Mower County transcript., 1906-08-01
FARMER BEN'S
COLUMN

O~~3o
dead and he's now as poor as Green
land rat in his new quarters. He was
just a money maxim machine. He
had awful little humanity in him. He
was happy when he was maxim dol
lar and it broke his heart if he ever
lost a cent. He wore the stingiest
hand me downs for clothes and the
cheapest shoes to hurt his feet and
scrimped and saved until he got
big fortune but he spent nifty little of
it for charity or public purposes. He
would crawl out of his sick room to let
money at big interest when investors
was cornered. He was just simply a
penurious graspin'. old stingystick and
now he's had to turn up his toes. 1
bet he turned over in his thousand
dollar coffin because of its cost. What
good is such a man? His seventy mil
lion dollars go to his wife with hardly
red for charity or the general good.
He died as he lived. The man who
would argue about the price Of two
apples or haggle over the price of a
hair cut didn't intend to let the world
hav any benefit of his fortune when he
was dead. I'm glad that the state of
New York will get three millions of in
heritance tax out of his estate and
only wish it was ten times more. He
ought to be warnin' to other folks to
hav a little speck of kindness and
generosity and warmth of heart.
It's gettln within few weeks of the
primary nominations for county officers
and not peep Is heard from single
candydate. We've ben promised all
kinds of surprises at the comm primary
but it won't be long before all the hun
cry ones will bav to file and put up a
sawhorse to get on the official ballot,
OF course, if nobody else wants a
county offs or wants to go to the legis-
later I've no doubt the present cum
berers can be persuaded to continue to
draw salaries The pesky primary law
is put up to favor long terms of ottis
and if you hav fight just pack hun
dred or two illegal voters into a caucus
same as tho third ward rascals who
ought to be wearin' stripes in the peni-
tentiary did four years ago. Money
and beer and nerve and deception and
lynn will do lots when unscrupulous
gang Of cutthroats are behind 'em. All
I'm interested in special is the legisla-
tur and if US farmers amt agoin' to
get move on us we won't hav one SOL
itary single one of our bunch to stand
for Mower county with the lawmakers
at St. Paul. I know it's off year and
that's our danger. Well stay to home
and let the schemers manipulate the
political cards agenst our interests and
then later kick ourselves for things
goin' wrong. It's gettin' time to get a
move on.
That fake dispatch that Roosevelt
and Sherman and Cannon had got to-
gether and decided on a strict "stand
pat' campaign on the tariff business
made my hair stand until the later
news showed it rank canard and fake
and whoopin' lie If those down east
chaps don't know what the senti
ment of the west is about
reciprocity and tariff revision, they
better come out and see. We want tar
hf revision that will protect legitimate
industries within legitimate limits but
this protection of trusts and robber
monopolies who are ho1din up the con-
sumer for outrageous prices just be-
cause they can get 'em and no competl-
tion to scare 'em into bein' reasonable
won't go down much longer and the
trust agents down east ought to know
it. Us farmers and stock raisers out
west know a thing or two if some
nnnies do set us down for hayseeds.
We want the tariff fixed by It's friends
and not its enemies. We want protec
tion for all worthy industry and enter
prise. But we want prices that are
based on reasonable profit and when
the tariff is so high that lot of manu-
facturers can boost prices skyhigh and
all competition from outside as all
equalizer is shut out it's kind of pro.
lection that is unjust and unfair.
We've no use for stand pat speeches
and campaignin' up here in Minneso-
ia unless crazy heads are bound to turn
US all over to the enemy.
o O @
I'D like to hav tended that conven-
ton of Old Bachelors and Old Maids
down in, Iowa the other day and listen
to their elucidatin' of their peculiar
conditions and troubles. 1t didn't