The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1886-07-01

3IEN OF DICKINSON COUNTY.
The time has at last arrived when
action must be taken in order to protect
ourselves and families from the unjust
class legislation, under which we are
suffering. We have been forced down
to a condition from which we can scarce
" pay taxes and the necessary running
expenses of our farms. We, as class,
have heretofore had nothing to say in
regard to legislation for our prosperity;
we have humanity taken what the shy
locks gave us without scarcely muir
muir, and made the air TeSound with
great is Dianna of the Ephysians. The
amount raised Of all the cereals is not
sufficient excuse for the exceeding low
prices which we are suffering. The
whole grain market is now in the hands
of specializing gamblers without patriot
ism, humanity or benevOlence written
upon the tablets of their hearts. The
Chicago Board of Trade controls the
whole grain market of the United States
and might properly say that it fixes
the price of all our products. All who
look in that direction know that the
bulls and bears operate the entire mark
cts, each trying TO corner the other
without transfers on their deals OF mil
lions of dollars, the tendency of which
is to lower the price Of our productions
to the lowest possible figure. Here lies
the secret of depression in prices. The
whole process is criminal and has the
most deleterous effect on the spirits o.
the country. A United States law Is
imperatively needed against this kind OF
gambling Oh the products Of the nation;
stringent statue would be both con-
stitutiOnal and proper and should be
demanded by every farmer and labOrln3
man in the whole nation. The farmers
prosperity is the fulcrum on which the
whole people move on to prosperity and
happiness: let the farmers be ruined
and distress looms up from every hill
side and valley throughout the land.
With our present condition what would
be the result to-day if greenbacks had
been withdrawn the first day Of Janu,
airy, 1880, and silver remained demon
itized as it had for ten previous years ?
Let every man who can think solve this
question for himself, for his family and |
his country. Every man who can look |
back at the history of the past will as |
certain for himself that these Boards Of |
Trade have been an eating moth on the |
prosperity of the producing classes, a |
general nuisance to the best interests |
of the country. The first intention of |
such Boards, when first organized some |
years ago, was to lend helping hand |
to develop the country and assist in its /
general prosperity, to ascertain the |
oil lyindc of rrOd1pfiOnu fhp
amount of home consumption and then
suggest and assist ways and means for
disposing Of the surplus. But instead
of a praiseWorthy motive of this kind,
their entire history shows an exceeding
itching palm and a continuous espiOn-
age on the products Of the country. Let
me call attention to a resolution passed
by the Board of Trade at Abilene dur
ing the strike on the Gould system; this
resolution will be remembered by many
and should be retained by all, showing
the animus of the immortal five who
voted for 1t against the labOring classes
of the country; this resolution should
be kept and made part of the history
of the great west.
Next comes the.TailrOadS, whose Off
GERS sit like an incubus on the prospect
ty of laboring men and women, without
any specific laws to regulate charges on
freight or travel. They assume to be
governed by no law, human or divine,
but laugh to scorn all petitions for re-
dress and reform. With many in our
state legislatures and In the congress
of the United States they have borne
down all opposition to make laws for
Il 20 |
rect this evil, and all others, we must |
have Labor Bureau at Washington. |
whose duty it shall be to ascertain the
actual cost of all roads and annull their
watered stock, and also to ascertain |
their actualrunning expenses, quarterly,
semi-annually and yearly. Let specific
laws be passed regulating the price of ;
freight and travel, after deducting a
Just and equitable amount as interest {
on the principal involved. n law like I
this would be just to the capitalists and
a protection to the people. Now, ac-
cording to the mode of operating The
railroads, it takes enc half of our pro
ducts to carry them to market.
The country also needs a tariff dis q
eliminating i'll favor of American la {
Dor and productions, and not amount l
ing to prohibition. \ nation, to be '
prosperous, must have all its laboring {
men employed, to keep want from their {
doors and poor houses empty; herein e
lies nations prOsperity-thata all who L
have TO labor may do SO and protect o
their families and their fireSideS; tar
iff of this kind we must have before we e
can have peace and prosperity.
Next comes our MONETARY system. IL
system that all men should study and 4
know they are right in demanding from q
S25 to $50 per capita in silver, green n
backs and gold, a circulating medium II
of exchange, the best in the world. a
The first bank known to history, the n
bank of Venice, established on the credit u
of the nation, continued for 400 years.
making the people the most prosperous W
known to history; and about the 18th W
century France established a bank u
on the credit of the nation, and it still | g
survives after all the ups and downs Do
and revolutions in her history. Eng
and, many years afterward, established -
3 banking system by issuing bonds and
selling them to capitalists to do the
banking and to fix the rates of interest
CHARGED and with fills EnpIand,S p,,h | n