Chapter IX: Part 9

If it should come in the way of your comments, the good people of the Dark Tobacco District of Tennessee and Kentucky would rejoice with “exceeding great joy” if you in your inimitable style would hit the infernal Tobacco trust a _jolter_. This, the most heartless of all, took possession of this District, composed of about twenty-two counties, and laid it off in territories and appointed an agent to buy the tobacco (the only money crop) at his own price. No one was allowed in his territory, and consequently there was no opposition or competition. They took the tobacco at two dollars less than the cost of production. The condition became pitiable and laborers who were unable to support their families left the country and went to the cities, railroads and mines. The people became angered, and on the 24th of September, 1904, organized “The Dark Tobacco Protective Association.” This association controlled 75% of the tobacco, and in six months raised the price to double the former price. Now tobacco is selling for more than twice its price under the Trust rule. We appealed to the law, but had we waited for the law to protect us we would have starved. We went after the thieves red-hot and for more than a year hell would have been a good cooling place for them. Any help you can render us in your excellent Magazine, which is largely read in this section, would be greatly appreciated.

Before I close let me pay you the tribute you richly deserve by saying that any heart breathing the gentle and ennobling sentiment found in your pieces “In the Mountains” and “A Day in the Autumn Woods” lives close to his God and fellow-man, and a man who could write the “Widow Lot” can never die, and is a national benefit. Great men have always had the misfortune to die before their works were appreciated and admired: I sincerely hope you may be spared to fight the battle of the people against Snobbery, Shams, Hypocrites, Grafters, and the Robber Barons of the Trusts.

I send you a copy of a speech against the Tobacco Trust; if you have time to read it you will see why it is that I so eagerly await the issuance of every number of your Magazine.

* * * * *

_James Griffith Stephens, Valdes, Alaska._

I am reading every number of your Magazine with great interest. I notice that you never touch on subjects pertaining to Alaska; have you forgot that we are on earth? Listen to this tale of woe.

Alaska cost the United States seven million five hundred thousand dollars in the year 1867. Since then Alaska has paid into the treasury the sum of one hundred and fifty million. Note the interest on the purchase. Still we have no means of representation. There are today in the District of Alaska 60,000 population who stand in the same place that our forefathers stood when the tea-party took place. It is a shame that in this land of the free we are denied ANY means of representation. There is a mistaken idea that Alaska has a territorial form of government. It has no voice from the people whatever. We are peoned. And why? BECAUSE ALASKA AFFORDS ONE OF THE CHOICEST TREES IN THE ORCHARD OF GRAFT. And its political plums are distributed among the carpetbag grafters who enforce their presence upon the pioneers who are fostering and fathering the country. There is not an elective office in the District. Our mining laws are obnoxious and afford the greatest chance for official graft. Did you ever stop to consider what a great country Alaska is, and how it is controlled? If I may, without taking too much of your valuable time, I will call your attention to the following facts.

Alaska is one-third as large as the United States.

It is not an iceberg, but affords future homes for millions.

Alaska is in the same latitude as England, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Russia.

Alaska has the greatest fisheries on earth. These fisheries are controlled by the beef trust. GRAFT!

Alaska has great beds of finest anthracite coal, now being gobbled up by the Pennsylvania coal barons. GRAFT!

Alaska is covered by fine forests now being taken up by means of soldiers’ fractional script. GRAFT!

Alaska has the largest stamp mill on earth. The mine has produced over $22,000,000 in gold, more than three times the cost of the District. This mine is not timbered and there is an average of one man killed a day by caving. GRAFT!

Alaska has the only fur-seal islands in the world. These islands are leased to a big corporation. GRAFT!

Alaska has a navigable river twenty-eight hundred miles in length, a reservation at the mouth controls the harbor and permits are issued for warehouses to two big corporations only, so Alaskans again have to stand for GRAFT!

I could go on giving cases of graft for a month, but time is limited. An article by a well informed writer in Appleton’s _Booklovers’ Magazine_, entitled “The Looting of Alaska,” is well worth reading.

* * * * *

_S. C. Le Baron, Smiley, Tex._

Three numbers of your Magazine received, for which I am truly thankful inasmuch as it stands for the principles which have been my political platform ever since the Greenback party was organised. It is only financial inability that kept me from becoming a subscriber at the start, for I felt very certain it would be a powerful educator, and the copies at hand prove my hopes fully realized. If it could be gotten into the hands of those who feel the need of a change in conditions but still can’t be made to understand the cause of these conditions, it would indeed be a powerful factor in the reform movement. The copies received are out doing missionary work; there is enough strong and conclusive argument in any one of them to set an unprejudiced mind to thinking seriously whether these things are so. I have been in this movement over thirty years, and having passed my eighty-first birthday, feel that I am not destined to work much longer, but when I see the circumstances which inevitably tend to an enthrallment of the masses, I feel like doing my best to avert the coming disaster. My hope lies in the integrity of an intelligent citizenship and it is through outspoken literature that intelligence can be acquired.

