The Norfolk Virginian. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 186?-189?, 1896-08-18
GREAT ISSUE OF THE CAMPAIGN
Mere Important Than Tnat OF Free
siiyer-The People VIII Meet 1t.
Norfolk, Va, Aug. II, 1896.


Norfolk. Va, Aug. II, 1896.
Editor of The yirginian:
no my mind there is an Infinitely
more important issue involved In this
than the free coinage of sill
yer. and that is the question whether
this Government shall be administered
at the dictation and for the benefit of a
few thousand millionaires and their
the corporation, trusts and
which they have created. or
according to the wishes and for the
benefit of the plain masses of working
people?
know that II is customary to pooh
pooh this idea as chimerical and I'M
worthy of consideration. but for all that
the issue Is In sight to whoever will
stop long enough to look about him.
See! One of the results of the civil war
and the national legislation that fol-
lowed 1t has been to create many for
tunes much larger than any that our
forefathers ever dreamed off.
Fostering legislation has made the
rich riched and the poor poorer I'm spite
of magnificent crops and a wonderful
PROGRESS In general wealth. Have the
rich been content with their great
gains? Have they dealt generously and
fairly with their less fortunate fellow
men? Have they favored legislation for
the benefit of the poor? Have they
used the influence of their vast wealth
to secure laws for their own benefit?
Just look at the record of the past
twenty years and see how farther and
farther the classes have been drifting
from the masses in plans and purposes
and sympathies. Do you say that wealth
has not the power to abridge the free
dom of the masses, and that even IL
they had the power to- do so, the wealthy
would be too patriotic to use it? The
history of nations shows that the power
OF svndicated wealth is almost bound
less. and that the powerful generally
use their power.
The wealthy men OF this country have
shown their ability to compel bond is
sues when they wished them, and to
prevent bond issues when they did not
wish them: to create or prevent panicS
as they prefer. In short, THEY HOLD
THE CREDIT OF THE GOVERN
MENT AT THEIR MERCY. No intel
liEent man dares deny these facts. But.
look again. Now that the Democratic
partv has advocated free coinage of
silver as remedy for the prevailing
distress in business, all the millionaires
who had been members of that party
have deserted 1t, along with their de-
pendents and personal sympathisers,
and have allied themselves with kin
dred spirits in the great Republican
party. so that now, all men of that
class are combined in solid phalanx and
ed thereby.
What shall the harvest be?" Some
have starved in the midst of plenty.
Others. rather than starve or see their
wives and children starve. have stolen
or robbed or murdered or suicided or
gone to the mad house. Two people
starved to death in New York City.
and two others committed suicide
rather than starve. on the same day. and
vet on that very day good potatoes
were selling in that city for cent per
bushel. This is not a natural condition,
hut the result of artificial interference.
How long shall it last? ] answer just so
long as those who profit by It have
power to continue it, Those who Great
ed the existing conditions want no
change made. They cry peace, peace,
but there is no peace, and can be none,
for the masses cannot stand it any
longer. and are struggling to free them
selves from a monetary starving. to
which African slavery was a picnic.
Can they beat the plutocrats? Or will
they be ground deeper and bound
tighter?
God alone knows. But 1t seems ex-
tremely probable that If the monopolists
win this time they will so strengthen
and fortify themselves in power during
the next four years that they never
can be dislodged at the ballot box
Then farewell TO American liberty, un-
less an outraged people in despair
should resort to revolution.
Does any man say that ] am foment-
ing strife between the masses and the
classes? In all good conscience, let me
ask. who started this strife? Did The
plain people ever impose on the rich
Did they ever rob the poor little lambs
of Wall street? Did they organize syn
dicates and trusts to compel tribute tc
their OVERLOOKING Golfers? oh, no. they
have been wonderfully patient, but now
they are impatient-have been suppl
ant-hut now they are defiant a storm
is surely gathering.
PLAIN MAN.