IT PAYS Hi BE
How the Pop Attorney General is Growing
Rich at the Expense of the Public.
TRUTHS FROM A NEBRASKA VETERAN.
M ; . Croaker and Mr. Higgins Again The Good Housewife
Not Going to Frovido Any More Fried Chicken for
Looters of State and County Treasuries.
How ' llo'orm J'ayH Attorney General
The Lincoln correspondent to the
Omaha Bee looks up "Reformer"
Smyth's records at the state house , and
gives the result of his findings as fol
lows :
Of all the state officers under the
present administration Attorney Gen
eral Smyth seems to have had the least
regard for the state constitution. The
records show that he has been engaged
in a grab game during all the time
that he has ben office and instead
of upholding the constitution in its
strict letter , ho has , figuratively speak
ing , trampled that document in the
dust whenever and wherever he has
had the chance for financial gain in
so doing. The constitution ( Article v
section 24) ) provides that the salary ol
the attorney general shall be $2,000 psr
year , "and after the adoption of this
constitution they shall not receive to
their own use acy fees , costs , interest
tipon public moneys in their hands or
under their control , prerequisites of
office or other compensation. " The
same section provides that "there shall
bo no allowance for clerk hire in the
offices of the superintendent of public
instruction and attorney general. " Sec
tion 26 of the same article is in full as
follows : "No other executive state of
fice shall be continued or created , and
the duties now devolving upon officers
not provided for by this constitution
shall be performed by the officers here
in created. "
The provisions have caused C. J.
Smyth no uneasiness. There are
vouchers on file at the state house to
show that he has up to date drawn the
following sums of money :
Official salary . J3.499.S5
Maximum rate case . 375.26
Governor's prosecution fund . . 168.83
Traveling expenses . 493.05
Total . $4.533.82
PLENTY OF HELP IN THE OFFICE.
Besides these amounts the deputy at
torney general has been dray/Ing pay
at the rate of $150 per month and has
taken all the trimmings that came his
v/ay. There has been employed in the
office a clerk who has drawn up to
date $1,500 , and besides this extra help
a stenographer has been employed in
the office most o time , the compensa
tion running about $1,000. The pay
for this latter clerk has been taken
from the fund provided for the gov
ernor to aid in the prosecution of state
officials , and from various incidental
funds , the scraping up of the salary of
the extra clerk , reminding one cf Re-
wick's manipulation of the amusement
fund at the asylum. The constitution
has been evaded .by calling one clerk a
deputy , another a "stenographer" and
the female clerk is simply paid and
called "expense" on the records , which
designation , so far as the taxpayers
are concerned , is quite correct. This
large office force , which seems to have
been expressly prohibited by the con
stitution , has attended to the business
of the office , and the attorney general
has thus been able to spend most of
his time at home attending to his pri
vate business or instructing the voters
on political matters. The varcus pre
tenses under which Smyth has pulled
"perquisites" out of the public , treasury
show up in an interesting manner on
the record. The following is the word
ing of a few of them :
Voucher 13811 , drawn July 30. 1897
"Railroad fare and hotel bill to Chicago
cage , taking deposition in State against
Mosher et al , $35.15. "
Voucher 10020 , March 31 , 1897 "Ex
pense , viz. : Railroad fare , hotel bills
and expenses in connection with pre
paration of reply brief in maximum
rate cnses. $180.
Vouche r3840 , July 30 "Railroad
fare , hotel bills and expense to Wash
ington pending motion and submitting
maximum rate cases , $195.26. "
Voucher 13839 , oiily 30 "Going to
tind returning from O'Neill in case
State against Bartley , $21.20. "
Voucher 21281. May 10 , 1898 "Ex
pense to Washington attending su
preme court of the United States in
the mater of motion for rehearing in
maximum rate cases as follows : Rail
road fare. $76.25 ; hotel bills , $53.75. "
Voucher 17744 , December 21 , 1897
"Railroad fare and hotel bills in case ,
of Beard against State before commissioner - j
-missioner of general land office at I
"Washington , $151. Also hotel expenses
and money paid out for stenographic
pjsistance in State against Bartley ,
$50. "
SOME PECULIARITIES PRE- .
SENTED.
