THE FARMERS' ALLIANCE: LINCOLN, NEB., SATURDAY, APRIL 2G, 1890.
THE ALLIANCE.
PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY MORNING.
BY THE
ALLIANCE PUBLISHING CO.
Lincoln, - - - NeDi aska.
J. BURROWS, : : : Editor.
J. M. THOMPSON, Business Manager.
" In the beauty f the lillies
Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in his bosom
That transfigures you and me.
As He strove to make men holy
Let us strive to make men free,
Since God is marching on."
Julia Ward Howe.
Laurel crowns cleave to deserts,
And power to him who power exerts."
" A ruddy drop of manly blood
The surging sea outweighs."
Emerson.
" He who cannot reason is a fool,
He who will not reason is a coward,
He who dare not reason is a slave."
EDITORIAL.
The State Senate A Note of Alarm.
The railroad power of Nebraska is
organizing to capture the State Senate.
There will be no organized fight made
to secure the lower house. It is already
conceded that the farmers will have a
working majority of that body. But it
is not so with the Senate. If the rail
road influence can secure seventeen
members it can control the Senate, and
block any legislation in favor of the
people. To do this it may not be nec
essary for this power to elect seventeen
senators. If it can elect nearly that
number and at the same time secure
the election of a few of the non-committal
sort of men, who are so straight
up that they are in danger of going over
backward Avhose sense of dignit' will
not allow of their making pledges who
think if they cannot be trusted Avithout
pledges they could not be trusted with
them if a few of this kind of men can
be elected the railroad people will have
o difficulty in securing a majority of
the Senate. Tke non-committal men
are the dangerous men they are the
men who are for sale.
We want every farmer in this state to
see by what a narrow thread hangs their
hopes of success next fall. Without a
fair working majority in the Senate
there can be no new legislation. With
three members of the Board of Trans
portation on the side of the roads no
lower freight rates need be looked for.
"Without the Senate this same state
board could not be removed; and it
may become a serious block in the way
of lower local rates.
The wires are already being laid in
the senatorial districts to secure railroad
:Senators. We warn our people to
watch out. Beware of these sleek con
servative men who have no very de
cided opinions, and who are so dread
fully anxious that justice should be done
to the poor railrords. These fellows
are greatly concerned lest capital should
-be driven out of the state, and railroad
building be discontinued in the west.
Don't ha e the least anxiety on that score
hut just watch these sleek non-com-anittal,
sanctimonious devils who sneak
in between two leaves of the bible with
out touching either, and who will turn
Judas as soon as they get to Lincoln
xind come across an oil-room Johnny.
We are reasonably sure of the house;
but it will do us no good without the
Senate. Select men who have made
records on the side of the people. If
there are none of that sort, then select
men whom you know to be honest and
who will swear with uplifted hands,
"without cavil or quibble or hesitation,
that they will be faithful and true to the
interests of the people.
Watch and probe and. prove every
man of every party who aspires to be
Senator.
free
Sugar.
The ways and means
committee de
cided to report in favor of putting sugar
on the free list, and in favor of a boun
ty of 2c per lb on domestic sugar. If
sugar is to be protected of course this is
the sensible business way of doing it.
But it does not suit the capitalists who
esire to invest in the sugar industry.
One of these men says that the removal
of the tariff will allow a flood of cheap
ugar to come in from Germany and
elsewhere ' and swamp us." Well,
that's a pretty good argument for tak
ing it off. How nice it would seem to
have cheap sugar as well as cheap corn.
He also says "there is no stability in the
bounty scheme." Right again! The
American people will not long consent
to pay a bonus of $40 per ton on domes
tic sugar. He also threatens to stop
operations at Grand Island if the sugar
schedule is adopted. This is a common
bluff of capitalists. Our John M.
Thurston made the same bluff a short
time ago; and so dicT President Perkins
and George W. Holdrege, and that's all
it amounts to.
Qne.G. H. Mendal Again.
We learn from the Bee of the 21st
that a set of resolutions which it had
previously published as coming from
itn Alliance in Cherry county turn out
to be fraudulent. We received this
fcarue set of resolutions, or some quite
similar, purporting to come from an
Alliance in Nuckolls county, accompa
tilwl by a request from Geo. H. Mendal
ht we publish them. Not being so
Hl matured as the Bee, we put them
? I h? w&te-basket. Shortly afterward
tyttHJe Mr, Merxdal's interview in the B.
$ M- Journal, and information that he
jh.4 $xtn f years connected with that
iIvm mnwy sheet.
'jFe pays that "wolves in sheep's
ilUi.v we grttUtft in their work, in
whlah it u &mwnty correct. It might
bl .waiV fox Ike WQWr authorities in
itf'SocWrVry tfiiOfA into this matter.
Bosh
The farmer is on the wrong scent in
hunting aftcrmore currency. He should
hunt down the money sharks. No mat
ter how much the volume of currency
is increased, the farmer will not be aide
to borrow a dollar of it cheaper than he
does now. His true remedy is to enact
laws that will make usury a misdemean
or or felony, and will cause the forfeit
ure of the principal as well as the inter
est when the money lender exacts more
than the legal rate, either in the shape
of interests or commission.
