The ledger. [volume] (Gaffney City, S.C.) 1896-1907, March 25, 1897, Image 3
'4
•—•“i
i Mi: l,KJmEnr fi A riSEY, s. c., MARCH *25. IsfiT
HUMAN NATURE.
Always “Plum Natural” Around
Rocky Creek.
w
A CroHM Iloada “Rocn»"—A ClioU’e
Article of “White Ink”—Clrcnni-
.tsntlal Kvldencc—One Hock
for Two DirdB.
The latest and most freshest news
which we have heard from over in Cy
clone Streak was to
the sad extent that
Black Jack Wiggins
was sick abed, and
more than probable
to make a die of it.
. I People that know
the records and the
'' history of 1’ocky
creek and the stir-
roundin country
mought maybe won
der for the reasons why, but I can put
rcy hand in yours to-day, and tell the
truth and nothing but the truth when
I say that I would mortally hate to see
Black Jack Wiggins, of Cyclone Streak,
come acrost with bis last load of poles.
Over nt the Croitn HondM.
Oucst upon a time some tw enty years
ago, or maybe a little the rise of that,
me and Black Jack got into a tremen-
chus bad light over at the Cross lloaCs
one Saturday evenin. Xo, sir. So fur
as I know there wan’t any female
curiosity in the ease. But there was
Americ.in politics and mean whisky
and llrc-eatin fcoh; nt both ends cf the
line.
in them good old days we didn’t have
so infernal much party machinery in
the elections. It was a wide open, free-
for-all scrub race, in which the l>est
man always come down under the w ire
first.
That was on a Saturday, you un
derstand. and the eleetion was to
come olT on the next followin
Monday. Consequentially the boys
bad rounded up at the Cross Hoads for
the last final rally before the old cat
lit. “White ink” and “sperits-of-eats-
c-fightin” flowed free and promiseous
till I reckon the old devil went and
picked him out a soft place in some
shady corner to lay down and laugh.
It did look like the “documents” were
comin his way with a rush, and that
was enough to tickle the old scoundrel
l east most t > death.
Well. I wiil rot try to tell you—I
couldn't if I would—right exactly
when and how the storm riz and
brought on that bloody rueus between
me and Black Jack Wiggins. Maybe it
/ was his fault and maybe it was mine.
r A, i'' 1 ’! this much I do know to a dead and
buried certainty—m.' and Black Jack
v.o had it, up and dow n and over and
under. And then when the dust cleared
away there was blood and hair and elec
tion signs cr. every band, whilst the
ground was tore up ns from a bear
fight.
Hit’s been so monstrous long ago till
I can’t exactly remember everything
for certain, but I recollect as fresh
and clear ns if it w as hut only yester
day that my wife’s hushar.d did have
to take and tote a most tremendius
good beatin from a man by the name
of Black Jack Wiggins, < f Cyclone
Streak. The general style and shape
in which I returned back to the home
base that night was a plui: sc: adula
tion on the Sanders family. And the
next mornin when I got u > ai d went
to the Icokin glass, bless the beavers
if I didn’t have to stop and i urn around
and pinch myself to be dead certain
whether it was me or not. For three
« r four days henceforward:; after that
I couldn’t even bathe my classic counte
nance in warm water without suflerin
ti e no t severest pain, and it was
ermetkin i/ctter than a week before I
r.covered and braced up sufficient toga
forth onest more t.nd face the green
and busv world.
“Let’s take a loetle somethin for a
charge of breath,’’ says he, and with
lhat he went clown in his pisioi pocket
md come forth with a bottle of “white
ink."
i
Weil, as anybody knows. 1 didn’t need
no sperits that day. But right then
j I felt like 1 woirid ruther take a nibble
, with Black Jack Wiggins, of Cyclone
Streak, than any liviu mortal man on
he 1 rend bosom of the whole diseov-
1 ercul e~:And I never could tell w hy.
but it did raley seem to me like that
v.as. the best corn whisky I had ever
tasted since the day and hear when 1
j was born. At the same time Black
leek, was no frien’dly and social likea- d
pleasant till he soon made me forget
all about thg little twdstificaticn v. hlek
me and him bad got into that Rutur-
Iny evenin oter at the Cross Beads.
