Lincoln County leader., June 05, 1908, Image 6

LINCOLN COUNTY LEADER
R f COLLINS, CdlUr
r N HAVDEN, Manager
TOLEDO..
.OREGON
Just as soon at some people ran in
lore they begin to Imagine they can
write poetry.
A doctor says tliat tired feeling to
many get Is hereditary. Then, so Is
the fishing fever.
Nearly every winter the grip kills
the last Daughter of the Revolution
and the oldest Mason.
Postoffice receipts and marriage li
censes should Indicate how much pros
perity there Is In the country.
New York Is to have the largest res
taurant In the world. Already It has
the largest restaurant prices.
At present Mme. Anna Gould Is un
able to think of anything In the shape
' of a man that she cares to tie up to for
life.
Japan Is learning that It costs a
world of money to be a world power.
Tea, we know a little something about
It, too.
They've locked up a New Tork wom
an for beating her husband. It's good
to have the law come to our assistance
once In a while, anyway.
It must have taken no little amount
of courage on the part of Mrs. Harry
K. Thaw to admit that her husband
was crazy when he married her.
Evelyn Is going to sue for a divorce
on the ground that Harry was Insane
when he married her. There are wom
en who would hate to set up a plea of
that kind.
It has been decided that there will b
bo reduction In the price of steel. The
man who has been holding off mny as
well buy his new razor without any
further delay.
The New York man who thought his
salary was too large Is now In an In
sane asylum. Hallucinations like his
will never cause the overcrowding of
sanitariums, however.
It Is pretty safe to say that if Haytl
were governed by a great nation which
tood ready to grant the Haytlaus self
government when they were ready for It
there would be order In Haytl, at least
sometimes.
It Is reported that a St Louis cler
gyman Is working hard to prove that
the story of Jonah and the whale Is
not true. But If he succeeds, what good
will It do hluiT The man who spoils a
good story Is running the risk of get
ting himself disliked.
Ladles who appear at the court of
the Duchess Elisabeth, wife of the re
gent of the Duchy of Brunswick, must
hereafter wear satin rather than kid
allppers, and the court chaplains must
have their upper lips. Such are the
restrictions to which the frequenters of
monarchical courts must submit
A California Chinaman has develop
ed an odorless onion, according to a dis
patch from Fresno. It has long been
claimed that a Chinaman Invented gun
powder, but If the report from Fresno
Is not exaggerated the new onion may
be regarded as the supreme achieve
ment of Chinese developers and Invent
ors. Andover, Mass., distinguished as an
educational center, has Just received a
Jegncy of $500, the income of which
hall be applied annually for an "old
fashioned spelling mntch." The con
tests will be public. The competitors
are to be between 10 and 18 years of
age. ' It may be that this small sum of
money will do more for education than
a million spent In research among the
bugs of Patagonia If there are bugs lu
Patagonia.
Much has been said about the
"shrinking" of the globe through the
Incessant Improvements of the means
of transportation and communication.
Wonders, In truth, never cease, though
their frequency breeds an unsclcntlflc
Indifference to them. The opening of
the New York submarine tubes was re
ceived almost as a matter of course.
The automobile races from Peking to
Paris or from New York to Paris as
tonish no one. The establishment of
new ocean records recently passed un
noticed. The new records were made
by the "floating skyscrapers," the Mau
retaula and Lusttanla. The former
steamship made the run from New
York to Queeustown In 5 dayB and 5
minutes; the latter reported gains
which foreshadowed an even shorter
time for "crossing." A five-day sched
ule across the Atlantic Is expected to
become the regular and normal thing
for the two great vessels named. And
even that record will not long remain
unchallenged. Already there la talk of
a four-and-a-ba?f-day schedule. Such
achievements wipe out the distance be
tween the two worlds and rob the
ocean of Its terror. They stimulate
travel and Intercourse, for even the
most timid, the poorest "sailors" and
the worst sufferers from seasickness
will regard five days on the ocean as
a trilling drawback to the pleasures of
sightseeing and contact with foreign
lands and peoples. Nor are the five
day schedules a luxury of the very
rich. Second-class accommodations are
now as comfortable as first-class were
not long ago, and even the "steerage"
need not mean hardship, overcrowding
and neglect. The world is shrinking
and the oceans are being tamed for all
of us, rich and poor alike. That la
why hundreds of thousands of labor
ers are crossing and recrosslng the
Atlantic and servant girls are taking
European vacations.
