St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-08-20
THE SAGE HAS SPOKEN.
Hon. Ignatius Donnelly's Letter Dsnounc-
ing Messrs. Kelly, Doran and Hill in
Vigorous Words.
The Writer Explains How He Was De.
feated for Congress and Why 1t
Was Done.
Watered Stock of the Railroad Cor
poratfons and Questions of
Taxes Discussed.
Mr.. Donnel1y Says He Wants Nothing
Except to Serve His Fellow Men
in Great Fight.
The Voice of the Sage.


A copy of the letter which Hon. Ignatius
Donnelly prepared to send to numerous
people throughout the state was yesterday
secured by reporter for the GLOBE. 1t is
rather long and is written in the peculiarly
trenchant style of the Sage of Nininger.
In it he handles Messrs. Kelly, Doran and
Hill with hard gloves and makes some in
teresting statements as to the figure cut by
Watered railroad stock and large corpora
tlonS The letter bears date of to-day, and
Mr.. DOnnelly remarked on his recent visit
to st. Paul, will be widely circulated. The
full text of the letter is as follows.
A CIRCULAR LETTER.
The time has come when the Democrats of
Minnesota will be called upon to decide, at
the primaries, the future status and pros
poets of the Democratic party Of the state.
No intelligent man can doubt that all over our
country great contest is raging between the
rev and the many; between the few who seek
TO grasp all power and wealth. and the many
VINO seek to preserve their rights as American
citizens and freemen. In this state a great
conspiracy has been formed to control the
Democratic party. Its 10000 votes constitute
an important factor in the battle. Shall they
be thrown on the side of the monopolists or
the side OF the people? AS one who has
heretofore for many years co-operated with
the Democratic party, who now desires it's
see it what it's founder, Thomas jefferson, in
tended it should be-the fearless defender of
the rights of mankind-I address you this
letter. There are in st. Paul three men-P.
h. Kelly, NJ. Doran and j. j. Hill. They are
rich men. They have made their money
largely off the people, by government con-
tracts, by specializing in wheat and by rail-
road operations. The first keeps wholesale
grocery store, the second is miller ond owns
a bucket shop" place for illegitimate spec
ulatlon in wheat; the third has risen in a few
years from nothing to be worth twenty mil
lions of dollars by watering railroad stock
and compelling the producers to ply the
interest on the same. They are backed up by
a crew OF elevator owners, wheat buyers,
usurers and railroad corruptionists. They do
not want the Democratic party to succeed.
Kelly and Hill opposed my election to con-
gresS in 1884. | was the regular nominee of
the Democratic party.
BUT FOR THAT OPPOSITION
l would have been elected. l am. Informed
that they contributed S25 900 to the campaign
fund of my Republican opponent, H. b.
Strait Hill sent a special train of cars
through the district the day before election to
work against me. ! do not refer to this
subject as personal grievance but to show
how little these men care for the success of
Democratic candidates. Maj. Strait now prac-
tically controls the patronage of the Third
congressional district, under a Democratic
also opposed the election of Col. Merpiman, the
Democratic candidate for congress in the
Fourth district, and stated as his reason, nat
he did not want him elected, lest he might
control the patronage. few years ago Kelly
openly supported, in opposition to u good
Democrat, the infamous Bill King, the Re
publican candidate for congress- who, after
he (Kelly) had helped elect him, had to fly to
Canada to escape prosecution for perjury,
leaving his seat in congress vacant during
large part of his term. Doran also opposed
the election of another Democratic candidate
for congress-Hon. E. St. Julien Cox Kelly
has been sued time and again by his partners
in gambling stock speculations and govern
ment contracts, and made to disgorge their
share of the profits which he had tried to ap-
propriate. A gambler who will attempt to
cheat his ''pat' is ineXpreSsibly the meaneSt
creature on earth. There is such thing as
honor even among thieves. The world may
patiently endure the faults of private indi-
viduals, but when they set themselves up to
lead the people their characters become
legitimate subjects of criticism; much more
so when they try to mislead them. These
three men now control the organization of
the Democratic party ia this state At the
coming Democratic state convention, to be
held Sept. IA, in st. Paul, the question will
be, shall they continue to so rule 1t? For what
purpose do they desire to remain its "boSSeS?'
The people OF Minnesota are to-day paying
nearly SO, 600, 600 per year interest on watered
railroad stock, for which the owners did not
pay l cent This is about nine times what
our state government costs US. This sum is
paid, not in taxes but in increased charges
for freight and travel; and upon every buShel
of wheat that is sold, and upon every pound
of groceries or dry goods that is bought the
people are contributing to pay interest on this
watered stock. A railroad eau now be built
for So. 600 per mile, and equipped for $1,000
mile more. But our Minnesota roads are
hon, 1e.ln r,Ic n1ye1f fNr-f Gln
600 per mie and the people pay the interest
on it all. The same system extends all over
the nation. The watered stock on the rail-
roads of the United States amounts to about
$500, 600, 600, or more than twice the amount
of our vast national debt. But that national
debt was incurred during great war, to
make black men free; this bogus debt of the
railroads has been created in time of peace
to make white men slaves. Here is one of
the pregnant causes of our hard times; of the
poverty of the producers; of the suffering
and discomfort of the laborer. We have per-
mitted the establishment of an arstocracy of
water; and every Cay we are drifting further
away from a republican form of government.
In Minnesota the people are deeply moved on
this and kindred questions Great labor Or
CARNATIONS have been formed among the
farmers and workingmen. Meetings have
been held and resolutions passed demanding
that railroad rates shall be so reduced as not
to pay 81 OF interest on watered stock. A
legislature is to be elected this fall on this
issue. 1t becomes of the greatest consequence
to the
PLUNDERERs OF THE PEOPLE
that the 600 votes of the Democracy shall
either be benumbed and stupefed with SUBJ
mission, or prevented from uniting with the
producers to right the wrongs of the people.
To accomplish these ends a new departure
has been initiated. Instead of waiting las
minority party invariably does), and holding
the Democratic state convention after the
convention of the dominant party has been
held and thus awaiting itself of their blum
ders, our triumvirate of capitalists rushed
ahead and called their convention one week
before The date OF the Republican conyen-
ton. with the avowed purpose of preventing
success at the polls. Ansel Oppenheim of St.
Paul, one of the committee, declared (see Pho
neer Press report, Aug. Ia, although the
party was 10000 in the minority, that he did
not want any alliances with the farmers or
laboring men; and the committee sustained
this view by calling the convention at an early
date, so as to prevent anything of the kind.
And then they voted down conclliatory res
olution. looking to harmony in the ranks of
the party, emphatically saying thereby that
they wanted neither harmony nor victory.
Democrats, these men do not want you to
succeed! The fewer there are of you, the
more easily the patronage will be controlled;
and the less strength you have the less
trouble you will give Jim Hill in tue legisla-
lure. And even if you lose every county in
the state, what does it matter to these men2
A close corporation made up of few rich
individuals can be more easily handled than
huge, prosperous party, full of young blood
and dominating the state Now the Demo-
cratic organization of this state is essentially
a rich mans club. The ST. Paul GLOBE, the
official Democratic organ, of August IA. 1886,
describing the gathering of the Democratic
state central committee, held on the previous
day. says: 1T was remarkable gathering
of rich men. Many Of them were
very wealthy men, and the aggregate sum
represented by their several fortunes would
make or break any city. This feature of the
gathering was most striking" The Republic
can press very generally sustains Kelly,
Doran and Hill, because it knows that as long