The Nevada journal., 1856-02-01
Hard Times.

the hard times. Not the failure of ou
| gold mines has made hard times, for they
have not failed. Has our rich soil, more
prolific in the necessaries of life than any
other on earth, brought hard times' Ha
the splendid natural location of this sea.
port brought hard times' Have the i'm.
mense immigration, the incalculable com
merce, the ships which come full, the
healthy climate, the great possible future
which might be ours' None of these have
brought hard times What has Thieves
robbers, cheats, swindlers in all profess.
ions, in all ranks, in all ages of the city
They have done it all.
What have they stolen, Everything
stealable. They stole into Office, and then
stole what they were put there to guard.
They stole outside of office as well as in
office. They stole all the lands of the
city. They sat as officers, and granted
away the inheritance of the corporation to
each other. They acted as private citi-
zens, and ''gobbled" up all the land which
the officers had not stolen They taxed
the people, and then stole the taxes as fast
as they came into the treasury. They
loaned to themselves the city's funds to
buy the city's lands, already stolen by as
great scoundrels as themselves. They
put the city up at auction, sold her, and
pocketed the cash. When there was no
more land to steal and to sell, no more
cash in the treasury to steal and to run
away with, they formed a paper mint,
coined out script by the million, and stole
that. The contractors on the streets stole
all they could The contractors furnish
ing the Government with necessaries, viz ::
stationery, fuel, brandy and cigars, stole
all they could. Those who built roads
stole, those who ran away over the roads
stole. They stole through ordinances,
they stole through the courts. The Coun-
ellis helped people steal, and themselves
stole whatever they could quietly. They
even stole the city's money with which to
buy themselves gold medals in praise of
their stealing. Thus they not only stole
all the real estate of the corporation, her
taxes, and her future receipts by stealing
her scrip, but in doing all this they stole
her good name, and left her poorer than
Lazarus.
Did they stop there and then /. No.
When the city had nothing more for them
to steal, they stole from each other, and
have been doing so ever since. More than
one half the law suits are nothing but
theft under the form of law. Half the
lawyers of the city do things under
dodge and bubble of law which would dis
grace Cherokee Bob to do inside the walls
of the State Prison. Somehow many
of our merchants who roll and wallow
in wealth got their money by stealing :
How many of them set up on a trihing
capital, got consignments of goods, put
them on storeships, and next day after
great fire returned accounts to their cor
respondents the consignors that the goods
were 'brule," ''burned' and next day
sold them and pocketed the money.
How many of our bankers stole the mo-
ney of their coniding depositors' How
many of our moral gentlemen stole the
wives of their neighbors and friends p
How many women stole the affections
the lust srather-of their dear female
friends husbands How many of various
classes stole all they could of the capital
brought here by our own countrymen, and
especially by foreigners, for investment;
Oh, how they stole through quartz com
panies! Oh, how they stole through
fraudulent mortgages, loans, trades =
How they stole every way. Gentlemen
stole-indeed he was not considered one
unless he did. That is all the claim
large portion have to the title of gentle
man, even to this day: they stole largely,
did not get into the State Prison, and are
rich.
Does any one wonder, then, that we
have hard times in the city' Can there
be prosperity where honesty does not rest
at the bottom of society? When we re-
fleet upon the immense systems of public
and private plumber which have grown
and burst like testers here for years,
should we not rather wonder that times
are not worse Is it not strange that
any confidence between mcR, any reli-
ance upon government, remains Talk
of hard times Nothing but villiany has
brought them upon the city. The heart
of the people is rotten. Gold has turned
to devil and king, and the crowd wor-
ship it. Perhaps the public won't thank
us for these truths. 1t is all the same
we ask no thanks. And we do not care
a fig whether what we have written pleases
or not. We ask no odds at the hands o.
the public.
If we have robbed, tell us SO; five have
stolen, tell us SO; if we have gone in debt
without expectation of paying, tell us SO.
But you, dear public, have done all
And you have disgraced all honest mer
by your vices, and crimes, and meanness
Think. Reflect Reform, oh righteous
public, church members as well as world
members. The devil that troubles you is
in your pockets. The hard times you
feel, your own vices have manufactured
Who that has means will invest it here
where half the people would try and stea
it? Hard times, eh! You deserve them
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