The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1894-09-26
A WONDERFUL LETTER.
Hon. William Welch Looks Into the
Future.

tdi aspects is tEplned by the organizations
which are seeking to obtain the mastery
IN the state and nation. With such a null
tlpiicity, each reaching for spoils and
power, the average voter finds himself be-
tween Scylla and Charybdis, not knowing
where to steer with his ballot A con-
sonal-may therefore. BE- of service to
those who read this article.
The election now on is important only as
preliminary skrmish preceding the
W aterloo to be fought in &C. There are
but two parties to the contest with full
camp equipage, easily designated-the gen
erals in reversion are amiabe fellows
they hobnob together-barter and exchanoa
munitions of war-hold reviews together
ana each carries key to the military
chest which is replenished indifersntly by
favored pensioners on the treasury and on
the pockets OF the (m>asses When Crom-
well despoilsd traitor it was to enrich
MS round-head crew; but the Cromwells
OF our time confiscate alike from friend
and foe-the loyel and dsloyal-and the
favored of both camps take share and
oeIray the cost of political campaigns.
For 80 years this combina ton has been
forming The conditions We're such that it
seems to have been nevitable-poor human
nature could not resist the temptation to
piunder. In all the governmental sub
divisions they dominate and control in the
exercise of special privileges, which, in
TACT makes them the government Their
fortunes are colossal, their incomes are
imperlal, they never earned a dollar of
either. 1t is useless to enumerate the
evils of that fateful 30 years, black with
crimes against home and country, the alb
dication of all political and military power
to an irresponsible olisarchy. The men
VINO thus robbed the plain people still
brazenly calls itself the party of Lin
coln," while their Democratic confederates
are the party of Jefferson" I.iars-and
they know it.
To this autocratic combination of brainy
men poss ssing unlimited means is an i'm
mense following of janizaries thugs
pimps, bribers, little N-roads oracles,
chronic partisans and simple, uniformed
electors-in addition, there is a vast num-
Der who see and feel the vast wrongs of
corrupt legislation. and have faith that
their party will reform it in the good time
coming. Such faith is evidence that the
Gay of miracles has not passed-it sets
that question at rest. This latter class
will consult history in vain to find an in
"
few have ever voluntarily relaxed their
grasp upon the throats of the many. Pull
cut from your dusty library the story of
Greece" lis Greece, but living Greece no
more;'-of Imperial Rome, of England of
France, of Italy and the Natican: take
our own Revolution in 70: did the III
George and his ministers let loose of one
prerosative until their heads were pounded
into jelly? Did old King John sign Mag
ma Charta until his barons threatened to
and Il Ii,
at Runnymede? And did not the old beast
even the second time attempt to throw his
subjects?
"Ye who listen with credulity to the
whispers of fancy, and pursue with eager
ness the phantoms of hope'-who believe
that the past is scaled apocalypse giving
no sign for future guidance in the govern
ment OF nations. sleep on, the enslaved
Turk sleeps. content that ''Allah wills it,
Vigilance with them, is not factor in the
price paid for liberty. Under a recent law
which confessedly puts $1,000 900 into the
pockets OF one concern a reward for DO
litical contributions, they discount well bred
Ohio hogs in sound sleep and unctious
Srunts. An act of parliament which taxed
the table of the Briton for a luxury even,
IL per annum, for the sole use of England S
future king. and that notable scion of God
elect would hunt through three Kingdoms
and miss a throne.
During the past four years, a third party
has sprung up here, crudely organized in
some five or six states west of the Mis-
sssippi, which is full of promise to men
who Visions dream dreams, prophesy,
wear long hair if not bald and are certain
that the third coming of Christ is at hand
since He hustled TO get home from Chicago.
Like all immature embryos, it first exhib-
tied life as crude and unseemy creation
a kind of Barnum's woolly horse-and to
an inexperienced eye gave no more token
of q cyclone than did the speck of cloud
from out the sea of which Elijah got notice
in the days of Ahab the wicked. Most if
not all, of these unseemly tags have been
clipped away, and it is now arrayed in
comely apparel, the best fitting garment
which covers the nakedness and hides the
corruption which all parties desire to con-
ceal. 1t promises to reinvest the people
with those ancient prerogatives which the
fathers declared were inaienable, but which
somehow have become inalienable in the
hands of pack of Republican and Demo-
cratic cut-throats and robbers. Its key
note is destruction to all special privileges.
1t purposes to place where they belong all
quasi-pubc franchises; thousands will suf-
fer in the transition process, if effected;
out better this than the immolation Of the
millions It promises to smash without
morse and forever dissolve the unholy
and incestuous bans between the govern
ment and private money sharks, III furnlsh-
ing money to the people. Not Whimper
made against this GROWING infamy, or
either of the old parties anywhere. They
dare not do it--for their political lives they
dare not. Eloauently the late c. c. Wash
burn in congress, raised his voice against
the Pacific railway swinde-for it he was
driven into private life. This pet railway
of Senator Davis now owes the nation more
than S17O, coo 600, loaned money and interest,
while his admirers have first mortgage
lien for s4o.o0ooo0 more a Republican leg
acy.
The new party also purposes, among
other things. to give to each child of the
republic an equal chance in the race of
life leaving the outcome to be governed by
the laws of intelligence. industry and in
tegrity-and not, now, given to a pam
pered few who inherit wealth without TOLL
and position the accident of birth.
Can this organization accomplish these
undertakings through the ballot, and within
the law?
This is serious question. and cannot be
answered either way without many mis-
givings.
LET US TAKE 4 LOOK AT IT
Logically. this new concern is called 1.-THE
Peoples Party" 1t has 20 national stand
ing but it's purposes and principles are ma
tional. 1t has no vitality worthy of note
east OF the Mississippi. The elements of
the party extend to the Atlantic, but there
are no leaders to marshal them. 1t has a
sickly existence in the Southern states
born of the spawn of Republican negro
rule. anG where that party cannot live an
hour, and ought not to. Democrats in
Dixie will never allow the Republican wolf
to enter their close wearing the skin of a
Populist. The last protection, which never
for 6 moment protected, the negro ballot
has been swept away in the recent repeal