The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1896-12-01
GoLDBUG ABUSE AND RIDICULR.
They Are the Only Patriots---They Alone
Stand For the Preservation of Cur Ma
tional Honor.
respondence of The Progressive Farmer.

publicans, Democrats and Populists
should be outspoken against, and that
Is the practice of the goldbugs and
money contractionists in appealing to
prejudice and laying false claims to
the possession of all national honor and
patriotism. They have usuTped the
titles, in defense of an oppressive none
tary policy of Sound money" ''honest
dollars, " national honor" ''law and
order" and even try to lay a partisan
claim to the national emblems, such as
the eagle and the flag and not content
with going that far, they are trying to
arouse the fear Of the old soldier and
solicit patronage from the pulpit.
Here is a sample of the extreme ex
coriation Of silver men as taken from q
speech made at a Wall street banquet
by Alexander E. Orr, President of the
Chamber of Commerce in New York:
L is built upon foundations Of igno
rance, se~ltishness, duplicity and greed,
and there is 60 system Of ethics or
sound reasoning that I know Of that
can be successfully advanced to prove
that it's prominent aGv0cates-be they
rejected Presidential candidates or &C
cepted legislative representatives-are
other than morally blind, mischievous
and dangerous guides, who should not
be, and who cannot honestly be; classi
fed among the cOnscientiously intelli-
gent OF the United States"
Silver men are thus depicted as a set
of political cut threats, who are trying
to turn down law and order and over
turn the commercial equipoise of the
world. There was a more hon
est and conservative set Of men than
the men who have enlisted under the
banner of VIM. J. Bryan in the late
campaign.
We are organized, periodically and
honestly against one Of the greatest
evils that ever rose over a land; an
evil which has proven a stagnation to
business progress, a curse to the man
who earns his bread by the sweat of
his brow, and one which the teachings
of Christianity have nightly opposed
since the dawn of history, that evil is
unjust ard unfair accumulation of
wealth into the hands of men who
never earn it, and who do not impart
a fair compensation for it. We have
taken the same means to levy just
taxation and inaugurate wise and gen
erAl laws that these men of the Cham,
Der Of Commerce have taken to pro-
cure laws which would help to build
and perpetuate a government founded
upon the principle of the survival of
the f5tCs1" II weadopt revolutionary
methods, it is because the strata of
helplessness into which they have led
the government demands such meth
DDS. 1t is with this aim in view that l
ask an analysis to the question, who
are the patriots of this country7
Are they a few board of trade men
who gamble in the necessaries Of life,
few mighty c0Tportions who are at
tempting to drive every one else out of
business; a few trusts who want abso-
lutte control of the commodities of life ;
a few brokers who want to control and
regulate the money of the people, and
a few usurers who want to ~foreclose on
farms and tenements? Are these the
boasted patriots of this country9 Who
are the anarchists" of this country 2
The anarchists" which the President
of the Chamber of Commerce had in
mind when his speech was winning in
favor. AS near as we can learn by
a diagnosis of the case, the anarchists"
till soil and raise what we eat; the
mill hands" who spin the yarn and
make the clothes that we wear; the
miners who dig u fuel from the
bowels Of the mountains; the mechan
les who build the houses we live in the
transportation men who operate our
railroads. These are the ''anarchists''
of this country ! The men who stayed
at home and gambled over the nations
finances during the late war are now
ranked among the defenders of our
national honor. The men who went
out and faced the powder and shot are
now trying to ''repudiate their debts
and turn down law and order"
It is time to call a halt on this
would be patriotism. It is a sham and
pretext, and does not belong where it
is alleged to exist. The men who are
trying to leave a country here which
will be a glory to posterity, and which
will be founded upon the principle