Southern Mercury. (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 20, No. 47, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 6, 1900 Page: 2 of 16
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SOUTHERN MERCURY
Thursday, December 6, 11)00.
the strict sense of the word. The wolves. That this is a correct view
great world is totally ignorant of all the large number of farms and other
about them except their names. To real estate that has gravitated into the
the world their belief is the insanest hands of money lenders through fore-
of folly, but the world does not know closures amply attest. If money lend-
and is not entitled to speak. ers were consulted, there would be no etc.," will meet with the Populists, at
Socialism has always received its homestead laws at all; if wolves were St. Louis, to consult regarding "a new
most powerful support from the ideal- consulted, barbed wire fences would be adjustment of reform forces." He he-
ists. It would be an interesting chap- utterly abolished. "The field must also lieves that even "Mr. Bryan and men
ered "that no makeshift of a reform
party can win," and he hopes that "in-
dependent Republicans, radical reform
Democrats, Socialists, Union Reform-
ers, Prohibitionists, Single Taxers,
fusion or confusion will prevail against
him.
A THREATENING CONDITION.
Strange things have happened when
the toiliing millions became maddened
by poverty and misery. Conditions in
France during the closing years of the
ter in the world's history to show how be opened wide to the borrower," says a like him will fall in line with the new *as*' cen^ury wer,e no^ materially differ •
and why such has been the fact. ! correspondent of the Houston Post, movement." The Populists, he says, wnj ent *rom those existing in America to-
will suffice to say .here, in way of ex - "Tear down the fences," say the wolvej. ask but two things: "First, the adop- ^ was a Sreet*y and impudent
plantation, on'ly a few words:
Materialists, who recognize nothing
higher than objects of sense, believe
that might makes right, for they have
no other conception of right than legal
right, and this gives it to the most
powerful to define what right is in im-
posing the laws
in right and justice as the attributes
of a divine, invisible being existing in
imaa, which is trying to express itself
in the forms and institutions of so-
ciety, and which wicked men are con-
stantly trying to suppress. The ideal-
ist sees the greatest amount of human
happiness, to one and to all, in the
full expression* of justice; the mate-
rialist sees no other happiness than
his own, and ignores justice to gratify
his personal appetite and desires.
We know that the foregoing re-
marks are very crude and uncon-
nected, merely touching upon a few
Both are right, or
Farm and Ranch.
both are wrong.-
HOME INSURANCE.
There ought to be a concerted move-
ment by the business men of Omaha
and the west to maintain and operate
The idealist believes homa insurance companies, and organ-
ize others to meet any demand tbo
present organizations may be unable to
fill. It is useless to say there is a lack
of capital. The deposits of the Omaha side' o£ 0,116 or two States its organiza
banks sixty days ago were more than tlori 18 destroyed, and at the late elec-
tion of a platform embracing the great
basic principles of Populism; second,
absolute independence from both old
capitalistic parties."
It is quite likely that Mr. Parker was
entirely guided by sincere motives
when he issued his call. But it is well
to consider several important points in
connection therewith.
In the first place, the Mid-road Pops
are no longer a political factor. Out -
$24,000,000. Those of Council Bluffs
were nearly $5,000,000. The figures for
the South Omaha banks are not avail-
able. At any rate they equal and per-
haps surpass those of Council Bluffs.
From this basis it is safe to say the
bank deposits of the three cities are at
least $35^)00,000. Omaha has two or
more of the largest banks in the west,
and exclusive of the deposits of the
tion it received but a scattering vote,
so insignificant that even Presidential
Candidate Barketr publicly expressed
his disappointment. The Union Re-
aristocracy against a patient, long-suf-
fering people, and when the latter
could endure their privations no longer
the former went to the wall and there
was little left of the once proud and
aristocratic France. The curse of greed
and thirst for power blinds men to dan-
ger and drives them to their doom
There is a half century of hard work
Lehind me; one half of this time has
been spent in trying to convince the
American people of the existing danger
of this Republic being wrecked by the
systems of government dictated by the
money power. I am not inciting a rev-
olution, or fostering a spirit of unrest,
as has been charged; I am 3imply call-
ing the attention of the capitalists of
formers have been wiped out, the Single th,is country to the law of cause and
Taxers are an unknown quantity, the
Prohibitionists in some States secured
a new lease of life and will consequent-
ly retain their autonomy and "para-
mount" issue, while the independent
salient points of a vast and profound (Sltate Treasurer, Council Bluffs has the Republicans and radical reform Demo-
subject and intended to be more sug-
gestive than didactic. The practical
thing about i't is, to show that there
are many idealists in the country who
are thorough socialists at heart, but
who have hitherto seen no available
means or hope of realizing their faith
in practice. For this reason the ac-
cession to the socialists of Prof. Her-
ron marks an epoch in the history of
socialism in the United States.
WANT
THE HOMESTEAD
REPEALED.
LAW
Money lenders never tire in denounc-
ing the Texas homestead law. If that
law exempted less they would still de-
nounce it. They are right in demand
ing the most ample security for their
money, and they do not let the money
go without such security. What hurts
them and militates against their iinan -
cial interests is that they cannot take
the family home for debts of any kind.
But they know what is exempt—what
iB and what is not good security. Ulf the
security is not satisfactory they do not
have to let the money go; so we can-
not see what ground they have to com-
plain. They claim that many men
would borrow money and mortgage
their homes to secure its repayment
with interest if the law permittted.
Then if, on account of bad manage
ment, or misfortune, he is unable to
pay, his home may be taken and his
family sent adrift. This is the very
thing the homestead law is designed
to prevent, and righteously so. Every-
thing else the money lender can take,
but not the home, nor the personal
chattels used in the home economy.
