The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1893-10-24

O1lO-udll u all Uu0 WOIkSIS AIT wage
earnest of this great nation. your
strength has been dissipated. The bond
which has held you together has been
a mere rope of sand and your influence
in the National legislature has not been
felt-has scarcely been there at all.
Why has that been? [ perceived a
long while since that it was because
you lacked organization, you lacked
the means of combination and the
bringing of strength to bear at a given
point.
Napoleon great maxim was to throw
great masses of troops upon the weak,
est point Of his enemy; and as ore of
our cavalry generals during the late
war expressed it, a man of more cour-
age than edUcation-he said the great
secret was to get there first with the
most men. You have never been able
to do that in national politics. The
banks have got there every time with
all four feet; the railroads have got
there every time, and it is the only
part of their schedule in which they
havenever been behind time the manu-
facturers have got there every time;
all the balance of them have. Why?
Why, simply because they have been
organized and have got the start. I
have no quarrel with them for it. Ny
quarrel is with you for neglecting the
means Of grace which has been offered
to you.
Now it is known to you that a great
contest is pending in the Congress of
the United States and is dividing and
agitating the people all over this great
land on the question of their money.
Propositions have passed the House Of
Representatives and are pending TO-
in the Senate which would demonetize
one-half Of our currency. Do you
know what that means, my friends?
You do not. You think you do, but
you do not. If you would take the
trouble to sit down and read the his
tory of the English people about the
time that Great Britain demOnetized
silver and destroyed one half of the
currency of the people, and read of the
vast multitudes of hungry men that
paraded the streets Of London and of
wailing women that surrounded the
parliament House, holding up children
crying for bread, and of the horrors of
actual starvation through which those
people had to pass to ONE to q gold
Standard; if you could bring those
times back, you would see something
of what was before you in case that
one half of our money is wiped out.
Do not let any man deceive you by
saying that half of it will not be
wiped out. For the only law which is
upon our statute books now that binds
us to silver is the Sherman law which
is threatened with unconditional re-
peal. You can see the gradual effects
of legislation. Since 1873, when silver
money was demonetized, for the first
time all products began to go down,
the most important of which are wheat
and cotton, and you will see hat as
the price of silver sank because its
money value hal been taken away
from it, that wheat and cotton went
down precisely, every penny that
when IA went down the other went
down as though they had been joined
together, and they have been sinking
ever since, and the days wage has
been gong down and everything else
that is produced on the farmers plan
tatiOn for the sustenance Of mankind
has been going down in the same pro
portion. Silver is making its last stand
as the money of the American people.
There is not a bank or mandatory
that has not sent its petition, and whose
voice is not heard in behalf of the 70
peal. There is not a chamber of COM
merce, there is not a merchants ex-
change or a brokers' exchange in
America that has not made its voice
heard in Washington City; and even
not content with sending on their petit
tions, they have sent large delegations
to buttonhole members of Congress,
and Senators especially, and tell them
that the end of the world is at hand and
that Gabriels horn would be heard the
day after tomorrow If their wishes
were not complied with. l have been
listening every day to these delegations
and these petitions, and have been
hoping [ would hear some voice from
the farmers of North Carolina, but /
heard not One. Why have not the
farmers organized themselves into a
body and sent on resolutions approving
my cour e and begging NE to stand
steady2 But the great bulk of farmers
as farmers were as dumb as an oyster
too lazy or too Indifferent to get to-
gether and pass resolutions to hold up
the hands Of your representative who
is in the midst of so much trouble and
trying to sustain your interests. Prl-
vate letters I would receive by the
hundreds encouraging me and endors-
ing my course, but nothing from the
public had l to offer. Now if the farm
STS O1 NOEGu SdEOl4ud udu OS0A SUM
GENTLY organized, not as a political
party in secret meetings with closed
doors, but with open doors, meetings
of all the people of North Carolina in
which the farmers should participate,
and had made their voice heard every
where, how much good it would have
done me, how much good itwould have
done the cause I was trying to repre-
sent. You still lack the element Of
unity, my fellow-citizens. Don't let
anyone suppose that this indifference
of the farmers to their interests a be