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People . Party Paper VOLUME I. THE GREAT WEST SOLID. GEN. WEAVER SPEAKS TO A VAST THRONG IN DENVER. Unbounded Enthusiasm for the Peo ple’s Cause in the Silver- Producing States. The following dispatch to the South ern Alliance Farmer has been kindly furnished the People’s Party Paper: Denver, Colorado, July 27. The reception of General Weaver and party in this city last night was something wonderful. The old parties in Colorado have practically disband ed, and the people are solid for the Omaha nominees. General Weaver’s meeting at the Coliseum was crowded almost to suffo cation, fully 6,000 people being packed into the building. Every allusion to free coinage met with rousing cheers, long and loud. The General’s masterly argument touching the sub-treasury plank was cheered throughout by the entire audi ence. Mrs. Lease addressed the meeting also, and in addition spoke to an over flow meeting of fully 4,000 people. Colorado is solid for the People’s Party, and all the silver States will follow her example. This brings all the States west of the Missouri river into our column. V. A. Strichler, Mem. Nat. Ex. Com. ON THE VERGE OF STARVATION. People of Some Counties of Texas Eat ing Buds and Berries as Food. Rio Grande City, Tex., July 27. — There are no less than twelve thousand people in the lower Rio Grand border counties of Texas on the very verge of starvation. The rain which fell here four weeks ago was the first in three years, but it was of no benefit. The in tense heat of summer has evaporated every particle of moisture and the suf fering among the people for lack of food and water is terrible to witness. There are hundreds of Mexicans and Americans in Starr, Zapata, and Nueces counties who, for weeks past have subsided wholly on the mesquite tree beans and cactus leaves and buds. These are the only two species of vege tation which have been able to with stand the terrible drought. Even the hardy live oak trees in the Nueces bot toms have died and the indications are that this section, which was a few years ago the garden spot of Texas, is to be converted into a veritable desert. Thou sands of head of cattle have died, and those still living were shipped to Indian Territory several weeks ago. There are not over five thousand head of cattle in these border counties. Be fore the drought set in there were hun dreds of thousands of head pastured here each season. There have been many appeals for food supplies for the starving poor sent out from here, but the responses have been very meager. The people of Brownsville have joined in a petition to Governor Hogg for as sistance. Their petition states that many deaths from starvation are inev itable unless the people of Texas and the country come to their relief. THE GUNONA IN ERUPTION. Hundreds of Natives Killed by Showers of Stones. Amsterdam, July 27. —The Hendes blad, of this city, published a letter from Celebes, giving the details of the recent eruption of the volcano Gunona, on Great Sangir island. The eruption commenced at 6 o’clock p. m., on a day early in June, and was unheralded by the slightest seismic warning. Im mense volumes of flames and smoke and masses of stone suddenly burst from the volcano. Stones fell all over the island, killing hundreds of natives, who were busy in the fields getting in the rice crop. Those who succeeded in reaching the supposed shelter of their homes found no refuge, the houses having been crushed beneath the weight of falling stones and the roofs having collapsed under the weight of ashes, burying the inmates; in many instances, whole families. Streams of lava flowed with fright ful rapidity down the slopes of the burning mountain, upon which there were situated numerous farms and vil lages. Houses and fugitives alike RigHbs to Special Privileges to None.” were overwhelmed by these rivers of molten rock. It is estimated that over one thou sand persons perished on the slope of the mountain and many hundreds more in the lowlands, but the exact loss of life is not known. A week after the eruption had abated the inhabitants were still in a state of terror and would not approach the scene of disaster. The island is now threatened with famine, all crops hav ing been destroyed. The cocoa trees are still standing, but their leaves and fruit have been destroyed, and their stems left bare. In many parts of the island wells have become dry. The Dutch authorities are doing the best they can to alleviate the distress of the people. A government steamer has been placed at the disposal of the local controller to distribute relief. Rice and many doctors have been sent to the island. The inhabitants, though nearly demented with terror, are do cile, and the authorities have met with no disorder. Relief for the Distressed. New Orleans, July 27. —The relief boat Danube has left here with a sec ond lot of rations for the people in the overflowed section of Red and Black rivers and Bayou Des Glaises The number of sufferers is 2,600, of whom 1,200 are in Ouachita, above Catahoula; about 600 in