t i i
,-jL)'
DIRECT
r
$ value for your wool
. The fewer
Nj-saching
Nebraska: T
VOL. XIL
LINCOLN, NEBRASKA, MAY 23, 1901.
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FEMED IN THE WOHLO
The Ability t Li Ut(r Depends ea
' Esertio has tk Grtt of
Truti
Wahlcjrtcn. IX C. Mar 18. 150L
!.'ov coms the announcement that
James J. li ill. j r-int of the Great
Northern railway, with bis colleague,
J. pjerponi or Kan. has completed a
round tne jr.'cip line of transportation.
TL principal faster la the new sys
ttn s.e the Great Northern railway
with all it feeders. Mr. Hill line of
Tacjic steamships and the Leyland
I:e rc:utiy purchased by Mr. Morgan
It if aid that Morgan's recent visit to
.Ejrop far the purpose of arrang
Isg i.n- U'iw-rn Alexandria. Egypt,
X.1 iij.. KoS.
No wtat '-s this circling of the
f Ii-r by trust Interests csean. It is
c:?'.-u!t 10 :r !ci the citi-r Lome to
th comprehension a:.d imagination.
Vet there are a few les&oca that
should conned ess til they become as
fasihar os i own tiais. The trust
Li'ii :art-4 in hy caining control
of tl'? iron ard ktl i Meruit has cow
::.-... 2.-1 ca3pKitlo3 in tranporta
t'" or wtil Co to in a very short
I.E..
if tie western fartter has ha4 rea-
tos io tusjplAsn that the wheat ring
P an 4 ft.- railroads the price of his
prrw icts in the pi.-1 . h- ill have
?: i- i; nrore reawja to toapiain now.
He lil ie absolutely at the nircy of
the raiimay S;tw in fcis icinity. His
atlLty to lue m UJ r.d. not upon
hit 5 eiertion. tut upon the ciera
f2vf vf th trust. 1 j.e tte work-men
of ll ;r.-'. he w'il l prru;it d to live
IE th i. i2a'-re acd to the cMent that
p.'oats his owners and reproduces
a u?icir!it cmU-r of his p-ci-s to
crry ojs th ork tf pro-lacing wealth
for his cr"fk- The Katne reasoning
arp2.- tc- t L" a-rase t.-uine&n raan.
Ah cy the trai-M -ostinectal iinet of I
rail j are tt-inz fderatc-d under cer- '
t:n aMJTrf-ir.'E.s mftirh wip out all
c trapr:ts. Vh-n in ih economy of
truM pTfluctU-jn it iT-jzzi-' rj-cessary
to ip '. it hoV tO'ns they will dis-
;." a "r-;i-r. ; as If a cyclone
ha i ov-r th-rti. In the concen-
tration cf t- '. iudm-try in I'enn
viac:a already scunded the death
of many hitherto prosperous
tr:ar.ut"a-turi:: to ns iu Illinois and
I lid i a 2.4.
Th- l h ."! t tks an optimistic
--m of the situation and assures the
p--tht the r-- i.t trust devlop
jt:" t is tii!y hatenicg th time when
th- sri'i rr.r.-i : mjl! take over tb con
trol of -transportation and big , u-
' fj-t -r:r.4 tsda?trie arid administer
th'.Li fr !Ur U-Kr&t of tuv wbole po
p iit-iid of lairru.h m to pile up
r.;l!!ir!i for the f-Tli
Tfcer S n doubta tit the railroads
could Vrr tsaci'jj by the gov-t-rrrr.
r.t thas by a trut. but there are
v aft r--."tt--rs of the j-i;.i who have
i. '-t j-t frit thf j inch of trust domina
t.oa and are not converted to the idea
of fovemrant ownership of railways.
T:.- t : t count upon the ignorance
ar. 1 indifTerece and slowness of the&e
p-opi- to it the goldn opportun
ity to fa,-: n itif not only upon the
country, tut uprjn the very government
!::?. that tne latter will l ;owerless
to take ni sure to protect the people
who are tdng Injured.
