Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1888-12-10
The Presidents Message.

Following is a full abstract of the pres
ident's message. After calling attention
to the fact that the present session of
congress ends the first century of our
constitutional existence, he says in retro
spect:
The gulf between employers and the
employed is constantly widening, and the
classes are rapidly forming, one compris-
ing the very rich and powerful, while in
another is found the toiling poor. AS we
view the achievements of aggregated cap
ital, we discover the existence of trusts,
combinations and monopoles, while the
citizen is struggling far in the rear or is
trampled TO death beneath an iron heel.
Corporations, which should be the care
fully restrained creatures of the law and
the servants Of the people ,are fast becom-
ing the peoples masters. While congrat-
ulating ourselves upon the wealth and
prosperity of our country and complacent-
ly contemplating every incident of change
inseparable from these conditions, it 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.
Instead of limiting the tribute drawn
from our citizens, to the necessities of
econ omical administration, the govern
ment persists in eXactino from the sub
stance of the people millions which, un-
applied and useless, lie dormant in it's
treasury.
Under the same laws by which these
results are produced, the government
permits many millions more 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, under the operation of tariff
laws, and to the extent that the mass of
our citizens are inordinately burdened
beyond any useful public purpose, and for
the benefit of a favored few. The gov
ernment, under preteXt of an exercise of
its taxing powers, enters gratuitously
w
their advantage and to the injury of
vast majority of onr people. This is not
equality before the law.
THE ACTUAL SITUATION.
Our farmers, long-suffering and patient,
will not fail to see, in spite of misi epre-
sentatIons and misleading fallacies, that
they are obliged to accept such prices for
their products as are fixed in foreign mar
kets, where they compete with the farm
ers of the world, that their lands are de-
clining in value while their debts increase;
and that without compensating favor
they are forced by the action of the gov
ernment to pay for the benefit of others
such enhanced prices for the things they
need, that the scanty returns of their la
Dor fail to furnish their support or leave
no margin for accumulation. Our work
ingmen, no longer deluded by the cry of
lower wages, will demand, through such
revision, steadier employment, cheaper
necessities, freedom for themselves and
children from the doom of perpetual SER
vitude and an open door to their advance
IdDOrlnG
class, citizens of moderate salaries and
fixed incomes will also insist upon cheap
ening the cost of necessities. Commun-
ism is a hateful thing and menace to
peace and organized government, but the
communism of combined wealth, and cap
ital, the outgrowth of overweening Gu
pidity and selfishness, which insiduously
undermines the justice and integrity of
free institutions. is not less dangerous
than the communism Of oppressed pow
erty which, exasperated by injustice and
discomfort, attacks with wild disorder
the citadel of rule.
just and sensible
REVISION OF THE TARIFF
laws should be made for the relief of
those our countrymen who suffer under
present conditions. Such a revision
should receive the support of all who
have that justice and equality due to
American citizenship; of all who realize
that in this justice and equality our gov
ernment finds its strength and its power
to protect the citizen and his property !;
Of all who believe that the contented
competence and comfort Of many accord
better with the spirit of our institutions
than colossal fortunes unfairly gathered
in the hands of few; who appreciate
that the forbearance and fraternity
among our people, which recognize the
value of every American interest, are the
surest guaranty of our national progress; !;