Natchitoches populist., 1898-04-08
Fighting Populists.
The Peoples Party Congressme1
are Battling Nobiy for
the Masses.
Special to the Caucasian.

Washington, D. G., March 2;
1S9S.-California has in its Coz
gressionsl delegation two staunc}
true and active Populists who II
making a good record in tn
House. Hon. G. A. Barlow, Q
that State, has introduced a join
resolution to amend the Constitu
tion OF the United States in orde
to permit the levying of an incom
tax.
The amendment is as follows:
Add at the close of the frs
clause OF section 8, article /, afte
the words "Unite>l States," th'
following:
"But nothing in this clause, o.
in this Constitution, shall be Sc
construed or interpreted as to des
troy or bridge in any way thu
right of Congress, whenever in it
discretion it may be deemed nee
essary for the public good, to levy
a tax on incomes in excess of S2,,
900 per annum, and Congress is
expressly empowered to levy such
a tax, fixing either a common rate
for all or a graded scale, accord
ing to the amount of income, as in
its discretion may seem best for
the welfare Of the nation"
Hon. C. II. Castle, Pop. Cal.)
is u good, safe debater, well in
formed, accurate and aggressive
as shown by his speech on tho post
Office appropriation bill. Mr.
Castle took strong ground against
the payment by the government of
the present excessive and exOrbi-
tant rates to the railroads for con-
veying the mails. He showed by
figures, that could not be disputed,
that the present rates are entirely
too high, and should be greatly re-
duced.
Hon. J. E. Kelly, {Pop. S. d.
in his speech on the Postoffice ap-
preparation bill, submitted some
facts to the House, showing that
the government is robbed by the
enormously high rate paid to rail
roads for transporting the mails.
The following extract from Mr..
Kelly's speech contains some valu.
able information that the people
should know |
ssNow. in sll reason, if railway |
companies can haul frst-class
freight, such rs is usually contained
in express packages, at less than
one-half cent per pound for indi-
viduals or for other corporations,
why shou.d the government pay 5
cents per pound for a similar ser
yice2 The true answer is given by
Governor Larabee. The corpora
lions have exercised their powers
over the House, or at least over
the prevailing party In the House,
and the gigantic steal is according
" continued. But even with this
lisgracsful deal the transaction is
not closed. Not only does the
government pay the enormous sum
If over S2S, 100000 for the trans
oortation Of the mails, but in ad-
lition to this . rental is given for
ihe use Of mail cars Of $4,000, 600
There are but 644 mail
,ars in the service, counting old {
,ars, reserves, and all; allowing
hat rental should be paid for all !
# them, N,0o0,0O0 gives an an.
lual rental for each Car of over |
'6,lO0, while the total value of |
uch cars, according to the highest s
stimates, is but d, 600 each. C
Admitting that it costs S4OO s
nnualV to heat and clean such c
ara, and | do not think it could {
cost over half that sum. I
70 still have q net annual rental of G
,7l0 for each car, while the GOV. t
rnment could build it's own cars a
I any time for $4, 900 each. From t
his it 10 readily seen that had the r
'overnment built its own cars it G
'ould have saved a vast amount of =
aoney during the past twenty
ears. ! am reliably informed j..
hat the average life of postal cars a
twenty years. So had the gov 6
rnment built Ito own cars twenty Q
ears ago, 1t would have saved at
ais tins 100000 on each car, al
wing $4,000 for building and |
apairs Of aaoh car, or q total on p
U postal cara, allowing 600 as the T
Ferage In Use, OF 100000, 900. Is :,
any wonder that the Goulds and1 o
anderbuihs are richa' II
Hon. +. R. Ridgely lPop. Kan d
ada q very interesting speech, n
III OF facts and ROnnd arO,1mont N