* * * * *

_E. J. Whelan, Tipton, Mich._

I like the way you write and the way you put it, but I am discouraged. It doesn’t seem as though the rank and file will ever see the point. The most of them will agree with me about the condition of the country, but when they come to vote, they vote the same old ticket. That is the way they do. Some one gets hold of them before election and they vote it straight. Only a short time ago a friend of mine said to me that he thought we as a Government were getting right where Russia is, and it would take the same internal revolution to get rid of the monopolies and trusts that are holding us down. Now I will venture anything that that same man will vote with the old G. O. P. and vote a straight ticket too. Now it makes me sick, but I think if they can stand it, I can, and have made up my mind to let the whole thing go to the devil. It looks as though the men with Hon. before their names were thieves. It is called “graft” now.

* * * * *

_F. A. Jeter, Alto, Tex._

I am on your side, never have been on any other way and I know that if the laboring people do not get some relief, and that soon, we are gone. Your Magazine has done good here. Has changed hot-headed Democrats to Populists.

* * * * *

_A. C. Shuford, Newton, N. C._

In a letter some time back you stated that you believed the “Money Question” to be infinitely more important than any other before the American people. You are undoubtedly correct in the view you take of the matter. People take the same superstitious view of money that they do of religion, and how to reach the reason of the average man through all this thick covering of superstition is quite a problem. I have thought over this problem for years and am not much nearer the solutions of it now than when I first began. I have practiced caution in my contact with men, and to look back for twenty years I can see quite a change has taken place in my own neighborhood as well as elsewhere. I have been a great admirer of Jefferson and have read everything he has written which I could get my hands upon. His boldness in attacking the church is a marvel to me. Here is the power which enslaves the minds of the people and keeps them from using their thinking machines. The result of such methods is that the average man is afraid to think for himself. No step of progress can be made until this vast machine is shattered, and yet care must be used in doing so, because man must have some foundation upon which to stand. Do not misunderstand me, please. I am a believer in Christian principles as I understand them.

The money power and other monopolies are allowed to maintain their grip through the church largely. How best to expose and open this organisation to attack is a problem I wish you or some other man would solve. The average politician knows well how to play upon this feeling which the Church creates and as long as the organisation is allowed to continue its process of enslaving the minds of our children, just so long will the crop of “Grafters” be an abundant one.

* * * * *

_Sallie T. Parrish, Adel, Ga._

I believe your Magazine is more eagerly awaited than any other publication extant, and I think the people read what you write first. I am sure I do. You are the only writer who has ever made politics more fascinating to me than romance.

I used to read your paper when I was a child almost as ardently as I read the Magazine now. Some of the editorials appealed to me so strongly that I preserved them in my scrap book, not because I understood them then, but because I felt intuitively that there was something sublime in them.

Not long since I showed one of those selections—The Highest Office—to a young man—a Democrat and a teacher in the same school that I was. He finished reading it just as the bell rang for the morning session. The moment the opening exercises were over he sprang upon the rostrum, shook his black hair out of his face and exclaimed: “Children, I have found a gem! Let me read it to you.”

Your Magazine is being read by many honest Democrats who a few years ago thought the Democratic party was all it claimed to be and that you were wrong. Now they frankly endorse your principles and praise your courage, honesty and brilliant intellect.

I must thank you for a clearer knowledge of political questions, public affairs and economic conditions than I ever would have had had it not been for you.

Your “Bethany” I consider one of the treasures of my modest collection of books. Not long ago one of those reasonable, broad-minded, intelligent Democrats was telling me how much he liked your Magazine. He said he read everything in it—“Pole Baker” and all the rest—that he didn’t think you had ever written an uninteresting sentence in your life and that he thought you the purest, most upright man in public life today.

I asked him if he had read “Bethany.” He had not, but when I told him about it he was anxious to do so. I sent him mine. He is a man near sixty and he read it with all the intensity and abandon that a sentimental girl of sixteen would devour one of Laura Jean Libbey’s novels. He and I were alternate day watchers at the bedside of a convalescent patient—one very dear to us both—but I had it all to myself that day until late in the afternoon, when the blessed trained nurse decided to forego a part of her nap and relieve me awhile.

I think you have done and are doing the world more good than any other man in it, and I hope that you may be granted many years of life and strength to champion the cause of humanity and labor for justice, truth and equity, and I know that some time your noble life will be rewarded.

I am very glad you have added the department of “Books” to your Magazine. I don’t think it could be improved now, unless you were to add an amateur or young writer’s department.

* * * * *

_Mrs. B. C. Rude, Lyons, N. Y._

I am getting TOM WATSON’S MAGAZINE from the news-stand and like it very much. It is refreshing to see one man who _dares_ say what he believes.