Thera are scnie peculiarities about
these- vouchers , and the public will
wonder how Smyth managed to per
form such expensive services when no
body was locking. For instance , vouch
er 17744 is drawn against the fund pro
vided for "traveling expenses , " and the
$50 for hotel bills and stenographer in
the Bartley case was when Smyth was
at home in Omaha and he must have
strained a great deal to figure in the1
hotel bill or designate the stenographer
as "traveling expense. "
It will be noticed , too , that there is
a doubling up in the vouchers for the
maxim-am rate case expense , so tlat
bv swearing to three separate bills he
managed to draw $375.26 from the max
imum rate case fund and $133 from the
"traveling expense" fund , all for the
same service , and on a junket to
resulted in no good
\VqRhinctou that
tTthe"fae ? of Nebraska. Allthis time
the official salary of the attorney general
and was being drawn
eral was going on
with Startling regularity , the maximum
"PorQuWt e" pure
nte bonanza bein ga
and simple. The fact that he carried
\
free passes on the roads between here
and Washington did not prevent the
reform attorney from specifying rail
road fare as one of the burdensome
items of his expense bills.
The voucher for the O'Neill trip cost
the state $21.20 , although it is well
known that Smyth carried an annual
pass over the Elkhorn road at tirat
time as wel as the present time.
The $168.85 drawn by the attorney
gene-ral from the fund provided for the
governor to aid in the prosecution of
state officials came in five installments
and the vouchers do not explain why it
was not part of Smyth's official duty
to assist in this prosecution in return
for his regular pay. It appears from
the record that any time he performed
any service for the state he put in an
extra bill against some fund oiflor
than that provided to pay his salary ,
but that in no casa was the regular
salary ever allowed to rust in the
treasury vaults. In the meantime Dep
uty Smith and Clark Corcoran and the
female stenographer were busy draw
ing from the various funds , which
items , so far as the records disclose ,
they retained for their own use. There
is no proof that the attorney general
levied assessments against the mem
bers of tb's official force.
RECEIVED LIBERAL TREATMENT.
In looking tarougli Uie appropria
tions made "by the last legislature it
is discovered that C. J. Smyth enjoyed
a pretty strong pull with the commit
tees which , according to Lieutenant
Governor Harris , were selected by the
corporations. Besides the regular sal
ary provided for Smyth , the ditto for
Smith , and the § 1,000 a year for Clerk
Corcoran , th ereform legislature al
lowed $2,525 to run the office , whereas
the last republican legislature deemed
$1,300 a.11 that was necessary. The
comparative items are as follows , being
taken from the session laws of 1895 and
1897 :
1897. 1895.
Court and ofiicc fees $125 ? 100
Office expense and repairs . . 400 200
Stationery and postage 400 400
Printing briefs , supreme
court 700 > 00 j
Telegraph and express 100 100 j
Traveling expense 600
Deficiency 200
Total appropriations $2,525 ? 1,300
In spite of the fact that the legisla
ture dealt with this office in a more lib
eral manner than usual the attorney-
general failed to observe any economy ,
but on the contrary has up to date
drawn $544.11 from other funds and
has spent nearly $1,000 of the people's
money for a stenographer who is
known fen the record by the significant
name Of "Expense. " In the meantime
the other members of his office force
have been allowed to draw extra pay
from the treasury , when their salaries
are clearly specified by law , or when
under the strict reading of the consti
tution they are entitled to no salaries
whatever. The voters will remember
that this is the same C. J. Smyth who
s now going over the state boasting of
his own great legal ability.
True Story in Nebraska Politics Mr.
t'roiikor and lilr. lliggcns.
"John , " said Mrs. Croaker , "lucre's
a knock at the door. I think it's that
C3ii Higgens. He sent word this after
noon that he was coming to see you. "
"You keep still , Mariar , " said Croak
er ; "I'll settle him. "
"Good evenin' . Brother Croaker , '
said Higcns , extending his broad
hand ; good evenin' sister Croaker , "
and there was patronizing unction in
his voice and manner as he extended
the brotherly and sisterly salutation
peculiar to palavering demagogues.
