The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1881-04-21


weave the chains to enslave the many.
Down with them The people swear it!
Torty-five millions Of people make the
oath on their affairs. at their fresides,
and il their hearts.
They have the "inalienable right"
not to be made hewers Of wood and
drawers Of water to non-taxed aristoc-
racy Of bank-privileged nobility. And
the cataract.like tread Of their onward
march will sweep every vestige Of the
barbaric Shylocks Of coin, who shield
themselves behind the Bank Association,
from political power, political bribery
md political bounties. Life and the
pursuit Of happiness" must no longer
be abridged and made trembling strug-
gle for bread, for shelter and for clothes,
that corporate hundreds may swell into
pomp, idleness, extravaganza and social
superiority over the laboring millions.
The American people are no longer
serfs. They are freemen, and they will
be free. The storms Of liberty may be
essential to purify the atmosphere from
its financial and monopolistic plaques,
but the storms will come, and they will
swell into hurricane to uproot and an
nihilate every vestige Of non. taxed and
bounty-fed banks, as they will to chain
every kind Of transportation monopoly
to the rock Of public scorn, where the
people can forever witness their tyrants,
rs the fire Of public indignation burns
up privilege, monopoly and extortion, in
the illuminating flames intelligence in.
spires and manhood and liberty will
nerOetuallv feed.
Yes, the people accept the issue. How
glorious our work I How heart-inspiring
Is our platform: First. The people are
the nation. The nation has no masters
Il makes, Issues, regulates and distrlu-
utes its own life blood. Its money no
bank quacks, no Wall street gamblers,
no usurious Shvlocks shall hereafter dose
out as currency. The people create the
wealth. They shall enjoy what they
create. Second. The products OF the
people must be distributed by the peo-
pie. The highways Of the nation are
the highways to mill, to market, to
home, and through the country. They
are the first essential Of equality" 81
"rishts," Of "life, and Of 1.-THE pursuit
Of happiness" The people must control
them. Railroad kings and gambling
monarchs Of fraud now bar up the high
ways, demand tribute, and force ue
products Of the people to ray them such
enormous exactions as have reared into
mountains-mOnumen Of wealth-thc
fortunes Of Vanderbilt, Scott, Gould, and
the whole combination Of railroad kings
who bar the ways and hold the keys OF
the whole transportation from the At
lantic to the Pacific ocean.
Break down the gntes, Annihilate the
bars and throw the keys which monopo-
lizc transportation and hold our high
ways as the property Of individual spec
ulators into the sea Of tyrannies the
American people will no longer endure !;
break down every gate which shuts mp
the equal right Of way in the pursuit Of
happiness break down every monopoly
which forces the many to starve that the
few may feast. Let the people govern
the people. The highways are the SOW
ereign right and the sovereign property
Of the nation. The people own them.
The people must control them.
Tho public domain was the gift Of
God to the people il il their inherit
ance it is Is much the creation and
work Of the All-Wise a. air and water.
The title deeds came from the Eternal.
They are made for mankind, not for
Kings; for the whole, not for the few ;
for the laborer who cultivates It. not for
the feudal lord whose sword Of desola.
ton has nsurped title written in blood
and sealed with murder ; for the men and
women who have subdued il from the
wilderness into the fruitfulness Of the
garden, and not the landlord heirs whose
fathers shouted in Joy over the death
shrieks at Drogheda, or to the grantees
Of Kings who hired savages to murder
liberty in America, nor yet to the spec
ulating knaves who, taking a,lvantas 9
OF the necessities Of soldiers, have robbed
them Of their bounty land warrants t.
become the specializing owners Of whole
counties. nor vet to the railroad gor.
mandizers who have bribed Congress in.
to robbing the nation to make few po
litical favorites the respected owners ol
land enough to support 5O.OOO.O ol
people.
No moro land sales no recognition 81
| the huge swindles called railroad grants
no more principalities for the lordly few
hut homes, homesteads and lands fol
all. We must have, as Henry Georgt
has grandly said. "gospel Of deliver
ance" to makea gospel OF love for all, L
be sustained in homes for all, republi,
of equal rights in all that pertains t.
land, liberty, life and citizenship. When
rs Victor Hugo says, moral progres.
goes hand in hand with intellectual
progress and material progress " tina
| civilization may ripen into education
| Justice, comfort and enjoyment
We must put an end TO all land mo
nopolies. This can only be done y.
putting an end to all sales Of the pnbli
lands. We have no right to rob tn
children Of the future Of their inherit
ance. We have no right to sell the righ
to tyrannize over the soil. There il Ian.
enough for al who would occupy it I
cultivate it. There is enough to occu
py and cultivate to develop the publ,
domain up to the full standard of on
progress and Of our wants. Men VIII
are not able by reason Of poverty .
birth, the oppression Of usury, or by th
misfortunes 81 chance to get on to land
for homes must he helped to get on I
them. as the Gracchi recommends
1000 years ago to the Romans, as Franl
lin recommended 100 years ago to Penr
sylyania, and as Justice and humanit
now recommends the American Coz
grcss to do to the American people.
Do this and we shall have done MOI
for mankind, for civilization. for huma
elevation than ever before WAS accom-
rlished, and to do il requires no sacr
fice, no wrong. It demands only u
Justice Of doing unto others % We woul
that others should do unto us.
STEPHEN d. DHLAYR.
Washington. ID. G.
MODERN HIGHWAY ROBBERY.
TFrum tn CHICAGO Tribunal