* * * * *

_Halley Halleck._

I have read every issue of your Magazine up to and including December publication. It is certainly the greatest publication of the kind in existence. As an educator it has no equal. It expresses more opinions and views and in the most fearless manner of any paper in the world. Long may it live and reach all parts of the globe!

The question which you are so ably advocating is taking root and spreading and arousing public opinion so as to bring the monarchical money-kings to justice. May God speed the time when they will be handled as other criminals, to wear the stripes, balls and chains!

That local state government is no exception I got from that ex-representative of the Legislature, the King Lobbyist, Hamp McWhorter. He has an office in the Equitable building, and any senator he thinks he can use he simply ’phones one of his henchmen at the Capitol, telling him to send such and such a senator to his office, where he gets in his dirty work.

In another instance, when a member a few years ago introduced a resolution to have the Governor appoint a committee to investigate the merging of railroads, the vice-president of the Southern Railroad was soon in a seat beside him, making inquiries as to what would satisfy him. Well, the member was appointed local attorney at a salary of five hundred per annum for a number of years. The motion was quickly withdrawn and if this individual ever represented the road in a case I never heard of it. However, he drew the salary and rode on a free pass.

This lobbyist is for suing. He commences with his free pass on probable candidates. As I remember, at a station a man who was a country merchant, farmer and mill owner presented a pass to the agent and asked if it was valid. The agent informed him it was genuine. Sure enough, he was a candidate and elected as senator the next race.

Don’t you think the Texas law should be applied, which is that the guilty party is taken out and given a good thrashing the first time and for the second offence double the dose?

* * * * *

_W. D. Wattles, Winchester, Ind._

Permit me to express my appreciation of the February number of WATSON’S. It is the best Magazine I have seen, and I have seen most of the good ones. I like your practice of publishing short, pointed articles, and your cartoons are of the best. Your educational and news summary departments seem to me to be especially valuable. I shall take it into my pulpit Sunday evening, and read from your editorial.

* * * * *

_D. C. Pryor, Uvalde, Tex._

When I was a boy I saw a carpenter place side by side three pieces of lumber which he was pleased to call “dimension timber.” These pieces were something like forty feet long and were two inches wide and eight inches deep. He took iron spikes and nailed the three pieces together until they looked to be all in one piece. He told me it was “a girder” for the “warehouse” he was constructing. I wanted to know why he did not use a solid piece of timber of the same measure. He answered by saying that the three pieces united together with the stronger part of the one fitting opposite the weaker part of the others would give the girder a greater strength in the power of resisting the immense weight that would have to be borne than if the girder had been made of just one piece of lumber.

In connection with the foregoing incident I wish to draw a pen picture of a scene which is passing before my vision: At Washington, within the shadow of the Capitol, standing side by side facing the west upon the steps of that magnificent structure, are three of the greatest men of renown the world has ever known. In the centre of the group stands the “Immortal Lincoln,” to the right of Mr. Lincoln stands the “Irreproachable Jefferson,” and to the left stands the “Irrepressible Watson”—whose mind is the very incarnation of Jeffersonian principles. Above this scene on either side, hanging toward the centre at half mast, are our national colors, beneath which is a life size portrait of “The Father of Our Country.” Above the portrait in raised letters I read “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.”

Now I wish to impress upon those who may care to read this article and who are tired of living under the present system of “graft and greed,” and to those of us who have always believed in party lines and are more or less prejudiced in favor of our political tendencies, that there can be no reformation ever made in either of the old parties that exist at the present time. I therefore believe we should endeavor to secure the very best “dimension timber” that can be had out of the now scattered ranks of the Republican, Democratic and Populist parties, and with the nails of iron and bands of steel bring them together and make of them a girder for our country that the gods of ancient Greece could not knock asunder! And why not at an early date advertise this new party and organize party clubs throughout the land and let the watchword be “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty”?

I would suggest that we name this “new party” Demo-Re-Polican or so word the name that each member from an old party may not feel that he had lost all of his former identity. I have not the least hope of electing as the chief magistrate of the nation a Southern man for years to come, and it is useless to put one at the head of the ticket to be slaughtered just to make a Roman holiday. But Mr. Watson can be our leader, and when we win “There will be glory enough for us all.”

“CONCKALOCHIE.”

(This is an Indian word for encampment, or a bringing together of the tribes for the exchange of commodities.)

* * * * *

_Edwin Hyde Nutt, Dresden, N. Y._

I think you are on the right track exactly, and will do all I can to get you some new subscribers. I live in a land of Gold-bugs, and if there is a place on earth that needs a missionary it is Yates County, N. Y. We have lost our interest in Mr. Bryan. How could he stultify himself to vote for Parker, we can’t see. Think he will have a hard time to make Democrats out of old Greenbackers. He knows the greenbacks are the best money in the world. Why does he try to break up the Populist Party?

