The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1894-06-13

poverty against wealth; borrowers
against lenders; farmers against CAPT.
talists. | have been preaching similar
doctrines for twenty-five years, and l
have never received one penny for my
work, and I never asked for it; while
l have spent thousands of my own
money to help along the cause. I may
be mistaken but am not mercenary.
He who wants wealth goes where
wealth is. You don't visit the goats
house for wool; or go to a lot of i'm
poverished workmen and farmers for
plunder. Neither have I taken this
course for political ambition. My
principles have kept me out of public
life for quarter of century; and
probably will continue to do SO until
the earth closes over me.
So you see, brother Corey, the whole
foundation of your argument is false.
l may have thousand sins, but
"avarice" is not one Of them. If I
had invested the money, I have bought
books with, in loans at 40 per cent per
annum, would to-day, be worth half
/ ~ AAAlAAOA3 anu OllOutu I1dVO d kIdNC-
yard of my own, filed with the dead
bodies of my victims. On the con-
trary, never took a dollar of interest
even when I loaned money; and |
never sued man in my life; and I
don't think any one in this world can
truthfully say that he is dollar poor
er because have lived in it,.
Neither do see the force of the
boomerang" you speak Of. A pater-
nalistic government is not a govern
ment of alms-houses and soup-societies
These are the fruits of government
that neglects it's people, and is not
paternalistic. The error OF your rea-
soning is that you conceive of the
government as something distinct
from the people. On the contrary it
IS the people. The poor house seems
to you the only way a nation can help
its citizens. This is all wrong. Use
the full power of the people, that is
the government, to promote" as our
national constitution says, "the well
fare of the people, and there would
be no need for poor-houses. Prosper
ity is not charity. You talk of 'lieing
down on the government" as if the
government was something imported
from the Milky-was! Your poor east
ern people must be in a sad state of
mental befuddlement, due to living
on the diet the daily press has fed you
on SO long. Rouse up and think for
yourself, brother Corey; and you will
reach these conclusions:
1. The people are of more import
ance than continent, nation or consti-
tuition. A human being is the grand
est, noblest, highest Of all God 8 produc-
tions; made after his own image;''
little god on earth. e-s~-
2. The people form a government
and tax themselves to support it.
What for? For their own good-their
own happiness-their own advantage
their own prosperity; and for nothing
else! When government does not in
sure these results something is wrong
1t is gun that won't shoot. We
must take it to pieces and put it to-
gether again SO it will shoot. You see
only the incidents OF civilized life;-
dollars, bonds, obligations, property,
laws, constitutions; | look through all
this petty, temporary trumpery, and
see Gods august human race behind
them,-'the beauty of the world"
"the paragon of animals" souls hold
ing immortal relations to a never
dying spiritual universe. You would
trample the people in the dust. I
would trample in the dust everything
that would injure the people. l see
God in his creatures; you see him in
the dirty symbols Of human greed and
selfishness; the inheritances of past
ages of barbarism. Our differences are
radical and fundamental.
You ask me wherein the money
lender who demands high rates for his
money differs from the workman who
asks high wages for his labor.
Here is the difference. Man is
natural product. There is no limit to
the supply. Man breeds men. Money
breeds not money but liabilities.
| Money is purely conventional thing
government makes it and govern
ment limits it's supply. You can send
to Hungary and Poland and, by dodg-
ing the emigration laws, you can bring
in 100000 hungry workmen, to break
down the wages of the man who asked
too much for his work. But you can't
create money, outside Of the national
limitations, without going to prison
for it.. And you can't import 800, ,OOO,-
900 from Europe without sending
500, 100000 or its equivalent over
there, in exchange And where the
government fails to limit the amount
of money, nature fixes limit by the
exhaustion of the mines. The truth
is, money is merely governmental
yard-stick to measure exchanges.
Suppose Congress should declare that
all yard-sticks should be of gold; and
that no cloth should be sold unless it
was first measured by one of these
sticks; and suppose lot of sharpers
bought up all the yard-sticks and
charged exorbitant prices for the use
of them, what would be the result?
All trade would be hampered and the
scamps would grow Immensely rich.
Is not that precisely what is done
when money, which is. a necessity of
de,-provided by all for all,-is
seized upon by few and hired out, at