Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The farmers' alliance. (Lincoln, Nebraska) 1889-1892 | View Entire Issue (June 14, 1890)
THE ALLIANCE. PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY-LS8RSIHS. BY THE ALLIANCE PUBLISHING GO. Lincoln, - - - NeDtaska. 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." M 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. IMPORTANT NOTICE. NEW CLUB OFFER. - THE ALLIANCE TILL JAN. 1st, 1891, TO CLUBS OF TEN FOR FIFTY CENTS. It is of the utmost importance that every member oi the Alliance should take this paper. The most important politi cal contest ever known in Nebraska is about to open. The Alliance is one of the important factors in this contest. The most mendacious lies about it are abroad, being printed and sent broad cast througout the country. The actual facts, about it can only be known by reading its organ. In addition to this it is the medium through which the State Agent commu nicates with the members, which makes it necessary to them in a business point of view. To put it easily in the reach of all we offer it to Alliances in clubs of ten or more until Jan. 1st, 1891, at SOcts per copy. Or, five subscriptions in one order, one year $4.00. Or, we will send, that remarkable book, Caesar's Column (paper covers) and The Alliance one year for $1.25. We will furnish special edition of The Alliance to localities having no local organ, with one-half to one page of local matter, at extremely low special rates. These can be sent by express or mailed from this office to lists furnished, as de sired. Appeal by the People's Committee. We publish this week, by request, an appeal from the People's Committee to the Clergymen, Professional Men and Business Men of the State. It is an able, well-written and convincing pa per, and should serve to arouse these classes of men to a sense of their duty in political matters. These classes of men have allowed themselves to be so absorbed in business that they have al lowed the politics of the state ,to be come irremediably corrupt. They are asked now to join in an effort outside of politics to purify it. s The Committee propose now to cir culate the Declaration and Call in the towns and cities. Judged by the way it has already been received, it will soon have forty thousand signatures. We wish Alliance men to distinctly understand that they are not appealed to as Alliance men in this matter. They are as free to sign the Declaration as any one, or as free not to. At the same time we think it is a grand move ment for a grand object, and wish it God speed. ; At this time-there are 7,600 signa v tures filed. , ' The Anti-Monopoly Republican Fiasco. At the meeting of the republican state committees last week Mr. Rose water and Church Howe settled all dif ferences amicably, and harmony now reigns in the party. Anti-monopoly re publicans who hoped to see the party redeemed by this purifying movement in its ranks are looking vacantly after the forms of the immortal fifteen, as they vanished within the state commit tee room, and were absorbed by the railroad gang. Commenting on this matter in our issue of May 31, we said: "Democrats need have no jubilation and republicans no fears over the prospect of two republican tickets this year. No such untoward event will take place. Mr. Rose water has assumed control and leadership of the Leese faction. He will flourish it as a club for awhile, but when the proper time comes he will compromise It out of sight with the adroitness of a politician." Our prediction has been fulfilled sooner than we ( expected. In a very short time the Omaha Bee and the B. $ M. Journal will be in each other's arms, and vigorously 1 doing joint battle for the g. o. p., and the people may go hang. Mr. Nettleton spoke at the joint com niittee meeting, and" he opened the bag and out jumped the cat. It was pro claimed to be the object of the bolting gentlemen to paralyze the corporation power and wrest the party from rail road domination. But Mr. Nettleton frankly undeceived us.? He said "the object of their meeting was to frustrate a movement that . is looking toward a new party. In other words, they cared nothing for railroad domination, and nothing for the welfare of the state or pure government if they could only Remembering ; Rosewater's fight on Howe in the campaign of '86, it was f unnv - as well as instructive to see Church introduce bis friend Rosewater THE to the State Committee, and then sup port his suggestions in an eloquent speech. Did Howe capture Ilosey or Kosey capture Howe? Which? "An two men ride of a horse, one must ride behind." Take it altogether it was the largest smoke for the smallest amount of fire we have ever seen. A difference of half a dozen days in the date of a convention is conceded, and lo! "the air has cleared. Harmony prevails. There will be no independent move ment in Nebraska thi3 year." That is to say, the gentlemen who were in the saddle are in the saddle still, and the goose hangs high. And now we will venture another prediction. The same gang of strikers who elected the delegates to the con vention that slaughtered r Reese will elect the delegates to the next one; a set of anti-monopoly resolutions to suit the occasion will be revamped and burnished up, the usual trades will be made and enough heelers nominated to hold the machine level and prevent any unwise concessions being made to the radicals. When Mr. Holdredge and acting Gov. Palmer