The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1882-10-05
COL. HARPER At DEs MONIES.
Points Made by Col. jesse Harper In Ills
speech nj Drs MOines state Convention.
IE.a,,, go. Gtat. u~al,..a

speech nj Drs Moincs state Convention.
From the State Tribnncl
Col. Harper denied there was any in
dication that there il in Europe or
America any healthy advance Of civil
zation. The last fifteen years history
Of this country shows moro rapid
progress toward the death Of nations
than any other fifteen years. The five
indications OF decay are:
Failures in business.
Penitentiary offcnscs.
Murder.
Lunacv.
Suicide.
Take the statistics on these points
and al alarming Increase i shown. The
same may be shown concerning divorces,
TN tations from leading magazines and
papers Of the present age supported his
position.
Republican legislation had changed
this Government from Government OF
the people. for the people and by the
people. to Government Of class. for
a class and by class. and. that class
less than | per cent That class had
captured the church. and under the
leadership Of such preachers as Beecher
and Cook. are trying to make lis believe
that man. his wife and six children
can live on dollar day, while they.
on salaries of $4,000 year. come ont
in debt every year. The old way with
Paul was to know nothing among them
but Christ That is. lie stood behind
and Christ in front. Now the preacher
stands in front and Christ behind.
Quoted Lincoln on the rights Of labor.
In fifteen years of Republican legisla-
ton capital had been exalted and was
riding, booted and spurred. upon the
back Of labor: in fifteen Years 80 per
cent. Of wealth had been transferred
from the hands Of labor into the hands
Of capital: III fifteen Years twentv-one
States had enlarged the capacity Of
their insane as.lums, and the
fearful increase of crime AMI centraliza-
tion of wealth was II question for all TO
think about According to Burke. the
duty Of the statesman was to increase
happiness. increase wealth and unity
the country" Under the administration
Of the Republican party happiness had
Mt been increased. labor had been en-
shaved, and every election had been won
by an appeal to the pas ,ions agendered
bv n sectional contest Abiding to the
railroads, the Colonel gave most
eloquent panegyric on the wonderful
prodigies accomplished bv the inven-
tions Of railroads. In his most inimitablc
style he pictured a scene between Jay
Gould and the bearers Of the laborer's
tin pail. in which he showed how the
laborers of the land had been deluded
into the support of their own oppress-
ors by the delusivc cry that You cannot
get anything without working for it.
The te.egraphs cost less than 81, 100000.
but they charge profit on SsO,OoD,0oo.
He pictured the condition Of things i'll
Europe, and showed to what we were
drifting. He then tod the experience
of his old French fliend-Credit Mo-
bilier-who went down to Washington.
Those who have heard him can better
imagine this story than We can report
it: hut he showed, amid sallies of wit.
bursts Of elolnence and ayalanches of
logic. how, with an expenditure Of
S3s.tNO. 900. the robbery Of the people
SStuIeu SiditS uSSIsssaliiiS ihoiS THAN
$40 mn, 900.
But we found it utterly impossible to
report the speech with any justice to the
speaker. His inimitahle style. tie
pecuiarities Of his dictum. his force
and yehemence Of action. can 10 more
be reproduced upon paper than can the
pearls of the dew-drops. this dancing Of
the cascade and the bin ling flash of
the thuaderbolt be shown on The can
vas Of the painter. Each thought is n
whole thought. each sentence IN aren-
ment. and they How from the lips Of
the speaker with such rapiditv and such
telling effect that doubt IS absurd and
controversy impossible. He closed
with the declaration that labor had
been driven to the wall, and was deter
mined to wrest from the hands of its
oppressors its just rights; that the
hounds had been laosed and the stag
was at bay. and the Grcenhack patty.
bidding defiance to the oppressors oi
the people, was CRYING, Lay on Macduif,
and damned he he who first cries hold
enough