THE GREAT TOBACCO
KENTUCKY
Revolt of Farmers In the Blue
Grass State Against the
Tobacco. Trust.
HAD MANY TEAGIC FEATURES.
The feuds and assassinations which
for ten years have made Breathitt
county, Kentucky, the most lnfamoui
spot in the United States have lately
attracted new attention because of tht
tragic death of the man to whom, mor
than to any one else, the reign of ter
ror was due. It would be hard to find,
even In a Greek play, a more dramatic
ending to a career of abhorrent crline.
The man who had become both a pollt-.
leal and a financial king of his moun
tain realm, who had debauched the civil
life of his State as well as that of his
county, and who had no one knows how
many assassinations to his discredit
was filially a'uul duwu la cold blood, lr
his own store, by the son whom he had
allowed to grow up In untaught, unre
strained drunken viciousness. Nothing
stranger exists In the civilization of tht
United States than the feuds of which
that which has Just ended Is typical
The actors are of the purest Americas
blood, the most unmixed lineage, of any
people In the country. They are force
ful, proud and Independent, and po
sessed of more than ordinary natural
ability; but they have lived In Isola
tion, cut off from the learning of the
schools and almost everything els
which spells progress. Constant Inter
marriages have Intensified natural
traits and raised the sense of family
solidarity to a height that has rorelj
existed elsewhere except among th
Scottish clans In the days of the bordei
warfare. It has been the family or th
friend against the world, with the Coll
or the Winchester as the court of last
resort. The end of these feuds Is un
doubtedly In sight, If it has not alreadj
been reached. Even before this latest
murder, public Indignation, like a tide
had been rising slowly and irresistibly
In Kentucky. It had already sent tc
the penitentiary for life two of tht
most notorious of the assassins, and
had driven others from the State. Tht
parricidal bullet may have been onlj
anticipatory.
AUTOMOBILE WIND-SHIELD.
Rcadllr Adjusted to Protect the
Face of the Driver.
Wind shields and weather screen
are among the automobile accessorlei
which the motorist finds are absolutely
essential to com
fort and pleasurt
In riding. A resi
dent of Scotland
Eng., has therefore
carefully studied
the requirement!
and designed th
one shown here i
having had It re
cently patented. II
is formed of twe
sections. The lowei
section Is constructed In combination
with the dash or front of the vehlclt
extending Inwardly to a level near thai
of the steering wheel. Extending ver
tlcally from the lower section In front
of the driver's face Is the top por
tlon, which consists of a frnme sup
porting a piece of window glass. The
upper section Is adjustable, being
hinged to the lower section, and can b
swung in position or allowed to drop
as desired. Unlike the majority ol
such shields, no glass Is employed In
the lower section. The advantage ol
this will be obvious.
flow the Fight Was Forced on the
Growers Night Elding and
Its Crimes.
Kentucky Is the tobacco State. While
he produces hemp, wheat, corn, horses,
hogs and cattle in abundance and with
profit tobacco Is her great cash crop.
Of the 110 counties (mountain, blue
grass and Western) there are few If
any which do not consider the plnnt a
staple. It is the crop which costs the
most to produce, calls for the greatest
amount of lobor, most rapidly debili
tates the soil and, under normal condi
tions, brings the greatest returns.
Kentucky mny be divided Into four
large districts, with four separate and
distinct types of tobacco, none compet
ing with the others. In the extreme
western part of the State Is the dark
tobacco district (which Includes about
twenty counties In Kentucky and ten lu
Tennessee). There the growers are or
ganized Into what is known as the
Planters' Protective Association, with
headquarters at Guthrie. The tobacco
grown in this district has a very large,
almost black leaf. While some of It Is
used In domestic manufacture the bulk
of the crop Is exported to England.
Then comes the stemming district of
seven or eight counties, so called be
cause the stem is removed from the leaf
before marketing. Nearly the entire
crop Is exported to England, France
and Italy.
The Green River section Includes six
or seven counties and produces a to
bacco midway between the dark tobnc
so and the white burley. It Is nsed In
both the domestic and export trade.
wert hammered down and farther
down until the dark tobacco waa bring
ing S cents and the white burley 6
cents. Such a reduction meant ruin
for the farmers. The actual cost of
production, reckoning a man's labor at
$1 per day and a team's services at 50
cents, would be Just about this figure.
