The Louisiana populist. [volume], March 11, 1898, Image 1

About The Louisiana populist. [volume] (Natchitoches, Natchitoches Parish, La.) 1894-1898

Image provided by: Louisiana State University; Baton Rouge, LA

                
LU UI IANA POPULISI.
aubscription $1.00 Per Year. There is No Free Country, Unless the People Rule ' Price
VOI. IV NATCHITOCHES, LA., MACH 11. 1898. N 7.
IL~ /mm
PUBLIC OWNERSHIP.
OP RAILROADS AND MUNICI
PAL UTILITIES.
Ienator Allen's Statistics of Foreign
allroads as Glven to the Senate
Brtifllat Success of Public Ownership
of Street Railaways n Glasgow.
Senator Allen of Nebraska in a
speech delivered in the United States
senate, gave a list of governments who
own, or partly own their railways as
follows:
The Argentine Republic owns 620
miles of railway. Five-sixths of the
railways of Australia belong to the
various colonial governments.
In Austria-Hungary about 40 per
cent of the mileage is owned and about
?3 per cent is operated by the state.
Three-fourths of the mileage of Bel
Sium is owned and operated by the
state. The state owns one-fourth of
the total mileage of Brazil and does
one-half of the entire railway mile
age of the country. In Canada one
tenth of the mileage is owned and con
trolled by the government. One-half
of the railways of the Cape of Good
Hope, of English South Africa, is own
ed by the government. In Columbia
the railways have been subsidized by
the government with the understand
ing that at a certain period they will
become government property. Den
mark owns and controls three-fourths
of the total mieage of her railways.
Egypt owns and operates its railways.
In France the railways are ultimately
to become the property of the govern
ment. They have a mixed system of
state and private ownerships. Ninety
per cent of the railway mileage of
Germany is owned by the government.
In England, by the act of 1844, it was
provided that the government should
have the right to acquire any railroad
constructed with its aid, of purehasing
the same fqr a sum equal to twenty
ive years of annual divisible profits
estimated on the annual profits for
three years preceding the date of pur
chase. A part of the railways of Greece
are owned by the government. Gusts
mala owns and operates a part of her
railway system, Holland owns one-half
of her system. Two-thirds of the rail
ways of India belong to the govern
ment.
In Mexico the charters granted to
all railways contain a provision by
which all shall revert to the govern
mept in fifty years from the date cif
the charter.
. The roads of Nicaragua are owned
by the government. Norway's. rail.
ways are owned by the government
and so are Paraguay's. Thirty-eight
per cent of the mileage of Portugal is
owned by the government, and the
Itas provide that all railways shall
revert to the government in 99 years.
In Russia the government owns and
operates 40 per cent of the mileage.
.The railway mileage of Turkey belongs
to private companies, but Turkey is
the sick man.
The municipal ownership of street
gatlways has proved successful in many
instances. The latest success has been
achieved in Glasgow. It was in July.
,1894, that the city declared its ainde
pendence of the companies that leased
its alts. Mr. B. O. Flower says in the
Ne8, Time that the inception of the
wattlre was looked upon with some
dobt, He arrmtes :he circumstances
wlith le ap to it as follows:
"the las would probably have been
reSIwed if tIe company had treated its
ivrants witairea ter consideration.
Aist sisaithrs' long bours and low
W gi ledthe men to strike, and be
'AO the struggle war over a strong
04? : Of pulIfe opinion was crested in
5iior ot muutcipaltlng the tram trnamlle
t ;.itle I tat opportunty.
eiclty oxtended its lines, reduced
ti a* e te rturas have fully justi
Viase that was taken. From
Sto June, 1898, the city elear
000,000 above all expenses.
ieaeednt resta the samoOnt
t e sesuc was moe than
iJ t is now thse employe are
s the fares are greatly re
cth chas been wonder
the lines have been ex
4id,.ate t pubic has been bent
U~~iiufc~us by the change. Glas
e eatalnly accomplished great
Vn ' l ho example could be fol
urofit by other eltiew."
3,,ITORIAL COMMENT.