completed arrange ments to block the special session, the former demanded the nomination of Mr. Benton. The new men that will be put up by the machine will be men that Mr. Holdredge can rely upon. Those are the only terms upon which the support of the B. & M. railroad can be had; and that support is indispens able to the politicians of this state. Farmers of Nebraska, you can choose now between a machine patched up by a bargain between Rosewater and Church Howe, manned by railroad cap pers, or a movement of the people, by the people, for the people. , Which will you have? CIRCULAR FROM THE PEOPLE'S COMMITTEE. To the Ministers, Professional Men, and Business Men of the State of Nebraska: Gentlemen: Accompanying this Cir cular is a Declaration of Principles and Call for a People's Independent State Convention, which is handed to you for your examination and signature. We desire to present to you some of the reasons why this Declaration should receive your approval. Parallel with the tendency to concen trate wealth and commercial power in the hands of a small class has moved the tendency to concentrate political power in the same hands. To acquire money being the only inspiring motive, the effort is constantly being made to shape our laws to favor the classes who are combined on the money line. Thus it happens that for many years the cor porations maintained a ceaseless and successful struggle for the control of the law-making power of Nebraska and the other states. We say successful struggle; because -for, the past fifteen years these corporations have held pos session of the law-making, executive and judicial power of this state. These corporations have been so arrogant in their demands that they have twice forced the legislature, either by actual corruption or persuasion almost as vi cious, to act in direct opposition to the will of the people as only a short time before expressed at the polls. They have through - their control of party , machinery I taken possession of State conventions, and forced them to go counterto their instructions from the people. ': They have prostituted the ballot by aiding the casting of illegal votes, and of voting gangs , of laborers at different towns on the same day. By degrading the standard of politi cal morality, they have lowered the character of representatives in Con gress and their appointees to federal positions, till many offices are now filled by men who are conspicuous examples of dishonesty and effrontery. They have controlled against the in terests of the people a public board which was elected solely to guard the rights of the people against the corpo rations themselves. In a recent demonstration of their power they have humiliated the Chief Executive of the State by forcing him to retract a measure which, judged by its motives, was . creditable and praise worthy. . -, , Politicians bow to this power. By it public men are demoralized, public sentiment misrepresented, public insti tutions debauched and all is done at the shrine before which there is more mock patriotism and less true devotion than any other shrine on earth the shrine of party. Deyotion to party has taken the place of devotion to country. The machinery of party is being used to rob and en slave the people for whose protection t was insituted." The people have so lost confidence in this machinery that they will no longer respond to appeals for its reform. They see the men who have been managing and benefiting by this ma chinery for years the loudest in the cry for reform, but only willing to realize reform through the very machinery the corporations have heretofore corrupted and now control. Respecting neither the public welfare nor the popular will, the same men who for years have packed the primaries and conventions are ready to pack them again. . ... ? The very word 4 'politics" has become a stench and a by -word, and is a synonym for corrupt bargains, gravel trains and whiskey-bought votes. We decline to trust this machinery and these men any longer. We appeal from these parties to the public conscience of Nebraska. We appeal to "the morality and religion of our people, not for any new organiza tion or any doubtful ism, but for an in dependent uprising of the people which shall destroy the festering corruption on the body politic. We appeal for a political cyclone which shall dissipate the deadly mias FARMERS' ALLIANCE: LINCOLN, NEB., ma which is suffocating public honor and political morality. In conclusion, we appeal to Ministers of the Gospel to take this subject into their closets and into their pulpits; we appeal to the professional men to take it into their offices; we appeal to the business men to take it into their count ing rooms. " We appeal to all of you to lay this matter upon your consciences to aban don the fatal error that this is work out side of your duty to step forth as pa triots instead of partisans to look upon the welfare of the State as something infinitely above party, and to each do your honest duty as God enables you to see and do it. Published by order of THE PEOPLE'S COMMITTEE. Note. The omission of the names of the Peoples Committee has been criticised. This omission is right. Men, in signing the decla ration of principles, should do so without the prejudice that names might excite. Names would induce some to sign, and would deter others. The matter should be judged on its own merits. Each should act for himself. The duties of the Committee