Mower County transcript., 1906-12-12
FARMER BEN'S
COLUMN

COLUMN
Come on, come on, any chap that
wants to knock the chip off Farmer
Ben's shoulder on the carpetbagger
prop. l assert, asseverate and reiterate
that anybody that goes into a place
simply and solely to hold public of1is
and draw salary and givs it out cold
that he's goin' to Dakota just as soon
as the pabIic salary pap plays out is a
carpetbagger and not entitled to the
rights and perquisites of local offs like
he was regular citizen. This carpet
Dagger business that Jim Tawney de-
lights in playin' with the Austin post
offs is offensive and kicky to the in
stincts of all fairminded folks no mat
ter what their color or standln'. It's
tromplin' on home folks for the sake of
boostin' carpetbaggers. Tawney don't
Civ cuss for what the people want
in such things. He carries his head
like steer in the corn and folks get so
used to his trompin' over 'em and
turnin' EN- down that they come up
agen smilin' to the polls to do his bid
din.
l can't get those big stealin's Of land
out west off my mind l see they're
gettin' some of the officials of the big
robber companies on the court rack.
The big companies sent agents all over
and picked out desirable public lands
and they put dummies on, payin' 'em
five dollars day and expenses and as
soon as they could all these pieces were
made over and gobbed by the big rob-
bers. That's the way Uncle Sam has
lost millions Of acres that was intended
for honest settlers. It makes me grind
my teeth when I think of such frauds.
The coal lands Of Utah, the irrigation
lands of Montana, the ore and timber
lands of Minnesota: the ranch lands OF
the far west, in fact the cream of the
whole business for years has been so
largely gobbled up by the moneyed
corporations and the thieves in cahOots
with 'em that ordinary folks hav little
show among the leavin's. I'm glad the
government is lookin' after these steal
ings some, but so long as boodlin' con-
gressmen won't change the laws to
make 'em right there'll still be frauds.
My paper says that these big railroad
magnates lots Of em amt really in and
of themselves got much money
but they're in the pull with the big
insurance companies and such and
have a use Of big funds to ma
nipulate stocks and railroads and
get big returns and control. It's like
this, spose | didn't hav bu. dollar and
some big insurance company with
billions of reserve funds Civ me a
stand in with 'em SO | could use all
wanted to of their funds. Spose went
out and bargained for section OF land
and stocked it with all kinds of stock
and made the thing pay and by and by
got big returns and could turn back
all that I'd had the use of and still own
the section and all it contains, [ tell
you | could make good thing and
really have nifty leetle capital of my
own. No y that's the way that lots of the
big financierin' is done. The awful big
piles of funds in the big insurance
companies and trust companies are
used on the side and folks build railroads
and open mines and sell enough water
ed stock so they still own the railroads
and clean up all debts.
l see the legislators up to st. Pau
are already sparrin' for positions ano
there's all kinds of manipulatin' goin
on to see who will get the best commit
tees, but you know it, the railroad and
lumber and ore millionaire owners anc
proprietors are pullin' the strings ano
when the final showdown comes they'll
dictate who shall run the committees
and the state business. In the last leg
islater the chairman of one of the tenn
perance committees was brewin' com
pany agent and so it goes. Folks ain't
so blind all over that they can't see
that lots o. proposed legislation is
never intended to go thru but is simply
legpullers. There's all kinds of schemes
on for this comm winter from raisin
some more Mower county salaries uI
to givin' half a million dollars more tc
beautify the new statehouse by buyin
up lot of st. Paul land round the
statehouse grounds at three prices
The people alwus bring up the rear anc
get what's left. There's big job on t(
,oo11o conoa mora state offices TO fill with