Iron County register., 1897-09-23
IRONTON. MO. THURSDAY. SEPTEMBER 3. 1897
Murrayv1lIe, Ills.

in Southeast Missouri, but l think W
can out scorch you here. and sho
more chinch bug to boot. Drouth an
dust, are the order of the day; an
our great fields of corn are ripeniu
| prematurely. Wheat sowing is bein
| delayed on account of the difficulty c
preparing the land, and from fear c
| the chinch going from corn to tn
| young wheat if it comes before frost
Yesterday a shower seemed to be fal
| ling about % miles south; but to-day
like so many of late, is clear, with lii
tie air. and almost sitting heat. Eve
some varieties of grapes, where vel
cultivated, are shrivelling on the vine
and, of course, more or less falling.
The U. S. Authorities decided tha
our republican county judge could no
hold that Office and federal Office too
so he resigned the judgeship; and a
we have to elect a county Commission
er also. this fall the local political, po
is boiling. Some candidates are out
too, for the election of 1898. So fa
as your deponent knoweth every dem
ocratic candidate is, at heart, a single
taxer, and has acknowledged as much
but they have not yet had the mora
courage to come out squarely agains
industrial slavery, and hence they are
handicapped by being regarded as mere
partisan Office seekers. An open sin
gle tax candidate on the democratic
ticket would, in this county, lose few
democratic votes and gain many from
the republicans, if he were, in addi'
tion, a man of good character, and
able to pay assessments, too.
Bryan speaks at Roodhouse, eight
miles south of this place On Wednes-
dav, but we hear of few proposing to
attend.
The account in the REGISTER of the
target practice at the Arcadia range is
interesting to one who has drilled men
in such exercises. The '.dough-boys'
however, with their Enfields were
more than a match for the ''sore- backs
with their carbines in my shooting
days. Six pounds of pull-back and
several more of kick-back, tells rather
heavily against accuracy of fire in the
mind of man raised with hair-trig-
ger rifle in his hands. Our private
opinion is that, with properly shaped
bullet, a smooth bore can be made
more accurate than a rifle and far
more lasting, especially when STEEL
clad bullet is driven oyer lands that
have one turn in less than seven inches.
1 have examined the Krag-iorgensen
rifle and it seemed a more clumsy piece
to handle than the arms l had been
accustomed to; and | am not surprised
to hear that, in actual use, it soon los
es its accuracy. If the carbine is like
it they will both prove expensive ex-
periments to the u. S. l should not
be surprised to learn that the Lee-Mit-
ford, of the British army, had similar
defects; though it seems to have won
derful accuracy and force while new.
l agree with the REGISTER in COM
plimenting Mrs. Clara Hoffman as an
orator. Your writer has had the pleas
ure of meeting her, and the honor of
speaking from the same platform with
her, AMI he never listened to a more
fluent and eloquent speaker than the
president of w. G. L. Z. of Missouri.
In most copies of the REGISTER no.
tice that capitalists and companies, or
syndicates, are prospecting or boring
here and there. and getting possession
of mineral, or other lands, but news
mongers should remember that this
does not mean the opening of new
mines, the extension of old enterprises,
or the opening of new ones, every
time. 1t too often means the acquire
ment of private control OF great or
promising natural opportunities to play
dog-ip-the-manger with them, and to
stifie competition with similar enter
prises, in other localities, or in other
states; just as patents are sometimes
purchased to be suppressed. When a
coal mine was opened in Jacksonville
parties purchased for Collar, farm
and unde7 pretense of mining, the
rights under many farms here
abouts; and though the mine at Jack
sonyille has long since been abandoned
there are many farmers here who
would be barred from digging coal I'M
der their own lands until these 90 year
leases had expired.
Under any form of government,
where natural opportunities are made
the subjects of sale, and speculation,
such things are inevitable. To meas
ure every mans debt and duty TO the
State by the value of the natural op-
portunities he claims possession of is
the only remedy for such a state of
things. Coal strikes would never oc-
eur If sl1eh a remedv vrara annliad