The Goodland republic. [volume] (Goodland, Kan.) 1891-1907, 1894-06-01
CoxEY'S ADDRESS.
Secretary.

The Following Is What COxey Was Pro-
hibited From Delivering.
The constitution of the United States
guarantees to all citizens the right to peace
fully assemble and petition for redress of
grievances, and furthermore, declares that
the right of free speech shall not be alb
ridged.
We stand here today to test these guaran-
tees of our constitution. We chose this
place of assemblage because it is the prop
erty of the people, and if it is true that the
right of the people to peacefully assemble
upon their own premises and with their
petitions has been abridged by the passage
of laws i'll direct violation of the constitu-
ton we are here 10 draw the eyes of the
nation to this shameful fact.
Here, rather than at any spot upon the
continent il is fitting that we should come
to mourn over our dead liberties, and by
our protest arouse the imperilled nation to
such action as shall rescue the constitution
and resurrect cur liberty. Upon these steps
where we stand has been spread a carpet
for the royal feet of a foreign princess, the
cost of whose lavish entertainment was
taken from the public treasury without the
consent or the approval of the people.
Up these steps the lobbists of trusts and
corporations have passed unchallenged on
their way to commi tee rooms to which we,
the representatives of the toiling wealth
producers, have been denied. We stand
here today in behalf of millions of tOiIers
whose petitions have been buried in COM
mittee rooms, whose prayers have been I'M
responded to, and whose opportunities for
honest, renumeratiVe productive labor have
been taken from them by unjust legislation
which protects idlers, spectators and
gamblers. We come to remind congress
here assembled of the declaration of
United States senator that for a quarter
of century the rich have been growing
richer, the poor poorer, and that by the
close of the present century the middle
class will have disappeared, as the struggle
for existence becomes fierce and relent-
IesS.'' We stand here to remind congress
of its promsse of returning prosperity
should the Sherman act be repealed.
We stand here to declare by our march
OF over 500 miles through difficulties and
distress, a march unstalned by even the
slightest act which will bring the blush Of
shame to any, that we are law-abiding citi-
zens, and as such our actions speak louder
than words. We are here to petition for
legislation which will furnish employment
for every man able and willing to work,
for legislation which will bring universal
prosperity and emancipate our beloved
country from financial bondage to the de-
scendentS OF King George.
We have come to the only source which
is competent to aid the people in their day
of dire distress. We are here to tell our
representatives, who hold their seats by
grace of our ballots, that the struggle for
existence has become too fierce and relent-
less. We come and throw up our defence
less hands and say, Help or we and our
loved ones must perish" We are engaged
in bitter and cruel war with the enemies
of all mankind; a war with hunger,
Indebtedness and despair, and we ask
congress to heed our petitions and issue
for the nations good sufficient volume of
the same kind of money which carried the
country through one awful war and saved
the life Of the nation In the name of JUS
tiee through whose impartial administra-
ton only the present civilization can be
maintained and perpetuated, by the powers
of the constitution of our country, upon
which the liberties of the people must de-
pend and in the name of the Commonweal
of Christ, whose representatives we are,
we enter most solemn and earnest protest
against this unnecessary and cruel act of
usurpation and tryrany, and this enforced
subugation OF the rights and privileges OF
American citizenship. We have assemb-
led here, in violation of no just laws, to en-
Joy the privileges of American citizens.
lie are under the shadow Of the capitol