Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1895-08-06
THE PEOPLES PARTY


CONTINUED from flMt Pdge1
caustic manner to the federal court
| Judge Nugent sat down amidst earnest
and continued applause.
When the applause Of Judge Nu-
gents speech had subsidized there were
loud calls for Cyclone Davis, and that
gentleman tlmidly came TO the front
! OF the platform. He declared that he
was not going to make speech, as he
| was down for an address today. He
| said. however that he would outline
| his speech 80 that his hearers might
nave some OF the propositions think
over.
! on the land question, said he, which
! is the most important OF the planks
Of the Populist platform. l win hold
That no allen shall own land; that no
corporation shall own land except for
the public good; that land shall not be
monopoll2ed for speculative purposes.
These propositions he will elucidate to-
day.
Continuing the speaker pointed out
the errors OF blind devotion to parti-
sdnshlp, saying this was the rock upon
which good government In this coun-
try had fuundered. He described the
baneful Influence of perverted princl-
pies and disclosed that the body po-
lite became incrusted with u growth
OF enete laws and installations In con-
sequence Of the misconception and per-
Verted principles.
He then described how the Roman
state had become corrupted and finally
fallen prey to the barbnrlans In con-
sequence OF a disregard OF the rights
OF her citizens. As long as her soldiers
owned their homes and had an interest
in their native land they were inVinci-
bic In war and had conquered the
world. But when the soldiers or Rome
became renters and at the same time
the currency was contracted they be-
IA IN a a ,s...tas
RMS process Of Generalization had
gone on until at one time an able-bod-
led human slave could be bought in the
streets OF Rome for fourteen shillings.
The people degenerated into n misera-
Bile lot OF prolclarlans, asking for moth
Ing more than their lordly masters saw
1T to give them, and content with n
mere existence and a gllded show to
look at Their descendants were there
in the Italian peninsula living wit
nesses to the events OF those times.
They were living under the same con-
dltlons that We're established I'm those
days. The same thing was taking
place In the United States In the state
OF New York only 10 per cent of the
people owned their homes He also de-
scrlbed the people OF the Genessee
valley, MS he remembered them In the
early days, happy, prosperous and
patriotic, and he recalled the valor with
which they he'd fought In the war with
Mexico Now the people there as well
as elsewhere had been deprived OF their
homes SIX per cent uf the people own
ed every foot OF land on Manhattan
island People Of Texas were coming
to the same despicable condition. I'M
der the operation Of the land tenure
system, assisted by the present tinan-
cial system the land was beginning to
pass Into the hands OF few and the
rest of the people would eventually
To- I'LL lea
law that under the land tenure aystcn |
'he lahd By processes invincible must |
merge into the hands OF the few, In |
England twenty-five thousand men |
owned every foot Of the land and the |
rest Of the thirty-nye millions of the |
people We're without homes they could |
eau their own. William the Conuucror |
IN his tyronnicul and despotic division |
AFTER the battle OF Hastings had given |
lands TO sixty thousand. What had be-
come of the heirs OF these soldiers OF
me Gonqugror among whom the lands
had been dlyided2 Addressing his au-
dienee with puthos at this point the
speaker said: They left their lands
to their children, as YOU Will leave your
Iahds to your children, and by the
same process OF mortgage and debt
their lands passed from their children
as your lands Will pass from your
children lie then dwell. on the prrs-
eht condition OF these lOr6ly land hold
ers OF England, the descendants OF the |
soldiers Of William the Conaueror.
lie then referred TO the POpullst dec
lhratlon against monopoly of natural
resources IN Justification OF his long
lhlk on the subject Of land. He said .
ne had been slipping up on his subject
so thnt no one would be afraid of II
lie told the story OF supposed case
In which a child born after the death
OF his father--a posthumous SON
h1nn UYfTl
Fancy and returning after he had
grown up 10 manhood, might find that
his fathers estate had been divided
among his older brothers who might
tell him that he was not In It. He thcn
compared the mass Of the people who
had been deprived of their
rights In the land by the operation OF
law to tho younger brother and do
clared that God, the only rightful land
lord, had II remedy by which all rights
which had been taken might be taken,
He then asked " there was not some
one In the audience who had not noId
twice for his land. There were two
responses. He asked them how IT was
and ascertained that the title had been
pad Then after having illustrated
ana emphasized his point by this ar
ad hominem, he laid down Tho
principle that no one could give her
ter title to land than that which he
himself possessed, remarking to the
two men who had responded 10 his
You simply lost money he
cause you paid It on n spurious tltlep
Now, he said. there was no evidence
by any government had ever got a title
10 land from Gold Almighty, the only
landlord. who ever had a right to give
a title 10 the land which belonged to
the people of the world Then again
referring to the consequences OF prI-
Nate ownership OF land, he said: "As
long as You own the land you own the
man that lives upon it," Then after
further illustrations he reached the
conclusion that the people of the civ
iu4ed world was not Yet more thnn
mar way out OF barbarism ''and +"
ne exclaimed. they call man a crank
who has got the nerve to stand I'M ana
show them what fools they arel" He
then compared the reformer OF the
present day to the Christ whom the
nigh priests had not heard with favor
but whose teachings the common peo-
pie had received, In conclusion ne
traced all the troubles which ref6rners
We're trying to remedy back 10 This
odd He private ownership Of land
and pointed to New Zealand as a shin,
Ing example OF what could be accom-
pushed the proper application OF the
principle OF the single tax, under which
the people Of that island were proAper-
Gus aud happy. With the complete an.
plication OF the new system he fore.
u hnH -