all for all. Put no barrier around the good things of life, around the
high places of church or state. Make no laws which foster inequality.
Establish no Caste. Legalize no robbery under the name of taxes. Give to
no person natural or artificial sovereign powers over his fellow men.
Open, open wide the doors! Keep the avenues of honor free. Close no
entrance to the poorest, the weakest, the humblest. Say to ambition
everywhere, the field is clear, the contest fair, come and win your
share if you can!’
“Such is Populism. Such is its glorious Gospel. As such, I have loved it
with boundless reverence. As its disciples, I have loved _you_, fought
for you, toiled for you, _never for one moment doubting that you were
right_, and that your creed was the same immortal creed which in all
ages has challenged wrong, and defied oppression.”
* * * * *
Trample the Truth as rudely as you may, even in her death struggle her
voice is heard to say:
“I WILL COME AGAIN.”
In the darkest hours of the past, when all seemed lost and the
weaklings, the timeservers, the fickle minded and the mercenaries were
fleeing to cover, I used to say, constantly, confidently, “_Courage_,
friends. Be _firm_. DON’T LOSE HEART. It will all come right.
“Populism, as a party, may seem to be dead, but the Spirit is immortal.
It cannot die. As sure as God lives,
“IT WILL COME AGAIN.”
And now, after many days, in God’s own time, it HAS come again. From the
bottom of my heart and from yours, come _thanks to the Lord of the
Universe who spared our lives to see this day_.
And the purpose to which every energy I possess shall be devoted,
henceforth, is TO HELP THOSE WHOM THE PEOPLE COMMISSION TO BRING ABOUT
REFORM.
As to Reward, I seek none, expect none, save that of the _Inner Voice_
which says,
WELL DONE.
With this glance into the Past, necessary to _you_, as well as to _me_,
let us turn our backs to it, and face the Future--and let us WORK, as we
never worked before.
[Illustration: “HE CERTAINLY WAS GOOD TO ME.”]
Editorials.
[Illustration: The New Year]
Lead us gently, Father Time, as you take us to the portals of the New
Year.
We know not _what may be within_; and our souls are burdened with fear
as we _stand here at the door_.
Lost, forever lost, is _the Confidence_ with which we _used_ to go
bounding into the New Year--as revellers hasten to the feast.
We have met the Unforeseen so often, have mourned where we thought to
rejoice, been trampled upon amid the horrors of panic and defeat where
we had so stoutly fought for victory and reward, that _our hearts are
sadly subdued_, Father Time.
* * * * *
We did not SEEK this awful life-woe, Father Time.
_Thrust_, from some great outer darkness, into the hurly burly called
Life, we gaze upward at the stars in helpless ignorance of what it all
may mean; and some Irresistable Force pushes us, _pushes us_, swiftly,
_inexorably_, onward _to another outer_ darkness that _fills us with
speechless awe_.
* * * * *
Have mercy on us, Father Time. We have been beaten with many stripes,
and are covered with many wounds.
God! How we have _suffered_!
We knew _nothing_ at the beginning, and we know but little _now_; and,
_for every lesson that we have learned, we have been made to pay in
heart-aches and scalding tears_.
_Always_ struggling, often _down_, always anxious for the Morrow, often
in torture _Today_, we have stumbled forward, Father Time, still looking
for the smooth road and the sunny sky and the bright Companionship of
Success and Peace.
Shall we NEVER see Carcassonne, Father Time?
* * * * *
We shudder when we think of what you did to us during the Old Year,
Father Time.
Ah, but you were hard on us--_bitter hard_. Our little ones _panted for
a breath of fresh air_, Father Time; and they died like flies, in
noisome, reeking, crowded tenements, because there was not, in all God’s
Universe--where there’s light and air for every flower that flecks the
field--_a breath of fresh air for the little children of the slums_.
Ah, it was pitiful, Father Time!
Our feeble ones, young and old, _perished miserably of cold and hunger_,
in the midst of a land that worships the Good God, and amid such an
accumulation of wealth as was never known before since the Morning stars
looked down upon a newly-made world.
Poverty, Crime, Vice, Drunkenness, Riot, War, Famine, Pestilence,
Earthquake, Conflagration have glutted their awful appetites upon us
during the Old Year, Father Time. To WHAT _are you leading us in the
New_?
_Will the heart of the world grow harder and harder, Father Time?_
Will the greed of human avarice demand still larger _sacrifice of human
lives_?
Will _the Selfishness of Class gorge itself still further_ upon ravenous
conquest, and remorseless exploitation?
Shall the cry of the White Slave NEVER reach Heaven, Father Time?
Shall the song of the angels who hung over the infant Christ, NEVER
throb, _a living principle_, in man’s government of man?
Is the Reformer _always_ to be the Martyr, Father Time?
Is Wrong NEVER to be dethroned?
* * * * *
Oh, Father Time! We tremble as we feel you leading us toward the door of
the New Year. Beyond that portal we cannot see, and _we dread it--as
children dread the dark_.
Deal gently with us in the New Year, Father Time.
Give us _strength_ to bear the Cross--for we know that we must bear it.
Give us _courage_ for the battle, for we know that we must fight it.
Give us _patience_ to endure, for we know that we shall need it.
Give us _Charity_ that thinks not evil of the Just, and which will
stretch forth the helpful hand _to lift our weaker Brother_ out of the
mire, rather than the cruel scorn which passes him by, or _thrusts him
further down_.
Give us _Faith in the Right_ which no defeat can disturb, no
discouragement undermine.
Give us the _Love of Truth_ which no temptation can seduce and no menace
intimidate.
Give us the _Fortitude_ which, through the cloud and the gloom and the
sorrow of apparent Failure, can see the distant pinnacles upon which the
everlasting sunlight rests.
Give us the _Pride_ which will suffer no contamination, no compromise
of self-respect, no wilful desertion of honest conviction.
Give us the _Purpose_ that never turns and the _Hope_ that never dies.
And, Father Time, should the New Year, into which you are taking us,
have upon its calendar _that day_ in which the few who love us shall be
bowed down in sackcloth and ashes, let THAT day, like all the other
days, find us ON DUTY--faithful unto the end.
Mr. Bryan and Mr. Watson.
When I was in Nebraska in 1904 Mr. Bryan showed me every courtesy;
therefore, it was most appropriate for me to reciprocate at the first
opportunity. When Mr. Bryan reached the State of Georgia, during his
recent tour of the South, I wrote him a note which he gave to the press,
and which our readers have doubtless seen.
Not long afterwards the following personal acknowledgement was received:
September 22nd, 1906.
Hon. Thos. E. Watson.
My Dear Mr. Watson:
I received your letter at Augusta and thank you very much for your
cordial greeting.
I am sorry that it was impossible for us to stop over with you. It is
gratifying to know from what I have learned that we are going to be
able to act together in the coming contest. There has been a
remarkable change in public sentiment, so that things that were
formerly denounced as radical are now regarded as not only quite
reasonable, but even necessary. If you come our way, we shall be glad
again to see you, only hoping that you may have more time than when
you last visited us. Mrs. Bryan joins me in best wishes.
Very truly yours,
W. J. BRYAN.
* * * * *
Mr. Bryan says: “_It is gratifying to know from what I have learned
that we are going to be able to act together in the coming contest._”
Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to see the National
Democratic party undergo a general casting out of the unclean spirits
that have taken possession of it. If it should become truly Democratic,
if it should return to the principles of the fathers, if it should
renounce Hamilton and all his works, if it should rebaptize itself in
the creed of Jefferson, if its National organization should expel every
tool of the Trusts, every agent of Wall street, every beneficiary of
special Privilege--_then the Democratic party would stand for
substantially the same things as The People’s Party_.
That being so, why should we not be able “to act together?”
Party _names_ are nothing. _Principles_ are everything. True reformers
think more of _having the work done_ than of _getting the credit_. Many
Populists condemned me in 1905 for advising them to support Hoke Smith
for Governor of Georgia. _No Populist condemns me now._ EVERYBODY
REALIZES THAT THERE ARE MORE POPULISTS IN GEORGIA TODAY THAN THERE EVER
WERE BEFORE.
Read once more the strong, manly letter which Hoke Smith wrote for the
first issue of the Weekly Jeffersonian, and then remember that thirteen
years ago the writer was a member of Cleveland’s Cabinet--_then_ you
will realize how immensely _the man has grown_.
Well, his Democratic followers have grown with him, and we Jeffersonians
vastly outnumber the moss-backs throughout the State of Georgia.
* * * * *
As Mr. Bryan says, _a great change is coming over the people_. Doctrines
which were scouted a few years ago are shouted now. Radicals who were
hooted, howled down and rotten-egged a few years ago are getting
bouquets now. _The Hearst editorials and speeches read like Populist
harangues of 1892._ THE BRYAN PLATFORM OF 1906 EMBRACES WHAT WAS
CONSIDERED THE WILDEST PLANK OF THE PEOPLE’S PARTY PLATFORM OF 1891.
“Act together,” William? Why not--_if you take our principles for your
creed and reorganize your old party to fit your new faith?_
* * * * *
That all true reformers may find a way to “act together” is a
consummation devoutly to be wished. A conference between Bryan, Hearst
and myself for that purpose was suggested immediately after the election
of 1904, but neither Mr. Bryan nor Mr. Hearst seemed to approve.
What may happen between now and 1908 no one can foretell, but I am
_still hoping that some honorable plan may be hit upon which will enable
all true-hearted reformers to_ “_act_ TOGETHER” _and overthrow this
fearful system which enables the privileged few to plunder the
unprivileged many_.
Socialism at War with Love of Home and Country.
In a recent issue of a leading Socialist paper the following gem of
thought is to be found:
“‘PATRIOTISM’ _is a nickname for_ ‘PREJUDICE.’”
Do you know why the Socialist flouts _patriotism_ and calls it
_prejudice_?
Think a little, and you will see. You love your _country_ because your
_home_ is a part of it; and you love your _home_ because it is _your
individual haven of refuge from the storms of life_--the individual
kingdom in which you are lord and master and in which you enjoy, with
your wife, your children, and your friends, whatever happiness life can
give.
_The man never lived who would_ NOT _fight for his home_--HOWEVER
HUMBLE.
The man never lived who _would_ fight for the tenement house in which he
chances to be a lodger. THE HOME IS EVER SACRED--the _hotel_ never is.
The reason is plain enough. The home is yours, _individually_; the hotel
is everybody’s _generally_. Now, the Socialist strikes at
_individualism_. He doesn’t want to own your home by any title that
gives you individual control of it. _He wants everybody’s home to belong
to you, and your home to belong to everybody._ In other words, the homes
of the people are to be owned collectively. If society sees fit to say
to you “MOVE ON,” out you go. Society will substitute _its_ title for
_your_ title, _its_ will for _your_ will, _its_ control for _your_
control. The home that Socialism will permit you to use this year may be
allotted to some one else another year.
_Under these conditions no man would love his home any more than he
would love his room in a hotel._ Under these conditions, the citizen
would have _no greater inducement to make permanent improvements upon
his home, than he would have to make improvements upon the hotel_.
Love of home being destroyed, love of country would also be destroyed.
Patriotism, being founded upon love of home, would perish under
Socialism, for the simple reason that the foundations would be gone.
_Under Socialism, the most beautiful feature of civilized life would
disappear._ Home life, as we know it, would be impossible. The song of
“Home, Sweet Home,” would thrill no responsive chords in the human
heart. The tender pathos of Burns’ “Cotter’s Saturday Night,” would not
be felt. Socialism would answer with a universal YES, Sir Walter Scott’s
ringing challenge,
“Lives there A MAN WITH SOUL SO DEAD,
Who never to himself hath said,
THIS IS MY OWN, MY NATIVE LAND?”
National Finance Run Mad.
THE WASHINGTON POST is authority for the statement that the President
will, in his next Message, _again_ urge upon Congress the necessity for
Currency Reform.
The MONEY QUESTION, as you will remember IS SETTLED; it is only THE
CURRENCY that needs REFORM.
Bryan says THE MONEY QUESTION IS SETTLED; ditto Roosevelt; ditto
Secretary Shaw; _ditto the big bugs of_ BOTH _the dear old political
parties_.
Yet, with equal unanimity and fervor, they all say that THE NEED OF
CURRENCY REFORM is something fierce.
Peculiar, isn’t it?
* * * * *
When _the people_ want financial legislation that will _restore the
system of The Fathers_, it is THE MONEY QUESTION, and it’s SETTLED. The
old party leaders, one and all, agree upon THAT.
Politically, therefore, THAT question is RES ADJUDICATA, and must not be
spoken of any more.
But when _the corporations_ want financial legislation _which will tend
still further to make our National Treasury a huge Reservoir from which
the National Banks and their allies can draw strength, support and
profit_--why, THEN, it is a matter of CURRENCY REFORM, and if Congress
doesn’t give the Money Power everything it demands, the Country will go
to the “demnition bow-wows.”
That’s how it is, my son.
THE MOGULS OF HIGH FINANCE declare that what our currency system needs
is greater “_elasticity_.” The India rubber quality is wanting, it
seems. The present system doesn’t _stretch_ readily enough. The Moguls
declare that the “_rigidity_” of the currency system threatens us with
calamitous conditions at the prospect of which the imagination becomes
exhausted and quits business.
Those two words, “_elasticity_” and “_rigidity_” are being featured in
all the Mogul talk, all the Mogul papers--and are being dutifully
repeated by all the Mogul Senators and Representatives.
* * * * *
YET, THERE ISN’T A PARTICLE OF SOUND COMMON SENSE in all this cant about
_elasticity_ and _rigidity_.
When the currency system of the body-politic is healthy and normal,
there can be no question of elasticity and rigidity. Like the
circulation of the blood in the human body, the circulation of money
will take care of itself.
ONCE GET THE SYSTEM RIGHT, AND NATURE WILL DO THE REST.
If the Physician tells you that YOUR CIRCULATION IS BAD--you KNOW what
that means.
Your system is out of order. The blood goes about its business, without
any help from YOU, PROVIDED YOUR SYSTEM IS KEPT IN ORDER.
YOU don’t have to pump blood away from center to the extremities; THE
BLOOD WILL GO THERE, OF ITSELF, IF YOUR BODILY SYSTEM IS IN THE PROPER,
NORMAL, SOUND CONDITION.
It is just so with, the circulation of money in the body politic; if the
system is RIGHT, THE MONEY CIRCULATION WILL REGULATE ITSELF BY NATURAL
LAWS.