* * * * *

_R. N. Crowell, Rob Roy, Ind._

I am on the down-hill of life; nearly sixty-four years old. Have been a student of history for twenty-five years and would love to do something to free us from the slavery and tyranny of boss rule. When I go hence I will leave a posterity behind me and would love to know that I have done a little something to make our country a free and independent and a Christian people in deed and in truth. Have traveled in fourteen states, been through the Indian Territory and have had some opportunity of learning something of the situation that we now are in both religiously and politically.

I glory in the principles of Washington, Jefferson, Jackson, Lincoln and the People’s Party. I admire Thomas E. Watson because he stands square to the front for right and justice for the common people against money, greed and selfishness for place and power. Brother American, wake up and help shake off the shackles that our money lords are binding us with before it is too late!

Yours for liberty, peace and righteousness, for God and a common brotherhood of man. Let us unite and tear down the walls of sin and selfishness and bring in the millennial age of peace and righteousness that we may be called the children of God in deed and in truth.

* * * * *

_T. M. Barton, Butler, Ky._

You evidently have mistaken me for my deceased brother, William, who was an ardent Populist, while I am a good Republican “from away back.” I am not with you in public ownership, free silver, etc., but with you heart and soul in downing the great trusts, monopolies, etc. Now it seems to me this can be done in no better way than by standing right at President Roosevelt’s back. We can hardly hope to find an abler, more courageous and more earnest champion of the people than he. Personally, Mr. Watson, as I have measured you, mentally and morally, by your speeches and writings, I like you, just as I do many a good Democrat and Populist, without agreeing with them politically. The fact is that the late elections have given us a great lesson in free thought and free action—in placing principle and patriotism above party allegiance. As we witness the aggressive greed, the intolerable impudence, the great power of the great corporations, we may well remember “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.”

* * * * *

_Peter E. Cooper, Dover. N. J._

Like very much your arrangement of having only four numbers to a volume, as four will make a convenient size to handle when bound. Hope you will continue that feature.

In making changes, spoken of in January issue, I hope you will not change the size (you can add as many pages as you like) as present size is very convenient and, when bound, will look much nicer if of uniform size.

I am going to have mine bound in full law sheep, as I consider them a valuable addition to any library.

* * * * *

_William Hamilton, Cleveland, O._

I am interested in the success both of your Magazine and its ideas and would be pleased to know how you are coming on and what the prospects are.

A STORY CONCERNING GENERAL GEORGE WASHINGTON

A correspondent, in the course of a private letter, reports a very interesting tradition which illustrates the character and bearing of The Father of his Country.

I give it in the language of the writer:

“To return to General Washington. Your picture of him makes me
want to repeat to you a piece of tradition that was handed down
to me by my father.

“My father’s uncle, Governor George R. Gilmer, of Georgia, told
my father that _his_ father, Thomas M. Gilmer, of Virginia,
_told him_ that General Washington was the most extreme type
of the aristocrat that this country had ever produced. That he
had seen him drive up in his coach and four to a country court
house at election time to vote that he would alight, and with
head erect and neither looking to the right nor the left, as
the crowd uncovered, parted and almost prostrated themselves
to the ground, would march up, deposit his ballot, and without
the slightest acknowledgment to the crowd or to any individual,
without even so much as a nod or turn of the head, he would
march in state through the path made by obsequiousness and
reverence and love back to his coach, where he would sit the
picture of rigidity and indifference as he rode away.”

* * * * *

GEORGETOWN, PA., Jan. 17, 1906.

_Hon. Thomas E. Watson, Thomson, Ga._

DEAR SIR: Can you direct me where I can get Alexander Stevens’
“War Between the States”? I would like to purchase this book.

Yours truly,

⸺ ⸺.

ANSWER

The book is out of print, but is easily obtained through the old book dealers.

The price ranges from $5 to $10.

Try Joseph McDonough, Albany, New York, or The Americus Book Company, Americus, Ga.

* * * * *

SAN SABA, TEX., Feb. 5, 1906.

_Hon. Thomas E. Watson, Thomson, Ga._

DEAR SIR: I see in the newspapers that Mr. So and So’s seat in
the New York exchange is worth nearly $100,000. What is meant
by that? Why is it worth so much and what do they do? Thanking
you in advance for the information, I am.

Very truly yours,

⸺ ⸺.

ANSWER

The New York Stock Exchange is simply an exclusive gambling hell where very rich gamblers bet on the rise and fall of the stock of the big corporations.

The “nearly $100,000” is the entrance fee.

The reason why the price is so great is because the operations and the opportunities are so vast.

Compared to the colossal stakes and winnings of the Stock Exchange, the gambling which goes on at Monaco, or at Tom Taggart’s place at French Lick Springs is puerile. Since the world was created, no such gigantic gaming has been known as the mad speculations in the New York Stock Exchange.