Ije any reasonable nan suppose
that the trust L-.ai:!'-s are organiz
ing id lonbolidating the- vast
ke ia order that the government
may ttep ia and take over the whole
thiLg ani employ them as captains
iLd at a fair salary. Not at
a. I. TL-y aill f.ght any attempt to do
lt u a 3o- and weary road to edu
cate the p-o;de to the danger of trusts
tr.d the up that must he taken to
protect the people. The republican
party will do coining at all to restrain
the tru.it or cut down their profits.
Tho who like the iron and steel
and the 'jr truti will not hear of
asy reduction of the tariff. The
truls could lite without a protective
tariff, but their proSts might be ma
terially ieenel.
Here !s Cuba clamo'iiog for a proSt
at'e market for the ialnd s chief prcl
urt ugar and tobacco. The sugar
Trat pirticalarly will insist that the
' :' r m k-rt im-i h!?h 1ht ruhi n !
-n no prosperity. The administra
ti oa taikej vaguely to the Cuban com
rniiosers about the future "economic
X ru.Uf s.'' They not be itranted.
ut& :nteret will be sacrificed to
the suar and tobacco trusts.
Second only Sa ite and importance
to the tel and the oil trust, the su
fa .t held the boards. Fostered
f-r e g'svercraent for years, this
' .t ..cropoly eatn .-ts from the
pocket of the j-t.ple of the United
htt the tidy sura of $24.to,(.Hi an
fiUilly. frr the purpose cf giving pro-t'-tt"ti
to as infant that has long
r. outrrows its swaddling clothes.
hc i in fact recognized as one of
the l&ding plunderers in this trust
r-r.af. H to Is It that reaps the bar
vert from this bold and inexcusable
ronbery of the people? Let us see.
The DiEjtley law put an assessment of
f3 a ton cn injorted sucars. Each
year the Iouistana planters have a
crop cf 2 :-," tons cf sugar, through
whi. h they ere the modest sum of
t:9.. ..-; ttr Hawaiian planters,
with an annual crop of ) tons,
com in fsr a l;te amount.- The bal
Uz, about l".o.i tons, produced
e'.sewher la the tcrted States, receive
'- making a grand total of
tit tpiM).
Whatever else it done to curtail the
evil It. uE.ce. of the susar trust, noth
Irg will bring forth so vigorous a howl
from It as any attempt to wipe out
Its o&e-eighih cf s cent differential.
in pro perst y or cub is nothing
ton pared to the adminitratkms pro
tect ira of the trusts.
When ;ue!iosed upon the effect
prdsK-4 by the supposed removal of
th duty ca rtne sugar the differ
ential Mr. H. O. Havemeyer. a lead
ing sugar trust magnate, declared with
Intense vehemence before the indus
trial commission, that "It would kill
the sugar business. It Is merely
truckling to a miserable clamour a
bugaboo this babble about trusts."
Mr. Havemeyer really means it
would Injure the sugar trust and not
the sugar business, should the differ
ential be removed. ,
It is the business of the democratic
party to keep up "this babble about
trusts. to show how real the "buga
boo" is. The trust Influence affects the
price of the most necessary articles of
use and consumption. There is no i
sue which begins to approach that o
the trusts in importance.
WALL STREET ENJOINED
A Nw ! pt Restrain log; Orders That
kUrtl'p(bwTork Trlbuae In
ProUil
The plutocratic judges have en
joined almost everything in the last
few years from preaching the gospel
to walking on the public highway, but
a New York judge struck out on a new
lead during the late panic and issues
an injunction against Wall street. That
made the hair stand on Wb.it.el aw
Ileid's head. It is said that this in
junction had a great deal to do with
stepping the squeeze that the holders
of Northern Pacific had planned. The
Associated press didn't have a word
to say about it and the news only
reached the state when the New York
papers came to hand. Most of them
didn't mention it. It was considered
a most dangerous thing and one that
better not be discussed The Tribune
had a leader that commented upon the
action of the judge as follows:
"The holding of an injunction as a
club over a Wall street broker to force
him to be easy in settling with 'shorts
is a new use of the process of the
courts. No doubt Justice Gildersleeve
In granting a restraining order against
J. P. Morgan & Co.. Kuhn. Loeb & Co.
and others at the request of a spec
ulator who had sold Northern Pacific
'short acted in perfect good faith on
the representation of facts made to
him. His own statement is that the
plaintiff alleged that the broker who
purchased from him was acting for
parties who held all the stock at the
time, and knew it was impossible for
the plaintiff to carry out his contract
and deliver the stock. It is conceivable
that such a transaction might be il
legal and the contract set aside, but
the interference of a court in such a
case can be wisely made only with the
most extreme care and with strong as
surance against the abuse of the pro
cess by interested parties. So great is
the danger in such matters of the
courts going beyond their legitimate
functions that it Is questionable if a
preliminary injunction should issue on
ex-parte statements, even the most
plausible, when it is in the power of a
court to summon defendants forthwith
to present their side of the case."