There was no allowance for the terri
ble drain upon the land itself, for the
fact that in the rush seasons the farm-
ters were forced to hire extra help at
$1.20 to $2 per day, or for the fact
that the work is the hardest and must
exacting of all farm labor, and that
much of It must be done In the most
Inclement season.
The producers had nothing to say ss
to the price. The trust made its offer
and It was a case of take It or leave It
alone. The farmers were rapidly being
reduced from an lndeiendent and pros
perous condition to one of almost servi
tude and with actual want staring
them in the face.
Finally the dark tobacco growers or
ganized as the Planters' Protective As
sociation and pooled their tobacco.
They held out for two years before sell
ing a pound. Then the raw material
In the market became exhausted and
the trust was forced to come and buy
at the pool price of 9 cents Instead of
its own price of 3 cents. These organ
ized producers and the American To
bacco Company are now working un
der a fairly harmonious agreement and
have been for two years.
With this splendid examnle of the
powf-r of union before them the op
pressed and Individually helpless farm
ers of the great white burley district
In November, 1006, organized as the
Kentucky Union of the Society of
Equity. Each member agreed to pool
bis crop with the others and to sell
only through the officers of the organi
zation. Warehouses were purchased or
erected in various places. The Dooled
tobacco was either brought to these
warehouses or stored In the producers'
barns. At Winchester samnles of nil
pooled tobacco were kept and the Equi
ty farmers demanded that the pur
chaser, Instead of going to the farmers
or having the farmers come to him.
should purchase by sample of the Equi
ty officer. At the beginning the Equity
people, when the Trust price was 6 or
6Vfc cents, made out a price list which
would make the average price on all
grades of an average crop 15 cents,
some- higher and gome lower.
"Z'T"T" '" .""""IJ.' , . ...i . 1 1 j iii i mi i ,1 i
PROCESSION OF NIGHT RIDERS IN KENTUCKY.
WIND SHIELD.
Pleasant Ilellef.
"Your husband seemed to be In a
very good humor this morning when bit
left the house," remarked Mrs. Naybor.
"Did he?" Inquired Mrs. Spenders.
"Yes ; I couldn't help wondering what
It was "
"Pshaw! I know I I forgot to brk
him for any money." Philadelphia
Press.
A Pleasure Foregone.
"Have you studied political econo
my?" "No, sir," answered Senator Sor
ghum. "I'd like to, but I'm afraid mj
constituents would think I was amus
ing myself rending books Instead of hus
tling for pensions and appropriations."
Washington Star.
No matter how wrong a man may
be. If you Jump him he always has a
come-back. ,
The man who pays his coal bills
ways has money to burn. j
By far the largest district is that
where white burley Is grown. This In
cludes from forty-two to fifty-five coun
ties and, roughly speaking, embraces all
of the State east of Louisville, Mays
Tllle and Mt. Sterling. Two counties in
Indiana and three in Ohio also produce
white burley tobacco. This peculiar
grade can be grown nowhere else lu the
world. It Is used almost entirely In
domestic trade and from It the very
highest type of plug chewing tobacco is
made.
The tobacco producers of the .stem
ming, Green River and white burley
districts are very generally organized
under the Kentucky Union of the
American Society of Equity.
The American Society of Equity Is a
national organization of farmers. Its
objects are the Improvement or meth
ods of agriculture, the Introduction of
new and Improved seeds, social inter
course, and, more than all else, the se
curing of fair and equitable prices for
farm products. In many respects it Is
to the farmer what tho trades union is
to the crnftsmnn.
The American Tobacco Company,
otherwise known as the Tobncco Trust,
is an organization of capital which well
nigh controls the manufacture of to
bacco In this country, which is gradu
ally Invading the retnll cigar and to
bncco trade, and which has such
strength and such extensive ramifica
tions that It dictates the price of raw
material to "the grower.
So much for the fundamentals of a
condition which has produced the pres
ent tobacco war In Kentucky..
When the tobacco market was an
open one that Is, when there was op
position among the bidders for the raw
leaf the price of white burley was
about 15 cents per pound, and of the
dark tobacco about 8 or 0 cents. Then
came the Tobacco Trust. Opposition In
bid" " eliminated and prices
Of course, by no means all of the
growers came Into the pool. Many re
fused and continued to sell to the trust
at the best prices obtainable. But,
owing to the pooled and stored tobacco
making a scarcity in the market, the
trust was forced to raise Its price from
6 to 10 cents and 13 cents. This was
highly satisfactory to the non-Equity
growers. They were loud In their
praises of the organization which had
lncrensed the prices, but they neverthe
less preferred to take advantage of the
situation without Joining in the strug
gle or making any of the sacrifices.
