The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1896-03-18

rights of the people cannot long endure.
we have sown the wind and we shall reap
the whirlwind. ] fear that we are near
ing revolution, national disaster, blood
atonement. AS patriot, as lover of my
country and Of my fellowman, l am afraid
| OF it. | wish we could avoid it, but this
can only be accomplished by square deal
ing and fair legislation in the interest Of
the people.
The legislation of the past twenty years
and our present conditions are enough 20
make one weep who loves his fellowmen
and to tremble for the future. 1t is the
apparent stiffness which alarms me when
l know that the fires of discomfort and
hate are burning in the hearts of millions
OF men This pent up wrath will explode
by and by. if there be not vent found );
and then may God have mercy upon the
plunderers of the people.
DO you think that am an alarmist and
crank? Was Christ All alarmist when
he denounced the Sins of Jerusalem and
foretold it's ruin? Was Lincoln, our mar
tyred president, an anarchist when he
1oretOld the approaching civil war? Ex-
Senator ingalls,, of Kansas, upon the floor
or the senate, in January, 1891, used the
following language: 1--WE are surround
ed by system under which more than
one-half of the enormous wealth of the
country, derived from the bounty of ma
ture, and the labor of the people, is owned
by little more than 80 900 of the people:
While one million American citizens able
and wiling to toll, are homeless tramps
and starving for bread. We have So
c1al system which offers to tender. vir:u-
GUS, dependent women the alternative be-
tween prostitution and suicide as an es-
cape from beggary."
This IS organized crime for which some
day unrelenting justice will demand
atonement. If capital continues to rob
and degrade labor and the government
continues to sanction the crime, then the
time will come when labor VIII combine
and arise in it's wrath and strike for free
dom and life and overthrow the existing
order of things. l fear a coming revolu-
ton. Then their war cry will be that OF
the ancient Jews: 1.-THE Lord of hosts is
with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge"
and their watchword: For God, for home
and for native land; their motto: ''Give
us liberty or give us DEATH When that
day comes may God protect the right. 1
am not alone in these views Capital sees
1t and the government is aware of it;
hence the increase in the navy, the stand
ing army and the state militia.
But when millions of outraged men
from all over the land spring to arms and
God of heaven and earth leads them forth
to battle, the state troops will melt away
like the dew before the sun. l plead for
humanity, for justice, for honesty and fair
dealing. This alone can avert impending
doom. But l am not at all certain that
even this can turn aside the coming storm
at this late date.
After reviewing the coinage laws of this
country since it became an Independent
government and the fluctuations of gold
and silver and the depreciation in value
OF the products of the farm, / cannot see
any other remedy for those evils except
the free and unlimited coinage of silver
at ratio of Is to 1. Our present finan-
cial system # long persisted in will neces-
sarily bring about the financial slavery of
the masses by augmemting more and more
the wealth of bankers and capitalists and
reducing the fortunes of the great mass
OF our people l want to see the govern
ment issue greenbacks instead of bonds.
There is stronger, more .nsidious and
mlghtier force secretly undermining the
fabric upon which our government rests.
The contest is between the corporate
wealth and monied power on one side and
the people on the other. If the people
realize their peril they will win. The dan
ger lies in the sluggshness of some and
the partisansh:p of others.
Michael Holden.
Norfolk Mimi