The Labor enquirer., 1884-08-23

| small producers, all OF whose interests AT
| identical, can get or hope fer nothing from
| either or both the present organized parties
The Republican party is bound hand anc
| foot to capitalized monopoly. s
The Democratic party Is governed in it:
conventions by combination of . solid
South, from whence no laboring man. Whit
or black, is delegate, and where the aris
| tocracy of capital alone Is heard, and tht
political machine corruptions of substan
TALLY single state of the North, which con
| federacy dominates its platform and nomin
ates its candidates and holds them firmly II
its grip if elected. y
| THE PEOPLE THE GOVERNING GLASS.
What then is the duty Of the classes ol
men just enumerated in the coming national
election? They, by numbers as well as in.
telligence-for everybody knows more thar
| anybody Ought to be the governing classes
under the theory of our constitution. They
stand in the same social, business and other
relations to the class of men in the old par.
ties who believe they are of right the gov.
| erning class, as did our fathers in the time
Of the revolution to the clergy, the officials
and the offshoots of British aristocracy who
claimed to be, and believed they were. the
governing classes.
| You have the power to make this govern
ment your government as did your fathers.
| This can only be done by acting together
Be not deceived, stand by each other Let
the people unite for the good of the people
To prevent such union has been the policy
of the leaders, monopolists of all shades Of
opinion, enemies of the people, who, while
they join together4in fact in control of the
government, claim to belong to different
parties. You know that it makes no differ
ence to you whether one set of them or the
other is in power, no burden on the people
is lightened, no monopoly is crushed.
Whichever party carries on the govern
ment, laboring men and women are per
mitted to enjoy only the benefits of the
primeval curse In the sweat of thy face
shalt thou eat bread You enjoy none Of
Gods blessings! Why not2 You earn and
produce them all-all that He youchsafes to
man, save the air we breathe. They are
yours in the sight of heaven Stand together
and just share of them is yours. III
In other lands the just rights of the peo-
pie are only to be got out Of the hands Of
their enemies and rulers by the bayonet and
the bullet. But in America as yet, thank
God and your brave fathers, the ballot, the
ballot, the freeman's shield and sword, is
left to you, and if you can stand together
protect yourselves against all oppressive,
unjust and purchased legislation. which
burdens the people and undermines the free
institutions of your country.
THE BALLOT IN DANGER FROM THE BRITISH
PARTY. -
How long will the precious ballot be left
to every freeman? r.
The people must act now and assert their
power, or they may lose it forever. =
Already the British party in this country,
those who ape the British aristecracy, wea.
clothes which are imported, largely without
paying duties, because they feel that an
American mechanic cannot make cloth good
enough for them, can only be waited upon
by British servants, and cut their whiste ers
even, British fashion, SO as to appear as un-
American as possible, are saying toE each
other: Why should the lower classes have
the ballot and thus the masses rule the
country against us? Or as one of their
magazines published in Boston expresses it:
"A few old families have the traditional
right to govern the politics of Massachu-
sets" So that in Massachusetts and Rhode
Island, as a beginning, we find
each legislature striving in its
turn to throw every obstruction,
hindrance and impediment in the way to
prevent the poor man exercising the free
mans right to cast his ballot, and to drive
him from the polls by requiring money
qualifications and all other devices that in
genuity may invent. Ey these means
Rhode Island is governed by the few and
not by the many, by an aristocracy of birth
and wealth, and not by the people. In the
late general election for members of congress
in that state, 5,02l votes only were thrown
by all parties in the election of member of
congress, while at the West, where a free
ballot is still in the hands of every man, at
the same election SO, 286 votes were required
in the election of congressman.
And this is called equal representation of
the people in the government !
Let every true American ponder upon
these figures and inquire, whittier is the
country drifting? If such inequalities are
possible in the beginning, what will be the
ends Let the people arise in their might
and bring back the government where our
revolutionary fathers placed it, on the
foundation of freedom, with equal rights,
equal burdens, equal privileges and equal
powers to all men.
HOW THE PEOPLE LOST THEIR CONTROL.
Why have the people lost or forborne to
exercise this great power? At first there
were two parties contending for great prin-
clpleS-the federal against the Democratic
The one represented the capitalist, the mo-
nopolist, and those believing that kingly
government was best, if it was home gov
eminent, although willing to aid in the ex-
pulsion Of King Georges government Ham
ilton and Adams led this-Jeferson and
Madison led the other. =. ~
The divisions were SO great that in that
day there was no third party. When the
Federal party was in power we had the alien
and sedition laws, and judges appointed at
midnight, and arist6cratic forms of office.
Under Jefferson and Madison the people
held sway, and called themselves the DEM
ocracy, as in fact they were, and then, Re-
publican simplicity Of manners, economy of
government, and respect for the rights of
the people were the order of the day.
Is This state Of things continued until the;
time of Jackson-in his administration q
great banking monopoly was broken down.
Then arose only minor questions between
the parties, industrial and economic, about
which there was really not much difference!
And until the question of the abolition of.
slavery arose, it was exceedingly difficult to
distinguish the parties by their platforms,
except that in the Democratic platforms
there was always pledge to the resolutions
of '98. This contention on the slavery gues-i
ton produced the war. How the war ena-
bled the monopolists to get possession Of
both parties, / have already shown. Since
then, actual differences between the parties