Newspaper Page Text
OPENING THE CAMPAIGN.
the plots of the money power
UNFOLDED.
Address of the People’s Party Execu
tive Committee to the People of
the State of Missouri.
The American people may well be
amazed at the developments of the
last forty days. (1). The old party
platforms bear unmistakable evidence
of collusion, as the agents of com
bined capital. To render and con
tinue the North and South “alien to
each other” the Republican party
declares in favor of the “force bill,”
a measure it had no hope of ever
enacting into law. This to put a
club into the hands of its ally, the
“Democracy” of the South, to enable
it to drive the voters of that section
into line so political incendiaries of
the North may point to “the solid
South” and from this declaim for
and demand a “solid North.” All
this, in the meantime, in the future,
as in the past, to inure to the benefit
of the European money power in its
organized assault upon the industrial
and political liberties of the people.
On the question of the coinage of
silver the position of the old parties
is the same. Each takes advantage
of the present depreciation of silver
as a money caused by hostile legisla
tion, to demand that thirty cents
more silver shall be put into the
silver dollar permitted to be coined.
The enforcement of this demand
would result in the immediate reduc
tion of the present silver coin and
certificates in the sum of $120,000,-
000, or 30 per cent, of the entire
Volume. Both call for an interna
tional conference and assert their
purpose to await the agreement and
action of the European powers be
fore they attempt any relief to the
people on this subject. And that in
the face of the notorious facts that
the demonetization of silver in 1873
was promoted and procured by the
joiut acts of foreign emissaries back
ed by European gold and domestic
betrayers of the public welfare, who
thus perpetrated one of the darkest
crimes in the annah of history.
And the notorious fact that by means
of it the European powers have been
enabled to lay tribute upon our pro
ductive industries, and the present
statu* inures only to the benefit of
alien and domestic usurers, specula
tors and extortioners. The subject
of the free coinage of silver is onlyi
important as it is marginal on the
question of currency and its volume.
The old parties declare by their posi
tion on this question not only that
they forbid any increase of the
present volume, that even now
strangles enterprise, stagnates trade,
blights prosperity, impoverishes la
bor, bankrupts dealers and traders
and threatens the peace of the coun
try, but actually demand a further
contraction to reach a gold standard.
According to their platforms we
have no relief or surcease from these
conditions without the consent of
the European powers, whose emis
saries and gold brought us to this
deplorable state. And that, too, in
the face of the fact that twenty-four
states have now declared in favor of
free coinage of silver. A few days
since, the Republican Senate parsed
the Stewart bill providing for the
free coinage of silver; the bill was
called up iu the House, Democratic
by a two-thirds majority, and 118
Democrats, 10 People’s Party (every
Mian) and 8 Republicans, 13G, voted
for it. Rut 94 Democrats a»nd 60
Republicans, 154, voted against it
and defeated it.
(2) On the subject of tariff one
declares for “tariff for revenue only”
to suppoitthe federal government
whose expenses are iteadily increas
ing an 4 are next year to
be five hundred million dollars. The
other declares for tariff for “protection
and revenue” for the same purpose.
A reduction of the revenue derived
from that source by either or both of
them, in obedience to the declaration
in their platforms, would leave the
federal expenditures unprovided for.
Neither or both of them have reduc
ed the tariff tax in twenty-five years
and neither of them intend to do it.
Their respective positions on that
subject are assumed, at the direction
of flhe 31,000 men estimated to own
one half of the wealth of the nation,
who are practically exempted from
taxation, to support the federal gov
ernment by the indirect tax levied ow
what the citizens consumes instead
of what he owns. Neither of them
even promise any substantial reduc
tion of the tariff tasves and our expe
rience ought to teach us that they
always do less than they promise in
relief to the people. Reform of this
abuse can be effected only by raising
the revenue to support the federal
government, by a system of direct
and income taxes, thus separating the
interests and cause of the manufac
turing monopolies from those of the
other monopolies of the country.