* * * * *
ELASTICITY--RIGIDITY--two words that are cunningly employed to disguise
the purpose of the Moguls of National finance. _Those conspirators mean
to drive the Government still further away from the Constitutional
system of the Fathers._ They mean to push still further _the usurped
power of the National Banks to create and control the supply and
distribution of the Currency_.
“Currency Reform” means nothing more nor less than that.
* * * * *
GOVERNMENT LOANS TO THE COMMON PEOPLE, at four per cent, or even at two
per cent, would seem to be _more statesmanlike_, in all respects, than
_this eternal lending of government money to Wall Street without any
interest at all_.
WHY SHOULD UNCLE SAM FURNISH GAMBLERS MONEY TO SPECULATE WITH? Can any
good reason be given for it? Does it seem to be fair to legitimate
business men? Is it just to the taxpayers? Can it be RIGHT?
Yet the Wall Street gamblers got nearly ($30,000,000) thirty million
dollars from the U. S. Treasury in one lump. Upon this huge sum of
public money, the speculators will pay no interest at all.
Is it right?
* * * * *
ACCORDING TO THE OFFICIAL STATEMENT for Nov. 12th, 1906, THE GOVERNMENT
has now increased ITS LOANS TO THE NATIONAL BANKS to the stupendous
TOTAL of $147,000,000.
Never before has the gratuitous loan been so large. Who can defend such
a policy? Who would not BE ASHAMED to appear before an audience of
intelligent voters to advocate the wisdom and the propriety of such
GOVERNMENTAL FAVORITISM as this?
You laughed at the Farmers’ Alliance when it favored government loans to
the people, on the best of security, at two per cent interest. Yet you
say _nothing_ against government _loans to a few pet National Banks_
FREE OF INTEREST, and upon DOUBTFUL SECURITY.
Part of that LOAN OF ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-SEVEN MILLIONS is secured by
Chicago Municipal Bonds, called, I believe, the Sanitary Bonds. Would
you not prefer to lend YOUR Money upon a good farm, or _upon warehouse
certificates for cotton_?
* * * * *
THE FARMERS would be only too glad to pay the Government FOUR PER CENT
for that money which THE PET BANKS GET FOR NOTHING. Four per cent
interest upon one hundred and forty-seven million dollars is a tidy sum.
Figure it out and you will see, that it is about SIX MILLION DOLLARS.
That’s a neat sum to be GIVEN AWAY EVERY YEAR, isn’t it?
* * * * *
CONSIDER THIS ALSO: You, the Common People, are the taxpayers who put
that money into the U. S. Treasury. THE PET NATIONAL BANKS PAY,
PRACTICALLY, NONE OF IT.
Yet THEY have the use of YOUR money FREE. If YOU get the use of a dollar
of it, YOU MUST GO TO THEM FOR TERMS.
_Tough_, isn’t it?
NO WONDER THE MONEY SUPPLY IS CONGESTED. So long as the Government TAXES
IT OUT OF THE POCKETS OF THE MANY, and delivers it over TO THE FEW,
there is _bound_ to be congestion.
Yet, the Pet National Banks are moving heaven and earth, RIGHT NOW, to
have CONGRESS LEGISLATE IN FAVOR OF GREATER CONGESTION. The power of the
Few over the Many must be increased by additional legislation.
Otherwise, the bottom will drop out and Perdition will have us by the
nape of the neck. When eminently respectable cabinet officers,
congressmen, editors, etc., tell you that THE PRESENT SYSTEM OF RUNNING
THE FINANCES IN FAVOR OF WALL STREET SPECULATORS AND PET BANKS is safe
and sane, and that all we need is to make it a little more so, BELIEVE
EVERY WORD OF IT AND VOTE ACCORDINGLY.
On the contrary, when some discredited crank tells you that _it is an
infernal shame_ to use the law-making machinery in that manner, _howl
him down_, at once.
DON’T LEND TO THE TAXPAYER HIS OWN MONEY AT FOUR PER CENT. THAT’S
PATERNALISM--and it STINKS.
Take the taxpayers’ money and LEND IT TO THE PET BANKS without any
interest.
THAT’S STATESMANSHIP--and it SMELLS LIKE ATTAR OF ROSES.
As to Hearst.
The case against Plutocracy gained an advance upon the Docket by the New
York gubernatorial contest, but, unless I am much mistaken, two national
figures came out of it with mud on their boots.
One of these is W. R. Hearst.
The other is W. J. Bryan.
When Max Ihmsen advised Mr. Hearst to come to terms with Murphy, the
striped Tammany Boss, he disgusted thousands of sincere Hearstites, not
only in New York but throughout the Union.
The deal was _too_ bad.
It took Hearst out of the class of Reformers and put him into that of
self-seeking Politicians.
It created in the minds of his disinterested friends the suspicion that
he posed as a Reformer to serve the purpose of a personal ambition.
* * * * *
Boss Murphy is a rich specimen of the Boss--the man who is in politics
for Money, who cares nothing for Principle, who has no conception of
Duty, who would not understand what you meant if you talked to him about
Moral Obligation, who amasses wealth by screening from adverse
legislation the rascals that rob the Public under corporate names, who
makes it possible for invaluable public franchises to be stolen with
impunity, and who renders it easy for the robbers that grabbed the
property to use it to oppress and exploit the people from whom it was
stolen.
I _know_ that Murphy is the worst representative of _that class of
Bosses_ because the Hearst newspapers told me so.
I _know_ that he has used his power, as Tammany Chief, to protect such
robbers of the Public as Belmont, Morgan, Rogers and Ryan, because Mr.
Hearst has told me so with “damnable iteration” and convincing emphasis
these many years.
At the breakfast table, he reminded me of it in his morning paper, _The
American_.
At the supper table, he recalled the fact to my memory in his evening
paper, _The Journal_.
In fact, he gave me no chance to forget it.
Murphy, a protector of Crime, Murphy, a tool of the Plunderbund; Murphy,
the stuffer of ballot-boxes; Murphy, the ally of Murderers and thieves;
Murphy, the inciter to assassination; Murphy, who robbed New York in the
interest of Ryan and Belmont; Murphy, who ought to be in the
Penitentiary garbed in convict stripes--THIS Murphy became so familiar
to me in the Hearst newspapers that I would have felt the loss of
something habitual, and therefore necessary, had my friend Hearst ceased
to grind the coffee-mill.
[Illustration: DREAMING OF 1908.]
Yet Max Ihmsen deliberately planned a coalition between denouncer and
denounced, between the Angel of Reform and the Devil of Plutocracy,
between the Champion of the “Common People” and the hireling of the
Plunderbund, between the man who cried “Stop thief” and the rogue who
was making off with the stolen goods.
IT WAS TOO BAD.
It shocked the _Sense of Right_ of ten thousands of enthusiastic
Hearstites who had believed in him as an _honest_ leader. * * *
See _the Consequences_ of this foul and fatal deal:
First--the loss of that most valuable asset, the real reformers of The
Independence League;
Second--the revulsion of feeling among disinterested Democrats and
Republicans who were supporting Hearst _on principle_;
Third--the calling back to robust life of the almost defunct Boss,
Murphy;
Fourth--the complete rehabilitation of Tammany;
Fifth--the surrender to the Plunderbund of the State Supreme Court _for
fourteen years_;
Sixth--the restoration to his place of power and hurtfulness of Thomas
Grady, the most debauched legislative corruptionist in America.
I _know_ that Grady is that kind of man, because the Hearst papers have
assured me of it so often that no doubt upon the subject disturbs the
absolute serenity of my fixed opinion.
* * * * *
As these _net results_ of the New York election loom up clearly above
the dust and noise of the conflict, it is natural that Mr. Hearst will
be seen to have dimmed his halo very considerably; and _the fact that
Murphy_, after securing to himself and his gang all the benefits of the
coalition, _turned upon Hearst at the last moment and put the knife into
him_, will cause no tears ANYWHERE.
That’s just what Hearst ought to have known would happen--for he had
said things about Murphy which _no man_, born of woman, _could possibly
forgive_.
* * * * *
But Bryan put a shadow upon _his_ radiance, also.
He swallowed the Hearst programme all the way through--from soup and
fish to cheese and coffee. _His stomach balked at nothing._ The ousting
of Democratic delegations which had been elected to the Buffalo
Convention; the packing of that Convention with delegations which had
not been elected; the throw down of The Independence League; the
guillotining of the Independent candidates; the repudiation of the
honest labor-champion, Thomas Rock, and the endorsement of the
Plunderbund corruptionist, Thomas Grady; the fix-up of the Judiciary
ticket in which three Judges were allotted to Hearst while Murphy calmly
pocketed seven--Bryan’s gorge rose at none of these things. One and all,
they slid down his gullet like rain-water down a tin valley.
Just think if it!
In 1904, Bryan was making 60 speeches a day for Parker--Judge Alton B.
Parker--whom he described as “the Moses of Democracy.”
In 1906, he was writing, telegraphing, telephoning and so forth for W.
R. Hearst, _the exact_ CONTRAST _to Parker_.
Heavens, what a leap!
From Parker to Hearst--from Greenland’s icy mountains to India’s coral
strand.
NEVER saw such a jump before in my life.
And Bryan is going to find that it will require considerable dexterity
to fit his crown on straight, after _that_ trouser-splitting leap.
HEARST has not changed _in principle_; PARKER has not changed _in
principle_; yet within two short years MR. BRYAN _has advocated_ EACH OF
THEM _with equal fervor_.
Quit playing Politician, William, or you will do yourself irreparable
injury.
_Fly your flag_ AS REFORMER and hold your sword _straight before you_.
Don’t again call such a man as Parker “the Moses of Democracy.”
Don’t endorse Hearst, _when he is_ WRONG!
_Condemn the wrong_, and thus encourage Hearst to mend his ways, to
retire Max Ihmsen, and THUS MAKE his powerful newspapers, MORE USEFUL,
MORE EFFECTIVE IN THE GRAND CAUSE OF REFORM.
Ornamental Flag Poles--Eastern Insurance Companies.
The Pennsylvania politicians decided that the state needed a new
Capitol. The people were told that unless a better state house were
erected Pennsylvania would be pointed at with scorn, viewed with alarm,
and otherwise treated in a disrespectful and uncomfortable manner.
So, the politicians, contractors, material men, jobbers, lobbyists,
dead-beats, plain thieves and so forth, went forward and in due time a
new capitol for Pennsylvania was evolved.
Costing how much?
THIRTEEN MILLION DOLLARS, MY SON.
The house, itself, cost only $4,000,000.
But, then, you see, it had to be furnished.
The “furnishings” of the new state house cost the tax payers of
Pennsylvania $9,000,000.
As a sample of said furnishings, consider the one item of flag staff.
What would such a magnificent new capitol be without a flag flying above
it?
_Of course_, the state house must be surmounted by the flag.
And how can the flag do itself credit, away up there in the heavens,
without a pole to fly from?
_Of course_, there must be a flag pole.
So, the pole was put in place, and the flag was braced to the pole.
At what cost, please?
Why, the flag pole cost $850. Not $8.50, but $850.
So, at least, it appears upon the expense-account.
What was the flag pole made of?
Why, _it was just the round body of a large pine tree_.
Nothing else, my son.
The probability is that any sawmill in the country would have furnished
such a tree for $25.
The labor of preparing the tree for use as a flag pole might have cost
another $25.
Fifty dollars ought to have covered the entire cost.
But then, you see, the gang that was bossing the job needed money;
therefore, the State of Pennsylvania was supplied with a fifty-dollar
flag pole for the moderate sum of $850.
* * * * *
But the country is adorned with numerous _other flag poles of the same
variety_.
One of them is PAUL MORTON, President of THE EQUITABLE ASSURANCE
SOCIETY.
No institution in this land of the free has a flag pole that is more
expensive.
Paul Morton costs the policy holders of the Equitable $80,000 per year.
Not $8,000--which would be a fair price--but $80,000--which is a gouge.
Just how many men, equally capable, could be found to fill his place at
$10,000 per year, it would be impossible to say; but there is no doubt
whatever that Paul himself would have served the Society just as well
upon a salary of $25,000.
But then, you see, he wanted more. So he took it.
Flag poles come high--under certain circumstances.
* * * * *
Life Insurance, properly done, is of vast benefit to the Insured. Life
Insurance, improperly done, is of vast benefit,--to the Insurer. Those
Eastern Companies got too gay. Their higher officers became corrupt.
Under various flimsy pretexts, they began to plunder the Insured. _Local
agents, who did the hard work, got small pay._ State agents and National
officers drew princely salaries,--and did little to show for it.
Some of those Eastern Companies have been building Insurance Business on
the same principle that gave an exhibition of itself in the building of
the new State House of Pennsylvania.
Everybody knows that the taxpayers of Pennsylvania have been robbed.
Everybody knows, equally well, that the Policy-holders of those Eastern
Companies have been plundered.
From the standpoint of such rascals as the McCurdy gang, the
Policy-holder resembled an Irish potato, in that _he had eyes yet saw
not_.
The blind Policy-holder, _who could never see that he was being robbed_,
became a jest among the thieves who spent his money in riotous living.
Life Insurance is all right--_when the Insurer is_.
BEFORE you allow the Insurance Company to examine YOU, _examine the
Insurance Company_.
Abraham Lincoln’s Silly Biographers.
The process of making a saint out of Abraham Lincoln goes bravely on.
His latest biographer, Mr. Hill, clears him of the charge of “telling
stories just to amuse people.” Mr. Hill--a sober and worthy man, no
doubt--produces a witness by the name of Ewing, who being duly sworn,
deposes and says:
“I never heard Mr. Lincoln tell a story for its own sake or simply to
raise a laugh. He used stories to illustrate a point, but the idea that
he sat around and matched yarns like a commercial traveller is utterly
false.”
Why should the Lincoln biographers strive and strain to establish the
fact that HE NEVER “SAT AROUND AND MATCHED YARNS LIKE A COMMERCIAL
TRAVELLER?”
Is it any disgrace to sit around, occasionally, and swap yarns, “like a
commercial traveller?”
If so, the men who are TRULY RESPECTABLE are the dull fellows who can
neither tell a joke, nor enjoy one. Some of the best and brightest men
that ever lived have prided themselves upon their gifts in that very
line. To be a good story-teller is to possess the golden key that
unlocks almost every social door.