Of course, the losses are as large as the gains, but those on the inside of the Exchange have an enormous advantage over those on the outside. Those on the inside are generally the masterful fellows who shear the lambs outside.

The organized, experienced and expert players within the Exchange have the same point of advantage over the gullible, unorganized public that the cool dealers at the gaming tables have over the men and women who buck against the bank.

For the privilege of _getting on the inside of the game_, Mr. So and So pays nearly $100,000.

* * * * *

NEW YORK, Jan. 7, 1906.

_Hon. Thomas E. Watson, Thomson, Ga._

DEAR SIR: Will you kindly answer the following questions in
your _Educational Department_?

(1) What is the difference between Single Tax and Populism?

(2) Is it true that Grover Cleveland is to receive $12,000 per
year from the “Big Three,” and, if so, why?

(3) Why was not the Prudential Company investigated? Their
premiums are about the same as the others. In talking with
their agents I find them the same as agents of the “Big Three.”

(4) Is Paul Morton treating the policy holders justly when he
_takes_ $80,000 per year as his salary?

Your Magazine is a God-send to the people at large and I trust
it will be read by men and women throughout the country.
Thanking you in advance, I am.

Very truly,

⸺ ⸺.

ANSWER

(1) Single Tax puts all the burden of supporting the Government on one form of wealth, viz.: the value of land.

Populism equalizes taxation, and would compel each owner of property to pay in proportion to his wealth.

The Single Taxer would put all the load on land, leaving money, stocks, bonds and personal property of every sort untaxed.

Populists cannot see any justice in taking the value out of the land of the farmer, while twelve billion dollars of railroad stocks and bonds go untaxed.

Carnegie holds about three hundred million dollars in the bonds of the Steel Trust. Those bonds are as good as gold. They pay Mr. Carnegie a regal income. Why should my land have the value taxed out of it and Carnegie’s bonds go free? There is no justice in this scheme. It does not measure up to the Populist dogma of “Equal rights to all.”

(2) Yes. To cloak insurance rascality with his respected name. The robbers who run those insurance companies simply bought the use of Mr. Cleveland’s name. He consents to play the humble but useful part of decoy duck for $1,000 per month.

Gen. Robert E. Lee, just after the Civil War, was offered $50,000 per year by one of these very companies. He refused to sell the use of his name. He was a poor man, and went to teaching school for a living. In this quiet, modest, but noble way “the greatest soldier that the Anglo-Saxon race ever produced” (see Theodore Roosevelt’s “Life of Thomas H. Benton”) was supporting his family at the time of his death. Mr. Cleveland is not a poor man. His income is $5,000 per year, over and above what silly magazines pay him for occasional articles which are valueless. Therefore Mr. Cleveland need not have sold his name to the life insurance rascals. But the $12,000 tempted him, and he sold out.

(3) Dryden’s Prudential was investigated and very rotten it was shown to be.

(4) No. He is simply stealing the money. Calling it “salary” does not keep it from being loot.

* * * * *

CHICAGO, Feb. 7, 1906.

_Hon. Thomas E. Watson, Thomson, Ga._

DEAR SIR: Will you please give me the information as set forth
in the following questions?

(1) How many years must an alien live in this country before he
can take out his final papers?

(2) Can an alien, on declaring his intentions to become an
American citizen, exercise the voting franchise before getting
final papers?

(3) I have been nine years in this country and never bothered
about taking out my papers as a citizen. If I were to declare
my intentions of becoming a citizen now, how long would it be
before I could exercise the vote franchise?

Thanking you in anticipation of an early answer, I remain,

Yours respectfully,

⸺ ⸺.

ANSWER

(1) The conditions under and the manner in which an alien may be admitted to become a citizen of the United States are prescribed by sections 2 and 165 to 174 of the revised Statutes of the United States. The alien may, immediately upon landing in this country, declare upon oath before a Circuit or District Court of the United States, or a District or a Supreme Court of the Territories, or a Court of Record of any of the states having common law jurisdiction and a seal and clerk, that it his bona fide intention to become a citizen of the United States. He cannot take out his final papers until after he has resided at least five years continuously within the United States, and within the State or Territory where such Court is at the time held, one year at least. He cannot take out his final papers until the lapse of two years after declaring his intention. Accordingly, if the alien should immediately declare his intention upon landing, it would be necessary for him to wait until the expiration of five years before taking out his final papers. However, if he had resided three years in the United States before declaring his intention, then he could secure his final papers at the end of two years.

(2) The right to vote comes from the state. Naturalization is a Federal right. In nearly one half of the states of the Union an alien who has declared his intention has the right to vote equally with fully naturalized or native born citizens. In the other half, only citizens vote.

(3) In your case, living in the State of Illinois, it would be necessary for you to declare your intentions and take out your final papers inasmuch as only citizens of the United States can vote in that state.

In Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas and Wisconsin, an alien who has declared intention is permitted to vote. In some of these states additional qualifications are added. For example, in Indiana he must have resided one year in the United States, not necessarily in Indiana. In Michigan he must have declared his intention two years and six months prior to November 8, 1904; otherwise he is barred from voting. In Missouri, if he has declared intention not less than one year, or more than five, before election. And so on. In Nebraska, if he has declared his intention thirty days before election, provided he has resided within the state six months. And so on, several of the other states having similar qualifications. In the states not mentioned the requirements are that voter must be a citizen by nativity or naturalization. In some of the states there is a provision that the citizen shall have paid a registration fee of $1, as in Delaware. That he shall have paid taxes within two years, if twenty-two years old, or more, as in Pennsylvania. If he can read and write, as in Massachusetts. If he can read or understand the Constitution, as in Mississippi. If he has paid all his taxes since 1877, as in Georgia. If he is an Indian, with several tribe relations, as in South Dakota.

As was said before, naturalization is a Federal right. The laws relating to it apply to the whole Union alike, and provide that no alien may be naturalized until after five years’ residence. Even this doesn’t give him the right to vote unless the state confers the privilege upon him. On the other hand, the right to vote comes from the state, but the state could not confer this right upon an alien who had not declared intention.

_BY Mrs. Louise H. Miller._]

HOME DEPARTMENT

The Home Department welcomes suggestions, recipes, useful hints, brief articles, short accounts of what women have done in their homes and home towns, and brief, _true_ stories of “Heroism at Home.” We are all working together and we want to put into our Department anything that will make the housewife’s life brighter and more useful. We, all of us, are the editors of “Home”; let us make it as good as we can.

* * * * *

Every month there will be a _prize of a year’s free subscription to WATSON’S MAGAZINE_, sent to any address desired, _for the best contribution_. There will also be, every month, a _prize of another such free subscription for the best true story of “Heroism at Home.”_ These two prizes will not be given to the same person.

The names of those contributing recipes and suggestions will be printed with what they send in, unless they request to have their names omitted. The names of those contributing stories of “Heroism at Home” will _not_ be printed unless in exceptional cases. The reason for not printing the names in this case is that the stories are true and the characters in them are real people who might be sensitive about having their most private affairs set forth in type with their right names appearing in it. If we published the names and addresses of the person who sends in the story about them it would be almost the same as publishing their own names. In each number there will be a note saying that such and such a story receives the prize, but no names will be given. The names in the story will be left blank or fictitious names will be supplied. Under the head of “Heroism at Home” are further particulars.

There is no need to worry about “not knowing how to write.” What our Department wants is the _facts_. If any corrections are really needed, they can easily be made. We aren’t trying to be “authors”—we’re just women trying to help one another.

The Editors of the Magazine tell me that it will simplify matters very much if we make a few simple rules for sending in contributions. Let us see how the following will work out:

1. _Make all contributions short and to the point._

We have only a few pages altogether; there are a lot of us to contribute and there are many things to talk about.

2. _Address everything carefully and in full to Mrs. Louise H. Miller, WATSON’S MAGAZINE, 121 West 42d Street, New York City._

3. _Write on one side of the paper only._

4. _No letters or manuscripts will be returned._

Make a copy of everything you send if you want to keep it.

* * * * *

=May Number.=—A continuation of this month’s subject for discussion.

=June Number.=—Our common ornamental flowers, wild and cultivated.

=July Number.=—What women can do toward improving and beautifying their home cities, towns, or country districts.

* * * * *

The Department this month is something like! The Other Editors have taken hold! I knew that I should have to write most of it for the first two months, until time enough had passed for contributions to come in from the rest of you. Now the suggestions, recipes, articles, and stories of “Heroism at Home” have begun to come from all over the country and our Department begins to take on its permanent form. Every month from now on ought to be a big improvement over all that went before.

The letters received have made me very happy, for they contain many words of praise and good wishes for the Department and prove that the writers are ready and willing to help edit it and that they _can_. Don’t misunderstand me. The words of praise are not for _my_ work in the Department, but for the Department itself—for the plan of having us all work together for our common good. It is a good plan and, now that you are actually at work with me, I know we are going to work that good plan out and work it out _well_!

Unfortunately, some of the letters did not reach me in time for publication in this number. They will not be lost to the Department on that account, however. Also, the final date set for letters on Why Women Should be Interested in Politics came so soon after the day when the March issue was mailed out that there was hardly time for many to reach us. The Magazine was very late last month. The Editors couldn’t help it, and they are trying hard to get this April number out promptly on time. After this we will not set any particular date for letters to be in, but if, for instance, you want to say something in the May number, send it to me as soon as you can after getting this issue.

After talking with the Editors and thinking it over by myself I can see that it will not always be best to publish every letter as soon as it comes in. For example, an excellent letter has been sent to us from Nebraska telling how the women of a certain town have organized and done a great deal for the beauty, comfort and usefulness of their little city. It came in response to something I had said in the Department. Now this letter is just the kind of thing we want, but it seems to me better not to use it in this issue which is devoted chiefly to woman’s interest in politics.

