Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1892-12-14

PETER MARTIN.
MONMOUTH, KAs., Nov. 25, 1883.
My DEAR FRIEND PETER MARTIN:
Your letter was received only yesterday
your very kind letter, 1 will say, al
though recognize ataunting mood was
over you when you wrote it. 1 take
pleasure in replying. With sore and
chapped hands and weary back, fresh
from the corn-field, am putting in
midnight hour in recognition of your
friendly taunt, and now if l should
speak plain, fright out in meetin'" l
hope you will receive it as well as 1 do
yours.
Ibid Isee the account of the eclipse %
Yes; with shame l saw it. Not that l
feared, or cringed from jeers of taunts,
but on account of the political eclipse
of manly integrity and principles which
took place on November 9Th. my very
cheeks tingIe with shame. The eclipse
is not over yet, but is doubtless just
coming on, and if deepening shadow
does not continue to rest upon the land
1 shall be most agreeably undeceIved.
The result of the election, as far as
Kansas is concerned, was indeed sur
prise. 1t adds strong argument to the
calvinistic dogma of total depravity.
1t tells the same old oft-repeated story.
of gullibIlity and humbug, and is re-
newed, fresh and discouraging repeti-
ton of the want of integrity and princi
Piles among the agricultural people of
the country. Never was there politi
cal campaign with so little on one side
and so much on the other as this one.
Never was there a grosser Illustration
of choosing the evil and refusing the
good, We had trusted confidently to
our own good state of Kansas as the
star of promise. She was first in the
war on slavery, first in the grand charge
on the liquor traffic, and we had hoped
that she was now ready to put on her
beautiful garb and lead the van in plac-
ing the great agricultural and laborlng
masses in equal representation before
the tribunals of this broad land. Not
so this time. But we will watch and
wait and hope. The defeat this time
cannot be attributed to ignorance. You
were enlightened as to the entire emp
tiness of the so-called great issue that
was before the people. Tariff! tariff.
tariff tariff was the watchword. Tariff
was the battle cry.
What on earth has the tariff to do
with you or 1 or the agricultural inter
est of this country. If the republicans
and democrats had hollered boob!
boob! boohl boohl it would have been
just as significant. You were plainly
told before the election that republican
tariff meant AZ per cent and democratic
tariff meant nearly 4S per cent. Great,
grand gigantic issue of 46-10 per cent
between them. asked A,republican in
the corn field the other day his reason
for voting the republican ticket. He
| Just had one answer; tariff. what
have you got now that you did not
have before" l asked. do you buy
salt for your stock?" Yes" Will the
tariff reduce the price?" "Hurrah for
Harrlsonl'' Do you buy sugar for yOnr
| family?" Yes" Isn't the sugar
trust sufficiently trustworthy without
bolstering 1t up with q high TARIFF
"Oh," he says, 1--WE want protection. >
Yes, verify zoe do. "Why are you pre-
pairing to move to Illinols?' Because
I have bean trying to farm here four
years and l can't make a living
Then, think somebody does need
protection, but who needs it?' Does
the Mccormick Manufacturing Co..
need it9 Does the Bell Telephone Co.,
need it? The Armour packing house;
the Studebaker Wagon COP do they
need protection? Can you think of any
leading manufacturers in any line
whatever that have not become million
aires? Do they need protection? Are
they not already organized into trusts
and monopolies and abundantly able to
protect themselves? Then tchO needs
protection? Is it reasonable that the
strong need protection against the
weak? Would not sensible man think
the reverse would be true?
I'll tell you my dear friend Peter, my
heart is pouring out at my pencil point
as l write. Twice [ have been exiled
from beautiful homes and 50 years OF
my life has been spent in trying to stem
the unequal current, and with me, at
least, the needs and necessities of legis-
latiou favoring the agricultural and
laboring classes of this country has be-
come settled principle. 1t is too deep
and sacred to be affected by jeers. 1t
seems to me that nothing but the want
of brains aud the disposition to follow
a chimera aud love to be gulled and
humbugged can cause farmer tn act
otherwise. Labor and agriculture is
the foundation upon which every nat
| ional, political and social structure
must rest-it is the necessary basis of