are purely min is tereal. When thirty thousand names are signed to the call, a delegate peoples' conven tion will be called. Jt will then organize it self and do its own work. Practical Nationalism. BV MAURICE PECHIN IN THE TRUE COM MONWEALTH. Practical nationalism in this country looks to an extension of local and na tional governmental control of certain industries. It advocates industrial co operation by the people, with agents or superintendents responsible to the vo ters, under laws and regulations made by the people. There is here no out side power called government, controll ing and regulating the lives of its sub jects: it is the people themselves volun tarily uniting and by agents of their choice conducting affairs in which they have a common interest, and which can be successfully carried on only by such general co-operation "and control. It means not only armies for the com mon defense, police, courts, prisons, re formatories and asylums, all that which is conceded to be within the proper sphere of government, but also national money in due supply under control of the people, roads, bridges, parks, libra ries, schools, postal service, telegraph, railroads, municipal water supply, gas and electric lighting, etc., maintained by a common fund and conducted at cost for the benefit of the whole people, without profit to corporations or indi vidual monopolies. It means justice applied in the production and distribu tion of wealth; not merely protection of the equal right of all to life, but of the equal opportunity of all to secure that on which life itself depends equal right of access to natural opportunities which should belong equally to all, an equal chance to secure the benefits and enjoyments which alone make life de sirable. This new democracy carrying to its logical conclusion the work only begun by the founders of our republic, may demand even more than has been enumerated, but practically only a step at a time will be taken. Some of these national and municipal industries have already been established more or less completely, and are in successful oper ation: and the steps thus taken are not likely to be ever retraced, for the peo ple are too well satisfied with the bene fits thus attained not to go on in the same direction, under the irresistible tendency of the times. There can be no mistake as to this tendency, although this democratic republic has strangely fallen behind, in this movement, some older countries with less popular forms of government. This is due no doubt to an exaggerated and false notion of individualism developed by certain con ditions of American life, the boundless opportunities that ' have been offered here for the success of individual greed, and selfish monopoly of all kinds, which has led to such intense activity in . the pursuit of wealth, such a rapid concentration of it in comparatively few hands, and the building up within a brief period of a plutocracy utterly inconsistent with real government by the people; for without actual equality of opportunities, and essentially of con dition, true democracy cannot exist. How far the new movement shall go is not to be determined in advance by any abstract principles, but is a matter en tirely of expediency, and dependent on the success of the people in managing their business in this way. The natural monopolies nainjdWwhich are oppres sive in their very nature to the people, and are not restrained to any consider able extent by the law of competition, will naturally first be taken under col lective control; and we can wisely de fer the discussion of what shall be the limitation of the movement until the wisdom gained by further, experience shall enable U3 better to determine what other measures will best secure the justice .and equality demanded. Already many minds are turned to the problem of how equal access to natural opportunities with spedial' privilege to none, unless the people are properly compensated for such franchises, may be secured, and what means shall be used to reduce the cost of living and in crease the supply and efficient demand for all' things needful for human wel fare. There is a profound conviction of the unworthiness of our present in dustrial system, for it is seen that along with overproduction of much wealth there is constantly increasing want, and immense energies wasted or unem ployed. With the aid of labor-saving inventions there could be an indefintely increased production of anything for which there is an efficients-demand, There are the workers and the forces ready to supply all wants, the raw ma terials out of which all the needed wealth may be produced,: and comple mental to these are wants equally run limited and ever increasing, r. and why, men ask, can not these, so adapted to each other, not be united in happier union? It is; but a, narrow isthmus that divides the Atlantic of our powers from the Pacific of our needs. A false system of selfish monopoly and waste ful competition now separates them, which must be cut through or torn down by the united effort of the people. The question is, how shall ; this be ac complished? x What is to be the plan what the first step? On this there is such a variety of views, so many differ ent schemes with zealous advocates, of ten impatient of criticism, and unable to see any merit in other ways, that it seems almost hopeless to expect any union of effort to come from such a chaos of opinion, but it will come in