i)
)
THE FARMERS' ALLIANCE, LINCOLN, NEB., 1HUKSDAY, 3IAK. 31, 1892.
rubIMM Bvary iMriil by
Th Axxuxci Pcbusiuxo Ca
Cbr. 1JU and M , Luaooln, Heh.
, TBOMrso Pnmjt, FronurTOM.
"In the beauty of tbe lilliee
' Christ was bora acres tho sea,
Wltk glory in his bosom
That transfigures yon and ma.
Aj bo strove to make men holy
. 1 ns strive to make them free,
Since God ia marching on."
Julia Wtrd Eou. ;
Laurel crowns dear to desert.
And power to him who power exerts."
A ruddy drop of manly blood
The surging sea outweighs."
Ewurton.
"He who cannot reason la a foot.
Be who will not reason is a coward.
Eewbo dare not reason Is a slave."
N. R P. A.
TO
CORRESPONDENTS.
all bnatMSS emmnaloatlonS tc
SUllanea Pa blMblnc Oa.
sMimi natter for pabUoatlon to Idlta
Vara en' Alliance. ,
Articles written on both sides of the papei
ibauaed. very I one ooeamunxmuoBa
Mtralt casaot be S.
Tks, Chairman Wolfe was on the
platform, as some of the papers allege,
the night Mr. Thnrston spoke here, and
how he was converted to the Thurston
faith will be found, in this issue, under
the head of Thurston's Thunder.
Tbs republican papers have tried to
make a little protected capital out of
the dissolving of the standard oil trust.
fifing it out that the Sherman anti
trust law had grappled with and killed I
the octopus. There is however, no'
truth in the statement. The business
Is to be still conducted for the same
parties la a form which trust laws can- j
not reach. !
Senator Dou'B , of Oregon in the ,
speech to which we referred to two,
weeks ago, attacked the sub-treasury
plan In a way which showed very plain '
ly that he did not understand Its pro-'
visions. The National Economic calls
v attention to the fact that his own state
has a aohool fund amounting to nearlj
000,000 loaned cut on land security
and that the method of handling it hat
proved perfectly safe and satisfactory. 1
FLaTTE&HQ THE FABMEB8- j
Rosey is now bowing to the inevitabk
and endeavoring to come up on top and
get his bits in the mouth of the wave,
(The machine critio is Informed that we
use this mixed figure advisedly.)
This is the way he is trying to get the
confidence of the farmers:
?He says: "We speak of the farmer, in
politics as though it were something ex
traordinary that a farmer should go
into 00111108." but "from the foundation
of the republio until now the United
State has been an agricultural com'
moaweaUb," Washington, Jetteison,;
"Monroe and Jaclreon were planter.
But for the last forty years, as Roseyj
admits, tb "lawyers have constituted
the gret majority of the national and
atat legislature -Tes,
and who wonders, with the gov
er anient in lawyers' hands, that the!
people have been robbed by every gang
of plunderers who would fee them,
that class legislation has destroyed the
liberty and overridden the rights of the
people?
Rosey Bays the farmer is now "assert
ing himself, not altogether because the
lawyers, bankers and merchants have
fanposeed upon him, but because the
general dissemination of intelligence
turough schopl and newspaper has
roused his ambition to participate."
"Not altogether" because they repre
sented themselves only, and united
their strength to secure special legisla
tion for the bankers, wholesale manu
factures and railroads, but because
having read the Bet and theB. &M.
Journal and gone to school some to sad
Experience, the farmers are roused to
the necessity of representing and legis
lating for themselves.
The farmer has grown intelligent,
has studied the science of government,
has formed his own judgment respect
ing public affairs. Yes, that's right
Rosey. He knows what did it and how
it was done, and he proposes now to
undo the infamous legislation which
has reduced the workers of America to
all the varied degrees cf slavery and
dependent pauperism. "The farmer
has come into politics to stay," as you
say, politic Rosey, but you cant gain
bts confidence by telling him what he
already knows, that "A convention of
farmers even now contains as fair an
average of refinement and Intellectual
ability as a like gathering of represen
tativea from almost any other walk of
lMe." Because the farmer "will hence
forth remain an important factor in
shaping the destiny of the republic,
you wish to regain your baleful Influ
ence, Rosewater, but yoc are attempt
iag the impossible. "He has a mind of
his own and can hear, read and weigh
political discussions with an accuracy
which eaches prompt and definite
conclusions." And those conclusions
are, that your gold basis money, and
private ownership of natural monopo
lies, old party doctrines, are fraught
with immeasurable injustice and evil.