The argument made by the Tribune
sounds very much like it had been
copied from a populist paper. When
the populists made such arguments
concerning the use of Injunctions, the
Tribune denounced them, in the most
bitter terms as anarchists and men
who would overthrow society by at
tacking the courts. It makes a mighty
difference whose ox is gored.
POPULIST PREDICTIONS
Th rreet of Populism and How Thay
Wrr Hor Thin Fulfilled Ten
Ta.r Afterward
The editor of The Independent found
an old note-book, yellow, ragged and
worn, the other day. There were var
ious kinds of notes In It of speeches
and happenings that were put down as
reference in writing up the passing
events of the day. The notes were
taken about 1830 or 1892. Among them
are notes of a speech delivered by
some southern populist in Lincoln,
probably Cyclone Davis. The prepon
derance of evidence is that It was de
livered in 1852, or possibly a year
later. In those days the populists paid
most attention to the money question
and the notes of this speech are de
voted mostly to that. It is of interest
at the present time to note what the
populist speakers said eight or ten
years ago. Here are some of the sen
tences taken from that speech:
"Cotton has been as low as 5 cents a
pound and today it brings but a cent
or two more. With the cotton at that
price it Is Impossible for the southern
planter to pay living wages to his
hands or to buy more than the actual
necessaries of life for himself and his
family. The whole south is in a like
condition. The land owner is no better
off than those 'Who work for wages. As
long as the low price continues for
cotton and other products of the farm,
distress will prevail. The same is true
of the north. Cotton ia our principal
product and you have several great
products, such as corn, wheat and
cattle. We are customers of yours and
you of us. But we can't buy your "corn
to feed our mules and you cannot buy
our products. There is no trade be
tween us and we both suffer alike. Let
the two sections unite and vote to
gether. Neither of us have any Inter
est in bondholding or speculations of
Wall street. Our interest Is In the
productions of the soil. From the soil
all real wealth comes any how. Let
us manage that we shall retain what
we produce. The question Is. how shall
we do It. When there was a large
amount of money in circulation we got
high prices. The high price of cotton
at the close of the war saved the south
from destitution. The confederate sol
diem went home and saved the cotton
lying In the old gin houses. They
planted what they could, using the
horses and mules that Grant told them
to take home with them from Appoma-
tox. But they got a high price for what
they did raise. That high price of cot
ton saved the south from actual star
vation. Give us a high price for cot
ton again and every southern man will
go about with a smile on his face. You
will see joy on the plantations, in the
towns and in the cabins or the negroes.
We will repair our old buildings. We
will buy plows and hoes and bacon and
corn from the north. We 1 will even
bury all our hard feelings against the
fanatics of New England and buy the
products of their mills and factories.
It will bring blessings to you and to
us."
Here follows a story which cannot
be made out. It is something about
"high populorum and low populorum,"
and was evidently used to illustrate the
two kinds of remedies that were of
fered by the other parties for the dis
tress among producers, after which
the notes continue:
"We'uns in the south "believe that
the" fall in the price of cotton has been
caused by the contraction of the vol
ume of money. We believe that if the
volume of money was doubled the price
of cotton would be doubled and if we
could get 10 cents a pound for our cot
ton a new south would spring into ex
istence, old issues would be buried
and forgptten. An increase in money
would bring the same blessings to
you. We say, let the south and the
west unite. Our interests are the same.
We do not believe that there will ever
be an increase in the price of cotton,
barring slight variations on account of
short crops, until there is an increase
in the amount of money in circula
tion." Now after the volume of money has
been greatly increased by the issue of
paper through the banks, by the tre
mendous output of gold and the coin
age of immense amounts of silver the
special correspondent of a great pluto
cratic daily goes in to the south and
writes in the Record-Herald as fol
lows: "Atlanta, Ga., May 15. The present
prosperity of the south is unparalleled.