We kept up the familious confabulation
| rdl I had bit off three or fear plugs cf
that early runnin of the corn, and then
we shook hands acrost the bloody
eba: in cf the past. We parted friends,
and that friendship we have maintained
from that good day down to ibis blessed
| hour.
So that’s what makes me tell you
• what I do in regards to the news we
heard the other day—which I do hope
and trust it will not turn out as bad as
| the reports.
And may the Clod of the brave and
| the honest-hearted bless Black Jack
1 Wiggins, of Cyclone Streak.
( Irenmstantlal Evidence.
Along in the spring of the year—
when the sunshines warm and pleasant,
whilst the dogwood trees are blcomin,
and you feel so kiose and lazy—the gen
eral surrounding always put me in mind
of a strong ease of circumstantial evi-
i deuce which leaked out onest upon u
time in (regards to Will Tom I’ickeusand
Mhs Mamie Leu Galloway.
They have since mated eff for good
and settled down to business and are
now mixin clothes in one of the love
liest and most happiest homes in the
settlement. But at that pcrtielar time
they were right slap kerdab in the mid
dle of love’s young dream, as it were,
and between the two they bad worked
up a tremendius bad ease of it. They
had been courtin and carryin on to
gether as roglar and frequent as pig
tracks for six months past, and the
country was then seriously threatened
w ith a w eddin.
One Saturday in the first warm
days of spring we got up a big picnic
over at Stringer’s old mill, and about
dinner time w ho do you reckon driv up
in one of these dost built buggies—
who but Will Tom and Miss Mamie
Lou? Comin along the road in the
maintime it would seem like they had
been caught in one of them pleas-ant
April showers and both of them got wet.
X’cv.- you will please recollect that
Miss Mamie Lou was dressed in white,
with blue ribbons in her hair and a
blood red belt around her waist. I
reckon no doubts they had been too
busy Inyin their future plans to take
any particlar notice of what bad come
to pass. But at any rales, when they
driv up in the crowd and jumped out
of the buggy, by gracious t he ecat sleeve
which Will Tom wore on his left arm
was painted a gay and gorgeous red
from elbow to cuff and back again. At
the same time anybody could shot one
eye and looh and see that the onlyes;
red th'nn' in the whole layout was the
lovely belt w hich Miss Mamie Lou were.
The blame thing had got wet and run
in the wash.
BILL ARP AT WORK.
That I.oncaome Homely Fcelinc.
But in the main time garden truck
was ruther scanty and rations had run
•town, powerful at our house. We had
naturally come up to the forks of
i 1 ^ road—somethin had to be done, or
somebody had to suffer. The wolf was
.eratehin at the back door, end the
poorbouse loomed up over the western
hills, as it were.
So in orderment to settle the meat
and bread question 1 hooked up the
v agon and team and pulled out over to
fchc railroad station after a little load of
provisions which had come for me.
And when I first driv up w ho do you
reckon was the first man I saw standin
there—who but Black Jack Wiggins, of
Cyclone Streak?
X’o. 1 didn’t turn around and go on
back home with my empty wagon.
1 ut I felt a right Kmart like Mart Mayo
was in regards to the church—I had a
powerful lenr.in that way.
In so far back as the records run
Mart Mayo never went to mettin but
onest »n his life, and then he was so
eeandlouo drunk that he didn’t know
where he Wus goin’ till he got there,
lie was standin outside by the steps
’eanin up agin the church, when the
preacher come along.
•’Bo 3 - ou belong to the church?” says
the good man.
“Not as anybody knows of,” says
Mart, “but you will take notice that I
have a |)Owerful leanin that way.”
.Naturally,* of course, the railroad sta-
1 :on was n monstrous lonesome lookin
place to me that day, and I never did
know till then what great gobs of truth
bad been set forth in that good old
song—"Home. Sweet Home.” But our
bread and meat was there at the sta
tion. and a hungry man will take his
i< haneos in many a dost place in order*
ent to smooth out the wrinkles from
* he brow band of his breeches. Any*
how. I faced the music with fear and
tremblin and driv up and got ont and
dropped the traces. I lookwl nt Black
Jack, and Blackjack be looked otme—
»"nd and steady like.
