People's voice. [volume] (Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas) 1890-1917, 1892-09-30

bounty of nature, an aggregate that ex-
ceeded the assessed value of four of the
smallest States in this Union.
Mr.. H0AR. And more than the whole
country had when the Constitution was
framed.
Mr.. INGALLS,. Yes-and as the Sen
ator from Massachusetts well observes,
and thank him for the suggestion
much more, many times more than the
entire wealth of the country when it was
established and founded. -Four hundred
persons possess $1O,OOO,OOO each, 1000
possess $35,OOO,OOO each, 1000 possess
S2,OOO,OOO each, 5000 people 100000
each, making a total of 2l,O00 people who
possess 36,25O,0OO,OOO.
Mr.. President, it is the most appalling
statement that ever fell upon mortal ears.
1t is, SO far as the results of democracy
as social and political experiment are
concerned, the most terrible commentary
that was ever recorded in the books of
time and Nero fiddles while Rome burns.
1t is thrown off with laugh and sneer,
"as the froth upon the beer" of our
political and social system. As l said,
the assessed valuation recorded in the great
national ledger, standing to our credit, is
about $65,0OO,OO0,OOO. Our population is
62,5OO,OOO; and by some means, by some
device, by some Vaccination, by some
incarnation, honest or otherwise, by some
process that cannot be defined, less than
a two thousandth part of our popula-
ton have obtained possession land have
kept out of the penitentiary in spite of
the means they adopted to acquire it of
more than one-half of the entire accumu-
lated wealth of the country.
NOT THE WORST.
That is not the worst, Mr.. President.
1t has been largely acquired by men who
have contributed little to the material
welfare of the country, and by processes
that | do not care in appropriate terms
to describe - by the wrecking of the for
tunes of innocent men, women and chill
dren; by iugglery, by bookkeeping by
tnanciering, by what the Senator from
Ohio calls speculation"-and this process
is going on with frightful and constantly
accelerating rapidity. The entire indus
try of this country is passing under the
control of organized and confederated
capital. More than fifty of the accessories
Of life today lUithOut Which the cabin of
the farmer and The miner cannot be Rghted
or his children fed or clothed, hare passed
absolutely under the control of Syndicates
and trusts and corporations composed of
spectators, and by means of these com
binatiOns and considerations competition
is destroyed, small dealings are rendered
impossible, competence can no longer be
acquired; for it is superfuOus and unnec-
essary to say that if, under a system where
the accumulatiOns distributed per capita
would be less than $1,000, $1,000 persons
obtained possession of more than half of
the accumulated wealth of the country, it
is impossible that others should have a
competence or an independence. So it
happens, Mr.. President, that our society is
becoming rapidly stratifed, almost hope
lessly stratitied, into a condition of super.
tluously rich and helplessly poor. We are
accustomed to speak of this as the land
of the free and the home of the brave.
1t will soon be the home of the rich and the
land Of the Slaue.
1t is no wonder, Mr.. President that the
laboring, industrial and agricultural classes
of this country, who have been made a.
telligent under the impulse of universal
education, have at last awakened to this
tremendous condition and are inquiring
whether or not this experiment has been
successful; and, sir, the spectators must
beware They have forgotten that the
conditions, political and social, here are
not a reproduction of the conditions un-
der which these circumstances exist in
other lands. Here is no dynasty; here is
no privilege, or caste, or prerogative;
here are no standing armies; here are no
hereditary bOndsmen, but every atom in
our political system is quick, instinct, and
endowed with life and power. His ballot
at the box is the equivalent of the ballot
OF the richest Spectator. Thomas Jeffer-
son, the great apostle of modern democ-
racy, taught the lesson to his followers,
and they have profited well by his instruc-
ton, that, under popular democratic
representative government, wealth, Gull
ture, intelligence, were ultimately no
match for numbers.
JUST, BUT JEALOUS.
The numbers in this country, Mr.. Presi.
dent, have learned at last the power of
combination, and the spectators should
not forget that while the people of this
country are generous and Just, they are
Jealous also, and that when discomfort
changes to resentment, and resentment
passes into evaporation, one volume of
nations history is closed and another
will be opened.
Mr.. President, the cotton product of
this country, believe, Is 100000 bales.
Mr.. BUTLER. Seven million bales.
Mr.. INGALLS,. Seven million bales, I
am told. The transactions of the New
York Cotton Exchange are 4O,OOOOOO
bales, representing transactions specula.
tive, profitable and remuneratiye, by which
some of these great accumulations have
been piled up, an inconceivable burden
upon the energies and industries of the
country. The production of coal oil I
believe, in this country, has averaged
something like 100000 barrels IN a
year. The transactions of the New York
Petroleum Exchange, year by year, aver.
age 2,OOO,OOO,0OO barrels, fictitious, simu.
lated, the instruments of the gambler and
the Spectator, by means of which, through
an impost upon the toll and labor and in.
dustry of every laborer engaged in the
production of petroleum, additional diff.
culties are imposed. 1t is reported that
the coal alone that is mined in Pennsyl.
vanla, indispensable to the comforts of
millions of men, amounts in its animal