If the Farmers' Alliance desires to
accomplish anything it should confine
its efforts to measures of relief that are
within their reach. They cannot hope
to readjust the finances of the nation.
They can accomplish something by cen
tering their influence upon the state
legislature. Omaha Bee.
The above is the kind of bosh the Bee
is regaling its readers with since it be
came the champion of the money pow
er. Let is us look at it a little. The
Bee says if money is more plentiful the
farmer will not be able to borrow
cheaper. The Bee will not deny what
all financial authorities assert to be
true, viz: that abundance of money
makes higher prices. Now with inter
est at 10 per cent and corn 20 cents per
bushel, it takes 500 bushels of corn to
pay the interest on $1,000. With corn
at 40 cents it would take only 250 bush
els. Are these figures correct, Mr. Bee?
A more stringent usury law may be
a good thing. But it isn't a question
now of being able to pay more than the
legal rate. The legal rate is breaking
our backs, let alone an illegal one.
There is no legitimate business going
in this country to-day which is good as
loaning money at seven per cent.
The Bee says the farmers cannot ad
just the finances of the nation; and so
should confine its influence to state legis
latures. We will say to the Bee that
the legislature has very little to do with
financial matters. Our national finances
are regulated by Congress the volume
of our money is fixed by Congress in
terest is regulated by the volume of
money and the method and terms of its
issue. If, in the light of events of the
past two months, the Bee says the farm
ers "cannot hope to adjust the finances
of the nation," it doesn't know what it
is talking about. Why, even banker
George W. Dorsey is hurrying up to
supply the farmers with more money.
Jump aboard, Mr. Bee, or you'll get
badly left.
"Strikes Everywhere."
"Strikes seem to be in the air," say
the eastern dispatches. "A spirit
of universal discontentent is abroad,"
says one of the Omaha dailies. In
Chicago the cigar makers led the
movement of a few weeks ago. Then
came the plumbers and the carpenters
and clock-makers. Now the gas-makers
are going out, and the employes of
the stock yards are uneasy. In Eng
land the Manchester tailors strike for
shorter hours and longer wages. In
London monster labor meetings are the
order of the day. In Vienna six thous
and carpenters are on a strike for
shorter hours and better pay. Phila
delphia street-cleaners are rioting, and
in Pittsbiug ten thousand railroaders
threaten to quit work unless wages are
advanced. In Chicago the choir boys
of one of the Episcopal churches have
struck.
What does this all mean? Are the
local rates on corn too high in London?
Is the tariff squeezing those Pittsburg
fellows? Can't the stock-yards men
meet the interest on their mortgages?
There seems to be some unhappiness
somewhere everywhere among the
wage-earners. Strange, isn't it, con
sidering that a dollar will buy more
food than at any time in the past twen
ty years. It seems, in fact, that the
more the dollar will buy the more
trouble there is about getting the dol
lar. Because it is the getting of the
dollar that is making all the trouble
among these workers. The banker's
theory is, that the more value you
crowd into the dollar the greater the
yalue you give for a day's work. But
it don't seem to work in practice. The
more the purchasing power of the dol
lar is increased the more distress there
is among the dollar-earners. Paradox
ical, isn't it?
Perhaps the explanation may be found
in the fact that as the purchasing power
of the dollar is increased the purchasing
power of the products of labor is dimin
ished. At all events, one thing is cer
tain, the labor question is the money
question. Each embraces the other.
There is only one thing that is absolute
ly common to all the varied workers and
strikers we find named in the dispatches
and that is the need of money.
A Very Small Affair.
'iThe representative conference of
anti-monopoly republicans took the
wind out of the fourth party's sails, and
the platform of the forthcoming republi-
euu Mate convention will enectuaiiy de
moralize the little that remains of the
VanWyck squall."
The above is the concluding sentence
of an editorial in the Omaha Republican.
The last clause is the leader. What
ever may be meant by "the VanWyck
squall," it is evident that the republican
leaders depend on satisfying the dej
mauds of the people with wind. We
will say to these gentlemen that bun
combe resolutions will not do this year,
and that the issue is broader than one of
mere local freight rates.
Henry George in Australia.
The Chicago Herald says: Henry
George is making a great impression in
Australia. A grand banquet was given
the other day at Sydney in his honor.
His lectures on the land question draw
immense and enthusiastic audiences.
Perhaps the land of new ballot systems,
black swans and duck-billed platypuses
will be the first to give Mr. George's
tenets a trial. Meanwhile the great
single tax disciple will not suffer any.
A California woman has just left him
$10,000, and not long ago he was the re
cipient of another bequest of a large
amount. Whether Mr. George's argu
ments are all true or all false, or are a
dangerous mixture of truth and false
hood, one thing is certain, he writes
good English.
SENATOR VOORHEES.
Extracts From his Recent Speech Elo
quent Talk.