Complaints of tho Grip and Rheu
matism Do No Good.
IJIh Wile Llocpn Him Going—Clears
Hu? Veranda of Dead Vines, and
UnialnstcH on Wom
an’s nights.
On«» Rock for Two Illrdft.
Which the wime that put.; me in mind
of another place where circumstantial
i evidence got in seme strong a:;d tellin
work.
Orest ujon a time John Ar/dre-.v Milli
gan and Miss Rosebud Bmknhwv tee’.;
a fool notion that they wcr.U r *o up to
the state fair together.and then took the
cars and went. They spent the day
takin in the sights and had a most fe
lonious nice time, to hear them tell it,
but on their return back hcxce that
night they met with a sad and terrible
accident.
How did it happen? Well, all I knew
about it is w hat John Andrew told m?
and Miss Host bud told met her. and they
didn’t make us promise tokeep rograve-
ynrd secrets in the ease.
Anyhow, from what they say. some
i ourdrel beast threwcd :: rr k into
the ear where they were ridin vide by
side. The same reel; crashed ‘kreugh
the pki5s window, knocked the breath
euten Miss Rosebud and 1 rol e three
fingers on John Andrew’s left hard at
one lick.
And that is all I know about it.
lU'FVS GAXDBRS.
Protonued KaMlne Onnsrerons.
Although many physicians advocate
the advantages derived frem long peri
ods of fasting and some even go far
i enough to say that no serious change
| of tissue need result, the question
i arises: Why the invariable loss in
v.e'gbt? Food of some kind is neces
sary to maintain the body and mind In
a healthy condition and to restore the
| inevitable waste. As a result of con
tinuous abstinence from food the blood
breomes impovertehed and diminished
cr d cerebral anaemia often follows.
The brain must be supplied with
heel thy blood. Rucci, who u few years
rgo f.rive an exhibition in New York of
his ability to exist without food, and
who receommendcd so highly* his
‘’elixir,” tirade, he said, from a plant
which he discovered in Africa (the use
of which retarded tissue ehai g's), has
just died in u madhouse in Fran:*.
\o Ft raw herr>- UTrrk.
Not long since a man who claimed to
be a lineal descendant of Montezuma
called nt the South Kenslngto ? museum
in London nnd asked toseert mummy of
an Aztec prince who beloAgrd to the
Montezuma frmlly. When 1-bown the
remains the gentleman gazid lorgnr.d
nnx:ouslv. but owing to tl» ravages of
time and the poor work ©4 ho ancient
j embalmem be could not diwjigu’sh any
1 like to work when I feel like it. but
my wife likes for me to work when :;ke
feels like it, and so between the tv.ol
have to work nearly'all the time. Yes
terday I was grunting around with
rHeumatism, but she took a notion that
it was a good day to take the veranda
trellis down and clean away nil the ok!
dead vines, and thought it would help
me to get warmed up by exercise—and
it did. She knows—she has heard me
try to play off on grippe and rheumatics
before—you can’t fool the woman you
have been living with for 4S years—-•o
I got the ladder and climbed Tip to the
tep and cut away the tangled web and
trimmed the running rcscvlnes and the
wisteria and Virginia creeper nnd then
tore a,way the old canes and cleaned up
all the trash and burned it. It was a big
job, for the veranda is 50 feet long and
I had to move the old rickety ladder a
dozen times—several times I get sorter
dizzy nnd liked to have fallen, but my
folks don’t believe I am r.s old as I am.
and they never will believe it until I
break my arm, cr my leg, or rcy neck.
Then I reckon they will be sorry. A
man never grows old to his own family:
no man is a hero to his own servant.
