The Big Sandy news. [volume] (Louisa, Ky.) 1885-1929, 1885-10-01

anu Oh the posslDie OF impobSlpie reiho-
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 il pay for the privilege" said Mr.
Parsons, as they were at work repair
ing the fence. mo man can't be real
ally free unless he has o 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; spilin' 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've tried hard
to get somethin' ahead agin old age
come creepin' on to us, and to give
the youngsters 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 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 a
lifetime of hard work an savin'.
80 fur as we're concerned, mother
n me / mean, it don't make much diff
ference any more We're gettin' old
and shan't last much longer; but Of
you an Jennie amt no luckier than
49,, ba,, hoan and thara a;pit M rhan0a
for the better in things, I'm aboard 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 SEQ 1t
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 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 II 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, -" replied Ensign, "but
l know there is 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.
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.
don't know how, but it does. II it
didn't there could not possibly be rich
people who have never worked
THE merchant buys the goods ofthe
manufacturer and sells them to those
who consume them. thus saving much
time which would be wasted if each in
dividual was forced TO go to the manu-
facturer for every article purchased
The merchant is therefore 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
tional 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
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 Il nobody is benefited by those
panics. some way ought TO be devised
to prevent them. and if anybody is ben
Gifted by them they are the fellows that
ought to be watched and not allowed
to have any hand in the making of the
laws, for it is natural to suppose that
they would leg'slate in their own inter-
est and not in that of the laboring and
business portion of the community.
.sThen there are the railroads; they
get their charters from the people on
the plea of being public highways. The
people build the roads and then the
companies charge Just what they choose
for transporting the people and their
goods from one part OF the country to
another, and if it is goods that they
transport, they usually take great
deal more of them than they leave the
producers, and then bride Congress and
courts and State Legislatures not to in
terfere with them.
"And SO it goes, and ! don't know
how to go to work to stop it
"Wall, replied Mr.. Parsons, you're
on the right track anyway. an you Jest
want to keep agoin' TILL you think il all
out What you say about the exchange
in of wealth is sensible 1t holds TO
reason that there oughtn't to be nothn'
thrown in the way Of folks exchangin'
wealth. Them that works creates all
the wealth there is. and if they had all
the land to begin on, and weren't beat
no way in the exchangin' of what they
produced. it's mighty clear that eff
fellow didn't produce nothin' err help
some way in the exchangin' of what
Others produced, he wouldn't have any
thing to eat very long There ought
to be some way discovered SO that them
that produce the wealth could trade
among themselves without supportin
lot OF fellers that don't do nothin' but
stan around an look on.
"Ef you an Rastus, now, could be
together you'd figger it out between
you in short meter, I'll wager | tell
you Rastus is smart, and he's got the
sand TO back it, an of anybody ever
.I.s....I.:.f LII.