(3.) The railroad corporations is
sue passes almost indiscriminately to
delegates and others who attend the
old party conventions, as means of
whosale undue influence and corrup-
tion. This has gone to such length
that leading men of the Democratic
party in this State have been driven
to complain and expose the meanness
of the system of wholesale bribery to
control and in many instances, con
trolling the actions of the party.
(4.) Two months since, the man
agers of the great steel works at
Homestead, Pa., commenced to en
c.ose their works like a fortification,
with three miles of a high fence, loop
ed-holed for musketry, on the top of
which was stretched a barb wire to
be charged with electrcity. A no
tice of the reduction of the wages of
the men was given to take effect at
the time of the completion of these
warlike measure*; the men burned
the effigy of the agent of the steel
works who superiatended these pre
parations. In retaliation they were
locked out two days sooner than the
notice required. A fiotillation of
iron encased barges, filled with three
hundred armed mercenaries from
other States, were brought by the
steel agents to drive their employes
into obedience. Like the English
troops under Major Pitcairn, at the
village green of Lexington, they com
manded the men to “disperse” and
seconded the command by a deadly
volley from Winchesters ; they ig
nominously failed. All this is shock
ing enough ; the people are stupefied;
they do not half comprehend the
awful import of these developments.
The time for this assault on organi
ized labor was premeditatedly and
deliberately chosen for one of the
darkest purposes. We must remem
ber that since 1888 foreign capital
has made a stampede to our shores ;
it came by hundreds of millions, and
commenced to invest in the brewer
ies as one of the greatest financial
and political powers, and is going on
to buy and control m a great measure
every other interprise in our country,
in which great sums of capital are
used.
In the last months of Mt. Cleve
land’s administration the United
States laws were so amended as to
authorize the adjutant-general of the
United States army to distribute one
hundred and fifty stands of cadet
rifles, fifty rounds per year of ball
and cartridge ammunition per rifle
for “target practice” and two three
inch guns with one hundred rounds
of blank ammunition per year per
gun and a graduate of West Point
to teach military discipline, while
paid out of the United States treas
ury, to each sectarian, religious or
other school that would claim that
“it had accommodations for one hun
dred and fifty male students.” Un
der this law, arms and ammunition
have been distributed to what extent
is not known. It is now admitted
that the force of Pinkerton is now
about twenty-five shousand—nearly
equal to the regular army of the
United States at this time. After
all this preparation, the assault of
capital is made at the moment after
the national nominations in the hush
and preparation for the great ap
proaching campaign. Every in
formed person knows that the time
was not accidental, it was chosen de
liberately ; not by either old party—-
it is wormwood and gall to them
now. By whom was it timed? The
evidence is clear—it was d'one by
timid, scared alien capital and do
mestic plutocracy. One of its insti
gators was safely ensconced in a Eu
ropean castle, feting on alien pauper
nobility, on means wrung from
American labor, and telegraphing his
and their congratulations to the
nomine® of their choice. By the
assault at that time on organized
labor the plutocracy says to the par
ties : “It is not sufficient assurance
to us now that you have made Lom
bard and Wall street platforms, that
you have each nominated our choice
for candidates. We propose to take
time by the forelock now and deal
at certainties. We furnish the money
for the campaign; you shall not
escape by us any half service. You
shall now come boldly to our side of
the struggle against organized capital
in the use of the State and National
military.
“We know you tremble at the re
sponsibility, and that is juit the rea
son we put you to the teat now.”
And to-day a Democratic governor
in Pennsylvania and the Republican
administratioM in Idaho are walking
the capitalistic plank in the use of
the State and National military at
the behest and on the side of aliea
capital and against organized Ameri
can labor. It is an awful, a aupreme
moment in the great approaching
revolution. If the State and National
arms are now to be carried on the
side of alien capital in its eff< ta
destroy organized American .abor,
when and where shall ba the end ?
The line is clearly drawn at Home
stead and in the West. Proud, in
solent, despotic alien capital behind
a line of American bayonets shows
its teeth to, ignores, resents, insults
and orders organized labor to dis
perse, and on failure fires. Union
men, as the representatives of or
ganized labor, are rejected unless
they disown organizations and
“come as individuals.” Why? Be
cause they stand for the man and
womanhood, the intelligence, the in-
dependence and the patriotism of
American labor. Non-union men,
unorganized labor, in its short-sight
ed, besotted ignorance, its dire neces
sity, its isolation, weakness and
degradation, is the natural ally of
despotic alien and domestic capital.
