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


flched, robbed violently plundered out of
the earnings of the laborers and operatives
and farmers who are compelled to buy it;
and vet il goes by the euphemstic name of
speculation" and 10 declared to be legiti-
mate; it is eulogized and Defended as one of
those practices that IL entitled to respect
and appreciation.
between the employer and the employed in
this country il becoming vindictivs and per-
manently malevolent Labor and capital are
in two hostile camps 70 day. Loekouts and
strikes and labor difficulties have become
practically the normal condition of our
system and il IL estimated that during the
year that Is Just closed in consequence of
these disorders. in consequence of this hos
tility and this warfare, the actual loss in
labor in wages IN the destruction of perish
able commodities by the Interruption of
railroad traffic has not been less than $780,
100000. Mr.. President, this is q serious prob
lem. 1t may well engage the attention OF
the Representatives OF the states and OF the
American people I have no sympathy with
that school Of political economists which
teaches that there IL an inreconcilable con-
fict between labor and capital, and which
demands indlscriminate, hostile and repres
sive legislation against men because they
are rich, and corporations because they are
! strong.
Labor and capital should not be antago-
| nists but allies rather. They should not be
| opponents and enemies, but colleagues and
| auxiliaries, whose cooperating rivalry is
! essential to National prosperity. But 1 can
| not forbear TO affirm that political system
| under such despotic power can be wrested
! from the people and vested in the few is
! democracy only in name. A financial sys-
| TEN under which more than one half OF the
enormous wealth of the country derived from
| the bounty of nature, and the labor OF all is
/ owned by a little more than $1,000 people,
/ while 1000 900 American citizens, able and
| willing to toll, are homeless tramps, starv-
| ing for bread, requires adjustment. A social
/ system which offers to tender, virtuous and
| independent women the alternative be-
! tween prostitution and suicide as an escape
| from beggary is organized crime, for
which some day unrelenting justice will de,
| mand atonement and explanation Mr..
| President the man who loves his country
and the man who studies her history will
search in vain for any National cause for this
appalling condition. The earth has not for
| gotten to yield her increase. There has been
! no general failure of harvests. We have had
! benignant skies and the early and the late
rain. Neither famine nor pestilence has
decimated our population nor wasted It's
energies. immigration is flowing in from
! every land, and we are in the lusty prime Of
National youth and strength, with unex-
ampled resources and every stimulus TO
their development; but. sir, the great body
| of the American people are engaged to-day
in studying these problems that have sug
| gested in this morning hour. They are dis
heartened with misfortune. They are tired
| of the exactions of the spectators. They
desire peace and rest They are turning
| their attention to the great industrial ques-
tions which underiie their material pros
perity. They are Indifferent TO
| party. They care nothing for
| Republicanism nor for Democracy as SUCH
! They are ready to say: "a plague on both
your houses" and they are ready, also, Mr..
! President, to hail and to welcome any or
ganization, any measure, any leader that
! promises them relief from the profitless
strife of politicians and this turbulent and
distracting agitation which has already
eliminated in violence and may end in
blood. Such, sir, is the verdict which read
in the elections from which we have just
emerged, q verdict that was unexpected by
the leaders of both parties, and which sur
! prised alike the victors and the vanquished.
| 1t was a spontaneous, unprecedented pro-
test of the people against existing conditions.
1t was a revolt of the National conscience
| against Injustice, movement that is full OF
pathos and also full of danger, because such
| movements sometimes make victims of those
who are guiltless 1t was not Republican
defeat. 1t was not Democratic victory. 1t
4 was a great upheaval and uprising, indie.
pendent of and superior to both 1t was a
crisis that may become a catastrophe filled
with terrible admonition, but not without
encouragement to those who understand and
are ready TO CO oper ate with it.
PEACEFUL REVOLUTIONS.
1t was peaceful revolution, an attempt to
resume rights that seemed to have been in
fringed. 1t is many years, Mr.. President
since predicted this inevitable result. In a
speech delivered in this chamber on the 18th
of February, 1878, from the seat that is now
adorned by nv honorable friend from Texas
who sits before me Mr.. Reagan, said:
1--WE can not disguise the truth that we are
on the verge Of an impending revolution
The old issues are dead. The people are ar.
raging themselves upon one side or the other
OF a portentious contest. On one side Is cap
itaI, formdably intrenched in privilege, ar
rogant from continued triumph, conserya-
tive, tenacious of old theories, demanding
new concessions, enriched by domestic levy
and foreign commerce, and struggling to
adjust all values to its own standard
On the other is labor, asking for EN-
ployment, striving to develop domes
tic industries, battling with the forces
of nature and subduing the wilderness
labor starving and sullen, resolutely deter
mined to overthrow system under which
the rich are growing richer and the poor are
Vanderbilt the possession of wealth beyond
the dreams OF avsrIce, and condemns tbs
poor 20 a poverty which has no refuge from
starvation but the prison or the grave OuI
demands for relief, for justice, have beer
met with indifference or disdain. The Ia
borers OF the country asking for employ
ment are treated like r-pudent mendicants
begging for bread"
Mr.. President. it may be cause, IL may bt
coincidence, it may be effect, 1t may be pos
hoe or il may be propter hoe, but IL is his
toricalIy true that this great blight that has
!, fallen upon our industries, this paralysi:
that has overtaken our financial system
conceded in point OF time with the diminu
ton of the circulating medium of the coun'
try The public debt was declared payable
In coin and the power of silver was de-
Gtroved. The value Of property diminished
in proportion, wages fell, and the value OF
every thing was deprecated except debts
and gold The mortgage, the bond, the
coupon and the tax have retained immortal
youth and vigor. They have not depre-
ciated. The debt remains, but the cspa-
CITY 20 pay has been destroyed The scou-
mutation of years disappears under the
. hammer of the sheriff and the debtor is
homeless, while the creditor obtains the
security for his debt for fraction Of what Il
was actually worth when the debt was con
tracted.
There is, Mr.. President q deep-seated con-
viction among the people, which I fully
share that the demonstration of silver in
1873 was one element Of a great conspiracy &c
| deliver the fscal system OF this country oyel
to those by whom 10 has, in my opinion
= finally been captured I see no proof OF the
assertion that the decentralization act of 1871
was fraudulently or corruptly procured, but
tfs impossible to avoid the conviction thai
IL was part of a deliberate plan and conspir
acy formed By those who have been called
spectators TO still further increase the value
of the standard bv which their aocumuia-
tious were to be measured