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PCTOBBR 2, 1903.
instance, the Washington correspondent for the
3Mcvv York Tribune points out that the auditor'
report makes the following disclosures:
"At Albermarle, N. C., the average re
ceipts for tne last live years have been $1.80,
wiiiio the annual expense tor collecting thin
amount has been $l,t)yl.98. At Annapolis,
Md., it has cost $1,155 a year to collect $0.20
in revenue. At Beaufort, N. C., $46.30 has
been collected annually at an expense of $1,
655.01. At Brldgeton, N. J., $1,572.01) has been
the expense of collecting $lf&88. At Burling
ton, la., $60.21 has been the annual receipts
for Ave years at an annual expense to the
government of $391.85. At Burlington, N. J.,
i rim m Rtor lias taken in MS4.4U a year, ior
the doing of which he was paid $162. Chat
tanooga, Tenn., does a business of $55.22 a
year at an annual expense of $412.15. Cherry
stone, Va., has a collector who has taken in,
40 cents a year for live years and received for
this service $971.14 a year. A port designated
as Eastern Maryland collects $31.56 a year at
an expense to the government of $3,323.82.
Edgertown, Mass., collects $616.67 at an ex
pense of $2,420.67. At Galena, 111,, the sur
veyor of the port receives $3t1.65 and collects
$2.40. At Georgetown, S. C, the government
pays $408.40 to collect $5.94. Humboldt, Cal.,
is a tax to the government of $3,070.02 a year,
and yields a revenue of $911.32. Kennobunk,
Me., takes in $12.22 a year at an expense of
$131.90. La Crosse, Wis., receives $35.29 at an
' expense of f 363.12. Little Egg Harbor, N. J.,
does a customs business of $59.21 at an ex
pense of $338.15. Just $9.16 is the annual re
ceipts of the collector at Nantucket, Mass., for
collecting which ho receives $362.25. It costs
.$500 to collect $1 a year at Natchez, Miss. At
Teche, La., the collector of the port receives
- from the government $3,046.96 a year for col
lecting $40.47. Forty cents a year is col
lected in customs at Yaquina, Ore., at an ex
pense of $1,034.70; while York, Me., collects
60 cents a year at an expense of $256."
A little computation will show that In the
Instances cited the government yearly expends
the sum of $23,620.06 in order to collect the sum
f $2,044.31.
The utter absurdity of the system in vogue, is
I7ell emphasized by the Washington correspon
dent for the New York Journal when he points
out that the annual collections for the porta of
Albermarle, N. 0 Annapolis, Md., Cherrystone,
iVa Galena, 111., and Yaquina, Ore., amount to
$11.30, while the yearly salaries paid to the offi
cials of these five ports ..amount to $4,740. In
other words, the government pays each year the
sum of $4,740 for the privilege of collecting $11.30
and this, therefore at a los3 to the government
iDf $4,728.70.
In his report the- auditor of the treasury de
partment recommends a revision of the system of
paying collectors and surveyors and it would seem
that there should be no hesitancy on the part of
congress in. adopting the very evidently sound
suggestion.
Is This a "Good Trust."
: The Wall Street Journal says:.
"It is seldom that a populous community,
the center of a great industry, doubles its bus
iness and more than doubles its profits in a
single year, but that is what the anthracite
coal region Is doing this year.
"Last year but 31,000,000 tons of coal
was marketed, while this year it is agreed
that 60,000,000 tons will be mined and sold.
In addition to this the coal will be sold at a
higher price than the production of last year.
The coal operator, transporter, miner all
i 'classes of labor the storekeeper and the citi
zens generally of the coal regions, will all be
partakers of the sudden and remarkable in
crease of profits.
"The difference between the profits on
31,000,000 tons of coal and 60,000,000 tons of
coal, at 50 cents per ton advance is enough
to make any community rich in a single year."
The difference is considerable, and, yet It will
require more information than the public is now
In possession ,of to establish the claim that even
in the coal regions "all classes of labor" are par
takers of this sudden and remarkable increase of
profits.
We know, to be sure, that the coal consumers
The Commoner,
of the country are the victim, and in this In
stance they are victims of pure and unadulterated
greed.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the
production has nearly doubled and yet the coal
barons require a highor price than they did last
year. Accepting the Journal's statement as cor
rect, will any one maintain that "tho coal trust
is one of those "good trusts" with which tho peo
ple should not interfere?
When we are told that while last year 31,000,
000 tons of coal were mined and sold, this year
60,000,000 tons of coal will be mined and sold at
an advance of 50 cents per ton, does it not occur to
reasonable men that it Is high time tho national
administration undertook tho enforcement of the
criminal clause of the Sherman law, which was
designed to protect the people from Impositions?
That very effective weapon, the criminal In
dictment, has not been resorted to. Indeed, al
though tho evidence showing the existence of a
coal trust is Indisputable, the administration has
made no serious effort to call to account that ag
gregation of public plunderers.
JJJ
i
John E. Osborne.
The Commoner has suggested a numbor of per
sons who are worthy to bo considered in connec
tion with the democratic presidential nomination.
