The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1896-02-01

FARMER, pure anu ciiiiPt's d'Np"N'NN
10 speak In the open air. upon the hust-
ings, where men were free TO applaud II
they felt 50 disposed. In the Senate he
said. 1t was considered undignhed to ap-
MAUD. the galleries being reprimandcd
ard the senator's confronting the speaker
with "a senatorial stare, which turned
him into stone" Senators got up. Ike
school-boys. and read essays I'm a mono
tone. TO empty chairs. This was not
the purpose OF the founders OF the oou"-
try when they made the Senate the great
est deliberative body in the world. IL
was never intended that the speeches Of
a senator should be buried In the
archives, which was now the case.
"How much OF this. Mr.. President
said Tilman, is due to self-complacehcy,
to the feeling among you'll hardly ieel
prepared yet to say among us-thht you
are the Senator How much Of this So
called senatorial dignity, Of which We
hear so much and see so much, is worthy
Of preservation? II hangs over this chain-
Der like wet blanket; it smoth-
ers down Independent action; IT oblit-
crates the man. and We are here the pup
pets. the cogs In the wheel OF party 10
do the bidding of the manipulators OF the
party machines"
Atrocious as this demagogue's speech
I'm the main was, we cannot help sympa-
/ thizing with him in his undisguised scorn
and contempt for the Senate's manner
isms. When the United States Senate
had as members Of It such men as Web
ster. Calhoun. Clay. Benton. Silas
Wright. and a host of other most Illus
trious Americans. its debates were the
| live, virile flashes that come from men Of
pith and vigor, stirred to great intel
lectual effort by the crises OF discussion.
Then their debates moved continent,
and were needed by the whole world.
But since the Senate has come to be the
place that whippersnappers thimbierig
sneciaI interests into sending themselves
70. intellectual vigor has departed from
if: Independence Of thought is no more
known: manly, robust sentiment Is
mover heard Of and nothing is heard OF
the Senate of old, but the ghost of that
dignity that once awed and impressed all
mon and that Is now no more than the
screen under which the Germans and the
uurnbvs and the Smiths and the Brices
| hide themselves, but with the American
neople hooting: Look at those fellows
sitting in the chairs Of Webster, Clay, and
! Calhoun"
| Outside Of those characteristics when
are very offensive to all decent people
there was very little in Tillman's speech 10
arrest attention. If there was any
| thing at all. it was only because what
he said was noticeable as being supreme
| " foolish and vicious For instance, in
| Speaking of 1.-THE collar of industrial
bondage. around the necks white
slaves" he predicted that if ef did
not come in a few years by the ballot. an
effort would he made to obtain 1t with
bullets" and in this connection he said:
'The new Mason and DiXon's line, which
| is drawn not by the surveyor, but 10y the
/ denial of the natural and inaienable
right to life, liberty. and the pursuit OF
happiness 10 Large majority or citizens
will sooner or later bring together in
! the bonds of union the toiing and now
! downtrodden masses of the cities. and
! the equally desperate masses of the cOun-
! try: agrarianism and communism VIII
! ioin hands You all remember Macau-
! ley's prediction that some day the gov
eminent Of this country would he taken
i'm charge by a commune. When that
! time comes, God have mercy upon you
! millionaires who have stolen so much OF
the peoples money.
'"rhere are millions now on the march,
and they tramp, tramp. tramp, tramp
! the sidewalks. hunting for bread,a and tramp
the highways begging bread. Unless re-
lief comes. they will some day take a
notion to tramp to Washington with
rifles i'm their hands, 10 regain the lib
critics which have been stolen from them,
or which their representatives have sold,
and the hitherto conservative force Of
the republic, the well-tO-dO agricultural
class will lift no hand to stay the march,
but join il.
God grant that our country may be
SHARED the enactment Of such scenes as
were witnessed in Paris. in 17s9. But
the fair hOwen of liberty planted by
jefferson. and the immortal Declaration
of the 4th of July. 1li6 watered by the
blood Of our revolutionary sires, under
Washington. cannot be uprooted or smoth-
| cred by the noxious weeds of monopoly
and class privilege. without bloodshed.
4 cataclysm which will give us "A mill
tary despotism or leave the republic re-
deemed. reeenerated, ana disenthrall0l,
is lust as sure to come as that yonder
sun shines i'm the heavens. unless we DO
our duty here. and take our hands from
the peoples throats. and give them an
opportunity to breathe and work and
live"
Now. what Is the fearful evil that Till
man has in mind when he makes this
lurid prophecy? 1t is that in the strug-
giles Of life some men have acquired for
tunes. while the very great majority have
been unable 10 do so. There have been
no robber barons here. except those that
rob under the shelter of protective tariff
laws. And all the fortunes that have
been accumulated have been made I'm
the competitions OF life by fortunate and
iudicious men. Tillman may think he
can arouse those who have had bad
luck into a united effort to plumber those
who have had success. We DO not be
lieve such thing possible. But II he
should succeed in organizing his army
and making a communistic attack upon
what the property people have,
he will find that the contest he has in
vited will be one very different from what