The great West. [volume], November 01, 1889, Image 1

About The great West. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1889-18??

Image provided by: Minnesota Historical Society; Saint Paul, MN

                
THE GREAT WEST
IB PUBLISHED FRIDAYS AT
758 WABASHA St., St. PAUL,
BY THE
Great West Company.
SI.OO A YEAR IN ADVANCE
If political rottenness is to destroy
our country what about education,
newspapers, schoolhouses, etc?
Twenty-five hundred losses have
been settled by the Alliance Ins. Co.
of Dakota, and never had a suit or a
lawyer involved. That kind of busi
ness is tough on the limbs legal!
You don’t have to load and un
load human freight. It takes care of
itself. But we haven’t heard of any
reduction of rates on account of
that.
A meeting of farmers and others
was held Oct. 26th, at\Villmar,to or
ganize a company to manufacture
binding twine. Every farmer in the
state will wish it success. We hope
the friends of the enterprize will keep
The Great West posted as to what
is done.
Last week in the report of the Alli
ance work in Kandiyohi County we
put the speaker as Hon. Nels Onam.
The printer did it. The script of
Quam and Onam is very nearly
alike. But Hon Nels Quam is one of
the strong Alliance men that we
can’t afford to hide under a blunder.
A friend in Kandiyohi county, an
active Alliance man uses this happy
expression of a local politician:
“He did all he could for the election
of Mr. Washburn, much to the dis
gust of .all decent people, who prefer
red brains to a money-bag, and es
pecially (as it has turned out) to an
empty money-bag.”
The English railroads carry pas
sengers for one-sixteenth of a cent a
mile! And it grades from that up to
two or more cents.
But it is actually stated that more
money is made out of the one-six
teenth cent than the higher-class
fares. The travel at the lower-class
rate is enormous, while the more ex
pensive cars are not filled so con
stantly.
But such things cannot be done
while roads are water-bonded to four
ttmes thei>value. .
Four times!
Whew!
We have neglected to give mar
ket reports thus far for the sim
ple reason that our ow n “telephone”
has not been connected AA'ith Chica
go, and anything we ga\*e Avould be
second-hand. It Avill be December at
least before The Great West gets its
lines of corerspondence jin shape to
publish such a Journal as it is sized
up for. This refers to tAvo or three
pages of plates or “patent insides,”
to proof reading, and to public affairs
at Washington, etc—as well as other
state correspondence. You cannot
put a stalwart journal on its oavii
feet in a month.
The attention of every alliance in the
state is called to the fact that the Na
tional Alliance meets at St. Louis
Dec. sth. At that meeting the sub
ject of the union of all the Farmers’
organizations in the south with each
other and with the northern associa
tion, will come up. The matter
should be discussed in the local alli
ances, and Sec’y Haigh requests the
secretaries to write of the attitude of
their alliance to him, (Geo. W. Haigh,
Sec’y State Alliance, Mankato,
Minn). In this way he can get a
concensus of the views of the whole
state. Please call your local alli
ances together, and give this ques
tion considerate attention.
The through lines between New
York and Chicago charge something
for carrying passengers—and if so,
what can be said of the western
roads?
The general average for human
freightage is $320 per ton for pass
engers in the ordinary car, and
S4OO per ton in a sleeper. Common
freight is carried for from 5 to $8 per
ton! Perhaps the extra comfort of
a passenger coach requires this differ
ence. But it seems to us that the ex
pense of running a passenger train,
from headlight to axle-grease, does
not warrant so high a tariff. One
cent per mile per average of 150
pounds ought to pay—and we believe
it would pay more than three cents a
mile—in the enormous increase of
business.
THE SUPPLEMENT.
Many of the papers writing to us
for supplements were disappointed
in not getting them. The edition of
50,000 was exhausted long before the
calls ceased coming. This is to be
regretted, as it was a magnificent
'statement of the situation, intents
and purposes of the Alliance. It is to
be hoped that another one *will be
issued soon.
Representing the Financial and Political.'* Interests *of the Farmers of the Northwest.
The Territorial Auditor of Dakota
was tumbled on to at the Merchants
Hotel last Friday. We inquired
about the standing of the Alliance
Insurance Co. Mac said it was all
right—that no one but had perfect
confidence in that institution. It
was successful and “straight.”
Last Friday Hon. Alonzo Wardell,
the manager of the Alliance Insur
ance interests of Dakota, and recent
candidate for senator, gave us a call
which was full of value to us in rela
tion to the recent contest with Petti
grew*, Edgerton and Moody. Hon.
J. J. Furlong accompanied him.
Just as we knew from the color of
the reports, the party schemers in the
new legislature sold out the over 50,-
000 alliance voters. It was a clean
steal by a caucus. And if those farm
ers ever enter another party contest
they will know whether a caucus can
rule the state with less than one
third the members of the legislature.
There will be more of this matter
hereafter as w*e propose to give away
the Avhole rotten farce.
Recently one of those brilliant leg
islators who made the state odorous
last winter, and who was a “middle
man,” sat at the table with some
farmers at a country hotel. Com
plaint Avas made that some of the
elevator lines refused to grade No. 1
hard right in the hard belt.
“It don’t make any difference w*hat
the local buyer grades it,” said the
Solon. “It is graded by the state at
Minneapolis.”
“Well,” it was mildly suggested,
“isn’t the wheat paid for on the local
grading and ticket?”
And then Solomon got on to his
throne and began to explain. And
when he got through there was not
a farmer there who could tell a
wheat inspection from a rainbow*.
Don’t let these men “work” the
sophistry racket . Don’t every farmer
know that if the local buyer grades
No. 2 Northern he gets his check and
his money on No. 2 Northern? Most
certainly he does.
In the fourth place, no farmer
should ever vote, in primary or at
the polls, for a middle man, a wheat
buyer, or even a railroad sympa
thizer, for the legislature. We don’t
see how you can do it! r ,
One of our exchanges is excited
OA*er there being some mighty* poAA’er
back of this paper, with worlds of
money, and unknown number of jugs
of political fluid. We w*ish to say
that there is a mighty power back of
it—it is called the Truth. But be
yond that there is not a liA’ing soul
interested, financially or editorially,
in The Great West except the editor,
Dr. Fish, an loAva gentleman who is
our Business Manager, and a lady
AA’hose residence in Minnesota is limit
ed to three years. If any man says
this paper is, ix any sense what
ever, under the control, oAA'nership,
or inspection of any other person, he
tells an untruth. We endorse Mr.
Donnelly—because we belieA*e in those
radical headlights who haA*e throw*n
themselves in the front of the move
ment against the public robbers.
Whatever may be said of Mr. D’s po
litical relations, no man has ever
been fool or knaA’e enough to hint
that he wavered on the great matter
which is our issue, viz., the robbery
of the farmer.
The Pioneer-Press, that goslin’ of
Jim Hill’s, has been asking the Coun
try Press to give it a boom, on its ad
vent to the new thirteen story harem.
This is the way the Battle Lake Re
view “booms:”
Editor Whelock has had the gall
to invite pleasant notices from the
poor devils who are at this time
engaged in running country newspap
ers. There may be some d n fools
in the newspaper business in this
state. If so, let them at this time
bow down to the corporation that
has year after year taken bread and
butter out of their mouths. Not con
tent with furnishing the country
journals of this state with supplies at
a large profit, they have run opposi
tion to every paper in the state by
offering to furnish the customers of
the country press with job work at a
price that no country publisher can
do it for, and live. The Pioneer
Press has never stepped on our toes,
but it has tried several times and
failed. Our people have always said
no! We patronize our home paper.
Good for the county. Up in one
County the county officers sent their
work down to Minneapolis and even
to St. Louis, because the printer
there stuck up for the alliance and
didn’t like the local whisky!
WTien a politician, going out of the
huntings, (whatever that is), hears
the shouts of his hundred friends, for
getful of the two thousand enemies
who stayed at home, he thinks he is
a mighty kangaroo—that he has the
whole world in his abdominal folds.
So, judging from the comments
thus far, we think Thk Great West
has made a stir on earth. But per
haps it hasn’t. In that case then the
stir is yet to come.
The Great West
ST PAUL, MINN., FRIDAY, NOV. 4, 4889,
Lowry and Yerkes are Tun
ing up their Sweat-harp
and Moping
The Juice of Honest Toil from
their Lofty “Browse.”