The only good thing you advocate is
the government ownership and opera'
tion of the telegraph, and this b la oar
St. Louis platform a plank by the way,
which no one can stand oa and be con
sistent without standing oa all the rest.
"The eccentricities of Simpson and
the vagaries of Donnelly" are all la
your eye, or lie, Mr. Roaewator. They
' are not peculiar views of these two. bet
Instead the unanimous eoMbofcme and
judgment of the greatest and brainiest
convention that ever assembled apoa
earth. . Donnelly is a atatanaaa the
equal of any who have ever Uvea, a nan
too ' great sad true for the avenge
politician to comprehend.
ho-aWare op""maraHOEaii
A young Bostonlan, after learning it
all, took pity on us westerners and
located in Lincoln not long since, his
purpose being to prevent our "running
after false gods, the twin furies,
democracy aud calamity." The one true
god is republicanism and Collins is his
prophet. Collins woars spectacles,
elevates his nose and gives us oracular
rhetoric Interspersed with classical
allusions. He tells the people what is
and is to be. "The young republi
cans ot Nebraska" have no love for the
farmers (in plain English); they will
make no advances toward them ("the
vain and fickle alliance grass widow").
They have no interests or ideas in com
mon with clod-turners.
By young republicans he means the
lawyers of the cities and villages, and
the uninformed partisan dupes who
shout and vote for them; the Rip Van
Winkle sleepers who still imagine they
are with the followers of Lincoln, the
emancipator. '.
The writer happens to be a New
Englander by birth and education. - He
never brags of it, but as it may influ
ence young Collins, who despises the
western farmer, he will say, to the later
arrival, that he is connected by direct
relationship with the best and most dis
tinguished historic families of that
proud section. His great-grandfather
was graduated from Harvard. Among
his cousins he numbers noted divines of
international reputation, and "the most
eloquent man who was ever in the halls
of congress." He is one of the blue
blooded elect, according to Collins, but
he wasn't elected rich, and came west
to earn a competence by honest labor.
He bought virgin land of the U. P. rail
road in Nebraska, broke it up, and by
overwork, trying to pay for it and high
priced machinery with low priced
crops, broke down his health. Hard
experience set him to thinking for him
self. He was determined to know why
the hard-working, the most productive
and economical, must, millions of them,
remain poor, while those who produce
nothing may accumulate more wealth
than they can enjoy. He saw that the
cause of the enormous and increasing
inequalities was unjust laws, laws giv
ing taxing, tribute-enforcing power to
railroads, bankers, mine owners, petrol
ran monopolists and other combina
tions of men. The producer could not
have what he produced, or equal labor
value for It, but must take what re
mained after paying Interest money and
cjust freight; and then with what
Ettle was left must buy (with railroad
freight added to their cost) his lumber,
machinery, coal and other necessaries.
The democratic and republican parties
had -together made all these cUs laws,
neither party caring for theeople
cnongh to protect them. T'u succes
sors of Lincoln had signed the bills
which enslaved more people than his
Cea set free. And the followers (?) of
efferson and Jackson had by their
votes helped pass the national bank
Acts, '-credit strengthening" act.
Demonetization of silver and restriction
of uoney volume acts; and by railroad
land grants and the granting of fran
hises to capitalists, giving them power
to tax the peopl at their pleasure by
K'Oting for all these the two old parties
changed our government into an oli
garchy, a money power possessing the
increasing means and machinery to
bring the people under an absolute en
Having despotism.
I Mr. Collins bas something to learn
His education isn't half completed yet.
tad it never will be if he remains in the
Republican party. The party hasn't had
new idea in the last twenty years.
f hurston himself, at the head of the
if young republicans, ' could talk only of
fine tariff and the past, and bis tariff
talk showed that Hamilton and Jeffer-
fson a hundred years ago knew vastly
more about the advantages ami disad
vantages of tariffs than he or, at any
irate, than he dared to express.
The glory of New England is waning,
(Mr uoiiina. Massachusetts was once
r'tbe cradle of liberty:" it is now the
seat of oppression, the borne of bond
holders and princely millionaires.
You have studied their toxt books on
olitical (class) economy, and know
lotbing about real business justice and
qua! inalienable rights. You believe
here is no help for the poor except
charity. You have accepted without
Uncovering its injustice the doctrine of
he gold "financiers" and their measur-
ng unit of changing, ever-increasing
purchasing power. You are a republi-
an agnostic, believing nothing Is known
r can be known outside of your party,
nd too completely prejudiced to find
ut that you know nothing of present
alue in the party. But the west is a
ood place for you. Begin to think for
ourself, and a few years of struggle
and contact with Independent thinkers
may make a man of you.
