THE ADVOCATE
7
"THEY BETP3BD WORK."
These are the significant headlines
that appeared in the great dailies of
the country on Sunday morning, May
6. There has been a concerted and per
sistent effort of the hosts of plutoc
racy ever since the Coxey movement
began to manufacture sentiment
against it The men enlisted in the
several industrial armies have been
pictured as a gang of thugs and
bums and worthless vagabonds too
lazy to work and not too honest to
steal; and notwithstanding the uni
form testimony of people along the
lines of travel, and of visitors to the
camps, as to their respectable charac
ter everything that a hireling press
could do to convey a different im
pression has beeD most faithfully
done. This Sunday morning dis
patch with its significant headline is
intended to deceive the people, and
is published for no other purpose.
Let us examine it candidly now and
sea if the truth of this statement is
not apparent upon the face of the
story itself. Here it is in the form of
a Washington dispatch:
An enterprisiuar real estate man hers has
offered to set the Coxeyites to work. He
has a tract of land about three and a half
miles distant from the city which he de
sires to hate cleared of underbrush and
made ready for subdivision. It is a pretty
spot and much healthier than the 'sewer
mouth camp now occupied by the Coxey
ites. The owner, Dr. O. P. Gehring, offered
to let the army camp on that tract and to
pay them $500 if they would clear the
ground. The proposition struck Coxey fa
vorably, but Browne was unwilling to move
the camp so far from the city and the offer
was rejected.
This is the dispatch. Now, let the
reader think of it a moment without
prejudice. There are said to be 300
men in Coxey's army. Five hundred
dollars divided among them would
give each the munificent fortune of
$1.66$. It is not stated how large
the patch is that is desired to be
cleared. We are left to guess at
thai Let us suppose that it is a
small patch and could be cleared by
these 300 men in two days. This
would give them 83J cents a day.
And what were they to do
next? They did not tramp all
the way to Washington to get one or
two day's work at such munificent
wages. They are there on another
errand altogether. They are there,
not in their own interest merely, but
as representatives of the millions of
unemployed throughout the country
to protest against the favoritism and
class legislation that have made a
few men rich and the vast majority
of men poor. They are there to ask
of their servants a change of the pro
gram and the enactment of legisla
tion that will not only give them
work, but the millions of other men
also who are idle, not for a day or
two merely, but perpetually. They
are there to demand a change of con
ditions and the establishment of jus
tice in the land, and this petty offer
which is heralded to the ends of the
earth in order to prejudice people
against them is designed to defeat
the object of their journey in another
way. The land which this "enter
prising real estate man" has experi
enced such a sudden longing to have
clsxod jj about tbm esa & bill
miles from Washington, and the
proposition is open to the suspicion
that there is a stronger desire to clear
Washington of the Coxey army than
to clear this piece of ground of under
brush. In this desire there is no
doubt that the "enterprising real es
tate man" has the sympathy of the
plutocratic press. If there is a piece
of cussedness that this combined out
fit fails to avail itself of to create
sentiment against these men it will
be because it is forgotten.
No one who has an adequate con
ception of the character of the Cleveland-Sherman
combination expects
that the Coxey movement will re
sult in any legislation not in the in
terest of gamblers, corporations and
pirates in whose plunder the outfit
in control of government affairs ex
pects to share, but it is opening the
eyes of more people throughout the
nation than anything else that has
occurred for some time. In this way
it will do good.
VIVID RECOLLECTIONS.
How Theories Were Scorched by Hot Winds
and Lightning.
Communicated.
Without any attempt whatever at a
pun it may be truthfully said that the
hot wind is a dry subject, and for any
person who has experienced several
sieges of this blistering breeze that pays
its annual visit to western Kansas and
various other parts of the West, there is
but very little temptation to write the
subject up. Not but what the impres
sions are vivid enough, for they are
branded into a person's memory aa with
a red hot iron and in a way that pre
cludes the possibility of ever forgetting,
but the recollections are not pleasant to
dwell on.
