People's party paper. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1891-1898, 1892-12-16
BOODLING.

anything else to-day is old-fashioned
truth and honesty. The greed for
gain has brought many an evil in its
train, but none so bad as the perver-
sion of truth and the increase of the
forms of dishonesty.
Take the Panama canal scandal as
an Illustration. In that case we have
a gigantic enterprise headed by De
Lesseps, one of the most eminent men
in the world. Enlisted in the COM
pany were lawyers, editors, legisla-
tors, bankers, and motley crew of
fortune hunters. The object in view
is a grand one-but perhaps an i'm
practicable one. At any rate, people
do not seem disposed to put their
money in it. The fish are slow to
bite. The LAMBS hesitate to come up
for the shearing. Everybody in
France knows that immense sums
must be risked, and that the scene
of operations is distant. Confidence
lags.
Something must be done to ''boom"
the project and draw cash.
So they go to work to create pub
lie opinion.
They hire the newspapers. They
bride legislators. They corrupt Off
Gals. Enormous sums are spent to
debauch the public in order that it
may be robbed. The greatest news
paper in France sold out, just as the
smallest one did. The main differ
ence was in price. The highest Off
Gals sold out just like the lowest.
It was only question of how much.
The work was successful. The
"boom" started, grew fourished-
went on to a magnificent success.
Cash flowed in by the bushel. The
fish bit faster than the hook could be
thrown in. The lambs rushed tu-
multuously to the shearing. Mer-
chants emptied their accumulated
treasures into speculation. Farmers
hastily ran to town to buy precious
shares. Even the poor old peasant
woman got her wooden stocking from
the chimney corner and put her every
cent of painful saving into the won
derful company which all the news
papers said was going to pan out SO
we'll.
Are these facts denied? By no
means. Neither is it denied that the
gang of scoundrels who engineered
this colossal game of confidence all
got rich, while the canal work was a
farce, a pretense, a swindle from the
very jump. Millions of the money
of honest paople-many of them
humble, Woodworking men and wo-
men-disappeared forever, and there
is nothing to show for it except few
pieces of rusty machinery and a USE
less hole IN the ground along the
Isthmus Of Panama. The men who
manipulated the "boom" live in
splendor. The thousands of victims
live in homeless misery.
Usually such cases excite a little
casual talk and then pass away; but
this one was SO stupendous, was so
very barefaced, insolent and persist
ent in its violation of common hon
esty, its victims were so very numer-
Gus, that public opinion, from very
shame, cried out for exposure and
punishment.
The exposure has been had. The
punishment will never be had.
We punish poor devils who steal
pig, pick a pocket or break in a
smoke house.
We take off our hats in admiration
to the men who steal railroads, plum
der a community by illegal freight
rates, or rake in million on fraud
ulent "boom."
That's the sort of folks WE are.
These things are not confined to
France. We've had them in Georgia,
When Joe Brown wanted to plum
der the people of $2,4OO,O0O on the
State road lease, the first thing he
did was to bride the Atlanta Consti-
tuition, the Augusta Chronicle, the
Macon Telegraph and the Savannah
News.
Nobody will deny it. The sworn
proof is on record. Yet these news
paper men, instead of beng in the
penitentiary, are the most shining
supports of triumphant Democracy.
And Joe Brown, instead of being in
a coal mine. is the lessee of those