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The Commoner.
MA-Y 15, 1903.,
15
nfl"Vmimnif0'n,'M!f"''.TrrJ
THE DEGENERATING INFLUENCE OF WEALTH
We are not pessimists, but facts are
facts, and cannot bo ignored.
This glorious republic of tbo West
ern hemisphere is the. Mecca of the
world. The weary eyes of all nation
alities turn longingly toward it.
It Is the country of hope and of
promise to all. It should go on from
glory to glory through coming cen
turies, but will it?
It is now but a century and a quar
ter old, an yet it shows elements of
weakness that are an occasion for
alarm . to every lover of his country
who has studied at all the history of
the rise and fall of nations.
We boast of the great prosperity of
the country, and for proof cite statis
tics of trade and of commerce, both
home and foreign.
In themselves they are evidences of
development and of strength consid
ered alone. But we have to look but
a step farther, and we find alarming
indications of peril to our free insti
tutions in the concentration of busi
ness interests and enormous wealth in
few hands.
It is not the fact of concentration
alone that suggests the peril but that
which is an inevitable accompaniment
of such concentration of wealth and
power, viz.:
Degeneracy and loss of virility.
No nation in history ever made such
rapid strides in the direction of tre
mendous wealth, concentrated In few
hands, and consequently no nation
ever took such a galloping pace to
ward the precipice over which nations
have plunged into death and oblivion.
The possession of vast fortunes de
stroys personal ambition, encourages
almost every form of vice, degenerates
and weakens those who inherit them
not usually those who acquire them
through their own efforts antL sends
out the children of the third genera
tion physical, mental and moral
wrecks. In proof of this fact we have
but to look about us. Thus far, in
the infancy of this republic, a single
son or daughter of a family of inher
ited wealth has, in most cases, re
tained enough of the sturdy manhood
of the founder to hold the family pos
sessions in the lines that he indicated,
while the other children have dissi
pated and weakened themselves by
almost every indulgence Imaginable.
But the inevitable tendency is ap
parent in the excesses of living in
dulged in; in the selling, for-the
highest title, the daughters, of fortune
to the rakes of Europe, and In the in
dulgence of the passions in drink, in
gamblirig and other forms of fast liv
ing. And still the fight for the posses
sion of dollars goes on, and the dread
consequences loom up more ominously
and more surely. Boston Traveler.
PASSING THE EXPENSE ALONG
The gentle and profitable pastime
of "passing along the expense" to the
"consumer is just now being indulged
in by the coal mine owners, the -coal
roads and the coal dealers.
- Tomorrow will witness the first
'delicate raise in prices to the con
sumer from the low water mark,
which was reached a few weeks ago.
The increase is fixed at 20 cents per
ton, or about 6 per cent.
Thus it will be seen that the great
public has scarcely been given time
to draw its breath, much less ltd
pocketbook, while comparatively low
prices prevailed.
But even at the recent low water
mark of ?6.25 per ton the price was
from 75 cents to a dollar per ton great
er than at the corresponding period
last year, an amount equal to about
a 15 to 20 per cent increase.
And yet at the former price it was
proved that the coal operators made
in net profits over five million of dol
lars more per year than they had mada
previous to the advance in wages,
granted to the miners about three
yearn ago.
What then must be the prospective
profit to the operators under this new
scale of prices?
Admitting that the wages of min
ers have been increased on an aver
age of from 8 to 10 per cent through
the recent decision of the coal com
mission, how can this excessive in
crease in the prico of coal of 15 to 20
per cent be justified?'
According to Mr. Baer, whose com
pany controls the hard coal supply,
it isn't justified. It is simply sched
uled, just as Mr. John Jacob Astor
would schedule an increase in the
rents of his buildings.
To Mr. Baer it apparently makes no
difference that tenants can quit Mr.
Astor's buildings, although the public
must have coal.
It is the position assumed by such
men as President Baer that is rapid
ly developing the spirit of socialism in
the country and giving impetus to the
movement for government ownership
of all public and semi-public utilities.
Providence Telegram.
Where Rcvarenc. is Dut.
In Rome, a monument has been
erected in commemoration of the
martyrs who established in Caesar's
gardens and arena whero they blazed
as human torches and writhed in the
grasp of junglo beaststhe religion
wo enjoy in peace and security.
All over tho world tho "First
Church" holds sacred today, the mem
ory of those saints who lived tho lifo
of sorrow and denial and died tho
death of anguish and of firo, and with
commendable pertinacity clings to
tho faith of Peter and Paul, through
all the novations and translations of
tho Bible and variance of creeds, hold
ing in their hearts a reverence be
yond expression, for the noble band
of martyrs, whoso fearless death
taught them the way to live.
