The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1888-12-06
washington ID. c. special. I

Various Other Topics Handled.
Washington Cd. c. speciall
The second session of the tiftieth Congress
convened at noon, December 3d. the creates por-
tlon OF the day being consumed in the reading
OF Pres ident Cleveland's message, of which the
following is a comprehensive digest:
A CENTURY OF FREEDOM
To the Congress of the United States:
AS you assemble for the discharge OF the duties
you have assumed as the representatives of O.
Tree and generous people, your meeting is
marked by an interesting and impressive Incl
dent. With the expiration of the present ses-
sion of the Congress the first century of our
constitutional existence as O. nation will be COM
pleted. When the experiment of our Govern
ment was undertaken the chart adopted for our
guidance was the constitution. Departure from
the lines there laid down is failure. 1t is only
by q strict adherence to the direction they indi-
cate and by restraint within the limitations they
have fixed that we can furnish. proof to the
world OF the fitness of The American
people for self government The equal and
exact justice Of which we boast as the
underlying principle OF our institutions
should not be confined to the relations OF our
citizens 10 each other. The Government itself
is under bond to the American people that, in
the exercise of it's functions and powers it will
deal with the body OF our citizens in a manner
scrupulOusly honest and fair, and absolutely
just. 1t has agreed that American citizenship
shall be the only credential necessary to justify
the claim of equality before the law, and that
no condition i'll life shall give rise to discrimina
Government. The citizen of our Republic in
its early days rigidly insisted upon full comp1i-
ance with the letter of this bond, and saw
stretching out before him O. clear field for indi-
Vidual endeavor His tribute to the support of
his Government was measured by the cost of it's
economical maintenance, and he was secure in
the enjoyment OF the remaining recompense.
In those days the frugality OF the people was
stamped upon their government and was en-
forced by tho free, thoughtful and Intelligent
suffrage OF the citizens. Combinations mon
nIN6
avoided or sternly regulated and res ra ned.
The pomp and gliGG Of governments less free
offered no temptation and preSen ed no delusiOn
TO the plain people who side by side in Fl. endly
competition, wrought for the ennoblemenu and
dignity OF man, for the solution of the problem
OF free government and for the achievement of
the grand destiny awaiting the lani which God
had given them A century has passed Our
cities are the abiding places of wealth and
luxury; our manufactures yield fortunes never
dreamed or by the fathers OF the Republic; our
business men al madly striving in the race for
riches, ana immense aggregatiOns of capital out
run the imagination in the magnitude of their
undertakings.
We view with pride and satisfaction this
bright picture of our countrys growth and
prosperity, while only q closer scrutiny devel-
ops a somber shading. Upon more careful in
spection we find the wealth and luxury of our
cities mingled with poverty and wretchedness
and upremunerative toll. crowded and con-
6tantly increasing urban population suggests
the impoverishment of rural sections and dis
content with agricultural pursuits. The tar
mer's son, not satisfied with his father 8
simple and laDorious 1ife joins the eager
chase for easily acquired wealth. We dis
cover that the fortunes realized by our manu-
facturers are no longer solely thu reward of
sturdy industry and enlightened foresight, Tut
that they result from the discriminating ia,
OF the Government and are largely builU upon
undue exaction from the masses or our people.
The gulf between employers and the employed
is constantly widening, and classes are rapidly
forming. COMPRISING
erfuI while in another are found the TOLL &
poor AS we view the achievement OF gre
gated capital, we discover the exis ence
of trusts combinations, and monopoHes
While the citizen is struggling far in thu rear or
is trampled to death beneath an iron heel, cor
porations, which should be the cat fully re-
strained creatures of the law and the servants
OF tho people, are fast becoming the peoples
masters Still congratulating ourselves upon
the wealth and prosperity OF our country, and
complacently contemplating every nc;den; OF
change inseparable from these conditions, it is
our duty as patriotic citizens to inquire at t. %
present stage of our progress how the bond OF
the Government made with the people has been
kept and performed.
EXISTING TARIFF BURDENS
Instead of limiting the tribute drawn from our
citizens to the necessities of it's economical
administration, the Government persists in ex-
acting from the substance of the Peep millions
which, unapPlied and useless, lie dormant in it's
treasury. This Migrant injustice and this
breach of faith and obligation add to extortion
rency of the country from the legitimate chan
nels of business. Under the same laws by
which these results are produced, the Govern
ment permits many millions moro to be added
to the cost OF the living of our people
and to be taken from our consumers, which
unreasonably swell the profits OF @ small
but powerful minority. The people must still
be taxed for the support of the Government I'M
der the operation of tariff laws, but to the ex-
tent that the masses of our citizens are inor-
d1nately burdened beyond any useful public pur-
pose and for the benefit of favored few, the
Government, under the pretext of an exercise
OF its taxing power, enters gratuitously into
partnership with these favorites to their advan-
tage and to the injury of vast majority of our
people. This is not equality before the law
The existing situation is injurious to the health
of our whole body polite 1t stiles all patri-
otto love OF country, and substitutes in it's place
selfish greed and grasping avarice Devotion to
for what it should accomplish as q
motive to our nations advancement and the
happiness OF our people, is displaced by the as
stump ion that the Government, instead of
being the embodiment OF equality, is but an in
strumen ality through which especial and indi-
Vldual advantages are to be gained The AFRO
gance OF this assumption is unconcealed 1t
appears in the sordid disregard of oil but per-
sona interest in the refusal to abate for the
benefit OF others one iOta of selfish advantage
and i'll combinations to perpetuats such ad-
Vantages through efforts to control legislation
and improperly influence the suffrages OF the
people.
The grievances of those not included within the
circle of these benefciaries, when fully realized
will surely arouse irritation and discomfort
Our farmers, long suffering and patient strug-
Cling i'll the race Of life with hard and unremit-
ting toll, will not fail to see, in spite of mis-
representations and misleading fallacies, that
they are obliged to receive such prices for their
products as are fixed in foreign markets, where
they compete with the farmers of the world that
their lands are declining in value while their
debts increase and that without COM
pensating favors they are forced by the
action OF the Government to pay for the
benefit OF others such enhanced prices for
the things they need that the scanty returns
port or leave no margin fot a. emulation.
Our Workingmen, enfranchsed from all delu-
sions and no longer frightened by the cry that
their wages are endangered by @ LIST revision
OF our tariff laws will reasonably demand,
through such revision, steadier employment,
cheaper means of living in their homes, with
freedom for themselves and their children from
the Co)m of perpetual servitude, and an open
door 20 their advancement beyond the limits OF
q | boring class. Others of our citizens whose
comforts and expenditures ara IN assured by
moderate salaries and fixed incomes, will insist
upon the fairness and justice of cheapening the
cost OF necessaries for themselves and their
families. Wlen to the selfishness of the benefi-
ciarie of unjust discrimination under laws
there Shlil be added the discomfort of those who
SUITE ON such discrimination, we will real
liz he fact that the bsnefcent purposes of our
Government, which are dependent upon the
patro,sm and contentment of our people, are
endan 5ered.
Communism is hateful thing and a menace
to peace ard organized government. But the
communism of combined wealth and capital the
outgrowth OF oyerweening capital and selfish
ness which insidiously undermines the justice
ana integrity of free institutions, is not less
dang srous than the communism of oppressed
md toll. which e(aSD6rat0d DV in