The gold leaf., 1891-09-24
PRESIDENT POLK.
WAS HE CORRECTLY n
PORTED IN KANSAS
Said TO Have Talked III way
That VIII Cause People TO
Question the Honesty OF
the Man---Tt is too Late
now to Stop the Third
Party Movement.
ICorrespondence Of New York Press

maze lN1te duIlCSoCo III IAdio1". ~
opening has been devoted principally |
to himself. After giving his boyhood !
history, he reaches the war period,
and says that he did not go into the
rebel wing from choice but upheld the
Union until the wave of secession
swept over the South, when he did as
many others did who were forced to
shoulder their muskets.
He had been offered command Of
a company, but refused it, as accep
tance would have been construed into
Endorsement of the cause whose arms
he carried. He afterwards accepted
the office he held, because by doing
50, he could indirectly aid those who
were fighting for the preservation of
the Union and in a degree mitigate
the suffering of those who, like HIM
self, had been forced to bear arms
against their country. While not
speaking directly about the contem-
plated strike of the cotton pickers in
the South, he said
The oppressed agricultural labor
crs should and will demand the right
of naming the compensation for their
services, and until these demands are
acceded to, let every field in the land
contain only the rotted products,
North and South. You, here, are
fortunate in being your own laborers,
but plutocrats of other States must be
compelled to acknowledge the god
given rights OF laborers, whether they
be white or black. Some of our
brethren have already made their de-
mands, and they will be granted, or
entire regions will contain only families
ruined by their own greed.
In an interview to-day Colonel
Polk stated that the Alliance move
ment was gaining thousands of converts
throughout the South daily, and the
great mass of farmers, planters and
laboring men had deserted the Demo-
cratic party, and were standing squarely
on the Ocala platform. "I believe, !"
he said, s'the third party will sweep
every State in the South in 1892. The
old bosses down there have tried to
bulldoze and force the people to take
their Democratic medicine, but with
out result.
Within the past six months | could
have had any office in the gift Of the
Democratic party, but | would not
sell my principles for pottage.' Mr..
Polk uttered these words with feeling,
and declared eternal warfare on both
old parties.
"The bloody Shirt he said, "will
be wrapped around the old sectional
agitators, and they will be buried too
deep for resurrection"
"Will the Alliance conference at
Washington in February declare for
third party?"
q cannot say, but there will be a
third party. 1t might have been pre-
vented four months ago, but now it is
too late. Our people in the South
have been abused and sncered at by
the Democratic bosses and Democratic
press, and we will stand it no longer.
The negro domination cry will not
prevent break of the solid Democracy.
We will take care of the negro and
see that he is allowed to vote. They
are largely in this movement, and will
be an important factor in the campaign
next year.
CHOW about the pension question:" ?"
"The Alliance has nothing to say
against the pensioning of soldiers who
fought for the Union. When we were
defeated we accepted the result as
final-acquiesced. We shall never raise
our voice against the legimate pension
of Union soldiers. 1t is the result of
warfare, and we can shake hands with
our Northern brothers who wore the
blue, and feel that they are receiving
only justice from government they
helped to preserve
Mr.. Polk said the Peoples party,
IN his opinson, would carry every
Southern State next year The ALI
ance was for the Ocala demands, and
would have nothing less.
TWhen we first saw the above in
print, we had our doubts about its au-
thenticity and the correctness of what
Col. Polk is credited with having said.
Whatever else may be said OF him he
is no fool. No one has ever charged
him with being that. SO we did not
believe he was guilty of talking as
above, but here comes something else
a couple of men who said they heard
him and that he had been substantially
reported in the press dispatches and
the special to the New York Press, as
printed aboye.-EDIToR GOLD LEAF. I
An Associated Press reporter at To-
peka has secured an interview with
two gentlemen who heard the speech
and noted their views, respectively.
Edward Gregory, ali enthusiastic
Grand Army man, when questioned as
to the accuracy OF the language at
trlbuted to President Polk in the press
reports, said:
- was at the Clay Centre meeting,
and heard the man who seemed to me
anxious TO betray his own comrades,
when he said he accepted a position in
the Confederate army to make less
the suffeFings of his comrades who had
been forced to bear arms. | became
disguised and left. l was already
angry over his statement that he had
been forced to bear arms against his
country after having upheld the Union.
This manner of catching votes was not
to my mind, nor do l think Kansas
generally approves oft. Kansas SOL
diers are radical, but they respect the
men who were honorable, open enc
mics, contending for what they be-