Concordia, 200 on Bayou Des Glaises and the remainder in Franklin, on Boeuf river, and Pointe Coupe, West Felicinia and Assumption. It will be necessary to feed these peo ple three weeks longer. Mount Etna Still Boiling. Catania, July 27. —The eruption of Mount Etna is again very violent. Im mense masses of rock are projected out of the volcano to a great height, and dense clouds overhang the summit of the mountain. The subterranean rum blings are severe enough to cause win dows to rattle in the neighboring vil lages. Lava streams are again ad vancing. Colored Alliance of Georgia. At Americus, Wednesday, the state trustees of the Colored Farmers’ National Alliance of Georgia, assembled. The counties of the state were well represent ed. Rev. J. W. Carter, the state lecturer, made a telling speech and was roundly applauded. D. M. Outlaw and S. S. Weeks, state trustees of the alliance, made a favorable report regarding the condition of the alliance of Georgia. A conference between the Alabama c olored alliance and the Georgia colored alliance will convene at Selma, Ala., in October. The colored alliance will meet in Macon, Ga. the last Wednesday and Thursday in July, 1893 Eastanollee Alliance. At a regular meeting of Eastanollee Alliance, No. 2151, held July 23, 1892, the work* of the People’s Party conven tion which met in the cito of Atlanta, July 20, was fully and unanimously endorsed. Every member present seemed enthused over the State ticket, and especially were we pleased to learn that Col. W. L. Peek was nominated for Governor —and will pledge them our undivided support at the ballot box when the time arrives, and also the reform ticket from president to bailiff. L. 11. Coe, Sec’y. Call for a Mass Meeting. The People Party of Mitchell coun ty and all those who are in sympathy with said party, are requested to at tend a mass meeting at the courthouse in Camilla, Friday, August 12, 1892, at 10 o’clock a. ra., for the purpose of se lecting delegates to represent Mitchell county in the Congressional conven tion to be held at Albany, September 1. Also to select delegates to the eighth senatorial convention, and to attend to other matters of importance. C. W. Collins, Chm’n. Note the Change. Ths People’s Party mass meeting of Telfair county is changed from the 6th to the 18th of August. There will be public discussion upon the political issues of the day. Our Democratic friends are cordially invited to meet us in discussion if they desire. All are invited to come and bring well filled baskets. The meet ing will convene at Cobbville school house. J. M. Smith, Ch’m. J. E. O'Neel, Sec’y. Liberty County. A mass meeting of the People's Party is called for Monday, August Bth, to elect delegates to the Congressional convention at Savannah, August 10th, and for other purposes. The Execu tive committee will meet on adjourn ment of the mass meeting. A. J. Hendy, Ch’n P. P. Ex. Com. ATLANTA, GA., FRIDAY, JULY 29, 1892. SENATOR STEWART’S SPEECH. His View of the Great Question Before the People. July 14, the Senate having under consideration the bill to prevent deal ing in futures, Senator Stewart is re ported as follows : Mr. Stewart. Mr. President, this bill is instructive. It is evidence that there is a great deal of unrest in the country from some cause. It is not the first bill that has been urged here as a panacea for the evils under which the country suffers. We had the interstate-com merce bill, which it was alleged would cure all the evils, would cheapen trans portation and raise the price of prop erty and farm productsand relieve the distress. It became a law. It made some good offices for very intelligent gentlemen, but we are not aware of its great beneficial results. In the last Congress we were told that the evil which afflicted the country was trusts, and we labored many hours and days in that Congress to pass a bill limiting trusts. The bill was passed. We have not heard from it since. Whether it has done any good or not nobody has ascertained. So we go on session after session passing bills of this nature. Mr. Sherman. Will my friend allow me to interrupt him ? Mr. Stewart. Certainly. Mr. Sherman. The bill to which the Senator from Nevada refers, called the trust bill, has been embodied almost in w hole or in large part by many of the States of the Union. It is enforced now by the courts of at least four, and I think several other States, and in two or three cases with marked results, as in the case of the Standard Oil Com pany. Mr. Stewart. lam not aware that it has removed the difficulty or relieved the people from the growing evils which have rested upon them. On the contrary, here is another evidence of great dissatisfaction among the peo ple. Here is an elaborate bill propos ing to enter largely into the transac tions of business, creating a large num ber of offices and much expense, and a measure which will be very difficult of execution, requiring many oaths and accounts, and all that; and those who are honestly engaged in business will have much inconvenience connected with it. I agree that if any great