them exorbitant prices for the food and provisions which, in spite of a law prohibiting the system, must be purchased at the Monopoly’s stores.  At the end of the month, many of these miners have not only consumed every dollar of their wages but are actually in debt.  It is stated, further, as an incontestable fact that, “a miner who objects to the amount of work or wages given to him gets no more of either, for he is at once dropped from the rolls, and his name is sent to the neighboring mines as that of a man unlit for employment.”  These people subsist—­miraculously—­on scanty and unwholesome food, and frequently are subjected to the greatest hardships.

We assert that this is no fanciful picture.  It is the absolute truth, with the worst untold.  Monopoly is fond of calling these pitiable men “Molly Maguires,”—­“a dangerous class that must be carefully watched!” These men are protected, and their industry and their entire living afford a charming picture of the results of the “protective” system, so far as the Iron Monopoly is concerned.  With such facts as these to ponder over, and with the additional knowledge that there is not a single person today employed in a cotton or woolen mill in the United States who is not taxed in the name of protection, to enrich the corporation for whom he labors, it seems almost inexplicable that honest men should neglect one of the greatest and, as God knows, one of the most threatening problems of this age and country, and waste words and precious moments over that most arrant humbug—­Civil Service Reform.  The People are more important than the Government:  for to-day the Government is the politicians.

* * * * *

HISTORICAL RECORD.

September 10.—­The seventy-second anniversary of our first great Naval victory was celebrated at Newport, R.I.  The most important incident was the unveiling of the statue erected to the honor of its hero.  Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry.  The order of exercises included a brilliant oration by the Hon. William P. Sheffield, chairman of the Perry statue committee, this oration by courtesy of its author being printed in full in this number of the Bay State Monthly; other addresses at the unveiling were made by Governor George Peabody Wetmore and Mayor Robert S. Franklin.  At the banquet among the speakers were the Governor, Hon. George Bancroft, the historian, Mayor Franklin, Judge Blatchford, Chief Justice Durfee, Admiral Rodgers, and Admiral Almy.  The occasion was an exceedingly notable one.

September 12.—­The two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the incorporation of the town of Concord, Mass., was celebrated with appropriate military and civic exercises.  There was first, a procession, reviewed by the Governor and invited guests.  At the town hall an oration was delivered by Senator George F. Hoar, and other interesting literary exercises took place, at the conclusion of which the line was reformed and the march was taken up to the Hall where the dinner was served.  Judge John S. Keyes presided, and the principal after dinner speeches were made by William M. Evarts, George William Curtis, George F. Hoar, E. Rockwood Hoar, James Russell Lowell, and others.