Strange to say, tho average Ameri
can citizen is anything but consistent
or reverent
This has been proven by tho fact
that tho home of America's greatest
martyr Abraham Lincoln has been
sold under the hammer and will be
converted Into a feeding place for
stock. Rare marble monuments are
erected all over the land, to his mem
ory. The chair ho sat In is sacredly
cherished, tho books ho read, the pen
he used, tho words he wrote are price
less treasures, but the homo where
he tolled and slept -and passed ho
early hours of his care turned life,
is turned over to pack of hungry cat
tle! Here his eagle heart soared in
dreams of a future useful life, dedi
cated to mankind; hero hp trimmed
his candle and sat until the small
hours of tho night studying to fit
himself for tho nlaco his nura and
I lofty soul aspired to win in the minds
and hearts of men. Hero ho swung his
axe and plied his hoe in humble toll,
and here where tho earth is sacred to
his footsteps behold; as in the
prophesy of Babylon "the flocks and
herds shall feed whero golden gar
dens bloomed."
Wo are ndt one of those who be
lieve that fair words and flowers can
comfort our dead, but these martyrs
who gave to man so great an heritage,
deserve a little praise, a little weep
ing, a great reverence and some con
sistency in its bestowal. Lewistown
(111.) News. t
AboatbayluirabscCTor hames until jam
sure our tm 7KKN Cetalo. It telk aU
about oar celebrated Hpllt Klckery
Veh Idea sold direct from factory at factory
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niuxoRy miXMKwt,
xor nuoox for J n
On Trial. . U
xao cfiuuog m iree lor
a poeuL
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Station 1S8
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Xjgffey
iAINT Anil-Trust, FIreproor
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n
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On rw: returned. Tnxn
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I5S5SS
WHITEWASH DOESN'T STICK
f On April 27 tho war department
gave out the result of its alleged in
vestigation of the Denver Post's pub
lished interview with Gen. P. D.
Baldwin, in which the general said
that he preferred the negro as a sol
dier because ho did not have to worry
about his safety in a fight, "as it
doesn't malce any difference whether
he gets killed or not"
-General Baldwin at first tried to
explain, and modify the Interview, but
the" war department gave him a plain
hint to deny it absolutely, and ap
parently he took tho hint, for the re
port given out from Washington was
to tho effect that tho general was
not interviewed, that the Denver Post
had been imposed upon, and that the
reporter had been discharged.
The Denver Post immediately
printed a double-column editorial sus
taining the reporter and exposing the
impudent mendacity of the official
report Tho Fost-said in large type:
"The reporter was not discharged,
and his dismissal was not even
thought of, because the Post does not?
believo that he perjured himself when
he made oath to the truth of his In
terview with the general."
No person of ordinary intelligence
believes that the reporter lied or that
tho war department's report is truo
in any particular. All the evidence,
all the testimony worthy of credence,
proves beyond reasonable doubt that
General Baldwin was interviewed, and
said just what the Denver Post re
porter swears ho said. Philadelphia
North American.
wlv Mrjtm . iTwm
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DAYS' FltEE THIAL and if you do not find It easier run
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moro on to dato and hl,W frnulo than any bicycle
you can buy elsewhere at tS.QO to 115.00 ioreNiit,yacaa
re tuna H (a as at eurex al yea will ( b l m (.
IA AC Ruy ur ntw HIGH GRADE 103
SIO.Hh HEwTON 1ICYCLE. which wo guar
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equipped) better frame, -wheel, hubs and Marines
than you can et In any other bicycle for less than tSO.Oft.
OUR 1903 NAPOLEON BICYCLE la priced at
about OHEjHALF tbo lowest prico asked by others.
For frta Bicycle Catalogue, hundreds of price surprises
In bicycles and supplies, our Free Trial and Guarantee
Proaosltlon and cur Most Astonlshlnd Olfe-r. cut thia
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mail
S SEARS, ROEBUCK b CO., SSBSS.
lHOg
DEL0AC.fi
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1 no rrice it hi ant tad.
Known the Wrtlrf fHar.
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murGTom-immw
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Write M osi ce for oar Free BuKiry Book whlcb Klree deecrlptlOD of oar
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KaJawazeeCMriHeHarAeMHr.C. 175 SiMflB$L,Ka!miza,Hlch,
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FREK
IStaiteb.
CiiaJetrtu V V XvaH
XviflB
aB JaSZaeiaaaflP .
We arctheLuxetraaBfactnrcrsof vehicles
and harness la the trorI4 selling to con-
sneers exciaavejy.
WIS IIAVK HO AGENTS
fcatclop tcjwbcrttfar
ezJKUfaea, gnina
Uhtg llvry.
Yoa ere evt.notklne
If net ttUSL We
mX ItfcstyUtof
hlel a& MctjlM ot
X mJ-mJ
Wo. til Top tatty. FrieeftO.
As good as slla lor 2S asore.
turn.
VT1ta ihwi S
NHHisrMH; ma. til- eautj. mwiia.
A rood m ttXU ttt HA More.
ZTJGsTJATOJLXlIAOXftXAiineillcrO,. CO. XlkArt,IJ. .
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