I have a vivid and disagreeable recol
lection of the last of several hot winds
that I experienced in western Kansas.
On that partionlar occasion I abandoned
some theories, and became a respecter
of some facts that were opposed to them,
and I have been a little sceptical that
way ever since. It was about the first
of August and the wind had been blow,
ing steadily from the south for three
days and getting hotter each day. There
had been no rain for several weeks and
all vegetation, especially corn and grass,
was fast drying up. Everything showed
the effect of the dry weather and hot
wind. Even the people seemed to be
wilted, the wrinkles in their faces corre
sponded with the rolled leaves of the
corn, and their drooping heads with the
tassels. It is impossible to be exposed
to a scorching wind such as blew on
that day and look pleasant Either con
sciously or unconsciously the face will
wear a frown. The only way to escape
the wilting effect of the wind is to get
in the shade where the wind can't strike
you and think about something pleas
ant. Instead of worrying about how
you are going to get through the winter,
imagine yourself at the sea shore with
the cool sea breeze blowing on you, or
instead of trying to figure out how you
are going to raise money to pay your in
terest, just think of taking a sail on
your pleasure yacht. It won't cost any
thing to think about those luxuries, and
it won't help anything to worry about
the wind.
On this afternoon it seemed that all
energy and animation had been sapped
out of everything about the place. The
wind was the only thing in motion. The
chickens stood with drooping wings
un&r titt .ehed first on' ona foot and
then on the other. The reason for stand
ing on one foot at a time waa to give the
foot that was held up a chance to cool
off after being on the hot ground and to
give the foot on the ground a cha nee to
cool off after being in the hot air. The
cattle stood motionless on the prairie.
It was even too hot for the flies to bother
them. Occasionally an old cow would
switch her tail in an absent-minded
kind of a way, but it was energy wasted
on the desert air. The flies had flown to
the shade. The cattle would have done
likewise but there waa no shads for them
to fly to. Not a bird could ba seen or
heard, the hot wind had parched their
throats too dry to twitter.
Two of my nearest neighbors had
come to my dugout a little after noon,
one to borrow my corn knife and the
other to - return my com knife and to
borrow my "prospect auger." This
"prospect auger" is a tool that may be
found in every neighborhood in western
Kansas. It is a common wood auger
with a shank twelve or fifteen feet long,
and is used for prospecting for water in
the bottom of ravines and draws. The
prospect of a corn crop for that year waa
very slim, and growing less every min
ute that the hot wind continued to
blow. There was still the shadow of a
hope for part of a crop if we could get
rain at once, and as we lay on the buf
falo grass in the shade of a header box
we discussed the themes that always
come up on such occasions, the crop
prospect, the climate and the future out
look. We re-affirmed our belief in the
theory that was so generally believed in
at that time, which was, that as the
country became more settled up and
more ground was cultivated, and groves
planted out, there would be more rain
fall. We roughly estimated the amount
of new ground broken up in our vicinity
that year and concluded from that that
the next year ought to show consider
able change of climate, and that at that
rate of ohange, in ten years we would
have a climate similar to the tropical
rain belt. There had been no change of
climate, except for the worst, in the ten
years that we had been there. Neither
had we any definite record of any coun
try where the climate had changed, but
that didn't discourage us any. We took
hope from the fact that Kansas wasn't
governed by precedent in anything. A
theory, when it once became well estab
lished, held its own against many dry,
hard faots, with the hopeful Western
settler. The rainfall hasn't increased
any, but it should and would, there was
no doubt about that in our minds. The
theory must hold good.
