The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1893-01-14
The Dreams OF Lorraine Lewelling.

TIT Dreams OF Lorraine Lewelling.
A Populist philosopher named Lorraine
D.. LEwELLING was elected Governor OF
Kansas last fall. and on last Monday lie
celebrated his induction into Office with an
inaugural address full OF the true cachectic
Populistic whine and cant. Also full Of that
queer unconscious annrchical raving which
has marked the Kansas Farmers Alliance
from the first. and has lost nothing in its
transmission to the Peoples party. Let us
take from their setting a few Of Governor
LEwELLING's gems:
1T is tho province of Government. to protect the
weak. but ihe Government to-day is resolved into n
struggle Of the masses with the classes for supremacy
and bread. until business. home. and personal in!eS.
rity are trembling in the face OF possible want in the
family. Feed n tiger regularly and you tame and make
him harmless, but hunger makes tigers Of men. II IL
be true that the poor have TO right 10 the properly %
the rich. !et i, al.o be declared that the rich have no
right to the property of the poor
This is the kind OF talk you may hear any
day from crazy-eyed spouters in Hyde
Park. In so far as it means anything. it
doesn't mean in Topeka Just what it would.
mean in London. Interpreted by the at
tempts at legislation made by the Alliance
representative in the Kansas Legislature
Of last year. it means that farmers trying
to do too much business for their capital
should be relieved by stay-laws from the
regular operation OF the courts. Inter-
preted by certain overt acts of the Kansas
Alliance cranks. it means that mortgage
debtors dispossessed by process Of law
ought TO be forcibly rcinstated by a posse
Of Populists Of the vicinagc. The masses"
$3.50 A.. D,~l;t- a,I Cha &c t,erae' o,A
| everybody else. and in particular the loath-
some MORTGAGE, who has the temerity to
insist upon the payment of debts in Kansas
| just as he would in New York. 1t is not
| true. in the estimation OF the Sunfower
| SOLOMON. that the poor. i. e.. the Alliance.
farmers have no right to the property OF the
rich: ard he very properly puts his propo-
| sition in conditional form.
But tits the voice OF L~EwELLISG. We hear
him complain:
"IE cid men go 10 the ~roorhcuse and young men so
to Irisou. something is wrong with the economic sys-
tenn OF the Government. What is the state TO him who
tolls II !Aoo. is denied him. and his children cry for
bread. What is the State to the farmer who YEARLY
drags himself from GAVIN till dark to meet the stern
necessities OF tie mortgage on the farm What Is the
state 10 him II 1t sanctions usury and Other legal forms
by which his home Is destroyed and his innocent ones
become a prey 10 the tends who lurk in the shadow OF
civilization. What is the State TO tho business man.
early grown gray, broken in heath and spin; BY sue.
G. ssive faIlUres-anSiety like q bodiug owl his constant
companion by day and tie d:stuIbs. Of his dreams by
nicht' How is life TO be sustained. how is liberty to be
enjoyed. how is happiness to be pursued under such
adverse conditions as the state permits. II it does not
sanction Is the State DOW er!ess gains
The State being sucn a tottering sup
port, it is natural that Governor LEwELLING
turns away from lurking fends and bod
ing owls and children crying for bread.
and utters q dark threat. III the Govern
ment fails in these things" cries he. lit
fails in its mission. it ceases to be of ad-
vantage to the citizen; he is absolved from
his allegiance. and is no longer held TO the
civil compact" The vision Of the million
aires riding in gilded carriages with liv-
cried servants rises before the Governors
eyes and adds fire to his fury. And yet
how much hotter would that fury be il he
did but know that all genuine millionaires
in the Eastern States are driven about in
carriages Of solid gold and accompanied by
four outridersi in silver and lace?
But the Governor concludes not to desert
the Government after all. He stands ready
to give the social compact another chance.
II necessary he will add a few Alliance Is
10 IL ana improve IL IN accordance with
pure Populistical architecture. Attention.
gentlemen:
This Is the generation which has come to the res
cue. Those in distress who cry out from the dark uess
shall not he heard IN vain. Conscience Is in the saddle
We have ieap-d the bloody chasn and entered n con.
test for the protection Of home, b umaniiy, aud the dig
nifty OF labor.
The grandeur Of civilization shall be emph ASKED By
the dawn Of a new era in which the people shah reign;
aud Il found necessary they Will expand the powers oi
government to solve The sniSmas OF the ttmes' Ths
people are greater than The law or the statutes and
when a nation sets Its heart on doing . great and good
thing 1t can ind a legal way to do IT,"
Certainly. Populistic law ought to be able
to do great and good things. for it Is the
result Of inspiration. not OF study. and the
administration OF it is not a task TO be in
trusted to the hands of lawyers. a shame
fully conservative set Of men. and full OF
ancient prejudices in regard to the rights
Of property. Look at the Populist Judges
and District Attorneys in Kansas. Where
could you find filter hands to remoulo
the laws and stand the statutes on theil
headsf But now the Governor lspses int
. more LydiAn mood. Perhaps he heart
some d~owntrodden farmers daughter play
l in1 nm \ 6rand uiano. ParhnDs thu chill