1I~thgug dqS8lIte has beeL heard
p ~ a sof the Trea3try Gages
D u. . .,wijsi Oompers, eigarmaker,
oettet on the eila the
uas dvocated by Mr.
i, siona t psa-tner. Mt MO
Tainmany and othet ew
ho wth my can to de
I theyople. It'tm
I put+ aay tret
• . e..,', b.&
 .+ +# +- . . .. • ++
newspapers, is certainly a measure
which will serve the interests of plu
tocracy. Le us see how many so-called
free silver senators v for it.
"Imperative man, means that
when executive and l:dlicial officials
are unfaithful to their trusts they may
be removed by a popular vote.
We are not suffering from acute
business depression. It has become
chronic.
The Nebraska State Journal, pluto
cratic, says, editorially: "Every psy
chologist knows that when you employ
a man in resultless labor, you destroy
within him all ambition and hope and
make him a wretched slave. It is not
necessary to cite particulars, for the
proposition has been scientifically
demonstrated." Perfectly true. Yet
the whole influence of the Journal is
on the side of a social system in which
the trusts and monopolies absorb the
lion's share of all wealth produced,
and in which the masses will be con
demned to resultless labor.
All the land between London and
Liverpool-a distance of 200 miles-
legally belongs to six men, whose only
claim to it is that they are the oldest
sons of their fathers.-Commonwealth.
The same men own still more land in
the United States, and the sons and
daughters of a great many Americans
will work for the benefit of their oldest
sons.
Organized labor is waking up. Presl
dent Gompers of the American Federa
tion of Labor wired the following to
the Rocky Mountain News: "The plans
for our political action in the interest
of labor are only in a tentative state
at present. The American Federation
of Labor proposes, however, to take
such political action as will compel the
lawmakers, the executives and the ju
diciary to enact, to enforce and to de
fine laws in the interest of our people.
We shall elcc: our own representatives
wherever possihble, and at all times de
feat the enemies of our cause irrespec
tive of party. To achieve these pur
poses, however, we realize that it is
necessary for the workers of our coun
ery, east, west, north and south, to
unite and concentrate our entire efforts
to attain the greatest success." And
one of their cardinal principles, it
should be remembered, is free coinage.
Further than this, the platform of the
American Federation of Labor is prac
tically the same as the People's party
platform.
The President says: "I speak not
of forcible annexation (of Hawaii), for
that cannot be thought of," but of
those "who come of their own free will
to merge their destines in our body
politic." Now it has been proved that
only two per cent of the adults of
Hawaii are permitted to vote, and not
all of these are for annexation. No
test by direct vote has ever been talk
ed about, but so far as can be known,
an annexation proposition voted upon
bp all adult white and Hawaiian males
would be "snowed under." On the
other band annexation would probably
earrn ly, about tento one in Cuba; but
no one connected with this administra
tion speaks up for Cuba.
Corporations do not pay high wages
simply becanse they are able to. In
Detroit street car employes can get 25
cents per hour with three-cent car
fares, and in Cleveland 21 cents an
hour with five-cent fares.
In an article i) the North American
Review for December, Robert P. Por
ter recommends that the Home and
Farm Inquiry be excluded from the
census report of 1900. His excuse for
so doing is that it will cost $1,500,000.
While it may be expensive, it is money
well spent. The report on homes and
farms, In the census of 1820 has been
the means of educating the people on
the real condition of the masses. This
is the real reason why an attempt will
be made to exclude it from the next
report. The expense plea is simply a
dodge. A bill to make the census de
,prttment permanent will be introduced
in this session of Congress. All voters
should write to their senators and rep
resentative" requesting them to see
that the Msme and Farm inquiry is
included in be list.
The backwoods philosopher, Bige
I ddy, says: "It is enough to discour
age a man engaged in the production
of the necessaries of life to see the
gang he has to provide for, who are
no use to themselves or any one else.
I am gog to quit. If I ever produce
any more grub Ill be blessed if I don't
eat it.'"
ho Nighbly haelual ~mrpls.