good can be accomplished we ought to pass it, but I fear that it will be numbered with the others, and that dissatisfac tion will continue. I do not think it aims at the real difficulty, at the real disease. Ido not think it can remedy that disease. I do not think it is the medicine required. I do not think it is the specific for the disease of falling prices. That is the disease which it at tempts to remedy, to prevent falling prices in grain so that the farmer may get better prices. I know very well that the speculation has worked to the advantage and the disadvantage of the famer, Some years ago many rich men sank their fortunes in the attempt to corner wheat. They tried several times to buy up all the wheat in the country. They lost mil lions. I think I could name $30,000,000 or $40,000,000 that were lost in that way. The farmers who had wheat at the time had the benefit of that in sell ing their wheat at a high price. It is not absolutely certain whether the far mers lose more from the bears than they gain from the bulls in the market. It is a very doubtful question indeed. Some farmers with whom I have talked think that the bulls do them more good than the bears do them harm. But there appears to be a general disposition to have this bill passed. It is petitioned for by thousands of per sons and urged upon the attention of Congress. But the evil of falling prices will continue whether we pass it or not. I was reading this morning an article in the Baltimore Sun, a very conservative paper, with regard to the falling prices of land and the vast change in the condition of our rural population from the independent far mer to the tenant farmers. As it is in point with what I am about to remark, I ask the Secretary to read the edito rial which is marked. The Presiding Officer. If there be no objection the Secretary will read as; requested. The Secretary read as follows: “increase of tenant farmers. “The Census Bureau has lately be gun to report the result of its investi gations into the number of persons who own and cultivate their farms and the number who are simply tenants on farms owned by others. Thus far the report covers only ten counties in Kan sas and ten counties in Ohio. In Kan sas in 1890 the number of farmers cul tivating their ow n lands was 66.75 per cent, and of tenant farmers 33.25 per cent. Assuming that this proportion of ow ners and tenants runs through the entire State, it is evident that one third of the agricultural families are tenant farmers, A comparison with the census of 1880 shows that in the same counties at the end of that decade the number of families living on hired farms was 0n1y.13.13 per cent, and of farms worked by their owners 86.87 per cent. The increase, therefore, in the number of hired farms between 1880 and 1890 was over 20 per cent. This change for the worse may be accounted for, at least in part, by the bad crops of the three previous years and the foreclosure of mortgages given by farmers to tide them over their diffi culties. “But the same reasoning does not ap ply so strongly to Ohio when ten coun ties chosen for comparison indicate even a greater increase of tennat farm ers. In 1880 the number of farmers in Ohio tilling their own lands was 75.04 per cent and of tenant farmers 24.96 per cent. In 1890 only 63 per cent of the farmers owned the land they culti vated, and the number of tenant farm ers had risen to 37 per cent. To what extent similar changes from ownership to tenantry are goingon in other States we are yet to learn, if the inquiry of the Census Bureau extends to them also, as it is to be presumed that it will. We know, from the reports of the Mas sachusetts and New Hampshire com missioners, that there are in those States a large number of farms not only untenantecl, but classed as ‘abandoned’ by their owners, and offered for sale at incredibly low prices. The drift of the rural population into large cities where, besides the attractions they hold out, enterprising men may hope to do better than in farming and labor is better renumerated, has unquestion ably induced the younger members of farming families to abandon the old homesteads and seek their fortunes e‘sewhere; but underlying the several causes we have mentioned there seems to be some force at work that is reduc ing the number of farmers of small means, and is building up, as in Europe, a race of tenant farmers. “Intimately connected with the changes going on from independent to tenant farming is the decrease in the value of farm property. We have re ferred above to the abandoned farms in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, and to these may be added those of Vermont. We now come to the inquiry just made into the value of farms in Connecticut by Mr. T. 8. Gold, secre tary of the State Board of Agriculture. His report covers replies from 107 out of 168 towns in that State, and although the responses only come from 309 farms, they afford, in his opinion, a basis for computing approximately the value of the remainder. The average price of the farms on Mr. Gold’s list is S2B per acre. In the census of 1880 the average value of the farm lands of the State was said to be $49.34 per acre. ‘Here,’ said the Providence Journal, ‘in a little more than a decade is an apparent decrease in value of more than s2l per acre, and though, of course, it would not be fair to put the average value in 1880 in comparison with the value of land in 1892, it is dif ficult to believe that a farm census to day would show an average value close to that of 1880, for it is to be remem bered that the price asked for the farms included in the secretary’s report is probably much higher than could be secured on actual sale.’ Moreover, the report shows that in certain small towns some 3,000 acres are offered at an average of $8 per acre, and farms with buildings in good repair at one third the price that was asked for them twelve years ago, It is complained that one cause of the decline is the bad condition of the roads, and a similar complaint comes from Maine and Rhode Island, where a like depression in the value of farm lands exists.” Mr. Stewart. Mr. President, this shrinkage is not confined to farm lands. In the report just submitted by the Committee on Finance, who were in structed to ascertain the market price commodities and labor, to ascertain whether that price was advancing or declining since the passage of the Mc- Kinley act, I am informed that there has been an average shrinkage in the price of commodities and of labor of about 3 per cent. That was up to the time the committee closed its labors, which was last December, was it not ? Mr. Carlisle. If the Senator will al low me, I will state that the subcom mittee undertook to ascertain the re tail prices of two hundred and fifteen articles at seventy different places in the United States during the period of two years, beginning in June, 1889, and ending in September, 1891. The resnlt of its labors shows that while prices of some articles rose more than three per cent, during part of the time after the passage of rhe McKinley act, yet at the end of the period the prices of the two hundred and fifteen articles taken al together were forty-four one-hun dreths of one per cent, lower than they were at the beginning. Mr. Stewart. Notwithstanding the McKinley act ? Mr, Carlisle. Yes; the prices first went up for several months after the act was passed, and then the tendency to a reduction began to show itself. Mr. Stewart. That was up to Sep tember, 1891 ? Mr. Carlisle. Yes. Mr. Stewart. There have been about ten months of fall since then. Mr. Carlisle. It has been about elev en months. Mr. Pasco. I wish to ask a question of the Senator from Kentucky. Does that include protected and unprotected articles ? Mr. Carlisle. The committee selected 215 representative articles, which were supposed to enter into the common con sumption of the country, without refer ence to the question whether the duties were .increased or diminished upon those articles by the McKinley act. Mr. Stewart. Did the committee ex tend its investigation as to prices of commodities in Europe during the same period ? Mr. Carlisle. Part of the time the committee succeeded in getting the re tail prices in England, but not to such an extent as to j ustify anything like an accurate comparison of prices. Mr. Stewart. The fall in prices there would be greater than here. Mr. Carlisle. I am not able at this moment to state what it was. ; Mr. Stewart. The fall in prices I would be much greater in England. In my observation, from what little inves l gation I have been able to make, and j from the statements of English papers, t there has been in the last two years a i fall of over ten per cent —some put it as high as fifteen per cent —in the general , range of commodities in Europe since | the fall of 1890; and it is still going on, and it will continue to go on ; Ido not believe that a bill of this i kind will remedy the continual shrink- age of prices. The statisticians tell us that since 1875 the general decline has been from 35 to 40 per cent. I think it has been more than that in Europe on account of the rapid decline recently. But this decline must go on, notwith standing the pending bill. It is not going to affect the general range of prices: and that is the evil under which the world is laboring. This rapid increase of tenant farming j has a parallel. At the time of the dis- I covery of gold and silver in Mexico j and South America the feudal system i was at its zenith of power and perfec- j tion, but it so happened that in Great j Britain land leases were for ninety nine years. All who have studied Blackstone remember those lease-hold estates. They were in the habit of allowing those long leases for ninety nine years. Mr. Jacob, who is the best authority of anybody who has written upon the production of the precious metals, and is so recognized throughout the country, tells us that at the time of this discovery there were 30,000 land holders in Great Britain, and that in one hundred years the number of land holders increased to about 100,060. At the end of the century there were 100,000 inhabitants of