The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1888-12-07
PRESIDENTS MESSAGE.

assemble for the discharge of the duties yoL
have assumed as the representatives OF free
| with the expiration of the present session OF
Congress- the first century OF our constitution
al existence as nation will be completed.
| When the experiment of our government was
/ undert AIKEN the chart adopted for our guidance
was the constitution. Departure from the lines
there laid down is failure 1t Is only by q
/ and by restraint within the limitations they fix
that we can furnish proof to the world of the
American peoples capacity for self-govern-
| ment.
| The equal and exact justice of which we
boast as the undertaking principle of our insti-
buttons should be confined to the relations OF
our citizens to each other. The government
itself is under bond TO the American people
that iu the exercise of its functions and powers
| 1t will deal with the body of our citizens in a
absolutely just 1t has agreed that American
citizenship shall be the only credential neces-
sary to .justify the claim of equality before
the law and that no condition in life shall give
| rise to discrimination in the treatment of the
people by their government.
Our survival for one hundred years Is not
sufficient to assure us that we no longer have
dangers TO fear IN the maintenance, with all its
promised blessings, of government founded
upon the freedom of the people. The time
rather admonishes us TO soberly inquire
kept in the course of safety and whether we
have before us way plain and clear which
leads to happiness and perpetuity
The citizen OF our Republic in its early days
letter of this bond, and saw stretching out be-
fore him clear field for indiyidual endeav-
or. His tribute to the support of his govern
ment was measured by the cost of its economi-
cal maintenance and he was secure In the en-
joyment of the incompetence of his steady and
contented devotion to it.
In those days the frugality of the people was
stamped upon their government and was en-
forced by the free, thoughtful and Intelligent
suffrage of the citizens. Combinations, mo-
nopoies and aggregatons of capital were either
The pomp and glitter of government less free
offered no temptation and presented no delu-
sion to the plain people, who side by side in
friendly competition, wrought for the solution
of the problem of free government, and for the
achievement of the grand destiny awaiting the
land which God had given them
A century mas passed. Our cities are the
abiding place of wealth and luxury; our manu-
facturies yield fortunes never dreamed of by
the fathers of the republic; our business men
are msdly striving In the rae, for riches, and
immense aggregations of capital out-run the
imagination in the magnitude of their under
takiDgs.
We view with pride and satisfaction this
bright picture of our cOuntry's growth and
prosperity, while only closer scrutiny uevel-
spection We find the wealth and luxury of our
cities mingled with poverty and wretchedness
and unremunerated toll.
A crowded and constantly increasing urban
population suggests the impoverishment of ru-
raj sections and discomfort with agricultural
pursuits. The farmers son, not satisfied with
his fathers simple and labOrious life, joins the
eager chase for easily acquired wealth.
We discover that the fortunes realized by our
manufactures are no longer solely the reward
of sturdy industry and enlightened foresight,
but they result from the discriminating favor
of the government and are largely built upon
| undue eXaction from the masses of our people
The gulf betweeH employers and employed is
constantly widening and classes are rapidly
forming, one comprising the very rich and
powerful while in the other are found the toll
Ing poor. We view the achievement of agrega-
ted capital; we discover the existence of trusts,
combinations and monopolies, while the citi-
Zen Is struggling far in the rear, or is trampled
| to death beneath an iron heel. Corporations,
which should be the carefully restrained crea-
lures of the law and the servants of the people,
are fast becoming the peoples masters. Still
congratulating ourselves upon the wealth and
prosperity of our country and complacently
contemplating every incident of change insep-
| cradle from the conditions, 1t is our duty, as
patriotic citizens to inquire at the present
| stage of our progress how the bond of the
government made with the people has been
kept and performed.
HARBINGER OF OPPRESSION.
| Instead of limiting the tribute drawn from
our .citiZens to the necessities of its econOm-
| icsl administration the government persists in
exacting from the substance of the people mil
lions, which, unapplied aud useless, lie DOR
mant in Its treasury. This fragrant injustice
| and this breach of faith and obligation add to
| extortion the danger attending the diversion of
| the currency of the country from the legitimate
channels of business. Under the SEINE laws by
| which these results are produced the govern
| ment permits many millions more to be added
to the cost OF living OF our people and
| to be taken from our consumers, which unreas-
onably swell the profits OF small but power
| ful minority.
| The people must still be taxed for the support
| OF the government under the operation of the
tariff laws. But, to the extent that the mass of
| orr citizens are Unfortunately burdened beyond
of a favored few, the government under pre-
| text of an exercise of its taxing power, enters
gratuitously into partnership with these fav-
| orites, to their advantage and to the injury of
| a vast majority of our people.
| This is not equality before the law.
| The existing situation is in curious to the
health of our entire body polite. 1t stiles, in
those for whose benefit it is permitted, all
patriotic love of country aud substitutes in its
place selfish greed and grasping avarice. De-
! votion to American citizenship for its own
| sake and for what it should accomplish as a
| motive to our nations advancement and the
| happiness of our people, is displaced by the
| assumption that the government instead of
| being the embodiment of equality is but an in
| strumentality through which especial and in
| dividual advantages are to be gained. The ar
| rogance OF this assumption is unconcealed. 1t
appears in the sordid disregard of all but per-
sonal interests; in the refusal to abate for the
| beneht OF others one tota OF selfish advantage,
and in combinations to perpetuate such advan-
| tages through efforts to control legislation and
improperly influence the suffrage of the people.
THE BEARERS OF THE BURDENS.
The grievances of those not included within
the circle of these benefits, when fully realized
will surely arouse irritation and discomfort
Our farmers, long-sufering and patient, strug-
Cling in the race of life with the hardest and
most unremitting toll will not fail to see, in
spite of misrepresentation and misleading fai-
lacies. that they are obliged to accept such
prices for their products as are fxet in foreign
markets where they compete with the farmers
of the world; that their lands are declining in
value while their debts are increasing; and
that. without compensating favor, they are
forced by the action of the government to pay
for the benefit of others such enhanced prices
for things they need that the scant returns of
their labor fail to furnish their support or
leave margin for accumulation. Even
workingmen, enfranchised from all decisions
and no longer frightened by the cry that their
wages are endangered by unjust revision of our
tariff laws, will reasonably demand through
revision, steadier employment, cheaper means
of living in their homes, freedom for themsel-
yes and their children from the doom of their
perpetual servitude and an open door to their
advancement beyond the limits of q laboring
class Others of our citizens, whose comforts
and expenditures are measured by moderate
salaries and fixed incomes, will insist apOn the
fairness and justice of cheapening the cost of
necessaries for III emselves and their families
THE PATH TO THE COMMUNE.
When, TO the selfshness of the beneicaries
of unjust discrimination under our laws, there
shall be added the discomfort of those who sui
fer from such discrimination, we will realize |
the fact that the benefcient purposes of our
government, dependent upon the patriotism |
and ccntentment of our people are endangered |
Communism is a hateful thing, and a menace |
TO peace and organized government. But the |
communism of combined wealth and capital, \
the outgrowth of oyerweeDipg capacity and |
sefishness, which insidiously undermines the |
justice and integrity of free institutions. is
less dangerous than the communism of Oppres-
sed poverty and toll, which, expressed by in |
justice and discomfort, attacks with wild dis |
order the citadel of rule.
He mocks the people, who proposes that the |
pnyernmpnt shall nrnfecf the rich and they in L