MAKING YOUR COMMUNITY BETTER

Don’t you think it would be better to devote a whole number later on to the subject of what women can do for their native towns or districts? They have organized in a great many places and there are several national societies devoted to civic improvement. The members either do things themselves, or use their influence to secure good local laws to bring these things about. It is surprising how much they accomplish.

The field is a large one and covers many things—beautifying public squares and streets, making front and back yards attractive, improving the schools and school-yards, securing parks for the people, making better the towns’ sanitary conditions, establishing dinner-clubs for factory girls, pushing the right kind of legislation for the community, planting trees, flowers and grass, establishing traveling or stationary libraries, starting church or public lecture courses, public baths, hospitals, suppression of smoke and other nuisances such as overhead telephone wires and ugly advertising boards—oh, there is no end to what can be done! Of course, no two communities need just the same improvements and town and country have different problems, but wherever you live you will find something that can be made better. And we women can do it! “A revolutionizing power as to all that changes the ‘order of one day’ lies in feminine hands, through the use of what is distinctly hers,” says that wise woman who, under the name of “C,” writes those splendid articles called “Home Thoughts” for the New York _Post_.

All this isn’t a matter of theory. These things _have been done_ in many places. And why shouldn’t woman be able to bring about public improvements? More than half the population of the United States are women. In many places we can vote. Everywhere we wield a great influence over those that do vote. And surely we have brains enough.

To my mind, local women’s clubs organized for some such purpose as this are a good deal more worth while than women’s clubs organized merely for self-improvement. Work for the improvement of others—that is the best way to improve yourself. Be a citizen as well as an individual. Women’s literary and current events clubs are good institutions when they don’t try to do foolish things or make us neglect our home duties, but these same clubs might do the world, and the members, too, greater good if they would also turn their attention to helping the whole community to better things.

But to return to that Nebraska letter. I suggest that we keep it till our July number and devote that whole issue to the question of women and civic improvement. I hope that every one of you who has done any work of that kind, or seen it done, will write to the Department and tell us about it. Remember that the July number comes out June 25 and that the letters should reach me about three weeks before that time. Write now.

_FLOWERS FOR JUNE NUMBER_

June is a month of flowers, how will it do to devote the June number to them? That is a very big subject, so we’d better narrow it down a little. Suppose we consider only the ornamental flowers common to our gardens, woods and fields. Let us all contribute something as to the care and raising and nature of them.

We will not “study botany,” as they do in school and college, but, besides collecting information on planting, watering, repotting etc., we can get a very good bird’s eye view if what flowers _are_. Nearly all of us have probably raised flowers or seen them raised, but there are enough interesting facts about them to fill a hundred numbers of our Department. Let us try to collect as many interesting facts as possible so that we can have a broader knowledge when we see them or work with them in the future.

We will not include the plants or trees that bear our common fruits and vegetables. This is a subject by itself and perhaps we can take it up in some later number.

Though we are going to confine ourselves to our common flowers and plants let us get a general idea of where they belong in the vegetable kingdom—in regard to ferns, mosses, mushrooms, sea-weeds, lichens, etc.

For instance, which of these is the nearest relative to the asparagus—the oak, the fern, the lily, the mushroom or the rose? The question isn’t important to us in itself, but a very little effort will enable us to understand the general arrangements of the plants so that it will be an added pleasure all our lives.

What _is_ a plant? What is it composed of? What does it eat? Drink? Breathe? What are the leaves for? The roots? The flowers? Why do plants differ so among themselves? Why does one grow from a bulb, another from fine roots? Why is the seed of a maple put in that peculiar little case you crunch under foot on the pavement?

Oh, there are lots of “whys”! The nice part of it is that it is all very simple, after all. We can find out a great deal with very little trouble. There are plenty of easy books on the subject, nowadays, and a good many people who know about plants. Many of you know all these things, and more, without asking.

The things suggested in the last paragraph _are_ important to us if we are raising flowers. If you raise flowers you are a flower-nurse and a flower-doctor. How can a nurse or doctor do much for a patient unless she knows what the patient eats, drinks and breathes, and what the various members and organs of the patient are for?

Where did our flowers originally come from? Are they all native to America? If not, how did they get here? Were they always as they are now?

How do plants reproduce their kind? Do all plants have seeds? Do seeds always grow into plants just like the one on which they grew? If so, have all the many varieties existed from the first? If not, how can you get another plant like the parent? Do you know what Luther Burbank, the “California Wizard,” is doing? Has a seed one parent or two? Where is it, or where are they? It’s easy to ask questions, isn’t it?