time. Slowly, through perpetual strug gle and conflict, the human race has emerged from savagery in the past, and step by step it will move forward to a jiiguer civilization. j-riowsDivu, agita tion, earnest attention and thought, the slow process of education, will clear men's minds and lead them to see more and more in the same light, and only as they thus see and know will they be pre pared to act together. Let us be pa tient,1 and above all it seems needless that any theory or dream of a perfect order of society should- ever be permit ted to stand in the way of support of any practical measure of reform, which, however small in itself,, will secure some further measure of justice, and will be an entering wedge to further progress. It is well indeed to have such an ideal, but it should never inter fere with our doing what only we can do at the present hour. No one need fear that such measures will merely pacify the demands of the people and hinder true advance. The "noble dis content" which is necessary to pro gress has its cause and justification in every slight amelioration in the condi tion of the people in every gain they make, for it only kindles new desires and awakens sluggish minds to a better appreciation of what is rightfully theirs, and the possibilities before them. The new order will not descend out of heaven like a prophetic vision, unasked and unearned. The kingdom of heaven on earth can only be built up by the earnest efforts of those who are willing to do what is next on hand to be done. No sudden revolution will destroy the ignorance and blind selfishness which is the root of all evil crrnwtiia nnr tit men for the actual management of their own auairs. anai ntness can come only with the confidence in each other, the honesty and ability to think and act to gether born of actual experience in co operative effort, nationally and other wise. The True Commonwealth is on the right iracK. L.et it push forward the good work of education on these questions, and when the times are ripe for politi cal action we will see order come out of the chaos, politicians will crowd far admission into the new democracy, and old parties will champion the living is sues we present. Senator Jones' ot Nevada, Great Silver Speech. Mr. Jones riddled the Windom bill, he opposed the idea of redeeming treas ury notes in bullion on the ground that when they were so redeemed monetary circulation would be contracted and the putting of bullion on the market would not make up to the country for the loss of money from circulation. He ex pressed entire confidence in the hon esty of purpose and conscientiousness of motive of the present Secretary of the Treasury, but said that as none of the Secretaries, for twelve years past, had coined a dollar of silver more than compelled by law to do, future Secre taries might conscientiously deem it their duty to keep in circulation the least possible amount of the proposed treasury notes, and thus the United States treasury might, in effect, become a purchasing agent for the East India company or for syndicates of English merchants wanting bullion cheap in or der to make their payments to India. Gold, by reason of its greater value, notwithstanding all the legislation in its favor, could never become the com mon money.medium of the world. A gold coin that would represent an aver age day's labor would-be too small for convenient handling." Silver was the money metal best suited to the mass of the people and the variety and character of transaction constituting the inter change of daily life. If there was any conceivable necessity for the demone tization of either metal, why, he asked, demonetize that which promised the greater and more steady yeild? If for any reason society should decide that one of them should be discarded, should it not rather be that one which promised the smaller future yield than that which promised the larger? It was absolutely vital to the welfare of society that both siver and geld should be in full and un limited use as money and equally invest ed with the power of legal tender. In conclusion Mr. Jones said: I predict, Mr. President, that the re storation of silver to its birthright will mark an epoch in the history of this re public. It will place in circulation an amount of money commensurate with our increasing population. It will give assurance to our languishing industries that the volume of our circulating medium is not to continue shrinking and that the tendency of prices shall no long er be downward. It will increase the wages of labor and the prices of the pro ducts of labor; it will reduce the price of bonds and other forms of money futures; it will lighten, but not inequit ably, the burden of mortgages; it will increase largely, though not unjustly, the debt-paving and tax-paying power of the people. It will loosen the grasp of the creditor from the neck of the debtor. By the remonetization of silver, money will cease to be the object of com merce and will again become its benefi cent instrument. Activity will replace stagnation; movement will supplant in ertia; courage will banish fear; confi dence will dispel doubt; hope will super cede despair. The lifting up of silver to its rightful place by the side of gold, will set in motion all the latest energies of the people. It will banish involuntary idleness by putting every willing man to work. It will revive business and re animate the heart and hope of the mass es. Capital, no