St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-02-25

the principal grievances and suggesting
remedies which seemed 10 him TO be clearly
practicable. After returning thanks for the
honor conferred upon him, he spoke sub
stantially as follows:
In boyhood and manhood he had lived on a
farm and learned to toll in the haryest-feld,
and his sympathies since had not been lost
nor deadened. There he learned the lesson
that "as We SOW, so shall We reap. III God
created us equal. why should We not be re-
cogniZed as equal in the sight Of the lawl
Gigantic powers and unholy combinations
have and are robbing the toiler OF his due
There are many as just and good men in the
world, but the human heart, with its greed
for power and money, will ever be found a
potent factor for the oppression OF many.
The worlds history is full Of the footprints
Of the oppressor. When we look at the
struggle for bread that is going on in Ireland
we wonder why the greatest battle that the
world has ever heard of has not yet taken
LIace. The statue of liberty in New York
harbor overlookS city of starving and suf-
ferng. IT is not blood but bread these
people want. Raise their wages, stop over
working this tired and burdened people, and
they will fight TO save rather than TO destroy.
How. or by whom, the devil was created l
co not know. but it is certain that his claws
have been shown in each grinding monopoly,
! he has been abroad over the land ever since.
! l believe that one of the greatest mistakes
! that this government has ever made was
when IL commenced TO grant millions of acres
! of the public domain TO great corporations.
| IL was sowing the seed of corruption that has
! ripened until it stands as = dark spot in the
! history of tins nation. K has been continued
] from time 10 time until thousands have come
| to believe it. as though avarice was q virtue.
| and the stealing of land from the government
| a national blessing. To the railroads alone
| there have been given about La, 100000 acres,
| enough to make dozen states OF union Yet
! only l., 63l miles of railroad have been built
under the land grant system, while there
! have been built without the aid Of land grants
! 100000 miles of enthusiastically six times as
much. The settlers who have pre-empted or
purchased the sections of land within the
railroad limit have paid the price OF the lands
/ because they have had TO pay double the price
/ that was charged for other lands. In this
state the railroads got millions of acres
OF these lands: then got the graded
| roadbeds donated and then some of the rail-
road magnates got so many railroad bonds
] that il took several trains to carry them out
of the state. And the people paid for all
/ this. If there is a curse resting upon this
part OF the country IL is because millions OF
! acres of railroad lands remain untaxed.
refer, OF course, to lands that are covered up
/ by trickery from taxation. not to unsod rail-
road lands. These huge grants have enabled
the roads TO sell the land in large blocks TO
nonresident aliens. More than twenty
! million acres in this country are owned By
! absentee landlords. Are we TO have landed
! aristocracy in America? in little while we
! shall have more dukes and earis in this coun-
! try than Bill King registered in his pedigree
/ list OF Shorthorns.
HOW HAVE THE FARMERS SUFFERED?
AT one time the railroads would not ship
grain unless it passed through certain eleva-
tors or warehouses. Then, too, the roads must
provide facilities for receiving freight. Men
and teams with country products are not
IN Measure a la
Either immediate transportation or suitable
protection for products must be provided.
Where did Vanderbilt get bis great wealth?
IT came from toll and sweat, from the me
chanics plane, the blacksmith's hammer,
! from the pillow and sickle.
Another great wrong in railroad matters is
! that one man is favored at the expense of an
! other. You want the steam spanker or whip
! ping post for men who do this. The giving
/ of rebates is a species of favoritism that
works great injustice Intense partisanship
| stands in the way of reform of these abuses.
/ The Eastern millionaires object 70 the CON-
! ing of silver. The Western mines furnish the
silver and the West needs the capital.
Our express companies need overhauling.
/ The railroads have never learned the first
principles of charging compared with the ex-
| press combinations. For instance. l was
charged S2t 10 bring a calf eight weeks old
/ from Rome, \. Y, 10 MGnkato. The remedy
for this state of things as touching the farmer
] u
| lightened education. Great intellects are
not the birthright of any particular locality.
| They may be found on the farm. as else
! where. A dignificd, educated. intelligent
and gentlenanly farmer like the late Horatic
| Seymour comes nearer my ideal of manhood
than any other class of men the world ha:
produced.
If you would succeed you must combine
1t is idle TO suppose that any man alone can
successfully meet powerful rings and corpor-
ations. You are justified by the law of self
defense. You must send your best and ablesi
men TO the legislatures. Corporations don't
| ask whether a man is Republican or Dem
ocrat when they send him 10 legislate for
them, but is he s0ewd, long-headed they in
| quire. The unjust attacks made in some
agricultural journals upon lawyers deserve
an answer. While l was in the Legislature
| none of the members fought monopoly as did
the lawyers. If they had been backed up by
the doctors and farmers there would have
been laws npon our statute books now thai
would make the monopollsts tremble with
| fear.
You ought 10 have q secretary OF agricul-
! ture in the cabinet at Washington. Here
| after demand this right in unmistakablt
! terms Make every congressional candidate
agree 10 it. For years l have advocated es
tablishing more agricultural experimental
stations.
Gentlemen of the alliance, 1 have spoken
| plainly, because i feel that these are time.
| when earnest men should utter no uncertain
sounds. This mighty, gigantic, teeminc
West will soon laugh at the power of the ole
thirteen states and take the reins of govern
| ment in its own hands. The destiny OF the
nation is in the hands Of its agricultural pop
ulation, and the farmers Of the great Missis