It is quite a task to ice fish which come over the road every day. As many as sixty-eight boxes have passed through in one day, using more than 3,000 pounds of ice.

Mr. Bennett, one of our old passenger brakemen, has lately accepted a position as express messenger between this place and Green River. He don't seem to take kindly to fish boxes and ice picks. Never mind, Bennett, it will develop your muscle.

Elias Sohlburg, one of McHenry's coach gang, leaves here to-day for a visit to his family at Logan, Utah. Bon voyage, Eli!

Mrs. Gray has quit the restaurant business; too much work for a very little money. It does seem strange that this town can't support one good restaurant.

The Union Pacific paywagon visited us earlier than common this month, but it was the more welcome for that. Most of the Short Line boys drew a good big check and so are happy. Brother McKenzie left again for Butte, Montana, on the first, after a visit of a few days. Mrs. McKenzie is still staying here at her old home. No more this time. Mc.

LARAMIE, WYOMING, May 24, 1887.

Editor Magazine:

As I only sent a very short report the past two months you must excuse me if I am a little lengthy this time.

Work in the shops is good, but the back shops are working five days per week while the machinists in the round house are making from thirty to thirty-five days per month.

Business on the road is good and engineers and firemen are making big time.

The Rolling Mills are running full time again and it is hoped they will be enabled to do so, as they have stopped considerable of late for want of scrap iron.

A new stationary engine is being put in at the Tie plant to level off the ties where the rail lays on them and to cut off the ends making them all of an equal length so they will not need adzeing and trying when being laid.

The Soda Works are being enlarged, to what extent we are as yet unable to learn, but we understand will be nearly doubled.

Up town they are busy building a new bank which, we learn, is to be a good-looking building. They are also laying the foundations for a glass works. $50,000 in stock being subscribed.

The University is newly finished and is a building of which Wyoming need not be ashamed. There is considerable building going on here beside those mentioned.

We have had a boom the past month and such has been the rush for real estate that the unthinking will soon have to pay for their folly. Some have bought lots at ruinous prices, paid part down, the balance on time. We fear many will have to sell at a loss. Like all other booms much of the talk and imaginary sales have only been an exchange, and we are led to believe some of them temporary at that, and as we say those

who have been led into making time purchases and those to come will have to pay the fiddler, while some of our own real estate agents and others will pocket the money.

It is got so, that the man who who can swindle the public the best under the law (not moral law) is the best man both financially and socially. In the past Laramie has grown slowly but steadily and surely, and we hope it will do so in the future. J. H.

LARAMIE, WYOMING, May 10, 1887.

Editor Magazine:

In the last few months many of the towns west of the Missouri river have been having a "boom." This is now the case in Omaha and Denver. Cheyenne seems to be settling down to its quiet way, but this place is now on the boom. I have heard many questions asked in the past few days the principle one being, "What do you think of the boom?" Being somewhat of an inquisitive turn of mind I have tried to know the cause and ascertain as far as possible from whence came this boom and what is its cause. After careful inquiry I am led to the belief that some of our real estate agents and a few of our monied men are the sole cause of this agitation. The greater portion of the real estate which has changed hands has passed from one person to another for speculative purposes, and as sure as stocks go up to an exorbiting price in Wall street, New York, then fall, carrying some one or more down to poverty, so I feel some of the unwise who may only have a few hundreds of dollars will, through this "boom" loose their all.

Yet this is called justice. Some members of churches drift away into this pernicious practice while members of the same secret and benevolent organizations will purchase lots at $200 per lot and in a few days ask his brother fraternal $600 or even $1,000 for the same, while every few days they are reminded of their pledge not to wrong a brother. This is not the wrong we proposed to show, but we intended to try and prove that these booms are unjust to the general public. Lots are sold at fabulous prices and the man who buys will sometimes hold on for years and not make one dollar at the same time will The try and hold on because he paid so much. man who desires to build very often cannot do so because he must pay too much for a lot. In fact there are 66-foot lots in this place to-day, six or eight blocks from the business part of the city, which cannot be bought for less than $1,000, and I know of two 24-foot lots which the owner refused $2,500 for a few months ago.

