St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1885-12-26

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himself more and more to his wife's
parents. 1t was in order that they
might become better acquainted with
him, and thus not feel that they were
giving their daughter to one so nearly q
stranger, that he remained. During his
stay he helped all he could to put the
place in better shape, and as the rains
did not fall during the entire week, the
two men were enabled to do much
towards making things look more
cheerful.
4 shed for the horses was built out of
lumber bought for that purpose by the
former owner, but never erected. The
broken places in the fence were re-
paired; the grape vines staked and tied
up, and portions of the over-abundant
growth of fruit trees cut away.
It was really wonderful the change
which these little improvements made
in the looks of the place. But then they
had the sun, and the sun with very
little assistance in the way of setting
leaning fences and gates upright viii,
il. 3 few days, make @ great change in
any picture first seen when wet and
sodden by long continued rains.
As the two men worked they talked
talked of the wrongs of the farmers
and the laboring and business men of
the cities; of the causes of many loss
es and so much poverty and suffering
and of the possible Or impossible RENE
dies.
"There ought to be law to prevent
corporations from ownin' land they
don't need. an can't make no use on,
'cept to make them that does want to
use it pay for the privilege said Mr.
Parsons, as they We're at work repair
ing the fence. ''No man can't be real-
ally free unless he has a home of his
own, and here Cover ment has gone an
give half the State to corporations, an
how is the next gineration to git homes,
I'd like to know.
''An' other corporations are washin'
down the mountains an film up the
valleys; sp;lin' the finest lands; chokin'
up the river, an destroyin' the homes
Of honest folks jest as eff gold was of
more value than bread. I'Vetried hard
to get somethin' ahead agin old age
come creepin' on to us, and to give
the youngsters a start when they left
us, as Jennie is doin' now, and here's
what it all amounts to; bit of land
not much better than wild on the side
of mountain. The land God made,
an all the improvements that is on to il
never cost q thousand dollars when
they was new, and that amt as much
as my wife had when married her; so
we've got nothin' at all to show fer q
lifetime of hard work an savin'.
$50 fur as we're concerned, mother
n me I mean, it don't make much diff
ference any more. We're gettin' old
and shan't last much longer; but eff
you an Jennie amt no luckier than
we hev been, and there amt no change
for the better in things, I'm afeard you
won't have even SIGH shanty as we've
got to die in, and your children won't
be no better than slaves. Ye see it
holds to reason that eff things don't get
no better they must git Wus, fur every
year the corporations an the rich folks
is a gittin' more an more of the land,
an Of everything else, an the more
they git the easier it is to git more, an
by an by they'll hev it all, an them as
hain't got nothin' an can't git nothin'
will heV to do as they say or starve."
II don't exactly understand where
the wrong starts, y replied Ensign, shut
I know there is o great wrong some
where. The ownership Of land by cor
porations, and by others who only wish
to play at dog-in-the-manger. is one
cause for the existing condition OF
things, but there must be others.
s'some way or other the larger por-
ton of all the wealth which the people
create gets away from them while they
are exchanging it among themselves.
I don't know how, but it does. IL it
didn't there could not possibly be. rich
people who have never worked.
The merchant buys the goods of the
manufacturer and sells them to those
who consume them, thus saving much
time which would be wasted if each in
dividual was forced to 60 to the manu-
facturer for every article purchased
The merchant is therefore a valuable
member of society-he helps the pro-
ducers to make an exchange of wealth,
and is fairly entitled to receive pay for
what he does. But there are the ma
tioual banks, / don't see how they help
| any; and every particle they consume
or hoard up is so much taken from the
wealth which belongs to those who pro-
| duce it. 1t seems to me that those who
produce wealth ought to have wit
enough to devise some means OF ex-
changing it among themselves without
paying bank for the privilege. And
every once in awhile there comes q
panic, and thousands Of business men
are ruined, and thousands Of laboring
men thrown out Of employment, and
then they get desperate and try all
kinds of sharp tricks to catch up again.
Now if nobody is benefited by those