Chapter VII: Part 7

The supposition that the boss arises by virtue of his strong personality; that he is an organizer, a general, one born to command; that the “machine” is the product of his skill and genius, and that no one who does not possess the same elements of character can follow him, is wrong. The municipal boss is an effect rather than a cause. He is the product of certain forces, working under certain conditions, and so long as the forces are unchecked and the conditions unchanged, a new boss must inevitably be created to fill the place of every one the people may dethrone.

In municipal politics, the boss comes into being at the point where the criminal rich come in contact with the criminal poor. The criminal rich desire franchise privileges, which are among the most productive and valuable of all forms of property. How valuable they are may be better understood if we remember that a recent conservative writer estimates the franchise values of Greater New York at four hundred and fifty millions of dollars, a staggering sum, but the real market value of actual property which has been virtually stolen from the people. Property, too, of great earning power as compared with most other investments, capable of paying almost unlimited dividends; and often giving its possessors control over all other branches of business, even over life itself. And this property, amounting to half a billion dollars in New York alone and to an incalculable sum in the cities of the whole United States, has been appropriated by the criminal rich through the agency of the municipal boss.

In order to consummate these thefts, the franchise grabbers must have a purchasable city council. To elect and maintain a purchasable city council two things are necessary: a division of the “good” citizens against each other, and a boss to unify and keep solid the criminal poor as a balance of power.

The “good” citizens—by this term I mean the great mass of fairly well-meaning people—are kept divided by the extension of national political interests into municipal affairs. This division is the first condition essential to the development of the boss.

The criminal poor—meaning not merely professional criminals, but all who gamble, get drunk, have occasional fights, and are liable to get into trouble with the police—having with them the saloons, dives and all the hosts of graft and shady business, hold the balance of power. The boss maintains his hold upon them by means of his ability to help them out of trouble. The first step of the boss must be to corrupt the police force and the justices’ courts. This is not hard, for the police and the justices are usually very anxious to be corrupted; it pays them much better to be corrupt than to be honest.

So the boss comes in as a business agent between the criminal poor and the police, enabling the criminal to escape punishment, and the police to get rich by sharing in the profits of crime.

Under this régime the criminal poor are permitted to prey upon society by dividing their spoils with the police. The power of the boss is in his ability to withdraw his protection from any individual who may waver in his political support. The boss never preys upon the poor, whether criminal or not, he is always a friend in need, a refuge in time of trouble to those who follow without questioning.

By means of this following he elects his henchmen to the city council; and so it is to him that the criminal rich must come when they want to appropriate franchise property. The boss really steals the franchise and sells it to the rich.

Thus, under the boss régime, both the criminal rich and the criminal poor are permitted to prey upon society.

We understand, now, that the municipal boss is the product, first, of the political condition which keeps the good citizens voting against each other; second, of the condition which makes possible the private ownership and control of municipal public utilities; third, of two forces, equally desirous of preying upon society—the criminal rich and the criminal poor.

And it is evident that so long as the conditions continue and the forces are permitted to operate, the creation of new bosses is inevitable.

It is only possible to hold the good citizens together in independent organizations in a very spasmodic and uncertain fashion so long as the party system prevails in national politics, but it is always possible to unite them on any one question by means of the referendum. Therefore, the first condition may be changed by the enactment of laws requiring the submission of all franchise questions to the popular vote. On a referendum, the good citizens of all parties, if they vote intelligently, will present a united front to the forces of graft. This will prevent the consummation of new thefts, but it will not restore the property already stolen, except by the slow process of awaiting the expiration of the present franchise grants.

The second condition may be removed by training the people in knowledge of the practicability of the municipal ownership and operation of public utilities. Until the people believe in municipal ownership as a practical possibility, it is impossible; once they do believe, and are ready, it is probable that the laws of the States for the recovery of stolen property will be found sufficient to bring about the restoration to them of all that is rightfully their own.

At the end, we always come to the proposition that to check the forces of evil we must eliminate the profits of evil doing. There is no other way. By this plan, the social problems in which the municipal boss appears will be found easy of settlement, and possibly those connected with the state and national boss also. For they, like their prototype of the city, are not the great personalities we have deemed them, but merely the products of conditions easily changed and of forces amenable to control.

BY Harriette M. Collins.]

“Is the letter from Johnny, Mary _agra_?” The pathetic appeal in Mrs. Ryan’s quavering voice, and the heart-hunger expressed in her wrinkled, parchment-like face brought a lump to the throat of her daughter as she replied:

“No, mother darlin’, it’s from Andy this time.”

“Why doesn’t Johnny write, an’ why doesn’t he come an’ see his poor ould mother afore she dies?” the old woman wailed. “Och, but me heart is sore wid the longin’ for me darlin’ boy, an’ me ould arrums is achin’ to hould him agin! Niver a word from him this three years, come Chrisymas! It’s not like Johnny! It’s not like Johnny at all, at all!”

