The Portland daily press., 1879-08-26
Nasby.
A Disgusting Era of Prosperity Con-
ditions Against Him.
PErTusvILLE, Ohio, Aug. IS, 1879.

PETTUSVILLE, OnlO, Aug. Id, 1917
felt it my dooty to heed the Macedonian
cry wich the Dimocrisy Nv Ohio yelped, "Kum
over and help u.s." and L went to do little
mishunary work in the suthern part Nv the
State for that possel NV Unlimited money, that
harbinger NV good times, Gen'l Ewing. wish
1 wuz back in the Corners, and shell git there
jist ez soon ez the sentral committy let's me
leeve this most thoroughly discouragin
kentry.
Eff the rest NV the State is anything like
this seckshun, Ohio is gone up. Room is be-
fore Ohio, and the State is drivin full tilt onto
it.
met with no success at all, wich wuz not
my fault, ez the condishuns are agin me- wuz
never SO disappintid inmy life, and hope never
to be SO agin
Iexpectid to find a people ready to receive
Dimecratic doctrine. l expeetid to find dis
trest kentry filled with farmers bemoanin the
hard times, and mechanics layin idle, with
their families starvin. l expeetid to find
shoelis hatliss, coatlis community of serfs, witch
he'd been ground down by the money power till
they wood be willin to receive any promise of
a change with joy and gladnis. / expectid to
see factrys silent and farms desertid, shops shet
up, and only nashnel banks and sich open.
expected to find pale men, weak-eyed with
hunger, and pale-faced, despairin wimmin,
starving themselves that they mite keep life
into their angel babes.
1 he'd been reedin Dimecratic papers, yoo see,
about the people bein ground under foot, and
hied me to Ohio with the most joyous antissi-
pashens.
When struck Pettusville it occurred to me
that must hev got into the wrong locality. l
arrived in the mite, and notist the landlord
NV the hotel weighed suthin over two hundred,
and his wife wuz suthin heavier, but that
didn't effect me. In all strikly Dimecratic To-
calities landlords git fat, no matter who else
grows lean, wich they ginerally do. turned
in and hugged the idee to my buzum that L
shood hev easy work to do in that place.
The fust thing notist in the mornin wuz
string NV teens mile long, more or less, wait
in to onload wheat at the warehouse on the
ralerode The men onto the loads wuz about
ez hale and harty set of fellers ez ever seed
They wuzn't PALE nor wan, nor nothin. They
wuz hefty specimens, and look as tho they he'd
he'd three square meals day all their lives.
To my horror | notist that the shops wuz all
open and the mechanics all very hard at work,
and that the three factrys i'll the town he'd
torrents NV smoke a-bilng out nv their Chin
neys. ~
Bein entirely shoor that / he'd bin sent to the
rite place, in spite of these discouragin appear
ances 1 approached farmer which he'd sold
his load and was just agoin into bank with
his wife.
"My friend,.. said I, ''you are victim OF the
money power"
"Wat!" was his reply, lookin ez tho he thot
I wuz escaped loonatic.
''You are a serf, bondman, and are held i'll
the iron grip NV the bloatid bondholders, wich
IL squeezing the life blood out NV you."
'Iz they?" sed he II never thot nv that.
But I kin beet EN-. 1 really haven't time to
diskuss the matter, for yoo see I'm going to be
bondid bloatholder myself. hev iist sold
my wheat, and I'm jist goin in to buy bond
or two. want to be aristocracy myself
while.'
And he eloodid me, leavin bdtton in my
hand.
Repetin the same remark to another, he
merely remarkt, 80 git out 700 ass. Wheat
thirty booshels to the aker, and dollar
more NV this kind of rooin Where yoo frum,
anyway"
Abandonin the farmers IN disgust, for L got
the same answer from all NV EN-, attempted
to git in my work on the distrest mechanics
wich must hev bin rooined by resumpshen.
but my success wuznt any better. 1 don't
know but / Good hev convinst EN- that they
wuz all rooined eff L he'd he'd fair show, but
the alarmin fact wuZ they wuz ell too biZZy to
lisen to me, for it happened to be payday.
Every man NV EN- went out nv the offs with
his money in full, and every man NV en- de-
clined to hear a word 1 sed.
1t wuz in vane / urged that they wuz serfs,
it wuZ in vane that told EN- they was bein
ground into the dust by the nashnel banks, it
wuz in vane 1 told EN- resumpshen wood be
their rooin, for every kussed one of EN- filed
past me and went and deposited their spare
earnings in one NV these kussid octopusses, the
nashnel bank NV the place.
/ can't understand what Ewing sent me to
sich place fur, and telegraffed him. The
Dimecratic Central Committy ansered-
"Hold on awhile. A hevvy frost may come
in August and kill the corn and fetch EN- to
ther senses. Then thay will know what Sher-
man hez dun for en- Suthin must be left to
Providence"
And SO am a-sittin in the tavern a-watchin
the thememeter. It's a corn kentry, and the
farmers depend upon that crop for the heft NV
their profits. Eff the Lord wood only take pity
on the Dimocrisy and send hevvy frost,
reglar black frost, this month, shood hev
sum show 1t wood derange things and tare
up matters to sich an extent thet 1T wood Civ
us chance. But then the wheat crop wuz SO
hevvy thet I'm not shoor thet even the totle
destruction of the corn crop wood save us. The
hog-colery can't come soon enutf, and ez for
HOSES and cattle, never seed EN- so disgust
ingly helthy.
Still, she'll set and watch the thermometer
and cuss John Sherman, ez the Centred Com
nifty direx. 1t is possible thet sum distress
may come upon the kentry before October, tho
reely see no encuridgin signs.
PETROLEUM V. Massey,
Distrest EiuaUSeer,