The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1895-08-09
CURRENT COMMENT.

cratic. II anything, in commenting ON
b Orator In Politics. makes this
significant remark: "Johu Sherman's
financial speeches are of the same gem
eral character as those which Carlisle
made in Kentucky" 1t might have
said with equal propriety that the Dem
oeratfc platform sadoptsdsby .the Demo
Gratis IN Kentucky is Of the same gem
eral character as one which John
Sherman~would have constructed. The
TWO old.parties are camping on the same
ground, and their leaders are controlled
by the same power. a
There is no longer any doubt but that
the ultra-radical men in the Democratic
party are the advocates Of a gold STAN
dard. They have declared time and
again that if the free-siIver Democrats
succeed in controlling the National,
convention that There will be a split.
IN Inc party" There can be but one
Interpretation to this declaration. It
ean that if the gold standard advo-
Gates are outnumbered and outgener-
aled In the National Convention that
they will bolt. 1t cannot mean any
thing else. This declaration ought to
set the pace for the masses who have
heretofore voted the Democratic ticket.
They should lose nc time In declaring
that II they could not vote their senti-
ments in the Democratic party, they
would leave it and find a party in which
they could do so.
It requires no keen observer to see
that the corruption which prevails in
our public affairs, and the false sys-
TENS which we have permitted to be fas-
tened upon US, are having a democrat
izing influence upon the lives of the
people and undermining the fabric Of
our social system. The case Of Mrs.
Scott, Who for several years was the
leader Of a band Of horse thieves in the
Indian Territory and New Mexico. Is
only n Of many Of the same nature.
After her capture, she said: "Of.
course, it is wrong, theoretically, to
steal horses. I knew thatsas well as any
one; but we only took from those who
didn't need them as badly as we did.
and mostly from those who we knew
had been dishonest to somebody else.
and I didn't consider it nearly so bad as
hundreds Of things that lawyers and
| business men do right straight along
and nobody ever says a word about.
Besides, 1 could make more money for ].
my children than I,could, inSany other
way that / had ever tried, and@I had
become so discouraged with the other
| ways that when I found m by which I
could make a comfortable living for
them I was so relieved that I really
didn't care whether 1t was right or
not" There is enough in that con-
fession for moralists to think and write
about for years. More than one-half
the who have become prosti-
tutes can say the same thing. It is safe
to say that more than One-half of the
crimes committed In the country are
the direct result of enforced idleness
and poverty, and Of examples set in
public life.
The Georgia fruit growers have: had q
meeting and instituted a movement by;
which they can get their products into
market without paying the railroad
companies from one-half to three-S
fourths of the proceeds thereof. THs
merchants Of Little Rock. ArkanssI
recently held g meeting to proiA.E
against freight discriminationY ana
high rates. Thus, the leaven- ID Pork
ing, and when people begin to FED sheir
burdens they naturally look abHy chem
for the purpose Of trying to- Il JRadl Of
them. This leads to Investigation, and
tGovernment ownership will be found to
be the only solution to the problem
Few people who have investigated the
subject Of Government ownership AZ
railroads that do. mot become enthusiast
tic advocates Of 1t. 1t is not, rs MANY
seem to believe, an experiment. It has
been successfully adopted and lemon
strated by ffty-four Governments in
the world. There are at present only
eighteen Governments that do not own
their railroads, either wholly or in
part. In Germany the Governments
owns the railroads, charges less for SER
vices than our corporations. and clears
$4,000 per mile each year. The Gov
eminent roads in Austro-Hungarv
charge less for services and clear s.. 2a3
per mile. In Germany the average mas
senger fare is one-half less than in the
United States. You can ride 100 miles
for Y In India you a ride 100 miles
E~-I m A