THE
, t,Tr, rv
VOL. IV.
RALEIGH, N. C., THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 1907.
NO. 33
Enterprise.,
XKTTKR FROM BILK INS.
Vhat Has Become of the Rate Fight?
Politicians and Their Winning
Ways History as Discussed in the
Bilking Home Bilkins on the
President's Message A New Field
for tjie Government Mr. Bryan
and Perpetual Motion.
Correspondence of the Enterprise.
Bilkinsville, Dec. 10.
I am tryin' ter find out whut hez
becum ov the rate fite. Them pol
lytishuns must hev seed a ghost or
sumpthin', fer they hev cooled down
u whole lot lately.
Pollytishuns air a plum site, any
how. They air always holdin' up
sumpthin' powerful gude fer us ter
gaze at. But hit iz mostly fer show.
We go to bed and dream over whut
they promise an' wake up the next
mornin' with the dadblamdest head
aik oV disappointment you ever read
ov. If I wuz az rich az Rocky feller
I'd hire awl them pollytishuns ter
keep quiet fer 12 months. By that
time confydence would be restored.
I am a mlty strong dymakrat. But
I hev made up my mind that I won't
never vote fer another dadgasted
pollytishun who cums out promising
ter save the country. Whut we want
iz pollytishuns who will go erlong an'
: smooth over the ruff places an' not
promise ter turn the country upside
down every two or 4 years. I
uster be a rantankerist pollytishun.
I am now a conservytive so con
. servytive I won't git exsited every
' time a feller cums erlong with a new
skeem ter save the country. The
country don't need savin' nohow; all
. hit needs iz the present laws prop
erly an' acktually enforced.
I hev bin livin' on Terrible Creek
a gude many days an' weeks, an' I
hain't never seed the pollytishuns
az nervus an' exsited az they air rite
-. now. They hev sumpthin' up their
sleeves that we plain peeple hain't
; got onto yit. Hit iz sum bunko
game oy course. I hev bin thinkin'
- I would talk hit over with Mrs. Bil
'kins. But she purty nigh awlways
gits mad when I bring up anything
perlitycal and hit generally ends in
' a perlitycal row. Only the other nite
. I wuz tryin'. ter think who diskivered
- America erbout four hundred years
ago an' hit had slipped my mind az
'slick az a button. I asked Betsy if
she reckerleckted the name ov the
gentleman. She lowed: "Why, whut
hez cum over you, Zeke? Can't you
think ov the name ov that flop-year
ed, knock-need, cross-eyed Spanish
crank, Christofer Columbus?" I
seed that war mite be declared at
any time, and I thanked her an' sed
that I knowed hit wuz Mr. Columbus
' or George Washington, but I couldn't
be sertln rite at the time. Wimmin
never fergit skandals like that or
any other sort.
I hev bin -eadin a few chapters
ov President Roosevelt's message.
Hit iz a purty gude dockumint con-
' siderin that hit wuz gotten up by
" a man who iz supposed ter hev a
job'. I don't see how he happened
ter think ov awl them things he
writ erbout, an still find time ter
be Preserdint. I'll bet he puts in a
big bill fer overtime. '
1 I see that a big docktor livin' out
ill' "'. , H.'.
in KentucKy .warns me iNauonui uy
ernmint ter take holt ov the health
ov the peeple an' run hit az.part ov
the Governmint. What will they git
up next? Governmint ownership or
control of the railrodes, the telly-
graffs an, the banks, an' now they
will hev hit in the platform ter run
the health ov the country, too. That
will be pie fer my frend, William
J. Bryan. He will work that health
business into a plank fer hiz plat
form an' they ain't nary navy nor
standin' army in the world big ernuff
ter keep him f rum. runnin'. He hez
mastered the art ov perpetual mo-
shun. Hit won't be long till every
thing will be done by the Govern
mint. If you air a farmer the Gov
ernmint will send a man ter feed
your horses every mornin' an' an
other ter milk yer cows. Then they
will be a farmin' expert, probably
the editer ov sum agricultural pa
per, who hez graduated in farmin',
who will cum erbout sunnup every
mornin' an' isshue a bulletin, tellin'
you whut to do durin' ov the day:
how ter plow, whut ter plant an' how
hit orter be done. Then he will dash
on in hiz ortemobill and tell awl
the famers the same on hiz beat.
Then durin' the day another man
will cum erlong ter see if you air
carryin out instruckshuns. This
syentifick farmin' under Governmint
control an' regulashun iz grate. I
expeckt ter, live ter. see the day that
I'll dig my pertaters chaperoned by
a Governmint inspeckter appointed
by William J. Bryan; that iz, if Wil
liam J. kin ever git the consent ov
hiz mind ter run fer Preserdint, an
if the peeple ever git worked up ter
the point to eleckt h.im Preserdint.
V.: . Az ever, : -
ZEKE BILKINS.
How Old Must I Be?
"Mother," a little child once said,
'how old must I be before I can be
a Christian?"
Th wise mother answered: "How
old will you have to be, darling, be
fore you can love me?"
"Why, mother, I always loved you;
do now, and I always shall. But
you have not told me how old I shall
have to be."
The mother replied: "How old
must you be before you can trust
yourself wholly to me and my care?
"I always did," she murmured;
"but tell me what I want to know,"
and she put her arms about her
mother's neck.
The mother asked again: "How
old will you have to be before you
can do what I want you to do?"
Then the child whispered, half
guessing what her mother meant:
"I can now, without growing older."
Her mother said: "You can be a
Christian now, darling, without
waiting to be older. Don't you want
to begin now?"
