Little Falls weekly transcript., 1894-06-08
WHAT rs BEE ORE Us?
..TFE TIMES ARE RIPE AND ROTTEN
RIPE FOR CHANGE,

ST TIMES ARE RIPE AND ROTTEN
RIPE FOR CHANG g
The s.CommonWeaI" Movement Is Not
Looked Upon BY Everybody ~ = Huge
Joke-A Paragraph Of the Declaration
OF Independence Which Is Popular.
Is the condition surrounding the COM
mon people Of this country such as
breeds uncontrol liable discomfort il al
lowed to operate to its extreme limits
upon it's victims? He who is familiar
with the awful misery and hopelessness
of the disinherited workers, who has
watched the terrible look Of despair
creep over the faces Of the men and
women who sit at bare boards and be-
fore empty CRATES, can give but one
answer to this query:
The times are ripe and rotten ripe for change.
Poohpooh it as you may, there IS
nothing but truth in the declaration
that the men and women whose indus
try has made this country the fairest
and most fruitful ON earth have been
robbed of the products Of their toll, and
many Of them are LETT to fight starva-
tion in the midst Of the wealth they
have helped to create. They have tried
in their honest, confding way to secure
protection in their rights from the leg
islative powers Of the land and have
been told that t'this is not paternal
government What you ask is in direct
conflict with the spirit Of our institu-
tions. We legislate for the whole people, /
not for special class. - And the poor
wretches have gone their weary way,
hoping against hope, while the night
grew darker and the storms gathered. d,
TO come right down to the present,
congress has been in session during all
these months that the peoples condi-
tion has gone from bad to worse until it
has reached for hundreds of thousands
the very worst, and not step has been
taken by that supreme power of the land
to improve the situation or inspire the
sinking hearts with hope. Not one starv-
ing child has been saved by act Of that
guardian Of the peoples welfare Not
one suicidal impulse has been staid
Our statesmen (D have strutted up and
down the aisles of the peoples capitol,
mouthing their fapdood,e and bun
combe, or pulled wires at the dictation
OF their plutocratic bosses, Or reveled
in the cheap excitement Of sham tariff
battle, all the time drawing their sal
aries with scrupulous punctuality, while
the people, whose servants they are sup
posed to be, were crying, EDO some
thing, for Gods sake, to aid US in un-
loading the terrible burden of misery we
are carrying''
Is it any wonder that confidence in a
government whose direct representa-
tives have proved SO Indifferent Or rec
reant is weakened till there is little if
any Of it left? The feeling that those.
who have control of the machinery of
state are either faithless or incompetent
is not confined to the poorer classes
Disgust is shown on the countenances Of
those who are beyond the immediate
direful effects Of the do nothing polieyE
Of our statesmen when the American
congress is mentioned. Only the Shy
locks wear the smile Of contentment.
No work is their work. Can you won
der, then, that there is dissatisfaction
with the existing order-disorder- !
that there are mutterings which are full
OF portent? Veterans whose scars were
gained in battling for the old flag, sons
whose fathers died to perpetuate this
Union, are tramping the land sanctifed
by the blood of the common people, who
are the only sure resort in the hour Of
attack from all enemy. These men are
studying the Declaration Of American
Independence, and Of late the following
from that grand document has sunk
deep into their minds:
eve hold these truths to be self evil
dent--that all men are created equal;
that they are endowed by their Creator
with certain inalienable rights; that
among these are life, liberty and the {
pursuit of happiness; that to secure
these rights governments are instituted
among men, deriving their just powers
from the consent Of the governed; that
whenever any form of government be-
comes destructive of these ends it is the
right Of the people to alter or abolish it
and to institute new government, lay
ing it's foundation ON such principles
and organizing its powers in such form
as to them shall seem most likely to
effect their safety and happiness.
Says one honest old soldier in a re-
cent letter to the writer, AT times / |
have serious doubts about there ever be-
ing another election Of the old bunko
style. In another place he says: ''Two
contingents for Coxey's army have al
ready been sent from here The third I
and most formidable movement, con-
tanning more than 1900 determined
men, is now in full swing. We are
thoroughly organized and drilling every
might /" This information comes from a [
western city, and there is much more of
the same kind that the people Of the
east know nothing about.
It would be as foolish to say that the
Coxey army is q fair index Of the
feeling throughout the country as to be-
lieye that Coxey himself is the appoint
n 80 /