We give below an extract trom a late
speech of Senator D. W. Voorhees in
the U. S. senate. His portrayal of the
present condition of affairs is quite as
vigorous and accurate as his descrip
tion of the remedies. It is very ob
servable that all the honest, outspoken
men of the country, of whatever party,
are taking the same view of the present
situation:
The relations of the laboring classes
to the feudal barons of Europe during
the Middle Ages were exactly the same
in principle as those now existing be
tween the laboring classes of the United
States and the favored few, for whom
they are hewers of wood and drawers of
water.
Cedric, the Saxon, had no surer hold
on the services of Gurth, the swineherd,
than the lords of the money power have
at this time on the hard earnings of
American industry. Are we to be blind
to the lessons of history? There is al
ways a point in the oppression and en
slavement of labor where safety ceases
and danger begins.
REMEDIES PROPOSED.
First. "Tariff reform should be so
thorough, complete and unsparing that,
after providing sufficient revenue for
the government, not one dollar would
be further required of the farmer as
protection to high priced goods, wares
and merchandise, because of their be
ing manufactured and sold by Ameri
can monopolists.
Second. A full supply of legal ten
der money in the hands of the people,
proportioned in amount to the popula
tion and business of the- country, is as
essential to the prosperity of the farm
ers as a sufficient quantity of blood is to
human life. It is nowhere denied that
there is at this time a meager and stint
ed volume of currency in circulation
amongst the producing and business
classes. This fact is owing largely to
the absorption of money by the monop
olies at the money centers, and to a
great extent also to the growth of pop
ulation and the expansion of business
without any corresponding increase in
the amount of our circulating medium.
The figures of the census and the sta
tistics of finance show that wiiile our
population has increased 25,000,000 in
the last twenty-five years, and the re
quirements of business for the use of
money have increased in the same pro
portion, yet there is in fact less money
in actual circulation in the hands of the
people or attainable by them for daily
use than there was a quarter of a cen
tury ago. It is the constitutional power
and the constitutional duty of the gov
ernment to authorize and enact by its
stamp, on either gold, silver, or paper,
a sufficient amount of money, full legal
tender in quality, to meet the sound
and healthy demands of the people in
their trade, their commerce, and their
development of the physical resources
of the country.
Thus the supreme court of the United
States has decided, and thus, in spite of
those interested in the scarcitv of mon
ey, in low-priced property, and in cheap
labor, the law stands settled. With the
power in congress to declare what shall
be money and how much shall be is
sued, what necessity can there be for
the farmer to offer his lands to the gov
ernment as security for a small loan in
his distress? He has a higher right than
this to a much ampler and more endur
ing relief. I fully agree with the sena
tor from California (Mr. Stanford), in
his statement that "an abundance of
money means universal activity, bring
ing in its train all the blessings that be
long to a constantly employed, indus
trious, and intelligent people."
I do not, however, agree with him
that the land-owners of the United
States, the sovereign people who own
and support the government, should be
left to become borrowers at the door of
the treasury on their mortgaged homes
at one-half or one-quarter of their as
sessed value, or at any other appraise
ment. I do not agree with him that
such a system would in the long run
bring any relief at all. The owners of
the soil stand on higher, safer, and
more dignified ground. The constitu
tion of the United States confers the
power on congress to create and issue
all the money needed for the relief of
the people; and for the value, the in
tegrity, the good faith, and the final re
demption of this money all the lands
between the two oceans, all the homes
on the farms or in the cities, all the
wealth of monopoly and of corpora
tions, all the credit, resources, and hon
or of the government itself stand
pledged, and will stand pledged for
ever. Let congress, on such a pledge, such
a mortgage, furnish to the laboring
masses and the active business interests
of the country an amount of currency
in porportion to population and trade,
and everv active industry will be stim
ulated, prices for agricultural produce
will become remunerative, mortgages
will be paid off, old debts will be wiped
out, wages will increase to a fair ex
change for work in the shops and in the
coal mines, the wrinkled visage of hard
times will be smoothed, and homes now
dark with gloom and distress, will
smile with peace and plenty. The
largest amount of legal tender notes
(greenbacks) known in our financial
history since the war was $432,757,604;
and that at a time when our population
was 25,000,000 less than it is now.
The present amount of the greenback
circulation is $346,081,010, being a con
traction of the currency, for an enor
mously increased population, of $86,
076,588. Had I the power, I would as a
measure of justice, wise policy, and
permanent relief to every worthy and
industrious class of citizens, restore the
greenback circulation to the highest
point it ever reached in time of peace,
and there maintain it. Let the $86,076,
588 be reissued, with debt-paying pow
er, and the humiliating idea of mort
gaging homesteads for small loans will
disappear forever. No speculative dis
turbance in values would follow such
an increase of our circulation,' for it
would even then be too small in its ra
tio to a population of 60,000,000 and to
the giant developments yet to take
place in this Union of forty-two states.
Third. The free coinage of silver al
so presents itself as a measure of relief
to the American farmer, and to the la
borer for daily wages. Argument
against the use of silver money to the
full extent of all cur silver resources is
never heard in th channels of trade
nor in the fields of active industry. Its
enemies are not to be found in the
ranks of labor, but in the sumptuous
council chambers of the arrogant plu
tocracy, where the chief aim and end
of government is to increase the power
of money over lands . and houses, and
over men and women, by making it
scarce and" hard to obtain by the plain,
unprotected people.
