People's voice. [volume] (Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas) 1890-1917, 1897-02-18
WHAT A CHANGED
An Agricultural Community - II Was
Thirty Years Ago and as IL Is Now.

visit to his boyhood home, and the con-
tradictions of this political situation
came before him more wildly than at
any other time. At an earlier day he
had been in perfect harmony, practical
ly, with his old neighbors At one elec-
ton there were but seven Democratic
voters in the township, including two
prosperous villages
In those days we did business with
postage stamps, shinplasters, Lincoln
scabs" and other forms Of more or less
ridiculed money. But the fathers Of
these boys found there today came to
town with beaver gloves reaching to
their elbows that cost S6 a pair. They
wore caps that cost IS, cninchilla beaver
overcoats that cost 500 and carried
whalebone carriage whips that cost s..
In those days they stocked their farms
with Durham cattle, Merino and import.
ed Leistershire sheep and Poland China
hogs. Sugar and coffee were too high
for everyday use, to be cure, but they
got along with sorghum and parched
grain, for they bought the best cuts Of
the butcher. 1t was in those days fruit
Jars, Undertaking, sewing machines,
ingram carpets, organs, pianos and i'm
proved farm machinery came into fash
ion. A good piano then cost 81, 200, but
some of them could afford the best
They sold corn at S1.l0, wheat at 50,
live hogs $14 per hundred, live weight,
and the best cattle s.. A good man in
those days got bonus. Some of the
best village hands were given Sc per
day in the harvest field. John Farrell,
the village mason. got Sc per day. Car
penters had 81 day regularly, and the
best S.. The track hands, laborers and
odd job men bought lots and built houses
and paid for them. Two of the ditchers,
Pat Hart and Hughey Morehead, went
off and bought farms, and there were
others.
There were but two millionaires in
the country, Astor and A. T. Stewart,
and they had but a million each, Van
derbilt not having quite reached that
point. 1t is different today. Wealth has
greatly increased in certain sections, and
now there are 200 millionaires. Some
of these are worth hundreds Of millions
instead of a million-ten have $720,-
900, 000-and the stock of some Of the
big banks of New York are worth
81, 400 for every 800 share, but my old
neighbors are selling oats at 10 cents
and other farm products accordingly.
The proprietOrs of these fine farms, and
they are the finest in the world, wear
mittens made of sheepskin and old grain
sacks now, and not a piano has been
bought by either farmer or villager for
ten years. There has not been a new
section boss for 20 years, and the one
they have will never be promoted till
he dies.
These farms produce as we'll as they
ever did. They are not worn out. The
young men are as strong and enterpris-
ing as their fathers, but the wealth now
concentrates in Wall street, not upon
the Illinois farm.
A political orator was present on this
occasion, telling these old boyhood
chums what a dollar should be like. He
held up dollars that he said were only
90 cent dollars and told them it was
dollars of particular kind and color
that they wanted. He meant it was the
kind of a dollar Wall street wanted.
Some Of these sons of wartime Repub-
licans wore the hated butter colored
hats and cheered the loudest notes Of
the evening for Grover Cleveland. These
are strange days.
1t is not probable that these farmer
boys desire to vote for 10 cent oats or to
vote for still further reduction. say to
cents, but they were deceived by the
action at st. Louis. Some think it was
the old Republican party that went for
gold, and not the one that staid by sill.
yer. If they could be treasured Of the
true condition, they would stay by the
simon pure party. for that is the one
they want. They are divided as it is.
About half the farmers of the township,
it is believed, will go for silver.
But it is not dollars of a certain color
or metal our farmers or business men
want. What will please them can't
please stock gamblers and cutthroat
spectators. And that which pleases
Wall street is never good for the farmer.
What the farmer wants is good business,
good prices, good times, and these come
only with plenty of money. Plenty Of
money and good times mean the same,
are the same thing, and always have
been. If they understood this matter
correctly, we believe there would not be
a man in thst township left to vote for
Wall street except the county officers. -
Joliet Sentinel.