Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1898-05-13
A LITTLE OF EVERYTHING.

will turn over the most important Of
them to body of men whom III choose
for year or two years, and I'll call
them legislature" And he did it
and went on his way. And the body
Of men met and they made money with
the rich mans goods and sold some
and mortgaged others and despoiled
others. And the suffers and lobbyists
flocked around as vultures around
carrion, and the rich man remonstrat-
ed and held mass meetings and scream
ed himself hoarse. And the body of
men looked at him derisively and said
to itself: Surely We have worked for
these offices and they are ours, and you
can't put us out, nor reverse our acts,
but are bound by Them" and they
laughed in their sleeves at the rich
man. Again, an election came around
and the rich man chose another set OF
men of the same sort, and, having un-
trammeled power, they did likewise.
And many moons waxed and waned,
and the rich man did not seem to learn
by experience, but really he was grow
ing very mad, and at last he rose up
and said: II will choose we as council
ors, but ye shall do naught that I do
not wish, and we shall do the things
wish, and I'll veto any acts Of yours
that do not like by the referendum,
and If we will not pass the laws wish,
l myself will start them by the initia-
tive" And the latter end Of that man
was better than the former,
| Pingree is bully boy with a glass
eye. He's the nightmare of the Repub-
lican party. They don't know what
to do with him. He's the bull in the
China shop Of corporation privileges.
A combination forms to raise the price
Of asphalt for paving the streets Of De-
troit. He slips off to Trinidad or some
other place and brings back company
ready to furnish asphalt at one-third
fthe price asked by the trust. 1t
grits its teeth and swears, but can do
nothing The legislature passes law
about the sale of mileage books at two
cents a mile. The Michigan Central
refuses to obey it and says, What are
you going to do about it," Pingree
as private citizen offers them money
for such a ticket and brings suit be-
cause they refuse, and, unlike most
suitors, instead Of getting on his knees,
he brings them to theirs. And now,
worst of all, he's actually called the
legislature together to remedy the in
equality Of taxation, and he says:
I'm violation of the spirit II not the
letter of these provisions Of the con-
stitution, laws have been passed from
time to time by which railroad COM
panies, express companies, telegraph
according to their sworn returns, at
least one-third of the property Of this
state, are required to pay only about
one-twenty-sixth Of the taxes levied
for state, county, and municipal pur-
poses, leaving their just proportion OF
public expenses to fall upon the farm
ers, laborers and manufacturers and
other property owners Of the state"
Now this is rank confiscation. It's
opposition to special privileges, and
everyone knows our civilization Is built
upon special privileges. The Repub-
lican machine has tried to down him,
but he's bigger than the machine. He
don't talk much, but he acts. It's well
to keep your eye on Pingree. He's
a bad, bad man and the people love
him.
Yes, prosperity is on us. It's COM
ing in great big chunks. The news
papers recently had flamboyant para
graph about the starting up Of glass
factories at Steubenville, o., and how
they were working night and day.
was there recently and made some in
quiries. The factories have started up.
One at least is working night and day,
and Sundays, too. 1t works the men
and women in two shifts-no eight
hour day for them, but twelve and
fourteen hours. And what does it pay?
Able bodied men there get IS cents a
day for twelve to fourteen hours ex-
haustive work. The highest paid get
$1.2O day. But they don't employ
many men; women are cheaper. They
pay them s1.65 per week for seven days
work. And then they fine them for
hardness, imperfection and all sorts
of things. One girl, so my informant
said, received Is cents for seven days
work. The result is the employees are
constantly changing. l was told they
made almost complete change every
three weeks. And, the sad part Of 1t
is, they can always get new hands at
these rates. The dawn Of prosperity
has produced so many unemployed
that such an employer can draw on the
great reservoir Of the unemployed al
most indefinitely. Alas!
Some half-baked reformers are talk
ing about settlement Of the money
question by having free coinage at a
changed ratio. Senator Wolcott has
proposed 20 to 1. Now, II we're going
to change the ratio, let us have 1t at
16 to 3-4ths. There's a profound, diff
ference between the two. We changed
the ratio in 1887, but we kept the same