Those who affect an alarm at silver
inflation are mostly those who are bent
on the contraction of all kinds of cur
rency in order to increase the purchas
ing power of the money which monop
oly ana privilege nave aireaay given
them. The financial credit of no na
tion in the world stands higher than
that of France, and the circulation of
silver amongst the French people is
$14.67 per capita, while it is but $2.72
per capita with us. With more silver
products than all the world besides, the
people of the United States are demand
ing fair play for silver money and the
assistance and stimulus of its unlimited
coinage and circulation. With all the
discrimination that has been made
against it, with all the sneers and ca
lumnies that have been heaped upon it,
gold can buy no more in the markets
than silver, and can carry its aristo
cratic head no higher than the dollar of
the fathers. The adoption of the free
coinage of silver will make an era of
prosperity to the American farmer and
to all the industrial classes.
Fourth. Another measure of relief
for the embarrassment and depression
of. agricultural interests and the dis
turbance of their markets should be the
prompt enactment of laws, either by
congress or by the states, or by both,
punishing with state's prison imprison
ment those who speculate on the great
food products of the world and gamble
on their future prices, without having
owned a bushel of corn or wheat, or a
pound of beef or pork or any other
commodity which they assume to buy
and sell. This is an interference with
the honest, legitimate trade of the farm
er which should be made a felony, and
punished as such.
Fifth. To the foregoing propositions
in the interest of the farmer I would
add a liberal policy of pensions and a
full and generous recognition of those
who served their country in the hour of
its peril. Money paid in pensions to the
soldier is not only a benefit and a bless
ing to him and those who are dear to
him, but also to the produce dealer, the
merchant, and to all within range of its
circulation. But for the large sums
which for years have been disbursed
by the pension office and thus reached
nearly every neighborhood in the Uni
ted States and gone into general circu
lation the present financial crisis among
the farmers and laborers would have
come at an earlier day. As a beneficial
measure, therefore to all as well as a
dutv of the most sacred character, the
soldier should be paid by his govern
ment as one who was willing to die for
his government. On that lofty basis
his equities are without limit, and jus
tice should at all times stand read to
enforce them.
ALL FOR THE FARMER.
Corn, Wheat, Eggs, Raw Silk and Peat
Under Higher Duties for His sake.
The New York Tribune, by way of con
vincing the farmer that the republican
party benevolently holds him in the hol
low' of its hand, publishes a list showing
the comparative rates of duty on agri
cultural products by the present tariff,
the Mills bill and the McKinley bill. Here
are some of the most striking facts of
the case, showing the increase of duty
as compared with the present tariff:
Barley, 20 cents a bushel; buckwheat,
5 cents a bushel; corn, 5 cents a bushel:
oats, 5 cents a bushel; wheat, 5 cents a
bushel; butter, 2 cents a pound; beans,
30 cents a bushel; eggs, 5 cents per dozen ;
peas, changed from 20 per cent to 40
cents a bushel; potatoes, 10 cents a bush
el; vegetables in natural state, 15 per
cent; straw $2 per ton; apples, 2o cents
per bushel; plums, 1 cent per pound ;hgs,
unchanged; raisins, cent a pound; ba
con and ham, 3 cents per pound; beef,
mutton and pork, 1 cent a pound; wool,
unwashed, 1 cent a pound; wool, third
class, not exceeding 12 cents a pound
in value, 1 cent a pound; wool, third
class, exceeding 12 cents a pound in
value, cent a pound; raw silk, $1 a
pound; peat, $3 a ton; leaf tobacco,
stemmed, $1.75 cents a pound; unstem-
mend $1.25 per pound.
This is a refreshing list. A tariff on
most of these things, especially wheat,
corn, oats and bacon, is ot about as
much use to the farmer as the fifth
wheel to his wagon. It is pleasant to
know that figs are unchanged, since no
farmer will suffer by their admission at
the present duty of two cents a pound
It is to be hoped that every farmer real
izes the advantages conferred upon him
by increased duties on raw silk and
peat.
Saunders County Alliance.
A grand meeting of the Saunders
County Alliance was held at Wahoo on
Saturday the 19th inst. Mr. Voldo ad
dressed the meeting. His addresses are
original, sharp and incisive, and are at
tracting much attention.
Secretary Rand reports twenty-eight
Subordinate Alliances in Saunders
county, with a membership of fifteen
hundred. The total vote of Saunders
county in 1888 was 4,379. It looks as
though the Alliance in that county
might turn matters about to its liking,
if it keeps reasonably solid.
. Strange Bedfellows.
The Omaha Bee and the B. f M. Jour
nal come together in their fight for the
money power, and against the farmers
The latter quotes from a correspondent
of the former some abuse of the men
who have dared tell the truth about the
indebtedness of Nebraska. Neither of
them (fuote the official report of the
farm mortgages of Saline county, that
we have noticed.
The Memorial Again.
