The anti-monopolist. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1874-1878, 1874-10-01
THE GREAT OPTIMIST.

had ever existed on the face Of the
earth; and ergo that the best thing
they could do was to keep him, Ramsey,
in the Senate for six years longer.
Many Of his audience were deeply in
debt, mortgaged to the eye-lids, and in
spite of unremitting industry and poor
fare, unable to pay their debts and their
taxes. But Ramsey stood before them,
fat and comfortable, glowing in broad
cloth, his ample stomach testlfying that
like Dives, he ':fared sumptuously every
day From the hour when Ramsey
left the carpenters bench, about the
time he came Of age, penniless adven-
turer, to this hour, he has never earned
one dollar by any honest employment,
mental or physical; and never added
farthing to the productive wealth of the
world. And yet he stood before his
audience, amiable and smiling, corth
over one million dollars!
No wonder he thinks this world
magnificent success and scarcely sus-
ceptible Of any material improvement
Who wouldn' t under such circumstan-
ces? No wonder he feels, like Sancho
Panza, that ''the more you stir It the
better it won't SMELL No wonder he
pours opium into the wounds of the
people to lull them into peaceful slum-
bers. He says, like Hamlet,
"Let the CALLED jade vince,
Mn withers are unwrurg.'
His collective audience had, during
their lives of agricultural labor, added
millions to the wealth of the world.
Most of them had little, and some OF
them nothing, to show for it. Ramsey
had added nothing 20 the wealth OF the
world, and yet he stood before them
worth million, preaching peace On
earth and good will toward men. It
was beautiful sight!
And how did he prove to them that
their state on earth was indeed blessed /!
Why he compared them with the
miserable down-trodden peasantry OF
Europe!
Is it for this their ancestors crossed
the Atlantic and fought and bled for
liberty! Is it for this they penetrated
into the wilds of the far west and faced
the d;scomforts and dangers OF the
frontier Have liberty, civilization,
self.government, a whole continent.
yielded them only condition a
shade better than that of the
oppressed wretches of the old
world! Why should Ramsey
idle, tricky, plotting, cunning, lazy
Ramsey,-be worth his million and
Decentralization and energetic,-be
content that they are not yet quite re-
dueed to sea-weed and wooden shoes
Out upon such bosh! Let the Gov
ernor go to England. and instead OF
telling the laboring men there how to i'm
prove their condition and increase their
comforts. how to fill their stomachs,
cover their backs and escape the poor
house; let him convince them of their
overlooking happiness, by reminding
them of the starving, famine-stricken
millions of Hndoostan; and ergo that
they ought to be satisfied with the gov
eminent which furnishes them with
poor fare and alms.houses.
And among other arguments why the
farmer of Minnesota should be supreme
" happy, the Governor furnishes this
striking and original reason. Continu
ing his comparison with the peasant o
the old world, he says:
Here the same man may obtain Is,
acres for nothing upon the conditions
have mentioned, or if he prefers speed
icr inyestiture Of the title, the wages o
mechanic for two or three months
will enable him to become the sover
eign of quarter section, with IT'LL
securer than any royal crown, to all tn
solid earth within the limits, cfeo
through to the centre Of the globe. an
which reaches, according to the la,
books, to the stars that shine abov
his shanty."
Think of it! When the farmer
taxed to death on the face of the cart
he may still console himself with tn
t cheerful reflection that he owns clea
! through to the centre Of the globe an
! straight upward ito the stars tia
, shine above his shanty. For this
he an American citizen! To these r.
mote regions of his possessions he ca
u resort to escape the tax-gatherer, an
r leave R amsey and his ilk in possessle
l. of the surface of the earth ;-whie
l. after all,-according to the Senator.-
. is simply an unimportant. intermedia
resting place. between those really Va
liable extremities of the poor man
farm, to-wit centre of the ear