It is announced that an electric
storsgo battery Is about perfected which
can be used to propel common carriages
ifteen miles per hour. The possibilities
ot service which electricity contains
ieem unlimited, and were It not for the
;reed and present power of capital its
ise might multiply wealth and enjoy
ments for each and all. Unless the in
lustrlal classes rise, unite at the polls
nd legislate for themselves, each new
iscovery and Invention will but weld
their chains of poverty the tighter.
The National Economist, official or-
an of the National Farmers' Alliance
nd Industaial Union, and the Proaress-
IteFarmer, president Polk's paper, are
IVtoing good educational work for the
Incst r Uifn. i .1 1
w. uvuia yiauuiui auu me peoples
Wparty.
'THREE CHEERS FOB M'KEIGHAN.
Hon. W. A. McKeighan of Nebraska
endeared himself to his constituents and
made them forever proud of him as
.heir representative by his first speech
i in congress delivered last week in the
great struggle over the Bland free coin-
flage bill. It was a meeting of the nation's
giants and our owm McReighan was
not matched in argument by any who
opposed him. Even his most intimate
friends scarcely expected so great
things of him as a thinker and debater.
Hlsspeeoh was remarkable for its keen,
clear conceptions, distinctions and defi
nitions, Its just loosening and logic
enforced conclusions, its exposure of
shallow argument and hypocrisy, and
withering sarcasm aimed at those who
talk about "honest" money, and tho
"best" money.
In the course of his speech Mr. Mc
Keighah brought out very clearly that
it was a gross Invasion of the just dollar
doctrine to put an arbitrary limitation
upon coinage for the pwrpose, or with
the effect, of enhancing'the value of the
measuring unit. He showed that it was
a repudiation of the entire theory of a
commodity money, at that precise point
where there is any justification for or
tenablencss in the theory, to invoke a
legislative limitation of the volume in
the interest of extortion. He punctured
the pretense by which the unthinking
and shallow-brained are deceived, the
pretense that gold is "always at par"
with itself as coin, or bullion. As
though the freedom of the mint, said
he, would not instantly and forever
wipe out the disparity between the sil
ver coin and its bullion. He uncovered
the motives cf tnose who roll up their
pious plutocratio eyes against "dishon
est" (silver) money, showing that actual
honest money, money of unchanging,
unappreciating valid as compared with
what it would purchase, was not what
they wanted. He showed that while
gold bas since 18 1 3 increased its pur
chasing power of commodities and labor
about 50 per cent, silver has very nearly
preserved its ratio of value with other
things, and Is therefore vastly nearer
being an honest commodity money, or
measuring unit The restriction of free
coinage had increased the value of the
gold measuring unit, so unjustly taking
for each dollar more than a dollar's
worth of goods, and those who wished
to do this, . were making the outcry
against "cheap money," and clamoring
for the ' honest dollar" and the "best
money." It was an effort to debase our
labor and labor products.' We could no
longer be fooled with 'cheap" products.
The cry should be fiung back into their
teeth, that we want "best" bushels,
best barrels, best bales, in exactly the
same sense in which they call for best
money. We would not have any bigger
acres, any larger bushels, barrels, or
bales. We ask that labor and labor's
products shall be restored to their
former ratio of value with money and
allowed to remain stable. -
Mr. McEeighaa's speech will appear
in our next week's issue. -
"ALLS BIGHT WITH THE WORLD."
All's right with the world, is the decla
ration of the rich, the comfortable, the
successful, those who live at ease, those
who have power over their fellows,
those who have "framed mischief by
laws' and secured special privileges
which enable them to force unequal
ternu and exchanges upon others
Let us alone, you have nothing to
complain of, 'all things are as they
were from tne beginning,' the poor
must be content to labor always for the
rich tbee are the answers we get
when we demand justice, when we call
tor oar, 'equal, inalienable rights, 'rights
recognized and guaranteed by the na
tional constitution.