I lTh. p61 reserve Ia the treasury is
at high water mark, whp at there is
rejletag among a oartaln set of peo
pise I am oae of thlit, says the editor
of the. Appeal to Reason. i like to see
the country drained ot all its gold and
oltr money and have it held in the
national treasury. This helps the corn.
ir on masey. It we coild somehow
rsp at .oe tI the natonal treas
-irfl there would lbe nhol at all in
of teadt waat a good
I bt the re is so mud*
siole w tht fl Is
.,
LIKE HEROD1) OF OLD.
IMPERIALISM REIGNS AT THE
WHITE HOUSE.
The Hosti of Plutocracy Make High
Jinks at the Expense of the People
What the Ladies Wore-A National
Disgrace.
The capital is itself again. Our Re
publican court has cast aside the trap
pings and the suits of woe and appears
in sables. Let the devil wear black!
as the Prince of Denmark explained,
Mourning after the manner of royal
courts is at an end. Our mighty chief
magistrate agrees with the prince's
mother-"but to persevere in obstinate
condolement is a course of impious
stubbornness." Shine out, fair sun!
On with the dance!
It was a great function, the first of
the McKinleys' high jinks, the gayety
that banished official mourning. It was
resplendent. Were there sighs in Cuba?
They were not heard in the heavily
perfumed salons of the executive man
sion. Were cotton operatives suffer
ing in New England? Let them eat
cake if they cannot get bread. It was
a time for brocades and satins, not for
prints, and it signalized prosperity.
There was no Jeffersonian simplicity.
The scene was one of more than im
uerial splendor. The vulgar herd was
excluded. None but our "best people"
were permitted to bask in the bright
effulgence of the sun of Canton. But
yesterday that demigod was in the
hands of a receiver, so to speak. He
couldn't meet his obligations and a
local newspaper was crying aloud for
a popular subscription in his behalf.
But Hanna's broad shoulder was put
to the wheel and the stalled McKinley
was, like Richard. himself again.
The Marine band, erstwhile by gov
ernment command at a horse show,
burst into triumphant strains as the
presidential party, whose coming was
announced by a bugle call and, pre
ceded by two flunkeys in the uniform
of United States officers, entered the
reception room. The period of mourn-=
ing was over-of financial mourning
particularly. The "first lady of the
land," we are assured by administra
tion Jenk!nses, wore a dream of a
gown, the lace vest of which sparkled
with diamonds. What a blissful change
from the day when the major couldn't
meet his notes!
Jenkins advises us also that it was
the most brilliant reception ever held
in the White House. We may readily
believe the assertion from a descrip
tion of the gowns. The terms may not
be intelligible, but the impression is
therefore all the more dazzling. For
instance:
"Mrs. Hobart's gown was worthy of
a queen's drawing room. It was of
white bengaline. trimmed about the
skirt with white ostrich tips, aigrets
of which ran from the left side at the
waist line across the front to the hem.
A splendid aigret sparkling with dia
monds ornamented the left breast or
the low-neck corsage, while a diamond
star fastened the aigret on her head.
A double necklace of strands of im
-ense soltaires and pearl completed
the costume. She carried a white os
trich teather fan."
And the treasury was there':
"Mrs. Gage wore a splendid direc
toire kown of cerise velvet that made
her look as though she had just stepped
out of a painting. Down the left slad
from the waist was a wall of Troy de
sign in brilliants, each section fastened
with a sparkling buckle of brilliants.
The ostrich tip algrets on the left
;breast and in the hair were fastened
with a diamond star. A necklace of
diamonds completed the costume."
And for those citizens of Ameria
who fancy this sort of thing what ha
piness in the assurance conveyed by
Mark Hanna's recent dispatch, omi
ting the audacious and egotisical b!as
phemy, "The Republican party still
lives!"
POINTS PROM THE Pl'ESS.
Tell us the difference between Cleve
land's hard time and panics and Mc
Kinley's prosperity and reduction in
wages.-Silver Knight-Watchman.
Suicides ,occur among a people who
do not have firesides oftener than any
where else, or under all circumstance...
It is seldom that the occupant of ;
good home, who, feels there is no claim
upon it, commits suicide. A home is .
place to quiet nerves; it is next to
heaven in its infiuence.-Colusa Sun.
