The Kinsley graphic. [volume] (Kinsley, Kan.) 1890-1940, 1894-08-10
WITH RE FEoPLE.

working with the Peoples Party.
Ex-State Senator d: B. Kelly gives
in the following letter his reasons for
longer refusing to affiliate with the re-
publican party: $500 ~
LAWRENCE, Kan, Aug. l.
John ". Breidenthal; Chairman Populist State
Central Committee:
Dear Sir: The Process OF absorption OF the
productive industries has been going On for
more than twenty-five years, until at present
few corporations with great aggregations OF
capital, 1Jave complete control OF the MINING
forestry, notwithstanding and transportation IN
terests Of the country. The few have oecome
the employers, the many the employees. These
corporate citizens claim to nave lnherlteo tne
rights and privileges exercised by the lndl-
vidual In the transaction Of his private busi-
ness, NAMELY, the right to employ and discharge
st Will and to ofier such COMPENSATION for
services as he secs fit: saying to labor, these
terms or tramp" The exercise Of this power
unchecked by law, over the tenure CT Service.
the pay, the daily bread. and hence the free
dom Of labor, is greater than any power over
exercised by king over subject.
The industries Of the people are Of more i'm
portance than are their politics. and so long as
these industries controlled by individual own
ers were distributed throughout the country;
governmental interference and supervision
was not needed, was not demanded But q
change has occurred; the laborer who might
4
restricted to q score in which he must find
work or be Idle and hungry. Confronted with
great corporation. which, without restraint
is privileged to dictate TERMS; labor finds itself
helpless for Self-protectiOl and preservation,
| and in this condition independent manhood and
| the nobility of labor become a farce and
| sham. Dependence and discomfort become the
rule while hunger, violence and anarchy follow
| discharge.
To invcigh against labor troubles, socialism
and anarchy, without seeking to remedy the
causes that produce them, is short sighted
1t is not the political system against which
| complaint arises but is is the great overgrown
| industrial system, management Of which I'M
checked by law, is concentrated in few hands,
dominating the terms upon which labor must
| depend for its daily subsistence.
The contest between corporation employer
| and labor is a constant menace to the peace
| and prosperity of society. as it is one OF the
| unreStrained human selfShneSS manifested on
the one side by the cunning of the Wicles and
| upon She other hy strikes and violence.
| No question is of more inlportauca than the
| adjustment of relations between these forces,
employer and emp,oye. And while regulation
| of tenure Of service and Sche 1u.e of wages be-
| tween corporations of a quaSi-public character
and employees. would be usurpation OF what
| has been additionally conceded the rights OF
employers, yet protection to llbor AMI the In
teTests of society would justify such de-
partuTe from previous custom.
| The great accommodations Of wealth in manu-
| facturers' hands have been stimulated through
! approaching value OF gold as the measure OF
value, prices of raw material and food supplies
being determined by this standard having been
subjected to ShrinSage as the value OF the
metal has been approaching. With this world
growing demand for gold, the decline in the
value of the raw material does not affect to the
| same extent the profits Of the manufacturer,
as trusts and combinations s;ite profits from
the ruinious shrinAage to which raw material
and food supplies have been subjected
| Whether our industrial system in the hands
Of corporations, and our financial system rest
| ing upon god standard are conditions OF IN
| obstructed growth whether they have been
| propagated by partisan legislation is not now
| the question, but rather, where most likely IS
to be found the remedy for the growing III
| tensity OF labor disturbances, the conditions Of
The laborcr, and the steadily shrinking value
| of agricultural staples.
| Government has never assumed that because
| NATURE gave to one man more muscle than to
| another that therefore she intended that the
| strong should deSpoil the weak, but protection
from violence has always been guaranteed the
| weak, but the strong arm, once a menace, has
| been superseded by the cunning OF the brain
| handling improved appliances for wealth get
ting. Hence the principle that secured protec-
| ton against the strong arm should be invoked
| now to secure protection against the cunning
! Of Gyarica.
the contest in industrial pursuits, leopard
iZing the public welfare. has BECOME so intense
| that q demand is growing for a standing army
| OF European proportions to bolster up vicious
| Industrial system which, while accommodating
| millions in the hands Of the corporations OPP
| Grating it, leaves the labor OF the shop poorly
paid and discontinued, while the staples of 2g
ricultere for decade have been selling each
year at lower range Of values leaving the farm
| err to inluire whit interest has he il the gold
| standard protective tariff or the millions OF
corporation wealth.
| The price of incoming labor from Europe has
been creating the competition and establishing
the standard of American shop labor while the
| outward OF brea istuffS and meat, priced in
| Europe by the gold standard, has been the
| measure OF the value Of the farmers labor.
Thus the tariff, established for agriculture and
American shop labor, BY change of conditions
has ceased to confer the benefits intended; and
| between the three parties to the contract, the
farmer selling the raw material, the shop labor
working it up and the manufacturer deriving
the profits for handling the labor on farms and
| in shops is shrinking in value, and while the
struggle for existence becomes more intense
| the manufacturer becomes princcly million
| aire. While tariff does not impose the burden
| charged by democracy ii does not afford the
| relief the country requires. shrinking values
| labor troubles and business Stlgnatioa having
| grown up under it.
| cause of many failures. but it did not confer
| upon corporations the privilege of making
| terms to labor nor did it send wheat down to 3
cents in Kansas.
tariff for the protection OF American prod
i uctS Of the shcp should go hand in hand with
| an American standard of value for protection
| to agricultural products. New conditions have
| arisen: the future, not the past, being that
| with which wd must deal. Changes must &C
cur il industrial system, the alternative
being national control confusion or standing
| army.
In our financial system. with the worlds
| growing demand for gold, bed rock prices
| measured By that standard nave not vet been
| reached and without q change cOnfiScatiOn
must become the defnation for debt. The
movement for change in these directions mus,
| come from the agricultural districts and labor
| Of the shop. In the new alignment of political
| forces now going on, corporation interests be-
| ing so interviewer with the dominating inf1u-
enceS of the old parties preclude them from
| tariff reform" being The only remedies offered
| while the gold standard is maintained ano
| advocated by both. government owner.
| ship of railroads and government control OF
| corporations is spectcr at which both take
| fright, and yet neither propose other remedies
| our industrial system.
The populist party and kindred labor organ
| iZations with all their mistakes and
defects, constitute the only political Or
ganization to-day looking for remedy
calculated to the government from
confusion or the domination Of force. The con-
| test as 1 view it is between the rights and
privileges Of the citizen and corporation dom
| ination. In view of these facts 1 cast my lot
with the peoples party and hereby tender my
services in any manner by which can advance
| its principles Respectfully,
H. B. KELLY.
Fight with Commonwealers.
CoNNELLsvIILE, Pa. Aug. 4.-Jeffries
| commopuao 1orS mberinp about oOO