The Omaha Republican publishes a
column rigmarole about the Alliance
Memorial, and some figures about farm
mortgages obtained by Mr. Jenkins in
Sarpy county. Mr. Jenkins has memo
rial on the brain, when his brain is in
condition to receive any impressions.
Why don't the Republican publish the
official figures from Saline count v?
The Moral and Political Decadence of
American Institutions.
Under the .early presidents, appoint
ments to office were made in the true
spirit of the Constitution. A certain
service was to be performed in the in
terest of the public, and a man possess
ing the requisite capacity and tried
character w as looked for to perform it.
Appointment as a reward of partisan
service, and removal as a punishment
for difference of political opinion, were
unknoAvn. In the first division of par
ties, the strength was with the Feder
alist, and George Washington, their
candidate, Avas eleAated to the presiden
tial chair. But George Washington Avas
first of all a patriot, and only in the
second place a Federalist; and his
earliest executive act was to appoint to
the leading place in his cabinet his most
conspicuous political opponent, since
knoAvn as the father of American De
mocracy, Thomas Jefferson; while
Alexander Hamilton, the champion of
the party which had just triumphed in
his own election, was assigned to a lower
seat at the same council board. And in
this large and liberal and magnanimous
spirit were made all the appointments
to office during the administration
of that great man. If under his earlier
successors the same noble magnanimity
Avas not the invariable rule, there was
at least no large departure from it for
more than thirty years. There came a
time at length, hoAvever, AA'henthe chair
of state AA'as filled by a man who chose
to make himseli the chief of a party and
not of the country, or, rather, in whose
view no country existed except the
party supporting him. Under the iron
rule inaugurated by this energetic chief,
every incumbent of a federal office, no
matter how insignificant, Avho Avas pre
sumed not to have been favorable to
the reA'olution which brought the neAV
dynasty into poAAer, wras unceremon
iously ejected from the public service;
and in filling the multitude of places
thus vacated, the qualifications demand
ed Avere no longer honesty, competency
and fidelity to the Constitution, but, in
stead of these, activity and zeal in the
service of the party and devotion to the
party chief.
rroni that time to the present, the
character of the civil service of the
country has been steadily falling lower
and loAver. Among the serA'ants of the
public, the public interest is the last
thing thought of. Rather, on the other
hand, the public treasure is regarded
by those into Avhose hands it has fallen
not otherAvise than as the merchandise
of a rich caraAan is regarded by the
Bedouins of the" desert a legitimate
booty, to be seized Avith favoring oppor
tunity and divided among the members
of the successful band. Not eAen in the
beginning Avas any attempt made to
conceal the mercenary character of the
new system. It Avas eAen defended as a
just system in the highest legislative
council of the nation, by a very promin
ent leader of the party Avhich first prof
ited by it, whose pithy enunciation of its
fundamental principle will never pass
from the memory of man "To the
A ictors belong the spoils." But it is no
longer the system of a particular party.
It has become the recognized system of
all parties, until the continually-recurring
political struggles by which the
country is agitated have ceased to be
contests OA'er great questions of consti
tutional law or governmental policy,
but have degenerated into discreditable
squabbles to determine Avhich of two
bodies of political cormorants, both
equally unAvorthy, shall be permitted to
prey upon the public. Under its opera
tion the very character of our govern
ment has been changed.
This violation of the spirit of the Con
stitution is prostituting the poAver of
appointment to be an instrument of re
Avard and punishment, originated, as
Ave haA e seen, in the Avill of a single
man, strong enough in an abnormal
popularity to force his OAvn measures
upon the country in spite of a hostile
legislature, and to convert the govern
ment for a time into a practical des
potism. He A'as accustomed indeed to
speak of the government as "my gov
ernment," and of himself as one "born
to command;" and had he been asked to
define the stale, Avould, probably, like
Louis XIV., have answered, Uetat e'est
moi. But his imperial mantle fell upon
a successor fashioned in a far inferior
mold and infinitely less daring in tem
per, Avho, though not suited to the bold
role of an avoAA'ed dictator, was possess
ed of an astuteness Avhich amply com
pensated for this defect. It Avas his boast
to tread in the footsteps of his illustrions
predecessor, and in some respects he
certainly improved upon the example
his predecessor had set him. To him is
believed to haAre been due an important
discovery, if not in the science of politi
cal economy, at least in the economy of
scientific politics that the poAver of
goA-ernmental patronage may be in
definitely increased by the ingenious
expedient of employing middle men in
its dispensation. The middle man, Avho
must be a man AArorth buying, is bought
by the privilege of bestOAving the bene
faction; the final recipient is bought by
benefaction itself. The men most Avorth
buying by this participation in the pow
er of appointment are naturally to be
found, and they are found, among the
members of the legislatiA-e body; and by
firmly attaching a sufficient number of
these, in interest as Avell as in sympathy,
to the recognized head of the party in
power, there AA'as secured to the execu
tive the incalculable advantage of a
never-failing and indiscriminate support
in that body of all his measures. The
system thus introduced speedily and
effectually took root and has since be
come the established system of Ameri
can politics. N o matter Avhat party is
in power it is ahvays practiced. But it
has Avrought in the experience of years
a consequence which the inventor cer
tainly neAer anticipated; for the privi
lege which themiddle men at first re-
ceiv ea Avitn uianktuiness they noAv in
virtue or a long undisturbed possession
boldly demand as a light. The spoils of
victory are claimed as the common
property of the victorious band; the
right of the chief to control its distribu
tion is set at defiance; and thus the ex-
ecutive, with which the system origin
ated, has been shorn by it of the power
to name its own subordinates and the
goA-ernment of the Constitution has
practically ceased to exist.