The servant knows him too well, and
just so rhy w ife won’t admit that I cm
too old to be useful, and she keeps me
trotting around. She gives me precepts
and examples, for she is never idle—
makes up the bed, cleans up her -ccr.:,
puts out the washing and distributes it
when it comes in, mends my clothes,
darns my stockings, sews on the min
ing buttons, hides my best pants to
keep me from working in them, and
scolds me ever nnd anon about my care
lessness, She keeps on making little
garments for the grandchildren and
still finds time to boss me in the flowe r
garden and go to the missionary meet
ing, and writes letters to the boys. She
never reads until almost bedtime, but
n“xt morning can tell us all the news
worth knowing, and has h* opinions
about Cleveland and McKinley and Ly
man Abbott and Dr. Broughton and
female suffrage. T read to her ‘he re
cent vote in parliament about that and
asked her what she thought cf it.
“Well,” said she, “I don’t care to vct°,
cf course I derr’t. but if female suffrage
v. ill lessen female ‘sufferage,* I hope it
w ill pass. It makes my heart bleed to
reed about those heartless men deceiv
ing and betraying foolish young girls
who trusted them—w hat a pitiful seero
it was—that ruined girl following that
man end his bride into the parlor cars
in Atlanta, and in her presence up
braiding him with bis infamy. And
just look around all over this country
at the young married women who have
been abandoned by their unprincipled
husbands, and now- have to work and
toil and almcst beg fer a living for
themselves and their little ores. If a
jury cf wemen coull trr these deceivers
and these faithless husbands they
would be sent to the ehairgarg. where
Giey brio: g. If a yo:mg man embez
zles some rich marks re rev er:! runs
away, the judge and the grand jury
ai d the rev. .- paper i: .ke on awful
.•i ! i ut ; t and send tel grams all over
the country t : catch h m. but if lie ruin:;
a woman :r breaks her heart end
makes a wrt of her life it iskusltcl
up nr.d ro;' * dare. I r.rr. ret r.
v. n V' - ** v.* c m n. SU. h * * $
rights crci’fh. but there ought to be
some way cf avenging her wrong”.’*
That is a fact.crd my cpir.icn that
her wrongs never wiil be avenged until
she is not only empowered to vote, hut
also to hold oiliee ia sehcolrooms aniTin
the government of tho towns and vil*
lages. The age of gallantry ard chival
ry towards woman has passed. Th>
is the ur for Tag age, r.r:l woman has to
shift for herself. Thirty years ago she
worked at 17 occupations, and cow at
130, and gets about half price for her
labor—half the price that the men get
who do it ro i otter, l-nn ashamed cf
my sex, nr.d I never buy a shirt for 5'»
cents but \ hat I remember that a poor
woman made it—made it in acme gar
ret—worked nil day nnd part of the
right,
'''-I i'.r.rt rs weary r.rd r.crn
\V;: « cyi 1103 !r*nvy and red."
Ar.d yet these lords of creation pre-
ier.il that if woman is allowed to vote
rke w ill get down in the slums and lose
her purity. She is down in the slums
now and would get out if she could. I
know women w ho r.re r.t work for less
than u dollar a day and have to support
themselves and their little children out
of it. w hile their rich employers sit high
tig in the eh undies and say rjnen and
. me:; to the t Teacher's prayers. I know
wemen. p ed wemen. accomplished
wen en. whom men have ruined by neg
lect or nhandoument, ami all they can
amen to the preacher’s prayers. 1 know
women whose unprincipled husbands
have lieen breaking their marriage
vow a ever since they made them, and
still they pass nrd re pass in thecom-
, rnuri*y as gentlemen. But this Is the
same old story—who cares!
Now It r said that although tho worc-
:nks sufruge bill has passrd tire house
i cf con.mcr.s by a large majority, it will
be Igron laicprly Mik'd in the bcuse of
lords—why I should like to know? The
lords are-not a senate whonc age ar.d
digrlty might correct hasty or unw<*e
.rglslatirn, but they are a pampered
purse-proud nobility,* The moat of
them are nr.d mncy of them have tut
tarry wives na Rrighnm Yotpte ever did.