Daniel Webster revelled in a good story; so did Clay; so did Tom Corwin;
so did Robert Toombs, and Alexander H. Stephens.
As a mental relaxation and recreation, there are, in fact, few things
that serve better than “to sit around and match yarns like a commercial
traveller.”
* * * * *
THE TRUTH ABOUT LINCOLN is that he was a man, and _a great man, but no
saint_.
The last time I was in New York (November, 1905), my friend, Hon. T. H.
Tibbles, of Nebraska, was there, also, and we talked of Lincoln, whom
Mr. Tibbles had known.
And _one of the very things which Mr. Tibbles had seen and heard Mr.
Lincoln do was “to sit around and match yarns like a commercial
traveller.”_
* * * * *
MR. TIBBLES TOLD ME how, being at a certain place, his attention was
attracted by repeated bursts of loud laughter, coming from a certain
room. His youthful curiosity being excited, he followed the sound to the
room from which it came. The sight that met his eyes was this: Abraham
Lincoln was sitting in a chair, with his big feet upon a table in front
of him; around him were grouped a number of men, to whom Mr. Lincoln was
telling side-splitting yarns.
Tibbles joined the audience and got his share of the fun.
What of it?
Does that lower Lincoln in any sensible man’s eyes?
No. Let the Miss Nancy brigade go off to one side and talk about the
nebular hypothesis, or some other nice, well-bred subject. For my part,
I would prefer, _occasionally_, “to sit around and match yarns like a
commercial traveller.”
* * * * *
I asked Mr. Tibbles whether the stories that he heard Mr. Lincoln
telling were smutty.
At some future time, when I find, after a careful field-glass scrutiny
of the horizon, that I have no other row on hand, and am feeling the
need of one _very_ badly, _I am going to tell you Tibbles’ answer_.
Shoot, Luke, or Give Up the Gun.
Most men are presumed to have sense enough to know when the sun is up,
and when it is down.
To no mortal on this earth is it a matter of vital importance to know
the exact moment it rises and sets.
Even if any inquisitive lunatic wanted to know, he couldn’t find out,
for the simple reason that the hour of sunrise and sunset varies with
every mile of the earth’s surface, and is earlier to the man at the foot
of the mountain than to the man on top.
In the military establishments of the world, however, it is considered
to be a matter of life and death to know just when the sun rises and
just when he sets. So extremely indispensable is this piece of daily
information that a gun, a cannon we mean, _must_ be fired to proclaim
the tidings.
“Boom!”--the sun is up.
“Boom!”--he’s down.
Whereupon, your true soldier can sleep with a conscience childlike in
its freedom from care.
Otherwise not.
If that gun (mind you, a _cannon_) was _not_ fired, solemnly and
formally fired, every time the sun rose and every time he set, the
military breast would be racked with rude alarms, and the military mind
would be tossed to and fro with dread forebodings.
To fire off a musket wouldn’t do; wouldn’t _begin_ to do.
It would be unconstitutional, if not actually anarchistic and
revolutionary.
To start the day without firing a cannon--why the military establishment
could no more perform its traditionary functions without a cannon salute
to the coming and going of the sun than one of the old parties could
exist without stuffed ballot boxes.
Therefore, the custom is fixed--rooted, as it were, in the soil of our
civilization. It is one of the greatest advantages we have over our
untutored ancestors.
However much _they_ may have yearned to shoot the sun up and shoot it
down, they couldn’t do it. They had nothing to shoot with. They were so
completely engulfed in the currents of stupidity and barbarism that they
just had to trust to their eyes to know when the sun was up, or was
down.
You might ask how the soldiers do _on cloudy days_. You might ask, with
unseasonable levity, if the army doesn’t have to go by the clock _when
the sun is not to be seen_. And you might, out of your desire to be
smart and show yourself off, ask whether the army couldn’t go by the
clock as well on fair days as on foul ones.
But such questions as these will do you no good, and they would cause
you to lose friends. They are irrelevant impertinences.
For, you see, when anything has been done a long time, the presumption
is that there is sense in doing it that way.
Therefore, all nice and respectable people put salt in the fire when the
screech owl twitters, and make a cross mark and spit in it, whenever
they turn back in their tracks. We all do this because the custom has
age and good sense on its side.
If you think you can prance through the world smashing steady old
customs which have been handed down to us from time immemorial, you are
in a fair way to get yourself into trouble.
Consequently, if you don’t like the way the armies of the world spend
the people’s money shooting for the sun, you had just as well make up
your mind to the wisdom of laying low, and paying your share of the
expenses.
Every two years, your chosen representatives in Congress approve the
item in the Military Appropriation Bill which gives $20,600 to the army
to shoot the sun-shoots with.
Now, if you don’t like it what are you going to do about it?
The soldiers are not going to go by clocks or by eyes--they are going to
shoot those cannon, at all the military posts, every time the sun rises
and every time he sets.
And you will continue to pay the expenses, as formerly.
What else are you here for?
“Boom!”--the sun’s up.
“Boom!”--he’s down.
And it only costs $20,600.
See how great a thing it is to be civilized.
We shouldn’t be surprised if the sun had lots of amusement watching us
fools down here.
BOOM!!!
The Dismissal of Those Negro Troops.
What else could the President have done?
He is Commander-in-Chief of the Army: certain members of a certain
battalion “shoot up” a certain town destroying property, terrorizing a
peaceful community and committing murder.
The Commander-in-Chief endeavors to discover the identity of the guilty
parties. He fails. He then _appeals to the honor of the battalion_,
asking that the innocent point out the guilty. By no other method can
the red-handed rioters and murderers be identified and brought to
Justice.
_The battalion is deaf to the appeal._
The innocent refuse to point out the guilty.
_The innocent elect to make a common cause with the guilty._
Therefore, THEY, THEMSELVES, BECOME GUILTY of the highest crimes, as
ACCESSORIES AFTER THE FACT.
In law and morals, there is _not an innocent man left in that
battalion_, whose every member deliberately conceals the murderers, aids
and abets them after full knowledge of the crime.
Considering them all as guilty, the President ordered their dishonorable
discharge.
_Why not?_
They had committed crimes involving turpitude, degrading the uniform.
They had sullenly defied the President’s appeal to their honor, and
hence his notice to disband them.
The innocent had elected to share the guilt of the guilty, and thus _the
whole battalion was guilty_.
* * * * *
Fanatical friends of the blacks say that the President _should not have
punished the innocent_.
Nor did he.
He who conceals a murderer giving him aid and comfort, is himself a
party to the crime.
What legal principle is older and sounder than that?
The fanatics overlook it.
The President did not.
Nor will those who consider the facts without passion and seek to judge
the case without prejudice.
Apparently, the fanatics intend to convulse the Congress and the country
over this matter of the Negro Troops.
Let it not be forgotten that _even now the fanatics do not propose that
the originally innocent negroes shall be required to point out those
originally guilty_.
The fanatics demand that the President back down, and that the order for
the dismissal of the negroes be countermanded.
Thus, the originally guilty will be forever screened, and the crimes
they committed will forever go unwhipt of Justice.
The President has been right and should be sustained.
To allow these fanatics and these negroes to triumph over the President,
WOULD BE TO EXALT THE CRIMINAL AND TO DEGRADE THE JUST JUDGE.
If that had been a battalion of white men, nothing would have been said
about it.
But it was a lot of negroes--consequently the fanatics got busy.
The Proposed Ship Subsidy
A FAT MAN who was talking loud enough to disturb his fellow-passengers
on the train, said:
“What we need now is the Ship Subsidy, and the Panama Canal and”--the
rest was of the same sort. He had read something like this in a
newspaper, and had SEEN IT THERE SO OFTEN that he had come to the
conclusion it must necessarily be true.
IN THIS WAY SOME MEN GET WHAT THEY CALL THEIR OPINIONS.
Not YOU, of course. You get yours BY THINKING FOR YOURSELF. I KNOW that
this is so, because YOU TOLD ME SO YOURSELF.
“We need a Ship Subsidy,” declared the fat man, with emphasis and
decision. So “WE” do--but who are the “WE?”
The WE who need a Ship Subsidy are the Privileged, the beneficiaries of
Class Legislation, the Trusts which gorge themselves upon unjust
advantages.
In order that we may enable the Manufacturing Class _to enjoy a
Monopoly at home while they undersell the foreign Manufacturer in the
foreign market_, we have put a fictitious, UNNATURAL VALUE TO THE
MATERIALS OUT OF WHICH SHIPS ARE BUILT.
Consequently it costs MORE to build a ship in the United States than
anywhere else in the world.
Now, our Navigation laws will not allow the national flag to protect an
American vessel UNLESS THAT VESSEL IS BUILT IN THE UNITED STATES.
RESULT:
The foreigner has come WITH HIS CHEAPER VESSEL and borne off our
carrying trade.
Our infernal Tariff and Navigation laws have driven our flag from the
seas, by making it IMPOSSIBLE FOR THE AMERICAN MERCHANT TO BUY HIS SHIP
ABROAD, OR TO BUILD ONE AT HOME ON SUCH TERMS AS WILL ENABLE HIM TO
COMPETE WITH THE FOREIGN-BUILT SHIP.
Isn’t that plain enough, WHEN YOU STOP TO THINK IT OVER?
BUT THE FAT MAN declared that what WE need is the Ship Subsidy Bill.
What IS the Ship Subsidy Bill?
Why, it is a proposition that the Government shall, in effect, take
money out of the National Treasury TO MAKE GOOD TO THE SEA MERCHANT THE
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE FOREIGN AND HOME PRICE OF THE SHIP.
That’s the GIST of it, my son.
AT YOUR EXPENSE, the government has created the Trust which makes it
_impossible for an American to build a ship that can compete for
ocean-going freight_.
AT YOUR EXPENSE, that impossibility is to be abolished. THE DIFFERENCE
IN PRICE between the cheap foreign-built ship and the dear home-built
ship IS TO BE MADE UP OUT OF YOUR MONEY.
AT YOUR EXPENSE, the Trust will therefore be ABLE TO COMPETE for the
ocean business.
AT YOUR EXPENSE, the Trusts themselves will scoop the Carriers’ profit
upon the transportation of the Trust-made goods which ARE SOLD ABROAD
CHEAPER THAN THEY ARE SOLD AT HOME.
You catch it all around, don’t you, son?
* * * * *
YES, THE FAT MAN was right.
We DO need a Ship Subsidy--we Trusts.
We want to maintain our monopoly at home, and we will do it. We want to
continue to undersell the foreigner in the market and we will do it. We
want, furthermore, to rake into our own coffers the profits now reaped
by the foreigner who controls ocean transportation.
We COULD do this _by lowering the Tariff_, but that would derange our
entire Class-law fabric. THAT WOULD ENDANGER OUR MONOPOLY OF THE HOME
MARKET.
Consequently, the only way for us to get what WE want, is to have the
Government grant us a Subsidy which will make good to us THAT DIFFERENCE
IN PRICE between home-made and foreign-made vessels WHICH OUR
TRUST-CREATING TARIFF HAS CAUSED.
Thus we, the Privileged, will unload upon the Unprivileged BOTH
LOADS,--that of the Trust, and that of OUR escape from THE ONE
CONSEQUENCE of the trust WHICH HURTS US.
* * * * *
THERE IS ONLY ONE incident to the Protective system which is a drawback
to the Trusts.
That is THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF CONTROLLING OCEAN TRANSPORTATION.
Every OTHER incident to the Protective System HELPS THE TRUSTS AND HURTS
THE PEOPLE.
The one incident which HURTS THE TRUSTS AND HELPS THE PEOPLE must be
dealt with.
We must so manage that ocean transportation shall likewise belong to the
Trusts.
How?
[Illustration: NOW YOU SEE WHY YOU DON’T GET THE PARCELS POST.]
BY GIVING TO THE MERCHANT MARINE A SUM OF MONEY OUT OF THE PUBLIC
TREASURY, OVER AND ABOVE THE FREIGHT WHICH IS EARNED.
Then, indeed, every incident of the Protective System will present a
harmonious color-scheme, for THE TRUSTS WILL HAVE HOGGED THE WHOLE
BUSINESS.
And that donation out of your tax money, which is intended to save the
Trusts from the injurious burden of their own damnable Tariff System is
the Ship Subsidy which the fat man said we need.
So long as the Protective System hurts the Common People it is a
national blessing and must be gratefully sustained: _but the moment the
same_ system pinches the Protected Interests, they must _rob you_ under
the form of Ship Subsidy to get back what they lose by their own
tariff.
An Appeal to Patriotism.
Signs are plentiful that tens of thousands of honest Democrats and
Republicans are profoundly dissatisfied with the trend of recent events.
We look to the State, and no beacon light gives us confidence.
The time was when our rulers loved the people, trusted the people,
worked for the people. Those were the times when there was light on the
hearth, plenty on the board, and hope in the hearts of the people.
Those were the times when our rulers _remembered that our forefathers
came here to build a temple, a government_, DIFFERING IN ALL VITAL
RESPECTS FROM THE HATEFUL SYSTEMS OF THE OLD WORLD.
For this very purpose--that of establishing a system entirely different
from that of Europe--our forefathers braved the perils of the deep;
fought hunger and faced death; battled with the wilderness and the
savages it held; determined to die free, rather than live slaves.
In Europe they were fettered by class laws, class privileges, class
tyrannies.
They were crowded out from a fair competition for a share of nature’s
bounties by monopolies, chartered wrongs, statutory abuses, legalized
spoliations.
Braver than we, their degenerate sons, they counted life worth nothing
unless freedom went with it, and THEIR COMING HERE WAS A SUBLIME PROTEST
AGAINST THE OLD WORLD SYSTEM OF CLASS-LAW AND SPECIAL PRIVILEGE.
What have we, today, _as the result of all their heroism, and suffering
and success_?
We have our rulers aping everything Europe does, and fitting upon us,
forever, the abominable system our forefathers fled to escape.
_Where are class laws more insolently dominant than here?_
Where is Special Privilege more tyranically exacting than here?
Where are monopolies more contemptuous of law and public welfare than
here?
What people are greater slaves to misgovernment than you whose
low-priced products must bear the strain of untaxed bonds, useless
offices, and a steady growth of ever increasing salaries?
Who pay _nine-tenths of all the taxes_?
THE MANY WHO TOIL.
Who gets _the lion’s share of all the wealth produced_?
THE FEW WHO DO NOT TOIL.
