Los Angeles herald., 1890-09-05
POLITICS.
The Farmers Called Upon to Exercise
Their Manood.

The California Rural Press. a yery
influential farmers journal, and one
which does not often dabble in politics.
calls for some exercise of manhood in
voting for the members of the legislature.
Any one who takes the ad&11e of the
Rural Press will vote for the 4emocratlc
nominees, for they alone will do as this
demands:
Legislative Candidates.
The character of the Solons now seek
ing your suffrage is of deep concern to
every voter. Important measures will
be pressed upon the attention of the in
coming legislature. and we should COM
NIT no mistake in the makeup of that
body. At best it will be all we can do to
offset the buns and bribe-takers likely
to be sent up from San Francisco. We
must secure:
Cd The passage of an act providing
for the Australian system OF voting in
this state.
(2) An act providing for the pay
ment of state and county taxes in semi
annual installments.
(3) An act providing for the re-assess-
ment of Central and Southern Pacific r.
r. property, whereby these corporations
may pC COhilCllOb w Poy oiiSlA NSiih-
quent taxes, amounting to over So, ,000,-
600.
(4) An act providing for the levyipg
and collecting OF an income tax on the
net annual earnings of all corporations
in eqcess of $4,000, graded so as to
increase the rate OF tax as the incomes
OF such associations increase.
(5.) The election of a United States
senator who will pledge his vote and in
fuence to changing the federal constitu-
ton so as to provide for the election of
such senators by a direct vote OF the
people.
These are non-partisan questions in
which every good citizen is deeply con-
cerned These are some OF the live is
sues that should be brought promi-
nently forward in the approaching can
vass, and the partisan nominee who will
not pledge himself to their support
should be left at home.
Ii retrenchment in expenses and re-
forms in other directions do not speedily
appear, our republican institutions
will certainly be endangered.
There is unrest everywhere. A life
and death struggle has commenced be-
tween the tax payers and the taX-eaters.
In every considerable city and town in
the land this latter element is con-
tinually increasing. All eyes, the nation
over, are turned to the country, whence
only aid can come in this emergency.
Disintegrated and their energies para
lyzed by unjust burdens, the farmers
are at present poorly able to respond to
this call. Consequently disorders must
arise. They have already arisen in many
of the great cities. Their police forces
are being continually increased in order
to protect the lives and property of the
respectable element.
II the yoemen OF the nation were uni
ted in action and fairly prosperous, the
danger would disappear. But they have
been oppressed and plundered so often
by unjust laws, corrupt court decisions,
trusts and transportation companies that
many of them have lost heart.
May this nation be saved from a like
calamity! Nevertheless, the tendencies
of the times are certainly in that direc-
ton. The rich are continually growing
richer, more reserved and exacting,
while the poor are continually growing
poorer and more dependent, with the
soil-tillers working for a bare susten-
ance.
The moral tone of the affluent "soci-
| ETY." of the present day has reached a
lower level than that prevailing in the
voluptuous age just before the fall of the
ancient Grecian and Roman republics.
How can we check this evil tendency?
Who will suggest a remedy? To my
mind there appears but one practical
solution of these difficulties-but one
avenue of escape from the dangers of
the revolution-and that is, by unity OF
action among all farmers, to secure
just and equitable legislation and
fearless enforcement of the laws; to re-
strain the rich and protect the poor:
to place manhood above money and
obligations to party creeds, to the end
that misdeeds may be punished, the
administration of the government less
expensive, simplifed anG every man
made to feel that exact justice will be
meted out to him.
You may call me an alarmist-it may
be so. Judge the future by the past.
| believe that like conditions produce
like results the world over, and that if
we would avoid the embarassments and
dangers OF the past we must avoid the
causes which produced them.
Take these thoughts home with you.
Give them a candid consideration and |
CIllh you Will dI lSttSb agree Will ulo III
urging farmers to organize.
The San Francisco News Letter very
evidently thinks Markham is heavily
weighted in the campaign. Witness
the following racy bit OF comment:
Is He Good Weight-Carrier
Col. Markham, who is entered for the
gubernatorial race to take place the first
week in November next, stands pretty
good chance of being the first to catch
the judges eye and to pass under the
wire winner. The only doubt that
exists at present among the knowing
ones is as to his capacity to carry weight.
He starts very heavily handicap
ped, and with that betting men
will have to reckon. He secured his
nomination in way that will presently
be better understood than it is now. His
partners say that his previous running
was not in good form, and that he is "a
roarer" when brought to the money
paying scratch. He is dark horse on a
California course, and has to run against
veteran who has never yet been beaten
on the home stretch. He comes from
section that breaks down in the middle
and never makes a straight-out contest
for the glory and honor of the whole
stakes. He seeks to win a race that was
never yet accorded to any but an old
timer. He voted to prosecute the
mipers hacouca ha than rax-or o,,,oa4.I 4