Great Britain who owned the land they lived on and cultivated. He attributes it solely to the increase of the supply of money. He said that these long leases, payable in money, made it necessary for the large landholders to sell their land; that they could not live on their rents an account of the rise of prices. Money became cheaper and commodi ties dearer. These one hundred thousand land owners in Great Britain remained for about one hundred and fifty to two hundred years, the number of land owners remaining about the same. During the Napoleonic wars the cur rency was wonderfully inflated, and immediately after the war the heroic remedy of resumption was applied. The people were doing business on a high range of prices. They were in debt, as our people were during our war, doing business on inflated prices. Contraction produced by resumption destroyed nearly all the enterprising men of that great nation and reduced the number of land-owners in a few years back to thirty thousand, where it now remains. All this shows the effect of contraction. It has been stated that in this counry the aggregate amount of mortgagesis not increasing, but is growing less. Th s is because the mortgages are being fore closed. The mortagagees are taking the property The people are becoming tenant farmers. AV hat has produced this ? A shrinking in the volume of money, because it is a law that can not bo changed that the average range of prices is governed by the volume of money ; I mean of real money, money that does not have to be redeemed. The volume of money deter mines the price. We witnessed that a year ago when about $75,000,000 went out of the country. Every morning as the gold would go out stocßs were mark ed down. No man would until he knew the amount of gold to be shipped. It was the thermometer that determined the range of prices. Every man could see the shipments of gold marked on the bulletin boards, and prices of commodities were marked accordingly. Now, as the volume of gold money, which lies at the foundation, decreases in comparison with properity and popu lation, of course property must go down and prices must go down to correspond. It is just as difficult to keep prices up with a shrinking volume of money as it would be to keep two levels of the water of the ocean. It never has been done, and never can be done. The volume of gold is shrinking no only with the increase of population, but by the power of the creditor class oper ating upon the debtor class, compelling them to make gold contracts. They have even attempted to coerce Austria. Is the Senate aware that it would have taken 6 per cent of all the gold in the world if they had succeeded in makihg Austria buy the two hundred midicns which it was proposed to coerce her into buying? That would put up gold, make gold dear, and as the price of property is measured in gold, therefore, when gold goes up property must go down. That is the dis ease, and all the nostrums you can ap ply will effect very little. It may be well to pass this bill not for the good it will do, not because it will accomplish any goo I purpose, for I pro phesy that it will simply make trouble and accomplish no good, but to show the people that it is not good medicine, that it does not reach the disease. If this bill should pass, next winter when we meet again the same clamor will be heard. As long as prices, fall as long as men are driven from their homes and become tenant fanners, it must continue. There can be no escape. The only good ac complished by passing this bill will be to show the people how inadequate it is to remedy the evil. Perhaps the educa tion they will get may pay us for the in convenience of thus meddling with the business of country. I have been weighing this matter in nay mind and I have not yet determin ed how I ought to vote. I introduced a bill the other day to reduce the sala ries of officers, and I wish to explain that in this connection, The bill as introduced reads as fol lows : “That the salaries of all officers and persons receiving salaries from the United States in excess of S6OO per an num shall, from and after the passage of this act, be reduced 25 per cent of such excess: Provided, That this act shall not apply to the salary of the President of the United States during the present term of that office, nor to salaries of judges of United States courts during the terms of the present incumbents. I put the amount at S6OO. I think tiiat was a mistake. On reflection I believe that those of that grade are NUMBER 44 simply laboring people, and a reduc tion as to them would be unfair. Sol propose when this bill shall come up for consideration —for I introduced it in good faith —to substitute $2,000 for S6OO, and to reduce by 25 per cent the salaries of all persons receiving any thing in excess of $2,000 from the Gov ernment. That will not affect the peo ple who are doing the labor of the Gov ernment; it will only affect those with large fixed incomes. My object in calling attention to this is the fact that as prices go down we are creating a favored class with fixed