The farmers' union. (Memphis, Mo.) 1891-1895, 1892-02-11
The Situation.

There have always been a few fearless
and untiring workers who have stood in
the line of advance guards" to the pco-
Pies cause and warned sleeping human
ity against impending danger, and that
line is still unbroken: but the mode of
operation is changing; they are begin
ming to learn that the real cause for
alarm now is not from a foreign foe,
but from an internal disease: and the
remedy must be found by thinking and
not Ivy fighting: the political doctors
must note the symptoms of the disease
and find its cause, then apply the
remedy.
Away back in the sixties the thinking
minds saw that political diseases were
terminating from the exception clause
in the greenback, and later from the
contraction of the currency, and through
out the seven, or more, financial con-
spiracies, and in all these things that
our shallow minded statesmen consid-
ere,. principles of political economy our
doctors recognized a poisonous drug
prescribed by ignoramuses and Guacks,
that will surely eat its way to the very
heart of our civilization. They then saw
that one thing was essential to cure this
malady, and that was more money in
anu itIl t'I'it! hl tiltl,
and accordingly the Grecnback party
WAS organized and agitation commenced
in earnest. But soon other symptoms
were observed. The land, from other
causes, was drifting into the hands Of
great capitalists and corporations; our
wonderfully wise system Of projection
did not protect, though charity was max
ing up for all of this; few thousand
dollars was occasionally being given back
by the Carnegics as charity in place of
the millions they have stol:n legally.
But the people are not asking for charity;
it is justice they want, and justice they
must have. Now. the question is, how
can they get it? In 1876 ST. 740 voters
rallied to the support of Peter Cooper;
four years latter 30s. .57S voted for J. 3.
Weaver. The writer thought then that
probably the next four years they would
gain enough to elect a president, il not,
surely they would the second, and have
| a majority in Congress also. But no!
! Two presidents have been elected since,
| and five more congresses have come and
, gone, and still no change has been made.
| Why are reformers making such poor
hcadway? Because they are trying to
! build firm structure on rotten foun-
| datiOn, or, to return to our image, a
diseased pOlltical DOdy; tney are Trying
to purify the blood by external appli-
ances. Before they can have radical re-
form they must introduce radical means;
instead of our electoral system we
should have the "Referendlm;" nothing
is more seif-evident than that "all
governments derive their just powers
from the consent of the governed" but
do the people of this country consent tO
be governed as they are? No. In order
to consent they should have the privilege
of ratifying or rejecting all laws before
they are enforced; we should, instead OF
our old English House of Lords and
House of Commons, only with differt
cnt name, have simply House of Rep
res natives, to formulate and enac.
minor laws, but let all questions of i'm.
! portancc be referred back to the people
to be ratified or rejected, instead of re-
ferring it to one man, to be signed or We
tocd. Then, and not till then, will the
government derive its just powers I,
| govern. If the American people had the
government in their own hands this re-
public would yet be rescued from land.
lordism and competitive slavery, other
wise it never will.