The Commoner.
"V"
OLUME 5, NUMBER n
X.
GURRGNT
6
Sf
ipbv2
C-ttoees --
3
P-H.
BUSINESS CONCERNS in New York which
make the biggest profits and which, there
lore, arc enabled to pay the highest wages to em
ployes, are the ones, according, to a writer in the
Pittsburg Dispatch, which apparently are continu
ally striving to cut their pay roils. This writer
Bays: "The telephone, the gas and the
street car companies pay enormous div
idends, but the are continually trying
to cut expenses in labor. The life
insurance companies do the same. The officers
at the top, who control the destinies of the con
cerns, get salaries all out of proportion to the
value of the services. On the other hand, the
clerical forces are suffering a constant reduction.
Indeed, male clerks who a few years ago were
paid $100 a month are being forced out, and
women are being hired in their places at salaries
running between $40 and $50 a month. Whereas
male clerks average from $70 to $80 a month,
women are glad to do the work for $45, or even
for less. It will thus be seen that the change to
women has been an economic one of decided im
portance." WPI. GATTAN FLOOD, writing to London
. Truth, says: "Will you allow me to point
out to you that the tune of 'Yankee Doodle' is an
old Irish jig of the early eighteenth century, well
known in Ireland still as 'All the Way to Galway?'
Your statement that it was composed by Dr.
Schuckburgh is a slip. You probably meant that
he wrote the doggerel words, which is generally
admitted, but he merely adapted his verses to
the Irish jig, which was printed as 'Yankee Doodle
in 17S2, and was subsequently introduced by Arn
- old into his 'Two to One.' "
THE GREAT NORTHERN railroad, of which
James J. Hill is president, has been caught in
a flagrant case of rebating. That does not neces
sarily mean that the Great Northern is to be
called to account, because other railroads, among
them the Santa Fe, were caught in flagrant cases
and we all remember the Morton incident. Re
ferring to the Great Northern's slip, the Wash
ington Dispatch says: "So pronounced and defi
nite was the case that the interstate commerce
commission has brought it to the attention of
the department of justice, with a request that
there be immediate prosecution. There is ill
conCealed satisfaction on the part of members
of the commission at this development, because
of the well known attitude of hostility toward the
commission which Mr. Hill has assumed up to
this time. There is no question but that the ef
forts of the commission will be directed to secur
ing a conviction under the law of Mr. Hill's road
nnd the mulcting of that company of the" $20,000
fine prescribed by the law. It is charged that
during the months from October last to the end
of April of this year the Great Northern, in con
junction with the Baltimore & Ohio and the Cen
tral Transit company and a lake steamship cor
poration, carried 18,000 tons of cast-iron pipe to
Winnipeg, Manitoba, from Philadelphia and sub
urbs of that city. R. D. Wood & Co., of Philadel
phia, were the shippers and the city of Winnipeg
the consignee, and the Great Northern paid a
rebate amounting to substantially $1,800. It is
alleged that the full rate of 49 cents per 100
pounds was paid by the shipper, but when the
transaction was closed the Great Northern paid
the rebate indicated, the agreement being that the
rebate should be 5 cents on each 100 pounds of
freight. In that way R. D. Wood & Co., it is
charged, beat their competitors. The commis
sion, In referring the case to the department of
justice, asserted that it was one of the most flag
rant that has come to the attention of that body.
The satisfaction of the commission over getting
the Great Northern in its toils arises in large part
over the position maintained by Mr. Hill toward
that body and toward all of the laws which have
been passed under the constitutional provision
permitting the general government and charging
it with the duty of regulating interstate com
merce," TPIIRTY YEARS ago Charles Sterling was
,, Jianged at Youngstown, Ohio, on the charge
of murder. Recently Charles Herzig, living near
Minot, North Dakota, left a statement to the effect
that Sterling was innocent and that he (Herzig)
had been guilty of the crime for which Sterling
was hanged. Herzig then disappeared. On Sep
tember 13 Herzig's derl body was found hang
ing to a tree in a secluded ravine just over the
line in the unorganized county of Wallace, North
Dakota. Pinned to his breast was a piece of
wrapping paper on which was written a con
fession of the crime and the statement that Ster
ling, an innocent man, was tried, convicted and
hanged.
TCW PTTinPT.TT! lrnnw fho rpnl pnlnr nf ernld.
. - .WS-fc -- MV 1. "V A VM.A WWW V. 0w-,
"I
because it is seldom seen except when heav
ily alloyed, which makes it much redder than
when it is pure. Tho Philadelphia Inquirer says:
"The purest coins ever made were the $50 pieces
which once were in common use in California.
Their coinage was abandoned because the loss
by abrasion was so great and because their in
terior could be bored out and filled with lead.
They were octagonal in shape and were the most
valuable coins ever minted and circulated. All
gold is not alike when refined. Australian gold
is distinctly redder than that taken in California. .
Moreover, placer gold is more yellow than that
which is taken from quartz. This is one of the
mysteries of metallurgy, because the gold in plac
ers comes from that which is in quartz. The gold
in the Ural mountains is." the reddest in the
world."
BEFORE LEAVING on his trip around the
world Mr. Bryan went to Salem, 111., and
on September 8 in the presence of a large con
course of Marion county citizens broke ground
for the Bryan-Bennett library, which is to be
erected on the spot, until recently occupied by
the house in which Mr. Bryan was born.' The
building will cost $3,000, and will be an imita
tion of the second story of the court house at
Salem the building in which Silas L. Bryan
presided for twelve years as circuit judge and
in which the son made his first political speech.
