Hutchinson gazette. [volume] (Hutchinson, Kan.) 1895-1902, 1896-08-27
IT Is SENSIBLE.
Tho Missouri Populists in State Con-

ters in the following terse and sensible
say:
1.-THE country is now entering a rev.
olution that can not be arrested. 1t is
the part OF craftsmanship to so direct
it that it may be accomplished by
peaceable means. Its contamination
will be the revision of the federal or
ganic laws by convention, assembled
for the purpose. AS a means of con-
filming it to the pales of law and peace
able means, we recommend that the
different states choose governors and
general assemblies who will favor call
ing national convention to revise the
federal constitution under the proyi-
sions of Article V Of that instrument"
No student Of the times in which we
now live doubts for moment that an
irrepressible revolution is on; but few
believe its peaceable accomplishment
a possibility, and all understood that
however accomplished, the reforma-
ton will be from the ground up. II
seems to be trait Of human nature
to blindly reverence things that are
ancient, and it is this trait which
prompts men to throw up their hands in
fright and horror at the mere mention
of the idea Of abolishlng the constitu-
ton adopted in the time of Washing
ton. But the car Of progress is as ir-
resistible and as remorseless in its
handling of sentiment as the Hindoo
Juggernaut was in crushing the
life out of its superstitious
victims. Old theories, old customs,
old policies must inevitably disappear
before advancing civilization, and there
is, in truth, no more reason why the
people of this nation should at this
time beguided in their governmental
practices by fundamental law which
obtained in the time Of Washington
than there is why the medical frater-
nifty of today should be guided by the
rules Of practice which obtained then.
The Washington Constitution was
adopted by men who were fresh from
unuCE IAAG VI AuNoR
of government, and that they could not
and did not break away from the idea
to which they had always been accus-
toned, that some men were born with
the right to prey upon their fellows,
is proven by the fact that they permit
ted the infamous institution Of human
slavery to continue in existence under
their constitution. This fact alone,
since it was the primary cause Of the
greatest war Of modern history, in
which more than a million lives and
billions upon billions of property were
destroyed, ought to be sufficient to
open the eyes Of the people to the
stupidity of their worship of Wash
ingtons constitution! The faint Of
aristocratic mistrust Of the people
which chung to the makers Of that
constitution is evidenced in the man
ner in which they attempted by con-
stitutional provision to exclude the
common people from participating in
the choice of the highest government
officials. The president is not elected
by the people, but by the electoral col
lege chosen by the qualified voters Of
the several states. United States SEN
atcrs are not voted for by the people,
but are chosen by the legislatures OF
the various states, and upon these two
aristocratic elements Of our govern
ment, the president and senate, Is con-
ferred the right to jointly appoint all
of our supreme court judges, district
court judges, attorneys, marshals, etc.,
and more than one hundred thousand
federal officials to administer the af-
fairs of government, and whose first
allegiance, under the constitution, Is
to the appointing power and not to the
people. Is 1t a matter to wonder at
that under these conditions men who
have been chosen to the presidency
have successfully used their power to
renominate themselves, or to accom-
plish purposes directly contrary to the
will of the people, as Cleveland did in
the unconditional repeal Of the pur-
chase clause Of the Sherman silver
law?
Now, consider that under this con-
stitution, the original of which, if it is
in existence, is yellow and rotten with
age, trusts, monopolies and capitalistic
combinations of every sort and kind
the only purpose of which is to despoll
wealth producers of the fruits Of their
toll, flourish as spontaneously as
though in their natural soil, while
counter combinations formed by labor
ers are either SHOT out of existence by
citizen soldiers, Pinkerton thugs or
deputy marshals, or wet-blanketed to
death by corporate black-listing, and
you will begin to get an idea Of how
really contemplate our constitution is
in the eyes Of all right-thinking men.
Remember, too, that the late bond
sales, by which a few constituencies
stock gamblers robbed the people of
millions Of dollars, were strictly con-
stitutional, and that the income tax,
by which it was sought to put small
part of the burden of taxation now
borne by the common people upon the
millionaire clipper Of coupons, is I'M
constitutional; that the Imprisonment
of Debs without trial by jury, and Of
Coxey for walking on the grass upon