The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1895-09-04


| of these devices were invented by men
wha distrusted the capacity of the
American people for self-government.
/ They believed they could not be trust
ed with the franchise of power, and
therefore they held that an intermedi-
ate body should be invented that should
| deprive the people of the exercise OF
their primary functions and fran
chises And | allude to these matters.
| ladies and gentlemen, for the purpose
of saying this. that if at the present
time there are conditions unfavorabie
to labor and TO the laboring classes,
the laboring classes themselves are TO
blame for II
1 have heard it said often that this
was a Dlutocracy, that il was a gov
eminent Of the millionaire against the
masses. There are perhaps in this
country a hundred thousand men that
have passes the million mark in their
possessions; I do not know but there
may be more than that. But there are
five or six or may be seven millions of
people in this country engaged in the
gainful and laborious occupations of
life. Everyone of them has vote;
and if this government be govern
ment of the millionaire or if it be
plutocracy, it is because the laboring
classes are delinquent in the exercise
of those functions that American in
stitutions have placed in their power.
This is my prescription, that is my
medicine, that is my panacea, for the
evils that affiict American society; and
that is, for the American people, in
their primary capacity, to create an in
telligent, patriotic public opinion and
discharge faithfully their political du-
n fro n
get it; if you want shorter hours Of la
Dor, YOU can secure them. If there is
in your condition anything detrimental
to your welfare and your interests,
every Two years comes the time when
the labOring men in this country, if
they are united, can enforce absolutely
their viii and register their decree.
1 am not at all Indifferent to the dam
gers that result in this country, that
threaten our society from the aggrega-
ton of wealth. All of us can not be
rich; but no man ought to be poor.
Poverty and liberty are incompatible.
l say that any man who holds his sub
sistance and care for his wife and chill
dren absolutely at the behest of another
who can at pleasure raise and depresS
his wages or deprive him of them alto
gether, l affirm that that man it not
iiNN. all itOL d. dAl 4llOiliti6 Gil " tie
fact that labor does not receive its
adequate share of the increment of
modern society. but instead of being
exclusively the fault of the plutocracy,
It is the fault of the laboring classes
themselves. ! believe that there are
altogether too many millionaires in this
country, and yet when / reflect upon
the dangers of that condition, when 1
reflect upon what may come in the fu-
ture if it is not interrupted, l confess
to you in strict confidence that deep is
my grief, profound as is my aff1iction.
l feel pang that is keener still be-
cause there is not one more added to
the number. Gaughter)
And that is believed to be the condi-
ton OF every upright, self-supporting,
intelligent American citizen. If there
be any man in this vast multitude who
who would not like TO have his name
enrolled in that shining and illustrous
organization, the plutocracy, let him
rise and so state, or else forever after
hold his peace. L don't believe there is
any labOring man in this audience, or
in Shawnee county or in the state of
Kansas, who begrudges any man of
the possession of money that has been
honestly acquired and is honorably
used, do not care how much it is, and
whether it be one million or ten million
That is what we are here for. That is
what we have been endowed with full
liberty of our functions for and uni
verSal education for. II is to sharpen
our faculties until each man can Sc
cure the most TO which they will en-
title him. ! tell you that in this fight
brains and the most trained faculties
who can perform the humblest task
4 L
ployers, is the man who is to reap the
rewards Of the ninteenth and twentieth
centuries.
brave and true is the only way to me
Voice from audience: Amt brains
bad in many cases?') Very likely they
are bad. l have no doubt that there
are bad rich men, as there have never
been since Dives suffered in torment
while Lazarus ate the crumbs that fell
from his table; and there will be so long
as the human heart has happiness.
AS 1 say, do not believe there is
any man in this audience that begrudg-
es the man who invented that little de-
vice Of a piece of rubber in the end of n
metal cylinder on the head of a lead
pencil. | dome believe there is any man
who begrudges the inventor OF that
device the two hundred thousand dol
likewise. -" (Applause)
l have heard a great deal said about
the equality of man. Men were created
equal. If Thomas jefferson, when he
wrote that immortal phrase, intended
TO say that / was created physically
equal to James ]. COrbett, he mistook
his vocation He ought to have been
seated at this table here with the re-
porters.
Thomas jefferson didn't mean to
say, l think, that Mike Mcdonald, the
ward heeler of Chicago, was created
the equal of DR.. Gonsalus or Professor
Swing. He did not mean TO say that
the town fool was created the equal of
Daniel Webster or William Shakes
peare. He did not mean 10 say that I
was created physically the equal of
James j. Corbett, but he meant to say
that / had exactly the same right that
he had TO so into the prize ring: that
we are created with equal rights and
should have equal opportunities. and
that If | saw fit 10 go into the prize
ring and should be put to sleep and
knocked out in the first round (aS I I'M
doubtedly should bel that it was not
my business TO whine and can't and
SWIVEL about man being created equal;
but it was my business to find some
other vocation for which / was better
fitted. and follow il TO the extent OF my
ability. That is my understanding OF
the equality Of man. II IS an equality
of right accompanied by an equality of
opportunity. That y what We are here
for And the only question in this mat
ter of wealth and capital and labor IS
whether or not existing conditions de
priVe men of their equal rights and Op-
pnrtunjties in life. And / say-and 1
say il openly and holdly-that there
are existing circumstances that do in
fringe personal liberty and equal oppOr
tunlueS not only Of the laboring mar,
but of every body else.
sid 10