The Sully County watchman. (Clifton, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1894, 1892-09-17


each time develop new set oforiginal
robbers. Thus the men on the second
rounds from the bottom become the
robbers of those who occupy the first
rounds. By this beautiful and shifting
robberism not only the mlllionaires but
those who have only 800 have robbed
those who have nothing. By this ex-
! cusing theory those who have nothing
may exclaim: here We have labored for
three score years and ten and have moth
ing, how is it possible that our neigh
bors who have 500 each could haye
earned so much in life time except
they became robbers. Down with the
plute-robbers.
Glancing carelessly over one of the
ladders we somehow became interested
in the occupant of a round not far from
the bottom. An inspection disclosed
an original homestead of 20 years
standing. Its owner had been barely
able to employ himself in a very in
different way and his success was pro-
portioned accordingly. A balance
sheet showed his gains to be $4,000.
This man IS Smith Of the Peoples
party who believes everything is out
of whack, except himself. Higher on
the ladder was another homes tead, but
during the 20 years other quarters had
been added and the whole transformed
into an agricultural plant superior to
the average. A number of men had
always been employed and paid wages
greater than they could pay them
selves, but having no ambition to be
other than wage-earners are as poor
and dependent as they were 20 years
ago, while their employer-our friend
Jones, who believes just the opposite
of Smith has cleared $4,000. Is
Jones robber? Calamity theory
says yes. We say no.
We became interested and so care
fully wlping our glasses we looked
higher and there we saw the plants of
the farmers who are engaged in pro-
ducing wheat by the hundreds of thous-
ands of bushels and whose net profits
is the income on a million fortune
There we saw the plants of the I'M
proved stock breeders, a necessary
branch of the farming industry, many
of them worth up into the millions.
We saw there farm of half a million
acres, its owner some seven and halt
J times the millionaire. We saw an
other farmer, the plutocrat of a mil
lion and half acres, who was twenty
times the millionaire. We saw many
other millionaires whose money still
, had the unmistakable taint of hay
seed We saw IN all the villages and
towns gray haired, but still we'll pre-.
served, gentlemen with gold headed
2 canes, leisurely promenading the
streets, every dollar of whose Income
is from farm rentals the production OF
former intelligent effort. We saw doc
tors, lawyers and preachers, whose
5 merit had lifted them to the million
r aire rounds. We saw the professional
calamityites, few Of them way up, the
many way down, pat illustration ir
A their own ranks of the condition al
which they are kicking. We saw
Loucks and Wardall climbing rapidly
up the calamity ladder, with hundreds
Of thousands of pelf from the creeks
: and ruins scattered along their wav,'
, as described by the Onida Journal less
than year ago, and now securely
seated on the highest round of cal
amity fame, raking in the sheckles
: from the fresher fields of the National
Alliance and Peoples party deposito
, ries. We saw Gee Whiz there, not ye
t tar from the bottOm-Yet little aheaC
= of Walter Price-with his heels now
: held down from kicking at Loucks ano
2 Wardall by the empty honor of a nom,
: lnation. We saw IN all the professions
: the extremes of poverty and wealth
. We saw that whether it be in lines O.
e honor or 'dishonor the ablest of theil
y kind were at the top. Is it possible
# we thought that the great success o
e the one IS the robbing of the other
) Nay, wealth producing like space il
e boundless and limited only by abllit,