Indian chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1882-1902, 1890-11-06
CARELESS VOTERS.

A Young Mans Complaint of the Negligence
of the "O1d Fogy" Partisan.
In a late number of the Farmers Afli-
ance, the Alliance organ OF Nebraska,
we find letter that may be read with
profit by every man who is careless Of
how he votes, or whether he votes at
all or not II feel like kicking every
old and middle-aged man / meet" are
the words at the head Of the letter. and
they are made the subject OF the
writer's remarks While wo can not
| indorse tho extreme views taken by the
writer on this subject there Is no doubt
/ that there is a great deal OF truth in
what he says. Every man who has
given heed TO the manner in which
elections are conducted knows that OBJ
jectionable men very often get into Of
| flee because they induce their friends
to be active and work, and turn out and
vote, while the other side does rot
There has never been a time when 1t
was more true that the price OF liberty
is eternal vigilance"
We reproduce this letter because we
think that farmers are especially amen
able to the charge Of negligence in mat
ters political, and because they have
suffered more in consequence than any
other class. The writer says:
These words (those quoted above) were
uttered by a young man who has been con-
Sidered .modei" s-kluIAg man in tho COM
munity where ho lives He Is sober and in
dustrious, always economloaii and such an
expression, failing from his lips with such
earnestnoss naturally led us to inquire
MI hp - ugaF M fxfFa ltax
done for us. their children They have voted
us into slavery, and not only us, but our
eh ldren also. The Old pewter heads"
have been voting and voting 10 these many
years, and what Is the resultp Any one can
see the result in the present state OF affairs,
when we work sIXtoen hours a day t8E t8E
sether, and when we ars preyed upon by all
the frauds ths ingenuity OF the deyl nnd his
aids can originate. And Il is all mons fault
that have been doing the voting for the psst
thirty years, and l think they deserve their
ohlldren's curse, for they have BLASTED their
prosperity and made their lives wretched,
all by this senseless and wlckedy careless
way Of voting"
What answer could / make to this?
1t is all true. Some Of these old men
see, now that it is too late, their fatal
mistake, and try to excuse themselves
by saying they were deceived, or that
they didn't know, etc, etc. What right
had they to cast ballot If they didn't
know what they were voting for? What
right have they 10 plead Ignorance as
the cause of this folly? I tell you, old
Captain Trevellick hits them exactly
when he says they never read any thing
but their party newspaper and played
high FIVE The old men that have had
the management Of this Nation in their
power, and relegated it to lawyers,
bankers and Wall street have a terri
Bile charge to answer 20. You have
voted your children and your chill
dren's children into slavery worse
than black slavery ever was You
have been too idle and too careless to
look after your own or your children's
interests, much less the Nations For
whatever is good for the Nation is good
for the citizen. Well you have made
the citizens OF this Nation bankrupt
slaves TO monopolistic greed, slaves to
taxation, slaves to the money power.
Now this is a terrible state Of affairs,
but there might be some amends made,
even at this late day Old men. rouse!
shake of your imbecility, your party
pre- ejudice, your cd isms, whatever they
are, and cast one vote for your children
You have made them victims now come
and help rescue them from the terrible
fate awaiting them and turn your chill
dren's curses into blessings Journal Of