Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1898-09-08
Go1dsmith's Propnerlc Eye.

standard, New England farmers would
be starved out, and abandoned farms
would abound on every hand in what
was once a thriving agricultural region.
He drew this picture, which, after the
lapse of 1870 years, is true to nature, to
the situation in many New England
neigbborhoods:
When every rood of ground maintained its
For him light Labor spread her wholesome
store,
Just gave what life required, but gave no
more
His best companions, innocence and health,
And his best riches, ignorance of wealth.
But times are altered. Trades unfeeling train
Usurp the land and dispossess the swain.
Along the lawn, where scattered hamlets rose,
wealth and cumbrous pomp repose
And every want to luxury allied,
And every pang that folly pays to pride
Those gentle hours that plenty bade to bloom
Those calm desires that asked but little room,
Those healthful sports that graced the peace
full scene,
Lived in each look and frightened all the
green.
These, far departing, seek kinder shore.
And rural mirth and manners are no more.
Even in the fertile agricultural sec
tions of the west, even in the Missis-
sippi valley, the richest large body of
farming land in the world, the substi-
tuition of the tenant farmer for the own
er of the soil goes on apace to the detri-
ment of the state.
The last census developed the saddest
fact that ever read-that nearly one
half of American householders do not
own their own homes. Almost half the
fathers and mothers, husbands and
wives of the land are houseless and
homeless in country which less than
400 years ago was bowling wilder
ness, which 800 years ago was still
virgin soil.
Uncle Sans Lost Land.
When was little child, my father
used to put me to sleep at night by
singing to me song entitled "Uncle
Sam Is Rich Enough to Give Us All a
Farm. He was then, but our dear un-
Gle is "busted" now as to land because
unwise and reckless congresses granted
to corporations enough land to make
half dozen states as big as Missouri
Conditions in this country have grown
worse rather than better since $780, the
date of the last census. That much can
be stated, l hope, without laying N.Y.
self open to the charge of pessimism or
anarchy. If practically 80 per cent of
our householders were renters III 1890
and times have grown worse since then,
how many are renters now? Most prob
ably much more than half.
Lord Chatham said: "An English
mans house is his castle. 1t may be
frail and full of holes and cracks so
that the rains of heaven pour in and
the winds whistle through it, but it is
nevertheless his castle, and the king,
with all his power, dare not cross its
threshold unbidden, or words to that
effect.
1t is true now that an American S
house is his castle. If man owns his
own home be it town lot or section
of farming land, it is his own. He is
free, and no boss, no landlord, can COM
mand him to move on.
No wonder Henry George and other
lovers of his kind were apprehensive
as to the future of the masses of the
people when they saw coming stealth
lily and swiftly upon us the curse which
has been the blight of Ireland-the
curse of absentee landlordism.
Only 40 years ago Uncle Sam was
rich enough to give us all farm. Now,
when father looks into the faces of
his prattling babes and presses them to
his heart, he wonders where they are
to find homes i'll the days that lie be-
fore them. To this complexion has it
come at last through the unwisdom and
maladministration of the Republican
party. Surely, the American fathers and
mothers will wake from their lethargy
at last and hurl from power forever the
party which is rendering the masses
houseless and homeless.
Mark Hanna's Predicament.
Uneasy rests the head that wears a
crown" is an old saying full of wisdom.
In the same line is, 81 All that glistens is
not gold" Now, Marcus A. Hanna is a
great and mighty parsonage and is gen
orally supposed to have all things for
the asking. Not SO, however, as the fol
lowing true story will illustrate. This
is the greatest show town on earth, the
president, diplomatic corps, cabinet and
two houses of congress being the prin-
cipal performers There are certain wise
denizens of Washington who long since
made up their minds to make the most
of the circus and who actually have
come to believe that the show was ar
ranged for their special benefit and be-
hoof To all such the Inauguration Of a
president is godsend for the particu
lar purpose of filling their pockets with
the coin of the realm.
There are two ways of seeing an in
auguration One is to stand down on
the street in the cold March wind,
hustled and squeezed by hilarious thou
sands, and the other is. to sit in the
small and select circle of distinguished
guests, y in nice, comfortable chairs, Sc
ourely "roped off" from the palpitating
throng
Now, if any living man had the right
to choice of seats within the charm
ed circle at McKinley's Inauguration it
was the Marcus aforesaid, for indubita-
bly, he enacted the role of Warwick to
the Buckeye Napoleon, but Marcus play
ed in hard luck that day and came near
having to stand with the uncounted
multitude and be jostled by the rabble,
and nothing save his plethoric purse
saved him from that ignominious fate.
Mark can run presidential campaigns
but he can't run an inaugural show
not by jugful. The Washingtonians
attend to that matter themselves. They
allot tickets to the inner circle, the
sanctum sanctorum. and in the allot-
ment they are generous with themselves
and parsimonious with others. Now,
Mark received his full quota, six tick
cts, ample for himself and family !;
but, having promised offices, tickets and
other things to influential politicians
with prodigality becoming War
wick, in redeeming his ante-election
promises he soon found himself minus
inaugural tickets, supposing, of course,
that all he had to do to get more tick
cts was to ask for them. He was dunn
founded to discover that there were no
more for Marcus. That was the first
thing after the election that taught him
that, after all, he was only mortal. He
fused, he perspired, he cussed but
tickets he couid not GET. He could not