longer fearing a fall in prices, will turn into productive ave nues. The hoards of money lying idle in the money vaults will come out to bless and enrich alike their owners and the community at large; while the mil lions of dollars invested at low interest in gilt edge securities will seek more profitable investment in the busy field of industry where they will be utilized in the payment of wages and the con sequent dissemination of comfort and happiness among the people. And this it will accomplish, not for the United States alone, but for civil ization, for it is too much to say, Mr. President, that upon the decision of this question depend consequences more momentous than upon that of any other question of public policy within the memory of this generation. In a broad er sense than any other question at tracting the general attention of man kind, it is a question of civilization. It embodies the hopes and aspirations of our race. The act of Congress which shall happily solve it, will constitute, a decree of emancipation as veritable as any that ever freed serf from thraldom, but more universal in its application. It will ; proclaim the J freedom , of the white race the world over; it will , lift the bowed head of labor; it will hush the threnody of toil; it will inagurate the true renaissance a renaissance - of jrosperity without which industry, earning, science, literature and art are but apples of sodom. In answer to questions Mr. Jones said that if there was a free coinage of silver h& believed that in three days the silver not used, for coinage would be .worth $1.29 , an ounce and that there it would remain. ' . , " ' V; Alliance Sewing Machines. State Agent Hartley is now prepared to furnish a first class Sewing Machines, nicely finished, five drawers, with all the latest improvements. Price $20, f . o. b. at Lincoln. - 51 tf. SATURDAY, JUNE 14, LIFE'S BITTER EXPERIENCE. A Soul For Sale. I have a letter from Boston, writes Howard in the Sunday Globe, which I confess touched me very nearly. It is signed a "Business Womai," giving every evidence of culture, oi re finement and honesty, with dignity of character, swamped by trouble, con fronted by embarassments, and made well-nigh desperate by need. The writer says she was a retired teacher in the west. Coming East with her husband they settled in Boston, where his health failed and she was forced to return to work. She naturally sought teaching; either in public or private schools, but failed to get it. Then, having obtained a situation as book keeper, she worked from 6:30 in the morning until 10 at night, sometimes after, receiving therefor$5 a week. La ter on,her employer, finding he could do the work himself, dispensed with her services, and absolutely needing bread and butter, she scrubbed floors for 12$ cents an hour! She nursed, seeking the wh.Ue more suitable employment. Of a delicate constitution, this bitter exper ience naturally depressed, annoyed and caused her to suffer, bhe walked the streets oi isoston a iortnignt, living on 10 cents a day, looking for work and got none. The suggestion a "soul for sale" stares that woman today in the face. What do you think of a Federal street merchant offering a woman.well born, well bred, obviously a lady in the best sense of that much abused term, $3 a week, with a suggestion, when told that wasn't enough to keep skin and bone together, that per haps some "friend" could provide the rest? Now, what shall she do? Humanitarians, pniiantnropists, pro- fessional women-helpers, what shall this individual woman do? Assuming that she is all I infer her to be, will some one of these advocates of woman's clubs, these wealthy posers, these pro fessinnnl amtattwa tViaaa colf.orlnla t-T-a these ridiculous members of a mutual admiration society, make a suggestion as to this woman's stomach, as to the clothes for her back the medicine for her husband. She doesn't ask charity, she doesn't ask you to open anything but your moutns and give ner a little helpful ad vice, one knows more oi literature in its extreme sense, I doubt not, than all these fashionable fitters combined. She has traveled much abroad, she would be a competent governess to teach children, she has been a. teacher in the schools of the west, and to-dav she and her husband, through no fault of either of them, are absolutely this side only of starvation. Discomfort is their daily portion, worry and botner and tribulation sur round them like a cloud, vet in a hall, the rent of which costs money, with sur roundings that cost money, under the guise of lielpers to working women, we find posers soaring into the realms of the infinite as speculators, smiling in each other's eves, but soilincr no hand of theirs by literal contact withliteral wage-earn ers. A Letter From the First President of the Nebraska State Alliance. The folowing letter from an old friend, Hon. E. B. Ingersoll, was not written tor publication; but it is too good to lose, and we imagine our friend will pardon us for printing it. Mr. In-f gersoll' was . the first President of the Nebraska State Alliance, and no better one or truer one has been elected since. We print it just as written. , Its frank ness would be marred by any altera tions: Tecumseh, Neb., June 6, 1890. Jay Burrows, Esq., Lincoln, Neb. Old Fell: Verily "the world do move," and we move with it. I am in a chatty mood and propose to anger you a little. "When we were first acquaint" Jay, there were some points