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Show MR. DRESSERS LETTER.. In another column we give place to a criticism from the pen of Mr. N. B. Dresser, of Mercur, on an article that recently appeared in these columns. We gladly give place to the criticism, for it covers a field fertile with good, sound sense. No one could have expressed our ideas more fully than has Mr. Dresser. We do not believe in narcotics or palliatives any more than he, and the most that could have been said in favor of the proposition of limiting wealth is that it is a makeshift, to be used only so long as the present system is in vogue. The facts are that there never would have been a millionaire, nor would there ever be another on, if the system of legislation was in practice that ia laid down by Mr. Dresser. But at present it is not in vogue. The millionaires are not only robbing the people blind, but they are escaping practically all taxation. If laws are passed requiring them to pay a portion of their ill gotten gains into the public coffers, all they have to do is to buy a Shiras, as they did do, and that ends the matter. Using Mr. Dressers own illustration and supposing there to be a Jesse James who is plundering the people of millions, and he continues to evade the officers, but keeps right on with his plunderings, and we had an opportunity to confiscate and recover a part of his stealings, would it not be the part of wisdom to do so, but of course keep a vigilant lookout for Mr. James all the while? As soon as he is captured and his maraudings stopped we could then and would, of course, leave off - our confiscations. MARRIED. Miss Florence M. Smith, the young lady whose name graced the Populist city ticket for auditor at the last campaign, was on last Wednesday evening married to Mr. John L. artist of this city. McKenna, a Living Issues extends congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. McKenna. well-know- n FOR SALE OR TRADE. . Weekly paper with well equipped office, situated in growing Oklahoma town. Will sell cheap for cash, or will trade for small tract of good land. Value of plant, $600.00 Reasons for selling given on application. H S. Foster, 125 Eighth West, Hutchinson, Kan. IT COSTS MONEY to go to Klondike; but this week you can buy all kinds of furniture, stoves, carpets, organs, pianos, chairs, tables, iron beds, sewing machines, cupboards, wardrobes, steel ranges, etc., etc.; two steel safes very cheap; everything will he sold regardless of cost before I go to Klondike. I. X. L. Second Hand Store, 48 East Second South Street. Telephone 448. P. A. Sorensen. A GRAND SUCCESS. The musical and dramatic entertainment at Unity Hall last Tuesday evening, given by Dr. Ravlin, was a success from every standpoint, notwithstanding the inclemency of the weather. With nearly all the participants it was their first appearance on the stage, and to say that they did nobly in every case is putting it exceedingly mild. So well pleased is everybody that it has been decided to have another entertainment at an early date. GETS SEVEN YEARS. James II. Bacon, of the defunct American National Bank, was yesterday found guilty of making false entries and was this morning sentenced to seven years in the State prison. While, if guilty, he should suffer the penalty the same as other people yet we all feel bad about it. Mr. Bacon was a very nice sort of a man. He probably became a victim of the temptation which our infamous svstem of banking gives to those who engage in it If the system was changed there would be fewer bankers in the penitentiary, and fewer persons mourning losses sustained by bank failures. THE CRIME OF BEGGING. A man by the name of Charles Wilson was released from jail last Wednesday morning, having served a term for some offense. The officers soon found him begging and he was directed to leave town at once. For some reason he did not do so and before night was This is the report pubagain in the "jug. lished by the daily papers and, we presume, it is somewhere near the truth. Now, in all candor, we would like to know what a poor devil is to do in such a case? He is turned out of jail without a cent. The weather is cold and he will get hungry, in spite of all his good intentions. The fact that he is a bad man does not take away his appetite. No matter how bad he is, he will starve unless he gets something to eat. How is a man out of jail and out of a job to help himself ? Now we are not answering these questions, for we cant. Can the police, or even Judge Wenger, answer them? We would like to hear them try it. The Freethinkers of Salt Lake City are planning to organize a peoples church, to Dr. be called "The Church of Humanity. Pacific Coast, N. F. Ravlin, lately from the is in the city of the saints, and indications point to his selection as "pastor. Dr. Ravlin we believe. He is a Spiritualist of the rational sort, an aggressive Freethinker, a scholar and an eloquent speaker. The Free Lancers of Salt Lake City will do their town a good turn by keeping him there permanently. Truth Seeker, New York City. is an WHY LIMIT WEALTH ? Editor Living Ihum : I was rather surprised to read in the last number of Living Issues the recommendation that the amount of wealth each man could hold should be limited to one million dollars. While it is quite true that wealth is power and the greater wealth a man possesses the more power he can exercise and that this power may be used against the interests of society, this is because our laws permit fortunes to be amassed by what may be fitly styled legalized robbery. The proposal to restrict fortunes or impose a graduated income tax, is similar to a proposition to limit the amount of plunder a Jesse James shall rob his neighbor of and require that he give up a certain percentage of his stealings to his poorer neighbors. If we were to restrict the fortunes of individuals, it would also be necessary to restrict the fortunes of corporations or trusts, for they are often controlled by one or a very few individuals, and fortunes in this form are more dangerous than when in the hands of an individual, for the individual dies and his fortune is often dissipated. A corporation rarely dies, and its fortune accumulates rather than decays. I do not know by what rule Living Issues fixes upon one million