Mower County transcript., 1906-08-08
FARMER BEN'S; |. )
COL .UJMN.

1co, tdlh dDOut cOmpeClLlOu not com
petin'. I see that the other day that
when Uncle Sam opened bids for lot
of armor plate for two big battleships
the big steel trust that has had mon
Opoly put in big price as usual and
here comes the Midvale Steel Company
of Philadelphia and bids quarter of a
million dollars lower on the Identical
job. Didn't the trust fellows hustle
round and offer to take part of the con-
tract on the competitors lower fggers
if only they could get it? l tell you
nothin' else would have brought 'em to
taw but competition. It's so alwus.
tell you where there amt competition
it's extort and grab and grind without
mercy or justice and when good, strong
real competition comes then it's all
accommodation and smiles and low
prices You never saw it fail. River
competition keeps railroads from get
tim On their high horse. Rival oil COM
panies makes the Standard Oil Com
pany fairer. Stickney's Road makes
the others tote fair to Omaha and
other towns. The Panama canal will
cut rates to the Pacific rite in two. If
the tariff was let down on trust made
goods to the point of good nice profits
without extortion and then let in COM
petition it would hold things steady
like nothin' else will,
I see lots of folks are comm to
Farmer Ben's idees about the primary
election fake. It's been the means of
breakin' up the republican party as
nothing else could. We used to let
each party pick their own candydates
in nominatin' conventions and then
come to the regular election in Novem-
ber and scrap it out and the one that
got the most votes was elected. It
amt so now under the primary. In
republican strongholds all the demo-
Gratis hav to do is to pile into the re-
publican primaries and vote agenst
candydates that would be most accept
able to the majority of republicans and
practically name the nominees and the
November election is just shadow
and form without contest or rivalry.
That's the way it was in the Third
ward in Austin four years ago wheD
over a hundred democrat votes was
brought into the republican primary by
political rascals and cutthroats who
ought to be in the penitentiary this
blessed mint and the wish and will of
the whole republicans Of Mower county
was turned down rite in the Third
ward by democrat votes illegally cast
In the republican primary. That's a
sample of the practical workings of the
present primary system. The dems
love it for it simply is scheme to
break up all republican organization
and fealty.
I'm hopin' my rheumatic will let me
get up to the G.. A. R. grand encamp-
ment at Minneapolis next week. I'd
like to meet some of the old comrades
once more that shared canteens with
me in the early sixties. I'D like to see
the big parade of the boys marchin'
with just as determined step as when
they was fightin' rebels if they are get
tim feeble and weak. motifs that
Commander Tanner has slowed down
the march time to ninety a mint for
the bands in the parade instead of 12O
which is the march time of Uncle
Sans regulars. The old boys will
keep up to time no matter what it is
if theylfall out the next minitsbut it is
better to Civ 'em gait that their rheu-
matte legs can stick to longer. l tell
you it's alwus Joy and comfort for
the boys to get together and renew old
times. I'd like to meet some that I
haven't seen since the grand review at
Washington but don't know whether
lots of 'em are in the land of the livln'.
1 reckon that the reunions up to Me-
tropolis will be the best of the whole
business. spose that to some young
ninnies it seems all foolishness to hold
! these encampments but these don't
know enuf to curry COW. The boys
that did the fghtin' for the old flag
know what they stand for and out
siders never can get their comprehen-
sions round 'em. 49,
|sk1 i t.~3 9 o O ...-. tSfaE s,
The Chicago perlice say that almost
all crime in that awful town is COM
mitted after ten o'clock and most of it
by young folks, boys and girls, under
"a. It all comes from acquirin' the
out-late-night habit when boys and
girls. There's set of these round
every town that are roamin' round