The library committee appointed by the city-consists
of Hon. Charles McMackin (the republican
mayor), Hon. Thomas S. Marshall (a cousin on
the Jennings side), Hon. Henry-Feltman (a lead
ing democrat of Salem), Mrs. Anna Torrence (a
cousin on the Bryan side), and Mrs. L. M. Kagy
(wife of Mr. Bryan's classmate and room-mate
in the law school). If any of the readers" of The
Commoner desire to contribute to the library
books can be sent to any member of the board!
Colonel M. C. Wetmore, Hon. Emile Karst, Major
George McCann and Dr. Dwight Jennings went
out from St. Louis to attend the ceremonies, at
tending the breaking of ground. While there
Mr. Bryan was the recipient of a cane which Jaff
Jones, a pioneer citizen of Salem, carved from
a piece of oak which the elder Bryan had helped
to shape when the Bryr.n homestead was built,
more than fifty years ago.
A STORY THE moral of which will not be diffi
cult to discover is told by the Kenosha,
Wisconsin, correspondent for the New York
World, as follows: "Daisy B. Rogers was yester
day granted a divorce from Charles Rogers, son
of the late Daniel G. Rogers, of Milwaukee. She
sought the divorce on the grounds of desertion
it being, however, the general impression that
she had sacrificed her love that her husband might
enjoy the million-dollar estate supposed to have
been left by his father, who disinherited Charles
as long as he lived with Daisy Rogers. When
today a settlement was about to be made of the
estate it was learned that the estate is so much
smaller than was supposed that the husband
n?mgaV Up miS Wi,fe fop a fortune' W
fooled. He will receive only $2,500 a year."
JOHN D ROCKEFELLER recently gave for the
first time a newspaper interview in which he
undertook to dofend himself. Mr Rockefeller
said: "It takes infinite pathmce and courage Z
compel men to have confidence in you. I beiievl
I have both these qualities and I also believe thS
they are- the secrets of r - success. I learned to
cultivate these characteristics when I was 16
years of age. My first real test was when I was
making out bills of lading for canal and lake
boats here in Cleveland, There was much to try
the patience, and I had the first opportunity in
my life to take the wrong course, to ropel rather
than compel confidence from my associates an!
employers. Often a captain would want me tn
put down the wrong figures. He would assure
me that it would never be known, that it was the
customary way of doing things and that it was
the right thing for me to do. T rpnsnnmi wi.i
him: 'If this and this is so then so and so is
right.' I insisted upon what I thought was right
but had patience with all who opposed me. Soon
my employers noticed my methods of doing busi
ness; other employers knew that I wanted to do
the right thing; bankers then came to have confi.
dence in me, and then success followed step by
step. It has been imperative that I deny myself
association with people whom I naturally enjoy.
Nevertheless I have been much with people in
fact almost every day groups of them come to
see me, and it is a bright spot in the lives of all
of us, as we drive or walk about the grounds.
I have never been a clubman and have not fre
quented places where people generally go for corn
pany. My friends during hours of recreation are
many of them from my hbme church." Mr. Rock
efeller expressed the opinion that the opportuni
ties for a young man are better in Cleveland
today than when he was a boy there.
THOMAS EDWARD BAWDEN died recently
at his home in Detroit, Michigan. He was
prominent as a single taxer, and the Detroit
Tribune relates of him this story: "For a few
days in May, 1901, Tom Bawden was the most-talked-of
man in Detroit. It was his persistence
in delivering single tax addresses on the campus
that brought about the so-called 'campus riot
on the night of May 10. In defiance of the orders
of Frank C. Andrews, then police commissioner,
Bawden attempted to jgive a speech on the campus
that night. When the police, acting under An
drews' orders, attempted to disperse the crowd,
they were attacked by tho enraged people and
a riot ensued in "which a number of persons
were injured. Thousands of people paraded
the streets, cheering for Bawden and shout
ing threats at Andrews and his policemen. An
drews succeeded in having an ordinance passed
by the council, prohibiting gatherings on tho cam
pus, and for violating this ordinance Bawden was
arrested and thrown in jail. He steadfastly re
fused to pay his fine, declaring that he would
'rot in jail first' His friends" finally paid it with
out his knowledge and he was released."
THE UNITED STATES bureau of labor has
issued a report showing that in recent years
the cost of food has risen faster than wages. la
this report it is said: "In 1904, as compared with
the average for the ten years from 18S0 to 1899,
25.7 per cent more persons were employed, hours
of labor per week had been reduced 4.1 per cent,
wages per hour had increased 17 per cent, weekly
earnings per employe had increased 12.2 per cent,
weekly earnings of all persons employed had in
creased 41.0 per cent, retail prices of food had
increased 11.7 per cent, the wages of one hour
would purchase .4 per cent more food. In 1901,
as compared with 1903, the total number of em
ployes decreased 6 per cent, the hours of labor
decreased 7 per cent; wages pc: hour increased
6 per cent; weekly earnings per employe de
creased 1 per cent. The total weekly earnings
of all employes decreased 8 per cent; retail prices
of food increased 1.3 per cent, the wages of one
hour would purchase 7 per cent less food and
the earnings per employe in a week would pur
chase 1.4 per cent less food."
REFERRING TO THE higli price of food this
report, according to a summary made by t-n0
Washington correspondent for .the Chicago Rfc-ord-Herald,
says the estimated yield of Irish pota
toes in the United States was 247,127,SS0 in l .-.
against 332,830,300 in 1904, but that the increased
production did not prevent an increased price, in
many localities the price was practically douJjit
the price of 1903. The articles that marked me
greatest difference in price between 1903 ami
1904 are flour and lard. The average piw
flour in 1904 was 18.44 per cent higher than '
average price in 1903. The average price of i.
in 1904 was 7.39 per cent lower than the ayenuu
in 1903. Of the thirty articles Included in ",c
m
.-s&fiatrx&nimvftKrtmmiAi jnjkfoiMfeii