The most troublesome problem b-
fore the country now is that of th
unemployed. Roving hands of idlI
men are moving about from place to
place preying on their fellows because
they have nothing of their own and
to use. Despair \ and pauperism are
growing, burglary is frequent, larceny
is common, and men and women who
once had no need to take thought of
the morrow are now driven by want
into disdsipation aSl crlme.-Toape
Advocaste.
The work of evastating and al-mos
exterminating the forests. of ~he'1Ited
States gees on at rate so Mapid .
• r, ,r'J- d ../' CP4.1 "CI w' W'"",* •' ..
to see the end. Under such circum
stances, it would be a better policy to
offer a bounty for the importation of
Canadian lumber than to shut it out
altogether with a prohibitory tariff.
Yolo Democrat.
It is beginning to dawn upon Mark
Hanna that he is not the "wbnle
thing;" that "there are others."--Grand
Rapids Chronicle.
In 1894 the Department of the In
terior paid the Bell Telephone Com
pany an average (including salary of
woman operator) of $75 to each 'phone.
The department put in a system of its
own, 140 lines connecting scattered
buildings in Washington, and the cost
to the department now (including extra
electrician and help) is only $10.25 per
'phone. Still the capitalists tell us
there is no economy in public owner
ship.-Social Democrat.
The percentage of bank failures to
all banks was 1.06 in 1896, before "con
fidence" was restored and in the .b
sence of "General Prosperity," but af
ter "confidence and "General Prosper
ity" were fairly Installed in 1897 the
percentage increased to 1.25.--San
Francisco Star.
Gage has not ventured an answer to
Gompers. We are curious to see what
reply he can make to the strong argu
ment of Gompers. Of course it would
be simply predictions and empty phras
es about "sound money," "safe cur
rency," "national honor," etc. How
ever, let us have a response.-Silver
Knight-Watchman.
Money cannot buy honor in the ad
ministration of public affairs as long
as the administration of public affairs
is for the secure division of the dis
honorably gotten spoils of labor.-The
People.
The results which the senatorial
election in Ohio has thus far had, in
spire the belief in certain minds that
popular election of members of the
upper house of Congress will be has
tened thereby. Our own opinibn is
quite the contrary. The debauchery
and corruption inseparable from the
present system of choosing United
States senators merely recommend it
to the exploiters of the people. The
men who run our political machines
know that as long as the present sena
torial election system prevails they
can hope to retain control of the sen
ate. Allow the people to elect the sen
ators and there is a possibility that
men of the Hanna type may be defeat
ed. Consequently, the flanciers and the
corporations will insist upon the main
tenance of things as they are. The
more corrupt and debasing an institu
tion is, the more likely it is to survive
among us.-Twentieth Century.
It is also objected that a certain
class will not work, if given an oppor
tunity, but we believe that there are
few indeed who will not do enough
work to earn food and shelter; and we
at least do our part when we give the
opportunity. Governor Pingree's ex
periment in Detroit certainly proves
that a very great percentage of the un
employed will seize hold of the offer
to work for food. The stronkest point
the governor made was that it made
independent men and women of them.
-Colusa Sun.
Lucinda B. Chandler says: "Oh, for
an impulse that shall revive the spirit
of '76, that shall renew and strengthen
our loyalty to the principles which, in
the Declaration of Independence, were
made the germ of our national exist
ence." We have it, Lucinda. It has
come in the shape of injunctions.
Peoria Labor Gazette.
An umtralIan Experiment.
Premier Reid, of New South Wales,
Australia, did not favor the partial
adoption of the single tax in that state,
but he now speaks very heartily in its
favor and is in favor of its future ex
tension. He says there are 124,000
land-owners, of which 88,000 pay no
land tax at all, and the remainder paid
$1,300,000 last year, which they were
exceedingly able to do, and will pay
more hereafter. This $1,300,000 is
equal to $1 per capita of all the people,
but is $35 per capita for the large land
holders, or holders of valuable lands,
the owners of ordinary farms and
homes coming within the exemption.
In this way it has virtually the effects
of a graduated income tax, but is more
cheaply alnd certainly collected than
an income tax, and no part of it Is
shifted to labor.-Topeka Advocate.
