The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1890-09-19

aUlllUy UudU UndU VIII be DONE, n
The next best thing is for the people
10 senl IN their protests to the senate
against its passage by that hedy.
Our members should act at once and
ask the senators from the various
states to voice their sentiments on
TINS measure when it comes up for
consideration.
The name Of every Congressman
who voted for that law should be pub
l1shed TO the world, and the citizen
VINO are opposed to such high-handed
work should scratch. them on next
elected day. I. V. PowDERLY.
The Necessity of tho Independent Move
ment.
No candid man. who has watched
the course Of political and govern
ment affairs in this country for the
last twenty-five years will undertake
to deny that the Interests of the coun-
try at large Rave been neglected and
that DIR legislation has been, stead
illy, upon all vital questions iii the
interest of rings, combinations and
trusts. He will not undertake to say
that the destruction of more than
one-half the money of the ccuhtry
and the substitution OF bonds in it's
stead has brGil In the interests Of any
one except the dealers and the specu-
latOrs in moneys and stocks. No.
body but the veriest demagogue
would undertake to say that a system
Of finance which led to the substi=
tuition of interest bearing obligations
for a n%on-interest bearing currency
which was meeting, satisfactorily,
every want of the business of the
country, was an act juftifyable upon
a principle Of business, even to the
machine called the government"
Yet all this has been done, and the
result Of it is that money has been
placed out Of the reach Of the conf
mon people and Of the legitimate bus
mess of the cotintry, unless at a cost
in the way of interest that C
death to the business that has to bear
the burden. But while the legita-
mate business of the country has been
subjected to this severe pressure. the
money spectators of the country have
been furnished by the government
with all the money they wanted
at the merely nominal rate of one
per cent per annum.
Another important trust which is
lodged in, the hands of the govern
ment Is the public land; and this has
been managed in the same way as the
flnances-in the interests of trusts
and syndicates of capitalists. Nearly
200; 600, 900 acres of the public domain
have been given to railroad corpor-
ations, directly, on the plea that the
roads were a public necessity. But
when the managers Of these self same
roads have been asked to allow their
patrons a voice in fixing the price of
their work, they have denied that right
on the plea that the roads were pri-
vate or corporate property, and that
the public had no right to interfere in
any way with their management,
thus denying the statement upon
which they received their donations.
Under fraudulent entries Of various
kinds land syndicates have obtained
title to other millions; and without
color of right, law or title, other syn
dicates have had the free use of
still other millions of acres from
which, in at least n instance,
actual settlers were driven off the
lands: On these free lands these cor
| porations have for years pastured un-
ton with the products of the tax
ptN VI t1lS SolhClys cHuCl UlllS
| system of foreign capital
lists, corporations and syndicates have
obtained possession Of nearly 2OO,-
900, 900 acres of the best land OF the
country, and are establishing thereon
a system Of land tenure which bids
fair to soon rival that of Ireland, and
| which now takes from this country a
rental which far exceeds in value the
entire annual product of that impov-
eriShed and dOwntrodden country.
Another matter which is not prop
erly under the control of the govern
ment, but the control of which has
been usurped by it, is the ~so-called
''protection of our infant industries"
Under the speciOus plea Of excluding
foreign pauper competition with our
free labor heavy tax has been levied
| upon foreign goods imported into this
country, thereby enabling the man
ufacturer to hold his goods at a high
figure without danger of coming into
competition with foreign goods.
Acting under a knowledge OF this
fact foreign manufacturers have been
induced to invest many millions Of
money in various lines of manufac-
ture here and they have imported
thousands Of these same laborers we
are told so much about, with which
to carry on their business. On ac-
count of this exclusive policy on the
| part of our government some foreign
governments have, in retaliation.
passed laws prohibiting our trade
altogether or crippling it very mater
tally. In this way many millions of
wealth, in the form of profits, are
annually taken abroad, which might
otherwise be kept at home; and other
millions, which might have come to
us in exchange for u product, have
been kept away.
In reply to petitions for relief the
people have been met with a new
silver law under which the money
loaning syndicatcs are making notes
which cannot be paid in silver or
silver certificates, thus practically
demonetizing silver and giving to one
man complete control of the mongrel
silver coinage that is left, thus de-
stroying at n blow, nearly one
third Of the circulating medium of
the country.
The parties in power have refused to
reclaim q acre of the vast empire
of land which has been contracted to
the land s~yndicates, but upon which
the contract has not been fulfilled by
the s%yndicates.
And when after years of persistent
work, the people in a few states have
secured the right to elect commission
ers to regulate the compensation
of railroads the attempt has been made
to so limit their powers as to rem
der them as nearly useless as possible.
When it is found no longer possible
to resist. nv Onen efuSal the cry for
a reduction of the tariff, the cry of
reciprocity" is raised as a means of
futher delay.
Con,x1o;p<e po4s%;o,. sd 49,.