'Didn't see ye at the reform rally tuis
week. "
"No , " said Croaker , "wasn't there. "
"Nor didn't see ye out last week
when Poynter and the state officers was
here. "
"No , " said Croker , "didn't go. "
"Goin' to have another rally next
week , " said Higgens. "Goin' to give
a free lunch. Get the si&ers to bake
up some bread an' pies an' fry some
chicken. It's a good idee , Brother
Croaker , to keep the women in line
with the reform forces an' there Ixiin't
no better way 'an to set 'em to cook-
in' . Women always like to see men
eat. Why , my wife'll leave her home
work any time to cook for a rally era
a picnic or a church festible. She'll be
as cross an' frctty as a settin' hen at
her home work , but get her to cookin'
fer a rally an' sprucin' round a table
where there's a lot o' hungry men an'
' with enthus
her face'll fairly glow
iasm. Told the county central com
mittee tether day 'at the reform
forces missed it when they stopped
holdin' county picnics. "
As he said this Higgens looked in
quiringly at Mrs. Croaker , but that
wise little lady , remembering her hus
band's injunction , smiled pleasantly
and said not a word.
"Got a leter today from the state
committy o' the silver forces , " contin
ued Higgens , "urgin' each precinct
committyman , an' I'm the committy-
man for this precinct , to stir 'round
lively among the brothers an' git 'em
all out at the next rally. Committy
writes 'at we'll carry the state by 25-
000 , but 'at the doubtful list is alarm
ingly big this year and somethiu' must
be done. "
"Ain't it purty late , " asked Croaker ,
turning toward his neighbor and look
ing him straight in the eye. "Ain't it
purty late ? "
"Late for what ? " asked Higgens ,
nervously , for he saw that there was
something wrong.
"Late to do a lot o' things that this
reform movement has been promlsln'
this state for ten years , " said Croak
er , with some show of anger. "An1
late to undo a lot o' things that's been
done by the reform movement ? "
"Well , what , for instance ? " said
Higgeus. "Of course we've made some
mistakes. Can't deny that. But any
party's liable to make a mistake now
and then. "
"Mistake ! " said Croaker , "mistake !
Was it a mistake for these reform
treasurers to rob their counties of
$200,000 an' net a word of denunciation
in any reform paper or any reform
convention ? "
"Parties'll sometimes make mistakes
in the selection o1 their men for office , "
said Higgens , soothingly.
"I admit that , " said Croaksr , "but
j when a political party has made a
mistake an' the man it put into office
is caught stealin' then isn't it the duty
o' that party to denounce that theief ?
Show me a word , Higgens , or a line
in any reform newspaper or in the
resolutions of any fusion convention
in this state denouncing this $200,000
steal by these fusion officials or admit-
tin' that there was any defaulters in
Nebraska except republicans ! Didn't
the republican state convention an'
the republican county conventions all
over the state denounce the Bartley
and Moore defaults an' didn't they
prosecute -these men an' didn't they
burn the brand into 'ein so desp that
it never can ba rubbed out ? Why
didn't these counties where these fu
sion defaults occurred denounce the
defaulters and prosecute' em to a fin
ish an' why didn't the fusion papers
have grit enough and honesty enough
to scourge the raskall an' make their
betrayal odious ? The republican party
had a voice an' when Bartley default
ed it uttered a protest. The fusion
party when it saw this trail of default
which its official were makin' all over
the state closed its eyes an' its ears
an' muzzled its cowardly press an'
laid down in the slime of its own cor
ruption hopin' that the crime o' Bart
ley would hide it from the publir view.
What's a reform party good for if it
debauches itself at the very first op
portunity an' then lays down in it ?
What's a temparence lecturer good for
if he keeps whisky iu the house , gets
drunk on the sly , chokes his wife to
keep her from tellin' the neighbors an'
then goes brothern an' sistern around
among the people squeezin' the wom
en's hands an' thinkin' that his mis
erable hypocracy is hid ? It ain't hid ,
Iliggens , it ain't hid ! "
"Reckon that was a party mistake , "
said Higens , "not denouncin' this
$200,000 steal , a party mistake , that no
one in particular is responsible for.
