The Republican journal., 1896-08-27
partment of industry, whatever it may be,
is always the wages account.
THE FARMERS CA


THE FARMERS CASE.
The pretence that the farmer of Ne
braska is suffering under the weight of a
mortgage contracted under metal which
has steadily increased in value is but a
Populistic metaphor Two thirds of the
farmers have no mortgage debts what
ever. | do not believe there is per cent.
OF them who owe mortgage over three
years old, during which time there has
been no change in the value of the metal.
This proposal of the Popuiists is an intent
to enlist the farmer in a conspiracy to re-
duce the wages paid his labor, that he
may have larger proportion of his own
products, and they are willing to cut
down the wages of every man who works
in cities, who tolls at the bench, who digs
in the mines, who manages the train, in
the hope that they can ride into power on
wave of cupidity and greed awakened in
the breast of the voter.
But, my friends, it is triumphant vim
dication of American citizenship that this
attempt to enlist the farming and agricul-
tural members of this community in this
| conspiracy has failed, miserably, utterly,
absolutely. Every Western State which
in 1890 and in 1892 fell into the hands OF
CAO OPullStS WtuU lulO LDC tuGIS AL
lance, before their real purposes were
executed, were purified and the Popu-
listic forces scattered out of existence
when the farmers of this country under
stood precisely that what the Populists
meant for his welfare was really for his
ruin.
The farmer, who, when this country
was in danger, shouldered his musket, to
set III aside when tho 1aSt Shnt ha2 hoop
fired on the Southern battlefield, whose
moderation prevented the political war;
riors at Washington from pursuing pol
icy of discrimination and punishment in
the Southern States-that farmer who
made the policy of the North policy of
Cancellation, of forgiveness, of reunion,
whose hand it was that made ruins of her
cities and ashes of her homes, received
her once more and said, ''Live in peace
and sin no more" That farmer to day is
the mainstay of order and of property as
he was the mainstay of the Union.
There was at Chicago Populistic dele
CATION from States that were Democratic,
but it is significant fact that every
Northern State in which there was a
chance of electing a Democratic Governor
OF OF choosing Democratic Electors, with
the exception of Missouri and Indiana,
ard at Chicago, and they were Submerged
by wave OF Populism from the South.
THE REAL CoNsPlRAToRs.
My friends there has been great
change in the Democratic organization of
the Southern States. The men who from
a mistaken sense of loyalty, followed their
States out of the Union, whose gallantry
whose do
the admiration of the civilized world. the
men whose virtues commanded the sup
port of Northern public opinion in the at
tempt to overthrow carpet bag govern
ments in the Southern States, the men
who led their people through all the
troubled period of reconstruction back
into full union with the sister States,
these men, like Hampton in South Caro-
lima and Catfery in Louisiana, have been
swept from power. A new set has got
into the saddle, a set of leaders of which
Tillman is the exponent, who boldly I'M
furled the sectional flag at Chicago and
declared that this Populist movement
is a direct movement against the prosper
ity Of the East.
Men of New York, toilers of America.
guardians of our homes, will you all want
your rate of wages to be affected (cries of
never ''never' by any man who never
has paid wages at all if he could get out
OF it? Will you submit to this conspiracy
between the professional farmers who cul-
tivate the quarrels of their neighbors.
farmers who labor with their jaws, Popu-
list agitators of the West and the unreco-
ciled shareholders of the South?
This is conspiracy between profess
slonal farmers who want to pay low wages
and the nnreconciled shareholders who
would like to pay no wages.
Here is the real root of this conspiracy.
Mr.. Bryan did not create it. No man can
create movement like this. The forces
that created it are active and have been
in thousand different directions
Mr.. Bryan, representing this theory, is
but like drop OF water on the crest of
the wave, more conspicuous, but no more
important than the millions of drops that
form its base. The Populistc move
ment is the attempt of the professional
farmers, OF these men who are unwilling
to share with the laborer, to appeal to their
greed. The Populist is an enemy of pub
lie order, he is an obstacle to progress.
He is consprator against the peace and
of the industrial masses of the |
now odlu IAdI LuS 1dUOIGI is Inc CD
ject of this conspiracy, and he is But
let no man imagine that if they are sue
cessful the injury will all be borne by
that man who works with his hands. He
would be the first to suffer and the last to
recover from it's effects. But the shock
to civilization which would ensue from
such breach of public and private faith
would be irreparable. Its effect no man
could measure from an experience of the |
human race. We cannot tell to what de-
gree it would paralyze industry.
If were asked to define civilization
should say it was industrial CO. opera-
tion.' Everything that man does for
his own benefit acts directly upon the in
terests of his neighbors. No man stands
alone in civilized community. His in
terests, his prospects, his fortunes are to
some extent shared by his fellows There
is not an ear of corn ripening in the West |
ern field that does not affect the price of
bread to you and to me. The farmer who
scatters seed upon the ground by that act
starts in motion the wheels of the factory;
he sharpens the tools of the carpenter; he
stimulates the construction OF railroads;
he causes the engineers to plan new
bridges, crossing currents, new tunnels
under rivers, new canals joining oceans
and separating continents. If the farmer
did not work, if the miner did not dig in
the subterranean gallery, every other de-
partment of industry would languish, for