The farmers' union. (Memphis, Mo.) 1891-1895, 1894-02-01
Some Pertlne Mt Questions.

mlrlclc WILL arouse tnem Ns the uange
surrounding them, and spur them t,
their duty.
I desire to put few PLAIN ques
tons to the intelligent voters anon,
the industrial classes:
!. Is not the present condition o
our country simply sha,ncfulv?
2. Is it not fact that statistic!
show a constant increase in the ma
tons wealth. and that, even up t.
the time the present panic had set in
our army of trrmps and those en-
forced idleness has just as surely IN
creased in numbers?
B. Do you for q moment believe
your condition can be improved
through the Democratic or Rcpubli'
can party, each of which is equally
responsible for the present distress?
4. DO you realize that the remedy
lies in your hands? That the ballot
IS the weapon BY which you can bet
ter your condition?
5. Armed with this weapon are
you such fools as to trust again to
parties Whose platforms are but gilt
tering delusions) or politicians who
have again and again violated their
obligations and betrayed our conf
dence?
These questions I submit in all
sincerity to the thousands upon
thousands of voters in the ranks Of
organized labor. Why allow the
immense power controlled in the
various trade unions to be frittcred
away in the discussion of triling
trade matters drifting as compared
with the welfare of the masses) when
by united determined action at the
ballot box, greater reform than can
ever be brought about by runious
strikes, etc, can he accomplished
With the many object lessons pre-
seuted are there none so blind as not
to see that both the old parties, while
loyal to the banking and other mon
oplistic interests, though hypocriti-
cally denouncing them in their plat
forms, are rotten to the core, so far
as the welfare of the nation and the
principles OF its Constitution are
concerned?
To continue in power these traitors
to liberty IS to still more firmly rivit
the chains which bind us in a con-
dition far worse than chattle slavery,
to redeem the county from which the
very besc blood of all sections Of our
country has been spilled. and the
lives of thousands of liberty-loving
patriots wasted on the field of battle.
Yes, lives worse than wastedin behalf
Of people so incapable of appreci-
ting their heroic efforts, a people who
will submit to u still further grasping
demands of bankers and bondholders
who are mercilessly clamoring for
more than their pound Of flesh, while
denying to the scar-worn veteran, who
risked his life for paltry $11.OO a
month, paid in deprecated money,
the pension he has 80 dearly earned.
Just think of the kind of money
paid the veteran during the bitter
service of hardship, and that paid to
bondholders, with gold part of the
time commanding premium Of
nearly 200! How, at the time. We
we're told by the bondholders and
his ilk, that "a national debt was a
national blessing" With the hun
dreds OF millions annually going
abroad to pay the interest on our
bonds We poor deluded fools can
readily realize what genuine bless
ing it is-to the boddholders!
What spectacle is now presented
from one end of the country to the
other, when every city and town gov
eminent is calling upon the moneyed
class to come forward and relieve the
dire distress existing. Think of work
beng given out As charity, not un.
necessary work, mind you, but work
that actually increases the wealth OF
the community and further enhances
the value Of the taxable property.
oh Such hvnOcritit.al Conerositvt