But Ike time Is near i.t band w hen wom
an v !! le ertfrniH lii' ~d in more ways
•hr.:: iv a. The I w.» of marriage end
divorce ara better .n Engined row than
• urs. They are governed by the
•Iturch—l y the ecclesiastical ccurtn.
is made. It must be a union that is lit
to be made and the banns must be pub
lished i.nj announced from the pulpit
for 30 many Sabbaths previous to the
cercmonv'. Consequently there are no
elopements — no runaways, and of
ecurse not so many divorces. Inconsid
erate young people used to run away to
Gretna Green, in Scotland, and be mar
ried by an old Scotch blacksmith, but
those marriages were declared illegal
about 40 years ago. and now it is a
crime to be married anywhere save in
the church after the banns have been
published. Great solemnity is attached
to the ceremony. But here anybody
can run aw ny with anybody’s daughter
end be married by anybody in any sort
of f . iiioa and get loose w henever they
take a notion. The whole business of
marriage and divorce should be remod
eled by congress and made uniform in
all the states. It makes me sick to read
those divorce advertisements cf law
yers in Chicago: “Divorces obtained
without attracting attention.” But
the devil is now unchained and the
•thousand years are out.—-Bill Arp, in
Atlanta Constitution.
t
FEARS HE DREAMED TRUE.
Tart of It Come to I’chh—He Orenila
the Dancer End.
Here is a storj' of a strange halluci
nation told by Arthur Mursell. In a
good house in a northwest suburb a
few years ago eat a handsome man,
about midnight, writing at a manu-
i -ript, which, to judge by the drift of
torn paper all around, had not been an
easy task, and now be leans back in
his chair, waiting for the ink to dry
and to rest his crauqied fingers and
his heavy eyes. The room is fitted as
a library, with many books on many
shelves.
As be pausrs in his work the door
opens and a stranger appears—a gen
tleman. young, distinguished and im
perious in form and movement. He
beckons to the writer, ar.d. being dis
regarded, rejieats the summons with
a decision which compels obedience.
Rising, his visitor leads him dow nstairs,
out at the door, through street after
street, and opening with a latchkey the
door of a substantial house, passes up
stairs into an elegant apartment, and.
turning to a couch, shows reclining upon
it a beautiful girl of about 19 or 20 sum
mers. Her golden hair has fallen in
a rich mass about her and one arm is
left bare by a falling sleeve and the
other dainty hand is nestling under
her cheek.
For a few seconds the stranger sur
veys tbe sleeping form and then
sheathes to the bilt a glittering dagger
in the snowy breast. The deed done,
be beckons as before nnd agnin the
journnlmt is forced to follow. By the
same wav' be is led back to his own
door, to his own room, where the v isitor
vanishes r.s suddenly ns be has come,
without sound cr signal.
Looking nt bis manuscript, the jour
nalist is amazed to find the ink still
wet end that this has all been but a
horrible dream cf n few seconds. Can
it 1 c possible? Ro vivid, so real, so
tragic had it beer, that he turns even
still to greet the stranger at the door.
Rhcrtly after he went to a hall nt a
friend’s house, where amid the dancers
k? saw a face whose loveliness seemed
vividly familiar to him. It was the
face cf bis dream.
t’oen a gentleman, who seemed also
fam’l e.r to him. approached the lady. It
was the other figure of his dream, the
murderer of the fair heroine. He gained
.■•.n interview with both and shortly
rftervvnrd he learned that they were
“e» rr.'^ed." They had never met till
that evening nnd it # vvas an instnr.ee of
love nt first sight, nnd it was thought
it would be nn early merriazre. It was
then the journalist told of bis dream
in cx’ Inraticn of his interest in a
couple the course of whose married life
he watches In the eager hope that its
development will prove that the dagger
was but Cupid’s dart which so sud
denly pierced both hearts on the night
of thc!r first meeting.—Temple Maga
zine.
THE DOLL AS A SYMBOL.
Oceanic* n Prominent Place in Every
t'onntry’n CuMtoms.
The Indians of New Mexico are fa-
mom; weavers. Incidentally to the
bm incss of making large blankets for
the real folks the good moiherturnsout
some little blankets fer heir children’s
dells.