Some three weeks since the St. Paul
Dispatch published the report of the
“American Street Railway Com
pany.” This organization is a com
bination of all the leading street
railway companies in America. Over
a hundred delegates were present.
Within its grip are over 20 million
people—all paying tribute to a gigan
tic monopoty. This organization
makes a business of protecting the
robber franchises which are purchas
ed from corrupt councils, and then
hiding their enormous profits under
the bonding machinery in use by the
railroads.
Now*, w*e specify particularly that
the Dispatch published this report.
And the reason why we single out
that sheet is that it not only gives
the world none of the facts which
underly the monstrous iniquity but
it blazons its attack on the Knights
of Labor with such headlines as
“Terrible Roasting,” etc. And in its
editorial column it takes no issue,
with the falsehoods perpetrated in
that report .
We feel a profound interest in this,
wonderful warfare between oppres
sion backed by capital, and defense
backed by labor. And in order to
review* the monstrous propositions
of this gigantic pool of the richest
men on earth, we give the report ver
datim. Read it carefully and well.
It contains the intellectual sheet an
chor of the capitalist, its strongest
argument, and its last w*eapon:
The association year now closed
has seen an almost total collapse of
the organization known as the
Knights of Labor, so far, at least, as
that portion is concerned w’hich at
tempted to dominate street railway
companies. Starting in with the
manifest determination of making a
frightful example of one of the mem
bers of this association, the Atlantic
Avenue Railway Company, of Brook
lyn, a strike w*as declared on all the
company’s lines. Before its conclu
sion it was accompanied with riot,
bloodshed and even murder. This
strike soon extended to New Yorit,"
taking in every line in the city over
which the Knights of Labor had any
control, and thence westward took
its way until it reached the city in
which we now are. The result of
these strikes has plainly taught the
the lesson that foul means will not
accomplish w*hat cannot be secured
by fair. When men become deceived
into thinking it necessary or even ex
cusable in a civilized community to
undertake to enforce their desires,
whatever they may be, by the com
mission of misdemeanors or even fel
ony, extending to the most heinous
crimes—the taking of innocent hu
man life—many w*ho engage in such
undertakings soon realize that their
cause is an unholy one, while all find
defeat the inevitable result. The
death knell of the organization of the
Knights of Labor has been sounded,
because it has shown its unworthi
ness to live by reason of the crime
committed in its name under the di
rection of its leaders. In this free
land, freer than any other on the face
of the earth, no one can long con
tinue to oppress another without the
strong hand of the law invervening.
Every man, therefore, can secure his
rights through the peaceful channel
of the faw, and will, as he should
surely fail if he attempts to obtain
them by force. Our government
rests upon the principle of the equal
rights to all, the poor and rich
alike.
He who by industry, careful living,
correct habits and a determination
to succeed in life, becomes the pos
sessor of more of the world's goods
than he who has been careless,
extra vagant and without ambition
to get on in the world, has the same
right to protection of life and prop
erty as one who has nought but life
to protect. The self-respect of the
street railway manager has long and
often been compromised by the in
sulting bearing towards him of some
of the leaders of this tyrannical or
ganization with whom he was forced
to come in contact. Self-respect in
its integrity has again become his
sacred possession, and thus hence
forth be inviolate. The lessons
which these strikes have taught have
been well learned, and not in this
generation at least will they be for
gotten. We do not rejoice today
simply because in the struggle be
tween labor and capital the latter
has won, but because the right there
in has triumphed. When it becomes
a question whether a man shall have
the control of that which by the
sweat of his brow* has become his
own, or given to another, who, for
sooth, will have it because he wants
it, it is not regarded with popular
favor that it be determined by the
code of the highwayman.
Our comments will be brief. The
first statement is an arrant false
hood. The Knights of Labor are
actually stronger today than they
have ever been before—in actual, or
ganic strength. And its numbers
are greater than at the time of the
strike referred to.
The strike “started in” with no
other “frightful” purpose than to
quit work until, by so doing, the
plutocrats would pay them living
BRAZEN
wages. They were not getting liv
ing wages, and the hard hearted
wretches who own the roads called
for more blood by another reduc
tion.
