Wichita eagle., 1888-09-02
Che D. eagle
LABOR TO THE FRONT.
THE ARMY OF WORKINGMEN MUST
STRIKE AT DEMOCRACY.
The Battle Is for q Fair Count of Each
Mans Vote, and Protection ut the Polls
of Every RightfuI Vcter-The Solid
South.

of Every 61ghtful VCter-The Solid
South.
The workingmen of America, said Mr..
Blaine, cannot be placed upon the Euro
pean level without their own consent
They have the right Of suffrage. and can
vote TO lessen their own opportunities
and reduce their own wages. Capital
takes good care Of itself
wide nowadays, and laws of protection Of
yearly increasing Importance.
The manufacturers care for themselves
always They have inside news and are
apt at smart turns, and must find a
market according to their surroundings.
VIII the American workingmen, informed,
enlightened, armed and equipped with
equal rights, do less for themselves and
consent to the overthrow of the protec-
tive laws?
This, in Mr.. Blaine's judgment, is the
precise question that the Cleveland ad-
ministration places before the people, and
anything that tends to obscure 1t weakens
the case Of those who protect the country
by the restoration of the friends of the
United States to power.
Mr.. Blaine's programme is, in a word,
to put labor-votes of the labor army
themselves for themselves-to the front,
and carry the whole field by striking the
Democratic line at it's weakest point with
massed columns of the men of labor
whose instinct, as well as education,
warns them that the day has come whe2.
for their own sake, they must be practi-
cal politicians. This is according to the
military maxim that the way to win
battle is to find the right spot to make
the fight, and get there first with more
men than the enemy has.
The point is well taken. and consent
ing to it, we contend that it is not thrown
into obscurity-not overshadowed but
illuminated-by impressing upon the
people the facts that We array and emu
merate in this order:
l. That if all the workingrnen in this
country had freely voted and their votes
had been fairly counted according to the
constitution of the United States four
years ago, James G. Blaine would have
had popular majority for president Of
the United States of at least half mil
lion, and he would have been chosen
officially by a ajority of more than fifty
electoral votes.
2, If all the workingnen Of this coun-
try could freely vote and have their votes
would not be 6 film of doubt of the cleo
tion of Harrison and Morton or of the pos
session by the Republican party Of both
houses Of congress after the 4th of March
hext. It is the Acknowledgement of black
Republicans in national affairs after their
emancipation and enumeration-the eS-
adjustment of caste rule from Pennsylva-
nia to Mexico, with che exception of a few
congressional districtS-th&t makes the
Mills bill possible, and provides the posi-
bility of the continued defeat of the VIII
Of the people at large.
3. The menacing meddling with the de-
fensive system-that projects our indus
tries through tariff that discriminateS
In our own favor-originateS III that sec
ton and those states where class govern
ynent is established; where labor is sub
ordinated and degraded; where the latest
and most important provisions of the
Constitution are nullitied; where public
opinion is not formed by freedom of
speech; where manhood suffrage is not
sustained, and where 1t is the popular
teaching that raising raw products for
expectation is the only reputable employ
ment OF 1.-The lords of creation" In other
terms, the Mills bill is representative of
communities that are not advanced in the
arts of prosperity and comfort and the
mechanical appliances that distinguish
the latest development of our civilization.
4. The Democratic majority in the
house is made up from the southern dis
tricts, in which there are enumerated, for
the purposes of representation and dis
franchised, the Republican majorities. In
nineteen of the districts no Republican
candidates are permitted to run
l. Of Of
these districts, where the Republican ma
jorities are intimidated, and counted as
cattle to increase the voting power of
their masters-or, if you prefer the term,
herdsmen-were present and voted for the
Mills bill. That measure, therefore, be-
comes the business expression of the polit-
ical power gained in the south by the null
LITIGATION, which amounts to the abolish
ment of the war amendments to the con-
stitution.
Il is the solid south holding the house
unconstit utionally that threatens the pro-
tective system with revision by hostile
hands, and the message of President
Cleveland, made part of the Democratic
platform, is in precise accord with the
Confederate constitution; and the Confed-
crates had in the days when they were
trying their memorable experiment Of
Democratic government, the sympathy
and support of the British in their efforts
to return substantially to the old colonial
systen-and the Democratic party now
enjoys the same significant and sympa-
thetic alliance. The solid south has
British countenance in assaIing the man
ufacturing industries of the more highly
developed parts of the south. as the
Southern Confederacy had it when war
ring TO destroy the Union of the states.
There would be no sectional politics in
this country if manhood suffrage were
fully established. The southern trouble
is government by a class We have the
old slave power in new shape, but it is
not less offensive than of old.
VIII it offend any if we ask: Why are
there twice as many votes cast for oon-
gressmen in Hamilton county as in the
whole state of Georgia?
Georgia has ten members Of the house,
and we have two from this county. Here
is the penalty of the inequality OF citi-
zens- II it Were not for the existence OF
ruling class stronger than the constitu-
ton in the south, the tariff would not be
threatened, the higher would not be at
tackled by the lower civilization on this
continent in that form; we should not be
looking at the spectacle Of the exclusion
OF Dakota-becaUse there are hundred
thousand Republican votes thereto pre-
vent the narrowing of the margin by
which southern fraud grasps national
power, and the attempted dictatorship Of
Representatives Of Texas and Arkansas in
legislation hostile 10 the industries il
Pennsylvania, New Jersey. New York and
New England. We cannot escape from