A large majority of our people are not
financial experts, as their financial con-
dition shows. Money lenders are finaii -
cial experts, as their financial con-
dition shows. To offer additional facil-
ities for the masses to borrow, by mak-
ing their homesteads liable, would be
to remove the barbed wire fence from
the sheep-fold for the benefit of the
largest national bank in Iowa. Out of
tills large sum there is plenty of room
to enlarge the line of home insurane,
both fire and life, and organize new
companies that will be successful from
'the start. There is no lack of capital.
Des Moines cannot begin to equal
Omaha in the line of bank deposits, yet
it has a number of home fire and life
insurance companies that are rapidly
growing, successfully competing with
foreign and Eastern companies and
commanding the respect of all. The
New York and Connecticut insurance
companies command enormous reve-
nues; in the aggregate they exceed
those of the government. They do an
international business, and, beside, an-
nually drain the West for millions, for
which they give no adequate return.
Home insurance companies in Omaha
and the West will keep these millions
at home, where they can be invested lo
our advantage, and in the upbuilding of
out national prosperity.—Omaha World-
Herald.
The World-Herald states the .condi-
tions in Texas exactly. Our banks are
full to overflowing with money. What
hinders from Texas companies being
organized to do Texas business?
crats are not a unit on any proposition,
though they might be temporarily har-
monized on political questions such a3
those put forward by the People's party
in 1892, but of that we are extremely
doubtful.
This, then, being the condition among
the reformers, there is little to be
gained by the Social Democratic party
in being represented in the St. Louis
conference. It will be noticed that Mr.
Parker plays upon the words "capital-
istic parties," and yet wants the fight
for ' Populistic principles" continued
through a union of "reform forces."
This implies that the capitalist system
is fundamentally sound and only needs
' reforming," via Populism, viewed
from any standpoint. The phrase "cap-
italistic parties" was probably merely
inserted to catch the eyes of stubborn
Socialists.
Perhaps by the welding together or'
the various stray fragments of milk
and-water reform anotner reform party
effect, that they may stand from under
the avalanche. I have no desire to see
an upheaval of the fires of bell, or to
inspire a reign of terror. Nor do 1
want to see the men who toil become bo
poor that they are unable to fish a
nickel out of their trousers pocket to
buy a paper. Just so sure as death and
taxes, there's trouble ahead for the
millionaire, and unless the pressure is
relieved, the oppressed are liable to do
what they ought not to do.
When coal miners dig in their dusky
caverns for 60 to 70 cents per day, and
a*e employed only about half the time.;
when skilled factory operatives receive
onlj 50 to 60 cents; when experienced
clerks can be hired for $5 :i week; when
farmers must put their wives and
uaughters in the field because unable to
hire help; iwhen there are a million me.i
unable to find employment at any price,
relief must come if we would keep the
smell of sulphur out of the atmosphere.
' God help the rich; the poor can bog!"
- Vinelamd (N. J.) (Independent.
THE TURKEY.
Give us a rest on the Thanksgiving
turkey! The papers are full of the
may be started, but we do not believe grand charities to the poor in the way
that any clear-headed Social Democrat of turkey dinners given by the rich,
will leave the substantial movement of A self-respectingipoor man, who kno'As
which he is a part to grab at the shad • that such a meal is furnished him out
IT WON'T DO.
We take the following from the
Cleveland Citizen, one of the ablest
representatives of straight Socialism in
the country:
National Chairman Parker, of the
Peoples party, mid-road faction, has
issued a call for a meeting of the na-
tional committee, party editors, speak-
ers, et., to meet in St. Louis. December
29, "to consider the best interests of the
party, and the most effective means of
continuing the fight for Populist prin-
ciples; also to confer with such repre-
sentatives as may desire to attend look-
ing to the organic union of all reform-
ers against the capitalistic parties."
Chairman Parker has at last discor-
ow of coming into close communion
with Mr. Bryan or men like him, or
even Mr. Parker and his colleagues, in
1896, in the St. Louis People's party
convention, we admired the magnificent
stand of the famous "103" of Texas,
when the Bryan hordes dealt the Peo-
ple's party its death-blow. The Texan?
went down with their fierce cowboy yell
of "No surrender!" and their banners
waved defiance at all forms of fusion.
We profit by reading history. In this
year of 1900, and we hope forever, no
Socialist will budge an inch. There is
no compromise, no middle ground, be-
tween political reform and revolution.
It is a fight to the finish. Let those who
desire to make real progress accept the
principles of Socialism and join the
Social Democratic party. The logic of
the situation Is with that young potltl-
of mere charity, should show his man-
hood by kicking Ithe stuff out into the
street, and dining on his usual pot-
flicker and peas. It is one of the means
used to debauch and degrade the poor
by making them look up to their ex-
ploiters as their benefactors.
In most of the picture papers ihere
is a small boy standing near a turkey
with an axe in his hand. In itself such
a picture is repulsive to one of kindly
feelings for the brute creation. But
the picture has a deep significance.
The turkey is the symbol of the toiler
who has grown fat on the full dinner
pail, and the boy with the axe repre-
sents the capitalistic class—his execu-
tioner. And the axe has been falling
all around, since the men with the full
dinner pails have decreed by their
voltes that plutocracy shall rule in the
/
II
11
4 .
I
cal giant, and neither capitalism, land.
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Park, Milton. Southern Mercury. (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 20, No. 47, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 6, 1900, newspaper, December 6, 1900; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth185878/m1/2/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .