The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1893-09-26
FROM NEW MEXICO.
The Soldier, the Ladies and the Pro-
prietor Heard From One of the
"8oys" Explains His
Opinion.

49, - ~
interests of the people. l am a Demo
crat-aIways have been, except when
in the army, which I entered asa Union
man; there we're no Republicans or
Democrats then. After the war, see
ing how the Republicans were running
things, and the tendency of politics, 1
still remained with the Democratic
party. The Democrats have had every
branch Of the government for months,
and matters are getting worse and
worse. The leaders seem to be carrying
out the policy of the Republican party.
Now. Cleveland, our President, con
venes Congress-to carry out anything
in the Democratic platform9 Not
much; to repeal the Sherman act only
and put nothing in its place; to knock
the last prop from under silver; to go
directly against the Democratic plat
form and the people who placed them
in power. If that is the way the
try is to be run. put me down as in for
another war, but it will be On the other
side"
This emphatic language came from
an old soldier, who had risen to the
rank Of Colonel in the Union Army,
during the late war, as he threw his
fist down on the desk, and rose to his
feet. He had always had great conf
dence in Cleveland; that he would re
deem the pledges made in the party
platform, and the foregoing language
was used in the face of the recent drop
in silver. He continued:
Many of the old soldiers acted with
the Republican party after the war.
Wonder what the boys think now9
They have been weakening for quite a
while. I think the great majority of
the Populist party in the Northwest
were from the soldiers who had acted
with the Republican party. I will be
with the boys at the next election, and
by the gods, we will have the South
with US next time; and we will let these
politicians and Wall street sycophants
of the East know that we, the soldiers
of the South and the North are the
country. Thirty years ago we were
fighting each other, from Red river to
the Potomac, at the behest of these
people; id fools we may have been.
We are united now. We understand
~-eRe an6ttheT,- AID H-again We fight, it
will be for our homes and our fires.
The green graves of our sires will have
to be attended to later on. 1t is bread
and butter now, for the children, for
even with wheat at 62 cents, it takes
silver to get a sack Of flour, and who
would have thought even a few months
ago that the Wall street gang would
force silver down to 622"
Thirty days has passed, and ''silver
has been forced down to 62," and wheat
still lower; when I again met the Col
onel on the street with the remark:
"What do you think now of the eitua-
tion9" ''Damnable outrage! To think
that the governme nt would deliberately
set to work to destroy an industry in
which millions Of our people are direct
~ interested, is something that no citi-
zen ever expected. What to expect
next I know not. I stand with the
people. Were I to give you my opin-
ion today, I might call myself a id
fool tomorrow"
''This is a silver camp, rich in re-
source, thirty miles from a railroad.
The mines are mostly closed, owing to
the low price Of silver. We are wait
ing for the silver lining that is.to ap-
pear on the closed. We have had three
dry seasons; the cattle industry has
suffered terribly. This is natures
work. But silver(0"
'"The government is taking care Of
that. And they-the fnanciers who
now have the reins of government-are
very careful to see hat silver is knocked
out, so that they will have control of
the money Of the country, regardless
Of how any other interest may suffer.
I give the best years Of my life to nv
country, andtook my pay-paltry pay,
l did not enlist for money-in green
backs; am willing to do it again, while
these other fellows-the fnanciers-
were demanding theirs in gold, like
Shylock. They may demand too much.
1 am out here trying to make an hon
est livelihood as a silver producer. I
would not care for the attempted action
Of those In power, but the PEOPLE want
silver as money, on par with gold, and
the Shylock usury- gathering crowdt try
to tell the people how the silver pro-
Queer is trying to force his product on
them. They might as well have their
wool and wheat as money, etc. What