of difference between us, and some wherein we agreed. We were both of the old whig and knew nothing antecedents. You were still a protectionist but I was an anti-protect. You were farther ad vanced on the R. R. question than I, and we both looked on greenback as one of the most foolish of follies. We are now both free traders, and are abreast with each other on the railroad and many other questions. In short, we are both Nationalists. Of course Nationalism is not going to prevail at once "in the twinkling of an eye" but either Nationalism or Pessimism will prevail, and that speed ily. Either the millinium or catastro phe Oblivion. There is no half way house. What steps will have to be taken be fore Bellamy's dream will be realized? and in what order will said steps be taken? Can't tell exactly; but two steps are necessary, to-wit: There must be an entire change of base in re gard to money, and the nation must own and operate at least operate the railroads and telegraph. - .Well, the legislature is not in extra session. Surely "Burrows may be par doned if he smiles." Is it not strange that Thayer thinks he has stolen your thunder? But this reminds me of "sometings." You remember at that meeting of farmers in Jan. '81, which residted in the formulation of the Nebraska State Farmers' Alliance, a resolution was passed asking the legislature then in session to pass a law enforcing, with adequate penalties, that portion of Sec. 1, Art. XI of the State Constitu tion, which says that all 'railroads do ing business in this state, shall keep a public office in the state, in which ofhce shall be kept books showing the names of the share holders, the number of shares held by each, the amount paid up on each share, &c, &c. That legislature passed such, a law, and it can be found among the laws of 81. I think that law has not been re pealed. I also think it has neither been complied with nor enforced, and the question arises are the railroads amen able to law or not? Can they disre gard law with impunity? The legisla ture needs to have access to such books. Such books would reveal the actual amount of capital invested by the stock holders, and so - would enable those en trusted with the, work to adjust rates equitably, without consulting Iowa or "any other man." But it is not likely that ' full justice will be secured until the nation owns and operates the roads. If the people would agree, the nation could buy with borrowed money all the railroads at their present valuation, and by maintaining the present rates for twenty years the debt could be paid. Remember that the nation can borrow at three per cent and less. Now figure on any road whose capital stock, in debtedness and earnings are known, and you will find that after paying in terest on the debt incurred and apply ing the balance of the net earnings in payment of the principal, either annu ally or semi-annually, the debt will be . paid in less - than twenty years. Of course it would be better to squeeze the 1890. water out of both stock and bonds be fore buying. But it would be better 16 buy and pay for water and all than to go on as we are now going. " Of course, too, it would be better to reduce the rates an?l take more time in paying the debt. No doubt, too, the "operating expenses" would bo greatly reduced if the roads were operated oy the national government, and the net earnings could thereby be increased by so much; and this, too, without reduc ing the wages of labor. Indeed, the wages of many of the laborers ought to be and could be increased. But it may not be necessary for the nation to buy the, roads in order to operate them. Some of the roads that have been in sanely or fraudulently wrecked by their managers, are already in the hands of receivers appointed by the courts in ac cordance with the common and statute law. These receivers have been ap pointed generally in answer to the prayer of the bond holders. Some times the minority stock holders who felt that they were being frozen out by the majority have joined in said prayer. My recollection is that it was the legal steps taken by Jay Gould to secure his rigntsf?) as a minority stock holder that brought about the the exposure and collapse of the "credit mobilier." Many roads are now fast traveling into the receiver's hands. Perhaps all of them are. One railroad president has already recommended the opera tion of the railroads by the nation. It will not be surprising if all other rail road presidents soon tall into line, or "call upon the rocks and hills to sate them.n Notwithstanding the unreason ably high rates of which the people so justly complain, there seems to be so many ways by which managers of a certain ilk can deplete the revenues of the road and turn them into the pock ets of those who have no right to them, through subsidizing organizations and otherwise. There seems to be so many ways for the fictiti6us, wasteful and fraudulent increase in operating ex penses, that it will not be strange that if in the near future, the nominal capi tal as represented by the bonds and certificates of stock should, in sheer desperation, and from the very selfish ness of its nature call upon the nation to save its holders from total loss, by taking upon itself the management and operation of the roads. There are certain social and econom ic laws and tendencies, that seem to be as constant, perhaps as uniform in their operation as any of the physical laws that govern in the realm of