In its place has groAvn up something
which admits ot no classification among
systems of government ancient or mod
ern. Republican in form, as nominally
representatiA e, it is yet not a republic;
tor its representatiAes, though chosen
by the people, are not the people's
choice. Democratic in methods as
seemingly resting on universal suffrage
ii is yei not a democracy; tor the peri-
ouicai appeal ro me popular AOice is a
ceremony as empty and unreal as a
plebiscite under the second empire
Though the goAernment of a class it is
not an aristocracy; for it is largely com
poseu oi elements least or all deserving
of respect. And though the government
of a feAv it is not an oligarchy de jure
though it is such de facto; it exists by no
recognized right and its existence is not
even confessed. The imperfection of
language has necessitated the inA ention
of a neAV form of Avords to describe it;
and this has been supplied by those
most familiar Avith its Avorkings in the
felicitous expression, "machine goA'ern
ment." No phrase could have been bet
ter chosen. A machine is a contriAance
in AA'hich numerous separate elements
are combined for the effective applica
tion of force to a determinate object.
Such is the political machine. It is
composed of a class of men Avho make
politics a profession and Avhose ruling
aim in life is to make their profession
profitable. In order to do this it is nec
essary to secure tk? possession of all
places of trust and emolument under the
gOA'ernment to their oavii class. And in
order to this again, it is - further neces
sary that the people shall be deprived of
the option to choose other men. The
effectiveness of the machine is most
strikingly illustrated in the thorough
ness with which this object is accom
plished. So long as forms of popular
election are maintained party divisions
among tne people are of course inevit
able. And it is as true of parties as of
armies that without organization, unity
of purpose and concert of action there
can be no success. To control the party
organization is therefore the aim of the
professed politician, and experience has
shown that this is comparatively easy.
The process is a curious combination of
fraud and force.
The first step in it is what is known as
"engineering the primaries." The pri
maries are in theory assemblies of the
soAcrcign people. Their province is to
select delegates to a representative con
vention, having for its function to set
forth publicly the principles for Avhich
the party ostensibly contends and to
name its standard-bearers. The prima
ries are easily engineered. Their busi
ness is carefully prepared for them in
advance, even to the designation of their
OAvn officers. At the appointed hour,
the captains of tens and the captains of
fifties are prompt in attendance;ca ma
chince politician is called to the chair
by a vote Avithout a count; a machine
politician proposes the nominees; the
nominations are declared to be adopted;
and the engineering of the primary is
complete. The management of the con-
A'ention is almost equally simple. Being
made up of machine politicians it Knows
very well what it has to do and it does
it. The really important part of its
Avork has been prepared for it in antici
pation of its meeting by a process con
ducted in secret, knoAvn among machine
politicians as "making up a slate." In
general, the slate, after the obsen-ance
of certain decorous formalities is duly
ratified; but occasionally as there Avill
now and then be factions within tac
tions the slate may be broken and a
neAV one produced a result, however,
of no importance to the country, since
it is perfectly understood that the Avin
ning party in any case shall have the
use ot the machine, ihe portion or
the Avork of the con'ention which is
designated for popular effect, is the
declaration of principles, technically
called a "platform." This is a beauti
ful piece of composition, glowing in
every line Avith patriotic and virtuous
sentiment, setting forth with earnest
emphasis a A'ariety of indisputable pro
positions and embellished Avith a choice
selection of those glittering generalities
which sound so Avell and Avhen Ave think
of it, seem to mean so little. These may
be A'aried from time to time according
to circumstances; but there are one or
tAA'o specifications which, as beiug al
Avays in place and particularly Avell
sounding are quite indispensable to any
properly constructed platform, These
are first, a peremptory demand for the
retrenchment of the public expenditure;
and secondly, a proper denunciation of
the ungrateful miscreants who Avould
rob our brave soldiers and sailors of
their merited pensions. The platform
being duly promulgated the Avork of the
conATention is done.
In the meantime the opposing party
has been going through with a perform
ance entirely similar; and the result is
that the simple citizen or the "man out
side of politics" has no - alternatiAe but
to stay outside altogether or to choose
the machine Avith which he Avill run.
