The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1890-05-07
ALLIANCE AND GRANGE.
FOOLS AND KNAvES.

Who DO tho Epithets Apply to, the Kan
sas Farmers or Their Critics:
The Kansas Alliance waded into ques-
tons pretty deeply at its recent meet
Ing, and has evidently awakened some
OF the newspapers to appreciate the fact
that the farmers are radical" in their
demands; and yet they are radical only
because the condition of things has be-
come so bad that the demand for simple
Justice is so much at discord with the
prevailing state Of things that q con-
servative demand seems radical. One
newewspaper, in referring to resolu-
ton which the Alliance adopted, and
which requested Congress to review
certain piece of legislation to see If the
bill did not read one way while the law
reads quite another, says that "Con-
gress is not body Of fools" We sup
pose that this is intended to be COM
plimentary to Congress and uncompli-
mentary to Kansas farmers, whom the
paper practically alleges do not know
any thing Of what they are talking
about But it is tar from being compli-
mcntary to Congress- If they have
sometimes not been fools, they have
been awful knaves down there. When
some of the most experienced men in
Congress professed never to have known
that the coinage of silver had been
stopped until long time after the bill
which provided that the silver dollar
should be no longer coined had passed,
we labored under the impression that it
would be quite complimentary to call
the concern pack Of fools. When ses-
sion after session passes, and no attempt
is made to put stop to the accumula-
ton Of an enormous surplus in the
treasury, what is it, foolishness or
knavery? And the man who aided
Wall street and Eastern banks to black
mail the Government out of its bonds at
fifty cents on the dollar, to accept pay
for them in deprecated greenbacks, but
to agree to pay them in gold and to
make them untaxable, will have his
name "thundering down the ages"
either as finely developed fool or ro-
bust knave. The men, too, who stole
thirty-seven millions Of dollars from
the people through the Credlt-Mobilier,
and those who permitted it to be done
must be chucked into the fool class or
the knave class. The two brands are
ready also to stamp the foreheads of
those who are permitting that Pacific
railroad to keep the peoples money as
long as it chooses. Which brand shall
be applied?
The farmers of Kansas, we have no
doubt, think that there are both fools
and knaves down at the National CAPT.
tai and we agree with them. The farm.
ers of Kansas and of the country gener-
ally, know considerably more than a
good many people like to have them
know, and among the things that they
are familiar with is the fact that there
are good many editors of the daily pa
pers who would get off easy, in view of
their mouthings. If they were put into
the fool class, for man can not help
being fool, but if he is a knave it is
intentional. For instance, read this
from the article in the paper quoted
from, with reference to the Farmers AL
lance convention at Topeka: 1.-THE con-
vention also adopted resolution call
ing for the exemption from taxation. in
whole or part, of homesteads occupied
by their owners, and for cumulative
system of taxation on lands held
for speculative purposes by non
residents, aliens or corporations. The
convention was patriotic and public
spirited enough to intimate by passing
this resolution that the farmers were
perfectly willing to let the other people
pay thor own taxes and the farmers
taxes besides"
What is that the evidence of, fool OF
knave? Here is man, sitting up In
the sixth-story of city building, edit
ing a newspaper that has soft side fol
corporations and money sharks, de-
nouucing farmers, and imputing to them
dishonest motives, because thcy have
tackled the tax question. The farmer
has never yet tried to get any body else
to pay his taxes. Ie has tried in vain
to make other people pay their own
taxes, and he has tried in vain to escape
the burden of paying other peoples
taxes himself We insist that the posi-
ton which certain legislative bodies
and certain editors assume toward the
farmer makes the term fool exceedingly
complimentary when applied to them
Western Rural. ...
THE ALLIANCE.