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

people. 1 have no sympathy with thar
school of political economists which
teaches that there is an irreconciIable con-
filct between labor and capital. and which
demands indiscriminate. hostile and re-
Rressiye legislation against men because
hey are rloh aud corporations because
shey are strong.
LABOR AND CAPITAL.
Labor and capital should not be antapo-
LISTS, but allies rather. They should not
pc opponents and enemies, but colleagues
and auxiliar1es, whose cooperating rivalry
= essential to national prosperity. But I
e4nnot fOrbear to affirm that a political
system which under such despotic power
ean be wrested from the people and vested
- the few Is democracy only in name.
financial system under which more than
pue-half OF the enormous wealth of the
aountry, derived from the bounty of nature
snd the labor OF all, is owned by a lit
tse more than 10000 people, while I,O0O,-
ksso American citizens, able and willing to
Toll, are homeless tramps, starving for
bread, requires adjustment. A SOCIAL SYS-
Tea WHICH OFFERS TO TENDER, VIRTUoUS
And INDEPENDENT WOMEN THE ALTERNA-
TIVE BETWEEN PROSTITUTION AND SUICIDE
IS AN ESCAPE FROM BEGGARY IS ORGAN
tLED CRIME, for which some day unrelent-
ing justice will demand atonement and
explanation. Mr.. President, the man who
loves his country and who studies her his
tory will search in vain for any national
cause for this appalling condition. The
arth has not forgot a to yield her
Nlcrease. There has been no general
failure of harvests. We have had be-
nignant skies and the early and the late
rain. Neither famine nor pestiIence has
decimated our population nor wasted it's
energies. immigration is flowing in from
every land, and we are in the lusty prime
OF national youth and strength, with un-
exampled resources and every stimulus to
their developments; but, sir, the great body
/ of the American people are engaged to-
day in studying these problems that I
Rave suggested in this morning hour.
They are disheartened with misfortune
They are tired of the exactions of the
speculators. They desire peace and rest.
They are turning their attention to the
great industrial questions which under
lie their material prosperity. They are
indifferent to party. They care moth
| ing for Republicanism nor for DemOc-
racy as such. They are ready to say, "A
plague on both your houses" and they
ere ready, also. Mr.. President, to hail and
to welcome any organization, any meas
Ure, any leader that promises them relief
from the profitless strife of politicians and
this turbulent and distracting agitation
which has already eliminated in violence
and may end in blood.
Such, sir, is the verdict which read
in the elections from which we have Just
emerged; a verdict that was unexpected
by the leaders of both parties, and which
surprised alike the viCtors and the van
quished. It was e spontaneous, unpre.
meditated protest of the people against
existing conditions. It was a revolt OF
the national conscience against injustice
movement that is full of pathos and
also full of danger, because such move
} ments sometimes make victims of those
who are guiltless. It was not Repub.
} Iican defeat. It was not a Democratic
victory. It was great upheaval and up
rising, independent of and superior tC
both. It was crisis that may become {
catastrophe, filed with terrible admoni
!, son, but not without encouragement tC
/ those who understand and are ready tt
cooperate with it.
PEACEFUL REVOLUTIONS.
, It was peaceful revolution, an attemp
TO resume rights that seemed to have beer
infringed. It is many years, Mr.. Presi
. dent, since predicted this inevitable re
suit. In speech delivered in this chambe
} on the 18th of February, 1873, from tn
! seat that is now adorned by my HONORABLE
friend from Texas, who sits before M
Mr. REAaAN1, said:
We cannot disguise the truth that We are on tn
: verge of an impending revolution. The old issue
are dead. The people are arraying themselves upo
one side or the other of portentOus contest o.
one side Is capital formidaby entrenched in priv
lege, arrogant from continued triumph, conservs
r. tive, tenacious of old theories demanding nev
concessions, enriched by domestic levy and foreig
commerce, and struggling adjust all values to Il
D own standard. On the other is labor, asking 70
employment, striving to develop domestic indus
tries, battling with the forces Of nature and sui
DUNG the wilderness; labor, starving and sulleI
: rssolutely determined to overthrow system unde
which the rich are growing richer and the poor ar
bilt the possession Of wealth beyond the dreams
S avarice, and condemns the poor to poverty whic
has no refuge from starvation but the prison tn
: grave. Our demands for relief, for Justice, hav
ers of the country asking for employment are treate
Z like impudent mendicants begging for bread.
r Mr.. President, it may be cause, it ma
be coincidence, it may be effect, it may b
( post hoe or it may be propteT hoe, but it i
historically true that this great blight tina
has fallen upon our industries, this par
I alysis that has overtaken our hnancis
' system, coincided in point Of tinls tOith til
0 di1ninWttOT Of the circulating medium Of ts
= country. The public debt was declares
b payable In coin, and the power of siIve
9 was destroyed. The UaLGs Of property di
a HssHished S1s proportion, sU0ges fell, and th
9 UnEtGe Of everything sU0S deprecated eGcep
! S.o0SS SHN SOS@" n0 AOrSgdS0s INC DOuO
i the coupon and the tax have retained i'm
4 mortal youth and vigOr. They have ia
: depreciated. The debt remains, but th
; spaCity to pay has been destroyed. Th
i Stimulation Of years disappears unde
4 the hammer OF the sheriff, and the debtO
b is homeless, sChfEs the creditor obtains tn
! security for his debt for a fraction Of sUhO
Il sUGs actually IUOrth tOhess the debt tOGs con
/ trnctsd.
e There is, Mr.. President, q deep-seate
/ conviction among the people, tUhtch I full
r skore, that the demonstration OF silver j
d 1873 was one element of great conspirec
= TO deliver the fiscal system OF this COuntr
& over TO those by whom it has, in my opir
e ion, finally been captured. see no proc
. OF the assertion that the demonetizatio
d sOs Of 1873 vas freudulentIy OF corrupt
4 T1rocurad but IL Ia impossible TO avoid tb