The “riot and bloodshed” was
brought on by starving women and
children w*ho saw* the plutocrats
paying “scabs”—and they were a
loathsome, dirty breed of “scabs”
too!—three times the w*ages asked
by honest men! And for what?
Simply to break the backs of the
regular force!
The “lesson it taught” was one
that the plutoerat will remember
longer than the Knights. It taught
the former that millions of stolen
wealth w*ould shrink into small com
pass if they forced a few more strikes
—that w*as the lesson taught. NeA*er
did Labor strike fraudulent capi
tal a more terrible blow*. The strike
w*as not a failure by any means.
That the “death knell of the
Knights of Labor has been sounded”
is too palpable a falsehood for even
a plutocrat to A*entilate. How is it
that the corpse has united with the
Federated Associations?
If “our gOA*ernment is founded up
on equal rights to all,” then it has
slipped from its foundations. When
it gets so that confederated railway
lines blacklist a man because he quits
work when he Avants to, and w*ith
vast capital back up their conspiracy
—then the government does not se
cure equal rights for all. Blacklist
ing is a simple conspiracy! When
*the Knights of Labor buy 500 tons of
coal in Indiana, and cannot get, by
an appeal, or by threat of the law, a
railroad in that state to ship it to
Chicago—then there is no equal
rights for all.
“No one can long continue to op
press another!” No? Well, we
thought they could. We thought
tthe getting of two or three hundred
laboring men on to 12 and 14 hours
work a day, and then compelling
them to accept starvation wage or
quit in a body, (whentheir roadi are
paying an enorn ous income on origi
nal outlay)— We thought this was
oppression! The right to do this
does not exist any more than the
Bhylock has the right to get his vic
tim in a tight place and then apply
screws of,usury! : . (
“He w*ho by industry, careful liv
ing, correct habits and a determina
tion to succeed in life, becomes a pos
sessor, etc.” Put it this w*ay, 3*ou
banded plunderers: “He who by
fraud, subornation of perjur3*, lying,
deceit, cunning, legal Avrongs, divi
sion of stock Avhich don’t represent
a dollar, watering the bonds, to get
more interest from more debt, buy
ing up Councils, bulldozing competi
tors, reducing Avages, etc., lmA*e
managed to get on top—he shall
have the protection of the American
government in taking advantage of
the AA*ants of those he has robbed!
That’s the A\*ay to put it.
“Some of the leaders with whom
the managers have been forced to
come in contact !” Alas, those over
hauls disgraced lavender pantalets
by contiguousness of continuity did
they not ? A French minister behind
the throne once advised the turbu
lent poor to “eat grass.” One of the
first victims of the Revolution was
this minister with his mouth stuffed
with grass. We hope no strife will
ever come which will necessitate the
stuffing of a pair of delicate lavender
breeches with a lot of old overhauls!
It might “compromise his self-res
pect.” It might compromise the
poor man’s stomach too.
The association congratulates it
self that there will be no morestrikes
—“the lesson has been well learned!”
Well, Mr. Bondsoaker, just turn on
the screws once more, and see if the
American laborer is indeed a broken
hearted puppy! “The control of
which by the sweat of his brow be
comes his own.” —Ye Gods! look
up the source of the Mississippi
River, and see if it is not the sweat
pouring down the brow, past the
nose and collar band and out at the
breeches legs of Tom Lowry and
Uncle Yerkes! Sw r eat! Sweat!! Fan
us wid a feddah! When the street
Railway King sweats, we can call
this-wet weather. Tom-Hill must
use sweat when he writes up his
franchises.
Farmers’ Friend:
The vast millions of increased
wealth in our country, year by year,
to which political speakers point with
patriotic words, are largely produc
ed upon our farms, but do not remain
there, but are centering more and
more in the great cities and into
fewer hands. It is now said that 31-
000 persons own more wealth in our
country than all the other 65,000,000.
That one person in each 25,000 owns
as much as the other 24,999. Farm
ers are producing com, wheat, cot
ton, cattle and hogs worth millions
of dollars —produced and sold at a
loss to the average farmer, for he is
not holding his own, but making
millions for the transportation com
panies and those who trade in the
“exchange” and distribute it to the
consumers.
WINNgSGTA
Li jc X -fS DIP A 1
nio t JKILAL
Could Teams Do the Hauling
Cheaper?