“But, mother _achree_, Johnny doesn’t forget you,” Mary answered soothingly. “An’ he never forgets to send you two pounds every three months by Liza, or Andy, or Katie.”

“I know it, Mary. Johnny was always a ginerous boy: but it’s not his money I want, but himself back agin! Shure I’d rather beg wid Johnny than own the wurruld an’ all wid-dout him!” Mrs. Ryan answered. “Read Andy’s letter for me, Mary _acushla_.”

While Mary Ryan read aloud the letter which she had just brought from the village post-office, her mother gazed yearningly over the restless expanse of dark blue ocean, which stretched away to the crimsoning west. With dreamy eyes, which saw but heeded not, she watched the hovering, screaming sea-gulls, the white-sailed fishing-smacks and the long, black streak of smoke that, far away on the horizon, marked the course of an outward-bound steamer.

For many years Mrs. Ryan had been in the habit of sitting on the rude bench by the door of the cabin, that was perched high up on the rugged hill-side, and watching the steamers as they came and went.

Four times during those weary years the mother’s heart within her had grown numb with pain as she saw the black streak fade in the distance and knew that one of her darlings was being borne away from her.

Andy was the first to leave the overcrowded cabin and seek work in the grand land of plenty across the water. In a year, Andy sent the passage money for Liza, and, in another year, Liza sent the passage money for Katie. Then Johnny, the idol of her declining years, kissed his mother good-bye and, with cheery, hopeful voice, promised to return to her in two, or at most, three years. With that dumb resignation, sometimes born of a sense of hopeless inability to cope with circumstances, Mrs. Ryan had watched him wend his way, with many a backward glance and wave of the hand, down the narrow zig-zag path to the village and the train for Queenstown, where the merciless steamer waited to bear him away forever from her loving arms. She remembered still how the sunbeams had glinted upon his auburn hair that morning, and how handsome he had looked in his new tweed suit and green tie. She thought of the tears that had welled up in his blue eyes when she gave him her parting blessing, and she recalled the silent anguish with which she had sat by the cabin door and watched the black steamer, silhouetted against the golden sunset and slowly disappearing in the distance. It had been hard to see the others go, but Johnny—what would life be without Johnny?

That was five years ago. For two years Johnny had written regularly, telling of steady work and good wages, and promising to come home for a vacation as soon as possible. Then there came a short, badly-written note enclosed with a letter from Andy, and after that—silence.

Andy and Liza and Katie wrote regularly and sent money for the support of their mother and Mary. It was Mary’s mission to remain in the Old Country and take care of the feeble, aged mother.

Every three months, Andy or one of the girls sent an order for two pounds and wrote that Johnny sent it with his love. That was all. They never answered the questions concerning Johnny, his doings and his whereabouts which Mary repeatedly wrote at her mother’s behest.

“Is that all, Mary? Is there nothing at all, at all about Johnny?” Mrs. Ryan queried in disappointed tones, when her daughter had finished reading Andy’s letter.

“There’s not a word in it about Johnny, mother darlin’,” Mary answered reluctantly.

“Andy said Nancy Quin is comin’ home on the boat that gets in Saturday, didn’t he?”

“Yes, mother,” Mary replied, “Nancy is comin’ to spend a month with her people.”

“An’ Nancy Quin lives out in the same family as Liza?”

“Yes, mother; she’s parlor-maid where Liza’s cook.”

“Then, plaze God, Mary, when Nancy comes to see me I’ll larn the truth about the onnatural silence of Johnny! Och, but he was the darlin’ boy—always so gay and pleasant!”

There was a brief silence, after which the old woman drew a worn and yellow sheet of paper from beneath the plaid woolen kerchief that was folded across her bosom.

“Read it for me, Mary _agra_,” she said sadly, “read it for me agin—the last letter from Johnny. God bless him, wherever he is, this day an’ night!”

Mary held the frayed and faded sheet before her eyes. The writing was almost illegible and the paper was worn into holes where it had been folded, but she knew the words by heart and, as if conning a familiar lesson, repeated them slowly:

“Dear Mother. Don’t fret if I don’t write. I will sind money
to you now an’ agin by Andy an’ the girls. Mebbe if it’s God’s
will we’ll meet before long. God bless you, mother darlin’.
Goodbye from Johnny.”

“Three years an’ niver a word from him!” sighed the old woman, as she again laid the long-treasured note in its accustomed place over her heart. “Och, but me ould eyes is achin’ for a sight of him—me darlin’ boy!”

The sunbeams were glittering upon the wide, heaving expanse of ocean which lay between Mrs. Ryan’s cabin and the great Western world whither her children had gone.

Sitting upon the beach by the open door, the aged woman watched Nancy Quin laboriously climbing the steep, zig-zag path which led to the cottage. When the visitor reached the door and the usual salutations had been exchanged, Mrs. Ryan steadfastly fixed her eyes upon the girl’s face and asked:

“In the name of God, Nancy Quin, why doesn’t Johnny write an’ why doesn’t he come home?”

