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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
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