Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1896-08-28
1T Is SENSIBLE.
The Missouri Popullsts In State Con-
veutiou Demand n New Combination.

/ vouShon DO"ouo y Now COubtItuthOns
The Missouri Populists in their state
convention strike at the root OF mat
tsys in the following terse and sensible
way:
"The country is now entering a rev.
olution that can not be arrested. It is
the part OF craftsmanship to so direct
1t that 1t may be accomplished by
peaceable means. Its consummati0n
will be the revision of the federal Or
gaHic laws by convention, assembled
for the purpose. AS means of con-
fining 1t to the pales Of law and peace
able means, we recommend that the
different states choose governors and
general assemblies who will favor call
ing a national convention to revise the
federal constitution under the provi-
sions of Article v of that instrument"
No student of the times in which we
now live doubts for moment that an
irrepressible revolution is on; but few
believe its peaceable accomplishment
possibility, and all understood that
however accomplished, the reforma-
tion will be from the ground up. 1t
seems to be a trait Of human nature
to blindly reverence things that are
ancient, and 1t is this trait which
prompts men to throw up their hands In
fright and horror at the mere mention
of the idea Of abolishing the constitu-
ton adopted in the time of Washing
ton. But the car Of progress is as IT.
resistible and as remorseless in its
handling of sentiment as the Hindoo
Juggernaut was in crushing the
life out of its superstitioui
victims. Old theories, old customs,
old policies must inevitably disappear
before advancing civilization, and there
is, in truth, no more reason why the
people Of this nation should at this
time beguided in their governmental
practices by a fundamental law which
obtained in the time of Washington
than there Is why the medical frater.
nifty of today should be guided by the
rules Of practice which obtained then.
The Washington Constitution was
adopted by men who were fresh from
under the control of monarchial ideal
Of government, and that they could not
and did not break away from the idea
to which they had always been accus-
toned, that some men were born with
the right to prey upon their fellows.
is proven by the fact that they permit
ted the infamous institution of human
slavery to continue in existence under
their constitution. This fact alone,
since 1t was the primary cause of the
greatest war Of modern history, in
which more than a million lives and
billions upon billions Of property were
destroyed, ought to be sufficient to
open the eyes Of the people to the
stupidity Of their worship OF Wash
ington's constitution! The faint of
aristocratic mistrust OF the people
which chung to the makers of that
constitution is evidenced in the man
ner in which they attempted by con-
stitutional provision to exclude the
common people from participating in
the choice of the highest government
The president is not elected
by the people, but by the electoral COL
lege chosen by the qualified voters Of
the several states. United States SEN
ators are not voted for by the people,
but are chosen by the legislatures Of
the various states, and upon these two
aristocratic elements Of our govern
ment, the president and senate, Is con-
ferred the right to jointly appoint all
Of our supreme court judges, district
court judges, attorneys, marshals, etc.,
and more than one hundred thousand
federal officials to administer the af-
fairs of government, and whose first
under the constitution, Is
% the appointing power and not to the
people. Is 1t matter to wonder at
hat under these conditions men who
hare been chosen to the presidency
have successfully used their power to
themselves, or to accom-
,lish purposes directly contrary to the
will of the people, as Cleveland did in
he unconditional repeal of the pur-
,hase clause of the Sherman silver
aw?
Now, consider that under this con-
titution, the original Of which, II itts
n existence, Is yellow and rotten with
&c, trusts, monopolies and capitalistic
Of every sort and kind
he only purpose Of which is to despoil
yealth producers of the fruits of their
OIL flourish as spontaneously as
hough in their natural soil, while
ounter combinations formed by labor
rs are either shot out Of existence by
itizen soldiers, Pinkerton thugs or
equity marshals, or wet-blanketed to
cath by corporate black listing, and
GU will begin to get an idea of how
sally contemplate our constitution 10
/ the eyes Of all right-thinking men
emember, too. that the late bond
ales, by which a few conscienceless
took gamblers robbed the people Of
lillions of dollars, were strictly con-
titutional, and that the income tax,
y which it was sought to put small
art Of the burden Of taxation now
orne by the common people upon the
Millionaire clipper Of coupons, is un-'