Its methods are to disorganize, di
vide, isolate, weaken and then sub
jugate labor in dtail. If one can
now meet single-handed with labor
at Homestead and the West in the
use of the State and National mili
tary on its side the Rubicon is
passed. It can and will use these
contests as precedents and prestige
to overthrow labor on one after an
other field. The military is only the
arm of the executive department of
the State or National government,
the same as the sheriff or constabu
lary. It cannot decide the right or
wrong of any contention—it should
not champion either side of any. Its
sole and only duty is to restrain, vio
lence or trespass, to preserve the
public peace and order, and the
statue quo and the status of each
situation on which it acts, as far as
the ultimate rights of the parties are
concerned.
The times that try men’s souls are
here, the situation impels to action.
If there be a silver lining to the
cloud that overhangs us, it must be
in the prompt and decisive actio a
of the thoughtful and patriotic voters
of the nation at the polls in the
coming election. The old parties
are in collusion in their service of
the money powers their platforms
are prevarications and appeals to
sectional strife to hide their duplicity
in the service of domestic and alien
combined capital. The country can
have no hope in either or both of
them.
Liberty-loving citizens of Missouri,
we desire to call your especial atten
tion to the odious gag law the so
called “Australian ballot system”
enacted by the General Assembly of
this State, a law expressly intended
to perpetuate the two old political
parties by preventing the organiza
tion of a new party. No law more
subversive of the liberties and rights
of the people was ever enacted in
this country. It is in direct conflict
with the National and State consti
tutions which guarantee to every
citizen the right to a free and unre
stricted ballot. It compels all citi
zens who will not vote the Demo
cratic or Republican tickets to pay
for the privilege of voting. It was
designated to stifle independent po
litical action by making its provisions
so intricate and difficult of compre
hension and so expensive that the
people would become discouraged in
attempting to comply with all of the
requirements. The Democratic par
ty of Missouri is responsible for this
un-American and unconstitutional
“fo/ee bill.” In their State conven
tion at St. Joseph in 1890 they
solemnly themselves^to re-
Its
stea’x off their pronj se
the next session of the (Jneral
Assembly they proceeded t< . ren
der it more galling and Oi
compliance, so that the independent
voters of this State are compelled to
pay hundreds of dollars for the
privilege of voting their sentiments,
a sacred privilege guaranteed to
every law-abiding citizen by our
State constitution. Are you willing
to aid in continuing in power a party
so false to its pledges, so destitute of
respect for the constitution and re
gard for the rights of the people?
If not, we entreat you to cast your
ballot with the People’s Party, ths
only party in this State pledged to
the repeal of the tyrannical and un
constitutional seotiqns of this law.
The People’s Party comes to yo»
w th the olive branch of peace and
reconciliation in the name of the su
premacy of the few and eternal jus
tice. It is attempting to call the
country back to a sober second
thought, to avert bloodshed and
bring an era of “peace on earth and
good will to men.” Will you, can
you join us in this ncble purpose?
If you can, in the name of fraternity
awd patriotism, of equal rights to-all
and special privileges to none, we
welcome you.
M. V. Carroll, Ch’m’n,
C. E. Gardner, Sec’y,
Pierce Hackett, Treas.,
Geo. H. Hiffner,
B. H. Cowgill,
Executive Committee People’s Party
of Missouri.
Notice!
By authority vested in me by the
executive committee of the People’s
Party of the Seventh Congressional
district, I hereby announce that the
nominational convention will convene
in Cartersville on Thursday, Sept. 1,
at noon, for the purpose of nominat
ing a candidate for Congress.
11. D. Hutcheson,
Chairman Ex. Com.
Ninth Congressional District.
The Executive Committee of the
People’s Party of the Ninth Con
gressional District will meet at the
court house in Gainesville at 11
o’clock on the 16th day of August,
1892.
Congress and Santa Cruz Rnm.