"In the brave days of old" there was
"a preacher of righteousness," one only,
known as a calamity praphesier. He
was the laughing stock of his geuera
tion. The calamity came, however. If
the people Noah preached to haa re
pented cf their unrighteous deeds and
regarded the good of others the judg
ment would have been held back, escape
would have been provided
Hibtory is again repeating itself and
we have now before us the first scene of
a terrible tragedy. It is not acted but
lived, i The American Missionary in its
March number reported that
Millions in our mission fields from
Georgia to Texas are in distress,
' Parents fail in the school
supplies of their children. Pittances
painfully spared for school or church
nave to go for food. Pastors' families
lack the means of living. Pupils have
to give up school.
lhis is the condition of the workers
in the great cotton belt after harvesting
a bountiful crop. In tne west, wtich
produced a crop of wheat, oats and corn
one thousand millions of bushels greater
than the preceding year, equal dis
tress would haye prevailed had not the
European famine advanced the price of
bread-stuffs. Even with this gain,
through others' loss, the mortgaged
and tenant and average farmers are
barely keeping their heads above water
this best of crop years. In the . ast de
cade there has been an absolute increase
of the mortgage indebtedness of each of
the five states, Kansas, Iowa, Illinois,
Alabamacand Tennessee, according t$
Porter's census; aad these states' figures,
tbe first to be summed up, show unde
niably that Sbylock has a growing grip
on a.l the agricultural and cotton grow
ing states. . Money and unchanged face
debts have also Increased their purchas
ing power thirty per cent in the last
twenty years, labor and labor products
decreasing in selling price ii tbe same
ratio. ":
The editor of Tht Anna, having fullest
Information nnd writing with humani
tarian motives only, has given us in the
current number of bis great magazine
a photographic view of "uninvited pov
erty," its increasing extent and distress,
an article of such startling revelations,
showing conditions and drift so danger
ous, tr.at senator Call cf i lorida bad it
read in the U. S. Senate and incorpo
rated in b!s March 7th speech, which
was directed against the encroaching
power of the railroads. As the great
majority of our readers will not see it,
otherwise, we reprint a part of The
Arena article herewith;
The dead sea of want is enlarging its
borders in every populous confer. The
mutteringsof angry discontent grow
more ominous. Rights denied the weak
through the power of avarice, have
brought us face to face with a formid
able ctisis which may yet be averted if
we have the wisdom to be just and hu
mane. But the problem cannot longer
be sneered at as inconsequential. It is
no longer local; it affects and threatens
the entire body politic. Three years
ego one of the most eminent divines In
America declared that there was no
poverty to speak of in this republic.
To-day no thoughtful person denies that
this problem is one oi grave magnitude.
Last year, according to the court rec
ords, there were 23,805 warrants for
eviction issued in the city of New York.
In 1880 the published statistic show
that over 7,000 persons died in the work
house, insane asylums, and hospitals of
the same city. More than one person
In every five who passed from life died
in some public institution. 3,815, or al
most one person in every ten who died
found his last restingplace the Potter's
Field. In 1S1X) there were 239 suicides
ofticially reported in New York City.
The court records are burdened as
never before with cases of attempted
self-slaughter. "You," said Recorder
Smyth, recently addressing a poor credi
tor who had sought death by leaping
into East river, "are the second case of
attempted suicide that has been up in
this court this morning, and," he con
tinued, "I have never Known so many
attempted suicides as during the past
few months." In a recent issue of one
of the great New York dailies we find
the y following suggestive statement
whichHs doubly impressive when we re
memberhat with the facts in their pos
session tha great daily press of America,
which to soMarge an extent reflects pub
lic sentimentmakes little more than
passing reference to the widespread
wretchedness -and rapidly increasing
poverty of our day. "The fact that
20.000,000 people are starving in Russia,"
says the metropolitan daily above re
ferred to. "is, iudeed, a terrible inci
dent of this wonderful year, but to us
the fact that in this city 150,000 people
go to bed every night guests of charity,
cot knowing where a nasrnicg msal is
to come from, with nothing whatever to
do, hope even being dead, is a much
graver factor in the problem of our
to-day."
The board of health of New York re
cently published the details cf a census
of tenement bouses taken las I Septem
ber. The facts furnish a melancholy
confirmation of oft repeated status by
thoughtful persons who personally in
vestigated this problem; in brief they
show in round numbers 35,000 front
tenements. 2,300 rear tenements. 276,
families, 1.223.M0 inhabitants (an ia
crease of 141,000), 7,000 adult home
workers, 260 child home workers. There
were 850 stables and 4 890 hones in the
districts to pollute tbe air. What is
true of New York Is true to a certain
extent of every great city in America.
Thj night is slowly but surely settling
around hundreds of thousands of our
people, the night of poverty and des
pair. They are conscious of its approach
but powerless to check its advance.
"Rents go higher and work cheaper
every year, and what can we do about
it?" slid a laborer recently while talk
ing about the outlook. "I do not see
any way out of it," he added bitterly,
and it must be confessed that tbe out
look bt dark if no radical economic
changes are at band, for the supply is
yearly increasing far more rapidiy than
the demand for labor. "Ten women
for every place no matter bow poor" is
the dUpawionate statement of an official
who has recently made the question of
lemaie iaoor a special study. "Hun
artasoi rins,- continues the writer.
"wreck their future ev?rv year and de-
Hiroyineir neaitn in stufly, Ui-ventUat
ea stores and snops, and yet scores of
recruits arrive from the country and
small towns every week to assume the
places vacated by the victims of greed."
i sen, again, tne poor as a rule have
large families; while a third element
which contributes a large quota to the
ever-increasing army of stragglers for
oreaa. is rouno m tbe constant stream
oi emigrants wbo pour into our great
cmes; wmcn are already congested
with suffering thousands. Within cannon-shot
of Beacon Hill, where proudly
rises the golden dome of the capitol, are
hundreds of families slowly starving
and stifling; families wbo are bravely
hattlino llf'. 1
nunc j car u year me conditions are
oeconunsr more hoDe eau. th tnirTi
for bread fiercer, the outlonlr
dismal.
The poor, the poor, the poor, th y stand
AniQflt HQ lnWnrf-li-nlni. .;ru,.
That prrsiure tipbttoi ever more:
Tbey tig-b monstrouf. fool-air tigh
For tbe ouMlde league! of liberty.
Where art. aweet lark, tranilatts the skr
Into a se&vedv icolnHr-
Each day all day" (these poor folks aay), '
In tbe came old year-lonir. drear-lnnir war.
weave In the mllli and heave in the kilna.
We ileva mina-raenhfia nnH thm mm
To relieve, O Ood. what manner of Ilia? .
loe eeasu. tney bunirer, and eat. and die;
And IO do we. and th nriit1, ,
silence, fellow iwlne; why nuzzle and cry?
Wwinetaood bath no remedy
fay many men, and hasten by.
But wbo said once, in a lordly tote,
Man tball not live by bread aione.
But all that Cometh from tbe Tbrone?
nam uoa lam go?
But Trade aaith nn-
ana tne kiim and the eurt-tongued mills
av (in:
There's p'enty that can. if you can't we know;
uui, u jruu mm jou re uncerpaid,a
&uv vvur lire pruuuc: we re nn, arruifi:
Trade ti trade.
One afternoon I recent! v visited mnr
than a score of tenements where life
was battling with death; where with a
patient heroism far grander than deeds
oi aaring won 'mid the exulting shouts
of the battle field, mothers and daugh
ters were ceaselesslv Dlvin the nfiedW
in several homes I noticed bedridden
invalids, whose sunken eyes and ema
ciatea laces toid too plainly the story
ui iuuuius, anu DernaDS vears or slow
starvation amid the squalor, the sicken
ing odor, and almon universal filth of
the social cellar. Here one becomes
painfully conscious of more inmates
than are visible to the physical senses.
Specters cf hunger and fear are ever
present. A life-lonar dread weicrhs ud1
uu me neans oi inese ox ues witn crusn
ing weight. The landlord, standing
with a writ of disposession, is continu
ally before their mind's eye. Dread of
sickness haunts evory waking .moment,
for to them sickness means inability to
provide the scant ' means of nourish
ment which life demands. The despair
of the probable future not infrequently
torments their rest. Such is the com
mon lot of the parent toiler in the
slums of our great cities to-day. On
most of tbeir faces one notes an expres
sion of gloomy sadness, or dumb resig
nation. Sometimes a fitful light flashes
from cavernous sockets, a baleful gleam
suggesting smouldering fires fed by an
ever present consciousness oi wrongs en
dured. They feel In a dumb way that
the lot of the beast of the field is hap
pier far than their fate. Even though
tbey struggle from dawn far into the
night for bread and a wretched room,
they know that the window of hope is
closing for them in tho great throbbin.
centers of civilized Christendom. Sa
indeed, is tne thought that at tbe pres
ent time when our land is decked as
never before with stately temples, dedi
cated to tho great Nazarene, who de
voted His life to a ministry among the
poor, degraded and outcast, we find the
tide of misery rising; we find uninvited
poverty becoming tbe inevitable fate of
added thousands of lives every year.
