The farmers' union. (Memphis, Mo.) 1891-1895, 1891-02-05
CITIZENS ALLIANCE.
AN ADDRESS BY THE ExECU-
TIVE COMMITTEE.
"a Government by the People, for the
People"-The object OF the Organization
Tho Aid and Assistance OF All Citizens
Solicited

public issued their famous declaration Of
independcncc-Wh they framed that
truly wonderful and inspired Instrument
the constitution Of the nitcd States
they gave to the world what would have
been to-day, had their intentions been
faithfully carried ont, the best EuNcrli
ment that man has ever seen. They
doubtless went as far as il WIS possible
Tor mortal men To ga with the light
which t'oa at that time had given them:
they saw rs far as ii WIS possible
for human wisdom and foresight at
that time lu furssr''. And there
can be Ii" question raised al this day
that wonId imlru,'ll the assertion that
| that document was intended 10 protect
every individual III those rights that had
been 50 ably defined ia til" declaration Of
Independence. upon which it had been
framed. viz: THAT w hold these truths
to be s.lf-rsidcnt: that all uru are ere
ated equal: that they are t.sidowcd with
certain inalirnable rights: that among
these are life, liberty and the pursuit Of
happiness. And had these grand trui h>
been "a sacrrdly guarded by their pos
trrlty As they Wcrr earnestly fought Tor
| by their fathers, their children might
to-day be enjoying the fullne>S OF the
| fruits for which they bied. Eut unfor-
| tunatcly for the present generation. such
| has not been the casr.
| When this government was form'! n"
was composed of bat little over ;;,0i"',tpo
| of people. stretching along 1.3uO miles Of
| seacoaSt, aud extending into lhe country
| i'll the fartISt point not to exceed 300
miles. Since that TIME ~. have extended
| this area until it is 3.ooo miles one way
| from the great lakes to the gulf. We
| have, IN Ifjuli,i tIt. rnttt In inn twenty
| fold. At that time there, were
| no special privileges granted by TIL"
| government save those of the
| toll reads. Sine" that day We have null
| tipiied these special privileges Il thousand
| fold. in the form of railroads represent
| ing thousands Of different corporations.
comprising something like 200. 900 miles
OF improved highways with an aggregate
capital in stocks and bonds of upward
/ O: $4,000 600, 00o, and i'uur~ Railway
Manual, which is standard authority,
| places the fictitious portion Of this at
| onc-third- And every one of these
| corp0l atiuns receives its power to exist
! from the fountain head Of government.
our legisIatiycS bodies.
| Then come the thousands of cities and
| towns. deriving their powers to exist
from these same fountain heads of gov
]
national. Following them are the thou
sands and thousands Of street railways,
| gas and watrrworks companies. each de-
| irving its power to live by Il statute law
| enacted by some Legislative body. Again.
| there are the great insurance rumpau i.>
| OF the land. with combined capital of
| 81. 81 !. 900. 600, and risks to the amount
| of Sl0.3iS, 600, 0uU.
| Then last, hut not by any means least
are the great banking Interests 4Alhr
! country with capital of ~9.,. TO
| One If these, the special pet of the GOV
| crnmert the national banking interest
| derives its very existence from a special
privilege in the form of franchise. that
| with capital never To exceed 5000. Onn.-
! coo has III tWenty-fOur years paid its
| stockholders upward Of = 900. 900 in
| Dividends has ut tn" present time a
| surplus Of S1S1. 2g2, 1861. and other ui.-
| divided profits amounting To IS. 3Un-
| G39.01. This franchise alone has been
| worth more to the Stockholders of these
banks during the tWen1y-four years that
they have held it than the total national
| debt at the close OF Our last war.
| Every one of these corporate powers
| that We have herein enumerated re
| cciHeS It's power II exist ana live fS-"..-
| the fountain head IF government. and
every one Of them i. constantly lOoking
| t0 their mother, the state. for increased
| powers at her hands tn tit>poii the pcn-
pie Of their inheritance, until the state
herself has become weak and is begging
| and cntrcating to be let alone. our leg
! iSlators have by statute laws given these
| corporations upward Of 2uO oVO. 900 acres
of land: they have loaned them the GOV
| eminent credit To til" extent Of
| nearly SlL0. U00. 900 more They
have farmcd out to them the priyi-
lcgc Of common carriers. by which the.
have cXt0rtf,i from the people thousands
of millions OF dollars in the form of ex-
ccs>iye rates Of frrghts in order that
| they might be able to reach large returns
upon fictitious bonds and SturliS. They
hay" farmcd ont to banking corporations
the governmental function of issuing
money, and by which they isHx by
| vicious methods caused the StrinI.ncy
in the money market that has strcwn
the pathway of 1913 business t1en
with financial wrecks to the amount
Of S3,9l939i. ST during the last quar-
ter Of Il century. And by the same
process TIL" great loan and trust com
panies have been compelled to forecio>e
| the mortgages upon oar laEdhOdrrS to
the extent Of several billions more dur
| ing THAT ptiibu ol Time. NHtaf our naIltii
is fast approaching that state of things
which Rome experienced on the eve of
her downfall. when the land of the peo-
Pile had been taken from them by usurp-
crS. and her tillcrs of the soil were COM
PEELED to leave the country and congre-
gate III the city, and while her seven
hills We're bcdrckcd with the palaces Of
the rich, thousands upon thousands Of
her toilers were sleeping Oh the streets
at night, with nothing but the broad
canopy of heaven for shelter.
These gigantic corporations are con-
stantly gnaWing at every tisSu" of the
government. They are sucking the
blood from every pore. Their mailed
hasd is thrust into every convention of
the two prcdomnating political parties
They fashion the party platforms. They
dictate the issues that shall be discussed
by their party orators during the polit-
zeal campaigns. They dictate who shall
be speaker OF the house of representa-
tives. They command who shall be the
chairmcr of the committees in our lcgis-
lative halls. They make and unmakn
presidents and cabinets They elect and
appoint Judges, and if the reports of the
daily press are to be relied upon, they
are now secretly packing the SUI
prcme court for the furtherance of their
ieSpolia tons. They compel the national
campaign committees of both parties to
execute mortgage upon every candidate
of both of them in Il presidential cam
| pagn, and fOreciosc the same as soon
/ as they are installed into office
They have. with their gold degraded.
| debauched and proStituted ihc1yonths of
our land They have bribed our legisla-
tors until our legislative halls are but
little better, in fact, than charncl houses
where statesmen of mediocre ability ma
thrive and fattcn upon the loins of the
nation. For fear that we may be ac-
cused of ovcrdrawing this picture OF
venal corruption, let us quote from some
of the sayings of one Of the leading
statesmen Of to-day. No less a person
than the president pro TEN. of the
| United States senate, Hon. J. j. Ingalls,: