Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1886-11-27
THE GEORGE
Address Of James Means to His
Workmen.
A 6rackton shoe Manufacturer Eek.
plains the Position of New
York,s Labor Candidate
for and His
Future.

n oE6CAtO ShAOc
plains the Position of New
York,s Labor Candidate
for Mayor. and His
Future.
From the 9oston Post.
James Means, the shoes manufacture
al BrocktOn, Mass, called his opera
tives together at noon yesterday an
addressed them as follows concerning
Henry George and his movement:
While o are resting from you
work this noon [ want to say a few
words to you about Henry George, on
of the few men who is victorious In de
feat. 1t is t be regretted that he wa
not elected mayor OF New York, fol
had he been, a single year would have
shown his inability to perform wha
he promised. We do we'll at this time
, to make ourselves familiar with Mr.
George, for he is one of the most prom
inent men In the country to-day, ano
erelong it may be that you will have
voice in deciding his future. The de-
feated candidate for the mayOralty Of
New York city is at the same time ont
of the most dangerous and n OF the
most useful men in the country. He is
not dangerous because he is an insin-
cere man, like Gen. Butler; no, let us
understand him; he is almost every
way the opposite of that man who
turned upon you after his defeat q few
year ago, and insulted you by telling
YOU that the reason be had been defeat
ed was that YOU had sold your votes.
Mr.. George is a man of the highest in
tegrity, and perfectly sincere in all his
quietly considered u%tterances. He is
not dangerous because he is a selt-seek-
err, for he has honestly devoted all the
energies of his mind to the lettering
of the condition of suffering people.
He is not dangerous because of a lack
of intellect, for his writings show him
to be a man having =.
UNUSUAL POWERS OF MIND.
He is dangerous because, with the ut
most sincerity, he has Written an un-
sound book which is 80 enticing, so
captivating, that many a man who
takes it up in a scofing mood lays it
down q convert to the writer's princi-
pies. Hundreds of thousands of work
ingmen hate read "Progress and Pow
erfy," and | wish that Immediately it
might be generally read by working
men in all parts of the country. l will
tell you why I have this wish-it is be-
cause it takes about two years for a
man to get over the effects of reading
1t. If the reading of the book should
be delayed until the time of a political
crisis, men would be carried away by
the intense ~earnestness of the writer,
and it is very desirable that the mind
of the voters should be perfectly clear
when they cast their ballots two years
hence l.aCG .
The writer of "Progress and Power
ty," to use q figure of speech, takes you
by the hand and leads you into a beau
tiful garden, where, are singing birds,
sweet smelling flowers and trees richly
laden with earth's fairest fruits. All
within that paradise is peace and plen-
ty; poverty is there unknown; you
wonder that the human rae has 20
long been vilely robbed of the pleasure
of Georges heaven on earth, the place
where there is no poverty. Slowly you
come to realize that what you thought
was real is nothing but a beautiful Wis
ion which fades away, and You come
back into your old world again, where,
alas, you find the victims of poverty
about you. l have said that MIR. George
was one of the most useful men in the
country; my reasons are these: He is
the public mind to the necessity of right
ing the wrongs which certainly exist in
our systems. l tell you when a mar
like Mr.. George can poll $1,000 votes in
the city of New York, it shows that
there is some pent-up steam somewhere
that must be let loose. The voters of
this country and the men who repre-
sent them in congress and our honored
president have all looked at that large
figure, $4,000, and many minds are set
at work to devise the right kind Of
s~afety-valye to let off the steam. For
this we have to thank Mr.. George.
The nan of whom we are speaking has
shown himself to be useful in calling
attention to the suffering which exists
unseen or unnoticed by the well-to do
people, and he has shown the possibili-
ty of making things better. He will
be useful as a member of congress. Ii
/ could throw my vote for him as a
member of u national legislature
WOULD GLADLY DO IT,
if 1 knew that he would be in a minor
ity until he had learned something
about practical legislation. He would,
indeed, be a useful man in congress il
he could make some of his theories the
subject of debate in our house OF repre-
sentatives. The little leaven that he
would put in would be just what is
needed to leaYen the whole lump. But
what do 1 hear2 That he is going to
run as candidate for the presidency !!
Let us hope not. Perhaps it is all idle
talk, and possibly no such idea has en-
tered Mr.. Georges mind. He must
know perfectly we'll that the president
of this country is an executive whose
Office is to carry out the ideas of our
legislators. He must know that any
needed reforms are to be the result of
legislation. and that his proper place
to bring about such is in the house of
representatives.
But what if the talk of his being a
candidate for the presidency should not
be idle? What if it should really be
founded on fact? Alb, what fall would
be therel Can it be possible that a man
who knows that he car only do good
as a legislator would become the tool
of James g, Blaine by drawing away
votes from President Cleveland? You
know that MIR. George would never
strive for an Office where he could do
no good unless to help the candidate
who dragged the republican party into
the dustI We will not believe that Mr..
George can abandon all attempts to i'm
prove our legislation aud become a
mere seeker after an exalted position
where he could accomplish nothing in
the way of reform. l mention this to
you now because we need to begin at
once to fight the campaign of 1888, and
because l want you to watch all the
events which take place in the next two
years and see if they do not fully ex-
plain what l am now saying L wish
now to say a few more words about
progress and Poverty" Mr.. Georges
mistaken theory is this; he says plain
ly, that every man who owns any land
Is . robber, and that the way to remedy
the evils under which we suffer is
TO SEIZE THE LAND
from the possession of the robbers who
now hold 1t and give it all to the ma
ton. He would do this by %abolishing
all taxation ia that OF land values. ]