There remains of course the expedient
of independent action; but such action
is only labor Avasted, unless it be wisely
concerted, so thoroughly organized and
so energetically prosecuted as to become
poAverful enough to break both ma
chines. It must be attempted, if at all,
under enormous disadvantages. The
adA antage of experience is against it;
it must oppose raw volunteers to dis
ciplined and A'eterau troops. The ad
vantage of position is against it; one of
the parties is already in possession of
the goAernment. The advantage of in
strumentalities is against it; the custom
house, the postollice, the internal reve
nue bureau, the land office, and all the
other ramifications of the civil serA'ice,
are so many engines in the hands of the
enemy. And finally the adA'antage of
access to the public ear is against it; for
the periodical press is largely either
subsidized by existing parties or in
sympathy Avith them.
In certain party exigencies it is some
times found to be a stroke of policy to
eleA ate a man to high position Avho is
not a professional politician. We have
seen such a man made eA en president;
and Ave have seen him in taking office
avow his deep sense of the Avrongful
ness of the existing state of things, and
his determination to effect a radical re
form. The people outside of politics
that is to say, the great mass of the peo
ple looked on Avith delighted satisfac
tion; the more so as the politicians af
fected to catch the gloAv of their chief's
enthusiasm and prepared in their A'ery
next platform a conspicuous plank in
scribed "Civil Service Reform' in large
letters. There AAras nothing surprising
in this. The professional politician al
Avays favors the thing that is good, only
he neA'er does it unless it is good for
himself. On this occasion, after throAv
ing the civil service tub to the great
public whale, he simply let it severely
alone, and it soon drifted out of sight.
The president, disgusted Avith the ill
success of his project, abandoned fur
ther effort and let the machine grind on
as before.
When the corrupt use of the public
patronage for party ends first began to
be practiced, it Avas not regarded as
necessarily involving, in those Avho em
ployed it or in those who Avere benefited
by it, any personal dishonesty or lack
of integrity. Personal morality and
political morality Avere esteemed, to be
two quite different things. But the
practice is intrinsically and essentially
dishonest and no man can participate
in it Avithout shortly losing sight of all
the ordinary distinctions betAveen right
and wrong. The man who sought othce
for the emolument it brought, rather
than, for the honorable functions with
Avhich it clothed him, would hardly hes
itate to use the opportunities and the
poAA ers of office to increase his gains.
And history has painfully demonstrated
that the corruption inAoh'ed in the
original distribution of office is insignif
icant and trivial, contrasted Avith that
infinitely larger corruption Avhich has
groAvn out of the prostitution of office
itself to mercenary ends. It is only by
occasional glimpses that we get sight of
this moral rottenness. Hoav much or it
remains hidden Ave know not, but Avhat
Ave ha'e seen is more than enough to
demonstrate that it infects the public
serA'ice more or less completely in all its
departments, state, municipal and fed
eral and in all grades from the highest
to the loAvest. When the officers ap
pointed to guard the revenue are them
selves discovered in a conspiracy to de
fraud it, and Avhen the conspiracy is
found to spread its ramifications OA'er
half the territory of the union, the state
of the federal civil service .needs no
further comment; and so long as I am
an inhabitant of a city in Avhich a public
debt of one hundred millions of dollars,
contracted in the brief space of five
years, is a monument commemorating
the colossal robberies of its own chosen
rulers, I shall not think it necessary to
seek out any other example of Avhat is
possible in municipal misgovernment.
Nor are our legislatiA'e councils more
exempt from this Avide-spread moral
contamination than our civil sen ice.
Rather, as the high trust committed to
them is capable of larger perversion, as
they hold in their hands the poAver to
grant or refuse privileges, monopolies,
charters, franchises and claims and as
the solicitants for these things are
usually as unscrupulous as they are
eager, and are always ready to buy
Avhere they cannot persuade, the mem
bers of the legislature have been pre
emintly exposed to temptation, and
have been found too often sadly Aveak
of resistance. So notorious indeed has
the fact of legislatiA-e corruption become
that in every calculation upon the prob
able fate of any important measure
pending before such a body, this fact is
one of the elements invariably consider
ed. There is the story told, I know not
how truly, of a well known capitalist
whoso interests Avere liable to be seri
ously affected by the action of a legi.la-
lure just about io no ciuwn. jicaau
SOllCllCll IO tOHllimuu m my -. jh-ji.-mj i
the canvass, and the argument Avas re
inforced bv the suggestion that a suffi
cient sum judiciously npplied might se
cure to him a friendly majority. "Pos
sibly it might," replied the millionaire,
"but in my judgment it Avould be cheaper
to Avait until after the election and then
buy the legislature ready-made."
However this may be.theioiiowing pne-
i . .
nomena are ot uuueniauio occurrence.
Honorable members, though miserably
compensated by the state.in many cases
groAV rapidly rich. Possibly they arc
saving, but if so the saving seems often
to be greater than the income. Second
ly, there invariably clusters about every
legislative body a peculiar class of men
T . ..i.. 'i it.. i :
who so actively concern iiieiuseie m
the proceedings as almost to form a third
house. These are knoAvn as the lobby.
They are chiefly interested in a class of
measures described as "bills which havo
money in them." J. heir principal busi
ness, in the jargon which they use
among themselves, is "to see men."