“Arragh, thin, Mrs. Ryan, darlin’, how should I know that? I haven’t laid me eyes on Johnny these three years.” Nancy answered evasively, but her embarrassment and the compassion in her voice were not lost upon her questioner.

“Don’t lie to a poor, ould woman, Nancy _acushla_,” Mrs. Ryan entreated, “but tell me, God’s truth, where me boy is an’ why he doesn’t come to me?”

For a moment Nancy Quin looked with infinite pity into the anxious, wrinkled, pleading face, then, dropping her eyes before the old woman’s wistful gaze, answered brokenly:

“Don’t fret yourself about Johnny, Mrs. Ryan _agra_. You’ll soon see poor Johnny; you’ll be wid your boy before long,” and turning away with a stifled sob, she entered the cabin in search of Mary, while Mrs. Ryan sat very still upon the bench and gazed with tearless, unnaturally bright eyes out upon the bounding, white-crested waves of the Atlantic.

“Oh, Mary _acushla_, she’s read it in my face!” Nancy cried in remorseful tones, “an’ I promised I’d keep it from her.”

“Keep _what_ from her?” Mary asked, anxiously. “Is it anything about Johnny, Nancy _agra_?”

“Yis, Mary,” Nancy answered sorrowfully, “Sure an’ it wrings me heart to tell you. Poor Johnny was killed—run over at a crossin’ three years ago.”

“An’ why didn’t they let us know?” Mary sobbed, “Where was the use of deceivin’ us?”

“It was the poor boy’s wish,” Nancy replied tearfully. “They took him to the hospital and kept him alive for a day, an’ before he died, he made Andy an’ the girls promise they’d never let his mother know of his end. He had a hundred and fifty dollars saved to take him home an’ he bade them sind it to her a little at a time wid his love. His last words were ‘Don’t let poor mother know! It would kill her! Don’t let poor mother know!’”

There was a long silence, broken only by the subdued sobbing of the girls. At last Mary said, wiping her eyes with her apron:

“By the help of God, Nancy, we must still keep it from mother. She’s not long for this world, an’ Johnny, poor boy, was the light of her eyes!”

Going out of the cabin, they found Mrs. Ryan still seated upon the bench.

“Mother darlin’,” Mary said softly, “it’s growin’ cold, an’ you’d better come in for your cup of tay.”

There was no answer. A smile of ineffable peace lingered upon the aged, care-worn face. In the faded blue eyes, whose unseeing gaze was fixed upon the merciless ocean which had taken her darlings, one by one, from her arms, shone the wondrous light “that never was on sea or land.”

To his mother, the silence of Johnny was no longer a mystery. He had not come to her, but she had gone to him.

_Vanished Years_

BY HELEN A. SAXON

She sitteth in the sunshine, old and gray,
Her faded kerchief crossed upon her breast,
Her withered form in sober colors drest,
Her eyes, deep-sunken with far memory,
See not the eager children at their play
But look beyond them to the crimsoning west,
And still beyond where everlasting rest
Remains to crown and close her little day.

Yet all the fragrance of the vanished years
Is at her heart, and time hath left its trace
In lines engraved by joy no less than tears
Upon her tranquil and unconscious face.
For Youth, quick-flying, left his dearer part,
Imperishable love, within her heart.

_Bart., in Minneapolis Journal_]

_Handy, in Duluth News-Tribune_]

_Donahey, in Cleveland Plain Dealer_]

Our readers are requested to be as brief as possible in their welcome letters to the MAGAZINE, as the great number of communications daily received makes it impossible to publish all of them or even to use more than extracts from many that are printed. Every effort, however, will be made to give the people all possible space for a direct voice in the MAGAZINE, and this Department is freely open to them.

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_John Nill, Watertown, N. Y._

Your criticism on prevailing evil conditions is justly and emphatically to the point. But I would call your attention to the world’s experience that at no time has a reform taken place unless new ideas, new methods for reform comprehensive to the public for relief and improved conditions were introduced at the same time when the old deplorable affairs were condemned. To excite the multitudes without a proper and thorough education on social and national relations calculated to promote peace, harmony and prosperity, is dangerous. Look at Russia. If you will add as many correct and direct advices to the general public as you do criticism, you may be successful in initiating a reform that may far surpass any in the past ages.

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_J. B. Phillebaun, Mountain Grove, Mo._

To say that I endorse the principles advocated by the magazine puts it mildly. The old parties must be checked or we are politically and financially ruined. You have started in the direction. You have got the people thinking and that is half the battle. Push the good work already started and I hope victory will crown your effort. I want to go on record as a firm believer in _Tom Watson principles_.

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_J. F. Winterbottom, Washington, Ind._

I have received every copy that has been printed. Just as soon as I have read them I let others have them. I am well pleased with the Magazine.

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_W. J. Alford, Molena, Ga._

The Magazine is fast eliminating political ignorance throughout America, which, in fact, is the pillow upon which rests the great evils we suffer.