Never was the altruistic sentiment more
generally upon the lips of man. Never
has the hnman heart yearned as now
for a truer manifestation of human
brotherhood. Never has the whole
civilized world been so profoundly
moved by the persistent dream of the
ages-the fatherhood of God and the
brotherhood of man. And yet, strange
anomaly! The cry of innocence, of
outraged justice, the cry of the mil
lions under the wheel rises to-day from
every civilized land as never before
The voice of Russia mingles with the
cry of Ireland. Outcast London joins
with the exiles of all great continental
and American cities in one mighty,
earth-thrilling demand for justice. He
who takes the trouble to look beneath
the surface will see the explanation of
this apparent contradiction. The no
blest lives in every walk of life have
entered a protest against time-honsred
wrongs and conditions, and this has
given hope to the sinking millions of
civilization's exiles, and like a man
overboard who sees the coining life-boat,
they cry, where a few years ago, seeing
no gleam of hope, they were dumb. In
creased intelligence also is rapidly
changing the slave and vassal into a
man who reason and prepares to act.
While on the other side, intrenched
monopoly and heartless greed, behold
ing tbe rising tide of discontent and un
derstanding its significance, in many
instances grow more arrogant as well
as more vigilant and subtle in their
persistent efforts to prevent anything
which looks toward radical reforms.
The present is a transition period. The
new is battling with the old. Humani
ty's face is toward a brighter da7. The
i mpulses of the race favor another step
in the slow ascent of the ages, but
ancient thought lies across the path
way; while intrenohed power, monopo
ly, and plutocracy, are clinging to her
garment in the vain hope of checking
the inevitable.
Now what are the causes, actual,
tangible, discoverable, of this "unin
vited poverty" which is overwhelming
the lower, weaker, hardest-working
classes?
The completed census statistics of the
five states above referred to show that
tbe interest paid yearly on real estate
mortgages alone by the people living
in those states, is oyer sixty-seven and
one-half millions of dollars. Add to
this vast sum the chattel mortgage in
terest paid, together with the interest on
personal notes and on all bonds, and
multiply the product about six times
for the other states, and we shall have
in figures of inconceivable vastnees the
sum which the banking and money
loaning gang draw yearly, without re
turn, from the producing classes. Were
cot our soil almost ienxhaustibly fertile
and oar people the hardest working
and mo$t productive toilers on earth,
this enortttous interest drain alone
would in a ten years pauperize and
completely ruin, and enslave the pro
ducing class. But interest is not the
only item of lossin their book keep
ing
Senator Call of HJmda his made a
careful study cf the rlroad land grant
ngures and estimates that the people
iana given away by bills railroaded
through Congress, have already coat, or
wui eost when all bought back by the
people, more thaa ten thousand tuilliont
of dollars, the poor being forced to pay
this enormous amount for the land Gd
made for them; which by natural right
should have been free to them. And
the railroads got not only a large part
of the land, but the power to tax at
pleasure the people.
Senator Call in his great speech
said:
inee treat railroad como ration
with lines traversing the different sec
tions oi our countrv. Dosses an nnhml
ted power of taxation over all produc
tion and all consumption. In the aggre
gate over every man, woman, and child
of the 65.000.000 people in the United
States. This power of taxation is up to
this time practically unlimited and un
restrained. I read from the reonrt nf
mo interstate commerce Commission
for the year 1800 that the total gross
receipts of these corporations amounted
tome sum ot 1,052.838,000 annually.
ana in mv opinion the indirect iTa
levied by them on the people of this
country amount to more than this
Srots sum of 1,052,333,000 annually,
ere are the tables in thi rannrt nf tho
stocks and the propertv not all, but
only a part of that which
tU.a 1 J I . 1 ..J
unmnirai ignij wno io-aay are the
most powerful nobility which the world
has ever seen.
Who can estimate. Mr. PmairiAnt th
kukki vi mis vast sum oi money drawn
daily from every part of our country to
the great centers of commerce and
finance, leaving the people in the coun
try impoverished and without the means
of carrying on their business except by
the purchase or by the borrowing of
r . ... -
uiuuejr ai. enuimouB rates oi interest,
never less than 8 per cent, ahd from
that to 20 and 25 per cent? Who can
estimate tne enect of this power of tax
ation in the hands of a small numhr nf
individuals, largely foreigners, resident
in foreign countries and controlling the
laws of foreiga countries, possessing a
power of taxation over the people of
our country three times greater than
that exercised by the Federal govern
ment, even including the payment of
tne enormous pensions which are annu
ally appropriated?
The effect of this policy uoon the
country is beginning to tell with fearful
results. It Is a great power; it Is a power
wumu controls iogisiature3 and. judges
and oourts, and which has been felt in
the prostitution of the judicial tribunals
of the country. I have no hesitation in
saying that there have been proceedings
had In the United States courts of Flor
ida affecting the homes of the people on
public lands which are without the
shadow of law or authority and have
been in the interest solely of individuals
ana corporations and m absolute disre
gard and even contempt of the law and
of the rights of the neoDle: nroceedinom
which, in my judgment, of least re
quire that an investigation should be
had by the House of Representutives to
determine whether the public interest
does not demand that articles of im
peachment shoule be preferred against
the judge who has rendered the orders
for the deprival of the people of their
homes in tbe interest of persons having
neither a right nor even a claim ol
right, and indictments and prosecutions
under the criminal laws against the
persons who have entered into conspir
acies to defraud the people and the gov
ernment
"God's in his heaven," but all's not
"right with the world." A few have got
the land in the large cities and mort
gages on half the farms; a few own the
mines and railroads; a few monopolize
tbe working forces of steam, electricity
and machinery; a few have the money
we must borrow, the capital they force
us to pay tribute for; a few control the
prices of everything and greedily fix
rents, freight rates, Interest charges and
all monopoly prices, to enrich them
selves and reduce the people who pro
duce all their wealth to. a state cf abject
dependence and poverty.
Headquarters.
Nebraska headquarters for the nation
al convention will be at Hotel Dellone,
corner Capital Avenue and 14th sts.,
Omaha, Nebraska. Not knowing what
amount of room to engage the commit
tee simply secured the main parlors for
consultation and committee work, with
privilege of cots to the number of their
capacity. Other rooms can be had on
application at the regular rates, $3.00
per day, if made in time.
The Southern Mercury's Opinion of Mr-
Burrows' Argument.
Dallas, Texas, March 22, 1892.
Nebraska. State Farmers' Alli
ance, Lincoln : Dear Bros : The copies
of Bro. J. Burrows' reply to the "Per
Capita Delusion," in pamphlet form has
been received and carefully read, and
we take pleasure in stating that it is an
able, complete reply completely an
nihilating the sophistries of the Century
Magazine article. Bio alliance lecturer
or worker should be without it.
Yours for justice and independence,
Southern Mercurt.
The April Arena.
Frederick L. Hoffman contributes a
striking paper on "Vital Statistics of
the Negro," to the April Arena. Mr.
Hoffman argues that the death rate of
the colored race is far greater than the
birth rate, and employs exhaustive
tables of statistics to prove his position.
The paper is able aud will doubtless
awaken much interest. Congressman
John Davis contributes a paper on
Money, which is thoughtful and merits
careful reading. Mr. Davis does not
worship gold. He views the money
question as it is seen by the south and
west, but his statements are well con
sidered and thoughtful. Another in
teresting paper in this issue is by
Alfred Post, of Boston. It is a charm
iag presentation of the new world lan
gauge, Volapuk. what it is and what it
is destined to accomplish. Rev. George
St. Clair contributes a well prepared
paper on what he is pleased to term
' Rational Views of Heaven and Hell."
Dr. St. Clair is an English clergyman
of ripe scholarship. Anolhor paper is
from the pen of the editor of the Arena,
entitled "Two Hours in the Social
Cellar." Mr. Flower gives vivid
pictures of dire destitution among the
worthy poor of Boston, after which he
boldly states what to him appear prime
factors ia crushing to starvation, vice,
and s:u an ever-creasing multitudo each
year. People who wish to think
earnestly along tho great progressive
lines of thought which characterize our
present civilization, cannot afford to
miss the regular visits of the Arena,
which has been termed "The nine
teenth century Isaiah."
. Hon. J. H. Powers has resigned from
the Nebraska World's Fair commission.
Sri on our first page, the beautiful
poetic tribute to Congressman Mc-
Keigkan, written by Mrs. Kellie.
n
The Doughty John Spoke bis Piece to the
Gray Haired and Bald Headed Boys cf
the "Young Men's Eepnblican Club"
of Lincoln at the Lansing last
Thursday Evening.
Everybody Satisfied with His Effort Ex
cept His Friends.
