The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1909-05-29
UNHAPPY FATE OF THE
GUILELESS CONSUMER.
Memphis commerciaI-AppesI.
. &c . = = . = =


The consumer may be regarded as
the innocent bystandeT in our pOliti-
cal system. Whoever is shot at by
our stern old Roman statesmen, he
gets hit.
During political campaigns we hear
good deal about the consumer
Spokesman of both parties tell US that
the time has come to take some
thought for the consumer. There are
two great classes in this, as in every
other country, the producers and the
consumers. The former certainly can't
get along without the latter. Natur'
ally the consumers are IN the major
ity. In fact everybody is a consul
mer, but everybody is not a pro-
Queer.
Thus during political campaigns the
consumer is fiattered and caressed
and made to believe thas ne is actual
~ alive. So he gets him flag or a
tCrcn and marches along the muddy
street, often contracting "a case o. grip
III the interest of the party that is
going to give him his rights. At last
he feels that he is TO be protected
against the felonious and tTyannical
trust.
The election is over and the con-
sumner has enlargement of the chest
his haTd-earned dollars and handed
them over to the trusts and indus
trial concerns is TO be reformed and
amputated An indignant and out
ragged people have finally brought the
politicians to their senses. On bend
ed knee the demagogUe is saying his
prayers to the triumphant consumer.
Justice has tTiumpled. The Square
Deal is a fact.
Well congress meets, and the ways
anu means committee organizes and
prepares for a reform of the tariff.
! he consumer wears the smile that
won't come off. But it is observable
that there is a steady stream of
delegations calling on the committee.
The champions of zinc, the friends
Of the COW and the egg, the little
brothers of petroleum, the benevolent
Order of steel manufacturers, the max
eTs of stockings, the evangels of wood
all are cordially invited into the com
mittee room and permitted to have
whatever they ask for.
The poor old consumer is not In
vited TO these sOireeS. Whenever he
imagines that ne is a wedding guest
there is an Ancient Mariner just in
side the committee room door TO hold
him with his glitteTing eye.
As a matter of fact, the consumer
has served his purpose in the ecOno-
my of politics, and he is now d dead
Gre. Instead of securing reliee from
the big industrial combinations, he is
politely informed by one congressman
that the trust is a ghost; and he is
told TO his face by another congress
man that he is a myth. and that he
only imagines himself alive.
The consumer is one of the most
perplexing COnundTums in nature. He
always wins the marble heart and
is handed the lemon. A seeker after
pie he is invariably fed on wind pud'
ding. He is always a member in good
standing of the party of the Extreme
Left. He may nurse a sore toe for
a while, but he will almost invariably
rally to the fellow who gave aim
the sore toe. In spite of what has
happened to him. he remains a sucker
to the end of his days, believing ev-
eTything that everybody tells him,
voting against his own interests under
the impression that he is feathering
his nest. perpetual doormat for the
large fiat heel of tle politician, and
an easy mark for every fraud and
crook. Whenever the government has
things to give away, it never sends
an Underling out TO flag the con.
sumner; but whenever it wishes TO
make a present to one of the infant
centenarian Industries, it is the con-
sumeT's golden opportunity to get
thrown down and have what he owns
taken away from him.
But he never knows what has hit
him or who threw that brick