The evening times., 1896-08-05

F--e>~s>sS ASS0AA - nNCh 6N-1
Volunteers ~ overcrewd q Prison.
The singIe-tax campaign, which Is just
now waging fuHiously IN the little State
OF Delaware, and. especially In Dover, the
capital, where the flight has become SO
hot that seventeen of the speakers have
been arrested and l0dged in Jail, has a
dual interest to Washingtonians.
In the first pIace,lJ. II. Ralston, attor-
ney, OF this city .is the prime mover and
has been one 81 the central figures in.
the contest--to E0nyert the people OF
Delaware TO si9glestaxism In the sec
ond place, at lesst one Washington man
has been arrested and imprisoned be-
, cause he. ATTEMPTED 10 express his views,
which were fepugnant to some of the Dover
officials. .nsfrtef
Frederick w. Moore, aged twenty-five.
printer of this city, Is the Washington
victim He was the tenth man to be
arrested. The circumstances OF his ar
rest are these: One evening about a
week ago, being sentfby the. campaign
committee In Wilmington, young Moore
mounted the old watering trough iu front
OF the Bayard House, in Dover. and at
tempted TO address an assemblage Of
abont 100 persons. his subject being, or
course. the single-tax question.
As the story goes, he had proceeded no
further than ''Gentlemen,' when a faith
ful guardian OF the law and order or the
town seized the young orator and hustled
him off the unpretentious rostrum To the
office of Squire Cooper, the tribunal Of
justice for Dover.
THE JUSTICE WAS oBDURATE.
Young Moore protested that he was
merely exercising the right of free speech,
guaranteed him by the Constitution, but
the authorities didn't view the matter IN
the same light. The charge against the
youthful exponent OF single tax was that
he obstructed the street. engaged in noisy
assemblage. iDcited riot, and several other
minor offenses.
The young man asked for a continuance.
but the justice refused it, He then asked
for trial by jury, but the squire considered
himself fully capable OF attending 10 the
case. and the result was Moore got 80 days
In Jail. unless he chose to pay fine Of SO
and S3.15 costs, which he refused TO dc.
In consequence he was sent to Kent county
prison with his fellow-speakers.
The Instances leading up TO the arrest and
imprisonment Of the siDgle-tax men cover
more than "a year.
III May, 1895, the followers of Henry
George met in Chica go to discuss plans for
entering active politics and securing organi-
cations in all the States, and clubs In the
larger cities and Jowns. washington was
weiirepresented, among the delegates being
Mr.. Ralston. 1t WAS upon his advice, after
studying the Delaw ware constitution, that
tliatcommon wealth wasselected asth place
to test the workings of single tax.
WHY DELAWARE WAS CHOSEN.
There were many reasoD~, Mr.. RaIstun
said, for this selection. The constitution
would easily permit the enactment Of such
| law, and IL enacted by a legislature, tile
governor has DO power to vero. The State
being SMALL and in close proximity TO New
York, Philadelphia, Baltimore aud WASH
ingtoD, where there is considerable fol-
lowing of these reforners, could be cam
paigned without difficulty.
Fer years the Two political parties have
WED with each other and split hairs enr
supremacy, tie vote being so evenly d.
vided that a handful would hold the bal
ance of power. Again, for a little State,
Delawa has a large number of corrupt
officials.
The single-taxes, who. II nothing else,
are keen and astute observers, OF politics,
at once saw that any change which sivored
of reform would be heartily welcomed by
the honest old farmers. II single tax didr:: o.
make things any hetter, they could not con-
ceive of Its making them worse, and SO they
listened to single-tax oratory by the yard
and political economy y by the ton.
Mr.. A. II. Stevenson a wealthy importer
and manufacturer OF Philadelphia, was ap-
pointed chairman OF the campaign commit
| tee, and active operations we're begun a
year ago last June At first the good people
of the State looked upon their invaders
with curiosity, which has since changed
in some quarters to contempt. The news
papers ridiicuIed them, and their ideas were
laughed at by the politicians, but all the
time the crusaders kept up relentless
warfare.
CONVERTING THE FARMERS.
Slowly their converts Come The farmers
| began to attend meetings, which were
often held in the open air, in a sort of
Salvation Army style. Speakers were
| dressed in uniform, having silver band
with the words Single Tax across the
arm of the coat. They were often accom-
panied by portions of brass band
In Wilmington alone over 1000 voters
have become members of single tax clubs,
and the leaders claim that more than
double that number will vote the ticket,
while in the two other counties the same
progress is said to have been made Dur
ing all this time the local organization,
consisting Of over 500 members, has abetted
the campaign in every manner possible,
and each week Treasurer Kelner has sent
good-sized check to the headquarters in
Wilmington to aid in the work
Mr.. Ralston has visited the State wecs;-
" and aided in directing the campaign,
and a number of speakers have taken part
in stumping the State, among them being
Messrs. Monihan, Groh, Cooke and others.
Theinroads the reforrners are said to have
made has seriously alarmed the old party
leaders, who have set about TO thwart
the movement.
| In MjddletOwn month ago two sneak.