Everybody has been making money,
and is comfortable and contented, and
as long as 10 or even 9 cent cotton
lasts the improvement will continue.
You see it on the face of the land
scape, on the plantations, as well as in
the towns. The fences show it; the
new machinery and implements; the
wagons, with their bright colored
paint, that you see along the highways,
as well as the garments of the people
and other outward manifestations.
Even the little brooks and the birds
are singing songs of prosperity and 10
cent cotton. Last year the value of the
cotton crop was $363,773,836, some
thing unprecedented. It was an ad
vance of $81,000,000 from, the previous
year, and, what was unusual, high
prices went with a big crop. The re
verse is usually the case."
Could there be a more complete de
monstration of, the soundness, of pop
ulist principles. Our enemies them
selves furnish the evidence. There is
not a more obstinate gold standard pa
per in existence than the Record-Herald.
There is not a more partisan re
publican writer in the United States
than Win. E. Curtis. As to the amount
of money in circulation the reader
is referred to the official report printed
in another column. The witnesses that
bear testimony to the truth of pop
ulism which The Independent calls
this week, are William E. Curtis, Sec
retary Gage and the Chicago Record
Herald. The attention of J. Sterling Morton
is directed to the last two sentences of
the above quotation, and especially to
the words: "High prices went with a
big crop " His premire that supply
and demand invariably regulate prices
without regard to the quantity of mon
ey in circulation does not seem to work
in this case.
THE GREAT PHILANTHROPIST
The Benlflcence of the Standard Oil Trust
Its Only Object to Reduce the
Price of Oil
The P Street editorial ninnie once in
a while looks up through the pure Ne
braska ether toward the sky and when
he does he always imagines that he
sees a great white-winged philanthrop
ist hovering over the nation whose
sole object is to reduce the price of oil,
and his name is Rockefeller. Then he
seeks his den and while his bosom
heaves with gratitude he writes about
what a blessing the oil trust has been
to the poor and all mankind. Mean
time Rockefeller goes on making 480
per cent on his invested capital by
putting a tax upon every family in the
United States. A little review of the
business published in the New York
World tell how the holy Rockefeller
manages to do it.
The Standard Oil directors have just
declared another dividend of 12 per
cent. In March last they declared a
dividend of 20 per cent. Thus far in
this current year, 1901, they have thus
divided profits of $32,000,000 on their
$100,000,000 of alleged invested capital.
The record of this leviathan among
trusts discloses the following amazing
facts: Up to June, 1899, the capital
of the Standard Oil concern was only
$10,000,000. On that amount it had
been paying for eight years dividends
ranging from 12 per cent up to 33 per
cent per annum. In June, 1899, its
capitalization was increased by a
stroke of the pen to $100,000,000 of
common stock and $10,000,000 of pre
ferred stock. Since that date it has
paid dividends as follows on the new
capitalization of $100,000,000, of which
90 per cent was inflation:
In 1899, 33 per cent $ 33.000,000
In 1900. 48 per cent 48,000,000
In 1901, 32 per cent 32,000,000
Total dividend3 in 2 yrs. .$113,000,000
It is not yet quite two years since
the directors of this combine came to
gether and voted to multiply by ten
J its then alleged capital Investment of
THE TRUTH ABOUT GOLD IN THE TREASURY
The Most Astonishing Falsehoods Told by the
Director of the Mint and Other
Treasury Officials
For more than twenty years leading men in the republican party have
been in the habit of publicly stating absolute falsehoods on the floor of the
senate, and in the newspapers over their own signatures, but there has been
nothing heretofore to equal the mendacity of the director cf the mint and the
treasurer of the United States in their signed statements that there was over
$500,000,000 of gold in the United States treasury which were part of the assets
of the nation. The Independent put in a denial upon the first publication of
the falsehoods,-but it has been repeated and repeated day after day eve. since.
The first leading gold standard papers to give the statement official sanction
was the New York Evening Post and the others followed.