dollars as the limit. A man may earn one million dollars and give to society values equal to that amount, but I doubt if a man ever has It is doubtful if any man worth one hundred thousand dollars has honestly earned it unless he be the lucky finder of natural wealth like gold, silver, etc. In fact, how many men of even small fortunes have fairly earned all the property they possess? Very few, indeed. No small proportion of what they hold is the extortions of monopoly perhaps in a small way the extortions of usury, the unfair gains of a protected industry, the unearned increment of natural opportunities, the advance in values brought about by a manipulated currency all perfectly legal methods, but they enable men to get their hundreds, their thousands and their millions of dollars without giving any adequate return for them. The man who honestly earns $100 has created wealth or performed a service for society worth $100. The man who honestly earns a million dollars has performed a service or created wealth for society worth that amount. Moral qualities being equal, the latter man is worth more to society than the former, the same as a Clydesdale that can pull a four-toload is worth more to a teamster than a broncho that can pull less than a ton. Both men should be equally protected in their honest earnings. The more wealth there is created, the more wealth there will be for every member of society, provided each man gets only that proportion of it to which his ability and industry entitle him. Is it not dear, then, that the reform needed is not the impracticable one of trying to limit the amount of wealth a man may possess not in taxing him in proportion to his ability as a robber but in preventing him from robbing at all, without the certainty of getting into jail for doing so. In fixing things, arrange it so that whether a man be possessed of $100 or one million dollars he must have given an equivalent for every dollar of it to society. At first glance it may seem as if it were as hopeless to bring about such a condition as to restrict the accumulation of fortunes by legislative enactments. But let us see; There are three prindpal ways in which men legally but unfairly accumulate fortunes, either small or great One is in getting control of natural opportunities and making men pay for the privilege of working. Second, in getting control of natural monopolies and making people pay unfair prices for the use of public necessities like railroads, telegraphs, telephones, street cars, etc. Third, in getting control of the currency end thus depreciating values to the advantage of the creditor class and the loss of the debtors. I might add as a fourth, a protective tariff, which shuts out foreign competition and raises prices for the benefit of the producer at the expense of the consumer. I can think of no other methods of to legalized robbery that are not these four in some way. It is not at all difficult to destroy all of them. To prevent the monopolization of natural opportunities and thus kill of) the first and greatest robber of labor, it is only necessary to place such a tax upon land which contains all natural opportanities as will make it more profitable to use land than to hold it in idleness. This will kill land speculation and throw open to the use of capital and labor thousands of acres of agricultural land, forest, mineral land, coal land, oil reservoirs, city lots, manufacturing sites, etc., that are now held in idleness for speculative purposes. The second robber may be disposed of by n co-relat- the people gradually taking possession of all natural monopolies. By owning the streets and steel roads the same as they own the county roads and highways and giving the use of them to all comers at the same rates By owning the other monopolies and giving their use to individuals or corporations under such conditions only as will give practical competition. The currency robbers may be quickly routrd by the well known Populist formula. Issue a currency directly to the people of ample volume and which shall be a full legal tender for all debts public and private. These are primary reforms which strike at the root of the evil and they are the only kind that are of any value. The reason our patent laws benefit the wrong ones too often is because the owners of natural monopolies generally get possession and use them as a means of 1 educing their expenses and increasing their profits instead of reducing the cost of the service to the public. The remedy is not in changing the patent laws, as suggested by Living Issues they are all right. Adopt the primary reform of taking public control of all natural monopolies and the other two reforms as well and all will reap the benefit of inventions the inventor as well as the public. Dont waste your time on palliatives and makeshifts. As a general rule it is harder to make people believe in them than in a funN. B. Dresser. damental reform. Mercur, December 8, 1897. THE PEOPLES CHURCH. In Wheeling, W, Va., the private gas works were bought by the city many years ago and paid for by the sale of bonds. All the bonds have been redeemed out of the profits on the gas, without levying a dollar on the people, and the public service is now yielding a yearly income of about $25,000 to the city treasury, besides supplying the people with gas at 75 cents a thousand. The books of the city for 1896 show that besides supplying gas to the people at the price named, the city itself burned $6. 