The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1892-04-19
LETTER FROM MARTIN COUNTY.
Both the Old Machines Ventilated---Both
Have Been Against The People.


Mr. EDITOR Il desire to State tothe
brethren Of the Order that Beulah AL
lance, No 1857 did on Saturday the
18th, ratify the st. Louis Platform,
there being but one present who voted
against it. We then as individual citi-
z6ns, through an address, called OH the
community at la 'ge, irrespective Of
past party affiliatiOn or color to meet
us on the 9th for the purpose Of ratify-
ing said platform.
The result was tremendous crowd,
white and cOlored, and not single vote
! cast against its adoption There are
some few sOreheadS around the com
munity calling thems elves the Simon
pure Democrats that are thunderstruck
at what they call rank heresy against
the party. The party that they say
has not been in power for thirty years,
and so of course cannot be in any way
responsible for the ruinOus state of af
fairs of which we complain. 1t is a
fact that the Democratic party have
not had full control of both Houses and
the Executive Department at the same
time, in thirty years, nor does the
money power intend either ever shall
have again, but let us see if the Demo
critic party is not to blame as well as
the other old rotten machine that
stands today with an unbIuShing grim
ace on it's face without conviction,
without courage, without a soul, with
q miserable record and the character
Of political prostitutes offering them
selves for sale to the highest bidder.
One of the demands of the people is for
more money and has been for many
years Well then, has the Democratic
party given what power it has had to
give us more money? No, in 1866 when
Hugh McCOllOugh's contraction bill
came before the House. on this Occa-
sion the Democrats held the balance
Of power, 55 Republicans voting for
and So voting against plainly shows,
but 10 and behold, every Democrat in
the House, but one voted for it, that
is to say, % out of % voted to make
money scarce and the price of products
low. IN 1868 two years later, there
came up bill to suspend contraction:
did the Democrats vote for a suspen-
sion? No. they did not Have they
ever said single word in favor OF
more money or against contraction
since 1868 in their national platform,
except on the silver question and
pray tell the people if it vast Demo
cratic votes that defeated the Senate
free coinage Silver Bill a short time
ago in the House, and even now, with
q treme ndOus Democratic ma jOrity,
Mr.. Bland is made to tremble over the
bill he SO ably champions. Did not
Mr.. Cleveland, our first Democratic
PreSlden5, in thirty years oppose the
free coinage Of silver in two of his
messages ? Was it not that distin
guished gentleman himself whoshOwed
so much friendship to National banks
as to make them a loan Of $61. 00O,0: 0
and without intere st too? Where did
he get this money to loan He got it
out Of the United States Treasury. Was
it his to do as he wished ? No, it was
the peoples, but 1t was collected as tax
es and Mr.. Cleveland wante to get it
back into the hands Of the people he
said, and of course he took the best
way he could to get it back to them by
letting his pets, and [ have heard his
partners, take it and loan it to the peO
pie at rate Of interest ranging from s
to ~ per cent. The people would like
to know how come so much money in
the Treasury not needed. The old sore
heads say, ''Oh, it was the surplus &C
cumulated by an economical admins
tratiOn. Perhaps some surplus is bet
tenn is to remain in force, but why was
Mr. Cleveland opposed to getting rid
of some of that surplus or tax surplus
anyway in the shape Of internal reve-
nue. tax?
1t seems that even Mr.. Mills. another
Democrat, did not want to reduce the
surplus much, when his famous bill
only advocated Z per cent reduction,
and mercy, another famous Democrat,
Samuel Randall, did not even favor
| that slight reduction.
In the days of old Democracy, the
pl l4tfOrm of that party had a plank
which said, I'VE hold National banks
to be unconstitutional" but when the
question came up to charter the Ma
tIonal banks few years ago, the bill
passed through the House with but 125
affirmative votes, of which 103 were
Republicans; the Democrats had it in
their power to defeat it when they had
1876 votes altogether, but how did they
vote, Sc out of 1876 voted against re-
chartering the National banks, % voted
in favor of it and So lodged. In word
it is clearly evident that the present
so-called Democracy q don't mean the
rank and file of the vOters) deserves as
much cOntumely heaped upon it as the
other old machine, and as for my part,
| don't intend to play shut mouth any
longer am not SO awfully afraid Of
negro supremacy, the poor old negro IS
like myself tt ~ are never allowed to
rule anything but the hoe, axe and
plow. Some few of the so called Dem
ocrats sarcasticaly and sneeringly tell
us reformers down here that the kinky
heads are with us, allu ling to the ne
gro. I hope thev are and will continue
to be with us, for if the law of contrac-
ton forces me to get cents for my
cotton. it forces the negro to take the
same for his. Now, right here breth-
rem, am going to give you pointer.
It is time the white man and the black
man was coming together, and by
their united suffrage clean out this