The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1894-05-23
THE TRAmPING coMMoNWEAL.
Bill Arp Lectures on Coxey,-He has nc
Patience With the Vagabond Army
Congress Ia Laughing Rscklessiy
While the Country is Suffering.
ATLANTA Constitution.

9 Atlanta Constitution.
: There was q time when every Stat
! had law Furnishing vagrancy and
. said that any man who was found go
8 ing about in idleness and had no visi
BILE means of support should be deemed
vagrant, and on conviction should be
imprisoned and put to labor. dom
) think that law has ever been repealed
in Georgia, but it is a dead letter and
reckon it ought to be in these hard
times. There are now thousands who
are idle and have no means Of support
visible or invisible. Most Of them are
willing to work, but can't get work to
do. Nevertheless this Coxey army is
} nothing but an army of tramps, an ex-
cursion of Hing vagrants who would
rather plumber than work. We have
no patience with them-no coEsldera-
ton for them. If any of them have
families, where are they and who Is
supporting them while the head of the
house is bowling over the country? If
they have no families, why don't they
scatter over the West or the South and
work for their rituals and clothes on
the farms or in the mines or on the
railroads rather than to beg or to rob
or intimidate for a living? Most OF
them are like the organ grinder who
stops under your window and grlnds
out bis horrid music until the lady Of
the house throws him a nickle and
says: "Please pass on" INA, na," he
replies, "me pass on TO. two nickles,"
and be grinds away until she throws
him another. The good people along
the route of this army are alarmed at
their presence and give them bread and
meat to 90 on. So do the towns aud
cities. They are looked upon as DANCE
rous and they are. Governor Mckinley
showed the right pluck when he scat
tered the vagrants who stole the train
at Mt. Sterling. There has got to be an
example made of somebody, even if it
takes Gatling guns to do it. If this kind
of thing is to 90 on we had better change
the republic to monarchy at once and
be done with it. If the people can't
govern the people we will have to have
a standing army of half q million men
like Germany has and England and
France and quarter troops all over the
country to preserve the peace and pro-
tect private property. These strikers
are not much better, for they won't
work themselves nor let anybody else
take their places. 1t is all spirit of
anarchy and violence and lawlessness.
There are demagogues who lead them
and encourage them and seek to array
the poor against the rich-the 'aborer
against the capitalist-and ride into
Office or power on the dissensions and
sufferings of the people.
Now, with all this devilish spirit on
| the one hand, there is on the other
reckless, ruinous Congress that sits
there and laughs at their own jokes and
ouarrels and talks and prints their
speeches and draws their pay and
tramps over the country when they
feel like it. A late correspondent says
the average daily number Of absentees
in the House is seventy, and henceit
frequently takes several days TO get a
quorum. The cost of session is said to
be halfa million day and the people
have it to pay. When will this outrage
cease? When will they pass a tariff
bill? It does not matter much what
kind of a bill it is so they pass one.
Capital is waiting on Congress, and
labor is waiting on capital. Millions
are lying idle that would be invested
in manufactures or in mines or rail-
roads, if it was known what the tariff
was. An Ohio man fears TO build a
wooden mill because be doesn't know
whether be can compete with foreign
mills or not. Just 80 with the shoe
man and the paper mill man and the
clothing man and the nail makers and
hundred other things that the tariff
affects. There is just as much money
in the land as there ever was. and all
the silver bills and bank tax bills will
do no good until the tariff bill is passed
and the money turned loose and the
wheels of industry begin to move. l
heard a man say, "there ought to be
more money per capita" Well suppose
there was. How am I to get my share
of it unless work for it, and how am
to work unless somebody employs me,
and who will employ me until Con-
gress fixes the tariff? But is it possible
that Brice and others are speculating
on sugar stock and keeping the tariff
on sugar in an uncertain state while
they are trading in it? 1t is openly
charged that they are, and that is why
the tariff bill can't pass. They want
it to trade on. May the good Lord de-
liver us! I tell you what is the fact
when the people ruminate over all these
things they have tired feeling akin to
despair. I meet good old-time Demo
Gratis all over the country, and there is
no enthusiasm, no confidence, and if
there was any other respectable party
they would join it. I have heard them
say they were now willing for the Re-
publicans to take the Government and
run It, as it would be better than all
this vrangling and Gelay-all this long
uncertainty, all this marching to Wash
ington. The Democracy has had the
President and the House and the Sen
ate for two years and done nothing for
relief. How much longer will Congress
abuse our patience? Whom shall We