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About The Hesperian / (Lincoln, Neb.) 1885-1899 | View Entire Issue (March 15, 1892)
l. .. . " o THE II Sr BRIAN. principle, of manly dignity, of honorable service, of the no blest manhood, Ry his writings he "lent ardor to viitue and confidence to truth." Greater praise it is not given man to attain. Sweetly sleep, great heart! Thou hast nobly earned thy rest. A sorrowful nation mourns thee, a prowl nation extols thee, a grateful nation will ever love and cherish thy nunnry! 'Peace to thy sliimlicr in the forest shade. Poet and jwtriot, every gift was thii.e. Thy name shall live while summers bloom and fade, And grateful memory guard thy leafy shnne." After the subsidence ol applause, which was hearty and long, the next orator was announced. Mr. A. D. Harmon, appeared. His appearance upon the stage is good, but his delivery savors loo much of elocutionary training and unnat uralness. Toward the end of his oration he spoke in a strained voice. His subject was: LOYALTY TO 1'RINCII'I K lNIUSPrNSIlILK TO RKPORM. God has given to every generation its peculiar task. The plcbcahs of France suffered the oppression of ihe priests, the nobles, and the throne. The heroes ol her revolution shed their blood to break a tyrannical yoke. Our fathers (accd the lwlching throats of English cannon. They severed the bonds of a hateful union, and brought into the arena of polit ical history a nation dedicated to freedom- They graced it with incomparable immunities. They mantled it with a flag striped with their own blood and to us it is committed for preservation and advancement. Patriotism, ever present, prompts us to paint our future in optimistic colors. It is sometimes well, however, to relieve the canvass slightly with pessimistic shadows that we may see things as they arc. Oftimes while Phrcbus illuminates the eaith from his golden charioi the darkest cloud is gath ering beneath the western hills. When France was begin ning to glow in the splcndoi ol icpublican libeny the cloud of Napoleonic inuuaichy was gathering behind the Alps. We arc to day enjoying the sunlight of unparalleled ros pcrity. Hut is not a storm brewing behind the horizon of American politics? Certainly capital is being elevated; labor oppressed. Wealth, properly distributed, is national blessing; centralized, a deadly foe. Egypt was once the pride of antiquity. Hut she transfeired her wealth to the hands of a few. She erected her sphinx, her obelisks, her pyramids, to proclaim hei immortality. They arc now the monuments of a race forgotten. The genius of illuminanl Greece dispels the darkness of mental night. She builds cities of wealth and refinement, of w'.sdom and culture. Hut avaricious men seize the reins of government. They drink her cneigies to quench their own jRvumar) thirst. The light ol her glory went oat in darkness, of unending iguoniin) . Pioud Rome, under equality of laws and proper aptoriionniciat ol wealth dominated the other kingdoms o the world. Hut greed for gold suqiatscd virtue and love of country. The oracles rrsjionded tan propitious. The eaglet, flew to theii eyries. Rome sank into the terror of drspotim. A quatter of a century ago there was an approximately equal distribution of wealth in this counti). lire millionaire was yet in the future '1 he capitalist. possessed only one third. Hut now they Mstss two thud of out entire wealth. Twenty-live )cais ago Gould Ik came a milhouaiie He has since accumulated tuo bundled millions. Should his present wealth continue to increase at the rate of his first million, twenty five ycais hence he would possess foriy billions. May we -tot expect the adver.t oi the billionaire? Eg) pi, Greece and Rome forbid his coming. In his desolate wake would follow a million paupers to mark the pathway of want and destruction. Our government, almost the consummation of humane jurisprudence, would become a disgrace to civilian tiou. That such n day will ever come wc do not argue. That U is possible is apparent from our country's history. The discovery of gold in California was the poor man's chimera and the rich man's paradise. Our nation rejoiced, when with the glittering grains she paved her pathway into financial fame. l.abor was then a co-partner with capital. The miner and the prospector were one. Hut is not the universal cry to-day "only the rich can prosper there"? Her mines arc not only under the control of domestic syndicates but foreign capitalists have also been permitted to entrench themselves. They have reduced our laircst province to n Siatc of tenancy. They have snatched from the laborer his golden shield and now demand his servitude. If he would not be a serf he must seek other fields. Whither shall he turn? Shall he cross the waters to foreign countries? Op picssivc tyrants dominate there. Shall he go to the oast and cometc with oppressed American and outcast European labor. Hope of liberty leaves his breast. Hunger ami des titution compel him to sunender his last defense, his ballot, to organised capital. Shall he settle government land and become a farmer? A lauded aristocracy will blight h s heart's ambition. Two hundred and sixty thousand sqm-re miles of our land are now owned by capitalists. New ling land is iirctrievably ruined. Her farmers aic discussing the piopriely of the tenant system. Illinois and other wesuru states arc under a mortgage indebteuness of more than li iv pcr cei.t. Thoe incumbrances have been incurred dining the unNUalleied prosperity of the past. These arlilin.il financial stringencies still exist. Parasitic millionaires c mi linuc to fix the price of crops. Where is the hope of the fanner? Hut domestic capitalists arc not our worst enemies. For eign capitalist own land in this ounir) eqnal in area to lhe w-liii ol lMgttoit, Ireland, SL nl.:uJ ami Wale. They have millions invested m our manufactures. They are living to woik 'hem with foreign lJor. Heboid their attempts in buying our breweries to detdr, dr!auch and profane the unpolluted blood of our citizen-. Examine the early histoiy of Britain. These countries have been centuries centralizing iheir wealth and establishing the tenant sjstcm. They had to develop within themselves. Hut their money-tyrants now spread their parchment over oar sacred soil. Their oppressed citizens escape to ourltouut tiful shore. America, the nurse of her offspring, may be come in a night, heir to theii d isfoi lures. Heware lest "the land of the free and ihc home nf the brave" shall ln-come the land of the rich and the home of the slave. The laborei, like the meiican Indian, his ever lieen driven west-: id ia search ol a home. When the last acic ol public land shall have lieen taken he will sec the sun shine lor the last time on a free people. Wlien merciless capital controls agriculture, our common dependence, we must look to it for subsistence. Republicanism is at an end. Lovers ol liberty, what is ) our rcpl? Shall we lire subject to the mandates of money tj rants? Shall we lied lhe English lion in our flag and fatten it on the Uxlies of our sons? 'I he bl. ck man clamoring fui the light of reason says no. The white man, bowing his neck to the yoke of a galling tyrumt, foi bids. I low then can it be averted ? The mariner, near a dangerous coast, watches with intense interest for the appearance of beacons. Let us then discern the light upon the rue! s, threatening our craft. A true gov ernment gives to ever)- citizen equal opportunities. It knows no discrimination. Hut the repulsion that exists between capital and lalmr has separated the people and made two distinct classes. One Is lordly and mandatory; the other UBBBMHIBIUB