The same letter-writer who has
been quoted in this paper as stating
that the railroads are not to blame
for the wheat robbery going on in
the shape of differences between Min
neapolis and the local market, put
the following sentence in his letter:
“You will be claiming that freight
can be hauled cheaper by teams pret
ty soon.”
Well, we have referred to this mat
ter elsewhere, and we say now that
teams would have hauled the freight
cheaper from Pope County to Minne
apolis than the railroads for over a
year preceding last July. After our
racket in the county the difference
has been reduced from 23-27 cents to
about 14 cents. So much for one of
the “barnacles which had fastened it
self upon the alliance.”
If, however, the real prosperity of
the wheat raiser is meant, we say
without hesitation that it would be
vastly better to have the old fashion
ed state turnpike wagon-roads- than
the railroads. A farmer can afford
to haul wheat in the winter time, on
good turnpikes, at $lO a week. A
load of 60 bushels, on a difference of
only 15 cents, will furnish nine dol
lars for half the trip!
But that would not be the advan
tage. The real advantage would be
that the ten million dollars now spent
to build vast cities to corrupt men and
officials, and saddle debts upon agri
culture, would be distributed among
the grain producers. It would buy
wagons, raise horses, hire men, and
in a thousand ways add to the wealth
of the common people.
We know that personal opinion on
thisp«.int is not so valuable as a ci
tation from authority. An actual il
lustration of when a team hauled for
$2.00 what the railroads charged
$7 50can be furnished. It occurs in
tl ! following article on the “classifi
cation of freight,” and is the state
ment of Mr. F. C.W. a. her .in
tanks and cans t was
flven under oath before’ the senate
nterstate Commerce Committee:
THE CLASSIFICATION OF FREIGHT,
The greatest evil of the freight ques
tion appears to be in the matter of
classification, which appears at pres
ent to be purely arbitrary and based
more upon “what the goods will
stand” than upon the cost of the ser
vice. It costs no more to haul a ton
of gold than the same weight of coal.
The extra expense is incurred in its
cai'e or insurance. So far as weight
and space are concerned, iron and
silver are about equal. The actual
cost of transporting by rail is suscep
tible of demonstration to a nicety.
The car load should be the lowest
rate, as it costs no more to haul fifty
cars for fifty different persons than
fifty cars for the corporation. Any
goods that are of such bulk as to load
a car to the minimum weight should
be haided at the same rate for dis
tance, the value to be inserted in the
bill of lading, and such additional
charge made for insurance will cover
the risk.
It is impossible to make an arbi
trary classification that will cover
the thousands of forms that mer
chandise is put into. Some time since
we had a quantity of wire shipped
from Cleveland to Chicago, rate, 15
cents per hundred. We desired to ship
it to Riverside, 12 miles out on the
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy
Railroad. The rate was about 25
cents per hundred. It was worked
into different shape, and desiring to
reship it to Chicago, the rate was
three times first class, I think 75cents
per hundred, amounting to about
$7.50 to return it. A team was hired
which laid the lot down at our fac
tory for $2.
A system which permits such things
is not worthy of the name. A gener
al system could be devised for quan
tities less than car-loads, based upon
distance, weight, bulk, and value,
(the latter to be determined by the
shipper, who could recover no more
from the railway company), that
could be applied to all classes of goods
and give satisfaction to all merchants
who are willing to compete upon even
terms. Ido not say that such a sys
tem is practicable in view of the con
dition of things at the present time,
but it would be just, and eventually
the people would have it.
Here was a case in which it cost,
15 cents per hundred to ship from
Cleveland to Chicago, say 300 miles.
But to take the same goods in the
same car, 12 miles, west of Chicago,
cost 25c. a hundred. And then, when
manufactured the identical stuff was
rated at 75c. per hundred or $7.50!
They hired a team and took the 1,000
pounds back to Chicago for $2.
Political rottenness has killed every
republic that ever existed.
A communication from Geo. W
Day is deferred until next week.
Excuse us friends, if we don’t get
much of a paper for a fortnight. We
have a lot of book printing which
paralyzes the vaso motor del quarto
e ventriculo backbonum vertebratus.
Bymeby we’ll get there.
