The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1896-10-07


Samuel Linnett.
Muscatine, Iowa.
THE CONDITIONS IN NORTH DAKOTA.
Population Decreasing and Valuess Falling on
Editor Representative.
II l am not trespasser l desire to
say few words to my old companions
the workingmen of the Twin Cities.
On this Sabbath morning I cannot. for
humanity's sake, repress the feeling which
has taken possession of me to write a few
lines In advocacy of the election to the
presidency Of that sincere and noble cham
pon of labor, w. J. Bryan.
1 have just finished reading the address
delivered in your city by Bourke Cochran
that hired tool of Wall street l know
from sad experience the power of money in
elections. and also the evi! the brilliant
Cochran can establish by his oratory.
He has simply sold his gifts for gold to
Mark Hanna. There is not a laboring
man in Minneapolis that can believe for
one moment that Bourke Cochran cares
any more for the welfare of the laboring
men than does his European employed
Mark Hanna. I would ask every work.
ingman to carefully read up the antecedent
history of the two.
Speaking of the manager of Mckinley,
the chairman Of the late New York DEM
ocratic state convention at Buffalo, said:
who is Mark Hannah? Go ask the
sailors on the great lakes-the men whom
his organized thugs in Cleveland shot and
beat and starved into submission. Go
ask the miners of Ohio, Michigan, and
West Virginia. Every dollar of the mill
ions which he has accumulated is tainted
with the sweat and blood of oppressed and
downtrodden labor
This is a true portrait of Mark Hanna.
the friend CO of labor.
The city papers, the Journal and Tribune
that 1900 laboring men joined (voluntarily)
in the great parade. and Justify cheered for
Mckinley and honest money"
1 cannot bring myself to believe that the
worAingmen allied themselves voluntarily;
l cannot believe they have become so de-
generate. If So pity tbs true
1 am a laboring man. I have no selfish
desire for notoriety, place or position. My
whole life has been a struggle to keep the
wolf from the door. My home is yet
clouded by the shadow of that gaunt ami
NAL. My honest money" opponents may
call me calamity howler,' an "anar-
chist,' "repudator,' etc. TO those who
may not have known me personally during
the four years was a member of the tin
pan brigade in your city. and who might
doubt my sincerity-or that had ever toll
ed with my hands among them-to those
1 will say that my name will appear on the
city pay roll for May, 1873, during the
time the city employed men to recover the
| dead of the great mill catastrophe. Then
on the pay roll of the Minneapolis Mill
Company for May, June, and part of
July, it will be found. Yes. 1 have
tramped hundreds of miles heretofore beg
ging for work-in the days Of Republican
ascendency-when the war tariff was in
full force. Yes, as Mr.. Cochran said in
his speech, and as every we'll informed
man knows, the panic years from 1878 to
| 1878 were the darkest days of the laborng
men Of this country have yet seen. So we
had tramps with high tariff and with
Glow tariff" BE not deceived longer by
| that sham.
The financial management-or misman-
agement-since the war is the cause of the
| of the cities, and farming class throughout
| the Union. Yes. and of every country
where the gold standard now exists.
We have had fair trial Of the gold
| cure" here in North Dakota. 1 have been
| a resident of this county since 1882. Our
people are as Industrious and frugal as
any people in this broad land. The statis-
ties of our county, officially gathered
| and filed in the office of the county auditor,
over which I have the honor to preside at
present, tell the story of our struggles, in
vainly trying to establish homes upon
| these bleak prairicS. l know / will be
blamed for telling the truth in this partc-
| ular. 1t is idle to try to conceal it. The
vacant homes the deserted farms, the d.
| minshing population, all tell the tale.
| No "tenderfoot' need attempt to plant a
home here under existing conditions. AS
realize how valuable the space in "The
Representative" is, will simply quote a
| few statistics to corroborate my assertion.
| These statistics are open to inspection by
any one, and 1 know and will vouch for
| their truthfulness.
The hardy pioneers of our county were,
| like myself men who had toiled in the cit
| les, and worked and saved a little money,
| with the hope of some day owning Il
| farm. But no brain, Drawn, nor muscle
can contend against falling prices, and
| falling prices will continue so long as the
| gold standard is upheld.
Here is the story as told by our official
statistics for the past four years. showing
| our progress CO under the gold standard:
No Value