incomes. That f avored class will fight for contraction »he same as the bond holder will fight for contraction to en hance the value of his income. When I first came to the Senate the salaries of Members and Senators were $3,000 a year; judges of the Supreme Court received $6,000 a year; and the President of the United States received $25,000 a year. 1 remember that once in those times I called upon the vener able Justice Nelson, and found him in the National Hotel with two rooms, very small, for himself, wife, and daughter. He had to do all his work in those two rooms. After some talk with him I asked him it he was able to live on his salary—for we were talking about that —and he said he could not pay his bills on his salary however economical he might be; that prices had gone up so he could not live on his salary. I found members of Congress complaining that it was impossible for them to pay their bills and live on their salaries. Prices then were high. The salary of the President of the United States was very small for those times. Ln consequence of these facts I be came an enthusiastic advocate for in creasing salaries. We began with the judges of the Supreme Court. I had an ally in the then Senator from Wis consin, Mr. Carpenter, who espoused the cause with great earnestness, and we succeeded in raising their salaries, and finally the salary of the President of the United States was raised to $50.- 000. There was no difficulty in raising the salaries of members of Congress. That came first. Those salaries were raised to correspond with the then range of prices. Now we find that prices have gone below what they were in 1860, or when these salaries were fixed, and as they stood before Congress raised them. The prices of commodities have gone below those of any of this century; and i say that it is not in good keeping for officers who are serving the Repub lic to maintain this high range of sala ries while prices are being forced down by the legislation of Congress, for they are being forced down by the legisla tion of Congress. In forcing the coun i try to go to the gold standard we are forcing prices down, and we ought not to profit by our own wrong. The President of the United States is receiving a salary of $50,000 a year. That salary is more than SIOO,OOO would have been in 1871 when his salary was increased. If it were put back to $25,- 000 it would have a greater purchasing power than his salary had in 1860, I say $25,000 would now have a greater purchasing power than it had in 186 ft. Congress raised all these salaries on account of high prices. They should now be reduced on account of low prices. The President is interested in maintaining the gold standard to the extent of $50,000 a year. Because gold is worth a hundred per cent more than it was in 1871 we are told all around that every President will veto a silver bill. It will put money in his pocket to do so. He lias a large salary and a large interest in the question. All good citizens hope he will not be influenced by such con siderations and there is no foundation for the assertion that he would veto a silver bill. This comes home to the people of the country, in view of what has occurred in Pennsylvania. The disease at Home stead was falling prices. The Carne gie Company said the price of commo dities had gone down, and therefore they must reduce the price of labor to correspond. If wages must be reduced to correspond with failing prices, why should not the compensation of high salaried officers share the same fate, 1 ask ? If the feudal lords of wealth can in a moment organize their armies and make war to put down wages, and if that war can be justified, how much more are we called upon to surrender our salaries if we insist that legislation shall put prices down ? The evil of the gold standard first fell upon the farming community. Our farmers were regarded as a brave and independent portion of citizens. We relied upon the farmers to resist en croachments of centralized power or any other power while they were pros perous. But you have robbed them of half their estate by reducing the value of their farms. You have driven them from their farms and made tenant far mers of 30 or 40 per cent of them and the process is going on. They have lost much of their power in the budy politic. Who, then, will resist the eucroach j meats of the gold king ? The labor or ganizations of this country are at tempting to resist. They will get out side of the law. They will ultimately be crushed, because nothing can with stand the iron hand of contraction. This resistance has been tried in other civilizations. But as the money disapp o ars feudal slavery follows. These men may re sist for a time in this country, but see how they were treated in Germany a month or two ago when they were as sembled to protest against a reduction of their wages. The imperial army fired upon them without notice, and they had no redress. Europe is a mil itary camp and is controlled by the gold kings. Labor must submit there. The penalty of any resistance, or even [continued on sth page.]