The following is the official statement of the secretary of the treasury made
on May 1st. This statement is sent to all the financial institutions and many
newspapers in sheet form every month. As a final "nailing of the lie" so in
dustriously circulated by republican newspapers and sanctioned by the high-up
republican officials, The Independent prints the document entire:
TREASURY DEPARTMENT,
Office of the Secretary.
Division of Loans and Currency.
CIRCULATION STATEMENT May 1, 1901.
General Stock of Money Held in Treas. as As
- in the U. S. sets of the Gov't.
April 1, 1901.) May 1, 190 Apr 1, 1901. May 1. 1901
Gold coin (including bullion
in treasury) .............. $1,124,157,697 $1,129,267,647 $249,046,644 $246,767,053
Gold certificates .
Standard silver, dollars! . . . . " 512,536,160 514,849,446 " 13,029,880 15,429,379
Silver certificates.... :
Subsidiary silver.. 89,869,906 90.0S2.284 9,016.799 9,829,207
Treasury notes of 1890. -.53,881,000 51,880.000 152,768 84.903
United States notes.,..... 346.681,016 346,681,016 9,791,535 9,070,898
Currency certificates, act
of June 8, 1872
National bank notes.. 350,101,406 350,764,257 8,945.979 7,038,975
Total , j$2.477.227,185 $2,483,524,650 $289.983.605 $288.220,415
Gold coin (incl'ding bullion
in treasury)
Gold certificates
Standard silver dollars....
Silver certificates . . . . . .
Subsidiary silver
Treasury notes of 1890.;..
United States notes . ..
Cur. cert., act June 8, '72.
National bank notes
626,824,954
248,286,099
72,299,960
427,206,320
80,853,107
53,728,2i2
336,889,481
341.155,427
Total
a
- Population of the United States May 1, 1901, estimated at 77,536,000; cir
culation per capita, $28.31.
For redemption of outstanding certificates an exact equivalent amount
of the appropriate kinds of money is held in the treasury, and is not included
in the account of money held as assets of the government.
This statement of money held in, the treasury as assets of the government
does not include deposits of public money in national bank depositories to the
credit of the treasurer of the United States, and amounting to $91,809,593.64.
For a full statement of assets see Public Debt Statement.
The Independent asks its readers to give this table a littlj study. Let tiiem
notice that the gold owned by the treasury on May 1st, including the $150,000,
000 gold reserve, in the division of redemption, and all the uncoined bullion is
$249,046,644. Let them notice that the bankers have deposited for safe keeping
in the treasury vaults without a cent of cost to themselves and an insurance
to its full value by means of gold certificates, the sum of $253,259,799 of gold.
All the arts of the trained accountant are used to deceive the people in the
preparation of that table. Let . them reflect upon the claim that "the gold
standard is firmly established," and then glance at the fact that there is in cir
culation ' "silver dollars, standard mony of the United States and not redeem
able in any other kind of money," $499,430,067. Besides that there is in circula
tion $80,253,077 of subsidiary silver. Then they talk about the gold standard
being established!
Remember that England and Germany are upon the gold standard, and are
two of "tne most enlightened nations," that it was proposed that we should fol
low and that the treasuries of both countries are in dire distress, --hile France,
with about $500,000,000 of silver and the United States $580,253,174 in circulation
have overflowing treasuries. Reflect upon what the condition of this country
would be if McKinley had not adopted the populist system of finance. Demone
tize and take out of circulation that $580,000,000 of silver and the whole country
would be thrown into a distress and collapse such as was never known in the
history of the world. That is what the mullet heads voted for and proposed to
do, but the leaders dared not try it.
Populist financial principles have been demonstrated to be the salvation of
the nation.
$10,000,000 and make it $100,000,000.
And within these two years it has al
ready paid $113,000,000 as profits on
the $100,000,000 of capital investment
thus created by the process of dilution.
If the original capitalization of $10,
000,000 had not been thus deluged with
water, the dividends actually declared
upon it in the last two years would
have been 333 per cent in 1899; 480 per
cent in 1900 and for 1901 with nearly
seven months of it yet to come 320
per cent.
Yet there are people who hug the de
lusion that Standard Oil's monopoly
has Immensely cheapened the price of
oil. How much cheaper would it be if
the Standard. Oil dividend were 7 in
stead of 480 per cent per annum on its
actual capital invested?
