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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (April 7, 1905)
WTXC" - lO IfMm The Commoner, VOLUME 5, NUMBER 12 The Modern Philanthropist JTo pul peas In tho popper, And mixed coffee up with beans; He bleached tilings out with acid; Colored things with .anilines', lie poisoned scores of babies "With adulterated looti lation of railroad rates because it tends to centralization and is likely to en throne in power for many years a cor rupt administration. Besides, under private control I am given liberal re bates." And before the echo of that man's oice dies away another man exclaims. Then gave millions to the heathen 1 Tne tariff musl be revised by its And people called him good. JIo cornered all the breadstuff . That 'twere possible to seize; Then got his grip on coal mines And said, "Pay up or freeze!" And thousands froze and hungered It worried not his mind JIo bought a university And people called him kind. Ho bought some legislatures, Corrupted bar and bench. In wrong and greed and privilege His forces did entrench. Ho robbed and squeezed and plundered Nor heeded human cries. Ho built a college building And people called him wise. He paved his way to fortune With bleaching bones of toil. The needs of wives and babies Ho used to wreak his spoil. His conscience never hurt him; 'Twas grown too dumb to call. He gave vast sums to churches And thought that squared it all. Thousands to schools and churches They're built on dead men's bones. Thousands to public buildings There's blood stains on their stones. And thoughtless may applaud him And cheer him on his way; But blood and tears will mock him On God's great judgment day. Blood and tears and heartaches; Anguish and grief and want. The faces of starving children, Haggard and pinched and gaunt. Wrecks of human endeavor All this to achieve a goal. What profits a man to gain it And lose his immortal soul? friends. Under it the whole country is prosperous, -labor is well employed at remunerative wages and prosperity reigns. Besides, revision of the tar iff in the interests of the consumers would mean that a large share of my graft would be shut off." And from a corner up near the pul pit comes a voice saying: "Of course it is all wrong for Mr. Rockermorbilt to corner the neces sities of life. It is wrong for him to speculate in the necessities of men and women and make them pay tribute to him. But he has given us money to put a new roof on the church and get new pews to take the place of our old benches, to say nothing of lifting our er quiet. It beats anything I'vo tried yet." "Then you are doing " But before we could finish there was a puff of smoke that blinded us fpr a moment, and when we recovered there was nothing in the room but,a sulphur ous smell. A day or two later, however, we read of another church accepting some of the money. The Fiddle Use ter tell me dat de debbll Ha'nted ebry fiddle's strings. Dat de strains we fought was music Was de swishin' ob his wings. Wasn't so dey was de echo Ob de songs de angels sings. Fiddle strings sung out de music Dat jus' bore me to de skies. Made me feel so young an happy, Put de spahkle in mah eyes; Carries me back to ol' Ferglnny WJia' mah love a sleepin' lies. Can't no debbil make de music Dat ol' fiddle gives f me; Bears me upwahds on its pinions Till de jaspah walls I seej Opes de gates and lets me wanaan Whar de many mansions be. Good ol' fiddle, you's mah treasure, An' I'll keep you till I die; gets credit for doing all on the book A 'man may be content with hk w without being satisfied with his rnn ?. tion. condl' The crosses that we make for our- church mortgage, and I think we Den I'll try mah bes to tek you upwanas wia me v ue sity, For no harp can mek such music As dat. fiddle, so says I. should take advantage of the oppor tunity." There was but one Demetrius in the market places of Ephesus, but the mar ket places of the world in this genera tion are crowded with his lineal de scendents. Would that there were as many Pauls traveling the earth and preaching sermons calculated to upset the modern worship of Diana. The Sure knows oMife. Arms without tion. The selves are not tho nnnc- n.n .... tuut crowns. . U3 The man who wants to profit b wrongdoing is never at a loss for an excuse. u Men who would scorn to cheat in business have no hesitancy in cheatine in politics. b Grafters are in the minority. The majority is equally to blame for not putting a stop to it. Some men secure credit for philan thropy by publicly contributing to the conscience fund. On the journey of life a man never loses any time by stopping to help some one make a new start. Did you ever see any one look quito at foolish as the boy who smokes a cigaret because he thinks it makes him look like a man? A lot of Christians who imagine that they could die for their religion haven't nerve enough to pray with a Salvation Army band on a street cor ner. The man who grumbles the most about his food while at the family table is usually the man who eats heartily at a free lunch with a fork that a hundred other men have used before him. the old, old The Descendents of Demetrius When Paul preached his wonderful sermon on the text "To the Unknown God," he aroused the ire of a certain Ephesian gentleman named Demetrius. It will be remembered that Demetrius was a maker of silver images of Diana, and Diana happened to be the favorite god of the Epheslans, a magnificent temple having been erected to her in the great city of Ephesus. Wlien Paul was in the middle of Hint magnificent sermon it dawned upon Demetrius that the great missionary was likely to do his silver husinpsa n