The representative., 1894-02-21
AN ADDRESS
Delivered Before the State Farm.
ers Alliance at Minneapolis,
January 10th, 1898.
BY HON. JOHN ARNOLD KEYRS.

| AOSAAs AoOos
BY HON. JOHN ARNOLD KEYRs.
Continued from last sceek.
Beginning In small way and with
the worthy motive, in many instan-
ces, OF developing the country, our
national, state and municipal govern
ments have granted innumerable
franchises and special privileges to
individuals and corporations, includ-
Ing vast tracts Of Of valuable land, ex-
emDted from taxation. and while be-
gun with the best intentions the
tendency to confer such rights and
lmmunities without reserving or pro-
viding adequate control over their
exercise, has been carried to the MOST
extreme limit and we are slowly
arousing to find that the grantees of
these franchises, and their successors
forever. now, by kind of 'tdi-
vine right" boldly deny the power of
the government to regulate the ex-
ercise OF the franchise granted and,
intrenched in the citadel of combilla-
tion, defy the struggles of the pco-
pie; sneer at protests and even pray
ers; laugh at the foretellers of the
oncoming contest and threaten to
coerce the dependent classes with
the swift and deadly leaven of star
vation if they dare resist, at the bal
lot box, the usupation Of their prop-
erty rights.
Verify what brood is this that We
have nursed SO long? Thus it is that
for the tinsel pottage of the name
OF liberty we have bartered our birth
right and the goddess Of the law We
have ourselves created, stands above
us with her merciless sword of execu-
tion, and, blind to all things else,
holds forth the scales Of contract"
and demands the pound of flesh, for
$50 it Is nominated in the bond"
Did you ever pause to think that the
only remedy the great body Of pro-
ducers and consumers in the common
ranks have, to right the wrongs that
may be and daily are thrust upon
them by the autocracy of transporta-
tion is to assemble in squads like
children on playground and by
means of the feeble, impotent petit
tion, pray for relief-a laughable
spectacle indeed to the whole world.
this petition Of freemen that ends
land thus will we ever pray"-and
so long time to the ear of the king
never was known anywhere on the
face OF the earth among civilized
men. Not only has grave wrong
been done in the matter of franchise
granting and the failure to reserve
adequate power of regulation of nat
ural monopolies, made so by COM
bined capital, but still more danger
Gus than that, if such can be, to our
liberties, the government, disregard
ing constitutional barriers, has sur
| rendered to corporations the most
important of it's own functions so far
as this property rights question goes;
to wit, the right to coin, issue, regu-
late, distribute, and control the mon
ey of the country, and this contrary
to the warnings Of the prophetic
Jackson. So that it has been but
too recently demonstrated, that the
real control Of the finances of the
country has passed. like that Of its
greatnat ural resources and means Of
communication, out of the hands Of
the people into the hands Of private
institutions, in the latter case the
great banking corporations; and now
the amount and method Of distribu-
tion of the money Of the country is
regulated by the so-called financial
circles" having their self-acknowl
edged center in what is known as
! Wall street, from whence emanates
from time to time the DEGREES that
shape the politics Of parties and seal
the doom record of the downfall of
many man. A little while ago a
|
with the sign manuel of this street
and sealed with a golden seal, and on
it's promulgation ruin stalked across
the land and hunger follows in the
wake; and while to-day 5000, 900 900 of
surplus money lies in the banks of
New York city and is being by them
loaned on call in Berlin-13O,O 900 men
daily swarm around the bulletin
board in the same city looking for
employment, and the great South
and West lie idle for the want of =
fair medium Of exchange to work
with, and not one man in a hundred
seems to understand that the whole
trouble has arisen from the fact that
the government itself is absolutely
at the mercy Of the money power and
all because it has surrendered it's
constitutional powers and duties to
it.
Aroip ronoof ~ ~rl,o% -o1,,o -