It was announced months ago that every state
could furnish men who were competent to dis
charge the duties of the offlco if elected, and who
could upon their oillcial records appeal to the
democratic element of the country.
Tho persons mentioned thus far have come
from the eastern and southern states, hut there is
no reason why the western states should not bo
considered. Wyoming contains a democrat of in
telligence and fidelity, namely, Hon. John E. Os
horno, of Rawlins. He is a graduate of the Uni
versity of Vermont, having received his diploma
in 1880. He went to Wyoming the following year,
and in 1884 was elected a member of the territor
ial legislature. Ho was an alternate to the demo
cratic national convention in 1888 and a delegate
to the democratic national convention In 1892. He
was elected governor of Wyoming in 1892 and
was renominated in 1894, but declined to be a
candidate again.
In 1896 he was the chairman of the Wyoming
delegation at the Chicago convention, and was
prominently identified with the dominant element
of tho convention. He was elected to congress In
1896, and in 1898 became vice chairman of the
democratic national committee. He has twice re
ceived the unanimous vote of the democratic mem
bers of the Wyoming legislature for tho United
States senate. Ho was made a member of the na
tional committee in 1900.
By profession he 1bj a physician, but he Is
largely interested in the raising of live stock and
in other business.
The Commoner takes pleasure In suggesting
his name among those to be considered, and in
doing so ventures the opinion that ho would re
ceive several million more votes than any candi
date whose sympathies are with Wall street and
whose administration would be controlled by the
financiers,
v fff
Worth Remembering.
Dr. Howard S. Taylor, city attorney of Chi
cago, when he was in Nebraska on the occasion
of the Fourth of July celebration at Fairylew,
quoted in private conversation some lines, the
authorship of which he did not know. But the
lines are so excellent and the sentiment so pa
triotic that they were written down for the benefit
of the readers of The Commoner. They are worth
remembering. Sentiments like these, so beauti
fully expressed, are good to carry in one's mind.
There is frequent occasion to use them, for they,
ornament and strengthen a speech. Those wha
are preparing themselves for the discussion 61
public questions aro especially interested in gath
ering togothcr every tiling that can Illustrate or
enforce an argumont Tho words aro as follows:
"O, 'tis a goodly horltago, this noble land of oura!
It boasts, Indeed, not Gothic fame nor Ivy man
tled towers;
But, then, Us Intorlinking lakes, its forests wild
and wide,
Its streams, the slnows of its strength, which
feed it as thoy glldo,
Its rich primeval pasture lands, fenced by the
sloping sky,
Its mlnc3 of wealth, as yet undclvcd, which
'ncath Its surfaco Ho,
Surely a great destiny which wo alono can mar
Is writ upon tho horoscope whoro shines our
risen star!"
"The Contract Idea."
The American Economist rccontly asked if
tho revision of tho tariff would not Involve "the
violation by, the government of the contract of
agreoment with certain producing interests
namely, tho DIngley tariff law."
Tho New York Tribune, a republican paport
replied:
"Wo havo heard a great many unpleasant
things said about tho DIngley tariff law and
its workings which we did not bollove. We
never expected to seo its professed frlonds
suggest what its enemies bavo souotlmc
charged, that It was not, indeed, a piece of na
tional legislation, but an instrument in a com
mercial bargain; that It was not a revenue
law passed for public purposes, but r. stip
ulated price paid to certain business interests
for value received."
Commenting upon this, the Chicago Record
Herald, another republican paper, recalls th
warning given by William C. Lovering, a re
publican congressman from Massachusetts. Ap
pearing before the convention of the Furniture
Association of America, and speaking in favor of
tariff revision, Congressman Lovering declared
that some of tho glaring Irregularities of the DIng
ley law must be dono away with, and predicted
that "nothing less than a liberal drawback law
enacted at the next session of congress will save
the protective tariff from a fearful onslaught
if not utter demolition."
Tho Record-Herald adds: "The truth Is that
such excesses as those of tho American Economist
amount to a justification of the warning of Con
gressman Lovering. Their inevitable effect is to
arraign the masses against tho classes. All thing
considered it would seem advisable for tho repub
licans to compromise on the Iowa Idea and to
drop the contract idea at tho earliest possible
moment" .,u
J J J . 1
Glorifying Brute Force.
It seems that Rear Admiral Taylor has beea
expressing himself on tho subject of fighting, and
is quoted as saying that "an element of pugnacity
appears to be Implanted In us by Providence whick
does not permit nations to bo satisfied without a
occasional appeal to arms."
Tho Yahoo, published at St. Louis, takes up
the admiral's remarks and thus castigates him:
"The remainder of Rear Admiral Taylor
article is but a revolting resume of all th
fiendish, blood-thirsty and diabolical instinct
of primeval savagery, arrayed In all their
hjdeous nakedness, to -prove, by their pres
ence, that their existence is justifiable; nay,
laudable. Because some men are brute, ha
concludes that all men are and ought to b
brutes. Such Is the ole justification of war
because it is and ha been, therefore It ought
to be; the doctrine ever preached y th
bloody lip of cannon since first it leaped in.
tongue of forked flame from the roaring moutlt
of hell. The same argument would justify th
supremacy of satan, and glorify all hi
.works."
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