The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1890-08-22
THAT BREATHE
THE STIRRING ADDRESS OF Mr..
w. w. ERWIN.
Delivered before the Industrial Convsn-
ton 1t IT. Paul Minnie Shakes the
Audience with His Burning Words and
IRON the lows Tribunal

ton At St. fAuIs mln0.--h0 SNAKES the
Audience with His Burning Words and
Fervsnt Oratory.
from the Iowa Tribunsl
In the opening of his speech MI. Erwin
made a strong presentation of the prin-
ciples which should underlie the model
government, showing how the idea of
liberty had developed through the ages,
and then passed to a consideration of the
monstrous evils of fictitious capital.
Speaking of a false capital, he said:
1t claims the protection Of the law, which
1t creates for its purposes; for the amending
continuation of its fraud, 1t pleads as ex-
cuse the fraud OF It's creation. 1t has
whelped itself into ten times its natural
sizes, and bloated with the profits OF the
caseless industry OF a nation of IS, 1000, 900
to its system. encroachments and
power. it holds in its deadly clutch the lib
critics, the happiness, the rewards and the
peace of the people. 1t has learned all the
arts Of the tyrant. 1t is moral in the aus
tereness Of its responsibility. 1t appropri-
ates the public acts, In the caucus, in the
convention, In the legislature, in the execu-
tive chair. 1t perplexes and defeats the
purpose OF the courts by Its purchased leg
%islation. 1t brides official trusts and it is
erect and savage to-day, the tyrant master
over all the masses OF this republic, the old
tyrant OF alltime, robed In morality, sus-
thlucu ny law, feSpcCCeu rs u SaNlOr OJ us
slaves, Its clutches are on your homes. 1t
has enslaved the miner in Pennsylvania and
along all the mountains of the land. 1t
chains the father and his children before
the looms and spindles OF New England. 1t
menace the planter of the South. There is
no longer a free home in the valley OF the
Mississippi, or on the Ohio, or along the
Susquehanna. There is beneath the very
flag Of the republic no free artisan or toiler
who can claim his own. All forms OF labor
are bound to this modern car of Juggernaut.
Your starry banner OF the free droops In
shame over your apitols and schoolhouses
Your traditions are tortured. The free la
Dor OF the republic, hat heart and soul OF
liberty itself, is ever struggling in almost
the arms of death, within the decorating
claws of this demon h~ydra-headed golden
dragon.
Coming down to cuisines" in politics,
he said:
It Is said that the corporations interested
in legislation. and In the election Of their
man Friday to the United States Senate,
under the present Governor, paid out in
this State, as Judas money. to the represen-
tatives that the supervised caucus OF the
prostituted political parties had induced
the masses to appoint, to betray liberty and
the demands OF toil-a sum equal to $500, =
600. A vast sum, truly, to the honest and
poorly paid son OF toll, but 1t was a mere
W NAtSsSS oSAilS tAhNlCos " i
is a provable fact that the elevators stole
from the farmers of his State, in a single
week, a sum greater than s4O0, 900.
Oh. men! By the blood OF Valley Forge
and unk Hill; by the souls OF our mar
tyred dead In freedoms sacrince; by all
all the past-tn the name OF our Lord Jesus
Christ, and for the hopes OF humanity :or
all future time-this bloated, false and
hellish monster demon OF wrong must die.
He made reference as to the kind OF
man the corporations like to see as Gov
ernOr, and said:
The possession OF the heart OF an eXecu-
tive Governor has become SO necessary to
corporations that 1t Is now well understood
that the present Governor OF Minnesota and
his hackers expended, to buy the State con-
%vention and caucuses which gave him Il
nomination, and In the purchase, wheedlc,
and control of the public press and corrupt
and listless voters q sum not far from $780,
900. l am not here to call dow upon the
head OF Gov. Merriam public anathema,
upon the ground that this practice Of the
purchase of official trust was introduced by
him. | sincerely pity him. He was born In
a bank. He Is only one OF a whole genera
ton OF that new class OF humanity who
have sprung forth from the brain OF the
business and stock boards. They are not of
the people. III their disdain they have some
$o1cA Va viz "a tiah VI ltIpCEldl
Rome. In their mental construction they
are all .'business." They have a different
dress from the people. They have a differ
ent idiom than the peoples. They mus,
have servants; and they ape the me OF
the effete sons OF the barons Of England
They have never read Of the struggles o
liberty, nor are they aware that the Consti'
tuition was laid In the hearts OF the people
and cemented by the martyr blood of me,
for ages. They know OF one power, on
god-money. They use that single power I,
accomplish all things. They are uncon.
scious that such use is-bribery, the crime
Can it be that these are as a herd of swine
into whose bodies the great God who watch.
es over the deStinies OF nations has driver
the devils OF the war which afflicted tht
people?
He spoke of the impoverished condi
ton of Eastern farmers, and then turned
to the West. Said he:
Your farms are virgin yet, and beaver
smiling ON you land has blossomed whea,
and corn with which to feed Il world. Wher
winter hOwls its blizzard from the north you
will see your wives in calico; your children
go almost u%nwrapped to school. The ele-
vator and the railroad will own your toll
There is not one before me who cannot di.
vine and plainly see that it Is the irrepressi.
Bile logic OF our times. that this modern
night, which pals humanity, shall be illu.
IAN ~ SAS hAS Va {" ~
This is the common sense OF an awakened
people. There will be, there must be, nc
resort to. or employment Of, other forces
han sue as are contemplated by our con.
stitution.
And, If you will prevent despair, If you
will stand by the dignity OF labor, If you
wish to preserve the blessings OF our price
less heritage, liberty, peace. and union-il
you would not, in tears. blot out the sweet
est of all words, home-if you desire JUS
tice to all men-if you revere the fathers OF
the ~republic-if you believe the Sermon on
the Mount-if vice, beginning to stalk your
national corridors, is hateful to freemen-
If you wish to be free, you must. by your bal
lots, IN united efforts against all opposition,
appoint your officers and legislators. You
must direct them and compel them to strike,
with all the energies Of constitutional and
statutory legislation, until the ark OF the
republic safely rests in perpetual security
within the temple Of Liberty.
Mr.. Erwin's speech was a long one, oc-
cupying forty-fve minutes in its delivery,
and when the perioration was reached
there vas not a sound throughout the
huge hall w the clear, ringing words
of the eloquent orator. For one, two,
three minutes this silence lasted, and
then there was a pause. Mr.. Erwin had
ceased speaking and was descending
from the platform. Then cheer after
cheer burst forth from the excited dele,
gates. A dozen men surrounded Mr.. En-.
win and showered congratulations upon
him. The excitement lasted for fully
five minutes. Then Gen. Baker obtained
the recognition of the Chair and moved
that "the thanks of the delegation be eX.
tended to Mr.. Erwin for the best politi
cal speech ever made in Minnesota. ;
The perfect pandemonlum of "ayes'
with which the motion prevailed attestet
the popularity of the speaker.
MICHIGAN INDUSTRtALlSTS.
Declaration of Principles Adopted at the