Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1896-02-19
DID WE MAGN1FYl

50-cent labor and other like outrages now be-
ing committed upon the producers of this
country there would be no need OF a peoples
party. But the avarice of the money power
and arrogance OF politicians statesmen So
called have made it necessary for the for
nation of party closely in touch with the
people, and hence the name peoples party
After blowing off the usual &. o. p.
TRADE about excited eXaggeration,
quadruple- magnifying, Populist lies,'
etc. ETC., the Capital proceeds as fol-
lows:
So far as we know corn is not selling for 10
cents anywhere on the globe. Ten
twenty or thirty years ago, when there was a
large crop of corn it sold for 10 cents, perhaps;
but 1t has not sold for anything like that price
since 1889 and it never will again. The same
may be said of the INDExs "30-cent wheat"
The INDEX is not within so per cent of the
truth. AS for its ''5O-cent labor" there has
been fall IN the value of American labor
since the democratic party made the country
the dumping ground of cheap-labor foreign
goods, but that will be remedied next Novem-
ber
Now it is not necessary to call upon
fine haired editor of plutocratlc Or
gan to inform US what the prices of
these products are OF what they have
been heretofore. Most ali of us have
been Through the MILL" and the OK
perience happens to be such that the
Capitals statement cannot be taken as
true and incontrovertible. We know
that corn has been sold in this section
of the country for 10 and II cents per
bushel at different times between Sep
TENDER, 1895 and the present date. We
know that the greater per cent of wheat
grown by the Barber county farmers
last year was sacrificed at the very
small figure of 25 cents per buShel. AS
for labor, it has not yet been disputed
that the laborer is deprived of fully
Capital says that the price of corn was
as low as 10 cents ten, twenty OF thirty
years ago, yet virtually admits that it
was sold for that price in 1889. Now
we may be a''sad-eyed calamityite, "but
yet we can readily see that 1889 has not
been ten, twenty or thirty years ago. -
And, by the way, If our memory serves
us rightly, this unreasonably low price
was in force during that great era of
prosperity" when Ben Harrison was
the executive boss of this nation; it
was during this period of time when
corn sold for to 10 cents per bushel
when, according to the gold bug hire
lings like the editor Of The Capital,
that we, as producers and labor
ers, were enjoying such an immense
wave of prosperity as has not been
duplicated before or since. But by
following the Capitals phraseology in
this connection, it is at once seen that
the editor saw his "break'' before be
completed the sentence, and therefore
concludes by placing the responsibility
to "overprOduction." That is to say,
when everything goes to the DENIM
ton bow-wOws under republican ad.
ministration, it is due to overproduc-
ton; but when the same conditions ex-
list under democratic administration
it's 'all on account of the tariff" Oh
Consistency! how ruthlessly art thou
slaughtered on the Plutocratlc altar!
No, dear reader, these temporary
changes In administrations are not the
causes of the distress of the people
ThiScountry was as much a dumping
ground of cheap labor under a repub.
lican administration as it is under a
democratic administration. Under a
republican administration we had ouI
Carnegies; under a democratic admin
istration we had our Pullmans. The
same methods of craftsmanship are
being carried on now as before, the on.
ly difference is that we are nearer the
crisis and the effects of corrupt and
Venal legislation are being more keenly
felt.
AS we have often said before, the
producers and laborers of this county
cannot be prosperous as long as the
corporations and money power Absorb
the substance and deprive the great
mass of people of a fair remuneration
for services rendered. We are not 9
Sad Eyed Calamity" bowler, but we
know, partly from experience and part
ly from observation, that the conditions
we have named do exist, and if moi
taken hold OF and radically changed by
the popular will of the people them
selves, there is nothing in the future
, but human seryitude and desolation
We are opposed to the people being
led, driven and domineered by those
J who have plundered them of Their
rights as free-born Americans. Thi.
is the reason why we sometimes striy
the social fabric of Its artificial finer,
put there by usurers and money king:
for the purpose of deception. And i
is for this reason that those who tel
the naked truth in unmistakahle anC
plain English language are termed
Sad Eyed Calamity Howlers."
THE Pratt Union of last week con
tains an interesting communication
from one of its readers. which warns