The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1910-04-15
Tales From the Pacific Coast


Independent have volumes Of meaning
in them if one will read between the
lines. One reads: Grapes will be W
ton more this coming season than last,
and the other: Had many answers"
The first admits that "last season
wine grape growers did not make any
money selling their grapes at So
a ton" Table grapes as ] stated in
former letter, sold as low as SIS ton,
and did not pay Tor picking. The hogs
We're eating them on this place when
we came here and there were unpicked
! grapes all over the ntighborhOod. AS
an aside it is food for reflection
that table grapes sold for 10 cents per
pound in Mankato while these hogs
were eating the same kind and other vine
! yard owners We're blowing theirs under
Now the vines are not leafed out yet,
but the price of the ungrOwn crop is
fixed by The allied Grape and Wine
association of California" nearly Il
/ year before it is known what the
harvest will be" either in quality or
quantity. This is proof positive that
the big ones fix prices and the prices
fix the little ones" But last sea
son the little ones were fixed more
! than they could bear and became
insurgents" grubbing out their vine
yards and refusing to harvest their
grapes, thus playing general smash
with the rules" of their 'JOe Can
nOnst." And so it comes about that
the little ones" task masters have
increased the price per 'tale of bricks"
$500 per ton. 1t also proves that the
fruit trafiickers have and are bound To
load the traffic, that means the fruit
growers. all it will bear. The other
item. Had Many answers" refers to
San Diego stage driver who adver
tised for wife and received a noun
tain" of letters in reply. 1t quotes
the stage driver as saying, My matri-
monial correspondence nearly swamped
me- Could there by any stronger
proof of present unnatural social con
ditions then the above? Unapproprated
women are not confined to the eastern
states for even in this state where
men are in the majority, there are
plenty of them, and they swarm all
over the country in every village, town.
city and on the farms. The strong
minded and virtuOus put on n bold
front, invade the industrial realm Of
the natural bread winners, and thus
, aggravate the existing social evils which
prevent their prince" from claiming
them as their household queens. But
these strong minded women, who can
fight the battle of life alone to sue
cessful issue. are but a very small min
Ority of those who are forced. single
handed into the fight by vicious social
conditions. The vast ma iority of unap-
propriated women, the real feminine
women, go down to defeat in the unna :
, tural struggle, the morally weak goin"
. down into the bottomless pit of
human degradation. and dragging the
| floating male rifraff down with them
These human wastrels OF both sexes
| swarm in those modern pest houses
: of our modern Babylons. the ''rOoming
{ houses" and are a menance to civil
and jetsam of onr vicious industrial
. system are more to be pitied than
blamed. for they are simply weak links
in a social chain, the strain on which
+ has become fearful. So. as the old
, song says, 1--WE will excuse the faults
the finer fibred women. the real viz
: tuMls feminine woman, who suffer
I most from the present evil conditions
@ which delay or prevent marriage alto
o gether by reducing mems earnings and
. increasing the cost of living unit
able to establish a home of their owl
and support wife and family. Hence
), we have untold thousands of the very
cream of wOmanhood spread over ever.
. part of this country of fabulous natura
s wealth. living unnatural lives, unmatet
% and their maternal love unsatisfed.
II These real womanly women suffe
!, infinitely more than either their fallen
= or coarser grain sisters of the DR.. Mar,
- Walker kind. because they are NOR
- sensitive. There was a visible carS
for the superabundance of old maid
:, in the eastern states the young mel
had followed Horace Greeley's advic
- and gone west to carve ont a forum
=. for themselves. with the future intcn
:, ton of making a home for themselve
and 'the girl they left behind them.
:, What they really did do was to cary
out fortunes for THE Allied Grape an
:: Wine association of California; an
other "allied" interests after their kline
), The result was a vude awakening frOr
- 'lfe's young Dream and the girl
they lebt behind them" were left fo
:, good to wither away through weary
~ cheerless life. with mo one to low,
none to caress." Lies burden, or ratf
or the lack of it. with countless thor
sands of these gentle Ophelias" wa
q more than they could bear, the har
of a thousand strings got out of tnn
~ and at last they find "hOme" in or
:" of our numerous ever ncrea sing an
~ overcrowded insane asylums. Or
y, would naturally think that this pha>
u" of the social evil would be confine
to the older settled eastern state
VI but statistics prove that even in tn
brag state of the "Golden West" wit
''' its Golden gate" and Golden GA
OH park" hold well to the front in tn