matter. Of such are the laws of supply and demand, the tendencies of competition, the just demands of a righteously indignant because outraged public; and the eyer increasing needs and demands of an ever advancing civilization. When by the operation of these and other laws and tendencies, rates shall be brought down to a point that will yield fair re turn upon what will then be honest and economical construction, equipment and management this call of, the aforesaid capital upon the nation may be expect ed. It may come sooner than that. The fact that much of this stock is now in the hands of innocent (?) purchasers, will tend to hasten the call, probably precipitate it. Such a call ought not to be a surprise. Indeed it would be sur prising if it did not come. I look for it inside of 15 years, unless the nation anticipates by either buying or operat ing on some other basis. Such a call will be the legitimate outcome of a great shrinkage in the nominal value of all R. 11. stocks and bonds, and raav re sult in still further shrinkage perhaps total loss. This has often happened to other forms of capital. Riches are fam ous for taking to themselves wings, and though individuals suffer greatly, piti ably, unjustly perhaps in many cases, still there is no loss of actual wealth to the nation or the world. It has simply changed hands, and may be God's way of redistributing the wealth of the world. The abolition of slavery destroyed no wealth, no property, but great "riches flew from the hands of certain bond and stock holders. True Christian National ism would prevent all such changes in ownership of wealth with its accom panying individual suffering. My, what an old chatterbox I am! I hear from you weekly through the Alliance, and I think I can sometimes read between the lines certain thoughts that you do not care to print for the profane eyes of Gere or Rosewater, and some others. I know you have no lime for idle gossip, but if at any time it would relieve you any to unburden yourselt to your old confrerer you know I would be glad to have you do so, and that I would not give you away. You know that you have my hearty sympa thy and support in your work. I have signed the Declaration of Principles and hope the call of the Peo ple's convention will soon be issued. and am confident it will result in good. as ever yours, E. P. Ingersoll. A Grand Bill by Senator Blair. Senator Blair has introduced into the the Senate a bill which is described be low. It will be seen at once that it is a very valuable and important measure The associate press, to poison the minds of the people, announces it as -jBlair's latest," and says "Senator Blair's philanthropy has taken a new shoot." If more Senators will let their philanthropy take a mew shoot it would be better for the country: "Senator Blair has to-day reported from the committee on education and labor a bill providing for the establish ment under federal authority and at the expense of the public treasury of an employment bureau for the poor, and a bureau of information relating to occupation, means of livelihood and homes. Such bureaus are to be estab lished in geographical centers, where there are 2,000.000 inhabitants, and the duties of the officers in charge are by correspondence tnrougn the mails and telecraph, the press, personal inter course and local investigation to collect information relating to employment, occupation, means of livelihood, etc., the condition of industries, the rates of wages, tne cost or, living, facilities and expense of transportation, our material resources, climatic and other condi tions, opportunities for education, etc., for the benefit of all persons who are in need of employment or desire to chancre their homes, and it is also , made their duty to diffuse this intelligence among the people in answer to inquiries ana by the issue of bulletins from time to time. Another branch of the proposed ser vice is the ascertainment and publica tion cf cases of extreme prverty, hard ship and distress for the information of the charitable, and an additional sec tion of Mr. Blair's bill requires that all persons employed upon public works shall be American citizens. From Dawes County. Bro. H. G. Stewart, reportincr the meetincr of Dawes county Alliance held June 7th, says: The grandest meeting ever held in the . county, vu aeiegaies present, each one determined that come what will, the principles and re forms advocated by the Alliance will have their undivided support: Thus does Dawes county join hands with eastern counties in the struggle ior equal rights to all. The Minnesota Decision. We fear our friend Clark, of tl.e Chi cago Express, and our friend Strceter. of Illinois, do not appreciate- tin? full significance of the Minnesota decision. The practical effect of this decision U to nullify any state law that may !. made for the regulatiou'of freight rates. It has heretofore been considered thai it was the province of the courts to in terpret law, or determine what it U. The late decisions seem to assume that it is their province to determine what it shall be. The Miuuesota decision takes from the legislature and confer upon the court the right to determine what shall bo a reasonable rare. The railroads now have the right to remove their cases from the State to the Fed eral courts. In view of this fact what will state regulation amount to to the gentlemen who buy their law by the year? That there is a deep-laid conspiracy to reverse all the great decisions in favor of the people's rights there seems to be no doubt. The next one to be attacked will be the legal-tender decision. The Supreme Court, a body from which there is no appeal in this country, has been packed for this very purpose by a tyran nical power which pursues its end.