In what country do the laborers, in shop and mine and mill and field,
produce more of the good things of life than ours?
It cannot be named.
In what country has nature opened her royal hands with a more regal
bounty?
It cannot be named.
Has there been any failure of harvest?
No.
Has there been pestilence, invasion, or civil strife?
No.
Then why is it that the signal guns of distress sound all along the
commercial seas, telling of brave ships going down?
Why is it that the feet of the homeless and the unemployed beat the
pavements of our great cities with a never-ending march?
Oh, brothers! why are so many hearths chill and dark, so many hungry
mouths unfed, so many despairing souls weighed down with the nameless
dread of the unknown future?
We have left the beaten track of our fathers. We have let the old
landmarks be forgotten. We have gone after strange gods.
We have foresworn the faith upon which our republic was founded, and are
being led back to the system our ancestors came here to shun. Why can’t
we all see it? Why can’t we all act together? Why can’t we lay down
prejudice, pride and passion, and devote our noblest efforts to the
salvation of our country?
[Illustration: AN ABSURD PROPOSITION.]
How can the Republican party cut loose from its Morgan-isms, its
McKinley-isms, its Carnegie-isms, its John Sherman-isms, its Standard
Oil-isms, its Steel Trust-isms.
How can the Democratic party cut loose from its Cleveland-isms, its
Carlisle-isms, its Wall Street-isms, its Whiskey Trust-isms, its Sugar
Trust-isms?
Neither will ever cut loose.
In the coils of the serpents of the sea, Laocoon may struggle, but will
nevertheless be powerless to escape.
Why cannot WE cut loose from these corrupt and class ruled
organizations, as Jefferson cut loose from Federalism, as Jackson cut
loose from National Republicanism?
While we dispute as to names and organizations, the State suffers. While
we quibble over technicalities of political practice, liberty asks in
vain for help.
Would it were not so!
Would that we could agree where we differ, unite where we divide, and
love where we hate.
Would that some divine touch of duty could lift us all to the summits of
patriotism where the only rivalry would be that of service--the only
purpose that of redeeming the land from those who despoil it.
Call the party what you please--names are nothing--but let us have a
Union of all patriots who believe in equal and exact justice to all men,
without special privilege to any. Let us have a democracy ruled by the
people, instead of this greedy, corrupt, heartless plutocracy ruled by
corporate money.
Love Licks.
_The Saturday Evening Post_ says that “Max Ihmsen, Hearst’s chief
political adviser, was once a theatrical advance agent.”
Was _once_?
When did he quit?
Judging from the way he managed Hearst’s New York campaign, he’s as much
of what he _once was_ as he _ever_ was--if not more.
* * * * *
That brightest and best of newspapers, the _Washington Post_, suggests
that some Frenchman snuff out the wretched little cad, libertine, and
aristocratic brute, Boni Castellane.
Granting that the snuffing out suggestion is a good one, why should a
_Frenchman_ be asked to shoot the contemptible and loathsome creature?
The American lady whose money he squandered, whose jaws he slapped, and
whose life he wrecked, has _three able-bodied brothers_--why should the
Gould brothers _wait for a Frenchman_ to take hold of the snuffing out
job?
* * * * *
Joseph H. Choate, being asked to define the difference between Cleveland
and Roosevelt, answered, “Mr. Cleveland is too lazy to hunt and Mr.
Roosevelt is too restless to fish.”
But see what a happy middle-course Mr. Bryan takes. When too restless to
fish, he hunts; and when too lazy to hunt, he catches fish. In other
words, you _never can put your eye on him when he isn’t after it_.
* * * * *
The Moguls of High Finance have about worked out their plans for an
elastic currency.
Their own notes are to be used as money, and the only thing back of the
notes will be “the general credit of the Banks.”
How pleasant it is to witness the process by which national finance
simplifies itself and acquires that suppleness of joint which the Moguls
call “elasticity.”
A Money system which rests upon a bottle of ink, a quire of paper, and a
printing press is _so_ simple that even a wayfaring fool may comprehend
it.
And when it comes to pass that _any_ Mogul of Finance can turn himself,
in the twinkle of an eye, into a Paper-money Mill, our currency will be
“elastic” to beat the band.
Go it, Moguls!
* * * * *
The brilliant paragrapher of the _Atlanta Journal_ writes:
“The only thing lacking about the dismissal of those negro troops was
that they should have been disbanded in Boston.”
Inasmuch as nearly all of “those negro troops” will be given permission
to re-enlist, it isn’t clear to my mind that Boston couldn’t have
enjoyed the episode quite as much as any other city--Atlanta, for
instance.
* * * * *
The same paragrapher who _is_ really one of the brightest of the bunch,
remarks:
“Stonewall Jackson once declared that ‘nothing justifies profanity.’ But
then he never tried being Speaker of the House.”
While we are at it, let’s put the case stronger than _that_.
What’s being Speaker of the House to living in a town like Thomson,
whose name the outside world spells in seven different ways?
What’s being Speaker of the House to having a fat knave and a lean sneak
doing business _under your name_ in such a den as Town Topics?
What’s being Speaker of the House to having the fat knave and the lean
sneak virtually tell the world, _in a magazine bearing your name_, that
you are wealthy and _therefore_ could afford to work _for them_ for
nothing?
What’s being Speaker of the House to having your own friends invited,
_by the Secretary of your National Committee_, to come round to the SIDE
DOOR of the Town Topics den, and drop ten dollars, each, into the
Mann-hole?
Dear me! When it comes to claiming credit for _not_ cussing, I could
name several things that dwarf the proportions of the Speakership of the
House.
Mr. Roosevelt went down to Panama to take a look at that big ditch which
nobody seems to be digging very fast. Thus far the trench appears to be
just large enough to hold the millions of dollars that the taxpayers are
pouring into it.
While he was down there it is to be hoped that Mr. Roosevelt gave close
scrutiny to the place where the administration of Jules Grevy, President
of the Republic of France, slid into that same ditch. By marking the
place, carefully, Mr. Roosevelt may possibly prevent his own
administration from tumbling into the same hole.
* * * * *
They are raising a rumpus in Government circles because the liquor
dealers are bottling whiskey in bottles--bearing the official
stamp--that do not contain full measure.
It doesn’t much matter. The less whiskey the bottle holds the better for
the man who holds the bottle.
_Don’t_ shoot!
After All It Depends Upon Who Owns the Ox
On the Pacific Coast there is an intense hostility to the yellow man.
The whites are at daggers’ point with Chinamen and Japanese.
Race hatred, you see.
Recently, the authorities of San Francisco have separated the two races
in the schools.
Jap. children are not allowed in the white schools. Yellow must not mix
with white. Contact is contaminating. Separate class-rooms, separate
play-grounds, separate everything--so runs the educational order of the
day.
Yet those white people of the Pacific Coast pretend that they cannot
understand the attitude of the Southern whites to the negro.
It is all right for THEM to cultivate race-hatred of the _yellow_ man,
but all wrong for US to indulge race-hatred of the _black_ man.
Queer kettle of fish, isn’t it?
[Illustration: NO MATTER WHICH ONE DOES THE CLIPPING, THE WOOL HEAP GETS
IT JUST THE SAME.]
You Old Confeds.
BY WILLIAM E. FOWLER, Excelsior Springs, Mo.
You boys are getting kind o’ gray,
You old Confeds;
You surely ain’t got long to stay,
You old Confeds;
Old Father Time is after you;
He’s worse than were the boys in blue;
He’ll get you all ’fore he gets through--
You old Confeds.
With old “Pap” Price and brave Stonewall,
You old Confeds;
With Robert Lee (you fought with all),
You old ex-Rebs--
Half starved, you faced the boys in blue,
When clothed in rags and tatters, too,
And braver soldiers no one knew
Than you Confeds.
No North, no South, to you they say,
To you ex-Rebs--
No more you see the boys in gray,
No old Confeds.
Sweet peace is here, you gladly tell;
You’re satisfied that all is well;
But when you think of those who fell,
And hear once more the musket’s hell,
You’d like to give one Rebel yell--
You old Confeds.
And don’t forget the boys in gray,
The brave Confeds,
Who can’t be here with you today--
The dead Confeds.
Amidst the screaming shot and shell,
Amidst the thunderbolts of hell,
They bravely fought and, fighting, fell--
The soldiers dead.
A silent toast to them now drink,
To each Confed;
To comrades dead let glasses clink,
To your brave dead.
You drink to soldiers that you knew,
To your dear comrades brave and true,
Who sleep beneath the Southern dew
Their restful sleep.
You love your country and its flag,
You old Confeds;
In its defense you’d never lag,
You old Confeds;
But long as heart beats in each breast
You’ll think of those who sweetly rest
’Neath flowers by south wind soft caressed
In Southern lands.
And when old Gabriel blows his horn,
You old Confeds
Will fall in line on that great morn--
You old Confeds.
The Master then will say to you:
“Just take your seats in that front pew;
There’s nothing here too good for you--
You old Confeds.”
--From the _Confederate Veteran_.
A Survey of the World.
BY CHARLES J. BAYNE.
The close of the old year and the beginning of the new finds the
civilized world in a state of parliamentary deliberation, with the
establishment of additional parliaments in various dependencies as one
of the leading subjects of deliberation. The lawmakers of practically
every nation in the two hemispheres are now in session, so the
discussion of budgets and the agitation of reforms furnish ever-changing
subjects of public interest.
The American mind has been moving forward from its varied and
conflicting analyses of the recent elections to the concrete measures
which will be introduced in Congress, and still it is unable to fix its
attention definitely on serious subjects while the holiday spirit is in
the air. Members of Congress themselves feel that they are merely in
Washington for a few days to outline a program for a later date.
[Illustration: New York _Globe_
“NOW TO BUSINESS.”]
The President’s Message.
Congress convened on the first Monday in December, and on the following
day the President’s message was transmitted to that body. It is
generally agreed that Mr. Roosevelt’s communications to the federal
law-makers are increasingly partaking of the nature of open letters to
the American people rather than being definite suggestions to the House
and Senate of the measures which should be enacted at the current
session into law. The present document is no exception to that rule. It
is largely made up of homilies which recall the waggish comment of Tom
Reed about “Roosevelt’s delightful enthusiasm over his discovery of the
Ten Commandments.” Such is practically the view of The Washington
_Herald_, for instance, which says that “Congress will regard the
counsels of the President as the obiter dicta of a distinguished
publicist, awakening the public conscience, but without special bearing
on the work of the present session.”
The forces of reform were delighted to find him advocating a law
prohibiting corporations from contributing to campaign funds, the
failure to pass which during the first session of the present Congress,
when reform was in the air, was the subject of considerable criticism.
It is pointed out that he does not now go so far as to advise that all
contributions shall be made public. He is quoted, since the transmission
of his message, as favoring a return to the large insurance companies of
the funds they contributed to the last Republican campaign, and this has
brought forth the question from his critics: Why disgorge only the
contributions of the insurance companies, when the funds belonging to
stock-holders, as well as to policy-holders, have been used by various
corporations to influence elections?
The Race Question.
One of those homilies to which reference has been made is the
President’s discussion of lynching and the race question. No one will
take issue with him on what he says on the subject--unless it be on the
statement that two thirds of the lynchings are for crimes other than
rape. He quotes Ex-Gov. Candler as saying that he had, within one month,
saved a dozen innocent negroes from lynching. After still further
discussion of the question, the President advocates the infliction of
the death penalty for rape and urges that assault with intent to commit
this crime be made a capital offense, “at least in the discretion of the
court.”
All this is, of course, a matter with which the states alone can deal,
except in the territories under the exclusive jurisdiction of the
federal government. On the general subject of lynching, The Brooklyn
_Eagle_ says that “the President is right in his preachment, but would
be tempted to ignore it if he were in private life, and a citizen of a
Southern state.”
Labor Legislation.
The relations of labor and capital come in for considerable discussion,
and the cause of labor is well sustained. The President advocates a
rigid enforcement of the eight-hour law, where practicable, a
conservative use of injunctions, and an investigation of the conditions
of the labor of children and women.
Senator Beveridge is already primed with a bill which will reach the
child labor question, through the elastic Interstate Commerce
Commission, by prohibiting the interstate transportation of commodities
on which child labor has been employed.
The President favors the enlargement of the Employers’ Liability bill,
passed at the last session of Congress, so as to place the “entire risk
of the trade” upon the employer, and he favors federal investigation of
controversies between labor and capital.
He advocates an enlargement of the meat inspection bill, so as to
provide for placing the date of inspection on the label and throwing the
cost of inspection on the packers.
He urges the more complete control of corporations in general, “by a
national license law, or in other fashion,” which is one of the
utterances anticipated with the keenest interest.
[Illustration: Washington _Post_
TEDDY’S ONLY TARIFF REFORM.]
He comes out for an inheritance tax, an income tax, and mildly urges a
ship subsidy and currency reform.
A bill providing for free trade with the Philippines passed the House in
the last session, but it met its death in the Senate at the hands of
members who feared that it would seriously affect the beet sugar
industry. The President again recommends the adoption of this measure,
or at least a reduction in the Philippine tariff; and, as one result of
his visit to Porto Rico, he asks that the inhabitants be granted United
States citizenship. A special message on this subject, it is said, will
go to Congress later.
The Japanese Question.
His utterances on the Japanese question are perhaps the most sensational
in the entire document. At least they have proven so, from two points of
view. After paying a splendid tribute to the “little brown men” of the
Orient, and advocating the adoption of naturalization laws in their
behalf, he makes an attack upon the principle of state rights which has
attracted more than ordinary attention. The exclusion of Japanese
children from the public schools of San Francisco, which is discussed
more at length elsewhere, has occupied a foremost place in the public
mind for some time, and it is generally conceded to have largely
resolved itself into a question of state rights, and the power of the
federal government to force an observance of international treaties on
the individual states, particularly where state laws alone are involved.
The President demands that the civil and criminal laws of the federal
government be so amended as to “enable the President to enforce the
rights of aliens under treaties.”
Further along he made some nebulous threats about employing all the
force of the army and navy in behalf of the Japanese, if necessary, and
at once the California representatives were, themselves, up in arms. The
President hastened to explain that he had been misunderstood--that he
only meant to say that he would protect the Japanese from mob violence,
by aid of the army and navy, if necessary, so the members from the
Pacific slope are satisfied.
In the meantime the President has instructed the department of justice
in California to make a test case of the state law segregating “the
children of Mongolian parentage” from the whites in public schools, and
it is believed that the matter will thus be settled.
