The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1895-10-15

not totally depraVedo The king had
an idea that somehow Daniel would
get out of the lions den unframed and
thai he would overcome the i~ntrigues
of those who had conspired to destroy
him. trly in the morning he went
to the mouth of the den. Daniel was
safe. His God, unlike the Supreme
Court, having found Daniel guilty of
all wrong doing, locked the AVIS of the
lions, and Daniel stood before the king
wearing the redemption crown of truth,
more royal than a princely diadem.
Then the king, who had been deceived
by the enemies of Daniel, the syco
phanIs and vermin of power, gave MS
wrath free rein and had them cast ln1o
the lions den, where they were deVour
ed by the ferocious beasts.
History repeats itself. I am not a
| Daniel. but I am in all by decree Oh al
autocrat. I~appealed from one esp
| 70 a whole bench for Justice, ana inc
anneaI WIGS UNDECIDED. | and my asso-
ciates were innocent. There was no
| stain of crime on our record, nelIner
Innocence nor Constitution was Oh any
avail. To placate the money power
the impIacable enemies or LABOR we
were sent to prison, and here alone
contemplating the foul wrong inf cted
on me and my associate officials of the
American r aiIway Union, with head
and heart and hand nerved for the
task. I write this letter, TO be read on
Labor D " to friends ard neighbors in
the city of my birth.
II is not a wall OF dependency nor
despair. The CAUSE for which I have
been deprived of my liberty was just,
and | am thrice armed against all my
enemies. To bear punishment for ones
honest convictions is a glorious privi-
lege and requires no high order of
courage.
No judicial tyrant comes to my prison
to inquire "a to my health or my hopes,
but one sovereign does come by day
and by night with words of cheer. Il
is the sovereign people-the uncrowned
but sceptered rulers Of the realm. No
day of my imprisonment has passed
that the bars and bolts and doors of
the Woodstock all have not been bcm
barded by messages breathing devotion
to the cause of liberty and justice, and
as l read aud ponder these messages,
and as I grasp the hands Of friends and
catch the CLEAN Of wrath in their def
ant eyes. and listen t. their words Of
heroic courage, | iud it no task to see
the wrath of the sovereign people
aroused, and all opposition to the tri-
umphapt march Of labor consigned to
oblivion, and as an earnest of this,
from every quarter come announce
ments that the American Rtilway
UniOn is growing in membership and
strength, destined al an early day to
be, as it deserves to be, an organization
which, by precap5, by example aud
principle will ultimately unity railroad
labor in the UnIted States and make it
i~nvircibie. There is q mighty muster
ing of ell the forces of labor through
out the country. Labor is uniting IN
ore solid phalanx to secure justice for
labor. When this time comes, and
coming it il, peacefully, I hope, no jul
dicial depot will dare imprison an
American Citizen to please corporations.
When this tine comes, and coming j.
IA as certain as rivers flow to the sea,
bullion and doodle" will not rule in
Congress, in Legislatures and in courts.
Legislators and judges and other puo-
tic officers will not be controlled, as
many Of them now are, by the money
power. There Is to come a day, a
Labor Day, when from the center to
the circumference Of our mighty repub-
lie, from blooming groves of orange to
waving fields Of grain. from the pine
lands of Maine to the Pacific coast, the
people shall be free, and it will come
by the unified voice and vote of the
farmer, the mechanic and the laborer
in every department of the country's
industries.
notice in your letter that you say,
I'VE have been unable to get a repre-
sentative labor speaker for our Labor
Day celebration. and here let me say
that on Labor Day all men who wear
the badge Of labor are representative
speakers, not orators" perhaps, as
the term is accepted to mean, and yet
orators in fact, from whose lips fall
thoughts that breathe and words that
burn Coming warm from the heart,
they reach the heart and fan the zeal
IN a great cause into a fame that sweeps
along like q nrairie fire L. has hoon