- steadily and persistently through years and over all obstacles. We shall refer to this subject again when we can give it more attention. Principle Betore Party. Editor . Alliance.: When in the course of human events partizan poli tics have failed to succor the masses, when parties weighed in the balance of experience are found wanting in the dis charge of sacred duty, and aro become the medium of Injusticeand oppression, then should the people arise and in de fense of their common welfare, seek new and better forms of government. Whatever of fealty good citizens once owed to the dominant parties, that debt is long since fully paid. Newr exigen cies have arisen, and in this day aud hour loyalty to existing polities is trea son to ourselves and to our country. The time has passed for half reme dies and cowardly compromises, the time has come for plain speech and serious action. A new oppression is in the land and the clinking of a new chain is heard where it was said chains should never be. Here is a sufficient argument. The people are suffering, and from the Egypt of dire distress appeal imploringly for lelief a The people are oppressed, and before their eyes is the terrible pros pective that the heavy burthens of to day will be yet heavier to-morrow. Here are four billions iu farm mort gages and debts. What is to be don with them? Honest yeomanry evicted from, homes after long oars of la borious struggle. What is to become of them, their wives and tiieir children, and who possesses the wealth which they produce? t v"hat time is this for legislative eva sion, for shadow and for mockery when the masses are forced to beg for the bread of their own earnhW What time is this for tariff tinkeriugs. aud emasculating palavers to find out which set of thieves shall carry off the most stealings? If those vho suffer, if the great mass es, the millions of toiling Victims of this monstrous system of political spoliation, if those who produce all and possess nothing, who create riches for their masters and poverty for themselves, if these do not now unite and right their wrongs by speaking in thundrous soli darity at the ballot, then do they de serve their sufferings and merit their misfortunes. Their way of deliverance and the line of duty are alike plain. Doubly blind is he who cannot, who will not see the sources of the present industrial de pression. The producer is simply rob bed of his proper share of his own labor by the distributor. The distributor is the buyer for monopoly, aud privileged gentlemen who commauds products at a lower price than the producer can afford to sell them. But why does the producer sell at a price so ruinous? For the same reason that Socrates drank the hemlock, the reason of every tyrany, the reason of force. And whence came this condition? It is the direct product of bad and unequal government, of vicious and unjust legislation. The vast wealth of the nation, controlled by an unscrupulous class, has seduced aud debauched the nation's public servants. Congressmen enstructed by. the people to make laws for the public good have betrayed the trust. Legislation and legislators have been bought for money, party politics has been degraded to the service of corporate, wealth, and the people's interests ruthlessly betrayed into the hands of an imperious pluto cracy. For twenty years the two great par ties have been appealed to to do the people Justice. They have answered the people with broken promises and pledges unfulfilled and duty unper formed. They obeyed party rather than principle, and the party obeyed power rather than patriotism. I repeat, our way is clear and our duty is plain. Let us trust those par ties no longer. Have we not had ex perience enouirh? Have we not waited quite long enough for even a sign of justice to illuminate tho black sky of our political horizon? With contracted money, the tools of production, the land and the transportation controlled and monopolized by our master's are we not debt ridden enough, poor and hopelses enough? Then let us make a new po litical departure, take a new tact and adopt measures and methods uncontami nated by prevailing corruptions. Let us take independent political action wherein principle shall precede party. Ignoring political adventurers ana their machines let us seek candidates who are not for sale and who cannot he bouerht Candidates to whom self-seeking is not paramount to the publio welfare, and who will go forth not as politicians, but as patriots pledged only to conscience and duty and their country's good. tIKK ULIH. Hon. J. B. Weaver in Nebraska.' nanorol Wavai frfi -.. 11 bor advocate of Iowa, who so ably rep- three terms, and who is always found on the side of the f people in their de mands for justice and freedom from oppression has made a line of appoint merits far WoVimci-o an.t following places on the dates named. w uuo jui, Haaiiuirs, dune SO. Bow, July 2, Grand Island, July 3, and Wahoo, J uly 4. Our readers in the dif ferent InpalfHoa ehnnl. baa it each of these meetings are well attend ed as the General will have very inte resting facts and figures to present at r.hAflA rim Aa C .. . , ...... ..
