Mower County transcript., 1894-09-05


Not . ths .Granger'' party, how.
ever. The movement had attracted tho
:demagoguesland shysters then. They
insisted that it must be perpetuated il
s. political organization. As its native
issues disapp they found new ones
for it. These were, Of course, first, our
rency imitation, and second, the cause
Of labor. . The lack Of originality in
these fellows who act rs wet nurses for
new political parties was never moro
strikingly shown than in the absolute
'corresponden Of their programme be-
tween about 1870 and 1882, and between
about 1882 and 1894. There was, in that
earlier period the same :lsmand tor
'.fiat'' money; reaching, indeed, far
moro alarming proportions than that OF
late times. It would have condemned
us to repudiation but for the preside
veto. It carried away great and
prosperous states like Ohio. And when
the disease grew slowly less violent, II
left upon the body Of our financial pol
icy the malignant ulcer known as the
Bland bill, to sap our strength and en-
danger our life.
8 labor" complication, too, was
present in full force. Those were the
years when the Knights Of Labor grew
strong in the land. There was the great
strike and the riots Of 1877. Labor, de-
feated aud rebellious, would, it was
thought, make common cause with the
remnant Of the Changers aud the still
surviving Greenbaok party. Any one
who took an interest IN politics then
cannot have forgotten the secret alarm
with which the old parties questioned
whether this new combination might
not temporarily swamp the country. It
was mere flash in the pan The sober,
intelligent voters were disgusted equally
by the unprincipled leaders whom it
brought to the front and by the crazy
quilt platform which it became neces-
sary to adopt in order to take in the
manned, the halt and the blind. The
new movement that promised SO much
fell to pieces as if it had been one of
Coxey's armies. There were still few
fanatics or feeble-minded who voted it's
ticket; but it ceased to be serious and
became distinctly ludicrous with the
campaign of Ben Butler for the presi-
dency. g. s. -,s.'
The sequence of these events has been
noted with some care, because again we
have history repeating itself with al
most tie accuracy of copy from the
printed page. We have had farmers
Alliances" formed, just as the old
Oranges were, to promote mutual inter-
ests and to check the aggressiveness of
corporations. At just about the time
when their practical work was mostly
the battered hulks of
politicians discarded by both the great
parties got control of their machinery.
Then they were united with the still
demand for currency infla-
tion. This led to the craze of the sub
treasury scheme. Then the owners Of
silver mines saw their opportunity to
foist their product on the people at
double its actual value. So we 20 on to
the Peoples party with it's double ap-
peal to agricultural discomfort and to
ignorance on the money
question. And now we have again the
great strike and the proposed union of
labor, with the new organization. By
exactly the same steps have the two ex-
periments proceeded to the same fate.
The second saw it's prime two years ago,
will get its death blow this fall, and
will disappear in 1896, after an imjta-
lion of the Butler campaign. ..s..
There is another element that makes
this conclusion more than ever sure.
This is the alliance of Populism with
and the fear and hatred which
the latter has inspired. In the earlier
period referred to the people of the
United States knew Of this horrid faith
only as they knew of the tortures of
Siberia; as something alien, afar,
to connect with our
system Of government or our common
life. Now they have gazed at it within
striking distance. The worst that would
nave happened in the 7Os and earlier
oVS IL U440 p11Gy VI A0IC0 Suu 4COuOCl6SClC
liscontent had come into power would
nave been legislation destructive of
:ailroad properties and injurious to our
finances. Now they know better. A
Leweling, Waite, an Altgeld have
;aught them that the later movement
liffers from the former by adding to
equal or greater ignorance an implacable
hatred of liberty. These men have been
;ested, and have shown that they regard
neither law nor public opinion, and that
hey would not hesitate to invite q civil
war in order to fasten their despotic
wills upon the people. These are the
disciples Of the new anarchy; to vote
'or whom is not merely to vote for q de-
based currency and the legislation Of
lemagogues, but is to vote, as senator
If Minnesota expressed it, s.for the sub
mission Of the United States govern
nent. z He who fears for the result Of
such an appeal in this state or in the
nation has too little faith in the virtues
and patriotism Of the American peonle.