Oui/iH - r Y
This Republic was lounded
upon principles which involved
the Dignity of Labor. To des
troy the power of Labor is to
construct Caste. A Caste cannot
co-exist with a Republic.
The “Barnacle” is a bug-worm
which has now crawled into the tym
panum of the party-ear. The aver
age politician who loves his country
for all there is in it, is giving the alli
ance people a “shiveree”—that’s
what the tinpan hornpipe is called in
Mosaic! It has the shivers back of it
too. It would make a modern leg
islator shiver up his tympanum if it
were as long as as the intestinal
canal, to have a country granger ask
him what he suppressed his own tes
timony of rottenness for! And by
asking that question the average
granger at once -would become a
“barnacle!”
Now a barnacle is a worm—and if
the party has worms it ought to
know it! A snake is a large worm—
and perhaps it’s snakes! The alli
ance ought to take the average poli
tician by the heels and jounce him up
and down a few times—and perhaps
the barnacles would come out of him.
It beats the Olympian Gods, though,
to see how the politician will scale
heaven and scrape earth to get these
barnacles into the party-stomach!
Gracious, a worm diet ought to cause
the shivers!
From the Pen of Our Own
Artist.
The average daily newspaper con- I
sists of three parts base-ball, three J
parts railroad pools, three parts j/L
pugilistic encounters, and one part de
tails about the comings and goings,
the saying and doing of a lot of very
ordinary little creatures, who be
cause they hold paltry places in rail
road companies are elevated to the
highest importance. Now The
Great West don’t want to be be
hind the times, and so it has specially
appointed us reporter to get up a
weekly resume of the latter depart
ment. He has only requested a few
points this week, but next week we
hope to do better. Here they are:
The Hon. James J. Hill yesterday
stubbed his sacred big toe against a
recumbent champagne bottle. The
telephone was set to work and six
St. Paul doctors hurried wildly to
the scene of the catastrophe. Five
more doctors arrived at midnight on
a special train from Minneapolif£~"“- ,^'"- “'
The daily papers held back their
issues for two hours to give the lat
est information to an expectant and
anguished public. Mayor Smith has
ordered the American flag to be
placed at half-mast on the court
house, and state officials will wear
mourning for thirty days, or until
the swelling goes down. We expect
to have in your next issue a photo
graph of the'toe as it appeared before
it was stubbed, and, another show
ing how it looked after the stub.
An examination of the latter will
show that the genius of that great
man, the President of the Manitoba,
manifests itself even in the smallest
trifles. While any other man would
have stubbed his toe on the north
east corner our illustrious fellow
citizen stubbed his on the north-west
corner. When our reporter left the
royal mansion this morning, at four
o’clock, Vice President Clough was
nursing the toe in his lap, and Mr.
Hill had just telegraphed to Edison,
the wizard of Menlo Park, offering
him SIOO,OOO if he could invent some
means whereby the pain could be
transferred to some other man. Two
hundred parasites thronged the front
pavement, each clamoring to be the
lucky man to act as recipient for the
transferred pain; but Clough has a
plan to capitalize the stub, water it,
and distribute it along the line of the
Manitoba as prefexred stock, to be
paid for by the farmers.
Charles Jinkins, of Ashtabular, has
been appointed fourth bottle-washer
of the Duluth and South Shore Rail
road. His wife’s second-cousin is the
happy mother of a charming and in
telligent baby.
An alarming rumor pervaded New
York yesterday. It was said that
Mr. Henry Villard had partaken too
freely of sour-krout and pickles, with
resulting consequence of the most
dreadful nature. The news created
a great sensation on the stock ex
change;—not that any fatal conse
quence was apprehended, but because
of the pain it was feared that great
man would experience. A broker
rose on a chair, and read a telegram,
signed G, from physicians, stating
that Mr. Villard’s stomach was
dreadfully tympanitic,” .whereupon
the whole board and the speculators
broke forth In groans and weeping.
Nothing like it has been seen in
America since George Washington
died. '
The apple-hoy on train 4 of the
Northern Pacific railroad has a very
bad cold tai hie head. He bought
twelve new pocket-handkerchiefs
yesterday.
Jmt as you go to the press the as
tonishing news reached us that Tom
Lowry’s cat has had kittens. We
despatched our artist at once and
V ■■
i
VOL. I, NO. 3
Quill Pictures.