Iron County register., 1896-06-04
IRONTON. MO. THURSDAY.
Murrayvllle, Ills.

Murrayv1lle, Ills.
Our weather here comes from the
south. and whatever you get We have
about twenty four hours later. In the
spring, till week ago, was very dry.
The ground checked very badly, and
wheat was badly hurt by having its
roots broken. Not more than half the
shoots that put out this spring, on the
best fields, came to head; and it now
shows a grassy appearance that your
writer never saw before. The chinch,
and potatoe bugs, came in swarms;
and the prospect was dark indeed.
Most farmers, here, had followed the ex-
ample of your correspondent. and COW
cred their potatoes with straw which
gives almost complete immunity from
the Colorado beetle, as well as afford
ing protection from drouth. A week
ago, however. it began to rain. True
to the old adage 1t also poured; an6
farm work came to a standstill, while
grass and weeds started galore. 1t
is still wet and warm, and an east
wind with dirty sky bodies more bad
weather. Corn is about three fourths
in, and there are some fields plowed
once. Land sowed and not planted
will have to be stirred again; but will
probably make the most corn yet, as
it will start quickly and clean. Fruit
will be scarce. except grapes, and
blackberries, with a fair sprinkle OF
peaches. Drouth has run the straw
berry about out here, except with
market gardeners who have facilities
for watering. Much wheat has been
plowed up, but as the rain caught the
chinch largely in the egg we may look
for fair crop from what is left.
Our county democratic convention
was held last Monday. OF course it
was for silver at 16 to 1, but it did not
touch the principle that lay behind. or
rather beneath, the silver question. 1t
did not resolve, as it should have done,
that Congress has no power to restrict
the coinage of and metal used as mon
ey; nor did it favor, or even discuss.
the fixing of the weight and fineness of
coin by constitutional provision, SO as
to stop the lobby and prevent sales
and corruption. 1t condemned the
present system of raising public re-
venue in Illinois, in severe terms; but
it tabled motion to amend the state
constitution SO as to allow the people Of
each county to fix the subjects OF taxa
tion for themselves; and it adopted a
resolution instructing the legislature
to take such action as would secure
the state an equitable system of taxa
tion. OF course the legislature. which
will be composed mostly of lawyers.
and the attorneys of corporations, will
attend to that business with ven-
time in the chair in the convention,
and was chairman of the committee on
resolutions, where there was a warm
discussion: but what struck him most
was the unreadiness of the mass of the
delegates to intelligently pass upon the
propositions submitted. The motion to
table the measure to amend the con-
stit,ti so as to place the question OF
taxation directly in the hands of the
people, a truly democratic measure,
was voted upon by precincts and Muir
rayville threw every vote against tab
ling, and was the only precinct that
did so.
The A. P. As. are very active; but
as some of them are old democrats it
is difficult to say just what they are
driving at, or what effect they will
have. 1t rather annoys the average
A. P. A. to be reminded that of the
twenty-six republics now existing all
but three or four, at the most, are
Catholic: and the states of our union
that furnished the most men to main.
tain the government, in our civil war,
all were those that had the largest per
cent. of foreign born citizens.
1t is likely that we shall have few II
any roses for Decoration Day, as the
rose season is about closed for this
year.
General good health prevails; but il
is hard to possess ~one's soul in pa.
thence. or keep from getting bilious,
when every paper is printing about
this politicians chances for Office, and
that ones chances for defeat, while
the real cause of our trouble is un.
touched. Workingmen are likely te
get less than one-fifth of what their la
Dor produces for some time yet.
May %, 1896. VIM. CAMM.