Mower County transcript., 1907-03-13
FARMER BEN'S
COL LulM.N

'sFS5
COL LUlM.lN
1t is to laugh to see how the legisla-
ters think they can hide and duck on
votin' and fool their home constituents
One of the boys was tellin' me that
when the two-cent rate bill came up
for vote at ST. Paul there was whole
raft of 'em that voted agenst it but
when they saw it want goin' to carry
they hurried and shifted their votes
over so as to appear on the record as IN
avor of it and had it fixed up with the
city reporters so it wouldn't appear on
record how they opposed it and poor
Doct seems to hav been the only one
left outside the breastWorks in the flop.
The same thing was worked on the
salary grab in congress. Some OF em
voted agenst it when it came up as
bill so as to get the record but when
the appropriation bill was IN confer
+ ence they all chucked in the salary
grab clause and it went wnOopin' and
no opposin'. And us gumps sit down
here and take the lynn records in the
big papers as law and truth. The
whole trouble comes in us farmers
sendin' lot of men to the legislator
and congress who hav no more regard
for decency and our rights than q dog
has of the cats right in the milk dish
tell you my mouth has ben yum
yumin' for the last few days durin'
those sugar SHOWS and warm days we
had a thinkin' of the old sugar bush
down in Jefferson county where Us
boys used to. make maple sugar. We
didn't hav any of the new tangled
things to work with but went right out
and notched the trees with axe and
drove in the Eastwood spiles we'd
made durin' the winter. What time
of your life it was. We ketched the
sap in little log troughs or in pals and
emptied into barrel strapped on the
old sap sled and hauled by oxen. My,
how they used to 60 up and down the
steep hills till it looked they must tip
and spill everything. Then came the
boilin' in the big kettle till the sap got
thick and then we sugared off. i was
let few times to stay out with pa thru
the night when they kept the old kettle
boilin' all the time. What lookin
for wolves and wild beasts had sittin'
and watchin' the sparks of the camp
fire. My, but the sugar had tang and
flavor in those days of pure foods that
amt in existence nowadays. ..
When the women get at a job it has
to CO. Out in little suburb Of Los
Angeles the other day see the women
folks took hold of Washington boule-
ward the principal thoroughfare of the
town and fixed it up in great shape
after the lazy officials had ben repeat
edly appealed to in vain. The women
armed themselves with picks and
shovels and hoes and rakes and brOOms
and went at it in squads. The wife of
a millionaire drove the village road
roller and other rich women handled
the other tools and altho the men were
so ashamed they offered to help out,
the women went it alone until sun
down when they showed the slickest.
smoothest, cleanest and best ordered
boulevard the little burg ever had seen
and now they hav somethin' to be
proud of in decent well-kept thorough
fare and no graft or lazybones about
it. It is such things that put the men
folks in the shade. I tell you when
women take a notion they are awful
sot just like my wife and our gal Sarah
got when they wanted the woodpile in
a new place and sure enough when l
got home from town behold it sure
enuf want in the old familiar place.
No matter how the ThaW trial comes
out with Thaw, the world is we'll rid Of
one of the blackest sc0undrels that
eyer breathed air. White moved in.
high circles and had brains and genius
but bis morals we're as rotten as car.
rion. Any man that could deliberately
study to lure young girls to ruin, draw
in 'em on by crafty hattery and atten-
tons. the way White did, amt dt to.
live and should die like dog. We've
got to draw the line somewhere on let
tin folks liv and ] guess this is the
place. There's q few scoundrels in the
same business up to Austin that are on
the ragged edge and will tumble over if
they amt nifty careful. No matter
what it costs the innocent girls hav got
81, ~, ,,o,.f fo1 frrrn tho will one on1 II