LOOTING IN CHINA
The Christian Powers Have Outdone All
the Barbarians of History In Robbery
and Murder
Auberon Herbert, an Englishman of
such standing as to command three
columns In the London Times for his
communications, reviews the conduct
of the allied powers in China. His in
formation is obtained at first hand, of
his own knowledge 'and from letters
in both the American and British
press from correspondents who were
eye witnesses of what they relate and
whose standing and reliability are far
above that of the ordinary newsmon
gers who anonymously fill the col
umns of papers with sensations. In
each case the authority is named and
contradiction is challenged. Much of
the information is official or semi-official.
The whole review is the most
fearful arraignment of the brutality
of the forces of civilization that has
yet appeared, and fully Justifies the
melancholy sentence with which Mr.
Herbert concludes: "Never before, I
think", in our generation, has Europe
had occasion to be so utterly ashamed
of itself."
He begins by sketching In outline
the story as it appears to him to have
MONEY IN CIRCULATION.
April 1, liUl. May 1, 1901. May 1, 19001 Jan. 1,1879.
629,240,795
253,259,799
68,846,545
430,573,522
80,253,077
51,795,097
337,610.118
$
616.535,746
197,527,409
68,333,834
407,193,810
75,000,817
81,791,059
326,832,448
7,260,000
280,050,340
96,262,850
21,189,280
5,790,721
413,360
67,982.601
277.098,511
33,190,000
314,339,398
343,725.282
. l$2,187,243,5801$2,195,304,235$2,060,525.463j$816.2t6,721
taken place, and follows with the all
too abundant proofs and shocking de
tails. The wholesale deviltry was in
full flower during the march to Pekin.
For no useful purpose villages and
towns were reduced to heaps of smol
dering ashes. The country was turned
into a wilderness. Unoffending men,
women, children and babies were
killed in hundreds. Killing was car
ried on for killing's sake and prop
erty destroyed for ther love of de
struction. After the relief of Pekin we enter
on another phase. Loot possessed all
hearts and fired all imaginations. It
ruled out all other topics of conver
sation. It entered like a fiend into al
most everybody without distinction.
Not soldiers only, but foreign resi
dents and women were seized with the
universal madness. Everybody looted;
picnics were organized to go into the
country for looting purposes. Then
came another phase. The pagan Ja
panese were the first to protest against
the general practice of robbery. The
authorities issued orders against pri
vate looting. They .required that all
loot should be collected and sold by
auction jinder their direction. Then
the soldiers had a new incentive for
robbery, for they were supplied with
an official market in wnlch they could
turn their spoils into cash, and every
day the best people of the legations
and others assembled to purchase,
with laughter and excitement. The
European society of the city talked of
nothing else and parties were organ
ized with authority to loot. An officer
looking on at the auctions under the
colonade of the British legation re
marked: "This affair is the biggest
case of loot since the days of Pizarro."
Then came orders that no more
looting was to be done; that property
taken was to be paid for In all cases.
This order, when it was obeyed at all,
was obeyed in the following fashion:
The European took what he wanted
anywhere he found it and offered the
owner, if he was present, a few cents
in payment. The owner rarely refused
the price, and if lie did he got a kick
or a blow of a stick' instead; some
times ho was stabbed or shot, jnany
times fatally. The victims of this
deviltry, it must be remembered, were,
in most cases, innocent Chinese who
had no part In the boxer outrages, for
all the guilty had fled.
Not content with robbing the peo
ple of their miserable property in this
savage fashion, the Invaders and the
resident foreigners held absolute sway
over the persons and lives of all na
tives. Any foreigner had but to go
into the streets and say to any China
man he met, "Come," or merely to
beckon him, and he came. If he lag
ged, he could be beaten and wounded;
if he refused he could be shot and
killed. Often they were "wounded or
killed when they could not under
stand what was wanted of them. The
enforced labor of coolies under' the
direction of soldiers was the occasion
of unnumbered and savage brutali
ties. They V were beaten, stabbed,
killed by the score, for blunders or
disobedience which was in most cases
the result of mere-misunderstanding.
There appears to have been a com
plete moral breakdown, not only
among the soldiers, but among all
classes of foreigners, men and women,
and even missionaries, one of the lat
ter confessing in a letter that, of
course, under the circumstances the
moral standard of times of peace could
not be expected to govern.