What's everybody's business is no
body's business , you know , Brother
Croaker. "
"I see your argument , " said Croaker ,
"I see. It's the same old dodgin * game
'atyou've played ever since you got the
county sheriff bee in your bonnet. If
you can hold this fusion business in
one line until you get your mouth
to the public tit a few years that's all
you want. It was everybody's business
if a republican defaulted , but it was
nobody's business if these fusion
wolves stole every dollar they could
get thsir hands on. These defaults
occurred , Kiggens , in counties where
the reformers were in authority. They
had the judges an' the prosecutors an'
the sheriffs an' the juries an' they let
the defaulters go free. In Holt coun
ty , where 'two pop county treasurers
have defaulted for $9,000 , the pop com
missioners compromised it for $3,000. "
"But , Brother Croaker , you must re
member that there was a republican
county treasurer defaulted in Holt
county. "
"Yes , Barrett Scott defaulted there ,
an' the pop Klu Klux murdered him
after he was convicted an' then turned
their own thieves loose at 33 1-3 cents
on the dollar. Higgens , I've voted
for this so-called reform gang , but it
didn't make a rascal out o * me an' it'
haint goin' to. I tell you , Higgens ,
if this reform party has no self-se-
spect I have an' the party 'at gets my
vote has Ot to shoulder some respon
sibility. We organize parties , Hig
gens , not for the purpose o' complain-
in' o' the wrongs which exist , but. for
the purpose of rightin' them. I didn't
help organize this people's movement
for the purpose o' keepin' up a calam
ity howl year after year an' gettin' a
lot o' pass grabbers an' bum politicians
on the state pay roll. There's nothin'
in that for me. "
"But , Brother Croaker , " said Hig
gens , you must remember a while these
pop counties as you call 'em , lost $200-
DOO by defaultin' pop treasurers , the
state lost half a million by Joe Eart-
ley. "
"No , " said Croaker , "that is not
true. "
"Didn't Bartley 'take the money ? '
"Yes , but Bartley didn't approve the
straw bond. That was the governor's
business , an' there's where the loss
some in. You can have a defaultin'
treasurer but you can't have a loss
without a defaultin1 governor. The
republicans had the treasurer an' we
bad the governor. The treasurer
lefaulted in handlin' the money and
te governor defaulted in handlin the
lond. : Bartley held one key and the
governor held the other. The people
> aid to Bartlsy , 'you take the money
ind don't ye steal any of it. ' But they
Jidn't stop there. They didn't take
Bartley's word for it , not much. They
turned to the governor an' said to him ,
"You look out for that bond. That's
pour business. You've come in here to
watch these republicans an' now
watch 'em. An * the governor held up
liis hand an' sv/ore 'at he'd do it , but
iie didn't. Higgens , Hoakum was no
more use to the people of this state
in that transaction than a stuffed dcg-
skin'd bo in front of a hen roost.
Watch clog o' the treasury ! That's
what they called him when he was
runnin' for the office. Watch dog !
There's been a great many watch dogs
in this reform movement. They must
lowlin1 all over Plaits coun'y ' while tae
treasury was bein * looted of $30,000.
The watch dogs was p.owlin' aid howl-
in' and growlin' all over Merrick coun
ty while the treasurer was stealin' $31-
)00. ) The watch ( legs was on the lookout
in Cttster county whiel the county
treasurer an' county judge and a let o'
township treasurers was stealin' an' in
CJreely county there was a pop watch
log in every section corner howlin' an'
growlin' day and night while a pop
treasurer was defaultin' for $30,000 an'
two pop postmasters for $7,000. AVhat
ve need , Higgens , iu this reform move
ment is some common ordinary dogs
to watch these watch dogs. Bartley
took the money , but Hookum is re-
sponsiblye for the loss of it to the state
an' Higgens , you can't get around that
If Hoakum had done his duty as he
swore ne would , an' if these pop county
treasurers had been honest and had
been required to give good bonds , this
$550,000 of the Bartley stealin' an' the
$200,000 of the pop stealin' would not
have been lost. "
"But , " said Higgens , "ye must re
member. Brother Croaker , 'at Gover
nor Hoakum was not on the lookout
for a put-up job an' a straw bond when
he went into that office. "
"Well , why wasn't he on the look
out ? AVhat was he elected for ? To
draw house rent an' to play solitaire
with his annual passes ? Did you ex
pect the janitor to go saoopin' 'round
in the basement o' the state house
lookin' for put-up jobs an' straw
bonds ? Wasn't Hcakum elected on the
theory 'at there was somethia' cracked
in the treasury , an' wasn't he sent to
the state house to straighten it ? What
I want is a reform that will reform ,
an' not shirk responsibility. "
"But you'll come to the rally next
week. " said Higgens , good naturedly , "
an' Sister Croakcr'll brir.3 some o'
her famous fried chicken. Brother
Mutz an' Brother Porter'll be there to
speak to you. "
"I'll answer for her , " said Croaker.
