Clarke courier. [volume] (Berryville, Va.) 1869-1997, 1904-05-25

no strike and plenty of coal. Did
the price drop back to where IL
was before. No. not according To
the bills we paid with a sigh sand
filed 80 carefully away. A curtail-
ment OF production was the pretty
little trick they played on Mr..
Public this time. When there was
any chance of the supply exceed
ing the demand. 50 that prices
might naturally revert TO the old
level. they simply shut up shop,
and gave their employees a Christ
mas vacation for a fortnight or
two. Which neither the employees
nor Mr.. Public appreciated in the
least. \ fine case. YOU see. of
heads | win. tails YOU lose. for the
coal baronS. And where did Mr..
Public come in. If YOU please,
right square between the upper
and neither millStoneS.
oh. l. there anything to he
said about oik just word or
two. Here again the powers that
prey, the modern plunderers of the
poor. have been doing their deadly
work. Mr.. John ID. Rockefeller
and his jovial band of outlaws this
time. In the days of auld lang
syne. say in the early nincties,
when the oil wells were supposed
10 be less perfectly worked than At
present. and transportation facili-
ties were not overmuch to brag
about. Mr.. Pilfered Public remem-
bers distinctly taking his little can
down 10 the corner grocery store
and having it filled for something
ike eight or nine cents 10 the gal
lon. Today. with all the vaunted
achievements of modern machin-
cry. and pair of rapid rails reach
inc into the very corners of the
earth, it costs Mr.. Public sixteen
and eighteen cents every time the
groceryman sticks funnel into
his can.
And SO the story goes. all along
the line. just recently bread.
which under certain circumstances
has every right To- rise. and Is cx-
pectcd To. has misbchaved by rising
in price. Even Mr.. Public's staff
of life Is now TO be iuggled with.
and henceforth he must content
| himself with smaller loaf. Last
summer the ice trust I'm New York
was responsible for the death of
many baby. 10y placing It's COM
modify ont of the reach of the poor
in the hot tcncmcntS. When Mr..
/ Public travels he pays someone
twice a much a. il costs 90 carry
him; when he sends telegram or
uses the telephone he fattens the
| full pockets of the autocrats out of
his own lean one. In investments
he is drawn, under false pretenses,
into every sort of sham scheme.
and seldom or never does he see
his savings again. OF the making
of many trusts there Is seemingly
no end. and every blessed one of
them. sooner or later. directly or
indirectly, viii get at Mr.. Public
hard-earned wage and pillage il.
! Up, up. Serenely up. everything
goes. except salaries and incomes.
, Here, dividends are gradually get.
ting smaller, and positions witt
, decent salaries fewer. What. for.
sooth, is to become of us all.
Verify. the lot of that truly
estimable gentleman, Mr.. Pilfered
Public. Is becoming sad one. The
world of wealth dances itself mer-
rily along. and always Mr.. Public
has to pay the fiddler. He receives
no consideration at anybody,
hand. Against him is directed
every known kind of humbug. inn
position and sharp practice. The
money changers in the modern
temples of finance feast on his
vitals and grow fat. And. alas. he
has no redress, no hope of ever
getting even with the game. Al
he can do Is to sit hGmbly still. and
wonder where the pinch is coming
next. He was damned in the be,
ginning by certain famous phrase
and damned he's been ever since
But not forever, let us hope
|