.The child whispered: "Yes.';
Then they both knelt down, and in
her prayar the mother gave to Christ
her little one who wanted to be His
Selected.
The man who has only flowers in
the garden of his life does not need
to build a wall about it. Ram's
Horn.
Dehorn the calves early, as soon
as they ' are taken away from the
cows.
"Play Ball."
(Reprinted from Manufacturers', Record
jMovemoer xi, iuu.j
Keep cool; don't get excited; don't
Imagine that present monetary con
ditions are more than short-lived;
don't talk panic; don't think panic;
create an atmosphere of faith and
optimism wherever you go. Some
people lost confidence and that in
jured credit, and people who ought
to be ashamed of such action drew
currency out of banks and locked it
up. That can't last. Idle money
soon burns a hole in your pocket and
gets out. Men want their money to
work twenty-four hours a day, Sun
days and holidays included. They
want interest or income from it.
Don't imagine that idle money is go
ing to stay idle. It will soon be
coming back into the banks, just as
soon as its owners come to their
senses and realize that they have
been more hysterical than a woman
who yells because a poor little mouse
happens in her room. The whole
scare would be laughable if it were
not so serious in its consequences.
It's like a nervous man who wakes,
up suddenly in the night and trem
bles with fear until he stops to real
ize that a banging shutter or snow
sliding off the roof made the great
noise. Then his nerves soon quiet
down and he goes peacefully to sleep.
The country's nerves were on edge,
and everybody was under a little
tension because some of our public
men, believing that there was a
thief in a big crowd, concluded that
they would try to kill him by shell
ing the whole crowd with grape and
canister and take the chance of hit
ting the thief. Some were hurt and
a few killed, while dodging cannon
balls of this kind had kept the crowd,
which included the great American
public, so busy that naturally any
sudden noise even of a banging shut
ter started them to running.
In olden cow-boy days, when a
vast herd of cattle on the plains be
came panic-stricken in a great thun
der-storm at night or from any other
cause thousands of frightened, mad
dened animals would rush headlong
at a terrific pace. Such a stampede
must be checked, or hundreds would
be trampled to death or be lost, and
so the cowboys, riding as none but
cowboys can, and risking life in the
danger of being trampled to death.
would endeavor to turn the leaders
and gradually swing the mighty host
into a circle. Round and round the
cattle would go until finally, tired
out by this "swinging around the
circle," they quieted down and went
peacefully to sleep, apparently won
dering why in the world they had
been so scared. The American pub
lie got scared, started on a wild,
mad stampede, and but for the
splendid "rounding-up" work by cow
boys Morgan, Rockefeller, Stillman,
and others, the crowd would have
rushed headlong to destruction.
Now that the stampede is over,
now that the injury of shelling a
whole crowd in order to hit one pos
sible thief has been realized, the
American people can resume busi
ness operations, get over their scare
and do a little thinking. There are
just as many people in the United
States as there were a month ago,
and possibly a few babies more, just
as many miles of railroad, just as
many bales of cotton and bushels of
grain except what Europe had taken
and paid for in gold, just as many
people to feed and clothe and house.
Some of them may eat a little less,
or wear their old clothes a little
longer, but this sad condition will
the sooner be righted by a return of
sanity. Stop now for a minute and
think. Do you see any fewer people
in the street-cars or on the steam
cars, do you pee any fewer people
moving up and down the streets, do
you note any sudden disappearance
of any larger number of the 8 5,0 00,
000 people whose wants and activ
ities will keep us busy even if some
what less than during the strenu
ous rush of late years, which has
been overtaxing night and day near
ly every productive enterprise in?
These people don't stand still. They
are trading one with the other; they
are producing something and con
suming something; they are making
necessary constant enlargements of
all our transportation facilities; they
are buying and selling ; they are
sowing and reaping; they are mining
and manufacturing, and any Idea
that the business world is coming to
an end and that we must sit around
with our thumbs in oar mouths and
wonder how soon the undertaker
will be ready for us is unworthy of
men. Dumb beasts in a wild stam
pede may be excused for their pan
icky condition when affrighted, but
surely men men who have any
backbone and gray matter are not
going to follow their example. On
the contrary, they are going to settle
down to business, and if grazing is
not quite as good on the new prairie
as it was on the old, they are going
to hustle so hard for their share that
they will keep their sides bulking
with fatness even if their timid or
lazy neighbors refuse to eat. In oth
er words, quit your fears ; go to
work; if you have any friends who
were foolish enough to lose confi
dence and draw money out of bank,
ridicule their, folly out of them; take
the demagogue or agitator against
legitimate business nearest to you by
the back of the neck and duck him
in a mill-pond until he solemnly
swears to be as active In building up
business interests as he has been in
tearing them down, or in the absence
of such promise leave him there, and
then go ahead and in the great drama
of business life act well your part;
there all the honor lies. "Play ball."
In speaking of the great revival
under Evan Roberts, Dr. Cynddylan
Jones says: "To work up a revival
is to try to save the world by me
chanics. The heaven-sent man draws
down a revival, saves men by dy
namics. The gospel of mechanics is
a cumbrous, costly n achine, the gos
pel of dynamics power from on
high, without machinery and guar
anteesgoes straight to the heart,
and accomplishes that for which it
is sent. I am not ashamed of the
gospel of Christ, for it is the dynamic
of God unto salvation. And to-day
the dynamic is working. Is It a
marvel that there are explosions?"
This is beautifully expressed, and it
is as true as it Is beautiful.
Remember when a thing does not
waste it gathers; and there is one
thing more important than action,
and that is growth. Every day brings
its own secret, and the surprise of
the coming coming hour is often its
keenest joy. Madame Swetchine.
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