The campaign, as far as the republi
can party is concerned, is now fairly
opened in Nebraska. It was opened in
this city a week ago. by the Union
Pacific Railroad Company, by their
attorney in fact, the Hon. John M.
Thurston, at the Lansing theatre. No
combined circus and menagery has
ever been more thoroughly advertised.
It brought to the city enongh of the
faithful throughout the state, with what
they could drum up with brass bands
about the streets, to comfortably fill the
theatre. The speaker had a fair
audience, and the surroundings were
everyway favorable for the noted
orator. From every seat before him
beamed 'an interesting countenance
lrom every seat around him and behind
him shone an ivory shirt front, except
one, and it was of the Nemaha pattern.
Col. Tom's shirt on this occasion seemed
to have had an extra dip in the Indigo
bath tub.
It was after eight o'clock when the
curtain was rolled up, and, what was
left of our young friend Collins, since
his encounter with W. L. Green at
Wahoo last fall, stepped to the front of '
the stage and introduced tbe speaker.
Of course the applauding committee
made a partial report as the curtain
went up, but asked Ifurther time to
complete their labors. The committee
seemed well drilled and got in their
work at regular intervals during the
speech, which lasted, including time
occupied by the committee, about two
hours.
THE SPEECH.
The speech was a very remarkable
one. That was what everybody ex
pected it would be. The national
reputation of the speaker and his
acknowledged ability gave assurance
that it would be a remarkable speech.
We pronounced it a remarkable speech
as soon as the speaker sat down, but,
for fear we might be mistaken, we
asked several of his more intimate
friends for their opinion, and all pro
nounced it a remarkable effort. It is
true we heard a few of John's political
friends coll It the "worst kind of rot,"
but they were, no doubt, honestly mis
taken. They evidently don't know
what it takes to constitute a remarkable
speech. They evidently think a speech
is only remarkable for what it contains,
when the fact is a speech is often more
remarkable for what it does not con
tain. In this sense only was Mr.
Thurston's speech remarkable. It is the
easiest thing in the world for a man
who is reasonably well informed and
has ordinary command of language to
talk for two hours and tell what he
knows, or at least a considerable por
tion of it, but for a man who is consid
ered a walking encyclopedia of know
ledge, ' and with a reputation as an
orator co-extensive with his country,
to be able to talk for two hours to an
intelligent audience and avoid telling
anything he knows, or believes, must
indeed be a remarkably shrewd man.
He is worth to any rail rood company
for political purposes alone, twelve
thousand dollars a year. Outside of
declaring himself a protectionist, and
discussing, for a short time, the tariff,
and giving us the old story of the de
cline in price of steel rails, as a proof of
the benefits of protection, he did not
hint at another issue. In the short dis
cussion of the tariff, however, he gave
us, his poor hearers, considerable
comfort. Ho volunteered the informa
tion that he had bought a brass bed
stead some four years ago, and now
under the McKinley bill they are now
made in this country and are much
better and cheaper. And another thing
that did every poor man's soul good
was the information the speaker im
parted that the poor man's son the boy
ms suirt sleeves, stood a Deuer
chance in the race of life than the son
of the millionaire. What a blessing,
according to John, it is to be poor, or
at least to our children! We have
endured poverty all our lives, but we
never appreciated it before. As we
have a larger supply of it than the
speaker has been able to corral on a
twelve thousand dollar a year salary,
we felt like contributing to his stock or
exchanging a part of our poverty
for a part of his salary,
or his brass bedstead. O John, what do
you take us for? Don't try to make us
believe poverty is a blessing. With all
your ability yon can't do that. "Go
sell what thou hast and give to the
poor," and come and enjoy poverty
with us, and we will believe in you, but
not while you preach such doctrine and
demand and draw such a princely
salary and recline upon an imported
brass bedstead.
We expected and had a right to
expect a diseussion of other and more
vital issues. The silver bill was at the
time being pressed to a vote in con
gress, but Mr. Thurston had no opinion
upon the free coinage of silver. The
question of railroad rates has been
uppetmost here in Nebraska for years,
but not a word had the speaker to utter
upon this subject. Nothing entered
into the great orator's speech except a
little tariff twaddle, and to tell the boys
he was a republican, and always voted
the ticket whether his friends, or the
friends of the other fellow, were on it.
Yes, it was a great, speech, and the
campaign is now open, and tariff is the
issue and the only issue.
Wb export more cotton than bread
stuffs, the cotton exports being 3276,
6fc8,OS0, and of all breadstuffs 1231,429,
890. The value of our exports of animal
products is 160,000,000.
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