Among the Indians it seems to be
quite usual to bury dolls with children.
The custom, apparentlj\ is of great an-
tiqu'ty, for such mannikins are often
found in old graves in that region. The
i-ame practice is followed in parts of
Africa and to some extent it is pur
sued by the negroes in the United
(Staten. In the cemeteries of colored
people in the south not only dolls but
•ill sorts of playthings that belonged
to the dead child are placed upon the
crave and permitted to remain there.
Available facts are scant nlvout the dolls
of the savage tribes of the Amazons,
who are the nnkedest pecple of the
world, many of them wearing no
clothes whatever. Perhaps they have
no dolls. The natives of Term de!
Fuego certainly possess no doils. They
have no art of uny kind, their entire ut-
tPntion being constantly absorbed by
the very difficult problem of procuring
feed for n day ahead.
In Europe the business of making
dolhi j* an important and extensive in
dustry. Yen enn purchase in Italy for
« few dollars a set of dolls accurately
rr presenting all classes of the people,
with th" whole velieme of national eos-
Mtme. The same may be ►aid of Chirr..
India end Japan, In all of vvh eh coun
tries the dollmnher plays an important
rcR Tits Chinese are very fond of
dolls re- r eertting mandarins. In Japan
you cor. evt dolls illtutr&tirg ever?
rinse, prefession and mnk from the
m‘k?d*> down to the humblest peasant.
The costumes of Japanese plays ar® ul-
TH from dolls.
L |
Mr. McKinley Scads a Commu
nication to Congress.
Alt UlIUSTJALLY SUIEF DOCUHES:
Devoted to tile NeceMity of "ecurlns More
I.vveuuo For thu Conductor Government
AfJilrs—I’r^ed That Duties lie So Levied
a* to > rc«i-rvo the Homo Slarkct Tor
American I’rouuccr*.
Washington, March IP.—The pre?i-
deut sent the following meisage to con
gress:
To the Congress o! the United States:
Regretting the necessity which has
required me to call you together, I feel
that your assembling iu extraordinary
session is indispensable because of the
conditiou in which we find the revenues
of the government. It is conceded that
its current expenditures are greater than
its receipts and that such a condition
has existed for now more than three
years.
With unlimited means at our com
mand, we are presenting the remarka
ble spectacle of increasing our public
debt by borrowing money to meet the
ordinary outlays iucident upon even au
economical and prudent administration
of the government. An examination of
the subject discloses this fact in every
detail and leads inevitably to the con
clusion that the condition of the revenue
which allows it is unjustifiable and
should be corrected.
We find by the reports of tho secre
tary of the treasury that the revenues
for the fiscal year ending June :10. 1892,
from all sources were $425,868,2(.0.22,
and the expenditures for all purposes
were $415,953,806.5b, leaving au excess
of receipts over expenditures of $9.911,-
453.06. During that fiscal year £40,570,-
407.98 were paid upon the public debt,
which had bien reduced since March t,
1889, 0259,036.890 and the annual inter
est charge decreased 011,684,570 01. Tho
receipts of the governme.it from all
sources during the fiscal year ending
June 30. 1893, amounted to 04b 1.710.*
00'.94, ami its expenditures to0459,374.-
887.05, showing nn excess of receipts
over expenditures of 02,341.*’•74.29. Since
that time the receipts of no fiscal year,
and with but few exceptions of no month
of any fiscal year, have exceeded tho
expenditures.
1 lie Deficit In tr.Oi.
The receipts of the government from
all sources, durim: the fiscal year end
ing June 30. 1894, were 0372 802,498.29,
and its expenditures 0442,405.758 87,
leaving a deficit, the first since the re-
sumption of specie p vyments, of $09,-
803.200.5S. Notwith-Binding there wag
a decrease of 817.709.120.78 in the ordi
nary expenses of tho government, as
compared with the previous fi-cal year,
its iitcomo was srih not sufficient to
provide for its daily necessities and tho
gold reserve in the treasury for the re
demption of greenbacks was drawn
upon to meet them.
