The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1910-05-06

1t may be ungenerOuS to look Il gift
horse in the mouth, hut it is always
prudent to look well at ''brag horse
Very often givers are Greeks" but
the brag horse seldom goes 1t is
so with this California nag, it don't
make good. Evidences of this are OF
every hand. In my first letter i noted
the thriftless, dilapidated appearance
Of Redwood City, and it samples
every country town | have yet seen
! Linden has n burned down brick
store, and abandoned flooring mil;
| that was run night and day thirty
years ago, Il shut down creamery and
/ the houses, barns, fences etc, arr
mostly implanted, rackety and tumble
down. There is not n. lumber yard
in any of the towns named, or nearer
than Stockton, twelve miles from the
nearest OF them. and neither Bellota
nor Peters has Il church building. In
fact all these places along with the
jewellers thereof might appropriately
j
seen better days"
No Valid Reason.
That there is not valid reason for
this state of things is as apparent
as the fact that they exist, for nature
has done her full share toward making
happy, prosperous people. At the
present time the vineyard and orchards
look fine and the small grain crop is
) foot tall, with heads from three to
four inches long, Within thirty miles
of here src both copper and gold
mines and valuable timber land is no
farther off. Why then this shabby
poverty stricken appearance uof tho
people and their habitations amidst
these fertile lands and this abundant
natural wealth? There is only one true
answer and that,I gave in last letter
"fixed" prices of iOrchard, vineyard
and farm products and private owner
ship of natural wealth. But buy
ing prices are ''fixed" against the pro-
Queer as effectively as the selling
prices so that they are skinned
both going and coming. In other
words, "allied" interests and railroad
"systems," etc, absorb the lions share
of the wealth of the country by fix
ing prices as completely as the alb
sentee Irish landlord did by fixing
rents And in the same way too
the wealth is taken n,,t of the country
and lost to it entirely as the rent of
the Irish farmer pays is lost to Ire
land. Hence. again, Bellotas and Pc
tiers, and st. Peters. Two recent news
items emphasize both cause and effect
OF The SO evil conditions. .8.,,
One to Make Protest.
The fist is a protest from "the al
he'd Grape and Wye Association of
California" against an order from The
uniicI States government foroidding
them :,cn selling ;h::r wines i'nder :,
fal.n ',and. Here IS tie gal Of all
monopolies, they are "allied" not only
to fix prices but to cheat the public
by selling their wares under false
names, and they cry out against the
government because it will not allow
them to do So The other item reads
LOS Angeles Holds the Insane Record
Figures are then given. From a report
of the state lunacy commission for
the month of March during which time
Los Angeles sent forty-eight patients
to state hospitals. San Francisco was
a good second with forty five and other
parts of the state add to the number
of these most pitiable of the victims
of unnatural social conditions. Just
think of it, in one short month forty
eight human beings go insane in one
city, and that the very centre of this
advertised earthly paradisaical state.
If the United States census they are
now taking would get reasons as well
as numbers for poverty, crime and in
sanity there would be revelations
that would make our people take no.
ticc.' Take Los Angeles for instance
| asked Il well known minister of
the Methodist church, who formerly
had charge there, the reason for
Los Angeles rapid growth. He smiled
and answered "Just one word, BOOM
The city is not even seaport though
it is advertised as such, steamship
lines advertising to sail from Los
Angeles to San Francisco. ETC.. whcr
in fact of the matter is they cannot
get any nearer to it than San Pedro
over twelve miles away To give tn,
advertised lie semblancc of trutl
Los Angeles claims to have annexed
San Pedro. And for what purpose
All in the interest of real estate
SPECTATORS, irrigation companies and
the railroads. The land without tho
water is barren desert, hence the mer
who own the water virtually own the
land, and along with it. that very un
important appurtenant, to the spccu
lators, to it, the "man.' But the