And the men they are most eager to see
are such as are uuderstood"to be on the
make." There must be something sin
gularly efficacious in their power of
sight, tor the memuer Avnom mo loony
man has once thoroughly seen, is as
money in it is speedily "put through;"
and the lobby man, as he puts the money
into his pocket, remarks that some of it
had already in advance been"put Avhere
it would do the most good." In the
third place, while these important mat
ters are busily transacted, the measures
AA'hich really concern the general avcI
fare are either neglected altogether, or
allowed to accumulate in an unregarded
heap upon the speaker's table, Avhere
thev lie forgotten until the closing hour
of the session, Avhen, in the midst of a
Babel-like confusion, they are either
hastily dispatched Avithout reading, or
else cut off altogether by the fall of the
speaker's hammer, and so finally lost.
And this is the deplorable condition
into Avhich the public affairs of our coun
try haAe fallen. It is not the spectacle
to Avhich the hopeful patriot of the ear
lier years AA'as accustomed to look for
Avard. It is hardly a realization of those
gloAving visions of purity and virtue.and
noble disinterestedness, and unselfish
devotion to public good, and large and
lofty statesmanship, and generous and
fervent patriotism, so often, in rapt im
agination of orator and poet Avelcoming
the annual return of freedom's natal
day, beheld adorning our country's fu
ture annals.
Concluded next Aveek.
At War .With Themselves.
While Mr. McKinley's minority av:is
shilly-shallying over the question of
hides, that amiable economic imbecile,
the NeAV York Press says the Standard
put into type an article from the Bos
ton Boot and Shoe Recorder, designed
to sIioav that the argument in favor of
free hides Avas no argument in favor of
free avooI. As the irony of fate would
lnwe it the Press ran this article into its
"tariff talks" on the very morning Avhen
the announcement Avas made that the
McKinley bill puts hides under a duty
of fifteen per cent. Here are some of
the Boot and Shoe Recorder's arguments
against this feature of the bill:
Commerce can exchange articles pro
duced for other articles, but as long as
a fair value is given in exchange this
can bring no positie increase in the to
tal wealth. Noav if Ave assume that the
tariff, by making an imported article
cost more, will encourage domestic pro
ducers to supply a similar article, Ave
have a Aery simple rule lor testing
whether a tariff on a given article is
protectiAe or not. If there is no ten
dency to development and increase of
the domestic production, then the tariff
is not protective, but becomes simply a
tax on the consumers for the sole pur
pose of rcA enne.
Applying this test to the tariff on
hides, Ave see at once that there is no
possibility of a duty being protective in
the sense or developing production, be
cause Ave cannot imagine a farmer rais
ing cattle for the sake of the hides. A
tariff on meat, if avo were importing
largely, might tend to offer inducements
for raising more cattle, but if all im
portations of hides Ave re prohibited the
fact would not tend to encourage the
raising of a single extra calf. Neither
could a tariff increase the price of do
mestic hides, because the domestic pro
duction is so Aery much larger than the
possible importations that the former
raer Avould govern the price. The an
nual product of domestic hides is esti
mated at 16,000,000 of all kinds, and
the total imports will amount to about
4,500,000 hides.
Furthermore, the latter are for the
most part intirely different in quality
from the domestic hides, and do not com
pete Avith the latter in the markets. But
even if this were not the case an advance
of ten per cent on the cost of one-fifth
could not seriously affect the prices f
the four-fifths. As the production of
hides could not be developed by a duty
therefor, nor the price increased for the
hides that are produced, a tariff must
be a tax for revenue only, Avithout any
ossibility of compensating benefits,
'rotectionists long ago recognized this
principle, and as soon after the Avar as
the revenue could be dispensed Avith,
hides Avere placed on the free list.
While it is undeniable that tariff will
not advance the price of domestic hides,
this is not the belief of Chicago's big
four. It has long been a stock argu
ment Avith them that free hides AA'as one
of the main elements in making cattle
loAV-priced. They believe the duty will
advance the price of domestic hides, and
it is by their influence that the duty Avas
restored.
The Long and Short of It.
The Omaha Bee is laboring hard to
convince the farmers of Nebraska that
there is plenty of money in this country
for all practical purposes. The Bee
may be right, but so long as the farmer
has to hustle twenty acres of corn to
market to get enough lucre to pay the
interest on his mortgage he Avill con
tinue to think the United States is long
on corn and short on cash. Xorfolk
Xeics. .
The American Well Works of Auro
ra. Til.. h.iA-e onened at 1113 Elm street.
Dallas, Texas, a branch house, Avhere
they will keep a stock of supplies and
standard machines to supply the very
large and increasing southern trade.
Omaha Market.
Any member of the Alliance having pro
duce to sell in Omaha can ship to Allen 'Root,
care of Bowman & Williams.
April 19, 1890.
Sugar granulated 67 ?.
Sugar X C 6X 6V4 .
Sugar-Anti-trust 5?i Wt'
Butter 14 16.
Poultry 9 11.
Poultry Live, f3. 60 $4.00.
Potatoes 30 cents if good.
Eggs 1013.
oats imao.
Baled Hay 6.007.00.
completely subdued as Avas Coleridge s
Avedding guests by the glittering eye df
the Ancient Mariner. The bill which has