Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1896-07-08
DRIFTwooD.

EOL SOm0 LlLnc we nave been think
ing what would be a becoming name
for the republican party and we believe
we have at last found the right term ID
the above caption. That the republic
can party was once party of, for and
by the people no one will attempt to
deny; but if there ever was All example
OF degeneracy in the history of any
country it is certainly in the republican
party from the date of its birth up to
the present time. AS we look at the
party of Lincoln, Fremont, Chase and
Stevens, we find party closely in
touch and in sympathy with the down.
trodden and oppressed; but as we look
at the party of Mckinley, Reed, Han
ma, Quay, ct. al, we find a party owned
and controlled by the Rothschilds, the
Rockafellers, the Goulds, the Wander
bits, The Ickelheimers and others of
like ilk. 1t was not until the recent
republican platform of the present
year was adopted that the republican
party stood out as the avowed cham
piOn of the cause of the money power,
but it has been gradually drifting in
thas direction for years.
When Abraham Lincoln was assass-
mated the republican party began to
retrograde. The retrogression was
gradual, but it was permitted to have
uninterrupted sway until now it is al
most intolerable. It began its work of
ruin by demonetiZing silver, resuming
specie payments and destroying paper
currency. The scheme was plotted by
the English aristOcracy and clandestine-
ly carried into effect by the American
congress. The act which demonetized
silver in 1873 was so shrewdly framed
that only few members of congress
knew what its effect would be and
President Grant, himself, stated that
he did not know what the bill carried
with it when he signed it. Prior to
this we had the exception clause on the
greenback, the credit strengthening
act, all of which helped to enrich the
few at the peril of the many. One Of
these bills-the exception clause-Was
signed by President Lincoln, but under
protest, and he predic ted that if allow
ed to remain in operation, it would be
a curse to the people of this nation.
Had Lincoln lived after the war was
over and the nations wounds were
healed, that law would have been re-
pealed or Lincoln would have ceased
to be republican. But he was friend
of the people and a power in the nation
and hei,ce he was hurried to a prema-
ture grave.
But the exception clause was only a
drop In the ocean compared with what
followed. The banking system, the
contraction act, the credit strengthen
ing act, the refunding act, demonetiza-
tinn of silver, the resumption act, the
repeal of the Bland-AllisOn and Sher
man laws, all played part in fastening
the gold standard financial system on
the American people. AS we have
said, it was done gradually, it was not
done in a moment. Capital was too
shrewd to allow the crash to come at
a moments notice. When silver was
demonetiZed, the people were given the
Bland Allison act which provided for
the purchase and coinage of a limited
| amount Of silver, thus avoiding public
indignation and throwing the people
off their guard. Then came the Sher-
man law which provided for the pur-
chase of less silver than the Bland-Al-
lison act did, and finally in 1893 that
law was repealed and the gold stand
ard is now the law of the land.
BY following the history OF the re-
publican party closely, the reader can
see that it has drifted from the peoples
dearest friend until it is now It's most
bitter toe. Hence we say it is a syno-
nym to driftwood, HISTORICALLY speak
ing. 1t is as far from the starting
point as it could possibly get. 1t start
ed in the pure and undefiled waters of
honesty, patriotism and wholesome
deeds emblematical of an advanced
race and higher civilization; but it
has drifted down the Stream of Time
and the tempest of dishonesty and cor.
ruption has driven it into the stagnant
cess-pool of vice and barbarism there
to do the bidding of foreign capital.
The republican party is an organiza'
ton inimical TO the best interests OF
the nation. 1t is the servant of Ava
rice and the soulless wreckers of the
human family. Upon its humiliation
depends the freedom of the race; It's SUI
premacy means slavery and serfdom.
ARE you III favor of maintaining the