The advocate and Topeka tribune., 1893-11-29
MIR. INGALLS, NEW SPEECH.

and resrrsnged the platitudes OF his
old speech again, lnterspersed few
new paragraphs to fit it to the times
and is out on q tour with it. He de-
livered it at st. Louis a few evenings
since under the auspices OF the Wom-
ans Exchange, on which occasion
the ladies are said TO have invested
in a losing speculation. If Mr.. In
gals were not q statesman ont of q
job, a partisan without party, and a
man wholly without influence or
following, a back number as it were,
a portion of hls remarks might afford
a very proper subject Of criticism.
As it is, his remarks at different times
need only be pitted against each
other and left without comment. He
said:
A year ago the country was rsdient with
prosperity, wages were satisfactory, en-
ployment was abundant, prices were rea-
sonsble and money plenty.
If he told the truth on this occasion
what did he mean on January IA,
1891, in the United States senate
when he gave uttersnce to the fol-
BIornsoc. =. okakaVooDka9
Our population is 81 SOC, 900; and by some
machination, honest or otherwise, by some
process that cannot be defined. less than
two .thoussndth part Of our population have
obtained possession (snd have kept out Of
the penitentiary in spite Of the means they
adopted to acquire it) Of more than one
half of the entire accumulated wealth Of
the country.
That is not the worst, Mr.. President. It
has been largely acquired by men who have
contributed little to the material welfare of
the country, and by processes that / 10 not
care in appropriate terms to describe, by
the wrecking of the fortunes of innocent
men, women and children; by jugglery, By
bookkeeping, by fnsnoiering, by what the
senator from Ohio calls Speculation
and this process is going on with frightful
and constantly Rocelersting rspidity. The
entire industry Of this country is passing
under the control Of organized and confed
Grated capital. More than fifty of the neC-
essaries Of life to-day, without which the
cabin of the farmer and miner cannot be
lighted or his children fed or clothed, have
passed absolutely under the control Of syn
dicates and trusts and corporations COM
posed Of speculstors, and by means Of these
combinations and considerations oOmre
tition is destroyed, small dealings are rem
dered impossible, competence can no longer
be acquired. So it happhns, Mr..
President, that our society is becoming
rapidly stratihed, almost hopeleSsly strait
fed, into condition Of superfuously rich
and helplessly poor. We are accustomed
TO speak Of this as the land Of the free and
the home Of the brave. It will soon be the
home Of the rich and the land Of the slave.
Mr.. President, it may be cause, it may be
effect, it may be post hoe or it may be prop
ter hoe but IT is historically true that this
great blight that has fallen upon our indus
tries, this paralysis that has ovsrtaken our
financial system, ooincided in point oftime
with the diminution Of the circulating me-
dunn of the country. The public debt was
declared payable in coin, and the power Of
silver was destroyed. The value Of prop
erty diminished In proportion, wages fell,
and the value Of everything deprecated ex-
oept debts and gold.
Where was al that plentiful sup