Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1890-11-21
.BEAUM0NT'S POWERFUL SPEECH.
Continuation of the Address Delivered By
Ralph Beaumont at Canton. Octo-
Der Is, 1890.
a Detailed Explanation Of Some of the Pnin-
cipies Of the Knights Of Labor
Organization.
NUMBER III.

nthe course of time the house is
finished, and the young couple move into
it, and settle down to housekeeping. The
bird is thrifty and industrious just like
Tom. She digs up the front yard, plants
the flowers, trains the creeping vine up
the porch. In the month of June the
roses and flowers are in bloom and the
vines look beautiful and green. About
that time the assessors of the city come
along. They look at that lot, and then
they look at the house, then they look
at the fiowers-and then they look at
their books and say, Mckenzie & Co..
owned that lot last year, and we had the
price assessed at three hundred dollars.
This young man has improved that lot
by building a house upon it. We will
raise the assessment to $500. So you see
ladies and gentlemen they tax this young
man because he has been thrifty and in
dustrious. But Mckenzie & Co. keep
another lot right along side of this one.
They do not improve it. They do not
build any house on it. There is no
young lady planting flowers on that lot.
They let the thistles grow up wild there,
and their seeds blow over on Toms lot
and keep him busy scratching them out.
They don't raise on them-they let
them go, because they are shiftless and
lazy. Now we Knights of labor say that
Mckenzie & Co.'S, land ought to be rails
ed to $500 for their being shiftless and
lazy, and that Tom should have 5000
knocked from his assessment because he
has been thrifty and industrious.
Section $ of the principles Of the organ
izstion reads as follows: 5g.. 5s
The abroga Of all laws thar do
not hear equally upon capital and labor,
and the removal Of unjust technicalities.
delays and determination in the admin-
istration. of Justice. I, Z asi
h lawyer would sbe simple minded
enough % ask what We meant ~ this
plank: Well i can best illustrate the
points Iii favor ofs III tbxs fslsting fsan moi
dent that occurred to me some years ago.
Thirteen years ago this country was
shaken from one end to the other with
The great railroad strike Of that year.
The section of the country where l
resided at the time was traversed by one
of the great trunk line railroads, the Erie,
and two divisions, the Buffalo and Sus-
quehanna, came together at place call
ed Hornellsville. There turned up about
that time, in that vicinity, a shrewd lit
tie 1rishman, about % years of age, by
the name of Barney Donahue. He had
command of all the railway employees.
He locked up the round-house; stopped
the freight and passenger trains and all
means of transportation except the United
States mail, and for forty-eight hours he
was monarch of all he surveyed, and be-
fore forty-nine rolled over his head he
was in the county Jail. went to see him
in the Jail. But was not quite so fool
ish as one fellow who went to see an
lrishman that was in Jail. Looking
through the CRATES at him. he said: s'Pat
what did they put you in there for?"
"Why, for so and so." replied Pat.
"Why," said he in reply, 'they could
not put you in there for that, Pat
'sThey could not?" said Pat sDamn it,
they have done it; what is the use of tell
ing that they can't do it, It was not q
question with Barney and myself how
Barney got into Jail, but che question
with us was, how Barney was to be go1
out Of jail. And for the purpose Of &C
complishing that object visited one OF
the oldest lawyers in the county, sedate
old fellow. After I had given him 8
diagnosis of Barneys case, he arose from
his seat and commenced to walk the t1ool
of his Office and deliver himself as fol
lows: :'Well, Mr.. Beaumont, if you
| were to take the assessed valuation of al
the prope rty of the great state of New
York, it is less than s7OO apiece, but il
you were to take the cost of litigation
and divide it among the litigants, it il
over 81, 400 apiece. So if man wants tc
rpt Justice IN the cO1lrts of Naw Norl. !,