The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1891-07-03
SENATOR PETER IN NEW YORK.
His Ringing Warning from the Common
People to tho Plutocracy.

- AAhS - AVE- NJ
People to tho plutocracy.
Tho war has been carried into the
enemy's camp at last. Senator PETER.
in a great speech in Cooper Union last
week, opened the campaign of the PEG
pie against the money power in New
York city. If his message is heard and
needed by the ~autocrats of Wall street
their interests will suffer far less than
will be the case if they continue TO defy
the demands of the farmers and laborera
of the country. Hero are some of the
things he said. They are worth readia g
leone to you in direct lineage flom
that western orator who brought Il war1a-
ing thirty odd years ago, to give you the
message that a power greater than the
slave power threatens the country, and
that you must destroy that power or it
will destroy you. 1t has come to this.
Whenever the men of Wall street die
tate a policy that policy is adopted;
whenever those men oppose a policy that
policy is defeated. More than twenty
years ago a new custom was adopted in
this country, namely, whenever the men
of Wall street need moro money they
ask their partner at Washington to come
over and help them, and he comes. Last
year the secretary of the treasury re-
ports somewhere near 500, 900, 900 Of the
peoples money paid over to Wall street,
advanced in the way of interest. | saw
in the national treasury at Washington
the other day great piles of bonds
stamped Interest prepaid to July /,
1891"
Now, in contrast to that pretense, l
submit the millions of suffering farmers
of this country. When the farmers ask
the government for money for their &C
tual needs they cannot get it, while men
who are fourishing in wealth can get it
whenever they want it. That condition
of things must be changed. We propose
to take away no mans property. We
propose to protect all mems property.
There is need of several things. One
is more money, anotheris cheaper money.
don't mean money that is not good for
anything. We want good money. |
uOi1 Y SoAC LIZ hilb: btt xii ttDtt!ltlAIlCC
of it. We want it at lower rates of in
terest than we arc now paying. Bond
holders can get money at 2 per cent, but
the farmer cannot get it for less than 10.
We are going to eQualize that thing if
we have to revolutioni2e the whole couu-
try.
Instead Of calling u regulators and
anarchists you ought to thank us for
giving you warning. We mean to make
our W money and plenty of it. That
is just what we did during the war, and
we can do it again. We shall not de-
stroy the money of the rich. We shall
not touch a dollar Of it. We simply pro-
pose to make more money for ourselves.
Are not the farmers lands us good as the
national banks bonds: Why not give
the farmer Il little 2 per cent. money
from the national treasury as you do the
banks? These are not threats; they are
only warnings.
One-half the homes of this country
are mortgaged for more than they are
worth. Ii the whole state Of Kansas was
put up at auction at thirty days notice
it would not bring enough to pay her in
debtedness. | make the same assertion
regarding every agricultural state in the
country. We are not starving in Kan
sas. We propose to pay our debts, but
We can't pay a 10 per cent. debt out of
q = per cent. business. The farms are
worth Il little more than the debts upon
them, but the railroads OF the state owe
four or five times their value.
The time is coming when the people
will begin to build railroads. Some day
those railroads will either be put in the
hands OF the people (great applauscI or
else the people will build roads OF their
own. How are they going to do it: How
did We carry on the war and get money
to do it? We arc coming to it very fast
and it will be impossible to avoid it.
These changes are upon us. No power
but the Almighty can prevent them, and
he is with us. It is Of no use to daily
any longer with the old parties. They
must be converted or destroyed. We
are going to have new men and new
measures.
Breaking Down artisanship Is Something
If the Alliance ~accomplislles nothing
else than the emancipation Of the farmer
from his partisan bondage it will have
done a most remarkable, useful and pa
triotic work. One OF tho great uses Of
all labor organizations is to work this
very emancipation. although it was not
their PRIMARY purpose.
The Alliance and its kindred organiza-
riOnS will ha the most 1jcnf1j1 Of all in