The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1895-01-23
ANSWER TO SENATOR EATON.
"A Short Horse Soon Curried. -

A friend in Buffalo, Mimi, send us
a clipping from the Journal OF that
city, edited by our old friend, Senator
A. Y. Eaton. The Senator is usually
sensible man, but he is clearly "off
his base'' in that article. He has lost
his logical faculty. He charges up
against the Peoples Party the hard
times, the tramps, the railroad
strikes, Coxey's march to Washing
ton, the riots, the mobs and every
thing else that took place, in 1894.
Now, the Senator knows very we'll
that the Peoples Party was not born
until 1892, and the census of 1890,
taken two years before it came
into existence. shows that the United
States were at that time bankrupted
and ruined;-nine million mortgages
had been recorded in ten years, for
six billions of dollars; and $4,000
families owned one half the total vast
wealth OF the country. All that has
taken place since is but an expires sion
OF the results of the conditions reveal
ed by that census;-the Peoples Party
itself was born of them. The laws
that produced the bankruptcy Of the
country were all passed by those who
hold the Peoples Party in contempt:
not one of them came from our die
tation;-we were powerless to affect
national legislation. And the power
behind the two old parties, that pro-
cured the passage of those laws, was
Plutocracy, which today has the
whole world in its grasp. There is no
Peoples Party in Europe and yet the
same terrible shrinkage of values,
and the same poverty and distress are
felt there as we'll as here. We will not
call Senator Eaton demagogue for
making such appeals to the ignorant
prejudices of his party followers, but
he is certainly unjust. He says:
'"There appeared to be but one cool
head in the whole crowd and that be-
longed to Grover and he went fishing
and let them talk and kick
The president who could go fishing
at such time is fit to be named in his
tory with Nero who tiddled while Rome
was burning.
"By and by things appeared to come
to a focus. The great strike was on.
Every railroad town in the country
was terrorized by the A. r. U. Mer-
chants refused to sell goods unless
Hotels and bOading houses refused
lodgings and victuals to all who did
not submit to the dictation of that
! order. 1t was a reign of terror.
Cowards on one side: bullies on the
other. At last the crisis came: = ne
great city of Chicago was given over
to the mob. Men were murde red,
property burned and destroyed The
| presence of United States troops
| alone saved that city from destruc.
tion, and saving it, saved the country
| from civil war;"
Whatever the railroad employees are
now they were not Fopulists when that
strike broke out Nine-tenths of
them belonged to the two old parties.
1t is not fair to hold the Peoples Par
ty responsible for their acts.
after months of talk a revenue
bill was patched up and it became a
| law at the dead hour of midnight
without the signature and without
| the approval of the president. Since
that unlucky job was undertaken and
thus finished, everybody has been
hard up and compelled to borrow
money to pay expenses. A good many
| people could not borrow money and
they have gone down, been forced to
the wall. The insanity of Populism
and of free trade has been too heavy a
| burden for you to bear, old 1894. You
| have gone down to your grave with a
broken back. an empty cupboard and
a ruined credit
| Here is more injustice. The PeO-
pies Party has never declared itself
in favor of free-trade or the Wilson
bill. Why charge us with the work of
| the Democratic party? And if it was
crime for that party to issue $5O,-
600, 600 of bonds to buy gold, it is we'll
known that the Republican party,
prior to the 4th of March 1898, while
Harrison was still president, had the
plates engraved for similar issue of
gold-bonds. And that issue Of bonds,
and all the policies of which they were
an incident were forced On the coun-
try by the Money-power, through both
| UIlc Olu p1fClCS, NY JHc Icptdl Ol the
Sherman act, completing the demone-
tization of silver; and Senator Eaton
knows that just as we'll as any one.
"It was the aim of Populism to
make the rich poor and the poor rich.
1t has succeeded in the first, for
thousands of the rich have been made
poor, but none of the poor have been
made rich. 1t was the aim of free
trade to make everything cheap.
Everything has been made cheap but
people now have no money to buy.
You, old 1894, have seen this country
changed from land of prosperity in
to FOOLS paradise. You are dead
and gone. Your life was troubled
one, may you find rest and repose in
the grave. 1t would have been a
great boon to the present and to ccm-
ing generations if all the cazy, cranky
and foolish notions in the country
could have died with you and
with you gone to their long home. SO
that peace and prosperity might come
again and all the people rejoice and
l. II,