People's voice. [volume] (Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas) 1890-1917, 1893-02-03
A NEW PROPHET.
The Common People" Find an Advocate In
BENJAMIN r. Davsapost-Sham ATissssssey

NEW PkOPnEI.
The Common People" Find an Advocate In
BENJAMIN r. Dsvsapost- Sham Asissssssey
Denounced.
PHILADELPHIA, Jan. PA new
prophet has arisen in our midst, and
has sprung at once into popularity.
Mr.. Benjamin Rush Davenport, the
well-known journalist and magazine
writer, has just completed new book,
The Crime Of Caste in our Country"
which has set everybody to talking,
filed the newspapers with reviews
and criticisms, and caused the dudes,
"chappies," and sham aristocrats, and
also the politicians, to do considerable
hard thinking.
Mr.. Davenport is a broad man, a
deep thinker, and a fOrcible writer.
He handles his subject without gloves.
No wonder the sham aristOcrats, the
wOuld-be "lOrds and barOns," are
Squirming under his whitening sar-
casm and the unwelcOme truths he
hurls at their pretensionS Of super
iOrity over the common people"
The heart of every patriotic American
will glow with satisfaction when he
reads the pages of this most remark
able, bold, and entertaining book, and
realizes that the common people"
have at last champion fearless
enough to aSSail the vices and i'm
moralities of the sO-called upper class
eS, to attack the fOrtresses Of wealth
and mOnopOlizing trusts" and to
warn the naughty rich in trumpet
tones, that the downtrodden poor
the workman at his bench, the farm
er in his fleld-constitute the ma
jority, and can, il they will, make
and unmake laws so that taxes may
be equalized and vast accumulations
Of wealth prevented.
Mr.. Davenport characterizes the
election Of November s, 1892, as a
political revolution" similar to that
of 1860, when the 'mudsill," Abraham
Lincoln, was placed in the President
ial chair by the power Of the common
people" against the oligarchy Of the
South. In 1892 the victory was that
Of the common people" over new
made sham aristOcracy, and he shows
some good reasons for the change.
'The Crime of Caste" is, in a broad
sense, a political book; but neither
Democrats nor Republicans can claim
it as their own. 1t is written to plead
the cause of the common people,"
to teach them their power; and shrewd
politicians predict that it will have
no small effect upon the result Of the
Presidential election of 1895.
The author demands an equal
ization Of taxation, and shows how
the common people" may enforce
such equalization. He shows the
fntility Of strikes and the impotence
Of labor organizations, and furnishes
a plan whereby the working classes
can right their wrongs without blood
shed, and cause the would-be "barons"
to tremble in their shoes. He also
shrewdly points out to the leaders OF
the two great parties, the fact that
the Peoples party, or Populists, made
better showing in 1895 than did the
Republicansin 1856. Ard yet, in 1860
came the deluge!
That THE Crime of Caste" has
struck popular chord is evidenced by
the fact that the entire first edition
Of $1,000 copies was sold. from pros
pectus alone, before a book was fin
ished, and the second edition of $4,000
copies is soon to be followed by a
third and larger edition. The book
is sold by subscription, and the pub
fishers. Keystone Publishing Company
Of Philadelphia, are contemplating
the establishment of branch offices in
the various Western cities to facil-
itate its distribution.