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_William Putnam, Downing, Tex._

Your Magazine is a wonderful power because all classes of our people read it, and its truth is so plain and reasonable no one can reject it, let their politics be as they may.

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_J. W. Oliver, Kissimmee, Fla._

I have read each issue of your Magazine and _all_ in each issue. Sometimes I do not agree with you but you are trying to keep on the right track, and come very near to staying in the “middle of the road.” I am a native Alabamian and a Democrat of the “Moss Back” kind.

Go ahead. I am with you and if _necessary_ will vote with you, independent of my party.

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_Edgar J. Hadley, Arkwright, R. I._

Have taken your Magazine from the first number and would not be without it at any price. As an educator it is A No. 1. I wish that every wage earner could be gotten to read it. No one can read the splendid articles it contains without becoming a more intelligent citizen.

The only alteration I would suggest is a little better cover.

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_E. Simmons, Mt. Leonard, Mo._

I have read every number from the first number. I shall never vote either of the old party tickets again. I am 83 years old next Tuesday. My health is failing. I think we ought to unite with Prohibitionists, for the sale of intoxicants is about as big an evil as we have and we have got the great whiskey interest to overcome before we can get into power for both the old parties are their friends. Yes, my dear brother, I am with you. With my little influence I will do what I can.

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_H. D. Cope, J. P., Rogers, Ark._

I received your copy of TOM WATSON’S MAGAZINE and think she is a dandy. I hope you succeed. I see some of the Pittsburg papers kicking on it and asking why it is allowed to pass the mails.

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_J. W. Murphy, Grove Hill, Ala._

I think TOM WATSON’S MAGAZINE is a good one. The editorials are the biggest things I ever saw. I don’t like such stories as “The Gray Weed,” “The Tiger God,” etc., etc., but I like Tom Watson and all that I have read from his pen. My wish is that Tom Watson may live long to ring that “Liberty Bell” until the people shall awake and rise in their might and throw off their shackles.

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_Panola Watchman, Carthage, Tex._

We appreciate your magazine very much, especially the articles from the pen of Mr. Watson and, while he lambasts the party to which we belong, much of it is deserved and we hope he will continue to lay on until prevalent evils are corrected.

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_Sam J. Hampton, Durant, I. T._

I have been reading your magazine ever since the first issue and I think it the clearest boldest and most fearless journal in America. I shall continue to read WATSON’S.

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_T. J. Anderson, Blossom, Tex._

I have never had the pleasure of meeting you personally, but have known of you ever since you entered Congress in 1892. Since that time I have eagerly sought to read all you have said and written. Being strictly in accord with your political views, I greatly admire the firm stand you have taken in alleviating the burden from the masses of people, your honesty of purpose and the plain and outspoken way you have in presenting your views. I have had the pleasure of voting for you twice and yet hope to see you elected our national executive. The crowning act of your life was your work in the last election when you took our banner from the dust of fusion and confusion and unfurled it to the breeze, and fought the battles of reform practically alone. May you yet receive your reward.

As to your Magazine, I subscribed for it before it was ever printed. Am well pleased with it. Have no improvement to suggest. I quit the Democratic Party in 1890. Have only made one mistake since and that was when I voted for Bryan in 1896.

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_L. P. Sullivan, Emmet, Ark._

I like it splendidly and it gets better every copy. I could not do without it.

Long life to you.

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_F. M. Martin, Mt. Moriah, Ark._

To say that I like the Magazine is only putting it lightly. It is the only political gospel I know of being published at present. Love to have it read in every home in the United States. Then have every one act upon its teachings. I know of no way of making it better unless advocating return to Africa by American Africans. That subject seems to be neglected, though I don’t know that I could write on that subject to any advantage.

Go on with the great work. It will eventually accomplish the desired result.

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_Edward H. Hotchkiss, Seattle, Wash._

I am very much pleased with your Magazine. I have got it from the news-stand from the first copy to the present. I don’t know how I would get along without it for every number is better than the last. I think it’s the best book of Education that is published. Its principles are right and just to all, and I wish both of the old parties would take a few doses of the medicine prescribed in your book. I think they might be cured of some of their corruption.

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_K. D. Strickland, Carlton, Ga._

I think TOM WATSON’S Magazine contains more profitable and really more necessary information for the American citizen than any other publication. It is a regular monthly feast to read his pieces. In reading his pieces, I am made to feel as though I was communicating with the supernatural.

I wish to call Mr. Watson’s attention through his Magazine to his physical health. Take care of your health, Mr. Watson. We need your wonderful mental power with good health behind it. You are so completely absorbed and enthused in your great work for the people, you might over-tax the brain and bring on a collapse: that would be a national and incalculable misfortune.

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_Amos H. Edwards, Bentonville, Ark._

I think it a very able and valuable Magazine.

