The Somerset reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1868-1909, 1896-08-27
obstacle to progress He is eonspirator
against the peace and prosperity of the in
dustrial MASSES of the country.

of this conspiracy, and he Is But let no
man imagine that If they were successful
the injury would all be borne by the man
who works with his hands He would be
the first to suffer and tho last TO recover
from its effects But the shock to civil-
cation which would ensue from such a
breach of public and private faith would
be irreparahle Its effect no man could
measure from any experience of the human
race. We cannot tel To what degree 1t
would paralyze industry.
If | were asked to define civilization, l
should say it WAS Industrial cooperation
Everything that man docs for his own
benefit acts directly upon the interests Of
his neighbgrs No iuan can stand alone
in civilized community. His interests,
his prospects, his misfarl unes. are To some
extent shared by all his fellows. There is
not an ear Of corn ripening in a western
field that does not affect the price OF bread
to you and me The farmer who scatters
seed upon the ground by that act starts
In motion the wheels of the factory, he
sharpcns the tools of the carpenter, he
stimulates the construction Of railroads,
he causes the engineers 70 plan new bridges
crossing currents, new tunnels under riS-
ers, new canals joining oceans and sepa-
rating continents
II the farmer did not work, if the miner
did not dig In the subterranean gallery,
every other department. Of industry would
anguish, for men would not produce and
create if they did not see in the industry
and activity of others a prospect of a de-
mand for the commodity which they pro-
duce, and 20 every man in the world is
bound closely to the destiny and interests
Of his fellow man
Underlying Trouble With Populists.
Underlying the whole ~chcme Of oiyiIiza-
ton is the confidence mrn have in each
other confidence In their honesty conf
dence In their integrity confidence in their
industry, confidence Ia their future If
we wont to "A silver coinage tomorrow, If
we even debascd our standard of value
men say that still you would have the
me property you have today, you would
still have tie same soil, you would still
have the saline continent. And 1t IS true
Now the underlying trouble with all
Populists IS that they have fundamental
misconception of the principles ON which
civilized society is constructed All
through Mr. organs speech all through
Mr.. Tillman' $ utterances in the eonven-
ton, wherever you find Popuists assem-
bled, you will find discussions proceeding
upon the theory that mon are hostile to
each other in their interests; that the con
dition Of life is one of contest
| merely desire to call tho attention of
this gathering to the character of that
speech, to tho underlying spirit that per
Wales It, and then to AK the workingman
of this country to ask the citizens of this
nation If the government should be trust
cd to the hands of men whose conception
of civilized society is one Of warfare and
of strife
The Whole Nation win Resist.
We believe that the very essence of civil
lization is mutual interest, mutual for
bearauce, mutual corporation. We believe
the world has got past the time when
mems hands are at each others throats
We believe today tina; men stand shoulder
to shoulder, working together for "a com
mon purpose beneficial 10 all, and we be-
lieyo that this attempt tn assail wages,
which means an attempt $,attaok the pros
perity of all, will be resisted, not by a
class, but by the whole nation.
What labor has gained, that it shall
keep. The rate Of wages that is paid to it
to-day is the lowest rate we will ever will
inRly accept. We look forward to a further
and further increase in the prosperity of
workingmen, not merely by an increase in
the daily wage, but by further increase in
the purchasing power of wages. Men who
tell us that the prices of farm products
have fallen and that the farmer for that
reason is sufferer forget that while the
price Of wages has risen on the farm the
efficiency of labor has increased; That the
cost of production has been reduced
through the aid of machinery, while the
wages of tho individual laborer may have
risen.
While wages remain at their present rate
l hope there will he II further and further
decrease in the cost of living There is no
way in which | can be admitted To "a share
of Gods bounty except through a fall in
the prices of the necessaries of life While
we have In eXistence "A society of mutual
cooperation which is but another namo
for civilized socicty, all men are admitted
10 II share in every bounty which Provi-
dence showers upon the earth.
Tho dweller in tho tenement house,
stopping over his bench, who never secs "A
field of waving corn, who has never in
hailed the perfume of grasses and of flow
ers, is yet made the participator in all the
bountie5 of Providence in the fruetifying
influence of the atmosphere, in the ripen-
ing rays of thu sun, when the product Of =.
the soil Is made cheaper to him every day
by tho abundance of tho harvest 1t Is
from his share in this bounty that the
Populists wants to exclude the American
work inginan.
Labor Must Not he Scourged.
To him we say, in the name of human |
ity, in the name of progress: You shall |
neither press crown of thorns upon the |
brow of labor nor place u sCourgo upon his |
back. You shall not rob him of any one |
advantage which he has gained by long |