I claim the whole community suffers through the avarice of a few. Men with two or three thousand dollars do not wish to put every dollar in a house and lot, and I say he would be foolish if he did; and as to a poor, honest, hard workingman coming here from this time on and even thinking of building himself a home it is mere folly.

Soon as the boom ends then the real estate and, as a rule, business in general is more dead than

Nothing extroardinary has happened in Stout the past few weeks which could warrant me to write a lengthy letter for June, I shall therefore be as short as possible.

Two freight trains daily now because business is rushing and the shipment of paving stone is all the rage.

Some magnificent houses have been added to Stout lately in the suburban district called New Lapland or Finland, being populated by natives of Sweden's lost provinces now ruled by the almighty Czar of Russia.

Grand ball par excellence in the Stout section house on Saturday, May 14. There were many of Stout's ladies in attendance and good music was furnished by the amateur banjo club that kept the whole company dancing till 2 o'clock Sunday morning.

The furniture for the K. of L. hall has arrived consisting of chairs and tables.

For other Stout items I cheerfully recommend the celebrated Larimer county Bee of Fort Collins, which gives the brain product of one of Stout's bashful quilgusher in weekly quantities, copyrighted. U. K.

DENVER, COLO., May 25, 1887.

Editor Magazine:

The Denver letter must be short this month, as usual, like many of the advertised "booms we hear of in many parts of the country, Denver included, but if the real estate agents see this statement they will say that it is intended to work an injury to the interests (?) of the city; but it is a question if their advertised boom has not already worked more injury to many an honest, hard-working family than they will ever be able to right, as many have rushed in here from all parts of the country, filled up the vacant houses and given the agents an excuse to advance rent, all to find that there is no great demand here for men.

The machine shops and foundries are running short time and short handed and the railroads are not employing any additional force except perhaps on construction in the mountains.

The building trades are fairly busy and the brick yards, but not to the degree that one would suppose. The men employed in the brick yards were on a strike for a short time but it was settled satisfactorily and the men are again at work. Work is very quiet in the railroad shops.

The new roads that are being constructed and especially the Colorado Midland and the extension of the Denver, Texas & Gulf (formerly the Denver and New Orleans) are offering some hopes

and many men are looking forward to the possibility of a position on them.

T. J. Potter, the new General Manager of the Union Pacific, made Denver a flying vistit this week and went on West.

Labor circles have been somewhat stirred up over the visit of G. M. W. Powderly and his visit has done much good and Knights of Labor principles will be better understood by many in the future. SCRIBE.

ASSEMBLY NOTICES.

L. A. 3860, Shoshone, Idaho, meets every Saturday at 19.30 o'clock. Visiting brothers welcome.

L. A. 3748, Camas, Idaho. Meets every Monday evening at 19:30 o'clock.

L. A. 3809, Leavenworth, Kansas. Meets every Saturday evening at 20 o'clock, at Odd Fellows' hall, cor. of 6th and Shawnee Sts. L. A. 3741, Pocatello, Idaho. Meets every Saturday evening at 20 o'clock.

Meets every Mon

L. A. 3447, Golden, Colo. day evening, at 19:30 o'clock.

L. A. 3392, Eagle Rock, Idaho. Meets every Saturday evening, at 20 o'clock; in B. of L. E. hall.

L. A. 3509, Sidney, Nebraska. Meets every first and third Friday night in the month at Masonic hall.

L. A. 3678, Wamego, Kansas. Meets Thursday evening of each week at 20 o'clock.

L. A. 2345, Omaha, Neb. Meets every Friday evening at 19.30 o'clock in K. of L. hall, 1310 Douglass St.

L. A. 4453, Huntington, Oregon. Meets every Saturday evening.

L. A 3218 Denver, Colo. Meets every Wednesday at 19:30 o'clock, and every 4th Sunday in the month at 14:30 o'clock at K. of L. hall, 15th St., bet. Larimer and Holladay Sts.

L A. 3694, Wyandotte, Kansas, meets every Tuesday evening.

L. A. 3274, Evanston, Wyo. Meets every Wednesday at 19:30 o'clock in Odd Fellows' hall.

L. A. 3343, North Platte, Nebraska. Meets in Odd Fellows' hall every Wednesday evening of each month. Visiting brothers cordially invited.