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_Frank Holland, Cement, Cal._

Yours of recent date received. As I wrote to you some time ago, I am a migratory cuss, and therefore rely upon the news-stands for my magazine. I read WATSON’S, _Everybody’s_ and _McClure’s_, regularly, and any others that in glancing over, interest me. I have no time to read stories. What I want is political and scientific.

I like WATSON’S. Prize it highly and after reading it, treat it as I do all the others, i. e., hand it to someone else to read. I cannot suggest any way in which your work can be improved. I will do what I can to induce others to read your Magazine.

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_S. M. McDougal, Arkinda, Ark._

I think it all right. Just what we need. I don’t see that I can add anything better to it. I am doing all I can for you.

I am 60 years old, and have been a reformer ever since Tilden ran for President. I said then there wasn’t a hair’s length difference in the old parties.

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_John S. Van Dyck, Van Dyck, Tenn._

Your Magazine is simply grand, glorious, rich and racy. It makes ’em wiggle.

I consider Tom Watson the grandest, greatest and most brilliant man of this or any other age, and may God grant him strength to continue the fight for human liberty and human right until the fight is won.

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_C. E. Skinner, Modoc, Ind._

I am very much interested in the wave of reform that is sweeping over our country as indicated by the recent elections. Keep hammering away, Bro. Watson, you have my entire sympathy and support.

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_M. E. Rose, South Rutland, N. Y._

I think your Magazine is doing a great deal of good in waking up the dull minds of the common people, which I hope in 1908 will sweep the cussedest set of rascals into—well, say the penitentiary.

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_George S. Harley, Laurel, Ind._

I think it is “just about right.” It just suits me. I can’t see how it could be made any better. The last number (December) is worth the price of a year’s subscription. It is full of good things.

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_E. E. Ropes, Deland, Fla._

I am a Massachusetts Yankee, a Republican. I served under Jim Lane in Kansas; under Sherman in Georgia. When I first received your magazine I told your old school-mates Alex and Lee Morris that I might vote for you for President. It seems, however, that you oppose protection. That lets me out. I believe every honest, intelligent, patriotic American is a protectionist.

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_Jonas Welch, Oakdale. La._

I do not think that it could be improved. All it needs is for the people to read it more and educate themselves on the reforms that the Populists advocate.

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_A. H. Ellis, Hayward, O. T._

I have been a reader of your splendid Magazine from the first issue. I saw by the papers prior to the time you commenced your publication that you were going to edit a magazine. I immediately began to plan to stop the circulation of a 50-cent dollar long enough to get it to you for one year’s subscription, but son beat me to it, he having no taxes to pay, nor no overalls to buy, went barefooted, wore a seven cent straw hat and a thirty cent hickory shirt and saved his money and sent it in to you while I was sweating blood trying to pry a money lender loose from one of his idols.

I’m glad to know that I am not disappointed in the character and make-up of your magazine. You call a spade a spade. You did that while you were in Congress and it is a reproach to the grand old Commonwealth of Georgia that a hide-bound, moss back, clay-eating democracy could not have been broad enough to have let you stay in Congress. Who was the man that defeated you? I don’t know. I doubt if his name is known outside of the Congressional District. Georgia has produced but four men that have challenged the serious attention of the people of the country. Viz:—Old James Oglethorp, Alexander Stevens, Bob Toombs and Thomas E. Watson.

I see that many of your correspondents hope to see you President. No, Thomas, you will never be President of the United States. Why? First, you are too big, have convictions and the honesty and courage to express them. Second, too many fools (with an adjective prefixing “fools”). Your editorials are very fine. I have seldom read anything finer than “Dropping Corn,” “A Tragedy in a Tree-top.” Then there is your insurance policy which is a source of joy. “Monarchy Within the Republic” by Mr. Fox was instructive. The cartoons are superb. The McCurdy family, in your last, conveys the idea that the McCurdy’s are “agin” race suicide, but you must remember that sapsuckers are more numerous than eagles. You very skillfully put the good to Bryan, but say what you will, he stands head and shoulders above any other Democrat of this day. Compare him, if you please, to Alton B. Parker. When I hear the name of Bryan, I think of the American Eagle soaring the blue ether of Heaven. When I hear the name of Parker, I think of a tomtit sitting on a watering trough.

Best wishes for THOMAS WATSON’S MAGAZINE and a long life for its brainy, honest and fearless editor.

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_Orlando K. Fitzsimmons, Buffalo, N. Y._

I have taken your magazine from the first number and am much pleased with the good work you are doing.

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_Warren Beebe, Burlington, Ia._

Of several magazines which I read, I like yours the best.

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_Katharyne Clarke, North McGregor, Ia._

I have read every issue of your Magazine since the beginning and would like to say a word of praise. Your work and efforts are casting seed that will surely cause “two blades of grass to grow where before there was only one.” Success to you.

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_H. V. Hill, Kell, Ill._

I like your Magazine above all others. Keep up the good work.