But this did not suffice and the gov
ernment then resorted to loans to re
plenish the reserves. In February of
the year 1894, 050.000,000 in bonds were
issued, and in November following a
second issue of $59,000,000 was deemed
necessary. The sum of $117,171,795 was
realized by the sale of these bonds, but
the reserve was steadily increased until
in Feb. 13,1895, another sale of 002,31.“.-
400 in bonds for $65.116.244 was an
nounced to congress. The receipts of
the government for the fiscal year end
ing June 30. 1895, were $399,373,203.30,
and tho expenditures $433,178,420.48.
shewing a deficit of $42,805,223 18. A
furtner loan of 8100,000,000 was negoti
ated by the government in February,
1890. the sale netting $111,100,240, and
swelling the aggregate of bonds issued
within three years to $202,315,400. For
the fiscal year ending June 30, 1890, tho
revenues of the government from all
sources amounted to $409,475.408.78,
while its expenditures were $434,078,-
654 48, or au excess of expenditures over
receipts $25,203,245.70. In other words
the total receipts for the three fiscal
years ending June 30, 1890, were insuf
ficient by $137,811,729.46 to meet the
total expenditures.
l omlitioti Not Improved.
Nor has this conditiou since improved.
For tbe first half of the pre-eut fiscal
year, the receipts of the government,
exclusive of postal revenues, were $157,-
507,603.70, and its expo ditures, exclu
sive of postal service, $195,410,000 22, or
an excess of expenditures over receipts
of $37,902,390 40. In January of tins
year the receipts, exclusive of postal
revenues, were $24,316,994 05. and the
exrenditures. exclusive of postal ser
vice. $39,269,389 ”9, a deficit of $5,952.-
895.24 for the month.
In February of this year the receipts,
exclusive of postal revenues, were $24.-
400,997.38, and expenditures, exclusive
of postal service. $28,796,050.04. a de
ficit of $1.335 059.28, or a total deficiency
of $186,061,580.44 for tho three years
and eight mouths ending March 1, 1897.
Not ouly are we without a surplus iu
the treasury, but with an increase in
the public debt, there has been a corre
sponding increase iu the annual inter
est charge from $22,893,883.20 in 1892,
the lowest of any year since 1802, to
$34,387,297.60 in 1896, or au increase of
$11,493,414.40.
It may 8e urged that even if the reve
nues of the government hod been suffi
cient to meet all its ordinary expendi
tures during the past three years, tho
gold reserve would still have beeu in
sufficient to meet the demands upon it
and that bonds would necessarily have
been issued for its repletion. Be this as
it may, it is dearly manifest, without
denying or affirming the correctness of
such a conclusiou, that the debt would
have been decreased in at least the
amoant of tbe deficiency, and business
confidence immeasurably strengthened
throughout the country.
Ask* Prompt Action.
Congress should promptly correct tbe
existiug condition; ample revenues must
be supplied, not ouly for the ordinary
expenses of the government, bnt for the
labor in every field of useful occupation
tne liberal wages nud adequate rewards
to which skill a id industry are justly
entitled.
The necessity of the passage of a tariff
law which saall provide ample revenue
need not bo further urged. The im
perative demand of the hour is tho
prompt enact me at of such a measure,
and to this object I earnestly recom
mend that congress thall make every
endeavor.
Before other business is transacted,
let us first provide sufficient revenue to
faithfudy administer tho government
witnout the contracting of further debt,
or the continued aistufbauce of our
finances. WiLUAit McKinley.
Executive Man-ion, March 15. 1897.
FARMERS MET IN AUGUSTA.
prompt payment of liberal pensions and
the liquidation of the principal and in
terest of the public debt In raising
The Cotton Growers and Agricultural So
ciety Held a isle Congre**.
Augusta, Ga., March 16.—The cotton
\
growers’ convention and the State Ag
ricultural society held a sort of double-
barreled congress here. The delegates
to each took part iu the sessions of both,
and both sandwiched iu their proceed
ings alternately in the same hall of the
Cotton Exchange building.
Chairman W. H. Warren called the
convention to order and Hector D. Lane
of Alabama was chosen chairman.
