The farmers' union. (Memphis, Mo.) 1891-1895, 1891-11-26
FALSE ISSUES RAISED
TO DECEIVE THE PEOPLE AND
PERPETUATE MONEY RULE.

TO DECEIVE THE PEOPLE AND
PERPETUATE MONEY RULE.
The Farce Cannot Last Always The I'co=
pies rhfts VIII Cbmi,eI the side-SI,ows
tu Stand Aside.
When Gladstune declared himself IN
favor Of "hone rule" thus bringing the
Irish Question to the front making it d
prominent issue in English politics and
dividing line between the Liberal and
the Tory, the Radicals claimed that the
';grand old man was simply using Ire
land as a cloak. and was holding up
the oppressed Celt as a magnet to at
tract the gaze of the English voter
that he might forget his own wants in
contemplating the greater needs of his
neighbor. Writers like Webb were
more chagrined at the success OBJ
tained than surf rised at the attempt,
and now, with pamphlets. speeches and
editorials, are telling the English In,
borer that his own sad condition calls
for discussion. nssistanc. and 1egisla-
tion fully as much az the evicted Irish
men, and claim that while Gladstone
may have been sincere in his err of
| alarm over the wolf that is threatening
Ireland. he Is losing sight of the wolf
at home that is standing at the door of
every English cottage. The plan of
raising a false Issue, of pushing to the
front of debate a minor consideration
| to attract popular attention from living
points of interest, is as old as the game
! of politics itself If it is true that
| Gladstone used his side issue success
fully and. as Davy Crockett would saw
"kept the hounds barking up the wrong
| tree" his effort bears no comparison
! with the Success obtained by Blaine.
| Mckinley, ct al. in compelling Amer
! lean voters to discuss. debate and
wrangle over tariff. reciprocity and
| foreign commerce, instead of deliber-
ating upon plans to relieve domestic
| trade and production from the monop-
olies in our midst that are taking from
| the business man his legitimate profit,
from the farmer his natural increase,
and from the laborer the frnit of his
/ toll.
Gov. Campbell of Ohio and Mai.
Mckinley recently met in debate IN n
village of that State. a synopsis of
their addresses was sent to the daily
press: and if the intelligent reader can
examine and digest the remarks of
either-more especially McKinley's re-
plv-and not get an inkling of the
truth. not see the face of the wolf that
he presents, can pity his blindness,
but not entirely disguise my contempt
for his stupidity.
l., a,.fia rf I
present two points for debate-high OF
low tariff. and unlimited coinage OF
silver-and the solving of these two
problems need not keep the average
voter awake for one night or hold him
IN suspense a single hour Both are
of little moment, both of such tritiing
consideration to the ordinary citizen
that not one in a thousand would per
sonallv notice the success of either
principle. The Republican does not
claim to be an extreme protectionist,
and the Democrat insists that he is OPP
posed to free trade. and the cessation
or increase of q few millions monthly
in silver coinage would have little ef-
feet upon the masses. In truth, both
are blinds, both are shams; it is Glad
difficult for the politicians to arouse
anv of the old-fashioned party enthu
siasm. In the face of our universal
hard times, in spite of the fact tha,
there is universal complaint and agita
tion in the ranks of labor, that bust
ness failures are steadily increasing
that the agricultural classes are in
worse condition than at any time il
our past, is there no other solution tc
the great problems of the hour thar
a higher or q lower tariff, reciprocit,
with few minor republics, and coin
age of more or less silver dollars
The complete, the final solution o
these comparatively trifing issues tha
are raised by the politicians, not b,
the people. would not pare tingel
nail on the body polite and is fishing
for whales with tronting tackle.
T think it was Lincoln who said
"You NAV fool part of the people al
the time; you may fool all the peopl,
part of the time: bnt you can't fool al
the people all the time If he wer,
alive to-day he would see that the pol
iticians of to-day are working at thi
impossib!e task. The augurs of Rom
when they met laughed with each othe
over their success in hoodwinking TIN
people. and surely their mantles hav
descended on the politicians Of our day
The farce is too great a one to be plave,
out in its entirety: tie actors them
selves must sometimes break down il
their efforts to maintain grave face
must laugh sometimes before they cal
hide behind the scenes or rather let II
hone that. being American citizens
their innate patriotism, natural homo
and sense of truth causes them at time
to vary the prepared program.
In the debate referred to. Mckinla
apparently made such slip in his pre-
pared part In answering Campbell
he stated that the internal, the domes
tic commerce of this country exceehc
in amount the trade of England, Gel
many, Russia and Italy, and added tina
the one railroad passing through tn
village in which he spoke carrie
annually more tonnage than our Who'll
foreign trade, both import and export
The account states that the poin
caused enthusiastic applause; and tn
applause should have continued unit
it drove out of Mckinleys head all {
his statistics, arguments and sopLi:
tries about the tariff. No wonder
caused applause. Here was the nf
tural, the one sensible part of tn
whole debate. And did he pause here
show how the monorolies, the bloos
y suckers, the money leeches of to-da
;. are controlling this vast trade, tn
vast domestic production and tlistrib1
ton that he finds is hundred tim<
r more important to us than all our fo
: eign trade? Oh, no! He took breat
and began to show how reciprooit
o with Mexico and Brazil would max
a the farmer and laborer happy and col
. tented.
Judging from this debate alone tn
;; reader should acknowledge the abs
!, Lutte necessity of new political orga,
" ization; for whetherit solves the prol
lens or not, whether right or wron: