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

MR.. INGALLS, SPEECH.
The Kansas Senator'S Great Speech
For Free Coinage.
The Tyranny of Combined, Conscienceless
and Incorporated CaPltal-Free Coinage
One Remedy-A Crisis That May Be
come a Catastrophe.

In the Senate of the United States on
the 18th pending consideration of the
financial biH, the question being upon
Senator Stewards free silver coinage
amendment Senator Ingalls,, of Kansas,
addressed the Senate in favor of free
coinage. He spoke as follows:
Mr. President: Two portentous perils
threaten the safety, il they DO not endanger
the existence, Of the Republic The first of
these 10 ignorant, debased, degraded, spuri-
QUE and sophisticated suffrage; suffrage con-
tamlnated by the sewage of decaying ma
tions; suffrage intimidated and suppressed
IN the South; suffrage impure and corrupt,
Rpathetic and Indifferent, in the great cities
of the North; so that IL is doubtful whether
there has been for half century Presi-
dental election in this country that ex-
pressed the deliberate and intelligent iudg-
msnt of the whole body OF the American
people
In a newspaper interview a few months
ago In which I commented upon these con-
ditions, and alluded to the efforts of the ba-
Gill doctors Of politics, the bacteriologists OF
our system who endeavor to cure the Ills I'M
der which we suffer by their hypodermic in
sections OF the lymph of independent non
partsanship and the Brown Sequard elixir
of civil service reform, / said that "the puri-
1ication of politics by such methods as this
was an lrioescent dream" Remembering
the cipher dispatches of 1877, and the at
tempted purchase of the electoral votes of
many Southern States in that campaign; the
forgery OF the Morey letter in 1881, by which
Garfield lost the votes of three States in the
North, and the characterization and por-
traiture of Blaine and Cleveland and Har-
rison by their political adversaries, added
that "the golden rule and the decalogue had
no place IN American political campaigns"
Il 10
dent that in those utterances was not in
culcating doctrine, but describing condi-
ton. My statement was statement Of facts
as understood them and not the announce
ment OF an article Of faith But many rever-
end and eminent dvines, many disinterested
editors many ingenious orators, perverted
those utterances into personal advocacy OF
impurity in politics.
l do not complain, Mr.. President. IT was,
rs the world goes legitimate political war
fare; but il was an illustration OF the truth
that there ought 10 be purific alton in our
politics, and that the golden rule and the
decalogue ought TO have place in political
campaigns. "Do unto others as ye would
that others should do unto YOU" is the su-
preme injunction, obligatory upon all. 'If
thine enemy smite thee upon one cheek turn
him the other" is a sublime and lofty pre-
cept. But take this occasion 70 observe
that until IL is more generally regarded than
il has been or appears likely TO be in the
immediate future, if my political enemy
Emites me upon one cheek, instead of turn
ing TO him the other / shall smite him under
the butt end of his left ear if l can. Laugh
teri If this be political immortality, am TO
be included among the unregenerated.
FRAUD WORSE THAN VIOLENCE.
The election bin that was under consider
alton a few days ago was intended to deal
with one part of the great evil to which l
have alluded, but IL was an imperfect, a
partial, and an incomplete remedy. Nlo-
lence is bad but fraud is no better, and it
is more dangerous because it is more insid
ious Burke said, in one of those immortal
orations that emptied the House of Com
mons, but which will be read with admira-
ton so long as the English tongue shall
endure, that when the laws of Great Britain
were not strong enough to protect the hum
blest Hndoo upon the shores of the Gauges,
the nobleman was not safe in his castle upon
the banks of the Thames. Sir, that lofty
sentence is pregnant with admonition for
us. There can be no repose, there can be no
stable and permanent peace in this country
and under this Government until IL is just as
safe for a black Republican to vote in Mis-
sissipp as if he were white Democrat in
Kansas.
THE TYRANNY OF CONFINED CAPITAL.
The evil. Mr. President, the second to which
I adverted as threatening the safety If it
does not endanger the existence of the Re
public, is the tyranny of combined, concen-
Grated, central zed and incorporated capital.
And the people are considering this great
problem now. The conscience ofthe Nation
is shocked at the injustice Of modern society
the moral sentiment Of mankind has b, en-
aroused at the unequal distribution of
wealth, at the unequal diffusion of burdens,
the benefits and the privileges of society. At
( the beginning Of our second century the
+ American people have become profoundly
conscious that the ballot is not the panacea
for all the evils that affiict humanity, that il
has not abolished poverty nor prevented in
Justice. They have discovered that political
equality does net result in social fraternity
that under a democracy the concentration
Of greater political power in fewer hands,
the accumulation and aggregation OF greater
amounts of wealth in individuals Is more
possible than under monarchy, and that
there is a tyranny which is more fatal than
the tyranny OF kings.
General Washington, the first President OF
the Republic, at the close of his life in 1929
had the largest private fortune in the Unit, d
States of America Much of this came by i'm %
heri;ance but the Father Of his Country, in
addition TO his other virtues, shining and IL
lustrlous was a very prudent, sagacious,
thrifty and forehsnded man. he knew a
good thing when he saw il, a great way of.
a surveyor in his youth he obtained knowl-
edge that enabled him to know exceedingly
we'll the value put upon the public domain.
The establ shment OF the National capital in
the immediate vicinity OF his patrimonial
possessions did not diminish their value.
He was Just debtor but he was an exact, If
not eNacting creditor. And so &c came TO
pass that when he died he was. TO use the
expressive phraseology ofthe day,the richest
man in the country
GREAT CONTRAST.
At this time, ninety years sfterward, il Is
not without interest to know that the entire
aggregate and sum of his earthly possessions
his estate, personal and mixed, Mount Yer
non and his lands along the Kanawha and
the Ohio. slaves. securities, all of his belong
ings-reached the sum total Of between $50.
600 or - OOO0 This was less than a century
ago and IL Is within bounds TO say that at
this time there are many scores OF men, OF
estates and OF corporations in this country
whose annual income exceeds, and there has
been one man whose monthly revenue since
that period exceeded the entire accumula-
lions OF the wealthiest citizen OF the Tn .te 1
States at the end OF the last century. At that
period the social condition OF the United
States was one OF practical equality. The
statistics OF the census OF 1900 are Incomplete
and partial, but the pOpulat on OF the Union
was about 5,so0.oo0. and the estimated
Weaitn OF inc country was betN'SA so'-~e'-
OOOOOO and 1900 $4,000 There was not a
millionaire, and there was not a tramp or q
manner so far as we know. IN the country
e,cent those who had been made so by in
trinity or seRse or inev table calamity. A
multit OF small farmers contentedly titled
the SO Upon the coast a race Of fisher
men and sailors, owning tie crafts that they
sailed wrested their subsistence from the
stormy sea Labor was the rule and luxury
beexcention. The great mass OF the PEG
ME lived upon the products Of the farm.
mat thev cultivated They spun. wove and
manufactured their clothing from fax ant
-, r,,,,,o-.o and hand CRAFTS AFFORDED