She'll fry no chicken for Mulz. Mutz
has had chicken enough The employees
o' the state institutions has been chaa-
in' chickens for Mutz for nearly two
years , an' Porter's been gsttin his
vegitables from the state an' usin' the
janitors for hoc ; killin * purposes. Hig
gens , if you want a rally , go an' hunt
up some men 'at has no self-respect ,
Don't talk to me. "
Higens went home.
Truth From a. Nebraska Veteran.
From the Fils ! City ( Neb. ) Times.
Chas Ricards who was forage mas
ter at Tampa , Florida , for four months ,
and who is now in our city , was seen
by a reporter of the Times and among
many interesting things he can talk
aibout , that of his late experience in
actual service at camp in Tampa is just
now the most interesting to us. And
when we drew our note book and pen
cil , he paused for a moment , and said ,
"I do not care to be quoted in the pa
per , but I am an administration man
and know that much tjiat has been
published is untrue and amounts , not
only to unjust criticism of the war de
partment but to a disgrace to the
American volunteer. At first , when we
read such slush in the New York pa
pers , we obtained much amusement ,
for we knew both sides would laugh
at it. But when we saw that it was
trumped up and used for political ef
fect , it had the opposite effect upon us ,
for the average volunteer is an Amer
ican patriot , whatever else he is. There
were 45,000 soldiers in this camp and
2,800 government employes , and yet
there were but 23 buried there , not
withstanding we were there about
three months. It might have been a
mistake to choose Tampa for a summer
camp for northern men , but the idea
as we understood it was that we were
being acclimatized for further use in
Cuba. The cessation of hostilities put
an end to our show in Cuba , however ,
before we had a chance to see how
well we were seasoned for the trip.
It makes me so darned mad when I
see people who aspire to office ma
ligning the administration , when his
tory does not contain an account of
anything approaching the vast amount '
of business that was done in ninety
days , preceding the cessation of hos
tilities. Jr.st think of it 200.000 sol
diers mustered in. clothed , fed ammu
nition , coai and numberless other
things provided Why , sir , in my de
partment alone , I received and issued
eighteen carloads of stuff every day.
and our department was nothing com
pared with what the commissary and
quartermaster had. Then , too , people
of the north forgot that all this stuff
must be bought and shipped from the
north , there being nothing there frcm
whiqh to draw. From May 15 to Sep
tember 1 , we received at camp 6,000
car loads of stuff. To give you an
idea of how swift our administration
is , in ten days they bought and equip
ped 1,000 six-mule teams.
I has sixty-seven men under me and
\ve had but one sick man. He had ty
phoid fever , but got well. The fact is.
men can not eat trash of all kinds ,
drink beer , and expose themselves in
that cDimtry without suffering from
sickness peculiar to that climate. But
when they charge incompetency o t e
idministration they are as far from the
truth as the east is frcm the west. "
We submit this statement from a
man who served in the v-ar of the 'CO's.
Acetylene Gas Generation.
In order to control the generation of
acetylene gas from calcium carbide.
Letang and Serpollet propose , in a
communication to the French Physical
Society , to steep the fragments of cal
cium carbide in a hot and concen
trated solution of glucose , says a for
eign exchange. If the carbide tau3
treated is , after drying , immersed in
twice its weight of water , acetylene i3
given off in the usual way , and at the
same time a sucrate of lime is formed
by the interaction of the glucose , the
calcium and the oxygen. Under these
conditions the generation of the acety
lene takes place with great uniformity
iml is stopped almost immediately on
jutting off the supply of water.
A Paradise Tor TVonicn.
In the matter of woman's rights
Abyssinia is far ahead of Europe and
America. According to an authority ,
the house and all Us contents belong
to her. and if the husband offends her
she not only car , but does , turn him
aut of doors till he is duly repentant
and makes amends by the gift of a
cow or the half of a camel that Is to
say. half the value of a camel. On
the other hand , it is the privilege anil
tluty of the wife to abuse the husband ,
and she can divorce herself from him
it pleasure , whereas the husband must
show reasons to justify such ar. act oa
iiis psrt.
Meda Wilhite , of Backner. Ky. . now
[ years old , is probably the largest ,
jhild of her age in the country. She
Yeighs 120 pounds , has a chest meas-
irement of 38 inches and is four feet
ilgh.