L. A. 3481, Green River, Wyo. Meets every Monday evening.

L. A. 3403, Sterling, Colo., meets the second and fourth Saturday even'g's of each month. L. A. 3746, Alderdice, Montana, meets every Monday evening.

L. A. 3256, Laramie, Wyo. Meets every Thursday even'g, at 19 o'cl'k, in K. of L. hall. L. A. 3533, Ogden, Utah. Meets every Thursday evening at 20 o'clock, in K. of P. hall, Main St., bet. 4th and 5th.

L. A. 3767, Greeley, Colo. Meets every alternate Thursday, at 20 o'clock, in Masonic hall. L. A. 3261, Rawlins, Wyo. Meets every Saturday in Masonic hall.

L. A. 3618, Boulder, Colo. ond and fourth Thursday month at the A. O. U. W. Pearl Sts.

Meets on the secevenings of each hall, cor. 14th and

L. A. 3914, Omaha, Neb. Meets every Tuesday, at 19.30 o'clock, in K. of L. hall, 1310 Douglass St.

L. A. 4997, Grand Island, Neb. Meets every Friday at 20 o'clock in K. of L. hall.

L. A. 3468, Carbon, Wyo. Meets every Saturday, at 19 o'clock in Odd Fellows' hall.

L A. 3740, Grand Island, Neb. Meets every Friday at 20 o'clock, in K. of L. hall.

VOL. II.

JULY FOURTH.

July 4th, 1776, stands as a monument, marking the commencement of an epoch in the history of the world, which can be looked back to with rejoicing by all liberty loving people.

The declaration of independence of the American colonies, which was given forth to the world on that day, was the culmination of long years of agitation and struggles against oppression. The possibilities of this document being given to the world did not lay in the fact that there were men capable of writing it and of others who were ready to back it with their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor. It was no sudden discovery that the patriots had made when they declared: "We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the persuit of happiness, that to secure these rights governments instituted among men deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." But the tree of liberty that was on that day planted, was the result of a seed that had been nurtured in the heart of humanity for generations and then sprung forth to a certain life, and to those to whose lot it fell to declare it to the world, all glory is due for having so faithfully guarded and sustained the trust bestowed in them. It therefore becomes the duty of

No. 6.

all who receive of the fruits of that tree to celebrate the day on which it was planted, and to glorify those who gave it to the world, and in the celebration the prominent point that should be observed, is: How are the principles on which it was founded to be perpetuated?

The principles that were brought forth and put into practice at that time was handed down as a legacy to the liberty loving children of men, not of any one class, color, or creed, but to all humanity. Every citizen should ask himself the question: Have I done my duty in caring for, building up, or adding to that inheritance, or have I neglected it, or sold any part of it for a mess of pottage. Such questions should be foremost in the hearts of every citizen, but is it? We think not.

The grand legacy that was given to the oppressed of all mankind has and is being neglected. Men in their greed for gain have trampled in the dust what the document that gave independence to a people declared to be self-evident truths. Men have forgotten the causes that forced a people to make this declaration, and are forgetting what it cost, they are squandering their rights and the equal rights of their joint heirs, the people yet unborn.

True we have celebrated the day, we have listened to speakers tell us of the glorious deeds of the patriots who spilt out their blood for the sake of country and principle, we have perpetuated their memories

by monument and song, but that appears to be where it has ended. The thought that we have with our inheritance a sacred duty to perform, as the one condition by which we can hold it, appears to be dying out with each generation. Can we say, if to-day we were living under an oppressive monarchy, that we still have the spirit that actuated the men of 1776, strong enough to declare ourselves free and independent? Have we not to a certain extent been raising again the idols that those whose memory we celebrate threw in the dust? I think we have.

One hundred and eleven years ago he who ruled this country did so not by the consent of the governed; but those who bowed to his will said it was by divine right, and as the declaration of independence says, his history was one of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over

these states.

