The Saline County journal. [volume] (Salina, Kan.) 1871-1893, 1891-07-09

lust now IL seems a. III there were
more hIndmOst than foremost. IL
the present condition OF things were
! to continue without being retarded,
this land, instead Of being the home
Of the free and the land Of the brave,
would be the home of the rich and
the land Of the slave" Then he re-
feTred to the familiar fact that
George Washington was in his time
the richest man in the United states.
To-day" he said, mo political party
would dare to set up for its candidate
the richest man in the United
Safes" The business side of George
Washington WAS summed up by Mr..
Ingalls, In the following unique FASH
ion:
THE FATHER OF MS COUNTRY.
"GeOrge Washington, In addition
TO his other Virtues, was u prudent
and thrifty and fOrehanhrd mnn.
He knew = good thing when he saT
Il Ilaughterl, and he knew IL n good
ways al When n youth on survey
ing expeditions he made valuable
locations that did not diminish Ia
value afterwaTd. The lOratiOn Of
the capital" and here Mr.. Ingalls,
smiled in n quiZZicai way, "within
fifteen miles of his farm, did not i'm
pair the value Of that estate. He
was an honest debtor, but an exact,
if not exActing, creditor. / repeat
that at the time Of his death he was
the richest man In the country.
How much was he worth? Between
$500 900 and $gOO,OOO. Today there
are scores Of men in this country
whose annual income exceeds the
entire value Of all the property held
by the richest man in the country
100 years ago. There Is one man
the large private holder Of govern
meut bOnds-whO has n larger in
come from the coupons Of those
bonds than the entire estate of George
Washington was worth. ! don't
think that ~ right. The problem
that we are to consider IL, how are
we to prevent IL. Fifty of the great
articles oG life are now controlled 10y
syndicates, trusts and corporations,
so that q poor man has little chance
to get Into business. One Of the
questions that are Ia he decided at
the next presidential election il
whether under u government of the
people and for the people and 10y the
people. where ali the men are equal
before the law, any man has right
to obtain absolute control nf <1lO, uNO.-
900 when the per capita distribution
would be less than $1,000. haze
heard men with temerity enough 20
question whether q citizen had q
right to 500, 0O0, 900 or even $1,000
600. In the strictest confidence be-
tween myself and you, seriously
question whether, in the sense Of
giving compensation or equivalent,
any man ever honestly earned even
81 ,OO0,OOO Great applause.l And
yet the reason why have not 81 ,0O0.-
900 IL because I do not know how TO
get ia frank confession which
seemed tn greatly amuse the au-
dlence.
MOUSE-TRAP AND GRIPSACE.
In lis own unique way Senator In
gals drew n pen picture Of himself
and Jay Gould, whom he character
lied ~ the greatest object Of public
execraIIOu today. "He and l." he
said amid laughter. "are about the
same age. We came into active life
about the same time. He entered
Wall street with q patent mouse
trap as the sum total of his capital,
set 10 aud has come pretty near
catching the whole world with it. I
started vest with n gripsark, and to-
day ] am a statesman out OF Job"
Anybody who has heard MIR. Ingalls,
speak, aud who IL familiar with the
curious phisiognOmy Of his face and
hiss heard the expressive infection |
Of his voice, will not he surprised |
that for several minutes the applause |
and laughter filled the vast struc-
ture.
"I am anxiOusly endeavoring," he |
continued. during the spare mo-
ments that ! now have NJ my com |
mand, to ascertain whether any mil
liOnaire has acquired that tn which |
am entitled, and whether I am /
going to get it back again. ] should
like TO have q private ear, n steam
yacht, a summer home on the Hud-
son and q palace In New York city,
but the reason why we have not got
them will be found here" aud he /
touched his forehead,
and not In the statute books. IL IL
the fault Of the Creator"
IL was easily to be gathered from
the closing portion OF Mr.. Ingalls,
interesting talk that he
did not expect . change tn come In
the matter Of the distribution Of
wealth. In the end he went so far
rs tn say that II all the money in the
United States Was divided equally
80 that every person got tS15 20 it
would not be six months before there
would be existing the same state Of
that exists now. "SOme men would
be riding Ia palace cars, some In
buggies, some would be on foot, and
some would be sitting on the fence
corners waiting for the procession to
go by Applause and lsughterl; some
men would be In congress aud some
men would be In the peuitentIary.
Above all would be heard the voice
n the iFrepressible reformeF, who
obtains bis livelihood by the per-
spiration Of his jaw rather than the
sweat Of his brow" /
WASTED OPPORTUNITIES.
Years ago, Mr.. Ingalls, said, he
had listened at one end Of q spar $50
'eet long aud heard the scratching
u pin at the other end. Nature
was trying TO tell him about the
telephone He was not prevented |
Dy Law from making that invention.
There was no statute which forbade
him acquiring . fortune by adding
70 the convenience and comfort OF
mankind. 1.-THE trouble was," he
aid, THAT I didn't know enough"
The leather sucker by which he used
% lift stones when = boy was the
yerm Of the air-brake, but he did not
rave the genius to see it. The An
Ielus vas painted with . few tubes
u oil and . camel's hair brush upon
Dnly . little square OF canvas, but
,uly one man had ever painted it.