MT POPULIST FEIEND
HIS WIFE TEACHES HIM A LES
SON IN PERSISTENCY.
How the Tariff Enhanced tbo Value of
the Sheep He Sold In Order to
Invest In Some Government TYar
I'ontls.
In argument my Populist friend sel
dom knows when he is beaten. He had
chafed sorely over his gentle wife's
reminder of the vivid contrast present
ed by the facts of history and the dis
mal foreshadowings of the calamity-
croakers whose lead he had followed
for several years past. She had , you
will remember , in the last conversa
tion pointed out the splendid achieve
ments of a great nation in the war
juet closed , and the splendid outlook
for progress and humanity growing
out of those achievements , and had
asked him how he recancilod these
things with the declaration of the Pop
ulist platform :
"We meet in the midst of a nation
brought to the verge of moral , ma
terial and political ruin. "
And when he had apologized for this
ridiculous asseveration as among the
first utterances of a new party six
years ago , the good wife reminded him
of something more recent in the same
line , when , only two years ago , he had
carried a banner which declared that :
"A vote for MeKSnley means 25 cents
a buehel for wheat and 10 cents a
bushel for corn. "
So my Populist friend had retired
from the controversy hurt and humili
ated. But he had been thinking of
things over night , and the next day he
sought to recover some of his lost
ground. "Tell me , " he cried , pointing
his finger scornfully at his wife , "Tell
me , if you can , what McKinley has to
do for the prosperity of the farmers ;
point out , if you know how , where the
toiling masses on the farms get one
direct benefit from him and his pro
tective tariff policy. "
"Oh , husband. " and she stamped her
foot lightly , betraying the impatience
which she felt , "how can you be so
inconsistent ? "Where did you get the
money to buy the few hundred del
lars' worth of government bonds ,
which made you foe ! so good ? What
did you sell ? "
"Sheep , " and he flinched before the
argument which he knew was coming.
"Yes. sheep. Your business sense
was belter than your political sense ,
( hank goodness. When McKinley's
election was assured didn't you buy
sheep ? Didn't you think they would
KO up ? What made you think that ?
Was it because you thought that more
wool or less wool would be imported
under the laws he would give us ?
Didn't you know that his tariff law ,
his protective tariff law , en wool
would shut out most of the cheap wool
"HOW CAN YOU BE SO INCON
SISTENT ? "
that was coming from tb ? four corners
of the earth , and that the lav- would
enable our home farmers to raise wool
at a profit ? Hasn't that made sheep
go up in prire ? Isn't that where you
get your profit ? Answer me. "
But he answered not.
"Now , think of this , " she proceeded.
"Taking the average of all our people ,
the country over , it takes the wool of
one sheep to supply the needs of each
person , possibly a trifie more. In 1S97
it took about S& pounds to each per
son , while the average weight of a
fleece of wool was about 6U pounds.
Yet on a basis of the amount used in
1S94 , 1895 and 1S9S that quantity
would have very nearly supplied each
person. Then we have it , one per
son , one sheep needed. We have over
72,000,000 inhabitants , but how many
sheep ? Look up the government rec
ords and you will find that in 1893 we
had about 47,000,000 in the entire coun
try , enough to supply a little over half
out wool. Did the tariff reform party
that was in power then try to help
you and me by saving our home mar
ket for us ? You know as well as I do
that they put wool on the free list , so
that it could come from everywhere ;
and in four years our flocks dwindled
down so that in 1S97 there were only
about 36.000.000 sheep in the country ,
not enough to supply half our wool.
"Why this decline ? It was because
the American farmer could not produce
wool at a profit and compete with the
cheap wool of the world. Think of it.
husband think of it. We , an agricul
tural people , suffering hardships dur
ing those tariff reform times , looking
for diversified branches of agriculture ,
actually sending everywhere for wool ,
when we could have produced it in
abundance on our own pastures. Why.
that coat that you have on , you don't
know whether the wool came from Ser-
via , or Turkey , or China , or some oth
er country of cheap labor and cheap
living. In the last year of that free-
trade in wool policy England sold us
over $28.000,000 worth , not raised In
England , but bought of Russia and
Servia and Spain and Turkey and Ar
gentina and Peru and Falkland Is
lands and Africa and Australasia , and
goodness only knows where not. That
wool was gathered from all over and
brought here for you and other farm
ers toswear. .