000 worth in its own public buildings, for which it paid ' nothing. The $25,000 profit made on its gas ' receipts more than sufficed to pay the entire cost of lighting the citys streets with 450 arc lights of 2,000 candle power each. It thus appears that Wheeling is able to furnish itself with electric light at about $50 per f the charge made lamp, or less than by private lighting corporations to other cities. Star and Kansan. one-hal- It is the good old greenback dollar the best money that the world ever knew that is causing consternation in the ranks ot both old parties and bankers in particular. To retire them is their aim. They are too cowardly to openly assassinate them, but are making plans, laying wires to retire them through a pretext of making them redeemable in gold. It is an infamous plot of the moneyed kings to contract the currency. Nonconformist There be more anarchists made during the next three and a half years than ever before. As fast as people learn of a truth that governments are maintained only to help the rich rob the poor, they become anarchists. Any man with an ounce of brains can see that by reading McKinleys message, or Gages recommendations. will The usual crowd attended the Peoples church last Sunday evening. Dr. Ravlin spoke on the subject, "The Religion We He was vigorously applauded when Need. he declared that Jesus was killed by the same class of people who are today trying to force A Nebraska man who had a car or two of the single gold standard onto the people. horses to sell, wrote to a friend in WashingThe committee on resolutions reported the ton, D. C., asking if it would be advisable to following: try to sell them there. The friend replied: RESOLUTIONS. "The people of Washington ride bicycles, the Whereas, There are many people in this street cars run by electricity, and the governand city who are termed who are such for the reason that they cannot ment is run by jackasses. No need of horses subscribe to the doctrines taught without be- here. Exchange, ing untrue to their own convictions; and Whereas, It is desirable that those who The gang get bolder and bolder as the have progressed out of and beyond the days go by. McKinley is the first man of limits of religious thought should be importance who has gone to the lengths of associated in some form, therefore, Resolved, That we proceed to organize declaring that silver certificates and silver ourselves into a body to be known as "The dollars are to be redeemed in gold. The Peoples Church of Salt Lake City. gang told him that he must say it, and he Resolved, That civil and religious liberty has said it. Poor Mack! Poor country! is the inalienable birthright of all people, irrespective of race, color, or creed, and that If a poor man takes a sack of flour, it is everyone should be free to worship God or not to worship, according to the dictates, of burglary, and he ought to go to jail. If a rich woman takes a seal-skiconscience. sacque, it is it is not our purpose to kleptomania, and ought to be excused. If a Resolved, That antagonize existing churches, demanding rich man takes possession of a railroad which nothing for ourselves we do not grant to belongs to some one else, thats business and them; and insisting there shall be no warfare he is made a patron saint for the young. unless they themselves are the aggressors. hail as the harbinger Resolved, That we This can never be a government bv the of a brighter day the broad and liberal trend erst-whil- e n of modern religious thought. Resolved, That to do good and rnaxe this world better and the people happier is and shall be our mission. We most cordially invite all who love their fellowmen to unite with us in promulgating such knowledge as shall mitigate the wrongs of earth and alleviate human suffering. In short, we invite all who are interested in rational religion, ethical culture and social with us to this end. progress to After the adoption of the resolutions, the following officers were elected: President, Dr. Prof. N. B. A. S. Chapman; Johnson; secretary, T. E. Hinshaw; treasurer, Mrs.Robt. Vincent. Directors: August Stein, Mrs. Dr. W. I. Barnett, Mrs. Sarah Bond, Mrs. James Garev and Warren Foster. Meeting as usual next Sunday evening at 8 oclock, in the Gladstone Block, The subject will be "Thought as a Creative Force. co-oper- vice-preside- MR. ROGERS SPEECH. The Populist parlor meeting held at the rooms of the Misses Gleason in the Constitution Building last Friday evening was addressed by Mr. Alexander Rogers. His subject was the Initiative and Referendum and Proportional Representation. The speech was all that was expected, and we had expected a great deal. It was a plain, simple statement of the proposition. Everybody was both entertained and instructed. Mr. Scott Anderson will speak at the meeting this evening. WENGER AT IT AGAIN. Joe Birry and John Miner were up before Judge Wenger last Wednesday, charged with stealing an overcoat from a dummy in front of Siegel's clothing store. Barry plead guilty and was given eighty-fiv- e days. Miner called for a jury trial and got one hundred days. This is bad enough, but it shows some signs of improvement upon the part of the Judge. Before the election his penalty for jury trial was seventy days. If the Judge will pass through one or two more campaigns alongside of Living Issues, it may succeed In making a pretty decent sort of a judge of him. people so long as it is run by politicians. The one thing to do, the one thing thatwnust be done is to neutralize the effect ot the professional politician. There is only one way that it can be done, and that is through the Initiative and Referendum. Should the greenbacks be retired accord- ing to McKinleys suggestion, it would ne- cessitate an issue of bonds in two weeks. Well, that is what they are after, and every sensible man in America knows it. Cleveland made a great personal financial success ol it for Grover. Rule or ruin is the policy adopted by the Sherman- - Cleveland- - McKinley gang. They will get what they want now, or they wilt force it through a panic such as this Nation never saw. The proposition to redeem the greenbacks in gold and pay them out only for gold was fathered by the devil, begotten in hell, born in Wall Street and has Bill McKinley for its godfather. If government by the people is right, the Initiative and Referendum is right. If the Initiative and Referendum is wrong, government by the people is wrong. New Era. As a priest of the Catholic church I say to you from this pulpit that the present condition of the poor ol the United States can not go on. The church must lead in the emancipation ot the working people from the present social and economic slavery; and the United States, its Senate and Congress, must make laws to protect the peoples right and abrogate the laws that have been made by bribery in the interest of fraud. The great mass of the people are in revolt the world over; unless lawmakers are found who can not and will not be purchased by trust kings and kings of monopoly, the revolt of the people will swing a most disastrous revolution. Rev. Father Ducey. |