The remainder of the message is devoted to the Rio conference, the
situation in Cuba, Central America and Alaska, the maintenance of the
navy at its present efficiency, and the approaching session of the
second peace conference at the Hague.
Mr. Watson’s Views.
While various public men have selected a variety of sentences from the
Presidential Message as being particularly striking, our readers may
have a natural curiosity to know what sentence in the message of the
President most impressed our Editor-in-Chief. His section of the
Magazine had been closed before the President’s message was made public,
but in a private letter to me, Mr. Watson remarks that the finest
sentence to be found in Mr. Roosevelt’s recent message to Congress, is
this:
“_Neither a nation, nor an individual, can surrender conscience to
another’s keeping. A just war is far better for the soul of a nation
than the most prosperous peace obtained by acquiescence to any wrong or
injustice._”
Mr. Watson thinks that the manner in which the President emphasizes the
fact that a nation, like an individual, _should not consent to live_
under dishonorable conditions, was very fine.
* * * * *
In addition to the editorial expressions which have been incidentally
quoted in the foregoing summary of the message, The New York _World_
says that “if Roosevelt would advocate tariff reform and if Mr. Bryan
would stop advocating government ownership of railroads, they would be
substantially in accord.” The New York _Tribune_ says “the message is
characterized throughout by that courage with which the President
habitually faces public questions.” The New York _Press_ thinks the
reading of it must have given the trust-owners “a night of restless
slumbers.” The New York _American_ calls it “the most ambitious state
paper of his career.” The New York _Times_ thinks the wisest counsel the
President gives Congress is to “obviate the evil of prohibiting all
combinations of capital, whether good or bad.” The New York _Sun_
devotes its criticisms chiefly to those matters affecting the judiciary.
Cabinet Changes.
The echoes of the Presidential message had scarcely died away, when the
President communicated to the Senate a long list of nominations which
included many changes in his Cabinet. Root, Taft and Wilson will remain
where they are. Charles Jerome Bonaparte, will become Attorney General;
Secretary Victor H. Metcalf, Secretary of the Navy; Oscar S. Straus, of
New York, Secretary of Commerce and Labor; George B. Cortelyou,
Secretary of the Treasury, in place of Leslie M. Shaw, who is to resign,
and Mr. Cortelyou will be succeeded in the Post Office by Mr. George V.
L. Meyer; James R. Garfield, Secretary of the Interior.
The appointment of Attorney General Moody to a position on the Supreme
Court Bench has brought forth considerable criticism. Before him, in
that capacity, must come for review much of the litigation in which he,
as prosecuting attorney for the government, has been interested. Nearly
forty million dollars in various suits are being held up for a hearing
before a full bench. According to established precedent, Mr. Moody
should not pass upon them, after having been identified with them in the
Department of Justice. No definite opposition to his confirmation is
manifested, however.
The General Elections.
The general elections are receding farther and farther into the past,
and public interest in the matter is abating. The returns in the state
of New York, showing the election of the entire Democratic ticket with
the exception of the head, have been interpreted according to the
personal views of the interpreters, but the truth seems to be that there
was a general uprising in favor of reform, brought largely to the
forefront by Hearst, but that the personality of Hearst himself, coupled
with his adhesion to Boss Murphy, was something that the people would
not stand for, and hence his defeat. Representative Jas. W. Wadsworth
paid the penalty of his opposition to the meat inspection bill, and will
not be in the Sixtieth Congress.
[Illustration: WHEN THE SIXTIETH CONGRESS CONVENES
Washington _Herald_]
[Illustration: Brooklyn _Eagle_
“DON’T DISTRACT HIS ATTENTION.”]
A survey of the elections as a whole shows that the Republican majority
in the Sixtieth Congress will drop from 112 to 58. The Republicans
carried every Northern state by reduced majorities, and the Democrats
carried every Southern state, in many instances by increased majorities,
at the same time redeeming Missouri from the Republican ranks into which
she passed for the first time with the Roosevelt tidal wave. In the
lower house of the Sixtieth Congress there will be an even hundred new
members.
The Republicans of the Senate, will probably make a gain of four
members. The terms of thirty senators will expire on March 4, 1907,
fifteen of them being Democrats and fifteen Republicans. Patterson, of
Colorado, Guerin, of Oregon--appointed to succeed the late Senator
Mitchell, who died in disgrace--Dubois, of Idaho, and Clark, of Montana,
are the four Democrats who will probably be succeeded by Republicans.
Then the Republicans in the Senate will have more than a two-thirds
majority.
[Illustration: SENATOR JOHN F. DRYDEN.]
Senator Dryden, the life insurance president of New Jersey, doesn’t know
whether the legislature in January is going to re-elect him or not--and
no one else seems to know any more than he does. The Republican majority
is very close, and there is considerable defection in the ranks. He may
be opposed by Gov. Edward S. Stokes.
[Illustration: Chicago _Inter-Ocean_
“HUGHES WILL PUT IT OUT.”]
Pennsylvania went Republican all right, but it was not exactly as “Maine
went for Governor Kent.” Edwin S. Stuart--the first bachelor in a
generation, by the way, to occupy the Keystone White House--is conceded
to be “a very nice man,” so the Republicans elected him over the fusion
candidate, Emery. It is charged in some quarters that his election
indicates that Pennsylvania has recovered from her spasm of
righteousness and reform, but the fact remains that Boss Penrose is now
asking that things be done instead of demanding them, as he formerly
did, after the manner of the Quay school in which he was educated.
[Illustration: New York _Mail_
THE MAN THAT BEAT HEARST.]
New Hampshire has a peculiar election system. If no candidate receives a
majority over all, the election is thrown into the legislature. Hon.
Charles M. Floyd, Republican, received a plurality, but not a majority.
His election by the legislature is assured, however.
[Illustration: MR. BRYAN--“ALAS, POOR HEARST! I KNEW HIM WELL!”
--Chicago Tribune.]
The election of James O. Davidson as governor of Wisconsin was hailed
as a victory for the anti-Follette forces, since they had opposed his
nomination, but the junior senator made his influence felt in no
uncertain way elsewhere, notably in the defeat of Representative
Babcock, who has served seven terms in the house, and for a long period
was the official fat-fryer of the Republican Congressional Campaign
Committee.
[Illustration: Spokane _Spokesman_
“SHOVED OUT.”]
The new state of Oklahoma selected Democratic members of the
constitutional convention and will stand by Jeffersonian principles.
Some effort is being made to embody white supremacy provisions in the
organic law which is being framed, and this has started a discussion as
to whether the President, under those circumstances, would issue the
proclamation admitting the new state to the Union. It is recalled that
under somewhat similar circumstances the statehood of Missouri was held
up for fifteen months.
Such is a running review of the results of the elections, but, as
previously indicated, the measures to which Congress will devote its
attention after the Christmas holidays are the center of interest.
A concerted effort is being made to force the administration to take up
the subject of tariff reform, notwithstanding the fact that the
President ignored the subject in his message.
The Divorce Congress.
One of the notable conventions of the year was that of the National
Divorce Congress which assembled in Philadelphia on Nov. 19 and 20 for
the purpose of formulating a uniform divorce law which, it is hoped,
would be enacted by all the states of the Union. It was the legislature
of Pennsylvania which took the initiative in this matter, not only by
codifying and examining its own laws, but by arranging a conference,
through Governor Pennypacker, to discuss the matter of uniform divorce
laws. This conference was held in Washington last February and a
committee was appointed to draw up a model bill to present to all the
states. Thirty states and territories were represented at the Congress
in Philadelphia and the grounds for absolute divorce, as presented by
the committee and adopted by the Congress were:
1. Adultery.
2. Bigamy, at the suit of the innocent and injured party to the first
marriage.
3. Conviction and sentence for crime, followed by continuous
imprisonment for at least two years, or under indeterminate sentence for
at least one year.
4. Extreme cruelty, endangering life or health.
5. Wilful desertion for two years.
6. Habitual drunkenness for two years.
The Situation in ’Frisco.
About the least pacific section of our united country just at present is
the Pacific slope. The action of the Board of Education of San Francisco
in excluding Japanese children from the regular public schools of the
city, and requiring that they be segregated in schools set aside
exclusively for them, has aroused the deepest interest all over the
country, and its echoes are reverberating on the shores of the
Chrysanthemum kingdom. It is becoming increasingly evident that the
matter of excluding the Japanese from the public schools is not the crux
of the matter. It is but a symptom of a very general condition of
dislike and distrust. The people of California frankly declare that the
more they see of the Japanese the less they like them and that since the
Russo-Japanese war, as one resident of the state puts it, “the Japs are
getting too blamed cockey.” The Californians assert that they have the
sympathy and support of the entire Pacific slope in their determination
to hold the Japanese in check. They point to the fact that the little
brown men practically dominate the labor situation in Hawaii, and that
they are making that territory merely a half-way house to California,
which they will likewise over-run. The labor unions, which are
particularly strong on the slope are strong in their antagonism to the
Japanese.
It is boldly declared by many representative citizens of California that
they will not stop short of introducing a bill in this or the Sixtieth
Congress excluding the Japanese from the United States on practically
the same terms as are now applied to the Chinese, who are held in some
quarters to be more desirable.
Many interesting questions of national and international law are
involved in the present situation.
Those who advocate a federal law excluding the Japanese are reminded
that the existing treaty, which was negotiated by Mr. Gresham in Mr.
Cleveland’s second administration, provides that “this treaty shall go
into operation on the 17th day of July, 1899 and shall remain in force
for a period of twelve years from that date.” Twelve months’ notice,
from the time of expiration, must also be given by either party, if such
party desires to terminate the agreement. Notice of termination cannot
be given, therefore, until July 19, 1911, and until July 1912, it must
continue as the supreme law of the land. Consequently the adoption of a
Japanese exclusion law cannot become effective for five years and a
half. The President’s advocacy of naturalization for the Japanese is not
received kindly on the slope. In addition to all this Mayor Schmitz and
Abe Ruef, the political “boss,” have been indicted for extortion.
[Illustration: _TREED!_
Philadelphia _North American_]
The Increase in Wages.
The month of November was marked by the announcement of the most general
increase in the wages of employes ever recorded in this country during
so short a period. This increase was made, for the most part, by the
railroads and other large corporate interests and chiefly affects
employes whose salaries are less than $200 a month. In many instances
the advance began with the first of December, while in others it becomes
effective with the new year.
It would be a difficult matter to make anything like an approximate
estimate of this golden harvest which is to go into the pockets of the
laboring men. It is said by those who are in a position to know, that
the advance in wages announced by the railroads during the month of
November would alone amount to $20,000,000 annually, affecting 200,000
employes. Even so conservative an authority as The Chicago _Evening
Post_ thinks it entirely probable that the advance in the wages of
railroad employes becoming effective on the first of the year will reach
something like $100,000,000 a year, while others place it still higher.
The Steel Trust and the street railroads have also advanced wages.
[Illustration: EDWARD H. HARRIMAN.]
It is only fair to say, in dwelling upon this general advance in the
wages of labor in so many departments of industry, that, according to
the mercantile agencies, the cost of living is higher now than it has
been at any time in twenty years, and the continuance of agitation and
discontent in certain quarters is held to be justifiable for the reason
that the purchasing power of a dollar is so much less than formerly that
it is no more than off-set by an increase of ten per cent in wages.
The Harriman-Fish Embroglio.
The final triumph of Edward H. Harriman over President Stuyvesant Fish,
of the Illinois Central, after a long and bitter feud extending over
many years, is still a topic of absorbing interest in the railroad world
and to the public in general. At a special meeting of the directors of
the road held in New York early in November Mr. Fish was defeated for
re-election by a vote of eight to four, the thirteenth director,
Vice-President Welling, being confined to his bed from an illness of
which he died a few days later. The formal complaint made against
President Fish was that he had not observed the “harmony” agreement of
last July, when it was at one time proposed that a special committee
should solicit proxies, and not Mr. Fish personally. He was charged with
arrogating to himself alone “the duty and function resting upon the
entire board,” and not being able to “distinguish between the powers and
duties of the president and those of the directors of the corporation.”
The purpose of the board was known before-hand and it was no surprise
when James T. Harahan, one of the vice-presidents, was chosen to succeed
Mr. Fish.
The nomination was seconded by Charles A. Peabody, President of the
Mutual Life Insurance Company, which was one of the many reasons
sustaining the belief on the part of Mr. Fish’s friends that his refusal
to take part in the “white-washing” of the Mutual officials was really
responsible for his overthrow. It is recalled that Harriman made
threats at the time that he would make reprisal on Fish for his refusal
to knuckle under.
[Illustration: STUYVESANT FISH.]
In the meantime Mr. Fish announced his intention of carrying the matter
into the courts. The constitution of the state of Illinois provides that
“no railroad corporation shall consolidate its stock, property or
franchises with any other railroad corporation owning a parallel or
competing line. A majority of the directors of any railroad corporation
now incorporated, or hereafter to be incorporated by the laws of this
state, shall be citizens and residents of this state.” Of the directors
of the Illinois Central only three, at the time of the recent election,
were residents of the state of Illinois. They were Gov. Deneen, who is
an ex-officio director by reason of his office as governor, James T.
Harahan, the new president, and John C. Welling, who has since died. It
is not denied that for thirteen years a majority of the directors have
not been “citizens and residents of Illinois,” and the scope of the
immediate issue is enlarged by the fact that if the courts hold the
present board to be illegal, so also will be the work of every board for
the past thirteen years, including issues of stocks, bonds, etc.
Harriman’s control of so vast a system of railroads is naturally
regarded as a menace. The Union Pacific and the Southern Pacific, of
which he is absolute master, aggregate 15,000 miles, with an outstanding
capitalization of $1,031,000,000. The Chicago & Alton and the Illinois
Central, which he practically controls, have a mileage of 6,668, with a
capitalization of over $380,728,223. He is largely in control of the
Baltimore & Ohio, the Reading and the Central of New Jersey railroads,
with a mileage of 7,255 and a capitalization of practically
$770,000,000. He is a stockholder and director in Erie, which has a
mileage of 2,553 and a capitalization of $382,900,000. Thus he is a
moving spirit and to a large extent the dominant figure in 31,000 miles
of railroad, with a capitalization of more than two billions and a half
of dollars. It is not surprising that an investigation on the part of
the Interstate Commerce Commission is now announced.