Humbag of Free Seed.
This ridiculous extravagance has
gradually enlarged itself from a mod
eat beginning until it now represents
an expenditure of $130,000, that be
ing the sum called for in the agricul
tural bill before the present congress.
There is as much reason why the gov
ernment should furnish farmers with
their agricultural implements or their
domestic'animals as there is for this
free distribation of seeds. We know
of nothitg in the written or unwrit
tenlaw of the land which suggests,
even Indirectly, such aT custoal. It is
psterua a tn Its mort v-tcdta P4
-awil~ j~tg
HANNA PROSPERITY.
FACTS FROM A WEEK'S NEWS
PAPER FILES.
This Is Another Hard Winter-- educ
tions of Wages Together with In
creased Prices for Goods Show That
the Trusts Are Supreme.
Do you hear the children weeping, 0,
my brothers,
Ere the sorrow comes with years?
They are leaning their young heads
against their mothers
And that cannot stop their tears.
The lambs are bleating in the mead
ows;
The birds are chirping in the nest,
The fawns are playing in the shadows,
The flowers are blooming toward the
west
But the young, young children, 0, my
brothers,
They are weeping bitterly.
They are weeping in the playtime of
the others,
In the country of the free.
-Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
Overseer Schmidt, of Davenport, Ia.,
had a Christmas celebration for poor
children to whom Santa Claus is indeed
a myth. He figured on entertaining
200 children, or so: about 600 came, and
the result was that hundreds had to
go away with practically nothing.
Owing to the increase of child labor
in New York state, the percentage of
children attending the public schools
has fallen from 76.5 of the school pop
ulation in 1851 to 57.8 in 1891.
The annual death roll in the United
States is 800,000 persons, of whom
500,000 are children under 5 years of
age, the high death rate among the
childred being due, physicians say, to
lack of proper nourishment, clothing,
shelter, etc.
Lait year, in New York city alone,
nearly 2,000 babies were found in ash
barrels, areaways, vaults, etc.
The wholesale reductions in wages
that so startled the mill hands through
out New England last month continue
without any abatement. In Maine it
is estimated that no less than 20,000
operatives will be affected by the re
ductions, which in most cases amount
to 10 per cent, and in one case affecting
2,000 men near Lewiston, reach 15 per
cent. Mr. Dingley, of tariff bill fame,
is largely interested in mills in Maine
and he is uttering the usual platitude
about currency agitation. Throughout
Massachusetts the wage reductions are
going steadily on and, although the
men are very much inclined to protest,
they recognize that they have little
to do but submit.
The steel trust has advanced the
price of steel structural material one
dollar a ton. It also reduced wages a
month ago 10 per cent. But reductions
in wages are usually accompanied by
rises in price. Thus the department
stores of our large cities are warning
'their customers that prices are steadily
rising and that purchasers ought to
hasten to buy now in order to save
money. That great aid good man,
John Wanamaker, continually warns
the public, in his flaring advertise
ments, that the prices of textile goods
are on the rise and that they will be
on the rise for a good while to come.
But, at the same time, we hear of noth
ing but 10 and 15 per cent reductions
in wages in the textile mills of New
England. There is a profound incon
sistency in this situation. Why should
wages go down if the prices of the
products of labor are mounting sky
ward?
The answer to the riddle is that
prices are increasing only in those
lines of goods the manufacture of
which is controlled by trusts, and
which the new tariffl has given a mon
opoly of the home market, These same
trusts, while raising the price of
their goods, can reduce wages because
of the great surplus of labor seeking
employment. This army of idle men
would not exist if farm products were
selling at prices to enable the farmers
to consume a normal amount of manu
factured goods. The single gold stand
ard causes a world-wide reduction in
prices of farm products; American far
mers are, therefore, compelled to re
strict their consumption on manufac
tured goods; this throws vast numbers
of people out of work; but the tariff
and trust trick enables the millionaire
to actually raise the prices of their.
products, in the face of the general
fall of prices, and at the same time
to reduce wages. This is the necessary
result of MeKinleyism.
