The Iola register., 1891-01-23

social and political experiment are con
cerned, the most terrible commentary that
ever was recorded in the book OF tilne-and
Nero fiddles while Rome burns. 1t Is thrown
off with laugh and sneer, las the frotn
upon the beer of our political and social
system As I said, the assessed valuation
recorded in the great National ledger, stand
ing to our credit is about s65 0J00OO,0O0
Our popuIation is 62,50O,0OO, and by some
means. by some device, by some machina-
tion, 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 (and
have kept out of the penitentiary, 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 wreckng of the fortunes NJ innocent
men. women and children, by jugslery, by
bookkeeping, by tinanciering, by what the
Senator from Ohio calls speculation" and
this process is going on with frighiful ana
constantly accelerating rap!dity. The entire
industry of this country Is passing under the
control of organ lied and confederated cap
ital More than fifty of the necessarles 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 means of these ComDina-
tions and considerations competition Is
destroyed; small dealings are rendered
Impossible; competence can no longer DC
acquired, for il IS superfluous and unneces-
sary to say that if, under "A system where
the accumulations distributed per capita
would be less than $1,000, $1,000 obtained
possession of more than half of the accu-
mulated wealth of the country, it Is impos-
sible that others should have a competence
or an independence.
1t 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 inquring whether or
not this experiment has been successiul,
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, or caste, or
prerogatye: 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 LoN is the equivalent of the
ballot OF the richest speculator. Thomas
Jefferson. the great apostle of modern De
mocracy taught the lesson 10 his followers,
and they have profited well by his instruc-
tion, that under a popular democratic rep
resentatiye government wealth, culture, in
telligence were ultimately no match for
numbers
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
get that while the people of this country are
generous and just, they are Jealous also, ana
that when discomfort changes TO resentment,
and resentment passes into eSasperation,
one volume of a nations history is closed
and another will be opened
Mr.. President, the cotton product of this
country, believe, is 6,O00,00l bales.
Mr.. Butler. Seven million bales.
Mr. ingalls, Seven million bales am told
The transactions of the New York Cotton
Exchange are 4O,g0O,DO1 bales, representing
transactions speculative, profitable and re-
muneraiive, by which some of these great
accumulatiOns have been piled up, an incon-
cevable 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,G00,OD9 barrels a
year The transactions of the New York
Petroleum Exchange year by year
average 1900. .uOO.0)0 barrels, fictitious, simu-
lated, the instruments of the gambler ana
the speculator, 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 difficulties
are imposed. 1t is reported that the coal
alone that is mined in Pennsylvania, indis-
pensable to the comforts of millions OF men,
amounts in its annual product to about $40,
OOl.0 o, of which one third is profit over and
above the cost of production and Il fair re-
turn for the capital invested. That is ''spec-
ulation," Mr.. President, and every do lar
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 plundered out oi
the earnings of the iabOrers and operatives
and farmers who are compelled to buy ~
and vet it goes by the euphemistic name oi
"speculation,' and is declared to be legtti-
mate: it is euIogized 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 cmploye in
| this country is becoming yindictive and per
| manently malevo!ent. Labor and capital are
| in two hostile camps to day. Lockouts and
| strikes and labor difficulties have become
| DracticallN tnt nOrlldl tOnuiliOn VI Oui
| system, and it is estimated that during tho
| year that is just closed in consequence oi
| these disorders in consequence of this hos
| tility and this warfare, the actual los' II
| labor, in wages. in the destruction of perish
| able commodities by the interruption o.
| railroad traffic has not been less than 800
| 100000. Mr.. President, this Is n serious prob
| lem 1t may well engage the attention o
| the Representatives of the States and of th'
American people. have no sympathy will
| that school OF political economists whtcl
| teaches that there is an inreconctlable con
! fiict between labor and capital, and which
| demands indscrimnatc, hostile and rcpres
| sivc legislation against mon because they
are rich, and corporations because they ar
| strong.
Labor and capital should not be antago
nists, but allies rather. They should not b
| opponents and enemies, but colleagues ani
| auXiliaries, whose cooperating valry I
| essential to National prosperity. But cal
not forbear to affirm that Il political system
| under such deSpotic power can be wrrste'
| from the people and vested i'm the few is
| democracy only in name. financial syS
| TEN under which more than one-half of til
enormous wealth of the country derived iron
the bounty of nature, and the labor of all |
owned by little more than 5000 people
| while 100000 American citizens, able an
| willing TO toli, are hoheiess udhpS' star '
ing for bread, requires adjustment. socia
system which offers to tender yirtuous am
independent women the alternative be
tween prostitution and suicide as an escap
from beggary is organized crime. fo
which some day unrelentihg justice will de
mand atoncment and explanation Nj
President, the man who loves his countr
and the man who studies her history wi
search in vain for any National cause for thi
| appalling condition. The earth has not foI
gotten to yield her increase. There has bee
no general failure of harvests. We have ha
benignant skies and the early and the lat
rain. Neither famine nor pestilence ha
decimated our population nor wasted il
energies. immigration is flowing in frol