The Chanute times. [volume] (Chanute, Kan.) 1897-1913, 1906-11-02

! IndeDendence or CHARACTER anu o"0
right to speak and think and act In
Lbe interest of decent fellow eitlzen
shis, concede to every man the righI
10 think for himself and L ask the
same right for myself. There Is no
duty so high upon me as the duty
owe nv comrades. The obligation l
owe them is not incidental, IT Is per-
..a. l fought with you and ex-
a.. f.. 4, with you, When they call
IS, where they call me,
tx. ,he invitation was
At Ia Il poe'r at Erie at the re-
lun,,, tL.An vas Reunion OF the
GA he. e., ,Cei to the invitation,
and I only reler to 1t because there
have been some very unpleasant re-
PARKS made about it, and l wish now
to read this official letter.
Office of OH and G is lands for SALE
Sept. 16, 1906,
Dear Sir: l wish to convey to you
request (you see it is request a COM
mand TO go) to be with US on oct. 9th.
The Hon. Jno. Madden will be pre-
sert. You can speak either at or
10. Then followed the times or the
trains. You can choose rs IT, the
time you shall talk to US. Please al
wise me how it will be with you on this
proposition.
Very truly yours,
j, T. WELLS.
went. l responded to it that L
would be present, aud was accom-
panied by some 10 or Is of my COM
rades whom l met at the depot here.
We went to the hotel and secured
rooms, and from there l was con-
Quoted to the barber shop, and while
I was having my toilet made, some OF
nv comrades wanted to speak to me,
was in rather dlshabille costume but
I went out and talked to them little
bit, went back and had my toilet tin'
ished, and thought / would speak In
the afternoon, l had something L
wanted to say.
A cadaverous looking man came up
to me, and says Are you going to get
chance to speak? Well dion't
think it was necessary for me to get
chance. was there in compliance
with request, and was not seeking
chance to talk. wasn't even invited
10 the platform, we took seat on the
stairs with Brother Parks. We finally
moved and went little closer where
we could hear better. My friend Jno
Madden, very intelligent man made
a speech of about an hour and forty
minutes, and when he was done my
friend Mr.. P. P. Campbell. a native Of
Nova Scotia got up and made talk.
He talked good deal about Jno
D. Rockefeller, and demonstrated
that he was worse than Jesse James
and the Younger boys, because Jesse
would 60 to the poor unfortunate
widow who had mortgage on her
place. and think am quoting him
exactly, and furnish her with the
money to pay off the mortgage, with
the request that she let him know
when the NOR tgagee would call to get
the money, and then he would hold
dim up along the road, and take the
money back, with a little more, and
be said that John D. Rockefeller was
doing the people likewise.
Now John D. Rockefeller may be
very bad and may have taken more
money that he should have, but there
are two sides to every question, and
John served four years in the United
States Army. L am not apologizing
for him however, but when he took
hold of oil it was 65 and 20 cents per
gallon, and smelled so strong it would
dive pole cat out Of the dominion.
He reduced the crude oil to Kerosene,
vaseline, wagon grease and a number
OF other things, he clarified it, and
took away it's explosive qualities, and
made it good for many things. He
has done some good In this world, and
l remember Mr.. Campbell said the
James boys had done less harm and
more good than Jno, D. Rockefeller.
Such comparisons are wrong. God
knows the Standard Oil company is
bad enough, but there Is no reason
why such out rageous comparisons
should be made. l want to do right
and compel those who are doing
wrong, to do right. Finally Mr..
Campbell came to the end OF bis
speech, and the Chairman said if
there is any old soldier who has any
thing to say. would be glad to have
him do so.
l thought it was then time for me
to 20. Brother Parks went up to the
platform, and ! went back to the
Hotel. l thought l was IN the case
with the Irishmsn who had insuffic'.