St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-07-17
s. MINI. THURSDAY MORNING. JULY II, 1890

people, 1t has learned all the arts of the
tyrant. 1t is moral in the austereness OF lts
responsibility. 1t appropriates the pupnc 1
acts in the caucus, in the convention. IN the
Legislature. in the executive chair. Uper-
pleXes and defeats the purposes OF courts Dy
its purchased legislation. 1t brlbes omciai
trusts; and tits erect and savage today Inc
republic, the old tyrant of all time; ropeo
iii morality, sustained by law, re-
spected as savior by its slaves Its
clutch is on your homes. 1t has ens!aved
mountains of the land. 1t chains the father
and his children before the looms ana
spindles of New England 1t menaces the
planter of the South. There is no longer
on the Ohio, or along the Susquehanna.
There is beneath the very flag of the republic
no free artisan or tOiler who can claim ms
own. All forms of labor are bound to this
modern car of Juggernaut. Your starry
banner of the free droops in shame over
your capitols and school houses Your ira
ditions are tortured. The tree labor of the
republic. that heart and soul OF liberty
ITSELF is ever struggling in almost the agonl es
of death, within the laceratlng claws OF THIS
demon, hydra-headed. golden dragon.
Washburn's Election.
Mr.. Erwin, after more general plati-
tudes, every one of which stirred the
farmers to the widest applause, thus
referred to the election of Washburn:
The power to control or to prohibit, resid-
ing in the power to legislate, was engaged IN
war. When finally the attention of suplne
legislatures was called to warning by lew
patriotic men, by the anti-monopoly press,
und the grangers. and industrial unions the
corporations openly resorted to the brlplng
of legislators and executive of1cers-to the
buying of votes the betrayal of trusts and all
1nfamV
daring continues until day.
1t is said that the corporations interested
in legislation, and in the election OF their
man Friday to the United States senate, un-
der the present governor, paid out in this
state, as Judas money, to the representatives
that the supervised caucus of the prostituted
political parties had duped the masses to ap,
point to tetray liberty and the demands OF
truly, to the honest and poorly paid son OF
toll but it was a mere bagatelle to these
business circles;'' for it is a provabje fact
that the elevators stole from the farmers OF
this state, in single week, a sum greater than
100000.
Since this unnatural system Of over-capi-
talization began. railtoad corporations alone
have issued and sold in the market, under
the permission of business, and III utter
violation of the pursuit Of happiness, which
is the spirit of the constitution, q sum equal
to four thousand millions Of dollars
Groaning under the interest OF national
| debt of over two billions, the labor and pro-
| duetion of the entire people is by this I'M
paralleled chicane compelled to pay the
| carrying interests of the country alone sum
| equal annually to the interest on twice the
| total OF the nations war debt.
The presence of this burden OF taxation
| from the railroads is chargeable to the in
| competency and compatibility OF the per
| sons who have been holding Legislative and
| executive offices. 1t may be truly said that
i'll most cases the several legislatures have
,cn1t IN,
| laws desired by their constituents. most
| complex system of legislative rules has been
made, which are designed to obstruct and de-
| feat legislation.
The practice of relying upon committees.
| who can delay reports, suggest amendments,
| insert paralyZing clauses, and impede action
upon bills introduced has opened the door
| for bribery and interest to check, obstruct
| and often defeat legislation by the corrup-
| ton Of single member of committee.
A Roast for Merriam.
When it came Gov. Merriam's turn to
pass under the rod the speaker said:
| The election of a governor-upon whatever
| pretext it may be secured-who sympathizes
| with corporations, necessitates, to honest
| legislation, the united action of two thirds of
! both branches of legislature.
| The possession of the heart OF an executive
| governor has become so necessary to corpo-
| rations that it is now we'll understood the pres
| ent governor of Minnesota and his hackers
| expended to buy the state convention ana
caucuses which gave him nomination. and
| in the purchase, wheedle and control of the
| public press and corrupt and 1istless voters,
| sum not far from $25O,O00. 1 am not here
| to call down upon the head OF Gov.
Merriam public anathema, upon the
chase of official trust was introduced by him.
l sincerely pity him. He was born in bank.
| He is only one of q whole generation of that
new class of humanity. who have sprung
stock boards. They are not of the people.
| In their dsdain they have some color OF the
| patrician class of imperial Rome.
| In their mental construction they are all
''business" They have different dress
idiom idG than t pHupp the peoples They must have
servants; and they ape the manners OF the
effete sons of the barons of England, They
| have never read of the struggles of liberty,
nor are they aware that the constitution was
laid in the hearts of the people, and cemented
by the martyr blood of men Tor ages. they
| know of one power, one god-Money. They
use that single power TO accomplish all
| things. They are unconscious that sucn use
| is-bribery, the crime.
| Can it be that these are as herd OF swine,'
| into whose bodies the great God, who
watches over the destinies of nations has
| driven the devils of the war which afflicted
| he people?
| It is also true that legislation has been
crippled by the legislation of the party eau
| cus. The patriotic citizen is ever inclined to
! glory in the traditions of his party. But the
| frequency and the persistency of corruption,
| amid the complexities of delegated repre-
| sentation. has been such that 1t has been
| seemingly impossible for one elected as a
| partisan to be candid and earnest as an indi-
| vidual.
Again as RObespierre.
| Mr.. Erwin concluded with this ap-
| peal to the farmers:
| Where are your sons to-day, oh, you fisher
men of the coming revolution? Your farms
are virgin yet, and heaven, smiling on your
| land, has blossomed wheat and corn with
| which to feed world.
| When winter howls its blizzard from the
| north you will see your wives in calico; your
children go almost unwrapped to school.
The elevator and the road will own your toll.
| What will you do?
| free rouse yourselves like lions from their
| lair Then will the demon from off your
neck his fangs unloose, and like the dew
drops from the lions name be shook to air. -
There is not one before me who cannot di-
vine and plainly see that it is the irrepressible
logic of our times, that this modern night,
| which pals humanity, shall be illumined by
| common sense of an awakened people. There
| will be, there must be, no resort to, Or em-
pIoyment of, other forces than such as are
Contemplated by our constitution.
The masses of American freemen, who now
suffer the wrongs Of the tyrant, already stand
armed with that great weapon of the consti-
tutioh-the ballot.
With that ballot the people can summon
forth from their own ranks the nation-ap-
pointed executioners of this crime of crimes.
And, ii you will prevent despair, if you
will stand by the dignity of labor-f you