The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1894-08-02
BURNS HIS BRIDGES.
Ex-senator Kelly Joins the Popu-
list Party.
IN 1 LETTER 10 BREIDENTHAL

says In Choosing Between the People
and incorporated Wealth He Must
90 with the FOrmer-Embracss the
POpulist Party IN spite ofIts Faults
Eek State Senator Fl. B. Kelly, formerly
of Mcpherson. now Of Lawrence, after
hesitAting for several weeks has formally
decided after a conference with hair
man BreidenthaI yesterday afternoon to
leave the Republican party and become
q Populist A letter was placed in the
hands Of Chairman BreidenthaI TO be
made public In this letter Mr.. Kelly
saws:
John ". Prudential. Chairman Populist State
Central COMMITTEE
~DkAR SIR:-The progress of absorp-
ton Of the productive industries has been
going on for more than twenty i've years,
until at present 4 few corporations with
great aggregations Of capital, have com
plete control of the mining, forestry,
manufacturing and transportation inter-
ests of the country. The few have be-
come the employers. the many, the en-
plOyes. These corporate citizens ella ID
to have inherited the rights and Privil-
eyes exercised by the individual IN the
transaction of his private business. name
". the right to employ and discharge at
vail and 10 oifer such compensation for
services as he sees fiji, saying to labor,
8. hese terms tramp" The exercise Of
this power unchecked by law, over The
tenure OF service, the pay, the daily
bread, and hence the freedom of labor,
j. greater than any power ever exercised
by king over subject
'-The indus res of the people are Of
more importance than are their politics.
and so long as these industries controlled
by individual owners were distributed
throughout the country, governmental
Interference and supervision was not
needed II was not demanded But a
Change had occurred; the labOrer who
might once have applied to q thousand
shops, is now restricted to a score IN
which he must find work or be Idle and
hungry. Confronted with a great cor
pOratiOn, which. without restraint is
privileged 10 dictate terms, labor finds
itself helpless for self protection and
preservation; and in this condition indie
pendent manhood and the nobility of
labor becomes farce and a sham. De-
pendent aud discomfort become the rule,
while hunger, violence aud anarchy fol
low discharge.
TO inveigh against labor troubles,
socialism and anarchy, without seeking To
remedy tile causes that produce them is
short sighted
1T is not the political system against
which com plant arises but il is the great
Overgrown Industrial system, manage
ment of which, unchecked by law, IS
concentrated in few hands, dominating
the terms upon v III labor must depend
for its daily subsistence.
1.-The contest between corporation en-
plOyer and labor is d constant menace 10
the peace and prosperity Of society, AS il
Is one OF unrestrAIned human selfish
ness, manifested on the one side by the
cunning OF the WicKeses, aud upon the
other by strikes and violence.
NO question is of more importance
than the adjustment of relations between
these forces, employer aud emplOye.
And while regulation of tenure Of SER
vice and schedule Of wages between cor
pOrations Of quasi public character and
employees, would be usurpation IF what
has been additionally conceded the
rights Of employer, yet projection to
labor and the interests Of society would
Justify such a departure from previous
Gu toms"
After discussing the faults Of the pres
ent financial system, Mr. Kelly cOntin-
ues:
'Government has never assumed that
because nature gave TO one man more
muscular power than to another, that
therefore she intended that the strong
should despOil the weak, but protection
from violence has always been guaran-
teed the weak but the strong arm once
a menace. has been superseded by the
cunning of the brain handling improved
app. iances for wealth getting. Hence
t e principle that secured prot ection
d ainst the strong arm should be invoked
ming OF avarice.
'sThe contest Is Industrial pursuits,
jeOpa rdizing the public welfare, has be-
cOme so Intense that demand il grow
ing for a standing army of European
proportions TO bolster up A vicious Indus
trial system which, while accummulat-
ing millions in the hands of the corpora
tions operating il, leaves the laborer of
the shop poorly paid and discontinued,
while the staples of agriculture for 4 de-
c.de have been selling each year At low
ering range Of values leaving the farm
ers to Inquire, what interest he has IN
the gold standard. protective tariff or
the millions OF corporation wealth"
Mr.. Kelly concludes: THE Populist
party and kindred labor organizations
with all their mistakes and defects con-
stilute the only political organization to
" looking for remedy calculated TO
save the government from confusion or
the domination Of force. The contest, as
l view it. is between the rights and priv
yes Of the citizen and corporation
q animation In view Of these facts l
cast my lot with the Peoples party, and
thereby tender my services in any man
ner by which I can advance its princi-
PIES"
WHIRLIGIG NOR rHINGTON.
He Has Coma Back Again to the Popu-