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

1
and constant communication by lines OF
steam transportation, by land, and lake,
and sea, with telegraphs extending their
nervous reticulations from State to State,
the remotest members of this gigantic
republic are animated by a vitality as
vigorous as that which throbs at its
mighty heart, and it is through the quick
ened intelligence that has been communi-
Gated by those ideas that these conditions,
which have been fatal to other nations,
have become the pillars of our strength
and bulwarks of our safety.
POwERLEss TO ENsLAVE.
We have become, Mr.. President, the
wealthiest nation upon the face of this
earth, and the greater part of these enor-
nous accommodations has been piled up dur
ing the past 20 years from 1860 to 1880
Notwithstanding the losses incurred by
the most destructive war of modern times,
the emancipation of four billions of slave
property, the expense of feeding the best
! fed, of clothing the best clothed, and of
sheltering the best sheltered people in the
world notwithstanding all the losses by
fire and food. During that period of 20
years the wealth of the country increased
at the rate of $250,OO0 for every hour.
Every time that the clock ticked above the
portal of this chamber the aggregated,
l
country increased more than SO. Sir, it
rivals, it exceeds the fictions of the Ara
bian Nights. There is nothing in the
story of the lamp of Aladdin that sur
passes it. 1t is without parallel or prece-
dent; and the national ledger now shows
a balance to our credit, after all that has
been wasted, and squandered, and ex-
pended, and lost, and thrown away, of be-
tween sixty and seventy thousand million
| al AISnA EoS
cash market valuation the aggregate wealth
OF this country to-day is not less than one
hundred thousand millions OF dollars. This
is enough, Mr.. President, to make every man
and every woman and every child beneath
the flag comfortable, to keep the wolf away
from the door; it is enough to give to every
} family a competence. And yet We are
told that there are thousands Of people
} who never have enough to eat in any one
day in the year. We are told by the stat
isticians of the Department. of Labor OF
} the United States that, Notwithstanding
this stupendous aggregation, there are 6
million American citizens, able bodied and
willing to work, who tramp the streets Of
} our cities and the country highways and
} bywRys in search Of labor with which tC
) buy their daily bread in vain.
Mr.. President, is it any wonder that thii
condition of things can exist without ex
, citing profound apprehension I heard
or saw, rather, for did not hear it saw
in the morning papers that in his speecf
, yesterday the Senator from Ohio Mr.
, SHERMAN devoted a considerable part o,
, his remarks to the defense of milliOnaires
! that he declared that they were the frotl
of the beer of our political system.
81 Mr.. SHERMAN. said speculators.
, Mr.. INGALLS,. SpeculatorsH The,
) are very nearly the same, for the million
, aires Of this country, Mr.. President, ar
/ not the producers and the laborers. The!
t are arrayed like Solomon in ali his glory
{ but "they toll not, neither do they spin
, yes, they do spin. This class, Mr.. Presi
t dent, am glad to say, is not confined Il
] this country alone. These gigantic &C
D cumulations have not been the result o
'o3ustry and economy. There would b.
{ 60 protest against them if they were.
. The people are beginning to inquirt
whether, under ga government OF th'
J. people, by the people, and for the people,
5 under . system in which the bounty o
. nature is supplemented by the labor o
D all, any citizen can show a moral-yes, o.
, q legsl-title to $500, 100000.
Some have the temerity to ask whethe
. or not any man can show a clear title t.
i $10O,0OO,0OO. There have been men ras
|, enough to doubt whether, under a system
= so constituted, by speculation or other
Q wise, any citizen can show fair title T.
= $4,000, 900, when the distribution pc
c capita would be less than $1,000. If
d were put upon my UOiT dire, should hesi
d tate before admitting that, in the sense O
d giving Just compensation and equivalent
4 any man in this country or any othe
q country ever absolutely earned q millio
8 dollars. / do not believe he ever die
l. What is the condition to-day, Mr.. Pres
J. dent, by the statisticsf repeat that th
l. people are not anarchists; they are nc
% socialists; they are not communists; bu
Z they have suddenly walked to the cOnceE
10 tion of the fact that the bulk OF the proI
+ erty of this country is passing into th
l. hands of what the Senator from Ohio, b
If q euphemism, calls the "speculatOrs" {
10 the world.
) WEALTH DIsTRIBUTIoH.
It A table has been completed for the pu,
l. pose Of showing how wealth in this cOuI
y try is distributed, and it is full OF th
10 most startling admOai--on. It has ar
Q, peared in the magazines; it has bee
d commented upon in this chamber.
1t has been the theme of editorial discsi
If sion. It appears from this that there al
O. in the United States 200 persons wh
y have an aggregate of more than $4,000
le 600 each, and there has been one man, tk
le Midas Of the century, at whose touc
If everything seemed to turn to gold, VII
B. has acquired, within less than the lifetin
re- of q single individual, out or the aggregai
10 of the national wealth that was earned /
z the labor of all applied to the commC