Having settled the topio of climate to
our satisfaction, we turned our attention
to figuring on the profits of wheat rais
ing. In railroad circulars under the
heading of "How to Secure a Home in
the Golden Belt," we had often seen the
whole process of wheat raising, expense
and profit, figured out in dollars and
cents. The estimate was something like
this:
Cost of land, 1G0 acres, at $8 per acre. . . . 11,280.00
Cost of breaking, at IL50 per acre 240.00
Cost of preparing the ground for Heed. . 240.00
Cost of teed and seeding 2KO.00
Cost of harvesting 200.00
Cost of threshing lm
Cost of marketing 175.00
Total cost. 11595.85
Crop yield 20 bushels per acre, 3,200
bushels, at II per bushel 13,200.00
Thus paying for the land with the
first crop and leaving a clear profit of
$005.15. We discussed the matter
thoroughly, and as we talked, the man
who had come to borrow the "prospect
auger" figured it all out with a nail on
the leg of his boot We found that the
railroad company had put the cost of
raising plenty high enough and had
Icou&tsd in &U tfcs U:qj. Ersrvthkj
was all correct True, the highest yield
that we had heard of in our neighbor
hood that year was twelve bushels per
acre, but then when we got more rain,
twenty bushels would be a sure thing.
Then, again, the very highest price was
50 cents per bushel; but ;the wheat
couldn't stay at that price. It w&j
bound to bring $1 per bushel befora
long. "Yea," we reasoned, "wheat la
bound to bring $1 a bushel by this time
next year. The presidential election
coming on this fall makes things a little
unsettled. As soon as that is over and
things quiet down, prices will go up
egsin." That was about as far ea we
ever went into politics. Once in a while
we discussed the tariff, but that was too
plain a proposition. We were pro tec tad,
and that waa all we wanted to know. We
then fell to discussing the crop prospect
for that year. We agreed that if thin
hot wind only would let up and we would
get some ram, we might get enough to
feed our teams through the winter, and
to fatten a couple of hogs for meat. The
hot wind had been known to bring rain;
maybe it would do it this time.
Just then we noticed that the wind
had moderated, and there were soma
cloudj gathering in the southwest. In a
short time the sun was hid from view,
and dark, heavy clouds were rolling over
us. As soon as the wind lulled and the
sun was hidden, a great change took
place in all living things. The chickena
came out from under the shed add com
menced to pick and scratch around vig
orously, as though trying to make up for
lost time. The cattle that had stood
motionless on the prairie all afternoon,
while the wind and sua tanned the hides
on their backs, now commenced to graze
on the parched grass, and. at the same
time their tails resumed their accus
tomed switch, for the flies, feeling the
invigorating effect of the ohange in the
atmosphere, had renewed their attack.
The meadow larks oame, out from the
sheltered nooks where they had taken
refuge from the heat and commenced to
hop about and sing. There is no bird
that stays in western Kansas that so de
lights in rain, or the prospect of rain, ea
the meadow lark. It seems to be in full
sympathy with the people.
The lighting soon commenced to flash,
followed by terrifio peals of thunder,
and a few scattered drops of rain bgan
to falL We made no attempt to get
under shelter, but stood up with our
hats oil and shirt collars unbuttoned,
willing and anxious to be rained on. We
could almost count the drops as ths7
fell, but they were big, they were cool,
they were refreshing. A drop of rain is
never so wet, so cool, or so refreshing ts
it is after three days of steady hot wind.
The drops were few and scattering, but
they spattered out as they fell aa though
trying to do as much good as possible.
Two hours before, $500 would have
bought any one of us out, bat now $1,000
wouldn't touch us. A great, big drop
fell on the boot where the man had beta
figuring out the cost of wheat-raking,
and, as though the clouds were putting
the great seal of approval on the compu
tation, it fell on the very spot where its
result showed a profit of 005.15 on tha
first crop. Bat that drop seemed to be
the last that fell; the clouds passed on
to the northeast, and as we watched
them hover for a few moments over tha
Blue Hills, some ten miles away, it
looked ai though they were getting a
light shower over there, while the sun
was blazing down where we stood. In
that brief time while we stood watching
the clouds disappear over the Bl ua Ililli
the value of our claims went down Rjva
to$500.
Tba wind spran up ejaia with r
CRtfitfd on pa; i u