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_An Old Reformer._

Your magazine read and reread in my home every month by myself and five grown sons. We all admire the principle set forth in your grand editorials and know that what you say is truth, but I do think that you are a little too harsh and a little too personal when you speak of Cleveland, Rockefeller, Ryan, Belmont, Morgan, McCarren, Taggart and others of that class. You know that poor human nature is the same the world over and if we were to kill out these men whom you handle so roughly, others would soon take their places. So then the system which brings this state of affairs about in our government is to be blamed more than these men. Therefore, let’s strive (in the right spirit) to remove the evils which beset us as a Christian people. “Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord.” And besides, I want you to live long and lead this grand fight for reform, but when I read your cutting editorials I shudder for fear some of these people may have you assassinated.

I address you as “dear comrade” because I am getting to be an old man now and enlisted in this movement for reform away back in the palmy days of the Grange, and myself on the “Ocala Platform”, believing it to be just and in line with the principles later on, under the Alliance banner, planted our Revolutionary sires fought for, and I am proud to say that out of fifty odd Congressmen who were elected on that platform, Tom Watson is the only one who remained true, and I admire every red hair on your head for your loyalty and bravery, and have always voted for you when an opportunity was offered, and if I were called upon to make a national ticket of men whom I believe to be true, it would be,

Tom Watson,
Theodore Roosevelt,
Gov. Folk,
Frank Burkitt,
Gov. Vardaman,
Scott Hathorn,
W. R. Hearst.

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_D. L. Anderson, Soochow, China._

My son was on a visit to the States last summer and he sent me your books—“The Story of France,” “Napoleon” and “The Life of Thomas Jefferson.” The books reached me during the summer holidays, and as new books are somewhat scarce out here and yours moreover looked so inviting, I began to read the day after their arrival, and day after day this reading continued until I had gone through the four volumes.

On finishing the last volume I purposed to write and thank you for the pleasure you had given me through your books, but the fall term of the University opening about that time I was very busy and so did not write. But now I wish to thank you for a very pleasant summer, for the enjoyment and instruction I received from your excellent books. New light has been thrown on France and her relations to the other powers of Europe, especially to England. Napoleon becomes, to me at least, a new man in your hands. Your “Thomas Jefferson” is a much needed antidote to much of the history that has been written and gives a clear view of the man and his times. Especially would I thank you for your statements with reference to the formation of the Constitution of the United States, also for your explanation of the “Genet Affair.”

In one or two allusions that you make to affairs out here, you have evidently been misled by the newspapers. In your “Napoleon,” page 215, you say:

“In the year 1900 Russians, Germans and other Christians invaded China to punish the heathen for barbarities practiced upon Christian missionaries.”

I don’t think that you state correctly the real object of this invasion of China. The missionary’s part in this Boxer affair was to suffer. Not only were many murdered, but both those who were murdered and those who escaped were made the “scape goats” in the eyes of the world. I enclose a slip that recently appeared in one of the Shanghai papers that gives the true genesis of this Boxer trouble. The armies of the different nations did not “invade China to punish the heathen for barbarities practiced on Christian missionaries,” but they came to rescue their respective ministers, who by their blundering policy had gotten themselves shut up in Peking. If these officials had not been in Peking the armies would never have come. I don’t know of any Government that cares quite that much for a missionary, though they all seem quite ready to use a murdered missionary to advance their land-grabbing schemes.

Again on page 218 you mention that Admiral Seymour ordered his wounded killed, etc. This was published in the papers at the time, but there never was any truth in it. It was simply one of the many horrid stories that went out from Shanghai during those dark days—manufactured in Shanghai.

And now, Mr. Watson, I trust that you will pardon me for inflicting you with this, but I felt that I ought to write and thank you for those books. I trust your pen will not rest. I sincerely wish that you would do for Germany or for Italy what you have done for France.

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_W. E. Brown, Gainesville, Fla._

It is a splendid work you are doing. Your Magazine is a live wire and you are a powerful dynamo. The good you and Bryan are doing can never be reckoned or measured. You are right, and right is the most powerful force in existence, because God himself is the author and is behind all right. May you live to see your work crowned with success. While touching up other things, don’t forget we poor farmers of Florida. Between high freights and commission merchants we catch it. I am what you might call a one-horse farmer, but every year I pay the railroad $2,000 to $3,000 freight on stuff I make to get it to market to say nothing about the freight I pay on what I buy. I would like to make a trade agreeing to give one-half my stuff to get the other half to market and sold. And when on account of delays or for want of ice or any cause not traceable to downright negligence our truck arrives in bad condition and is sold for freight the railroad takes it all. I had one year 102 baskets shipped over one line and 15 over another. The 15 sold for $3.00 per basket, the 102 were refused because the car was not properly iced on the way to New York and arrived rotten, and I never got a penny. A piece of negligence, but could not be proved. This is by no means an unusual case and every truck farmer in the state, I guess, could make such a complaint or one equally unjust to the shipper. But the railroad agent for the A. C. L. at this place, so it is commonly talked on the streets, absconded with $2,000 of rebate paid to him by the railroad to be paid to a big phosphate concern here, and there is nothing doing. They say he won’t even be arrested and, of course, the railroad and the receiver of stolen money will not be punished, although I was told by an attorney of this city that the railroad commissioners were notified of the facts in the case.

