The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-01-18

sOndlr ION or things can exist Wltnout c4ciI-
ing profound apprehension? / heard, or
saw. rather. for did not hear i'll saw in
the morning papers that, in bis speech yes
terday, the Senator from Ohio (Mr. shernan)
devoted considerable part OF his remarks
to the defense of mIllionaires; that he de-
clared that they were the froth of the beer OF
Dur political system
/ Mr.. Sherman-I said Spectators
| Mr.. neutrality-suspicious.? They are very
nearly the same for the mlllionaires of this
country, Mr. President, are not the producers
and the lsborers. They are arrayed Ike
Solomon In all his glory, but "they toll not
neither do they spin"-yes, they do spin.
This class, Mr.. President. am glad to say, Is
not confined to this country alone. These
| gigantic accumulations have not been the re-
| suit of industry and economy. There would
be no protest against them If they were.
There is an anecdote floating around the pa
| pers speaking about beer. That some gen.
tleman said to the keeper of a saloon that
he would give him a recipe for selling more
beer, and when he inquired what it was, he
| said: 'Sell less froth." lLaughter.l III the
milIIonaires and spectators of this country
are the froth upon the beer of our system,
the time has come when we should sell more
beer by selling less troth. Laughter.
The people are beginning to inquire
whether under"a government of the people,
by the people and for the people" under a
!
plemented by the labor OF all, any citizen
can show a moral-yes, or legal-title to
5000, O00, 900.
Some have the temerity to ask whether or
not any man can show a clear title to $780,
10000. There have been men rash enough to
doubt whether, under a system so consti-
tuted, by speculation or otherwise, any citi-
zen can show q fair title to $4,000 600, when
the distribution per capita would be less
than 81 600 If were put upon my roir dire
[ should hesitate before admitting that, in
the sense of giving just compensation and
equivalent, any man in this country or any
| other country ever absolutely earned mil
lion dollars. I do not believe he ever did.
What is the condition to-day, Mr.. President,
oy the statistics? repeat that the people
are not Anarchists; they are not Socialists
they are Communists; but they have sud
denly walked to the conception of the fact
that the bulk of the property OF this country
Is passing into the hands of what the Senator
from Ohio, by a euphemism, calls the spec
alators' of the world.
WEALTH DISTRIBUTION.
A table has been completed for the pur-
pose of showing how wealth in this country
Is distributed, and IL is full of the most
startling admonition. 1t has appeared in
| the magazines; il has been commented
apon in this chamber. 1t has been the
theme of editorial discussion. 10 appears
from this that there are in the United States
200 persons who have an aggregate of more
than $40 900, 900 each, and there has been one
man. the Midas of the century, at whose
touch every thing seemed to turn to gold
| who had acquired, within less than the life
l time of a single individual, out of the aggre
{ gate of the National wealth that was earned
by the labor of all, applied to the common
bounty of nature, an aggregate that exceeded
the assessed value of four Of the smallest
States in this Union.
Mr.. Hoar And more than the whole
country had when the Constitution was
framed.
Mr.. Ingalls,. Yes-and as the Senator from
Massachusetts well observes, and thanh
him for the suggestion-much more, many
times more than the entire wealth of the
| country when it was established anC
founded. -Four hundred persons possess $40,
100000 each, 1000 possesses 100000 each
1000 possesses 5000, 900 each, 5000 people
81, Coz 900 each making q total OF II 900 people
who possess S36, $50 100000
Mr. President, it is the most appalling
statement that ever fell upon mortal ears
1t Is, so far as the results of democracy as {
social and political experiment are con
cerned, the most terrible commentary tina
ever was recorded in the book of time-anC
Nero fiddles while Rome burns. 1t is throw
off with a laugh and a sheer, Gas the frotl
upon the BEER of our political and socia
system. AS 1 said, the assessed valuation
recorded in the great National ledger, stand
ing to our credit is about s65, 600, 900, 900
Our population is 62,5OO,OOO, and by SOM
means, by some device, by some machina
| ton, by some incarnation, honest or other
wise, by some process that can not be de
fined, less than a two-thousandth part of ou
population have obtained possession (ant
have kept out of the penitentiary, in spite o
the means they adopted to acquire it) o
I n ha n the entire
wealth of the country.
NOT THE WORST.
That is not the worst, Mr.. President. I
has been largely acquired by men who havt
contributed little TO the material welfare o
the country, and by processes that do no
care in appropriate terms TO describe. b.
the wrecking of the fortunes of innooen
men, women and children, by iugglery, b,
bookkeeping, by fnanciering, by what tn
Senator from Ohio calls speculation ant
this process is going on with frightful ant
constantly acceleratlng rapidity. The entir
industry of this country ID passing under tn
control Of organized and confederated cap
itaL More than fifty of the necessaries o
life to day, without which the cabin of tn
farmer and the miner can not be lighted o
his children fed or clothed, have passed alb
solutely under the control of syndcates ant
trusts and corporations composed of specu
lators, and by means OF these combina
tions and considerations competition
destroyed; small dealings are rendered
impossible; competence can no longer b
ACQUIRED, for ID is superfuous and unneces
sary TO say that IL, under a system wher
the accommodations distributed per capt.
would be less than 81 600 $1,000 obtane
possession of more than half of the accu
mulated wealth OF the country, it is impos
sible that others should have a competenc
or an independence. So IL happens, Nj
President, that our society is becoming rap
idly stratifed, almost hopelessly stratifec
into a condition of superfluously rich an
, helplessy poor. We are accustomed {
speak of this as the land of the free and tn
home of the brave. 1t Will soon be the HON
of the rich and the land of the slave.
1t is no wonder Mr.. President, that the la
boring. industrial and agricultural classes c
: 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 inquiring whether o
not this experiment. has been successful
= and sir the spectators must beware. The
have forgotten that the conditions, politics
and social. here are not a reproduction c
the conditions under which these circum
= stances exist in other lands. Here IL n
t dynasty: here is no privilege, or caste, o
: 4 prerogative; here are no standing armies
{ / here are no hereditary bondsmen, but ever
: atom In our political system 10 quick, in
: / stinct, and endowed with life and power
! / HIS ballot at the box is the equivalent OF tn
= ballot of the richest speculator. Thoma
jefferson, the great apostle of modern De
nosrscy, taught the lesson 10 his follower
and they have prodted well BY his instruc
! ton, that under a popular democratic rer
resentative government wealth, culture. in
telligence were ultimately no match 70
( numbers.
JUST But JEALOUS.
The numbers in this country, Mr.. Pres
: dent, have learned at last the power Of con
bination, and the spectators should not foi
get that while the people Of this country ar