People's party paper. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1891-1898, 1892-08-26

tice. They have grown to be
stronger than our government; and
the army of Pinkertons, which is
ever at their bidding, is greater by
several thousand than the standing
army of the United States. Instead
of the government controlling the
corporations, the latter dominate
every department of State. We may
no longer look to the Congress, as at
present dominated, for the regula-
ton Of these facilities. That body
is bent on farming out its sovereign
power to individuals and corpora
tons, to be used for personal gain.
Our national banking system is the
result of a compact between the Con
gress and certain speculative syndi-
Gates, the Congress agreeing to exer-
else the power to create the money,
to bestow it as gift, and to enforce
its circulation; while the syndlcates
are to determine the quantity, and
say when it shall be issued and re-
tired. No currency whatever can
be issued under this law unless it is
first called for by associated usurers,
and then they may retire it again at
pleasure. If they decline to call for
its issue, the affection must be borne.
If issued, and spectators desire to
destroy it, the disastrous sacrifice
must be endured. The power of the
government to Issue lies dormant
until evoked by private syndicate.
Then the money flows into their
hands, not to be expended in bust
ness or paid out for labor, but to be
loaned for usury on private account.
It cannot be reached by any other
citizen Of the republic, except as it
may be borrowed of those favorites,
who arbitrarily dispense it solely for
personal gain. To obtain it, the bor-
rover must pay these dispensers of
sovereign favor from six to twenty
times as much (according to locality
as was paid by the first recipient. 1t
is fine exhibition of democratic gov
eminent to see our treasury depart
ment create currency, bestow it as a
gift upon money lenders, and then
stand by with cruel Indifference and
witness the misfortunes, the sharp
competition and Affections of life drive
the rest of it's devoted subjects to the
teeth of these purse proud barons as
suppliants and beggars for extortion-
ate, secondhand favors. This sys-
tenn was borrowed from the mother
country, where it was planted to fos-
ter established nobility, distinctions
Of caste, and imperial dynastic pre-
tensions; and those who planned it
have always been satisfied with its
operation. This, then, is our situa-
ton:
For home upon earth, the poor
must sue at the feet of the land spec
ulator.
For our currency, we are remanded
to the mercies of a gigantic money
trust.
For terms upon which we may use
the highways, we must consult the
kings Of the rail and their private
traffic associations.
For rapid transit Of information
we bow obligingly to a telegraph
monopoly dominated by single
mind.
Our money, our facilities for rapid
interstate traffic, the telegraph-the
three subtle messengers of our inten-
sifed and advanced civilization-all
appropriated and dominated by pri-
vate greed wage labor superseded
by the invention of machinery and
cast off labor forbidden to return to
the earth and cultivate it in his own
right population rapidly increasing
highways lined with tramps; cities
overcrowded and congested rural
districts mortgaged to the utmost
limit, and largely cultivated by ten
ants crime extending It's rankerous
roots into the very vitals Of society
colossal fortunes rising like Alpine
ranges along side Of an ever widen
ing and deepening abyss of poverty
usury respectable, and Gods law
condemned corporations formed by
thousands to crowd out individuals
in the sharp competition for money,
and the trust to drive weak corpora
tons to the wall.
Such are some of the evils which
have given rise to the discomfort now
so universal throughout the Union.
From the Investigations which this
unrest has awakened has been evolved
the "Treefold Contention of Indus
try" covering the great question of
land, money and transportation.
Should it be the subject of criticism
or a matter of establishment that our
industrial people feel compelled to
organize for mutual and peaceful de-
tense? That they are actuated by the
L Il. L.