"Think of It ! "What nonsense ! Yet
too true ; over ? 53,000,000 worth in a
single year. That is raw wool alone , to
say nothing of the nearly § 50,000,000
worth of manufactured goods that
came In. Can you wonder that there
was a great reduction in the size of
American flocks and a greater reduc
tion in their value , which went from
over $125,000,000 to about $67,000,000
in those same four years ? Think of
that , will you , and then say that free-
trade doesn't hurt the farmer ?
"What makes sheep values good
again ? You know and I know that it
was the protection given wool by the
Dingley law. Taking into considera
tion the raw wool used in our fac
tories and the manufactured wool Im
ported , our flocks will have to get con
siderably above the 75,000,000 notch
before they will produce enough wool
to supply our own people , with but
about 36,000,000 left from our frea trade
experiment to start on. Any one can
see that it will take some time to get
up to that notch , and we can look for
continued profit in sheep and wool - . * '
raising. That is one way in which the . .
McKinley tariff helps the farmer , and *
I can came other ways. " And shf ' A
went in the house. E. G. PIPP.
The Only national Stop.
England protected her manufactures
until she led the world as a manufac
turing nation. Then came the reign
of Cobdenism and free trade. And
after fifty years of free trade , England
finds American products supplanting
English products in foreign markets
and even in John Bull's island itself.
From the beginning of her commer
cial life until the present , England has
protected in one way or another her
shipping interests. Today she leads
the world in shipping. She is eo far
in the lead that she has no rival. In
fact , more than half the ocean carry
ing power of the world is possessed
by British ships. These two bits of
history are equal to a. treatise oa
economics.
The United States , like England , has
protected its home industries.
Through protection we have reached
the top Industrially. We supply al
most entirely our home market , a mar
ket worth all the markets of the
world , and we are crowding other
nations out of the 'markets of the
world. The next step , the only logical
step , the only rational step , is to pur
in force a system of protection to our
commerce , to protect our shipping as
we have protected our industrial in
terests. We should carry approxi
mately the whole of our imports and
at least a part of our exports in Amer
ican-built ships. Let us do cur ocean
carrying , as we now supply our own
market. After that we can turn our
attention to getting our share of the
world's carrying trade , as now we ars
getting possession of the markets of
the world.
Sound Advice.
What would lit 3,000.000 01 people.
3.POO.OOO ofT lancipated colonists , will
not fit TJi.OOoN/CO of people who are the
equal of any other 73.000.000 of people
ple of the world , and. whether you
are Republicans or Democrats , every
one of you feels an interest in the
success of our country. Let it be un
derstood everywhere among you that
you will not support anybody will
not give your political support or
strength to anybody who will not un
dertake to carry the flag of American
commerce onto every sea. When you
have done that , cur country -will have
taken her proper place. She cannot
stand still. She must go ahead or go
backward. If the present changes in
the Orient bring about the results in
China that have been brought about
in Japan , you will find a greater de
velopment of trade on the Pacific
ocean , in the next twenty-five years
than the world has ever seen in its
in'story. Shall we take part in it with
: ur ininieree coast and all its wealth ?
From an address of James J. Hill.
President cf the Great Northern Rail
road.
A ( irtnd Record.
The new tariff law. even under the
most unfavorable conditions , has dem
onstrated its effectiveness in producing
revenue. Under normal conditions it
s safe to say that results will be ob-
.aincd of greater magnitude than
jven its framers anticipated. Taking
jverything into consideration , the fil
ial year 1S9S has made a record for
tself that fills the breast of every
rue American citizen with pride , pa-
riotism and security in the country's
stability , and attracts the attention of
n-ery nation to the greatness of the
Inited States of America. Wool Rec-
> rd. l
Duty of Manufacturers.
American manufacturers have not
leemsd It necessary heretofore to
mild and employ their
own ship , iu
irder to hold important lines
of for-
ign trade. Other countries have
ound it necessary to do this an 1
here is no reason to hope thatwo
hall escape the necessity to which
thers have submitted.
. They must do
s much as the traders of other lands
3 enlarge their circle of commerce .
) allas ( Tex. ) News.
Quito Annoying. x
The Dingley tariff
continues to
rowd the aisles to the great annoy.
nee of the Democrats In the congro-
ation. Burlington Hawkoye.