The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1894-10-24

capta- II 5O,U0 10000, $1,000 men own half
OF that wealth, then it follows that the
rest or the people have but $500. 1 am not
talking of the equal distribution of the
weaitn. do not want to be misunt1er-
s.oou. AS you reduce the por-
ton, that will reduce their purchasing
power, and when you reduce the purchas-
ing power you begin to, cripple trade. Won
begin TO close the factories. and begin to
throw people out of employment The CEN
trallzatlon of wealth in the hands of a
lew Is responsible for the depressed condi-
tion OF the people and country. Do YOU
suppose you are going to gain anything by
little percentage or change in percentage
or your tariff schedules? VIII any man
tell me what difference it is going to make
Wnetner you have tariff of As per cent
or 81 per cent on calico or dress goods. or
what not? What effect can that have on
o emr .raue OF the country? Perhaps you
can see something in that change of sched-
ule that will increase the purchasing power
or the people, but I can't
LOOK at countries that have very high
tariHs like we have, look at countries
maj nave medium sized tariffs, look at
countries that have no tariffs. and there
are the same trade conditions existing as
are existing in this country changed a
little by reason of environment so really
the conditions spread over all the coun-
.ies OF the earth, Notwithstanding tariffs
high or tariffs low. Miserably used is
American craftsmanship or there must
ne something the matter in this country
besides a. mere. difference of opinion of
tariff schedules. No. what the country
Wants-What you business men want, what
you mechanics want, what all the citi-
zens of this country want is an increased
purchasing power on the part of the peo-
pie of the country. Then you will begin
TO realize the improvement in the condi-
ton of trade
From the advanced prices Of products
begin a of
ployed labor as against idle labor You
VIII pes1n to realize change of plenty
and prosperity and advancement all over
the country instead of the present starva-
tlon and idleness; starvation, because
there is starvation in this country and
starvation will continue to multiply as
long as the present conditions exist. l
read in the Chicago Mail the other day. a
Democratic paper. else wouldn't quote it,
last June of POI names of men who owned
million dollars or over in that city. The
combined possession of the POI men was
$i5l,0O0,000. At a thousand dollars per
capita to the population, those POI men
own what is equivalent to the entire share
of $4,000 people, or nearly half of the peo-
pie of Chicago. Now l am not railing
againgst rich men, l am not railing
against wealth, but 1 railing against
systems, practices or laws that will allow
POI men in one city to become possessed
of the equivalent of 451, 900 people, and l
wouldn't think myself an American citi-
zen if | didn't proclaim against systems
of that kind. l have no objection to
man making money, to a man creating
wealth, l have no objection to the man,
in fact, l respect the man who can create
more wealth than 1 can. because some
must be richer than others, because some
people have natural ability merchants
and will make more money than other
men in the same business, or some
other business, if he does not destroy those
laws of trade. If he comes bV it honestly
and by reason of superior ability l have
no quarrel with that man. A few such men
only create fortunes and there Will not be
enough great fortunes created to make any
particular difference in the distribution of
the wealth of the country. There never
would be any POI men in a single city of
1,0O0, 900 inhabitants that owned the equiva-
lent of the wealth of half the people in
that city. 1t would be utterly impossible,
but it is true that circumstances are such
that men can amass these great fortunes
possessing no genius whatever; that genius
is infinitely more plentiful that Will
enable men to get wealth with
the laws of trade bearing a man
with him, and once he gets to accu-
mulating these great fortunes, he COM
mences to destroy commerce, and then the
great mass of the people begin to feel all
that grew out of that condition. Now, why
is it that we in this country have all the
conditions of that kind existing and have
Why is it we have all of them existing
and really don't know that they do exist.
or don't know the deadly work they are
doing? | will tell you why. 1t is because the
American people have been devoutly
SO bindly worshipng their party princi
pies that they haze been unmindful, have
been negligent of all this deadly work that
has been going on about them and among
them They have been uncOnscious-you
Democrats and Republicans have been
Scip of 10 IepiSla
men who have been shaping the policies of
your parties and leading you are the very
men who the benefciaries of the
wrongs and abuses that l speak of. They
themselves are the men who have been alb
sorbng the wealth of the country. They
are the men that desire this purchasing
power lessened, they are the men who want
to continue the destruction of this pur-
chasing power. because by doing so they
gain wealth. and the more they get, the
more they want. Now, 1 am not making
this declaration without having given it
great thought and study. When l
say that the two parties are led, are con-
trolled, are dominated by men who are
profiting by the existing condition, l am
prepared to prove what | say.
Mr. Owen here quite lengthily referred
to the nominations of both Harrison and
Cleveland, and related how Chauncey NJ.
Depew was in the convention at Mnneapo-
lis with money enough to buy Harrison s
nomination: in spite of the fact that James
CT. Blaine was the enthusiastic choice of
a large majority of the delegates, and VIM.
c. Whitney in the convention at Chicago
with money enough to buy Cleveland's NOM
mat 1t did not make any difference to
the leaders of the two g. o. p.'s which of
the two men were elected president but it
must be one of the two. Later, it developed
that Chauncey Depew and VIM c. Whitney
| were large partners in an immense manu-
| featuring concern, and both desired the
election as president of one of these two
men. Though was the acknowledged
leader of the Republican clans and the 9TH
er of the Democratic hosts, it made no diff
ference to either which man was elected.
Either would serve their purpose. After
this reference Mr. Owen continued:
During that campaign Clews, the banker,
in one of his offices, fitted with luxurious
furniture and velvet carpets, and enjoying
the luxuries of the country in which he
made fortunes in selling stock, said he was
| free of all cares of change of administra-
| ton and that Wall street had nothing to
| fear from the results of the campaign. He
had such confidence in the ignorance and
stupidity of the American people that he
could boast of the fact that Wall street
q don't mean the street, you know, to what
| refer, having in nomination two can
didates for office of the president of the
United States one of whom was bound to
he elected he could proclaim that Wall
street now didn't care a rap Which one it
was and he could do that fearlessly, be
cause he knew that the American people
were divided into two great armies .of about
five millions on each side, each and every
F! Democrat or Republican, thinking that he
| was standing for some great principle which
was really a small percentage the tariff
schedule They name two candida ties