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Fitzsimmons' Robert Fitzsimmons, the pu
Good Advice. gilist, recently delivered a lec
ture at Atlantic City on "The
Youth of America." Mr. Fitzsimmons is not
exactly a model for the youth of America, and
yet he gave some good advice to young men.
He said:
"I never see a young man dissipating, hut I
feel like taking him aside and telling him that ho
U wasting his strength, squandering his power and
inviting disappointment and suffering."
No one is in a better position to know the
evil effects of dissipation than the habitue of
the prize ring. Even the prize fighters' suc
cess depends upon abstinence from strong
drink. Mr. Fitzsimmons knows whereof he
speaks, and while the advice ho has given has
been echoed and re-echoed through the ages, it
will bear repetition in the presence of every
young man who is subjected to the temptations
that beset the pathway of. active life.
Senator Bur- Commenting on the proposi
ton's Little tion that the tariff be removed
Joke. from trust products, Senator
Burton, republican of Kansas,
says:' "My candid opinion is that it is gen
erally regarded as a joke."
Mr. Burton may have been altogether too
candid to suit the politicians of his party, and
yet, so far as concerns any proposition coming
from a republican source that the tariff be re
moved from trust made articles, it cannot be
doubted that "it is generally regarded as a
..joke." The time will come, however, when
the republican politicians who look upon this
eminently practical proposition as a "joke"
will learn that all of the" people cannot be de
ceived all of the time; they will yet learn that
that which they have regarded as a piece of
delightful humor has won the very serious
consideration of an overwhelming majority of
the-consumers of this country.
The Kiowa- After all, it seems that no se-
Comanche rious fault need bo found with
Opening. the methods of the Kiowa-
-' Comanche opening. Thirteen
, thousand men and women, among whom were
many veterans of the rebellion or soldiers in
the Spanish-American war, secured this land,
and it would be safe to say that nearly all was
procured by persons who would have been un
able to purchase the land from the. government
at an auction price. Instead of an auction,
which would have resulted in a few rich men
eventually getting largo tracts of the land,
which would ddubtless have been held as an
investment and probably remained unimproved
for several years, these lands have now gone
to needy men and women who will convert
them into homes thus creating a demand for
the products of factories and indirectly bene
fitting the whole people; Instead of opposing
the distribution of these lands, rather let us
congratulate ourselves that we had such a strip
' of land to give away to such men and women.
'And when we think o'f the more than 160,000
' men and women whoso worthy aspirations
were for a place called "home," when we think
of the weeks and months many of them waited
The Commoner.
on the line for the opening, when wo read how
they stood in line day and night in order to
protect their onc-to-thirtecn chancQ of getting
ft place they might call their own when wo
think of all this, lot us regret the fact that our
public domain has been so wasted in extrava
gant grants to corporations and that it is now
difficult for individuals to acquire a spot where
they can establish homo.
Playing The Iowa republican platform
for Effect. points with pride to "the work
of tho Fifty-sixth Congress."
It also declares in favor of a "free ballot and
an honest count in every one of the forty-five
states of the union." It is well for the plat
form makers that they did not attempt to bo
more specific. Tho task of pointing out some
thing about the work of the Fifty-sixth Con
gress of which anybody could bo proud would
confound most men. Its chief work consisted
in evading its duty to tho people. As for tho
other declaration above noted, Pennsylvania
republicans may bo inclined to think that their
Iowa brethren are playing for effect. Politi
cal frauds are not confined to any one section
of the country, and late developments indicate
that tho Philadelphia and HarriBburg republi
can machines could give the people of any
section valuable pointers on stuffing ballot
boxes and making false returns.
The Tipping It is rumored that the Pull-
Habit, man car porters have formed
an organization and adopted a
rule regarding the size of "tips'7. Tlje report
is that the porters will refuse any "tip" smaller
than twenty-five cents, and that the passenger
tendering tho amount will be deprived of tho
little attentions of the porters. If the report is
true the Pullman porters will soon find them
selves "tipless." It is true that the Pullman
company pays its porters ridiculously low
wages, knowing that the porters will receive
many "tips." But the traveling public should
insist upon the Pullman company paying its
own men. Every Pullman car in active ser
vice pays a dividend to the company, even
though it does not carry a single passenger.
The company has waxed rich and arrogant and
it is time that the traveling public joined in
making the company pay its own salaries. The
tipping practice is an evil that should be sup
pressed. "For a' That A news dispatch from New
and a' That.'? port says that a number of
wealthy women have threat
ened to boycott local merchants who do not
employ behind their counters plain young
women. It is stated that this effort is due to
tho fact that three young men of wealthy fam
ilies have fallen in love with three handsome
shop girls. These shop girls are reported to
be good and sensible girls, and doubtless will
make splendid wives. And yet, if we are to
believe this newspaper dispatch, some of these
women of wealth are so prejudiced against tho
woman who is required to toil for a livelihood
that they do not take kindly to the prospect
that their own sons may choose for helpmate!
levelheaded girls, whose only offense is that by
force of circumstances they are required to cat
their bread in tho sweat of their brows.
It is not true that the girl who is required
to work for her living necessarily makes tho
best wife. A woman is a woman "for a that
and a that;" and when tho intended bride is a
woman of character, no real sensible mother
would raise an objection to tho marriage. Tho
idea that in this country willingness and abil
ity to work for a living should operate as a
just objection to a good girl is wholly repug
nant to that intelligence upon which the suc
cess of society must depend.
These objecting mothers might induce tho
shopkeepers to discharge tho good looking
shop girls, yet such girls cannot bo concealed;
their merits will bo recognized wherever they
are. The shop neither adds to nor detracts
from the merits of a good woman. She is
what she is and her virtues will make her at
tractive whatever her position may be.
Russian The Russian authorities at St.
"Justice and ' Petersburg have caused tho
Injustice. " arrest of the former directors
of two wrecked banks in South
Russia. After a preliminary hearing these di
rectors wore held in bonds aggregating tho
sum of $4,500,000. These sums equaled tho
amounts of tho depositors' losses. Failing to
give tho bonds the directors were placed in
jail.
The American people have had much to
say in criticism of Russian justice and Russian
injustice; and yet when ono looks over tho
field in this country and sees the large number
of banks that have been wrecked through tho
dishonesty of their managers, and observes tho
ease with which these managers escape punish
ment, one is inclined to believe that the Amer
ican people might make progress, in some re
spects, if they imitated the good example set
by the Russian authorities in dealing with bank
wreckers.
Why Is The man who ,was appointed
Neeley postmaster at Havana when
Protected? the American postal system
was inaugurated in the island,
found himself in pressing need of $400 shortly
after assuming charge of the office. Ho drew
the amount from the funds on hand, expecting
to replace it as his salary came due. Unfor
tunately an inspector came around before ho
could replace the money. Tho result was that
the postmaster was declared to be a defaulter,
and was relieved of duty and put under arrest.
Justice moved with swiftness in the case of
this man, and he waB speedily sentenced to pay
a fine of $400 the amount he took from tho
office. But in the case of Neely things are
different. While every nerve, was strained to
punish the postmaster who took $400, every
nerve seems to be strained to protect Necly,
the director of posts and confidant of Rath
bone, who took thousands of dollars. If Jus
tice wants to maintain her reputation for im
partiality she should snatch the bandage from
her eyes and go after Neeley as earnestly as
she did after the defaulting postmaster,
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