These were the acts of soldiers and
civilians not engaged in actual war.
The crimes . described above, multi
plied in respect to number and atroc
ity by thousands, will represent the
sets of the troops in actual, opera
tion in the field. There was no such
thing as armed resistance in any part
of the country at any time during the
occupation. Yet the course of the
troops was marked by universal, in
discriminate slaughter, burning, rape
and murdermen, women and children
being indifferently the victims. The
country was covered with the corpses
of unresisting peasants and villagers.
Towns and villages were wiped off the
earth; the Peiho river floated the bo
dies of slaughtered peasants down to
the sea in such numbers as to threaten
pestilence; corpses 4 were . piled up in
heaps; if there was a house left
standing in the path of the armies its
only tenants were dead bodies. . The
country was reduced to a wilderness
and the remnant of humanity sneak
ing about in the empty spaces were
starved or compelled to brigandage.
It might be imagined that this sort
of thing had gone far enough; but the
German troops are still ravaging from
pure lust of slaughter, for there isn't
a trace of opposition left among the
people, and the only Chinese left wit's
arms in their hands in all the occu
pied region are wandering banditti,
who have no - other means than rob
bery to gain bread.'
It is altogether a chapter in the his
tory of Christian civilization which
can find no parallel since the middle
ages, and even in those ages in only
a few Instances. It is a melancholy
illustration of what men, presumably
civilized and Christian, can descend
to when all restraint is goneJ and a
proof of the old saying that civiliza
tion is only a thin veneering over the
innate savagery in most men's hearts.
THE BLACKLIST
Abundant Indications That the Courts
Will Stand by the Trusts Just as They
Stood by the Money Fewer
According to a decision recently
made in Chicago, there will be but two
things for the wage-workers to do in
the future. They must work for the
trusts at such wages as the combina
tions see fit to pay or they must starve.
When the organizations are all com
pleted there will be but two classes in
the United States the trust magnates
and the hirelings who work for them.
If the said hirelings strike on the ac
count of insufficient wages, then they
will be black-listed, and will get work
nowhere. The other day in the super
ior court at Chicago Judge Baker de
cided that it is legal for employers to
maintain a blacklist. The ruling was
in the case of Annie Condon against
Libby, McNeill & Libby, Armour & Co.,
and other stock yards packing firms.
The plaintiff was a labeller and can
painter in the employ of the Libby firm
and in February, 1900, in company
with a number of other young women,
went on strike, because of the repeated
reductions in wages. Later the wom
en tried to find employment with other
firms, but their applications were re
jected on account of their having been
strikers.
Miss Condon began suit, as a test,
and the court ruled that the various
firms had right to take protective'
measures against persons who had
quit the employment of other firms
without valid reasons. This is the first
time in a western court that the so
called "blacklist" by which an employe
who leaves one firm and is kept out of
employment in his or her trade by any
other firms, has been given legal
standing by the courts.
0 '
During the last week there has been
two" strikes involving large numbers of
men. The first was in Albany, N. Y.,
where the street car employes of that
city and several suburban towns
struck. The result was the calling out
of 3,000 state troops and the death of
two prominent citizens who had noth
ing to do with the strike. They were
shot by the soldiers. The citizens
seemed to be almost unanimously on
the side of the strikers? The strikers
won every important point for which
they contended.
The second is a national affair in
volving all the machinists of the whole
country. It is In an unsettled state at
the time of going to press. The de
mand is for a nine-hour day without
reduction of pay. Large numbers of
firms have granted the demand, and
except on the Pacific coast, there seems
to be a general tendency to grant the
request of the machinists. At this
writing there are said to be about 150,
000 men out, -
NEW ENGLAND SLAVE DEALERS
They Grow Indignant Over the Suppres-
slon of the Negro Vote and Make
Stares of White Children
Irene M. Ashby has been making a
tour of the southern white slave fac
tories. She shows how the New Eng
land sanctimonious, church-going,
northern capitalist goes into the south
and works the little children twelve
hours a day in unsanitary factories to
pile up gold for northern men whose
souls are constantly harrowed over
the treatment of the southern blacks.