Mrs. P»lton ia Southern F*r« far lujurt, ISW
The country felt a thrill of disgust
and contempt to-day, when the
newspapers made publio the miser
able conduct of eight recreant Demo
crats in the National Congress.
The head lines ran thus: “Eight
Democrats sell out for a drink—
Santa Cruz Ruas the King.”
Among the particulars given, I
find the following: “Men who
would not have sold out for a mint
of money let their votes go for a
Santa Cruz rum punch, embellished
with a slice of pine apple and a
piece of orange. Eight Democrats
sat in the Congressional Hotel bar,
sipping this summer drink, and were
so well pleased with it that they
were not present to vote on the
Lehlback amendment to the force
bill. * * Judge the surprise of
the Democrats when Reed announced
the vote 132 to 138, the amendment
lost by six majority. The Demo
cratic leaders were dazed, but when
a few moments later the eight Demo
cratic members from the Congress
ional bar sauntered in leisurely,
whistling in chorus ‘Little Annie
Rooney,’ the Democratic leaders
were indignant, and they should
have been, will be the verdict of
every Democrat in America.”
The amendment thus defeated by
Santa Cruz rum, was most impor
tant to the South. The force bill
would have been inoperative in a
large degree if the North had been
campelled to take a dose of its own
medicine. The amendment pro
posed to apply the force bill to every
county of every State in the whole
Union ; and its defeat is made more
intolerable by the fact that Santa
Cruz rum in weak men’s brains made
the defeat. There is nothing to hope
for with such legislators—and they
seem to be fastened upon the conn
try forevermore. The erop never
fails. A legislator’s position is a
very grave and responsible one. He
holds the relation of guardian to all
minors and dependent classes. The
position of guardian is one which
men hold in highest respect, but a
guardian who betrays his truat is of
all men the most heavily censured;
and the verdict i« a just one.
In Washington City a Congress
man is paid nearly sl4 per day.
Rain or shine, cold or hot, work or
no work his pay is certain. In addi
tion to thi« he gets mileage and sl2
of stationery. His advantages in
the way of attentions, favors and
railroad passes are unnumbered.
The Congressional Hotel is clgse
by, and a stream of men was con
tinually pouring out and pouring in
ten years ago to get drinks at its bar.
It seems that the bar is still in full
blast. How many men date their
ruin to that hotel eternity alone can
tell 1 Surely, surely tliara is a fasci
nation about wiae in the cup that is
■xtaiiic—and an allure.^ uomulo3 l
ble only to the. charm " 1 *
o ver bird* ’, . ,
j llo a- think of wha , „ t., Ts
congressmen to reach their present
positions 1 I have pften watched
the House of Representatives when
the saata were full, and wondered if
there was a place on earth in which
was concentrated so much of eager
anxiety—never-ceasing desire and
uneasy restlessness. It is a place
where the “outs” are ever fighting
to gat in and where the “ins” are
always in dread of being pushed out.
How strange that men who h ive
risked so much—endured so much
and spent so much—should sink it
all in a carouse over a bottle of
Santa Cruz rum! Besotted and
maudlin they must have beG~.me
when they forgot decency and pro
priety and “sauntered in, whistling
in chorus the sejng of Little Annie
Rooney.”
We have heard so much of Nero’s
fiddling while Rome was burning—
but the old heathen was a patriot
compared to those recreant Congress
men who added insult to injury to
the long- suffering South.
But they will retire to private life
after this term closes. The country
cannot endure them longer than the
expiration of this Congress. The
“outs” now have “nuts” to crack,
and they will crack those addle-pated
members with a vim, Who will sing
another tune than “Little Annie
Rooney” before the next election.
The general disguit that prevails
will certainly be fatal to these Santa
Cruz rum drunkards—and there is
nothing left to them except to turn
lobbyists or hang about Washington
to pick up crumbe.
But, Oh ! the pity of it 1
In view of the dangers to legisla
tioM would it not be wise to forbid
any drunken man from voting on
public questions?