[Illustration: THOMAS F. RYAN.]
Ryan’s Vast Interests.
One of the recent surprises in Wall street was the resignation of Thomas
F. Ryan as a director from more than twenty railroads and industrial
corporations, including the leading trusts of the country. Coincident
with his retirement came the announcement that he was one of a number of
American capitalists who had secured from King Leopold of Belgium
certain rights in 8,400,000 acres of land in the Congo Free State, for
the purpose of developing the rubber and mineral resources, building
railroads and otherwise exploiting that vast territory.
An effort is being made in Congress to have this government join in an
investigation of conditions in the Congo and several of Leopold’s
lobbyists are in hot water.
The Lesson of Spencer’s Death.
No event in recent years has created a more profound sensation than the
tragic death of President Samuel Spencer, of the Southern railroad, who
was killed in a rear-end collision on his own road on the morning of
Thanksgiving day. Mr. Spencer was a native Georgian, and worked his way
through all the grades of his calling to the presidency he held at the
time of his death. Many personal tributes have been paid to Mr. Spencer,
but the fact that he was a victim to the inefficiency of his own
railroad system has been commented upon with decided emphasis. Readers
of THE JEFFERSONIAN MAGAZINE will recall the heated controversy last
summer between Mr. Watson and the editor of The Macon _Telegraph_. The
latter criticised Mr. Watson for making the point that Mr. Spencer, as a
railroad manager, squeezed too much money out of the South into the
pockets of Wall street millionaires, allowing his road to become
dangerous, allowing employes to be overworked, allowing bridges to
become decayed, refusing to double-track where double tracking was
needed and refusing to employ a sufficient number of men to do the
amount of work necessary in the proper operation of the property. The
text from which Mr. Watson preached was the official commendation of Mr.
Spencer by the voting trustees of the Southern Railway Holding Company.
They praised him because he had, during the last thirteen years, doubled
their property, trebled the gross earnings, and increased the net
earnings, over and above all operating expenses, more than 525 per cent.
He took this report and proved that instead of being something for Mr.
Spencer to be proud of, it was something to make him ashamed, since it
proved conclusively that the road was being run simply from the
standpoint of those who wanted dividends and who did not care how
unsatisfactory was the service, nor how many lives were lost because of
the failure to adopt safety appliances, double tracks, and by failure to
abolish the deadly grade crossings. Mr. Watson feels that the fate which
has overtaken Mr. Spencer is the most appalling proof that could be
furnished that he was right in his contentions.
[Illustration: “HE WAS DEAF TO ALL WARNINGS, AND AT LENGTH HIS OWN TURN
CAME.”]
[Illustration: TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT
The hand of the law will get old John D. himself yet.
--Minneapolis Journal.]
The press of this country and England view the matter in the same light.
The Brooklyn _Eagle_, in discussing the matter, says, “We can only
deplore this very able man’s loss. We can only hope that his sacrifice
may result in no further disregard of the precautions that would have
averted it, had those precautions been observed. Until that time,”
continues the _Eagle_, “we may expect preventable ‘accidents’ which wear
every quality of murder except its intent.” _The Pall Mall Gazette_, of
London, founded by W. T. Stead, expresses the hope that Mr. Spencer’s
death “will arouse those responsible for the management of American
railroads to a feeling that it is desirable to make them safer.” The
statistics of accidental deaths in America, says _The Gazette_, “are
appalling to the English mind, but seem to have little effect in
America. But the inclusion of directors among the victims is almost
proverbial as the surest route to reform.”
In spite of these solemn warnings another fatal rear-end collision
occurred on the Southern within ten days, a short distance from the
scene of the former accident.
Mr. Spencer has been succeeded, as President of the Southern, by Mr. W.
W. Finley, formerly second vice-president of the road.
Standard Oil Before the Bar.
The most definite and concrete form which the agitation against trusts
and combines has ever assumed in this country, and the most interesting
legal step the government has taken in a generation, was the filing of a
bill in equity, by United States Attorney General Moody, on Nov. 15, in
the Eighth Judicial Circuit, in St. Louis, Mo., against the Standard Oil
Company, of New Jersey, and seventy of its subsidiary corporations and
limited partnerships, as well as against seven of the leading officers
and directors of the big trust, to have the combination dissolved under
the Sherman Anti-Trust law, as being in restraint of trade and commerce.
The government, for nearly two years, has been gathering information on
which to base some such action. But last June the attorney general
appointed two assistants, Messrs. F. B. Kellogg and C. B. Morrison, to
act with Assistant Attorney General Purdy in gathering information as to
the transgressions of the Oil Trust in the business of refining,
transporting, distributing and selling oil throughout the United States.
[Illustration: THE STRIPES MAY GO ON YET, IF YOU DON’T WATCH OUT.]
Their report was such as to justify legal action on the part of the
Department of Justice, and after the information had been carefully
examined by the President and the Cabinet, the bill in equity was
filed. The recital of alleged facts in this petition, is virtually a
history of the Standard Oil Company from its infancy to the present
time. It sets forth that the Standard Oil Company, of New Jersey, with
its seventy allied corporations and limited partnerships, produces,
transports and sells about 90 per cent of the refined oil products used
in this country and about the same proportion of the refined oil
exported from the United States; that this practical monopoly has been
procured by a course of action which, beginning in 1870, has continued,
in the main, under the same persons down to the present time; that these
persons now surviving are John D. Rockefeller. William Rockefeller,
Henry H. Rogers, Henry M. Flagler, John A. Archbold, Oliver H. Payne and
Chas. M. Pratt; that their design throughout has been the suppression of
competition in the production, transportation and sale of refined oil
and to obtain a monopoly therein; that between 1870 and 1882 the purpose
was effected by agreements between many persons and corporations engaged
in this business; that in the latter year the business was made certain
by vesting in nine trustees, including five of the persons named above,
sufficient stock in the thirty-nine corporations then concerned to
suppress competition among themselves; that this plan was acted upon
until it was declared illegal by the Supreme Court of Ohio, in an action
against the Standard Oil Company of Ohio, one of said corporations, in
1892; that during the seven years following, the same individual
defendants, as a majority of the liquidating trustees, were pretending
to liquidate the trust, but as a matter of fact were managing all the
corporations in the same old way and were exercising the same control
over them; that in 1899 the individual defendants increased the capital
stock of the Standard Oil Company, of New Jersey, from $10,000,000 to
$110,000,000; that the company was then a producing and selling
corporation, and that they added to its functions the power of
purchasing stock in other companies, and practically all the powers
exercised by the trustees under the unlawful agreement of 1882; that the
Standard Oil Company, of New Jersey, then taking the place of the
trustees, acquired all the stock of the corporations theretofore held
and controlled by the trusts, paying therefor by the issue of its own
shares in exchange; that the President of the Board of Trustees became
the president of the Standard Oil Company, of New Jersey, that the trust
assumed the direction of the business of the Standard Oil Company, of
New Jersey, and has continued it ever since.
After this summary of Standard Oil history, the petition goes on to say
that the purpose and effect of the corporation as a holding company was
precisely the same as the purpose and effect of the appointment of the
trustees previously referred to, namely: to suppress competition between
the corporations and limited partnerships, whose stock was first held by
the trusts and then by the Standard Oil Company, of New Jersey; that by
the foregoing methods, and by securing railroad rates which
discriminated in favor of the corporations whose stock was held by the
holding company, the latter was enabled to secure a monopoly in large
sections of the country, with the result that prices to consumers are
much higher in those sections than in sections where competition, to
some extent, prevails.
The bill further sets forth that from 1882 to 1895 the Standard paid
dividends amounting to $512,000,000 on a professed valuation of a trifle
less than $70,000,000, besides accumulating a surplus “of unknown
magnitude,” and that for the last nine years the dividends have run from
33 to 48 per cent.
Almost on the very day that this bill was filed the Standard declared a
quarterly dividend which aggregated $10,000,000.
In filing this bill Attorney General Moody said that the question of
criminal prosecution would be left “for future consideration.”
Criminal Prosecution.
Whatever may be the disposition of the Attorney General of the United
States in regard to the criminal prosecution of Standard Oil officers
and directors, there seems to be no doubt as to the attitude of
Prosecutor David, of the state of Ohio. The grand jury of Hancock county
has returned an indictment against the Standard Oil Company, of Ohio,
and against John D. Rockefeller, president of the Standard Oil Company,
of New Jersey, as well as three directors of the subsidiary corporation
in the Buckeye state. Previous proceedings against the same defendants,
taken on an information brought before the Probate Court of that state,
are now being held up, pending the decision of the higher court as to
the jurisdiction of the court below. The present indictments by the
grand jury are based on the evidence adduced in the previous trial.
Conviction would subject the defendant company to a maximum fine of five
thousand dollars, which, however, it is believed, may be imposed for
ever day covered in the indictments. Mr. Rockefeller and the directors
of the subsidiary company would be subject to the same fine and to
imprisonment for a period of from six months to one year. More recently
Prosecutor David is quoted as expressing the belief that he has
sufficient evidence to bring not only Mr. Rockefeller, but all the
highest officials of the controlling company before the Ohio courts.
In the meantime he has taken steps to secure an alternative writ of
mandamus against the Buckeye Pipe Line Company, said to be owned by the
Standard Oil Company and operated in such a manner as to stifle
competition, requiring that the defendant provide for the public equal
and just facilities and demanding that they fix a schedule of rates.
In St. Louis the Federal grand jury has brought in two indictments, with
a total of seventy-two counts, against the Waters-Pierce Oil Company for
violation of the Elkins Anti-Rebate law. If convicted on all the counts
the maximum penalties would exceed a million and a half dollars.
The proceedings taken by the attorney general of Texas to oust the same
company from that state have developed a collateral sensation of great
size. Attorney General Davidson demands of the defendant company certain
vouchers which, it is alleged, will show that Senator Joseph W. Bailey
was paid various sums of money by the Waters-Pierce Company to secure
its readmission to the state, and gives out that if this evidence is not
forthcoming, secondary evidence will be offered to establish the alleged
fact. Senator Bailey indignantly denies that he received any such sums,
and announces that he will prosecute for perjury anyone who swears to
the existence of such evidence. Senator Bailey has already been
nominated by primary, but his re-election will come before the
legislature which convenes in January.
In the meantime the New York Central Railroad and the Sugar Trust have
been fined heavily for, respectively, giving and receiving rebates.
The Insurance Situation.
One of the results of the investigation conducted by the Armstrong
committee into the affairs of the New York and the Mutual Life insurance
companies was the enactment of legislation providing that the affairs of
the two companies should be taken out of the hands of the existing
boards of trustees, that all outstanding proxies should be invalidated
and that the policy holders should be given an opportunity to choose the
men who should thereafter manage the affairs of the two companies. In
pursuance of this law the policy holders began voting on Nov. 18 and
continued to cast their ballots for or against the administration
tickets until Dec. 18. In the New York Life the administration ticket
consisted of “the best of the old trustees,” together with some new
blood, while an opposition ticket was presented by the International
Policy-Holders Committee, of which the Hon. Richard Olney was chairman.
In the Mutual contest there were three tickets: an administration
ticket, the United Committee’s ticket and a fusion ticket. The second of
these was so called because it was the product of the united efforts of
the Mutual Policy Holders’ committee and the International Policy
Holders’ committee of which Mr. Samuel Untermyer was the chief organizer
and sponsor. The fusion ticket was made up of candidates from the
administration and the Mutual Policy Holders’ respective rosters. At the
time we go to press the result of the elections is not known.
[Illustration: ROBERT E. PEARY.]
Farthest North.
Commander Robert E. Peary has returned from his expedition to reach the
north pole. After suffering innumerable hardships he reached a latitude
of 87 degrees and 6 minutes. This was within 203 miles of the coveted
goal and thirty-four miles farther than the point reached by the Duke of
Abruzzi expedition, which had hitherto held the record.
Canadian Affairs.
Up in Canada they are still telling the story of the _habitant_ who,
when told that the Queen was dead, asked, “Who is Queen now?” He was
told that there was no Queen, but a King had ascended the throne,
whereupon the admiring peasant exclaimed, “My, what a pull he must have
with Laurier!”
The Canadian parliament assembled at Ottawa on Nov. 22--four months
earlier than usual--with its Liberal majority practically unimpaired,
and the Premier continues to hold the pre-eminence in Canadian affairs
indicated by the artless tribute of the _habitant_.
The Dominion has not escaped the muck-rakers, and the Conservatives are
bringing wholesale charges of corruption at the polls.
On Nov. 29 Minister of Finance Fielding introduced his long anticipated
tariff bill. Briefly stated, this measure provides for an intermediate
tariff, the rates of which shall be between the preferential rates
conceded to the mother country and the general tariff which applies to
other countries. This intermediate tariff may be held out as a basis of
reciprocity negotiations with such countries as show a disposition to
meet the Canadian government half way.
Cuba and South America.
The situation in Central and South America is unusually quiet. As a
result of the President’s visit, the working forces on the Panama Canal
have been completely reorganized. It has been definitely decided not to
appoint a governor of the Canal Zone to succeed Magoon, and an order has
been promulgated to give Chairman Shonts more complete control over the
administration portion of canal construction, while Chief Engineer
Stevens is placed in absolute control over Panama. Bids for the contract
to complete the canal will be opened Jan. 12.
Cipriano Castro, the fire-eating President of Venezuela, may not be
dead, but he will soon work himself to death denying the charge unless
he does something definite before long. It is evident that he is in a
very low state of health, and the end may come at any time.
Alfonso Penna was inaugurated President of Brazil on Nov. 16. He is in
thorough accord with the efforts to establish closer trade relations
between his country and the United States.
Argentina holds her own as the most prosperous and progressive of South
American states, and Chili is rapidly recovering from the disastrous
earthquake which visited her last fall.
The youth of the land, and even the children of larger growth, will be
glad to know that according to recent investigations the Island of Juan
Fernandez, so dear to the hearts of every boy who has grown up on
Robinson Crusoe, was not sunk into the sea by the disaster, as at first
announced, but remains intact.
Gov. Magoon has declared vacant the seats of the senators and
representatives elected to the Cuban Congress in 1905, and another
election will be held. The rivalry of Moderates and Liberals continues,
while the Liberals, particularly, are divided among themselves. It is
evident that American occupation of the island must continue for some
time.
Separation of Church and State.
