The representative., 1895-10-30

that the Chicago, Wellington q Verml-
lion Coal company, through it's hired
| agents had gone to Virginia and lied to
| the colored people by promising them
steady employment, good wages and an
| agreeable home if they would come to
Braidwood, and when they got them
there used them to force reduction of
wages and inf1ict both the white and col
ored miners with the conditions Of starv-
| alton.
Having heard the walls of hunger as
| long as my patience could endure, my
| mind naturally drifted into the consid-
Grafton of remedy. With few friends
| visited the office of the coal company,
! and there attempted to convince the su-
| perintendent that the miners did not de-
| serve to be locked out because they pro-
| tested against further reduction of 10
per cent in wages, at al time when they
were receiving an average OF only 67
cents day, as shown by the statistics of
| Illinois. 1 begged him, in the name of
| starving women and children, to submit
| the matter to arbitration. His brow
wrinkled and his fist clincked as he an
grily replied, Starve and be damned
Then l looked back upon the revolving
scenes of my visit, and it occurred to me
| that l had read or seen or heard that
awful command every minute had spent
| in Braidwood l read it in the relief
store; heard it in the pitiful story of the
Italian; 1t came to my ears in the means
| Of the barefoOted women and the sobs
and sighs of the little children; read it
| in the Scalding tears of the little English
| girl; saw it in the anxious look of the
weeping mother as she stood over her dy-
| ing children; l read it on the altar of
every destitute home; I heard 1t in the
prayer of the colored woman asking God
to give her back to slavery; saw it defed
when the miners cut the meat from the
dead horse and fed 1t to their children;
I saw it executed when the twin boys of
Moran died of starvation. / looked down
the shaft of the coal company and am
sure that way down in the murky hooks
and sUIterranean caverns, among the
poisonous gases where human life is
cheap and the sun never shines, heard
the demons Of the corporation kissing
to labor, 'Starve and be damned! I
heard it all the way home; I can hear it
yet. There will never be.a night so dark
nor sleep so deep that I will not hear
the awful command coming up from the
eruptions of hell, 'Starve and be
damned!"
And how is the business world?
Here is something from the Mime
apolis Journal of Oct. S, 1895:
The business failures for the first nine
months Of the present year, accor ing to
Bradstreet's, numbered 9,299. or 4S more
than during the same period in 1894, and
the proportion of assets to liabilities or
the failing traders was, this year, 56 per
cent as compared with "a per cent for the
corresponding period last year and 70
per cent in 1898. Assets and liabilities
similarly decreased after the lesser panic
of 1884 The New England states show
the largest decrease in failures during fNe
nine months under consideration. The
Middle states show but sllgnt ueereaoe,
While the heavier increases are in the
eight western states and in the south.
In the Northwestern states the failures
for the nine months were $40 compared
with 908 in 1894 and assets were $S,724,9 922
as compared with $6,299,S58 in 1894 and
liabilities were $14171,6 ,674 as compared
with SO, ,695. 142 in 1894. Minnesotas rec
ord for the nine months was 234 failures
as compared with PIT in 1894; assets 81
SAG, ,974 as compared with $2,177,7 794 in 1894,
and liabilities, s3,337, ,656, as compared
with So, S19,344 in 1894. Minnesota's shOw-
ing is much better than some other
Northwestern states, as Wisconsin. Iowa,
North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming and
South Dakota all show increased liabili-
ties. Iowa especially, her record being
IS, 759, 787 in 1895 to 81 983,733 in 1894. This
large increase is due to some large fail
ures which had no great bearing on gen.
eral trade conditions.
Do these things represent good
| times?
Read these items:
| Special to the Minneapolis Journal
st. Lawrence, S. d., Oct. 4.-Child &
Company, Of this place, have assigned.
| Inability to make collections is the
cause. Griggs, Cooper & Co., and
| Finch, Van Slyck & Young, Of st.
Paul, the principal creditors, have ar
ranged to take the property out of the
hands of the assignees and close out
the stock.
A North Dakota Sheriff says that
Minneapolis and ST. Paul will soon be
overrun with an army of tramps head
ed this way from the wheat country,
where they have been preying upon
the farmers and the honest working
men. To be warned should be to be
armed against this invasion. Let
| them be required to earn every meal
they get and they will not stay long
| Minneapolis Journal.
And here is voice from South Da-
| kota:
"Three years ago." said prominent
Brown county farmer. living in the
richest township in the county. to the
| editor the other day, three years ago,
| owed $500, have worked like slave
| ever since denied myself and family
| everything but the bare necessities of
| life, have had fair crops compared
with my neighbors and today l owe
| oyer 800. Now, what shall | do?o
| That is hard question, but it makes
| one think of the Debs telegram,
''Save your money and buy gum
Dakota Ruralist.
Then read this:
The depreciation in land values is
one thing that cannot be attributed
to oyerproduction. There is much
less land per capita today than there
was five years ago, yet land has gone
down over % per cent during that
time. Our financial system needs a
working over. Tariff and overproduc-
tion have each been proved weak
dodge. Medicine Lodge (Kan) Index
In the presence Of facts like these
the editor of the MankatO Review,
should be ashamed to insult the intel
ligence Of his readers by such an at
tack on us. We have been wise in the
midst of fools; prophet in a rabble of
lunatics; we have told things just IS
they were foretold them just as they
came to pass. And there is not a
leader In either of the old parties VINO
has perceived the truth or done or
said a thing to protect mankind.
"COin" HdrVoy while in MiSsOur ri re.