So I say, God speed you, and may you be the means of accomplishing great good for this, our glorious country—too good to be wrecked by sordid greed.

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_J. S. Pearson, McEntyre, Ala._

I had a sack of one bushel of oats (32 lbs.) price 75 cents and 20 cents worth of seed (all in one cash) sent by express from Birmingham, Ala. to Thomasville, Ala. (a few hours run by rail). I had to pay $1 charges and part of the oats were eaten (I suppose) by rats. I shipped a box of pears (50 lbs.) from Thomasville, Ala., to Braidentown, Fla. I was told by clerk or agent the express charges were $2.00. I told him I would not pay such a charge. Another clerk or agent looked in a book and said the charges were $1.00. I paid it. That was on Friday. The pears reached Braidentown, Fla. Tuesday. They should have been in Selma or Mobile Saturday morning, and where they were from then until Tuesday we know not. A letter saying the box had been opened and a part of the pears taken out was received yesterday. Have I no redress? I wrote to the Mayor of Birmingham to know if such thieving was allowed in his city.

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_N. W. Rogers, N. Y. City._

I have read, with increasing interest, all the issues of your very excellent Magazine, and it gives me pleasure to express my appreciation of the effort you are making to educate the public.

The task of one who is endeavoring to expose corruption and corporate greed is, as I know from personal experience, a discouraging one; nevertheless I have a firm conviction that justice must finally be meted out to the smug respectability that has been robbing the whole country. The loathsome and criminal devices resorted to by our would-be aristocracy, in their greedy desire to acquire money, merits a more active opposition than that brought about by a public exposure of their crimes. Complete restitution of all funds wrongfully acquired in the exercise of an extortionate monopoly would be but a small punishment.

I wish you all success in your endeavors and only regret that I cannot at the present time take an active part in the campaign.

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_F. Schweizer, Woodlawn, Nebr._

Even Diogenes with his lantern would in vain search justice in this country. To tell the truth in this country is punished as lese-majesty. Therefore I may be hung for lese-majesty, but I don’t care.

I was born and raised in free Switzerland and I will die as a free man who dares to express his honest opinions. If I am wrong, show me my errors. It really seems that people never will hear and accept the truth, until some fellows have been hung for telling the truth.

Let us be honest and acknowledge that our so high praised Christian civilization is a total failure. Might is right. The greatest hypocrite and most brutal beast is the absolute master, who dictates the terms by which he will rule. Their mottos are:

“Everyone for himself and the devil takes the hindmost and—The people be damned.”

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_F. Hodgman, Climax, Mich._

I find in the literary department much to commend and little, if anything, to find fault with. In the editorial and political department, I can not say as much. You advocate many things which men of all parties have always been agreed on—that is, honest men of all parties. If you could only get the people to take you seriously and make the ten commandments a partisan issue, you would win out hands down, for a big majority of the people are honest in principle and want an honest Government. I dissent from very much that you are trying to teach in the way of political economy and you make many assertions and statements which I believe to be errors. But that does not count. The greatest fault I find with it as a magazine is the tendency toward being a common scold—with a good deal to denounce and little or nothing to commend.

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_C. E. Hedgpath, Centralia, Mo._

Mr. Watson, allow me to say that while I admire your talent and much more your honesty, I cannot agree with you that the “great middle class” are the only ones needing protection. There is a party in the field fully organized and standing for “all the people”. “Government ownership”, with the Government as it now stands, would only add to our burdens. But first—Let the people own the Government. For this the Socialist Party stands.

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_O. E. Samuelson, Kiowa, Kan._

I have received two numbers of your Magazine and have studied them when I could spare time. I was in the Populist movement one time. It was all right in its time, but its time is past and now we have something better—Socialism. So your Magazine is not enough revolutionary.

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_P. R. Richardson, Gardi, Ga._

“Hon. Hoke Smith, Atlanta, Ga.

“Dear Sir: There are so many high-flying silver-feathered
Democratic office-seekers that unless a man is well posted
he can never tell the real man from the political tool. But
seeing that Thomas E. Watson has promised you his support for
Governor of the great State of Georgia, it explains away and
clears up all doubts. So around our fireside cane-grindings we
will talk and drink to your health, and when the day of the
primary comes along we will roll in our votes.

“Yours very truly,

“P. R. RICHARDSON.”

Being a subscriber to the Magazine, I offer the above letter for publication in the Magazine.

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_D. C. Pryor, Uvalde, Tex._

I send you a “legal tender,”
A thing you have often seen,
For which, please send to me, “dear Tom,”
Your splendid Magazine.

Whilst I am a Democrat
Its ranks I’d hate to leave,
But I’d vote for you, “dear Tom,”
Before I’d vote for Cleve.

