Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1891-01-22

social and political experiment are con-
cerned, the most terrible commentary that
ever was recorded in the book of ti1ne-and
Nero fiddles while Rome burns. 1t is thrown
off with a laugh and a sneer, HaS the frOth
upon the beer of our political and social
system. As said, the assessed valuation
recorded in the great National ledger, stand
ing to our credit is about Sf5 90 090, 600
Our population is 100000. and by some
means. by some device, by some machina-
ton, by some incantation, honest or other
wise, by some process that can not be de-
fined, less than two -thOusandth part of our
population have obtained possession (snd
have kept out of the pententiary, in spite of
the means they adopted to acquire it, of
more than one half of the entire accumulated
wealth of the country.
NOT THE WORST.
That is not the worst, Mr.. President. 1t
has been largely acquired by men who have
contributed little to the material welfare of
the country, and by processes that do not
care in appropriate terms to describe. By
the wrecking of the fortunes of innocent
men, women and children by ju gS lery, by
bookkeeping, by fnanciering, by what the
Senator from Ohio calls Speculation" and
this process is going with frightful and
constantly aecelerating rapidity. The entire
industry of this country is passing under the
control of organized and confederated can
itaL More than fifty of the necessaries of
life to- day. without which the cabin of the
farmer and the miner can not be lighted or
his children fed or clothed have passed abb
SOlutely under the control of syndicates and
trusts, and corporations composed of specu-
lators, and by meane OF these combna-
tiOns and considerations competition is
destroyed; small dealings are rendered
impossible; competence can no longer be
acquired, for it 10 superhuous and unneces-
sary to say tina. if, under a system where
the accumulations distributed per cspita
would be less than $1,000 $1,000 obtained
SSin of
mulated wealth of the country, it is impos-
sible that others should have q competence
or an independence.
It is no wonder, Mr.. President that The Ia
boring, industrial and agricultural classes OF
this country, who have been made intelli-
gent under the impulse of universal educa-
ton, have at last awakened to this tremen-
dous condition and are inquiring whether or
and, Sir, the spectators must beware They
have forgotten that the conditions, political
and social, here are not reproduction OF
the conditions under which these circum-
stances exist in other lands. Here is no
dynasty; here is no privilege, caste, OF
prerogatiye: here are no standing armies; ;
here are no hereditary bOndsmen, but every
atom in our political syst m is quick. in
stinct, and endowed with life and power
His ballot at the bOX is che euuiVa lent of the
ballot OF The richest SPECTATOR. Thomas
Jefferson. che great apostle of modern De
mOcracy, taught the lesson 10 his followers,
and they have prOtited well by his instruc
ton. that under popular democratic rep
reSentative governments wealth, culture. in
telligence were ultimately NO match for
numberA
JUST BUT JEALOUS.
The numbers in this country. Mr.. Pres :
dent, have learned at last the power of com
bination, and the spectators should not for
gee that while the people of this country are
generous and just, they are jealous also, and
shat when discomfort changesto resentment,
and resentment passes into evaporation,
one volume of nations history is closed
and another Will be opened.
Alf. President, the cotton product OF this
country, believe, is 6,O00,0O) bales.
Mfr. Butler. Seven million bales.
Mr.. INGALLS,. Seven million bales, I am told
The transactions of the New York Cotton
Exchange are 40,OO0,0oO bales, representing
transactions speculative, profitable and re-
muneratve, by which some of these great
accommodations have been piled up, an incon-
ceivable burden upon the energies and in
dustries of the country. The production OF
coal Oil, believe, in this country, has aver
aged something like 2O,OcO,0O0 barrels a
year. The transactions OF the New York
Petroleum Exchange year by year
average 5000 100000 barrels, fictitious, simu-
lated, the Instruments of the gambler and
the Spectator, by means of which through
an impost upon the toll and labor and in
dustry of every laborer engaged in the pro-
ductiOn OF petroleum, additional difficult es
are imposed. It is reported that the coal
alone that is mined in Pennsylvania, indis-
penSaDle TO the comforts OF millions OF men,
amounts in it's annual product to about $40,
QDD,O 0, of which one third is profit over and
above the cost OF production and \ fair re-
turn for the capital invested. That is ''spec-
ulation,n Mr.. President. and every dollar
over and above the cost of production with a
fair return upon the capital invested. every
dollar of that fifteen or sixteen millions is
filched, robbed. violently p!undered out of
the earnings of the laDOrers and operatives
and who cOmNRlle6 buV IL
and yet it goes by the euphemistic name OF
Speculation" and is declared TO be legiti-
mate; 10 is eulog:zed and Defended as one Of
those practices that is entitled to respect
and appreciation.
Nor is this all, Mr.. President: the hostility
between the employer and the emplOye in
this country is becoming vndictiVe ana per-
manently malevoent. Labor and cap ital are
in two hostile camps to day. LOckOuts and
strikes and labor difficulties have become
practically the normal condition OF our
system. and it is estimated that during the
year that is just closed in consequence OF
these disorders in consequence OF this hos
eliey and this warfare, the actual loss in
labor, in wages, in the destruction of perish
able commodities by the interruption OF
railroad traffic has not been less than $500.
10000. Mr.. President, this is q serious prob
lem ft may Well engage the attention Of
che Representatives OF the States and Of the
American people. have no sympathy with
that school OF political economists which
SeachGS tna1 there - an InFecOncilaDlG cOIA
fict between labor and capital, and which
demands indiscriminate, hostile and repres
siye legislation against men because they
are 1ich, and corporations because they are
strong.
LABOR AND CAPITAL
labor and capital should not be antago
nists, but allies rather. They should not bt
| opponents ana enemies, but colleagues ant
auAiliaries, whose cooperating rivalry i:
essential 60 National prosperity. But cal
not forbeeY 60 affirm that q political system
under such despotic power can be wrestet
from che people and vested in the few is
| democracy only in name. \ financial sys
| Gem under which more than one half of thu
| enormous W a!th of the country deriv ed from
che bounty ~ nature, and che labor OF all i
! Owned BIZ . litte more than 5O,0O people
| while 1000, OO American citizens, able ant
| willing Go coil, are homeless trampS. starE
! ing for bread, acquires adjustments. sOcia
| system which off tn tender virtuOuS AM
! independent women the alternative be
| tween prostitution and suicide as an escap
| from beggary is organized crime. 70
| mand atonemene and explanation. Nh
| Presidene fle man NhO loves his countr.
| and the man ohio studies her history will
| search in cain for any National cause for thi
l appalling condition. Che eayth has not for
| gotten to yield her increase. There has bee
| no general failure of harvesfs. We have ha
benignant skies and the early and the lat
no h1