Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1891-03-31
THE THIRD PARTY.
views Of . Very Distinguished south
side Observation-Disclosures Of
the Agricuiturists.


side pemocrAt--Condition Of
the Agricuiturists.
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10 ns Editor Of DE DispatcA'
That there is q widespread discomfort
throughout the country among the great
body OF thu people cannot be denied, and
that there Is just cause for this discomfort.
most candid and impartial minds will adj
nit. This discomfort comes from no par
ticular section Of couutry--it Is as broad
- this mighty Union, Its mutterings are
heard on the distant shores of the Pacific;
1t IL waited on thewings OF the windacr
the great and fertile prairics OF the West;
IL comes ebbing up Ike a mighty tidal
wave from the broad sayannabs OF the
sunny South. while the rocks and hills OF
New England echo back the sound.
when the people complain" said Mira
beau. "the people are always right Sir.
Froude says: The endurance Of the in
capabilities Of life by the poor Is the marvel
of human society. Aristocracies and privi-
legged classes struggle for wealth and
power--wealth. In many instances. which
they waste in vulgar and ostentatious
luxury; and power which they often abuse
for their own interest, while the great
body Of the people are struggling under
oppressive wrongs TO live and think as
men.
AS ABE rur IT.
Abraham Lincoln. man whom the i'm
partial historian will hand down to future
ages aud generations as one OF the most
remarkable men of his age-the. great repre-;
sentative of the "plain people "-once sara
20 his friend, Governor Oglesby: DICK,
put your ear to the ground and see when
way the people are going; the people are
always rightp Not only do the people not
complain without cause, but that cause
sooner OF later will find remedy. Inc
abuse of power is dangerous experiment
to DO INDUCED either by nations or indi-
yiduais. History is full of examples where
retributive Justice has come sooner or later.
"There is Divinity that shapes our ends,
rough-hew them as we may" Ihere is 2
God who holds in His hands the eternal
scales OF justice; 9th HIM q tnousa tIa
years are a. day; He Is in no hurry; ne
can afford 10 wait; like Homer's gods lie
makes step and ages pass away.
ExAMPLEs.
Mirabeau once said: "Cornelia scatter
cd the ashes of her murdered sons TO the
wind and they produced CaiuS Marlus."
The horrors of the French revolution. 1t
has been said, were only an expiatory
atonement for the murders OF st. Bar
tholoman, which took place nearly two
centuries before.
That the country has grown with mar
vellous rapidity IN wealth during the past
two decades we all admit. During that time
many fortunes have been amasSed which
far exceed the oldest hereditary estates In
Europe. English noblemen who trace
their hereditary estates back 70 the Nor
man Conquest are poor when compared
with our millionaires. But how Is this
great wealth distributedl Are all classes
equally prosperous If such were the
fact there would be no inst cause OF com
plant. While wealth does not necessarily
bring happiness a competency IS necessary
TO contentment. Poverty Is the frultIul
source Of ignorance, crime, and misery.
IRELANp's Discomfort.
William Pitt. during his premiership,
said that Ireland's discomfort was the re-
sult of Ireland's poverty. When the peo-
pie are prosperous they are happy ana
contented. But when we see 10000 people
owning one half of this great country;
when we see 900. 900 people owning 80 per
cent. of the wealth of 65,0OO.OOO and the ~
per cent. distributed among 64,75O,OOO
bearing the burdens Of taxation, and the
great body of the people growing poorer
day by day and their labor going TO swell
the bloated wealth of the privileged lew,
il il any wonder that they should be dis
oontented and dissatisfied? History is but
philosophy teaching by example. When
imperial Rome in the zenith of her power
and glory, her eagles extending from the
pillars of Hercules TO the banks OF the In
dus, numbering 120,00O,000 of souls, and
owning every foot oil land IN the clyiilzed
worldly system Of partial legislation,
less than $500 men owned every foot OF
her territory-it needed not the prophetic
vision of a Hebrew prophet to tell the peo
pie that the day was coming when some
Gibbon was to rise and with her decline
and fall"
TIE PEOPLE NOT IGNORANT.
The great Scotch divine, DIR. Chalmers.
said years ago that the great body OF the
people might be iliiterate, but they. were
not ignorant. The people are not blind TO
the state of things that exists, but for
want of organization they have been I'M
able to devise remedy. The strikes that
for wears have been taking place on rail-
roads and in manufactures are evidences
that these people feel that they are
wronred and oppressed. While these peo-
pie 10 q great extent have had my sympa--
thy Though | have never sympathized
with them in tho destruction OF property
and other lawless acts), | have felt salts
fed they could accomplish no permanent
relief for the wrongs they suffered. simply
from the fact that they had no conserva-
tive basis upon which to rest they were
not fixtures OF the soil-owners and occu-
piers of the land. Many of them without
a local habitation. and like the
birds OF the air" vibrating between the
eternal SHOWS of the North and the ever
clades Of the South. But when, the
farmers who have equal cause OF complaint
made up their minds to remedy some OF
the wrongs they have endured for more
than quarter of u century. l felt that
their conservatism and good sense would
exercise a wholesome influence on the
future legislation of the country. While
the Alliance was not primarily organized
as political institution, yet, as many OF
the wrongs we suffer are legislatiye wrongs,
they can only be remedied through the
same channels thev were inflicted. Our
Government is government of the peo-
ple. for tho people, and by the people, and
as long as it was administered on this prln-
ciple we were proSperous, cOntented, ana
happy, but in some respects 1T has ceased
TO be popular government, but has Ne
come plutocracy controlled and governed
in tho interest of q special class. While
the Republication party freed the negro
clothed him with the immunities and privi-
leges of citizenship-mad him a man and
a brother, they have at the same time
granted a charter 10 money kings and rob:
Der barons to make slaves OF billions OF
freemen.
Let us not forget the parable in the Book
of Judges, when the trees OF the forest
called for q king. and the brambse instead
Of the vine, the olive and the fg-tree was
chosen, and out of which sprang the fire
that DESTROYED the cedars of Lebanon!
Our FARMERS.
Last year the farmers Of this country
produced ak thousand millions of wealth.
They not only fed the people and furnish
ed TO large extent the raw material for
other industries, but their annual exporta-
tons have preserved the balance of trade.
Had 1t not been for these expectations the
country long since would have been drain
cd of its precious metals. which would
have gone abroad to pay the interest in
gold to the foreign bondholder. From
the adoption Of the Federal Constitution
IN 1859 we have raised and exported near
1y so per cent OF the entire exports OF
the country, while the sweat of our brows
has gone 10 fatten and fertilize the fields
of special classes. il it any wonder that
we should be dissatisfied and discontented
when under the fostering caro- Of govern