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_Dr. H. P. Boyce, Los Angeles, Cal._

Your editorial “Peonage in Panama” published in the December number, was read by me with a great deal of interest, as I have lived for seven years in Central America and am thoroughly familiar with labor conditions there, having during my residence there had constantly in my employ on plantation work from 15 to 50 laborers, or mozos, as they are called.

Of course, I do not know the exact conditions under which these laborers were contracted in Martinique, but am confident the conditions were similar to those under which all labor in that country is contracted. The employer of labor signs up a number of men and the men ask for, expect and receive an advance of money against their future services of an amount equal to from two to four months’ wages. There is a form of contract signed in which the laborer acknowledges the receipt of so much money paid him for future work to be done by him under the contract, by which he also agrees to work for the employer for a specified time at the rate of so much per month. This is the general custom in those countries and with the class of labor available is the only way in which the employer can be reasonably certain of securing and retaining his laborers, as the law forces the mozo to live up to his contract and also makes him secure in obtaining his money after he has worked out the amount advanced.

It was unquestionably the case with the Martinique negroes that they had all received advances of money against their future services, and that the money had all been spent before leaving their homes and, such being the case, where would the employer have found himself if he had submitted without any resistance and allowed the laborers to nullify their contracts and return home?

The Martinique and Jamaica negroes are as a rule a very unruly, unreliable and impertinent class and it requires strenuous measures to keep them in subjection and make them live up to their contracts. They cannot be compared to the American negro, who is much easier to manage.

I appreciate your feelings in the matter, but do not think you thoroughly appreciate the conditions of affairs as they exist in regard to the relations of employer and employee.

When the Martinique negro claims he does not know conditions as they exist at Panama, or other points on the Central American coast, he is lying, as they are all of them more or less familiar with the entire coast from personal visits to it or information acquired from friends who have been on the coast.

I know nothing from personal observation of the Peonage system in the Southern States but I do know that the contract labor system is the only way to handle labor in Panama, for you cannot get them without the advance of money and if you do not protect yourself by the contract, the chances are 9 out of 10 that your man will never show up to work it out.

A gang of those negroes numbering 500 or 600 are not easily handled by any means, and force must be used at times, or at least a strong display of it made or discipline would not be maintained twenty-four hours. Conditions are altogether different from anything existing here and matters must be judged differently. Existing conditions must dictate the line of action to be pursued in any given case and from my knowledge of the character of the men and the conditions, I do not see how the authorities could have acted otherwise than in using force, if necessary, to persuade these negroes to disembark. You certainly would not consider it just that these negroes take the contractors money, spend it, have their fare paid on the steamer to Colon and then on arrival deliberately say they would not land and work out what they had already been paid, but were going to return home. There would be no justice in such a course and if the employer had to use force to obtain what was coming to him, the man’s labor in exchange for his money which the man had already spent, it seems to me he was entirely within his rights. These laborers owed this money to the employer just as much as a man owes money that he has borrowed from another and given his note for, and, just as much as the borrower should expect to pay his note, just so much should this laborer expect to give his services in payment of the money advanced to him. As I have stated before, the laws of these countries recognize this condition of the field of labor and uphold the employer just as our laws recognize a man’s liability when he signs a note agreeing to repay money advanced to him. When the laborer has repaid by his services the money advanced to him he can no longer be held to his contract, but just so long as the laborer demands the advance of money before doing any work, just so long must he expect to be forced, if necessary, to carry out his agreement, and his services as laborer being his only asset he must give those services.

In those countries you only have your laborer as long as you keep him in your debt, for as soon as he gets a month’s wages in his pocket, he is ready to loaf and get drunk.

I think if you were thoroughly acquainted with conditions there, as I am, you would take a different view of the matter. I have been a constant reader of your Magazine since the first issue and enjoy it very much, but felt I must give you my views on this question.

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_John C. Sanner, Redding, Cal._

“Who Are The Rabble?”

It is _de rigeur_ nowadays for a “genteel” personage travelling along a country road in a buggy or automobile to address any casually met pedestrian as “my man” when seeking local information. This seems boorish to my old fashioned notions. We are evidently becoming very aristocratic along with our tremendous increase in national wealth. It is a very great exhibition of gall for a large employer to so bespeak an humble subordinate.

I will present to the editor of the TOM WATSON’S MAGAZINE, if he can find space, an article addressed mainly to the uneducated and unthoughtful hard working men and voters of our United States. The writer is an uneducated man and a life-long hard toiler and acquainted with grief, sorrow and adversity and has lived over three score and ten years. My mother being left a widow with four little dependent children, she was forced to hire me at seven years old for bread and hence I feel interested in millions of men, women and children that are dependent and in grief and sorrow, that if they had equal rights and justice in this government, they would be a prosperous and happy people, and a just principle that presides in my heart prompts me to write an article addressed to that dependent, unthinking army of men in this government. Though I am forced to write from the hand of an uneducated man or from the language of my mother’s tongue, I hope my position will be understood.