That order of history which is “philosophy teaching by example” has been
moving steadily and persistently over the face of Europe toward a policy
which the fathers of our own republic foresaw and adopted a hundred and
twenty years ago. Perhaps the most pronounced feature of Liberalism in
the Old World today is the conviction that the separation of church and
state must become an accomplished fact. A movement so vast could not be
carried forward without being complicated in some measure with bigotry
and fanaticism, but on the whole it may be said that it is inspired and
sustained by the highest motives of state policy.
[Illustration: _From a Drawing by “Spy.”_
THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY.]
The present Liberal ministry in England, which succeeded the Balfour
government, appealed to the country on the issue of free trade and was
overwhelmingly sustained. But since that time it is safe to say that the
Education bill, introduced by Augustine Birrell, President of the Board
of Education--and whimsically called the “Birreligious bill”--has been
the measure most discussed by the British people and the world at large.
Briefly stated, this bill provides that, beginning with January of next
year, only such schools as are provided by the local educational
authorities throughout England shall be recognized as public schools,
and after that date no public funds can legally be spent on any other
schools. In other words, if the present denominational voluntary schools
wish to receive government support they must become public schools, and
as such must be content with the same undenominational teaching that is
given in other public schools. The bill provides, further, that
attendance shall not be compulsory, and that there shall be no religious
test for teachers chosen by the local authorities. In those schools
which are taken over by the educational authorities from the religious
organizations--by the consent of the latter, of course--religious
instruction may be given two mornings a week, but not by the regular
staff of teachers, and not at the public expense. The bill further
provides that $5,000,000 shall be appropriated for educational purposes
by the government.
This measure, which has set all England in a ferment, was passed by the
House of Commons, but in the House of Lords it met vigorous opposition,
particularly from the spiritual peers, headed by the Archbishop of
Canterbury. On Dec. 6 it passed the upper house, so mutilated as to be
unacceptable to the Commons. The agitation in favor of mending or ending
the chamber of peers has been coming prominently forward. No basis of
compromise between the upper and lower house has yet been found. Since
the Education bill is sent back to the House of Commons with its most
vital features stricken out, the Liberal Government will probably go on
to other legislation, equally unacceptable to the peers, and thus force
them to reject a number of measures which are demanded by the people.
They will then appeal to the country, and the ending of a system of
hereditary legislators may be involved in the popular mandate.
[Illustration: PREMIER GEORGES CLEMENCEAU.]
On the Liberal program is a bill abolishing plural voting. Under the
present system of property qualification a large landowner may not only
vote where he resides but in every other place where he has property,
and as the elections do not occur in England, as they do in this
country, on one and the same day, it is entirely practicable for such a
landowner actually to vote for half a dozen parliamentary candidates. Of
course the peers will oppose any reform of the present system of plural
voting, and thereby will come in collision with popular sentiment again.
The land tenure bill, by which a tenant may secure greater permanency
in his lease or compensation for improvements in case he is
dispossessed, and the trades unions bill, exempting the funds of labor
unions from damage suits against members of such unions who may commit a
tort, are also in the Liberal program, and both will be resisted by the
upper house, thereby contributing to its own undoing.
Disestablishment in France.
While in England there are issues which dispute the first place with the
Education bill, there can be no doubt as to the pre-eminence, just at
this time, of the administration of the law providing for separation of
Church and State in France. It was early in December, 1905, that the
French Senate adopted a measure which abrogated the Concordat, signed in
1801 by the First Napoleon and Pope Pius VII. This measure had already
passed the Chamber of Deputies in July. In France the churches are owned
by the state and the clergy, regardless of denomination, are supported
by the government, a member of the cabinet known as the Minister of
Public Worship, having supervision of ecclesiastical affairs. According
to the terms of the new bill, no newly made clergyman of any
denomination is to receive support from the government of the republic.
Those now getting it from the state will continue to do so, but the
appropriations are to be decreased as the pensions and salaries of the
clergyman now in office expire or are withdrawn. The churches and other
places of religious worship will continue to belong to the state, but
they are to be leased to congregations of the churches or denominations
now worshipping in them. The Vatican is bitterly opposing the separation
act, and there has been considerable delay in forming the associations
to take over the church property under the terms of the law. Originally
it was provided that the period during which these associations should
be formed would expire on December 11, 1906, but there is no intention
on the part of the Clemenceau ministry, which came into power late in
October, to persecute the church. M. Briand, Minister of Public Worship
and the author of the bill, announced in the Chamber of Deputies on Nov.
10, that church property not claimed by the “cultural associations” by
Dec. 11 would pass under control of the state and finally go to the
communes at the end of the ensuing year, but that in the meantime the
churches will remain at the disposition of the clergy. The way is thus
left open to the Vatican by the admission of the possibility that church
property can be granted by state decree to associations formed before
December 11, 1907.
The government’s inventories of church property were completed without
arousing as much hostility as they did in the beginning but as we go to
press great excitement prevails.
To Abolish Capital Punishment.
Not only is the French government pursuing a peaceful policy toward the
church, as far as possible, but a humane measure is now pending which is
well worthy of an era of civilization and enlightenment. A parliamentary
commission, to which the matter was referred, has, by a vote of eight to
two, reported in favor of abolishing the death penalty, and substituting
life imprisonment. In extreme cases, solitary confinement is
recommended. It is not generally known, perhaps, that many of the
leading countries of Europe have long since abolished the death penalty,
except in trials by court martial. It seems a mockery that Russia should
be no exception to this rule, but in point of fact it was the Empress
Catherine the Great who took the initiative in abolishing capital
punishment. That the law is apparently disregarded is due to the fact
that the greater part of Russia is subjected to what is known as “the
minor state of siege,” which admits of the application of military law
to the trial of political prisoners. Capital punishment was abolished in
Greece forty odd years ago, and since that time Roumania, Portugal, and
the Netherlands in the order named, have followed suit. It has been in
comparatively recent years that Italy, Switzerland and Norway adopted
the same measure of clemency, on the other side of the water, and Brazil
and Venezuela in the southern part of our own hemisphere. So the
civilized countries which still retain capital punishment are the United
States, Great Britain, Germany, Sweden, Austria and Spain.
Liberalism in Spain.
The leaven of Liberalism has been working mightily in the direction of
the severance of church and state in the land of the Inquisition.
The weak and capricious youngster who occupies the throne of Spain sent
assurances to the Pope, late in October, of his filial attachment, and
all that sort of thing. Six days later he signed the Associations bill,
which had just passed the Chamber of Deputies, restricting the power and
influence of the church in a degree but slightly less than in France.
Then he made a little speech. There is an old Spanish custom that the
premier should give a banquet at the end of each year that he and his
colleagues in the ministry have been continuously in office. In view of
the fact, as the young king recalled, that one hundred and twelve
ministers had taken the oath before him during the four years and a half
since his coronation, there had been no banquets at the expense of an
incumbent premier. Alfonso, in signing the Associations bill, expressed
the hope that Gen. Lopez Dominguez, who was then at the head of the
Liberal ministry, with a large Liberal majority behind him in the
Cortes, “would be able to reintroduce so pleasant a custom.”
And the premier said he hoped so, too.
Having passed the lower house and received the signature of the king,
the reform measure which is agitating all Spain went back to the Senate.
It must pass that body, and again receive the signature of the king, to
become the law of the land.
Since 1876, when the Roman Catholic Church was reestablished as the
state religion of Spain, after a period of seven years of freedom of
thought, of education, of burial, etc., the Liberals have been slowly
regaining the liberties secured by the revolution of 1868. The church
has made strenuous resistance and has pursued a reactionary policy which
has finally aroused all the liberal and progressive forces. The state
already provided that marriages between Roman Catholics must be recorded
in the civil register in order to have legal validity, but the church
contends that civil unions are valid only when they are performed
according to canon law. The church has also arrayed itself against the
municipal control of cemeteries, and demands that the custom of setting
apart certain sections of such cemeteries for the burial of foreigners
and non-Catholic Spaniards shall be discontinued. Now the Liberals, who
are in power, have taken the bit in their teeth, so to speak. It is
proposed to emancipate the schools from monastic teaching, and to
require a state registration of all the monastic orders in Spain, of
which there is a large and increasing number since the agitation began
in France. In short the state will insist upon the absolute control of
civil marriages, the municipal control of the cemeteries, and a strict
regulation of the monastic orders.
In the meantime Gen. Dominguez will not give that dinner. One faction in
the Cortes thought that some time should be devoted to a consideration
of the budget, as well as to the separation act, and he was forced to
resign. A new cabinet was formed which lasted just three days--including
a Sunday--and resigned. The Marquis de Armijo has succeeded in forming
another cabinet, with old Gen. Weyler, by the way, as minister of war,
and he is endeavoring to go on--with what success remains to be seen.
Germany’s Isolation.
It is becoming very evident that the Triple Alliance, consisting of
Italy, Germany and Austria, is becoming weaker every year. The
feebleness with which Italy supported Germany’s pretentions in the
Algeciras conference aroused the resentment of the Kaiser, who made it a
point to telegraph his thanks to Austria for the part she took on that
same occasion, thereby administering a silent rebuke to the kingdom
beyond the Alps. This luke-warmness on the part of Italy is but one of
many elements which go to establish the isolation of Germany among
European powers. Prince von Buelow, the German chancellor, in an address
at the opening of the Reichstag, did the best he could to convince the
world that his imperial master had no sinister designs against anybody,
but the powers still look upon the Kaiser with suspicion, and it is very
apparent that he feels it keenly.
In the meantime France and England are drawing closer and closer
together. The Anglo-Russian “understanding” is said to be very
satisfactory at present. The rumor went that the basis of this
understanding between the Czar and King Edward was that both governments
should keep out of Tibet, that lower Persia should be given over to
England as her sphere of influence, while Russia confined herself to the
northern part, and finally that England should consent to the opening of
the Dardanelles to the Russian Black Sea fleet. The last item discredits
the whole program.
* * * * *
The rumor runs that the Shah of Persia is practically dying and his son
has been called to assume the regency. The Shah, before he was taken
ill, granted a national parliament to his people, of which, however,
little has been heard of late. What the policy of his son would be if he
should succeed permanently to the throne is problematical, but behind
the occupant of the Persian throne and the policy he may adopt, there is
always the shadow of what is called, by acknowledged pre-eminence, “the
Eastern question,” which will continue to exist until Russia can get
some satisfactory port where her fleets will not be frozen up in winter
and she may be free to sail the seas with her men-of-war and her
merchant-men.
* * * * *
The elections for the Russian duma have not yet been held, but the
assembly is expected to convene by March 1. The government is improving
the time disfranchising everybody who is likely to be hostile to the
divine right of kings, is executing or exiling political prisoners,
while the peasants are being systematically robbed of the relief sent to
prevent them from starving during the prevailing famine.
* * * * *
The lower house of the Austrian parliament, after a stormy agitation of
more than a year, has passed a bill granting the franchise to every male
Austrian over twenty-four years of age who is able to read and write,
and has been a resident for at least a year in the place where an
election is held. The upper house is not inclined to accept the bill,
demanding two votes for married men over 35 years of age, but it is
hoped that a compromise may be effected.
* * * * *
In the Far East, China is becoming more and more suspicious of Japan’s
intentions in Manchuria, and is discouraging the attendance of Chinese
students upon Japanese schools and colleges. Strong measures have been
taken to suppress the use of opium within ten years.
* * * * *
Australia is still gasping at the decision of Western Australia to
withdraw from the commonwealth and set up a government of its own.
In this movement, the Western section probably has the entire sympathy
of Ex-Governor Bill Stone, of Pennsylvania, who is busy just now
advocating the separation of the Western half of his own state from the
Eastern half, so contaminated by wicked Philadelphia!
[Illustration: “I RECKON YOU’VE GOT SOMETHING TO TELL ME.”]
Ann Boyd.
By Will N. Harben.
CHAPTER I.
Ann Boyd stood at the open door of her corn-house, a square, one-storied
hut made of the trunks of young pine-trees, the bark of which, being
worm-eaten, was crumbling from the smooth hard-wood. She had a tin pail
on her arm, and was selecting “nubbins” for her cow from the great heap
of husked corn which, like a mound of golden nuggets, lay within. The
strong-jawed animal could crunch the dwarfed ears, grain and corn
together, when they were stirred into a mush made of wheat-bran and
dish-water.
Mrs. Boyd, although past fifty, showed certain signs of having been a
good-looking woman. Her features were regular, but her once slight and
erect figure was now heavy, and bent as if from toil. Her hair, which in
her youth had been a luxuriant golden brown, was now thinner and
liberally streaked with gray. From her eyes deep wrinkles diverged, and
the corners of her firm mouth were drawn downward. Her face, even in
repose, wore an almost constant frown, and this habit had deeply gashed
her forehead with lines that deepened when she was angry.
With her pail on her arm, she was turning back towards her cottage,
which stood about a hundred yards to the right, beneath the shade of
two giant oaks, when she heard her name called from the main-travelled
road, which led past her farm, on to Darley, ten miles away.
“Oh, it’s you, Mrs. Waycroft!” she exclaimed, without change of
countenance, as the head and shoulders of a neighbor appeared above the
rail-fence. “I couldn’t imagine who it was calling me.”
“Yes, it was me,” the woman said, as Mrs. Boyd reached the fence and
rested her pail on the top rail. “I hain’t seed you since I seed you at
church, Sunday. I tried to get over yesterday, but was too busy with one
thing and another.”
“I reckon you have had your hands full planting cotton,” said Mrs. Boyd.
“I didn’t expect you; besides, I’ve had all I could do in my own field.”
“Yes, my boys have been hard at it,” said Mrs. Waycroft. “I don’t go to
the field myself, like you do. I reckon I ain’t hardy enough, but
keeping things for them to eat and the house in order takes all my
time.”
“I reckon,” said Mrs. Boyd, studying the woman’s face closely under the
faded black poke-bonnet--“I reckon you’ve got something to tell me. You
generally have. I wish I could not care a snap of the finger what folks
say, but I’m only a natural woman. I want to hear things sometimes when
I know they will make me so mad that I won’t eat a bite for days.”
Mrs. Waycroft looked down at the ground. “Well,” she began, “I reckon
you know thar would be considerable talk after what happened at meeting
Sunday. You know a thing like that naturally _would_ stir up a quiet
community like this.”