The following is an extract from one
of her articles in the American Feder
ationist: In the 25 mills, of which I have
statistics, there are 6,725 operatives,
about 400 being children under 12
years of age. On the same basis of
calculation, there are about 900 in
the state', an estimate below, rather
than above, the actual number, as I
only corrected the managers' state
ments in cases where I was able to
count personally a larger number than
they told me. To these must be added
the children who come in to help their
elder brothers and sisters who are not
counted or paid as workers, although
they often do a full day's work for the
fun of it. This would bring the num
ber nearer 1,200. The percentage to
older workers of the children on the
pay roll is between six and seven.
No difference is made between hours
by night or by day of the children and
grown up people. These hours are
from 12 to 12 a day, averaging 66 a
week, with but one-half hour, or 40
minutes' break for meals. Mills
which run at night generally work 12
hours, sometimes with eo break at all.
Only one mill I visited was actually
running at night (50 operatives on the
night force, with three or four under
12 years of age and quite a number un
der 16 years of age). One mill kept a
night force at hand, giving only five
days' work per week to the operatives,
by alternating a larger number than
they actually needed for the day work;
while four mills had stopped at various
periods during the preceding year. On
had only tried the experiment for six
weeks when stopped peremptorily by
the superintendent.
For these long hours the children
stand or run with trucks or wearily
ply a broom bigger than themselves.
No wonder their faces lose the child
ish look, their little limbs all vitality
and spring. During my visits to the
mills, the words of Mrs. Browning,
about similar little victims in England,
were often in my mind:
"They look up with their pale and.
sunken faces
And their look is sad to see."
One's indignation t such a wrong
to childhood rises to fever heat when
we learn that these 1,200 little white
slaves (worse off than the negro child
in days of slavery, who, being worth
some hundreds of dollars, was allowed
to develop into a healthy animal), are
sacrificed to commercial superstition,
and not even to a real or fancied nec
essity of the industry. Huge fortunes
were made in England and the north
at the beginning of the trade by the
employment of children, and it is the
superstition that this can be done
again, fostered by the northern capi
talist in the inexperienced southern
manufacturer, which is responsible for
the employment of children in the cot
ton mills of the south. Out of 11 prac
tical superintendents to whom I talked
several being from Massachusetts or
Pennsylvania, 10 confessed that doing
away with the labor of children under
12 years of age would benefit, rather
than', harm, the industry. They are
wasteful workers, need much supervi
sion, and moreover are spoilt as op
eratives for the future by the destruc
tion of their health.
My observation with regard to the
northern capitalists is borne out by
facts. It was at the instigation of the
philanthropic Dwight mills, from Chi
copee, Mass., run by eastern capital,
whose village at Alabama City com
mands admiration, that a law limiting
the hours, of labor of women and chil
dren to eight and prohibiting the em
ployment of children under 14 ia fac
tories, was rescinded in 1895.
In the ten mills I visited run by
northern capital, the number of chil
dren under 12 Is almost double the
number in the 13 run by southern cap
ital. -No condemnation can be too
strong for those who, protected in
their own states by laws securing the
health, education and physical devel
opment of those who are to be their
fellow-citizens, deliberately induce an
inexperienced set of men to enter upon
a course of self-mutilation in the per
sons of their little children by misrep
resentation, and (as I shall show), po
litical corruption, in order that they
may secure present wealth. .The pre
judices, fears and ignorance of the
southern manufacturers are cleverly
played upon.
Protection to American industries
has been a good policy for the manu
factories and farmers of this country,
and it is still a good thing for new and
weak enterprises that might ba de
stroyed by foreign competition, but for
the old established concerns that are
now leading the whole world in all
the markets of the world there Is
surely no further need of a protoctlvs
tariff. The time has come when a re
vision of the tariff must be had or thu
country will vote into power a radical
government on a free trade platform
that will prove as' disastrous, if not
even more so, as the present oppres
sive policy of indiscriminate protec
tion. A revision of the tariff accom
panied by wise reciprocity agreements
with other countries, is the only, safi
way we can see out-of the very unen
viable situation the United States Is
now in, and we can hardly hope lo
reach the fullest measure of world
wide commerce until this is done.
yietoe Republican,
4y'
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.A.
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