Thomas Barrett. Jr., and Mayor Young
made the welcoming speeches. Presi
dent Lane responded, after which he
made a more elaborate address, setting
forth the reasons for their coming to
gether and the objects of the conven
tion. A committee of seven was ap
pointed to draft resolutions.
During the absence of this committee
to prepare resolutions, the cotton grow
ers’ congress took recess, and the meet
ing resolved itself into a session of the
Georgia State Agricultural society. Re
tiring President Waddell announced the
election of his successor, Hon. J. Popo
Brown of Pulaski, and the latter made
his inaugural speech, after which the
agricultural society adjourned and a
second session of the cotton growers’
convention receivo<l the report of com
mittee on resolutions, which was
adopted.
The resolutions urge the farmers to
first make the cotton states self support
ing and then the area devoted to cotton
will yield more profitable returns than
if they sought to increase the number
of bales. While the reduction of the
acreage to be planted in cotton for the
sole purpose of reducing the size of the
crop may be impracticable, the increase
of area planted in food crops must in
evitably biing prosperity to the cotton
growers, irrespective of tho size of the
cotton crop.
WHOLE FAMILY DROWNED.
The First Loss of Life * ausoil bv Hie Flood
In and Around Metii|>liit.
Memphis. March 1C.—Nearly 2,000
homeless and half starved parsons, res
cued from the overflowed districts of
eastern Arkansas, are being cared for iu
this city. The refugees are mostly ne
groes of the lower classes who show
scant appreciation of the charity ex
tended.
The citizens’ relief committee are
practically balked by unlimited capital,
merchants, bankers and corporations
having subscribed great sums of money
to prosecute tho work of rescuing the
inhabitants of the territory 40 miles
north and au equal distance south of
Memphis. The entire government fleet
stationed here. Captain Fitch, engineer
iu charge, has poen pressed into service.
, The situation is critical. News is ex
pected hourly of breaks in the Jeveen,
and when it happens, as it surely must,
the loss to property and stock wnl reach
into the thousands.
The first loss of life has been reported,
a whole family of five negroes having
been drowned at Marion. Sensational
stones of wholesale drowning at No-
dena. Ark., are dented here by tho
steamer hands tresh from the scene.
The guage reads 36 4 feet, a rise iu
the past 24 hours. The railway (rains
to and from the east arrive and deport
without reference to schedule. All
tracks exetpt the Iron Mountain are
submerged, and the Kansas City and
Little Rock roads use the Iron Moun
tain roadway. It is expected by night
that the rescue steamers will laud an
other 1,009 refugees on the Chickasaw
bluffs.
Bottled Up!
Whether in the form of pill powder
or liquid, the doctor’s prescription for
blood diseases is always the same
mercury or potash. These drugs bottle
up the poison and dry it up in the
system, but they also dry up the marrow
in the bones at the same time.
The suppleness and elasticity of the
joints give way to a stiffness, the rack
ing pains of rheumatism. The form
it is bnt a short step to a pair of
crotches. Then comes falling of
the hair and decay of the bones,—-a con
dition truly horrible.
revenue, duties should be so levied upon
foreign products as to preserve the home
market, so far as possible, to our own
producers; to revive aud increase manu
factories; to relieve and encourage agri
culture: to increase our domestic and
kPOTASHJ
lERCUfll
Contagions Blood
Poison—the curse
of mankind—is the
most horrible of all
diseases, add has al*
ways baffled the
l doctors. Their pot-
lash and mercury
I bottle up the poison,
I but it always breaks
I forth again attack
ing some delicate
I organ, frequently
the mouth and
throat, filling them
with eating sores.
S.S.S., is the only
known cure for this
| disease. It is guar
anteed purely vege
table, and one thousand dollars reward is
offered for proof to the contrary. It
never fails to core Contagious Blood
Poison, Scrofula, Eczema, Rheumatism,
Cancer, or any other disease of the
blood. If vou have a blood disease,
take a remedy which will not injure you.
Beware of mercury; don’t do violence
It jow system. Don’t get bottled up I
* ■