The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1889-10-22
IS THIS A GOVERNMENT OF THr
PEOPLE FOR THEIR MII-
TUAL AND COMMON
BENEFITr

On page of The Progressive
farmer of September 18th, the fol.
lowing paragraph occurs under the
heading Railroad and Railroad Com.
missioners: "Get together, nv coun.
trymen, assemble ye men of the peo-
pie, and diligently enquire into and
discuss this matter, for assure Won
that if one. tenth of these things ara
true this government of the people.
for which our fathers made so manv
and such glorious sacrifices of blood
and money, is on the eve of becoming
government not of the people for
their mutual and common happiness
and prosperity, but government of
capitalists for the benefit of the rich
and powerful; and whenever this may
come to pass, may God have mercy
on the poor and weak"
| thought that it was well known
to every man OF intelligence that for
many years this has not been a gov
ernment of the people for their mutual
and common happiness and prosperity,
but government of capitalists for the
benefit Of the rich and powerful with.
out the least regard for the happiness
and prosperity of all other people; and
| thought it was known to intelli-
gent men that capitalists had sue
ceeded in having laws enacted that
gave the rich and powerful complete
control of the earnings of farmers
and laborers who, as a general rule,
have thus been deprived of all hope
of anything like prosperity. The pub
lie good has not been thought of in
connection with govern ment for many
years. Our legislators, mean ma
jority of them, are actuated solely by
sel6shness. The question with each
of them is, "How shall l proceed in
order to secure my own pecuniary in
terest 2" The course that they pursue
is the answer to that question:: They
do the bidding of the rich, not be.
cause they care anything for the in
taresk per So, of the.rich, but because
they know that their own pecuniary
interest lies in that direction, and they
will continue to do this until major.
ity Of our people learn that the inter-
est of every man requires the govern
ment to be conducted so as to insure
the public good. When that happy
time comes our law makers will work
as hard to promote the public good as
they now do in order to make sacri-
fee of it for the pecuniary benefit of
the rich and powerful. Government
is now completely under the control
of capitalists and has been for many
years, and they have accumulated
hundreds of millions of dollars
through the operation of unjust and
unconstitutional laws, which they will
use literally to prevent the people
from taking it under their control,
but the people are now being
educated at rapid rate, and I have
no doubt that the time will soon come
when the government will be conducted
with an eye single to the public good,
and prosperity and happiness will pre-
vail among the poor as well as the
rich and powerful who have been
robbing them of their just dues for
many years. Every good man should
faithfully make use of every oppor-
tunity to accomplish this desirable re-
suit. Those who are subscribers to
good papers should do all they can to
induce others to do likewise Educa-
tion is the remedy for the shameful
evils by which we are afflicted. I
have no doubt every reader of The
PROGRESSIVE FARMRR could get at
least one more to subscribe, and many
could get a half dozen subscribers.
Just consider how much good might
thus be done in behalf of good gov.
ernment, which means good people.
Bad government, such as we have had
for long time, cannot be exceIed in
corrupting mankind. It is a frst-class
hot bed for producing criminals Of
every kind. Let every reader of The
PROGRESSIVE FARMER go to work at
getting subscribers and in every other
way that he can consistently to en-.
tighten his fellowman.
M. H. ZELLNER.
Lochthroe. St Clair Co. Ala.