Yes, and it’s surprisingly easy to answer them, if you try. An encyclopedia will help you, if you consult it. So will an unabridged dictionary, though it doesn’t say much and is often very technical. Of course a botany will and there are many “popular” books now that give you much interesting information. Don’t make a lesson out of it. You may be able to answer some or all of the above questions without help of any kind. If not, take a few minutes some time soon and browse around among some of those books and pick up anything that strikes your fancy. If there are no books handy, ask your friends. It is as good as a game of “Authors” any day! If your friends don’t know, you are very lucky. Then you can do a little observing and thinking on your own hook. That is a hundred times better than being told or taught.

There is nothing that can be made more deadly dry and tedious than “botany”: there are few things that can be made more delightful and interesting than a commonsense study of flowers!

Have flowers played a part in history? What was the “War of the Roses?” What is the fleur-de-lis, the emblem of France and used so much in decoration and jewelry? Do you remember the story of Narcissus in Greek mythology? What other flowers have figured in history? Do you remember, in our February number, what royal family had the broom flower as their badge? What is the national flower of Scotland? Of Ireland? Of our country?

Do we Americans use much taste in making bouquets? What is your idea of a really beautiful and artistic bouquet? Do you know the Japanese idea of a bouquet?

Is it healthful to have many plants around you? How do plants keep the water fresh in an aquarium?

Tell us your best remedies for insects that injure plants? What plants are best for the house in winter? In summer? Do you know how to make good window-boxes? Tell us anything you know about plants and their care.

Would your town or district be pleasanter and better to live in if more flowers and trees were growing in it? What are parks worth to a large city? But there. I am running into our subject for July!

Are you supposed to answer all those questions? Bless you, no! No one _has_ to do anything in our Department. We get work enough in our daily lives—our Department is to afford us a change and relief from everyday work. It isn’t any the less play because we can profit by it and learn things from it. And perhaps it will teach us how to turn some of our daily work into an interesting kind of game (if we haven’t learned how to do that already) and yet do it better than we did before. The questions are merely to suggest things for our June number. Pick out a few that interest you and find out something about them or tell us what you know already. Mercy, no! You don’t _have_ to! But you’re likely to find a little of it amusing and pleasant and to add a bit more interest to your life.

If we only know how, and try, we can make our lives _so_ much more pleasant for ourselves and those about us! It is very easy. And it doesn’t take much time or brains or money or anything else, except “gumption” enough to try.

_For May, June and July_

So for May we will continue our discussion of woman’s interest in politics; in June, our common, ornamental flowers, wild and cultivated; in July, what women can do toward improving and beautifying their native town or district.

_Suggest Future Subjects_

I have asked the printer to put the above announcement at the beginning of our Department for the sake of convenience. I believe it will be a good plan to announce our monthly subjects three numbers ahead all the time, so that we can have plenty of time to think them over in advance, make suggestions and send in information.

Now, what shall we have for the August number? If there is something you are interested in or want to talk about or hear others talk about, send it in to the Department. Do this not only for August but for all the following numbers. I chose the subject for the first few months in order to get our plan started. Now I have had more than my share of “chooses” and all the others are for you to select. It may be that I can arrange to have a special prize offered each month for the best monthly topic suggested. I’ll try.

_WHY SHOULD WOMEN BE INTERESTED IN POLITICS?_

There is one answer that is sufficient in itself—Because her daily bread depends upon politics!

Is there any particular reason why she should go about her daily work like a mole and pay no attention to the things that make her life hard or make it easy? Doesn’t she suffer from unjust laws and bad conditions and profit by just laws and good conditions as much as her husband does, or her father, son, or brother?

Someone objects that politics is for the man to take care of; housework is woman’s sphere. That isn’t quite a fair statement of the case. The man’s part in the care of the family is his business: the woman’s is her housework. Politics is a third question. Why should the man alone have this to see to? A good many objections will be offered to this, too, _but all these objections will boil down to just one thing_—because he _does_! And that isn’t any reason at all. If you were asked why little children should work in factories and kill their health and youth, would you consider “Because they do!” a sufficient or sensible reason?

The men say that when women discuss anything they never get anywhere because they fail to _define_ the terms they use, and may all be talking about different things under the same name. I think men make this mistake about as much as we do, but let’s be on the safe side this time and define just what we mean by “politics.”

Politics in our country have become so disreputable that we are likely to feel that having anything to do with them is bad taste or even degrading. It is natural to feel that way, but is it silly, nevertheless. It is bad taste, or even degrading, to have anything to do with a notorious criminal, but _not if you are making him better_ instead of letting him make you worse! This is particularly true when it is partly _your fault that he became a criminal_!

Now as to the definition of politics. The Standard Dictionary gives this:

1. The branch of civics that treats of the principles of civil
government and the conduct of state affairs; the administration
of public affairs in the interest of the peace, prosperity,
and safety of the state; statecraft; political science: in a
wide sense embracing the _science_ of _government_ and _civil
polity_.