We are afraid of drunken doctors
—drunken engineers snd drunken
carriage drivers. Certainly such
drunkards as these Santa Cruz rum
sots, are equally unsafe in leading the
country. I confess I am afraid of
drunken men, because they are tem
porarily insane, and therefore unsafe
in leadership anywhere.
Many years ago, there was a young
democratic congressman elected from
i a Weetern State. His seat was con-
tested, and he was sorely needing
money to carry on the contest. His
faithful wife seld her plantation to
raise the needed amount and he car
ried it ob, and waited the result. In
the meantime the congressional hotel
bar caught him as the spider catches
a fly.
He gained his place, and settled
down as a feted, flattered congress
man. In a year or two his young
wife and little child went on to share
his hotel life and enjoy his company.
But the bar at the congressional
hotel proved too much for his safety
or their happiness.
One night, when all was quiet, I
chanced to go out in the corridor,
and found the young wife sobbing
like her heart would break. Her
lord and master had been brought in
drunk and violent. She attempted
to put him to bed—when he kicked
and cursed her. She was too wretched
to refuse the sympathy of friendship
and often and often did she pour
out a flood of regrets that her hopes
and happiness had all vanished at the
bar of this Congressional hotel, near
the capitol building.
As time wore on—Santa Cruz rum
and all other drinks got in ther work
on the poor, misguided man—until
disease assailed him and put him on
a bed of suffering. The “outs” n ised
a racket, and defeated him. As a
result he became despondent, and
very ill—and also very abusive to his
long-suffering wife.
When Congress expired, he had
barely enough money to buy their
railroad tickets to the West, and a
few weeks close his earthly career—
bankrupt and penniless.
The political shore is strewn with
such wrecks —the land is filled with
widowhood and orphanage the
courts are filled with criminals—the
jails are filled with prisoners—made
by liquor selling and liqor drinking
—yet the law makers are blind—or
they refuse to see—they are deaf—or
they refuse to heed. Alas! Alas!
How long, Oh ! Lord, how long ! I
Railroad and Land.
BY J. H. PECK.
There is more in the railroad and
Land plank in the St. Louis platform,
than a great many are aware. These
are monopolies of the worst type.
Theyare the carriers of commerce,and
therefore have the power to kill any
business. They can by excessive
freight rates drive any class of pro
ducers -to the wall. This excessive
charge affects the producer more
than any one. It does not affect the
speculator in the least. Let me illus
trate this. We will take cotton for
instance. We will suppose the cot
ton manufacturer at Lowell, Mass.,
will give ten cents per pound. Now
under present circumstances no one
can sell direct to the manufacturer,
and if we could it would not change
one iota. If we had
, ' . cuiitjoq we get ten
he more it costs us
we realize for
*oad charges
' five cents p CA 3TTI we
■ make to get it to the manufacturer,
‘ and if we sell to our local buyers, as
: must of us do, and he must have a
1 profit of one cent per pound he could
only give us four cents ; but if freight
was one cent a pound he could
give us eight cents. Now any
one can see that this affects the farmer
and no one else.
For the be; e3t of those who may
think there is nothing in this will I
quote a part of the report of the
Pacific Rail Road
says:
“They have discriminated between
betwee® individuals, between locali
ties and between articles ; they have
destroyed possible competitors and
thus build up particular localities to
the injury of other localities until
matters have reached such a pass
that no man dares engage in any bus
iness without first consulting the rail
road. They have departed from
1 their legitimate sphere. *****
They have participated in elections.”
They always charge all the tariff
will bear. Five railroad men meet
and agree to vaiee the freight on
1 wheat five cents per bushel, and
thereby make over and above their
already large profits, seventy-five
' million dollars.
The railroads clear annually about
• four hundred and fifty million dollars.
1 To show their profits I will quote
• from the fourth annual convention of
1 Rail Road Commissioners held April
1 1882, this shows that railways in 14
years prior to 1880 saved ia excess of
six psr cent, annually on capital in
vested $1,592,280,277. All of this
cornea out of the producers.
' The question naturally arises, is
1 there no way to remedy the evils.
As to the remedy of these evils
5 opinions differ. One class claims
1 that this discrimination can be stop
i ped by governerment ownership.
