The advocate and Topeka tribune., 1892-10-05

or the financial bill, the question being
upon Senator Stewards free silver coinage
amendment, Senator Ingalls,, of Kansas,
addressed the Senate in favor of free coin
age. BE spoke as follows:
Nh. PRESIDENT: Two portentous perils
threaten the safety, if they do not endanger
the existence, of the republic. The first
of these is ignorant, debased, degraded,
spurious and sophisticated suffrage; suf
frage contaminated by the sewage of de-
caying nations; suffrage intimidated and
suppressed in the South; suffrage impure
and corrupt, apathetic and Indifferent in
the great cities of the North; so that it Is
doubtful whether there has been for half
q century a presidential election in this
country that expressed the deliberate and
intelligent judgment of the whole body of
the American people.
Z.
FRAUD WORSE THAN VIOLENCE.
The election bill that was under consid-
sration a few days ago was intended to
deal with one part of the great evil TO
which have alluded, but il was an i'm per-
feet, partial and an incomplete remedy.
Violence is bad, but fraud is no better, and
1t Is more dangerous, because it is more
insidious. Burke said, in one of those i'm
mortal orations that emptied the House of
Commons but which will be read with ad-
shall endure, that when the laws of Great
Britain were not strong enough to protect
the humblest HindoO upon the shores of
the Ganges, the nobleman was not safe in
his castle upon the banks of the Thames.
Sir, that lofty sentence is pregnant with
sdmonitiOn for US. There can be no re-
pose, there can be no stable and perma-
nent peace in this country and under this
Government, until it is just as safe for a
loulr kr.x ~ VSVNTu
II he were a white Democrat in Kansas.
THE TYRANNY OF COMBINED CAPITAL.
The evil, Mr.. President the second to
which l adverted as threatening the safety,
II it does not endanger the existence of
the Republic, is the tyranny Of combined,
concentrated, centralized aud Incorporated
capital. And the people are considering
this great problem now. The conscience
Of the nation is shocked at the injustice of
modern society. The moral sentiment of
mankind has been aroused at the unequal
distribmttOn Of tOeGlth, at the unequal DIFF
fusion Of burdens, the benefits and the
privileges of society. At the beginning of
our second century the American people
have become profoundly conscious that
the ballot is not the panacea for all the
evils that af1ict humanity; that it has not
abolished poverty, nor prevented injustice.
They have discovered that political equal
that under a democracy the concentration
OF greater political power in fewer hands,
the accumulation and aggregation of
greater amounts OF wealth in individuals,
is more possible than under monarchy,
and that there is tyranny which is more
fatal than the tyranny of kings.
General Washington, the first President
OF the republic, at the close Of his life, in
1898, had the large=t private fortune in the
United States OF America. Much Of this
came by inheritance, but the Father Of his
Country, in addition to his other virtues,
shining and illustrious, was q very prudent,
sagaOiOus, thrifty and forehanded man.
He knew a good thing when he saw it, g
great way OF. He had keen eye for the
main chance. As a surveyor, in his youth
he obtained knowledge that enabled him to
know exceedingly well the value put upon
the public domain. The establishment oi
the national capital in the immediate
Vicinity Of his patrimonial possessions
did not diminish their value. He was q
Just debtor, but he was an exact, if not
oxactinR, creditor. And so it came to
pass that when he died he was, to use the
expressive phraseOlOgy Of the day, the
richest man in the country.
A GREAT CONTRAST.
At this time, 80 years afterward, It Ii
not without interest to know that the en-
tire aggregate and sum of his earthly pos
sessions his estate, personal and mixed
Mount Vernon and his lands along the
Kanawha and the Ohio, slaves, securities
AL of his belongings reached the sun
total OF between $800,000 or 100000
This was less than a century ago, and it il
within bounds to say that at this time
there are many scores OF mon, of estates
and OF corporations in this country whose
9nnIGdL income erceedS, and there has beer
ore man tOhoSe monthly reUenus since tina
period exceeded the entire GccunulGtionS o.
the Wealthiest citizen of the United Statel
at the end of the last century. At tina
period the social condition of the United
States was one of practical equality. Tit
statistics of the census of 1900 are inO- -
plete and partial, bat the populatioS o
the Union was about 5,30o,O0O, and 90,
estimated wealth of the country was 0e
tween $3,OO0,0O0,O00 and $4,000, O,ooO, 600
There was not q millionaire, and there wa
not q tramp or q pauper, so far as vi
know, in the country, except those whC
had been made so by infirmity or disease
or inevitable calamity. A multitude o
small farmers contentedly titled the soil
Upon the coast race of fishermen ant
sailors, owning the crafts that they sailed
Wrestled their subsistence from the storm,
sea. Labor was the rule and luxury tn
exception. The great mass of the peopl
lived upon the products of the farms tha
they cultivated. They spun, wove an
manufactured their clothing from fax an
wool. Commerce and handicrafts afforde
honorable competence. The prayer o
Agur was apparently realized. There wa
neither poverty nor riches. Wealth wa
uniformly diffused, and none were COZ
demned to hopeless penury and depend
snce. Less than 4 per cent. of the on
f.As =.
were but four cities whose population e1
ceeded 10000 persons. Westward to tn
Pacific lay the fertile solitude OF an une1
plored continent, its resources undeVe
Oped and unsupported. The dreams c
Utopia seemed to be about fulfilled: th
wide, the universal diffusion OF civil, pC
litical and personal rights among the gres
body of the people, accompanied by effc
oient and vigorous guaranty for the safet
raf life the r1rOtactinO Of nrnnaztv and kh