People's party paper. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1891-1898, 1892-08-26
WEAYER'S CHALLENGE.
ARRANGEMENT OF THE LOCALIZED
ROBBERS.
Exposure OF that MurderOus System
which Permits the Rich to
Conquer the People.


They are distinct and yet cognate,
segregated though inseparable, and
seem destined to advance pari passu,
and to conquer together. United
they form a triple issue of organized
labor, which for magnitude and I'M
portance has never been equaled
since man became the subject OF civil
government. They are the wheat
which has been winnowed from the
chaff OF the threshing floor of the
century.
The patient, long-suffering people
are at last aroused, and there is hur-
rying to and fro. They seem to
have received marching orders from
some mysterious source, and are
moving out against the strongholds
of opposition of three distinct lines
of attack, but within supporting dis
lance of each other. 1t is evident
that a general engagement is but a
short march ahead.
One army corps proposes to give
battle for our fresides; for a foot
hold and for standing room upon the
earth. It has inscribed upon It's ban
ner, "The planet is the common in
heritance Of all the people! All
men have a natural right to a por-
ton of the soil! Down with monop-
oily and speculation in land %
The second is marching to deliver
those who SIT in darkness needy
who cry, the poor also, and him that
hath no helper. They seek to open
wide the door Of opportunity and to
throw back the iron gates which shut
out from the bounties of nature the
miserably clad, wretchedly housed,
shivering, haggard, careworn victims
of adversely and slaves Of debt
Upon its guidon is the tracing Of a
whip of cords, appraised by the hand
of justice above the heads Of the
money changers. The legend under
meath reads: "Money is the creature
of human law! We will issue it for
ourselves! Down with usury! Lib
'erty tor the captIves !"
The third Is leading an attack to
get possession of the highways and
lines of communication which have
been wrenched from the people, and
which connect cities and distant COM
4aunities and States with their base
of supplies. This corps has inscribed
upon its flag the battle-cry: Ores
toration of the public highways!
They belong to the people, and shall
not be controlled by private specu-
latorss {"
When Barak, after he and his peo-
pie had suffered twenty years of OPP
preston, overthrow Jabin and the
captain of his host, Deborah declared
that the battle was from heaven
that 'the stars in their courses fought
against Sisera." And may we not
reverently believe that the struggle
of the oppressed people of our day,
to re-invest themselves of their lands,
their money and their highways, is
from heaven also?
The Constitution provides that the
"United States shall guarantee to
every State in this Union a republi-
can form of government" This
language implies a permanent con-
.tract-a joint pledge on the part Of
the Federal and State governments
united, to maintain democratic insti-
buttons throughout all the States :,
the general government pledging its
great power that the people shall not
be deprived of this form, and the
States undertaking, as to all the mat
ters within their jurisdiction, to make
their local institutions republican in
spirit, substance and administration.
In other words, we have here a
solemn declaration Of purpose; a
guaranty to all the people that gov
eminent, both State and national,
shall be held strictly to It's original
and lofty position-that Of securing
to the citizen "certain inalienable
rights" which he received at the
generous hand of his Creator, and
which no government has the right
TO impair or permit to be impaired or
taken away. The pledge is that this
obligation shall never be departed
from, not even in form.
These inalienable rights are
first, such as grow out of the relation
of man to his Creator, and second,
those which spring from his relation
to organized society or government.
The land question comes under the
first subdivision.
Can it be denied that all men have
a natural right to a portion of the
sol ? Is not the use of the soil in
'dispensable to life? If so, is not the
gight of all men to the soil as sacred
as their right to life itself? These
propositions are SO manifestly true
as to be beyond the domain of con-