Harvesting.
“I was puttin salve on Jobe’s hands.”
When I was a puttin salve on Jobe’s hands last nite I jist thought:
“Here is the same hand that has been puttin tickets in the box for thirty years or more to help elect the law-makers who made laws to lend money to national bankers at one per cent.; laws to issue bonds to git the paper money of the country to burn; laws to demonitize silver; laws to make money scarce and times hard; laws to enable the rich to live off the poor. And here that hand is sore and full of cracks and pain—yes, the same hand that has helped to elect the county officers of this county—full of blisters and scabs, made so a workin to git money to help pay them officeholders their salaries—salaries of thousands of dollars a year—and they ready to add to that tax and sell our home in order to git them big salaries if Jobe dident pay his sheer.”
There is the probate judge, who gits $5,300 a year; and the county clerk, who gits $5,500; and the recorder, who gits $3,600; and the sheriff, who gits $3,900; and the treasurer, who gits $3,400; and the auditor, who gits $3,500; and the prosecutin attorney, who gits $1,600; and the county commissioners, who git $1,400 apiece. And they git it from Jobe and his likes, who dont make $500 a year, even when seasons are favorable and crops good. And they are gittin of them big salaries by the votes of Jobe and his likes, who has them to pay—yes, by the votes of the very fellers who are a blisterin their hands and a rubbin salve and a walkin stiff to pay them.
Now if them salaries were reduced to what them same men would be willin to work for at anything else—if them salaries were reduced to $600 for commissioners and $1,500 for probate judge, auditor and sich, I wonder if it wouldent take less blisters and briars and cracks and backaches to pay them to do the people’s work.
The hand that voted “the strait ticket.”
Any of them would be willin to do the same work for them figgers, if the people would git together and, instid of votin for officeseekers, vote for men who would make a law to only pay sich figgers for public work.