A correspondent who has made a
personal investigation of the state of
the principal industry of Danbury,
Conn., the hat trade, finds it greatly
misrepresented by a Danbury paper.
He says:
"TWithout attempting more than the
briefest hotice of these deceptive re
ports, it will not be dimcnlt to show
to the dhllut amind that snie one as
hem telliua1tt sat ha . Wa !ar.
ample, we are told that one hatting
firm are doing their usual amount of
business, but we are NOT told that
their shop is only running FOUR days
a week, and that the prices paid for
labor preclude their help making living
wages. Then, according, to the report
of this concern, their chief business
seems to consist in futures, prospects,
speculations and hopes of the highly
inflated order.
"Another concern is reported as hav
ing duplicate orders, and with pros
pects all right for a busy winter trade.
Yet we are informed that since this
report was published the concern has
been shut down for THREE WEEKS.
One firm report themselves as catering
for something, establishing agencies
and employing agents, but their help
report business at this place as 'duller
at the present time than for three or
four years past.' Another firm, report
ed as having a very good season, are
at this writing shut down 'as tight as
a drum.' Still another concern said to
have been busy all the fall and still
busy on certain lines, are reported as
paying such miserably low prices that
their hat-makers cannot get more than
SIX dollars a week out of it. Then
the working hatters complain that
prices have been cut so that it is al
most impossible to exist on the wages
they receive, and when questioned
about the business repeat the stereo
typed expression, 'Hatting is no good.'
This frequently heard expression ac
centuates the fact that a large number
of working hatters and others are ID
sore straits."
SAYINGS OF THE WISE.
The time is ripe, and rotten-ripe, for
change;
Then let it come; I have no dread of
what
Is called for by the instinct of man
kind;
Nor think I that God's world will fall
apart
Because we tear a parchment more or
less.
-James Russell Lowell
Polluting the flag is a thousand times
worse than pulling it down.-Altgeld.
In every country the nation is in the
cottage, and if the light of your legis'
lation does not shine in there, your
statemanship is a failure and your sy
tem is a mistake.-Canon Farrar.
Judges are but men, and in all ages
have shown a fair share of frailty.
Alas! alas! ;he worst crimes of his
tory have been perpetrated under theL
sanction. The blood of martyrs and of
patriots, crying from the ground, sum
mons them to judgment.--Charles
Sumner.
Man-made statutes are valid only ce
far as they conform to the law of na
ture. Equal freedom 'is impossible it
privileges are made legal. Where privi.
lege is, there democracy cannot be. The
only mission of democracy is to abolish
privilege and restore freedom.-C. J.
Buell.
The Irish famine was not a true fa
mine arising from scarcity of food. It
was what an English writer styled the
Indian famine-a "financial famine,"
arising not from scarcity of food, but
from the poverty of the people.,-Henry
George.
So long as people refuse to think, so
long as they chuckle in selfish glee
when they see "the other fellow" bur
dened the same as themselves, or pos
sibly a little heavier, so long as they
do not strive for an understanding ,f
first principles of taxation and good
government, just so long'do they de
serve to suffer under the iron heels ol
their masters, the politiciana,-John
W. Ettel.
The Heritage of Al
Thus saith the Lord: "You weary Met
With prayers, and waste your own
short years!
Eternal truth you cannot see
Who weep and shed your sight is
tears;
In vain you wait and watch the skies
No better fortune thus will fall!
Upon your knees, I bid you rise,
And claim the earth for all.
"Behold in bonds your mother earth,
The rich man's prostitute and slave;
Your mother earth, that gave you
birth,
You only own her for a grave;
And you will die like slaves and see
Your mother left a fettered thrall?
Nay! live like men and set her free
As heritage for all'"
-Gerald Masey.
i hen the World Grow ltair.
I tell you this for a wonder, that no
man shall then be glad
Of his fellow's fall and mishap to
snatch at the work he had
Then all mine and all thine shall be
ours, and no more shall any man
crave
For riches thbat serve for nothing but
to fetter a friend for a slae.
For all these shall be ours and all
men's, nor shall any lack a share
Of the toil and the gain of living Infa tl
days wbe~ are world rswa Mdr.
,. '' .. . " .mullMw~, ltf