The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-02-24
BILL HACKNEY IS SEVERE.
Seems to Have Become Almost an
"AgitatOr''
SINCE HE WENT TO CLEVELAND.

/
| poratiOns.
Colonel w. P. Hackney, formerly of
Kansas, but who is now practicing law in
! Cleveland. O., has written to Topeka
friend that the statement that he has been
| employed by the Standard Oil company
at handsome salary is a mistake.
Although he is out of Kansas Bill
Hackney is not out of politics. It would
be impossible for him to keep out.
He is now interested in the coming
national campaign, and under the nom
de plume of '.An Old Stager" he has
written decidedly interesting letter to
the Cleveland Recorder
In this letter Col. Hackney says:
Editor Recorder: The development of
the financial and industrial legislation of
this country has been under the con-
troll of the Republican party since the
war. For more than twenty years the
conditions of the masses have grown
from bad to worse. Every bond that
has been ISIS ued by Cleveland's admin
istration was under Republican laws,
while his power to which would
have been taken from him by law but for
Republican votes
Every trust and combine having for
its object the forcing up of prices and
the forcing down of labor has been done
under Republican laws. Every railway
that has been taken from Americans and
turned over to English holders, and every
raise in freight and reduction OF wages
of labor has been done under Republican
law
Every laborer that has been confined
in IA Jail without trial under the order
of an irresponsible United States judge
was dore under a Republican law passed
ostensibly for his protection. Only a
few days ago we were informed by a
morning paper in this city that working
men in drOves were passing from one
manufacturer to another begging for la
Dor to earn food for their families. You
have shown the fearful condition of la
Dor in this city in the sweat shops.
Only last Sunday night the Rev. DR..
Haydn. from the pulpit in this city, thun-
dered into the ears of his congregation
that "The labor unions are right in or
ganizing. Com bination must be met by
combination or their servitude is hope
less. Business is selfish, and it tends to
this dedication of self, and that means
lawlessness. Com bination means pos
sibiitv for evil, as well as good We
have seen both, but no more wanton evil
on the side of labor than of capital, with
far more excuse for labor. The unions
are organized in self-defense, and for the
betterment of their condition and the con.
dition of their families. Do they need to
defend themselves? Indeed they do.
They will get their rights only by self
assertion. Do they need to better their
condition? God knows they do"
1t was these conditions which caused
the masses to defeat Blaine and elect
Cleveland. 1t was the latters utter
ances derogatory of the patriotism and
sacrifices of the soldiers that defeated
him and elected Harrison on a platform
pledged to reform in our finances and re-
duction of the tariff. 1t was the betray-
al of that trust and the passage of the
Mckinley law whereby the manufac-
turer was enriched and labor hampered
that caused them to defeat Harrison and
try Cleveland once more. And when
it is remembe red that the Wilson tariff
law is the work of Republicans
and Democrats alike, with John
Sherman and Cal Brice leading
the joint Republican and Democratic
forces, and that it and the repeal of the
silver law by the same Interests are the
only changes that have been made in
national legislation, it would seem as if
it were about time for Republicans to
look around and see how and from
whence votes are to come with which
they can elect Republican president
next fall. And especially is this SO
when it is remem bered that 16 Repub-
lican senators have signed pledge that
there shall be no further tariff legisla-
lion until some attention is paid TO our
financial necessities.
Every day all over this broad land is
heard the voice of contention for place
and pelf among Republican leaders and
newspapers What has become of that
leadership which made great the names
of Lincoln, Chase, Seward, Trumbull,
Sumner, Doolittle, Phillips, Beecher, Gar
rison and the hosts who have gone with
them either out of that party or into the
grave? Why quarrel over who shall
have the votes in the coming national
convention from the south and west when
neither Mckinley, Reed. Allison nor any
of the other gold bug followers and
fincncial straddlers who walk in the in
famous shadow made by John Sherman
can hope to get an electoral vote
from that quarter? The leader
snip in evidence by the Leaders article
is Of that character that has twice over
thrown Republicanism. It is leadership
that must, in the end, do it again. Nc
Kinleyism met with its Waterloo in 1892;
must it have it's St. Helena before it will
learn wisdom? This is no time for re-
heating the follies which brought defeat
IN the past.
Are we to continue to issue bonds in
time of peace? Are we to be finally
and forever yoked to England's system of
finance; she our creditor and we her
debtor?
These are the vital Questions of the
hour to which Republican leadership
ought to address itself, and none of the
names mentioned for president above
will satisfy the MASSES.
There is one man in this nation who
has the courage and capacity to lift US
out of the slough of despond into which
we have fallen. and place Us on the road
that leads US to betterment OF condi-
tons. His speech when elected to the
senate. and later at the Lincoln banquet
In Naw York the other mig ht stamp s him