great injury. With Paul's God holding sway in the hearts of men there would bo a falling off in the market for silver images of Diana. So Demetrius took a reef in his toga and started out among his brothren, shouting: "We must stop this disturber from upsetting the wor ship of Diana!" And he gave a rea son for it. Was it because he loved Diana? Was it because he worshipped at uui biu-iuu wiui singleness or pur pose and with love? Not much. He gave this as his rea- 3?n:'y this craft we have our A'ealth." - Demetrius was thinking more of his pockotbook than he was of his religion it uuus not require much effort to see all about in this day and ago men whose actions indicate that they are lineal descendants of Demetrius Har den to this man: "I am opposed to government regu- Playing Safe The great Captain of Finance pulled the last wire and finished up on the greatest business deal in his whole ca reer. Calling in his private secretary he asked: "Have we got all the foodstuffs un der control?" "Yes. Sir, t.hfi p.rlns nf fho normlo warrant the assumption that they are I starved into submission to our de mands." "How about the coal supply?" "All in our hands. The miners have refused to work on starvation wages and the supply mined under pressure is good. We can get 200 per cent more profit per ton now that the plan has worked out, and the people are already shivering and getting ready to submit to our demands." "And how about oil?" "Everything lovely. We've knocked out every competitor but one, and if he doesn't submit in twenty-four hours his plant will be like that one that so mysteriously blew up a few years ago " "'Tis well," murmured the great Cap tain of Finance. "If you are anitsflpri that everything is all right you may bring in those checks you made out to the universities and churches and I will sign them before I go to lunch " world well story A man can't buy his way to glory. There's only one safe, dead-sure plan Deal squarely with your fellow man, And unto others always do As you would have them do to you. 1 " l'T fNll n Vftll 3T" ? f"V fin omnn4 m4-13 XUUUU JJX X11V3 .LlVJllCO felGlXt, UUtUlU, Salvation is not bought with gold; And gold piled up to mountain height Will not outweigh a widow-'s mite. The Russian Mother Goose By o'baby Buntingvitch Your daddy's gone a buntingvitch To get-a little rabbit skinsky To wrap the baby Bunting insky. Old Mother Hubbardsky Went to the cupboardsky To get her poor dogsky a boneovitch But when she got theresky The cupboard was baresky For Oyama had grabbed it and gone-ovitch. Uncle Josh Best in the Armory When his Satannic Majesty appeared we were, of course, terribly frightened tor a moment. "Don't get scared," said he. "I just dropped in." J "What's doing in your line?" we quer ed, more for the purpose of an pearing at ease than anything else. Q.fPle,?tyL 4Plenty!" exclaimed his Satannic Majesty with a grin 'AnvMifnn' now9 ' "Best ever," he 'replied. "Got a now scheme that beat's 'em all to deaU ?n,tm'?tlly e asked what it was. 'Dividing the swag with my en emies," he replied, "and then of course common courtesy makes 'em keep rath. 'I have noticed," remarked Uncle Josh, nudging over towards the crack erbox, "that a whole lot o' men are like bumblebees. The hustle around t' beat th' band an' keep up a turrible hummin', but they never put up no honey t' sell." Great Plan "I've got a scheme to protect my garden this spring." "What is it?" "Bought my neighbor's chickens and hired him to put in a garden of his own. They'll all go over to him." DON JOHN D'AUSTRIA .The Don John De Austria, one of the Spanish ships sunk by Admiral Dewey in the famous battle of Manila bay, has been raised, and will be sent to Portland to be exhibited at the Lew is and Clark centennial. The vessel wil be anchored during the exposition in the Willamette river, adjoining tho exposition grounds, together with a number of Uncle Sam's latest and fin est warships. Brain Leaks A sincere reformer first himself. converts woLtak S ithat WG malCG t n0t the Way cepGC ffnSSff" ' thGir A satisfied stomach Is the first ston toward moraT regeneration P Men who have to pay for Easter bonnets write no jokes about them The man who does his level 'best RHEUM ATI CURED BY ABSORPTION The Foot Pores Now Made to Yield Up Acid Poisons From tho Blood by Remarkable Olscovory Which All Can TRY FREE PAY WHEN SATISFIED .Send your mime to-dav; von will got by return mall.postpald-FREETOTRY imulrof Mas? Foot Drafts, the areat Michigan Uiscovcn. which has proven such :i remarltabb "v"?! sure cures for rheumatism of all Kinds that J nw are now being extensively Imitated abroaa well as In this country In KnRland inm" ment ugulnst Maic Foot Drafts hsis recenw been enjoined by the courts, thus prow?: rheumatic sufferers against imitations luimt-w wvbcmmii iff,ftu ue injuria- , Marie i-yy Draf tsnro wornJJ side l he stoewn j n convenient and thoy cure rvpnri Ul tho body, by rhoumatism. chronic or acute, in pvi r 1 -. r absorblnir uric ac 0 anu y- f00l n the bioou inrouKn usands of letters f r tsof them the touKh in tno country can no soon y '"" . ,psimco purities from the blood tlirouirb lll0,'r1f1criieii' pores Thousands of letters from " (.,onCs of them the mwm" " ,"aojm w minim soon l)V anionp caw at our ofllees If the Drafts cure ah ;' ,. Pie why shouldn't they cure X?" ,..,:. iildir.. day to Manic Foot Draft Co . XCH C y' ' . Jackson. Mich You will not tho 0n "JuiPi turn mail I f you are satisfied with w lh, ithey Klvo. send us one dollar If ri'-t " bo0K In YOU DECIDE. A valuable in J m (in colors) on rheiunatism.coracs ru "' Drafts. Send no moncyjonly your nam -1 VfiE&iafe ESSSSaHKHKffia r.-4ftJhliwu