Smyrna times., 1896-11-18
Let us Be on Our Guard.
Special Correspondence to the Times.
EDITOR TINrEs:-

Special Correspondence to the Times
EDITOR TIMEs:-~
Dear Sir:-Will you you allow me,
through the independent columns of
your paper, to address a non partisan
letter to the people of Smyrna, on a
subject near to my heart. [ have, in
the past, taken an active though an
humble interest, in the welfare of my
county, and have now in mind some
sentiments to which l wish to give
voice.
we have just finished close and ex-
cltinS campaign, and now that white
winged peace has descended upon this
broad land, it seems to me to be the
duty OF every good citizen to insist
that the promises, sown broadcast over
the country by the victorious political
party, shall grow to substantial frution
and harvest There are two great
political parties in this country, with
policies Numerically opposed. and but |
one of them can be right. Now, if one |
be right, then L think that the reader |
will logically conclude, with me, that !
the other must be wrong; unless he |
(the reader believes in some political |
organization that sits, like Polly Nc
Knat, upon the fence, and whistles a
tune neither hot nor cold. Tie people |
of America have chosen to believe the
promises of the Republican party and
have given it control of the Govern
ment. Now, what have the farmers
and labOring men of this country a
right to expect? Let us see.
The most important thing We have
been promised, is prosperity-a very
laudabie desideratum. Now, hat does
prosperity mean for this nation? That
a favored few shall, as in the past, con-
tinue to grab it all and that the masses.
from whose toll springs every dollar of |
wealth. ever produced in this county.
shall sill be plundered by unrighteous
laws? No; this is not an absolute
monarchy. 1t is, or is in theory. a |
demOcEacy-a government bv the |
people. This being so, the farmers.
who have, for years, seen their farm
products steadily fall in value have
now perfect right to expect a better
price for their grain; the merchants of
Smyrna, who have seen the volume of
their trade decrease steadily for the
last twenty years, have now all indis-
putable right to expect to see all this
shrlnkage changed by the promised
general revival Of business activity;
and the laborer or workman, whether
upon the farm or in the mill, have a
right, not to be gainsaid, to expect,
either that their wages shall be materi-
ally increased or that their employ
ment shall be steadier than in times
past. It is the privilege, nay the duty,
of all faiF-minded people, to hold
political party to It's wOrd-for that is
what political parties are created for
to carry out their promises
Although the victorious party has
been shouting "Sound Money" from
the iron-bound rocks of Maine to the
passes of the Golden Gate, yet the un-
deniable fact remains that their plat
farm pledges them to secure an inter
national agreement in faver of bimetal-
lism, if possible People of Smyrna,
without regard to party, perform your
part in seeing that they take steps to-
ward such desirable end.
If the promise Of prosperity means
anything, it means that the railroads,
whose unjust freight charges have for
years been wringing from the farmer
his hard-wOn gains, shall have the law
enforced against them, and be re-
strained from their highway robbery;
that an honest and fearless Attorney
general shall be appointed, who will
indict and have punished the monop-
olles which are preying like cormorats,
upon the common people; it means
that we shall no longer be forced to
pay an outrageous price for our coal,
sugar, oil, and other necessaries of
life; it means that the Republican
party shall find better way of raising
revenue than by selling bonds at ruin
GUS rates of interest.
Working people of Smyrna, we have
tried the Polly McKnat party, as
represented by Grover Cleveland and
his anglOmOniac admirers, and we are
now about to give one of the two radi-
cal organizations trial. If they shall
fulfill their word, well and good; but
If NOT, let us make our presence felt on
next election day, when it slips around,
as 1t surely will. You have Just as much
right to look after your interests and
protect yourselves as has the railroad
magnate, or the multimillionaire, who
sits IN his office clipping the coupons
from his interest bearing securities.
The Constitution itself guarantees
equal privileges to all, without regard
to social condition, race, color, or prev
lous condition of servitude. 1t wasth
common people of this country, who
barred their breasts to the storm of bat
tie and saved the Union in the Rebel
lion, and not the wealthy schemers who
speculated on and mademoney by their
herOism; it was the common people,
and not the millionaires, who en-
blazOned upon the pages of the Con-
stitutiOn, Equal rights to every Man."
in the crimson letters of their blood,
shed in the Civil War. We, therefore,
who gave our loved cnes freely to the
strife, and who have made it possible
for our nation to occupy the van in the
glorious march of civilization, have a
right to expect and demand fair treat
| ment IL we do nnH rncnir,o q e ,r, nro