1 We have tried control, National and
" State and it has been a momentous
E failure, and always will be, because
■ no law can be framed but that it can
J be evaded, and as long as railroads
. object to commissions so long will
> they fail to control them. Beside
i: the courts have decided that a
■ f board cannot fix rates absolute, but
that the may by injunction set
it aside until a hearing is obtained in
the courts and if courts deside the
rates too low they say it is taking
private property without just compen
sation, and therefore inconstitutional.
The rule upon which courts pro
ceed ia such eases is this: That the
rate must pay first the interest on
the railroad debts ; second, all its
operating expenses; third, a fair div
idend on its capital stock as or fixed
investment ; fourth, the general out
lay as shown by the books of the
company, and no cne is allowed to
question the books of the company.
With this discussion it is useless to
longer think of Government control.
New let us look at Government
ownership of railroads. Their cost
according to the best authority ex
clusive of matured stock is about
four billion of dollars, and their an
nual net profit is $450,000,000. Thus
there would be saved to the govern
ment attorney’s fees, advertising and
a number of other items which would
greatly increase the net profits of the
roads, hence they would soon pay
for themselves. There is just so
much reason that the government
should owb the roads, as the postal
system. The same individual rights
are violated in case that there is no
ownership. The objection that it is
interfereiag with private rights is
met by the fact that by their discrim
ination they interfere with private
rights and private pursuits. It is also
objected that if the Government
owned the roads and freight was lost
we could not recover damages be
cause we could not sue the govern
ment. That is of little weight to the
farmer, as they seldom have any
thing shipped. As to officers, under
government ownership, influencing
elections it could not possibly be
worse than the way railroads control
elections, and lobby Congress and
Legislatures, but if under ownership
the officers would be appointed for
life or during good behavior and re
move the temptation for party suc
cess.
If the government owned the
roads we would have a uniform and
cheaper rates. There is not a single
objection to ownership, that cannot
be ugued against ownership of the
postal system.
The roads already belong to the
people, for they have paid for them
in extortionate freight.
European Nations own the
railroads of their country and give
better accommodations, and cheaper
fare, and put money in the treasury.
Let the people understand all these
things and all will be well.
Will They Answer!
Among the questions that will be
asked the aspirants to congressional
honors may be enumerated the fol
lowing : How many tramps are
therein the United States? What
made so many tramps ? How ‘many
homes are ..there mortgaged in
the United States? Who owns the”
mortgages ? How milch is the aver
ner cent, per annum on them?
OMS'oWx. •er"* - y '
xioui pay pen annum and
owners of their homes? H a
have agriculturists
annum during the last forty year?.
What does the accumulation consist
of ? Who controls the volume of
money in the United States? How
did the power come to be located
there ? Do those who control the
money dictate the laws? Why are
wages low ? What will increase
wages ? Why do the Democratic
and Republican parties place the
head or tail of their tickets in New
York? Will New York and New
England ewer consent to legislation
that will take their usurious grip off
the people of the south and west?
■ What’s the remedy ? What are you
going to ds about these things if
elected ? Can we ever get relief
while New England is in the saddle?
What constitutional or other objec
tions do you have to the sub-treas
ury plan ? Have we enough money
in circulation ? What’s your plan of
putting sufficient money into the
hands of the people ?
Seme Ceid Facts.
National Watchman.
Mr, Frick, of Homestead noto
riety, is and has been for years, the
inveterate foe of organized labor.
His main object in life, as avowed
by himself, is to destroy all labor
organizations. Unless the best of
indications are wrong, he has pre
cipitated strikes among his own
workmen in order to profit by their
misery. He was the cause of the
Connellville strike of one year ago,
when so many lives were sacrificed
and so much property destroyed. He
was the originator of the scheme for
importing these half-civilized, half
starved Hungarians to take the
places of American workmen. He
is a hard-hearted, unconscionable,
money-grasping plutocrat, Who has
made ,his fortune by serving those
above him. There is not a single
drop of the milk of human kindness
in his entire being. He considers a
laboring man as a mere machine,
without feeling, self-respect, or per
sonal rights. Such is Mr. Frick, dead
or alive.