The Society of Equity kept hard at
work and daily added new recruits to
Its ranks, so that a much larger pro
portion of the crop of 1907 was pooled.
The annual crop in the white burley
district is from 130,000,000 to 140,
000,000 pounds. Of the crop of 1900
the Equity has now on hand about
50,000,000 and of the crop of 1907
about 110,000,000 pounds. Practically
all the non-pooled tobacco has been
sold. Within the past few weeks the
trust has come forward and boagnt
1,000,000 pounds of pooled tobacco at
Equity prices and the independent
manufacturers are buying a little.
With about 100,000.000 pounds ot
burley tobacco pooled, the Equity
growers decided that It would be Inad
visable to increase the store until the
trust was forced, from lack of other
supply, to purchase what Is already In
hand. Their slogan became "No tobac
co crop for 1908." and it Is the effort
to enforce this mandate upon Its mem
bers and upon other growers which has
resulted In the night riding which ha
attracted so much attention.
The Equity owners recognize the
hardship which would be incurred by
cutting out the crop of 1908, but they
agree that it is better to" receive 15
cents a pound for two years' crop than
to be forced to accept about 6 cents
for three years' crops. Meantime they
would turn their attention to other
crops and, best of all, give their lands
a rest
The sympathy of the great mass ei
the people is with the farmers In their
effort to force the trust to pay a rea
sonable and remunerative price for to
bacco. Defeat means starvation prices
and continued scarcity of money. Vic
tory means prosperity for grower and
merchant alike. For this reason the
merchants are straining every resource
to carry their tobacco growing custom
ers on their books and the farmers are
cutting expenditures to the lowest pos
sible limit It Is a struggle In which
practically all of Kentucky has a vital
interest Everywhere one goes he hears
word of cuuimeijilution for he Equity;
the only condemnation is for the ex
cesses to which the night riders have
gone.
But there is an excuse for the nigtu
riders. Their mildest action Is, of
course, illegnl, but it Is understand
able. The law is slow. In every com
munity in which there is a great Strug-'
gle for betterment, with consequent de
privation and sacrifice, there are al
ways those whose cupidity prompts
them to take advantage of the situa
tion and reap a personal benefit, even
at the cost of aiding the common ene
my. These Individuals, though strict
ly within their legal rights, are neces
sarily not popular with their neteh-
bors, and to an extent these neighbors
are excusable when, persuasion failing,
an appeal Is made to coercion. There
Is the law of the statute books; there
is also the law of the community. In
fraction of the one may be punished in
the courts; defiance of the other l
more difficult of correction.
So long as the night riders conflneu
themselves to the raking of tobacco
beds there was little criticism. When
valuable warehouses were burned there-
was a general expression of indigna
tion and condemnation. When murder
was resorted to the manhood and de
cency of Kentucky were roused to a
height which demanded that all night
riding must cease and that the crimi
nals who had gone to such terrible ex
cesses must be discovered and mm.
lshed.
It is not difficult to account for nichr
riding in Its Incipiency. And from this
basis perhaps It is eaRV to undiM-stnnii
how Irresponsible, dare-devil young-
men, prompted by a love of roueh ad.
venture and occasionally bv nersnimi
spite, took advantage of conditions t
commit excesses and outrages. '
Accompanying the night rldlne vrMoK
has been such an unfortunate feature
of the tobacco producers' fight against
the trust there has been more than one
tragedy, but the one which attrnnt
the most attention and created the
greatest indignation was the killing of
Hiram Hedges by some member of
masked mob.
Hedges was a hard-working, honesi
man for whom it has been a long strug
gle to support his numerous family. He
was a man of decent morals, was count
ed a good neighbor and was not knowa
to have had an enemy. Like all farm
ers In bis part of the State, he was a
tobacco grower, but in a small way. in
his Immediate neighborhod there had
been very little organizing among the
farmers and he was not an Equity man.
One night he was visited by a mob ol
about seventy-five men, called to the
door, accused of planting tobacco, and
in the presence of his family was rid
dled with shot
Occasionally a detective tries to dis
guise his breath with a clove.
1 '
1
Kh. 4
HEDGES' HOME, WHERE A NIGHT RIDING TRAGEDY OCCURRED