The farmers' union. (Memphis, Mo.) 1891-1895, 1893-09-21
The Vital Issues Of the Day.


OF Humanity recently.J
Reform is the air. The Press teens
| with 1.-THE Pulpit echoes 1.-THE peo-
pie demand it--everywhere Not to
one language or to one government is
this agitation confined: it is as wide
spread as civilization itself. In every
tongue and in every cline, the Spirit
OF Age i, calling upon the nations to
| repent Of their corporate and legisla-
| tive misdOingo and to rcform-to do
away with wrong and abuses as and old
as history, as we'll as to correct the
blunders that We're the preparation Of
yesterday. Such universal denuncia-
| tlon OF the statuquO. such a combined
reaching out after better methods and
better ends was never before known in
the history: of this turbulent planet.
And in our own favored Of all lands.
| the ciamor for reform is most vocifer-
| Ous and most irrepressiblc.
Evidently something is wrong. and not
only something but a great many things.
The machinery of our complex modern
civilization, while running at trc
mcndoussly high pressure, is not run
ming smooth. 1t groans and plunges
and rattles and jars in Il very ominous
fashion: and those who are studying
its working fell confident that unless
something is done, and done quickly. to
ease the the fearful friction. there will
| be breakdown or a smashup. a crash
or an explosion that will bring our
dazzling career of modern progress to
| an untimely and disastclo,ls end Let
us examine some of the leading ISSUES
and Tendencies OF the day and see
| whether there is reason Or not for this
| feeling Of apprehension.
The various political organizations
that are coming to the front and espc-
cially the third party movement. shows
that the two existing parties arc not
fully alive to the situation. or prepared
to grapplc vigorously with the problems
OF the day. What these problems are
the Peoples party have summed up in
somewhat crude fashion, in their st.
Louis platform, two things are brought
out very plainly in this declaration of
princi pies - first. that the labOriny
people of this country are not thriving
under the prospective system supposed
to be enacted for their benefit. since
they declared officially that ''business
is prostrat"d. labor Impoverished and
the land concentrated in the hands
OF capitalists, and secondly. that the
Peoples party stand for Il distinctively
new issue. since it repudates the tariff
questionable one living issue between
the two old parties. and ignores the
liquor question. the sound of the Prohi-
bition party, which may be called the
Womans party. and which but lately
lOOmed up on the political horizon in
genuine third party dimensions.
According to the Peoples party. the
vital issues OF the day are the labor
question. the money question. includ
ing silver coinage) the land question
and government control Of the means
of transportation and communication
The universal suffrage question is
evidently an after Thought tackled on
in the way of complimentary postscript
to please the ladies.
No pauper workman abroad gets
lower wages than the American work
man AT home who is out ofemployment
and secondly. that the number of
American workmen who are out Of en-
ployment Is steadily increasing under
our protective system. 43.sl3 of them
We're fed few winters ago on charity
in the protectionist city OF Philadelphia
alone. where. by the way. free trade
clubs are rapidly multiplying. Put
these two facts together. season them
with little thought. and see if you are
not speedily brought to the conclusion
that the idle and hungry man hunting
for Il job does more to determine the
rate of wages in any industry than all
the trades unions. all the employers
combinations orr all the protective tariffs
this side Of the moon.
The ablest advocates Of the protective
theory no longer claim that protection
affects wages one way or the other.
The nominal result of reforming a
drunkard Is to turn an idle vagabond
into an industrious worker. Suppose
that the hundreds of thousands of con-
tirmed drunkards throughout the land
were suddenly transformed into sober.
capable men. ready and willing to go to
work. would be just SO many more
applicants for employment in our
already overcrowded labor market.
From September 10Th. 1850 to May
4th. 1870. lt0 acts were passed. giving