People's voice. [volume] (Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas) 1890-1917, 1893-10-27

UNITED STATES SENATE,
WAsHINGTOS, d. C., Sept. IL, 1893.
DR.. c. Q. Nelson, Grove City, Ohio:
DEAR SIB,-Your favor OF the eth
instant is received. You inquire i: l
am a populisr. Ny answer is, that
am. There is no other party in which
true friend Of the people can be use.
full The democratic and repub lean
parties have both been betrayed Dy
their leaders. | became thoroughly
convinced that Mr. Harrison and MIR
Cleveland were both nominated BY
the money power as soon as those
nominations were made AMI their
platforms published.
was a candidate for reelection to
the senate of the Tn ted States from
the state of Nevada. l could not
afford to deceive the people, who had
honored me so much, by asking a re-
election as a republican. On my re-
turn home from Washingt n | in
formed my constituents that l could
not support the republican nominee
for President, and that the demo
cratic nominee was no better than the
republican; that they both belonged
to and were representatives of the
bondholding gold monopoly of London
and New York, and that if either of
them were elected the power of his
administration would be used to aid
concentrated capital to absorb the
earnings of the people, augment the
power of the oligarchy of wealth, and
reduce the masses to dependence and
want.
canvassed the state of Nevada and
advised the people to vote for Weaver
and Field, the nominees of the Omaha
convention, as the only true repre-
sentatives of the peoples rights.
The platform of the Omaha conven-
ton demanded the free and un-
limited coinage Of silver, and the dele
gates who composed that convention
were honest, earnest men, and meant
what they saio. The people of
Nevada, without regard to former
political affiliations, believed as did,
and cast more than two-thirds of their
votes for Weaver and Field and elected
Francis G. Newlands, the free coinage
candidate for congress, by a still
larger majority. They also elected
every mem Der of both hous. of The
legislature pledged to the restoration
of silver. When the legislature met
was reelected to the senate of the
United States by unanimous vote in
each house
My stat ment that whichever was
elected, Mr.. Harrison or Mr.. Cleve-
land, he would use the power and
patronage OF the Presidential office to
destroy one-half Of the metallic money
of the world was vehemently denied
BY the friends of boh The truth of
my statement has been verified. The
President united with the banks and
bondholders to alarm the people as 10
the soundness OF the money of the
government and created panic. They
falsely proclaimed that the addition OF
$50 100000 OF legal tender money TO
the circulation Of the country was the
cause OF the panic they themselves
had created.
The President then declared that an
extraordinary emergency had arisen
and calle congress together to repeal
the Sherman act and nothing else.
The call increased the alarm and in
tenSifed the panic. The subsidized
press of all the commercial centers
was made to declare that the people
demanded the immediate repeal of the
purchasing clause Of the Sherman act.
Silver was cland estinely demonetized
by the mint act of 1s73, since which
time an overwhelming majority of the
people OF the United States have been
in favor of the restoration of the white
metal to the place it occupied for
thousands of years as a money metal
previous to the crime of 1873. No
party, state or national, dare
go before the people soliciting
their suffrages upon a declaration JUS
tifying or even palliating that crime,
but all parties claimed to be bimetal-
lists and in favor CT the use OF silver
equally with gold. Some recognit on
OF silver was obtained By the legisla-
ton OF congress against veioes, fede al
patronage and the influence of nouey.
The Bland act, requiring the purchase
OF not less than two nor mora than
four million dollars worth of silver
bullion per month for coinage was the
fest; the so-called Sherman act, re-
curing the purchase of four and a
half million ounces of silver bullion
per month by the issuance OF legal
tender treasury notes, was the second.
At every congress since silver was de-
monetized. A vast majority of the
democrats in each honse vvara in fayor