The Iola register., 1891-01-23
MIR. INGALLS, SPEECH.
The Kansas Senator'S Great Speech
For Free Coinage.
The Tyranny of Combined, Conscienceless
and Incorporated Capital-Free Coinage
One Remedy-A Crisis That May Be
come a Catastrophe.

tie I4th, pending consideration OF the
financial bill, the question being upon
Senator Stewards free silver coinage
amendment, Senator Ingalls,, of Kansas,
addressed .ne Senate in favor OF free
coiszge He spoke as follows:
Mr. President: Two portentOus perils
threaten the safety if they do not endanger
the existence of the Republic. The first of
these is ignorant, debased, degraded spuri-
ous and sophisticated suffrage; suffrage con-
taminated by the sewage of decaying ma
Gians; suffrage intimidated and suppressed
I'm the South; suffrage impure and corrupt,
apathetic and Indifferent, i'm the great cities
of the North; so that it is doubtful whether
there has been for half century a Presi-
DENTAL election in this country that ex-
pressed the deliberate and intelligent iudg-
ment of the whole body of the American
people.
In a newspaper interview a few months
ago i'm which commented upon these con-
ditions and alluded to the efforts of the ba-
eIIi doctors of politics, the bacteriologtsts OF
our system who endeavor to cure the ills un-
der which we suffer by their hypodermic in
iections of the lymph of independent non
parti anship and the Brown -Sequard elixir
Of civil service reform, l said that "the puri-
dcation of politics by such methods as this
was an irIdeseent dream" Remembering
the cipher dispatches of 1871, and the at
tqTnDfGQ DuFcnaSe OF the eleCtDTdl NOltS VI
many Southern states in that campaign; the
forgery OF the Morey letter in 1871, by which
Garfield lost the votes of three States in the
North, and the characterization and por-
traiture of Blaine and Cleveland and Har-
ris0n by their political adyersaries, added
that 'Hthe golden rule and the decalogue had
no place in American political campaigns"
It seems superfuous to explain, Mr.. Presi-
dent that in those utterances / was not in
cuIcating doctrine, but describing a condi
ton Nv statement was a statement of facts
as understood them and not the announce
uent of an article of faith. But many reyer-
end and eminent divnes, many disinterested
editors many ingenious orators, perverted
those utfaSances into personal advocacy of
tmpurity in politics.
Ido not complain, Mr. President. 1t was,
as the world goes legitimate political war
fare but it was an illustration of the truth
that there ought to be purificaton in our
politics, and that the golden rule and the
decalogne ought to have place in political
campaigns. do unto others as We would
that others should do unto YOU" is the su-
preme injunction, obligatory upon all. ''If
thine enemy smite thee upon one cheek turn
hIm the other" is a sublime and lofty pre-
cept But take this occasion ito observe
that until it is more generally regarded than
1t has been or appears likely to be in the
immediate future, if my political enemy
smites me upon one cheek, instead of turn
ing TO him the other shall smite him under
the butt end of his left ear il can Laugh
teri If this be political immortality, am TO
DC Included among the unregenerated.
FRAUD WORSE THAN VIOLENCE.
The election bill that was under consider
alton few days ago was intended to deal
with one part of the great evil to which
have alluded, bat it was an imperfect, a
partial and an incomplete remedy. Nio-
lcnce Is bad, but fraud is no better, and it
- e, .fV,ai a
Ious Burke said, in one of those immortal
-orations that emptied the House of Com
mons but which will be read with admira-
ton so long as the English tongue shall
endure, that when the laws of Great Britain
were not strong enough to protect the hum
IIiest Hindoo upon the shores of the Ganges,
~She nobieman was not safe in his castle upon
the banks of the Thames. Sir, that lofty
sentence is pregnant with admonition for
s<Is- There can be no repose, there can be no
stable and permanent peace in this country
,aHd under this Government until it is just as
safe for black Republican to vote in Mis-
ssissippi as if he were white Democrat in
Kansas
THE TYRANNY OF COMBINED CAPITAL
The evil Mr. President, the second to which
adverted as threatening the safety if il
docs not endanger the existence of the Re-
pabIic, is the tyranny of combined, concen-
trafed centralized and incorporated capital.
And the people are considering this great
tsrobIem now. The conscience ofthe Nation
Is shocked at the injustice of modern society
The moral sentiment of mankind has bt en-
aroused at the unequal distribution oi
wealth at the unequal diffusion of burdens
the benefits and the privileges of society. Al
thc beginning of our second century the
American people have become profoundly
conscious that the ballot is not the panacea
Tor all the evils that afflict humanity. that il
a2s not abolished poverty nor prevented in
Justice They have discovered that political
equality does net result in social fraternity
that under a democracy the concentration
OF greater political power in fewer hands
the accumulation and aggregation of greatel
amounts of wealth in individuals is more
possible than under monarchy, and thai
there is a tyranny which is more fatal thar
tho tyranny of kings.
General Washington, the first President o
che Republic at the close of his life in 179
had the largest private fortune in the United
states of America. Much of this came by in
Iferitance, but the Father of his Country, il
addition to his other virtues, shining and IL
tustrious, was very prudent, sagacious
thrifty and forehanded man. He knew
good thing when he saw it, great way of
He had keen eye for the main chance. Al
a surveyor in his youth he obtained knowl
edge that enabled him to know exceedingl!
well the value put upon the public domain
The establishment of the National capital il
possessions did not diminish their value
aIe was n just debtor, but he was an exact,
not exactikS, creditor. And so it came T.
mass that when he died he was. to use tn
expressive phraseology ofthe day, the riches
sman in the country.
A GREAT CONTRAST.
At this time, ninety years afterward, it
not without interest to know that the entir
aggregate and sum of his earthly possession
his estate, personal and mixed, Mount Yer
non and his lands along the kanawha an
che Ohio. slaves, securities, all of his belong
dnge-reached the sum total of between $50,
sou or - COCO. This was less than a centur
sss-o, and it is within bounds to say that a
this time there are many scores of men, @
estates and of corporations in this countr
whose annual income exceeds, and there ha
been one man whose monthly revenue sine
that period exceeded the entire accumuia
lions of the wealtbiest citizen of the Unite
States at the end of the last century. At tha
period the social condition OF the lnlte
States was one of practical equality. Tn
satisfies of the census of 1900 are incomplet
sH< partial, but the population of the Unio
was about $500 600. and the estimate
wealth of the country was between 5000
uHoSB ard 81 OO0, 10000 There was not
millionaire, and there was not tramp or
uauper so far as we know, in the countr,
expept those who had been made so by in
sirmstE or disease or inevitable calamity.
multitude of small farmers contentedly tile
ehe son Upon the coast a race of nshel
men and sailors, owning the crafts that the
sailed wrested their subsistence from Il
stormy sea Labor was the rule and luxul
che exception. The great mass of the peH
ole lived upon the products of the farm
shat they cultivated. They spun, woye an
manufactured their clothing from fax an
wool. Commerce and handicratts aTordt
honorable competence. The prayer OF Ag'
was apparently realized. There was neith
e,oyeity nor riches Wealth was uniform
SdfGused ans none were condemned to hop