“Yes, when I think of it I can see there would be enough said, but I’m
used to being the chief subject of idle talk. I’ve had twenty odd years
of it, Mary Waycroft, though this public row was rather unexpected. I
didn’t look for abuse from the very pulpit in God’s house, if it _is_
His. I didn’t know you were there. I didn’t know a friendly soul was
nigh.”
“Yes, I was there clean through from the opening hymn. A bolt from
heaven on a sunny day couldn’t have astonished me more than I was when
you come in and walked straight up the middle aisle, and sat down just
as if you’d been coming there regular for all them years. I reckon you
had your own private reasons for making the break.”
“Yes, I did.” The wrinkled mouth of the speaker twitched nervously. “I’d
been thinking it out, Mrs. Waycroft, for a long time and trying to pray
over it, and at last I come to the conclusion that if I didn’t go to
church like the rest, it was an open admission that I acknowledged
myself worse than others, and so I determined to go--I determined to go
if it killed me.”
“And to think you was rewarded that way!” answered Mrs. Waycroft; “it’s
a shame! Ann Boyd, it’s a dirty shame!”
“It will be a long time before I darken a church door again,” said Mrs.
Boyd. “If I’m ever seen there it will be after I’m dead and they take me
there feet foremost to preach over my body. I didn’t look around, but I
knew they were all whispering about me.”
“You never saw the like in your life, Ann,” the visitor said. “Heads
were bumping together to the damagement of new spring hats, and
everybody was asking what it meant. Some said that, after meeting, you
was going up and give your hand to Brother Bazemore and ask him to take
you back, as a member, but he evidently didn’t think you had a purpose
like that, or he wouldn’t have opened up on you as he did. Of course,
everybody thar knowed he was hitting at you.”
“Oh yes, they all knew, and he had no reason for thinking I wanted to
ask any favor, for he knows too well what I think of him. He hates the
ground I walk on. He has been openly against me ever since he come to my
house and asked me to let the Sunday-school picnic at my spring and in
my grove. I reckon I gave it to him pretty heavy that day, for all I’d
been hearing about what he had to say of me had made me mad. I let him
get out his proposal as politely as such a sneaking man could, and then
I showed him where I stood. Here Mrs. Waycroft, I’ve been treated like a
dog and an outcast by every member of his church for the last twenty
years, called the vilest names a woman ever bore by his so-called
Christian gang, and then, when they want something I’ve got--something
that nobody else can furnish quite as suitable for their purpose--why he
saunters over to my house holding the skirts of his long coat as if
afraid of contamination, and calmly demands the use of my
property--property that I’ve slaved in the hot sun and sleet and rain to
pay for with hard work. Oh, I was mad! You see, that was too much, and I
reckon he never in all his life got such a tongue-lashing. When I came
in last Sunday and sat down, I saw his eyes flash, and knew if he got
half an excuse he would let out on me. I was sorry I’d come then, but
there was no backing out after I’d got there.”
“When he took his text I knew he meant it for you,” said the other
woman. “I have never seen a madder man in the pulpit, never in my life.
While he was talking, he never once looked at you, though he knew
everybody else was doing nothing else. Then I seed you rise to your
feet. He stopped to take a drink from his goblet, and you could ’a’
heard a pin fall, it was so still. I reckon the rest thought like I did,
that you was going right up to him and pull his hair or slap his jaws.
You looked like you hardly knowed what you was doing, and, for one, I
tuck a free breath when you walked straight out of the house. What you
did was exactly right, as most fair-minded folks will admit, though I’m
here to tell you, my friend, that you won’t find fair-minded folks very
plentiful hereabouts. The fair-minded ones are over there in that
graveyard.”
Mrs. Boyd stroked her quivering lips with her hard, brown hand, and
said, softly: “I wasn’t going to sit there and listen to any more of it.
I’d thrown aside pride and principle and gone to do my duty to my
religion, as I saw it, and thought maybe some of them--one or two, at
least--would meet me part of the way, but I couldn’t listen to a two
hours’ tirade about me and my--my misfortune. If I’d stayed any longer,
I’d have spoken back to him, and that would have been exactly what he
and some of the rest would have wanted, for then they could have made a
case against me in court for disturbing public worship, and imposed a
heavy fine. They can’t bear to think that, in spite of all their
persecution, I’ve gone ahead and paid my debts and prospered in a way
that they never could do with all their sanctimony.”
There was silence for a moment. A gentle breeze stirred the leaves of
the trees and the blades of long grass beside the road. There was a
far-away tinkling of cow and sheep bells in the lush-green pastures
which stretched out towards the frowning mountain against which the
setting sun was levelling its rays.
“You say you haven’t seen anybody since Sunday,” remarked the loitering
woman, in restrained, tentative tones.
“No, I’ve been right here. Why did you ask me that?”
“Well, you see, Ann,” was the slow answer, “talking at the rate Bazemore
was to your face, don’t you think it would be natural for him to--to
sort o’ rub it on even heavier behind your back, after you got up that
way and went out so sudden.”
“I never thought of it, but I can see now that it would be just like
him.” Mrs. Boyd took a deep breath and lowered her pail to the ground.
“Yes,” she went on, reflectively, as she drew herself up again and
leaned on the fence, “I reckon he got good and mad when I got up and
left.”
“Huh!” The other woman smiled. “He was so mad he could hardly speak. He
fairly gulped, his eyes flashed, and he was as white as a bunch of
cotton. He poured out another goblet of water that he had no idea of
drinking, and his hand shook so much that the glass tinkled like a bell
against the mouth of the pitcher. You must have got as far as the
hitching-rack before his fury busted out. I reckon what he said was the
most unbecoming thing that a stout, able-bodied man ever hurled at a
defenseless woman’s back.”
There was another pause. Mrs. Boyd’s expectant face was as hard as
stone; her dark-gray eyes were two burning fires in their shadowy
orbits.
“What did he say?” she asked. “You might as well tell me.”
Mrs. Waycroft avoided her companion’s fierce stare. “He looked down at
the place where you sat, Ann. right steady for a minute, then he said:
‘I’m glad that woman had the common decency to sit on a seat by herself
while she was here; but I hope when meeting is over that some of you
brethren will take the bench out in the woods and burn it. I’ll pay for
a new one out of my own pocket.’”
“Oh!” The exclamation seemed wrung from her when off her guard, and Mrs.
Boyd clutched the rail of the fence so tightly that her strong nails
sunk into the soft wood. “He said _that_! He said that _about me_!”
“Yes, and he ought to have been ashamed of himself,” said Mrs. Waycroft;
“and if he had been anything else than a preacher, surely some of the
men there--men you have befriended--would not have set still and let it
pass.”
“But they _did_ let it pass,” said Mrs. Boyd, bitterly; “they did let it
pass, one and all.”
“Oh yes, nobody would dare, in this section, to criticise a preacher,”
said the other. “What any little, spindle-legged parson says goes the
same as the word of God out here in the backwoods. I’d have left the
church myself, but I knowed you’d want to hear what was said; besides,
they all know I’m your friend.”
“Yes, they all know you are the only white woman that ever comes near
me. But what else did he say?”
“Oh, he had lots to say. He said he hadn’t mentioned no names, but it
was always the hit dog that yelped, and that you had made yourself a
target by leaving as you did. He went on to say that, in his opinion,
all that was proved at court against you away back there was just. He
said some folks misunderstood Scripture when it come to deal with your
sort and stripe. He said some argued that a church door ought always to
be wide open to any sinner whatsoever, but that in your daily conduct of
holding every coin so tight that the eagle on it squeals, and in giving
nothing to send the Bible to the heathens, and being eternally at strife
with your neighbors, you had showed, he said, that no good influence
could be brought to bear on you, and that people who was really trying
to live upright lives ought to shun you like they would a catching
disease. He ’lowed you’d had the same Christian chance in your
bringing-up, and a better education than most gals, and had deliberately
throwed it all up and gone your headstrong way. In his opinion, it would
be wrong to condone your past, and tell folks you stood an equal chance
with the rising generation fetched up under the rod and Biblical
injunction by parents who knowed what lasting scars the fires of sin
could burn in a living soul. He said the community had treated you
right, in sloughing away from you, ever since you was found out, because
you had never showed a minutes’ open repentance. You’d helt your head,
he thought, if possible, higher than ever, and in not receiving the
social sanction of your neighbors, it looked like you was determined to
become the richest woman in the state for no other reason than to prove
that wrong prospered.”
The speaker paused in her recital. The listener, her face set and dark
with fury, glanced towards the cottage. “Come in,” she said, huskily;
“people might pass along and know what we are talking about, and,
somehow, I don’t want to give them that satisfaction.”
“That’s a fact,” said Mrs. Waycroft; “they say I fetch you every bit of
gossip, anyway. A few have quit speaking to me. Bazemore would himself,
if he didn’t look to me once a month for my contribution. I hope what
I’ve told you won’t upset you, Ann, but you always say you want to know
what’s going on. It struck me that the whole congregation was about the
most heartless body of human beings I ever saw packed together in one
bunch.”
“I want you to tell me one other thing,” said Mrs. Boyd, tensely, as
they were entering the front doorway of the cottage--“was Jane Hemingway
there?”
“Oh yes, by a large majority. I forgot to tell you about her. I had my
eyes on her, too, for I knowed it would tickle her nigh to death, and
it did. When you left she actually giggled out loud and turned back an’
whispered to the Mayfield girls. Her old, yellow face fairly shone, she
was that glad, and when Bazemore went on talking about you and burning
that bench, she fairly doubled up, with her handkerchief clapped over
her mouth.”
Mrs. Boyd drew a stiff-backed chair from beneath the dining-table and
pushed it towards her guest. “There is not in hell itself, Mary
Waycroft, a hatred stronger than I feel right now for that woman. She is
a fiend in human shape. That miserable creature has hounded me every
minute since we were girls together. As God is my judge, I believe I
could kill her and not suffer remorse. There was a time when my
disposition was as sweet and gentle as any girl’s, but she changed it.
She has made me what I am. She is responsible for it all. I might have
gone on--after my--my misfortune, and lived in some sort of harmony with
my kind if it hadn’t been for her.”
“I know that,” said the other woman, as she sat down and folded her
cloth bonnet in her thin hands. “I really believe you’d have been a
different woman, as you say, after--after your trouble if she had let
you alone.”
Mrs. Boyd seated herself in another chair near the open door, and looked
out at a flock of chickens and ducks which had gathered at the step and
were noisily clamoring for food.
“I saw two things that made my blood boil as I was leaving the church,”
said she. “I saw Abe Longley, who has been using my pasture for his
cattle free of charge for the last ten years. I caught sight of his
face, and it made me mad to think he’d sit there and never say a word in
defence of the woman he’d been using all that time; and then I saw
George Wilson, just as indifferent, near the door, when I’ve been
favoring him and his shabby store with all my trade when I could have
done better by going on to Darley. I reckon neither of those two men
said the slightest thing when Bazemore advised the--burning of the bench
I’d sat on.”
“Oh no, of course not!” said Mrs. Waycroft, “nobody said a word. They
wouldn’t have dared, Ann.”
“Well, they will both hear from me,” said Mrs. Boyd, “and in a way that
they won’t forget soon. I tell you, Mary Waycroft, this thing has
reached a climax. That burning bench is going to be my war-torch. They
say I’ve been at strife with my neighbors all along; well, they’ll see
now. I struggled and struggled with pride to get up to the point of
going to church again, and that’s the reception I got.”
“It’s a pity to entertain hard feelings, but I don’t blame you a single
bit,” said Mrs. Waycroft, sympathetically. “As I look at it, you have
done all you can to live in harmony, and they simply won’t have it. They
might be different if it wasn’t for that meddlesome old Jane Hemingway.
She keeps them stirred up. She and her daughter is half starving to
death, while you--” Mrs. Waycroft glanced round the room at the warm rag
carpet of many colors, at the neat fire-screen made of newspaper
pictures pasted on a crude frame of wood, and, higher, to the
mantel-piece, whose sole ornament was a Seth Thomas clock, with the
Tower of London in glaring colors on the glass door--“while you don’t
ask anybody any odds. Instead of starving, gold dollars seem to roll up
to your door of their own accord and fall in a heap. They tell me even
that cotton factory which you invested in, and which Mrs. Hemingway said
had busted and gone up the spout, is really doing well.”
“The stock has doubled in value,” said Mrs. Boyd, simply. “I don’t know
how to account for my making money. I reckon it’s simply good judgment
and a habit of throwing nothing away. The factory got to a pretty low
ebb, and the people lost faith in it, and were offering their stock at
half price. My judgment told me it would pull through as soon as times
improved, and I bought an interest in it at a low figure. I was right;
it proved to be a fine investment.”
“I was sorter sorry for Virginia Hemingway, Sunday,” said Mrs. Waycroft.
“When her mother was making such an exhibition of herself in gloating
over the way you was treated, the poor girl looked like she was ashamed,
and pulled Jane’s apron like she was trying to keep her quiet. I reckon
you hain’t got nothing against the girl, Ann?”
“Nothing except that she is that devilish woman’s offspring,” said Mrs.
Boyd. “It’s hard to dislike her; she’s pretty--by all odds the prettiest
and sweetest-looking young woman in this county. Her mother in her prime
never saw the day she was anything like her. They say Virginia isn’t
much of a hand to gossip and abuse folks. I reckon her mother’s ways
have disgusted her.”
“I reckon that’s it,” said the other woman, as she rose to go. “I know I
love to look at her; she does my old eyes good. At meeting I sometimes
gaze steady at her for several minutes on a stretch. Sitting beside that
hard, crabbed old thing, the girl certainly does look out of place. She
deserves a better fate than to be tied to such a woman. I reckon she’ll
be picked up pretty soon by some of these young men--that is, if Jane
will give her any sort of showing. Jane is so suspicious of folks that
she hardly lets Virginia out of her sight. Well, I must be going. Since
my husband’s death I’ve had my hands full on the farm; he did a lots to
help out, even about the kitchen. Good-bye. I can see what I’ve said has
made a change in you, Ann. I never saw you look quite so different.”
“Yes, the whole thing has kind o’ jerked me round,” replied Mrs. Boyd.
“I’ve taken entirely too much off of these people--let them run over me
dry-shod; but I’ll show them a thing or two. They won’t let me live in
peace, and now they can try the other thing.” And Ann Boyd stood in the
doorway and watched the visitor trudge slowly away.
“Yes,” she mused, as she looked out into the falling dusk, “they are
trying to drive me to the wall with their sneers and lashing tongues.
But I’ll show then that a worm can turn.”