This king was surrounded and upheld by a titled hereditary aristocracy, who carried out his will, they paraded their lineage to the masses who were compelled to support them, their coats of arms could be seen on every hand, and they were waited on by lackeys in livery, and when they passed through the streets they did so in coaches emblazoned with their arms, driven by liveried lackeys, and the common people must stand to one side. Such was the condition of things with which the founders of our republic had to contend with, this was the iron heel that was oppressing them; and what would naturally be their feelings-nothing less than an undying contempt and hatred of king or queen and all that pertained to and went with kingly power. They despised and scorned he who would pass through the streets with coach and livery, or place a coat of arms over their doors as one who wished to mimic

that hated class. The titled gentry had no place among them. That feeling was a righteous one, it put aside that which was bad and clove to that which was good. In place of the hereditary standard of aristocracy, they declared moral and industrial worth the true standard by which this nation should be ruled.

Have we not been wandering from that standard? What means that class amongst us that drives through our streets with liveried driver and footman? Is it not that same old curse that the patriots hated? True they have no title, but how many would like one? How many of such mamas are seeking an alliance through their daughters with the titled libertines of Europe?

What means that fawning lickspittal sentiment that is disgustingly displayed when the scrofulous scions of nobility disgrace us by visiting our republic?

What means those expressions of sympathy that were sent by American citizens to Russia when the Czar was killed, and of congratulations when an oppressed people did not succeed in ridding themselves of a tyrant, or the congratulatory messages sent to the Prussian emperor at his birth-day anniversary? Would the Americans of 1776 have done so for any hereditary ruler?

In what way must the sickening sentiment be received, that American citizens are indulging in over the British Queen's jubilee, citizens that are the descendents of those who fought her predecessor, King George, as well as naturalized citizens who have come under our flag which signifies hatred of hereditary or aristocratic rule, to receive of the fruits of the tree of liberty that was planted by those who first raised that flag. Is it a sign of retrogression?

Would it not be more in accord with that which should be the spirit of every American citizen, be he

native-born or naturalized, to send our condolence to the common people of Britain, and especially the oppressed of Ireland, regretting that the circumstances have been so unfortunate that they have been compelled to live under the rule and support a queen for fifty years, even though she is only a figure head? What means this control of millions of acres of our land by aliens? What means the increasing number of families that rent land from which to get to get support? What means this control of transportation and the staple necessities of life, by a comparative few individuals? Is it not one form of that power that one hundred and eleven years ago was endeavoring to establish absolute tyranny over these states? All these things and many more that can be given show to every thinking citizen that the spirit of "76" is not as vigorous as it should be, and that the patrimony of the republic is being neglected and its future endangered, by allowing the young to reach manhood and men to become citizens without first realizing the meaning of those words, "eternal vigilance is the price of liberty."

This toadying to monarchical powers, this imitating of the aristocracy of Europe by citizens of our republic,is too much like liberty playing dog and licking the hand that struck her.

There is a marked neglect of the duties of citizenship; that standard of "moral and industrial worth" is forgotten when we go to the ballot box, where our government derives its powers; but shall this state of things be allowed to continue? We think not, and believe that the reaction has commenced, and that that great organization, the Knights of Labor, is leading the reacting power, that they are the true successors of the patriots of 1776. The first of their principles, "to make industrial and moral worth, not wealth, the true standard of indi

vidual and national greatness" is the main rock of the foundation on which this government was founded, therefore that liberty-hating class among us who would crush out this organization; who would belittle its operations, or retard them by attempting to class its operations with infamy, must be regarded as the enemies of liberty and worse than the Tories of one hundred years ago, and should be branded as such wherever they are.

Therefore let every true Knight feel proud of his station; let every true citizen join with and rally to the support of those principles, holding that which we have and regaining that which we have lost, making the declaration of independence a living truth rather than a burning lie; raising up the oppressed of the world with the lever of education to that level on which they can see and realize its full importance, when it guarantees life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, to that level on which they can see what their duty is to themselves and posterity.

There is no assurance that the Nation will long remain under a government of the people unless this is done, and more attention paid to what constitutes true citizenship and an awakening among the masses to the secret of the ballot box; and surely the Knights of Labor are doing more than any other organization toward that end.

It is the great school in which men are being educated to a sense of their duties as citizens; it is the great propoganda of the doctrines of the patriots of "76," hence none should celebrate the Fourth of July with greater enthusiasm than the true Knights, for they have no cause to be ashamed of their colors.

WORKINGMEN must keep up the fight against the Socialist-Anarchist red flag element if they expect to emancipate themselves.