Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1896-02-28

When Senator Ben Tillman, Of South
Carolina, got the floor in the senate TO
speak on the free coinage substitute, he
spoke to q packed floor and galleries
and received the undivided attention Of
his hearers.
The senator said that he would use
plain Anglo-Saxon, the language oil
the common people, for he was one Oh
them. He spoke bitterly of the essay
reading INDUCED in by senator's, charg-
ing that that body was not the dellbera-
tiva body that 1t was intended it should
be by the fathers who framed the con-
stitution. How much" he said. "of
this so-called senatorial dignity OF
which we hear 80 much and see so
much is worthy of preservation? IL
hangs over this chamber like wet
blanket; it smothers down independ-
sent action; it obliterates the man and
we are here the puppets. the cogs IN
the wheel Of party. to do the bidding
of the manipulators of the party ma
chimes. (Applause)
Speeches here change no votes.
There is not man on this floor who
on any question affecting his party has
ever been budged one inch from his po-
sition by speech from man on the
other side. / have higher conception
OF my duty than to feel or believe that
South Cardinals interests alone are in
my keeping. l am an American SEN
ator. l have one vote out of ninety
which deal with the lives and liberties
and property of the people OF this
country.
$50 far as I know l am the only
farmer pure and simple in this august
body. Yet out of the 100000 people
in this country, 35,OO0,OOO are engaged
in agricultural pursuits alone. If,
then, one farmer has broken down the
barriers and forced his way here, upon
his head rests the responsibility OF CIV
ing utterance to the feelings, the aspi-
ration of his fellows and Of giving ut
torrance to the sense of wrong they
have. Therefore, Mr.. President, | feel
constrained to-day to raise my voice to
speak, and before l get through you
will realize the fact that l speak plainly
and bluntly and use Anglo-Saxon, the
vernacular, the language Of the COM
mon people, for / am one of them, and
1 expect to tell you how they feel and
what they think and what they want.
1.-THE senator from Ohio (Mr. Sher-
mani said the other day that the ques-
ton of the free coinage of silver is old
straw, that it has been thrashed and
thrashed and thrashed; that there is
nothing new in it. 1t has been thrashed,
sir. by lawyers; 1t has been thrashed
by railroad magnates; it has been
thrashed by the president o. this cor
lporation and the attorney of that cor
,poration. 1t has not yet been handled
on the pitchfork of the farmer. am
here to see if l cannot get few grains
more of truth in the straw, therefore
tn, smile of the statement is good.
They use pitchforks to handle manure,
and perhaps I shall find some Of that
in my pathway before 1 get through"
Speaking of Cleveland and Sherman,
he said: I'm what respect do they
differ? Mr.. Sherman wants coin bonds.
Mr.. Cleveland wants gold bonds. Mr..
Sherman wants higher tariff. Mr..
cleveland wants the present tariff.
Mr.. Sherman, as a means of relief to
stop the endless chain, which is pat
ent contriyance, with thieves at one
end and dishonest officials at the other,
ito rob the American people, wants to
keep the redeemed greenbacks in the
TREASURY so no one can get them to raid
the treasury, while the president says
the only refuge he sees is to redeem, to
blot out and issue bonds in place of
every solitary piece of paper that cir
.culates without interest. And both of
them mean contraction, lower prices,
harder times"
He referred to the present derange-
ment of our finances as "damnable
scheme Of robbery" which had for its
object the destruction Of silver, the in
crease of the debt and the surrender
to corporations of the power to issue
money and give to them monopoly OF
that function. He called attention to
the fact that the election of presi-
dent who would veto silver bill in
the coming campaign means continued
disaster to our industries and increased
poverty to the masses of the people.
Speaking of the last campaign, he
said: "Gf the secret history Of the year
1892 shall ever be written 1t will dis
close the fact, which cannot be proven
NOW, but Of which have not the slight
lest doubt, that the gold ring of New
York, which embraces nearly all of the
bankers in the eastern and middle
states end the stock gamblers of Wal
street, controlled the presidential nom
linatiozu Of both the democratic ant