The Republican journal., 1896-08-20

Gov. Altgeld of Illinois is reported to be
doing the same thing. And this is the
way that the silver party leaders are pre-
pairing themselves to weather the gale that
they are brewing. If they are not the
''Robber Barons'' | know not who are.
Millionaires are very rich men, and from
these reformers' talk we might infer that
it is a sin to be rich. But, my friends,
how many of those same men do you sup
pose would hesitate at the sin if they
could get the dollars? How many of you
would do so?
But when those forid orators come to
address you and wish you to join them in
their newly discovered and royal road to
sin otherwise wealthy they will tell YOU
that those fellows that are already rich,
got their wealth by robbing you.
Now did it ever occur to you to stop
and figure out how many of our bones
they would have to pick before they get
dangerously wealthy? Do you not hon
esty believe, my farming brothers, that
a few cents extra per bushel on our apples
and potatoes, and two cents per day extra
added to the wages of our wage earners,
would amply pay for all the abrasions
that come to us from all these "Robber
Barons" millionaries and soulless corpora
tons? l think one half of that sum
would pay me.
They not only infer, but many make the
direct statement, that no one, by any
method, can acquire great wealth with
out robbing others. Is this a fact? If
this is true in great extents, SO it must be
~
rob others to acquire million in life
time, or less, so, equally must one rob to
acquire fifty thousand dollars, or less, in
few years.
We have had an instance in our own
country, shown us within the last few
years, where, by enterprise and pluck
moderate fortunes were won in a short
time, fortunes larger than a dozen of us
could reasonably expect to win by farm
ing, or working for daily wage in a life
time, yet they were not accused of robbing
their neighbors, nor did they rob u.s. They
were considered a benefit to the city in
which they lived, by giving increased
employment to labor and adding to the
taxable property of the city They were,
and are, honored for their enterprise. and
were honorably entitled to what they got.
That same enterprise, embracing broader
fields with enlarged opportunities and
added years, sometimes accumulates mil
lions and robs no one, but rather scatters
benefits along the road it travels by Civ
ing increased demand for labor and pay
ing thousands of employees higher wages
than they otherwise would have received
Take any one of this class and set him
down in the midst Of any town of this, or
any other county, and you will find him
a convenient neighbor, and should he pro-
pose to leave you, you would contemplate
it as threatened calamity. Thus taking
them individually they lose their terrols
How is it about those soulless corpora
tons?
We have few in this county and more
scattered over the State. You know
something about them.
Here, again, | can show you an object
lesson. In the only city we have within
our county, you have. or might have.
seen, within the last year, committees,
formed by it's citizens, advertising in all
directions, and offering all the induce
ments at their command, in order to get
some more of those ''soulless corpora
tions'' to locate there in order to save
their city from the dry rot.
You have seen some of those committees
soliciting subscriptions in order to fur
nish inducements to forward the enter
prise, and some of the men on those COM
mittees were good and pure enough to be-
come prominent free coinage for silver
men. Now let one ask, if it is not
crime, but virtue. to solicit private
subscriptions to build up industries in
our own county, why it would not be still
better for our government to take such
action as would build up all the indus
tries possible throughout the length and
breadth of our nation?
Is there any reason?
have shown that by taking these COM
bined terrors and individualizing. or
separating them, and placing them one
by one in your midst, that they DO not
prove supremely bad but rather show
some good qualities, and are to be sought
rather than otherwise, and it is only when
they are combined by our silver tongued
orators and placed in juxtapositon with
Lombard and Wall streets, that they pre-
sent themselves as shapeless and undefin-
ed but overpowering terrors that are
seeking to devour the flesh from our bones
and fitch our few pennies from our peck
cts. In order to more fully illustrate
this, let me relate an experience of my
boyhood.
When barefooted country boy one of
my evening duties was to drive the cows
and other stock from the pasture to the
yard. The pasture had several openings,
or feeding grounds, which were divided by
thick patches of woods through which led
narrow and dark roads, or cattle paths.
When from any cause the stock failed to
appear in the outer or home opening and
was compelled to seek in more distant
ones after dusk, my fear was intense 1
would then edge slowly into one of those
dusky paths, eying every indstinct object
on either side of the path, with my hair
rising and stiffening on my head until my
fears gained the mastery over discretion,
when casting prudence to the winds, and
reckless of feet and toe nails, [ would dart |
ahead with all the speed that my legs
could be made to carry while being driven
by fear until struck the next opening
This finally became so painful that l |
pondered over the matter, and con-
cluded that | was not afraid of stumps, |
trees or rocks nor any known animal that |
inhabited that region, but it must be |
''boogars, as l then called it or them |
(but since being able to own dictionary |
have concluded it must be corruption
of boggies, but as my old name is the
most expressive to me, boogars they !
shall remain and l made up my mind to
face and fight them. We had some ter