The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1896-02-13

/
Then What has brought this distress
| 20 the country. what has thrown our
Iaborefy out OF employment and turned
them into tramps on the Highways OF
| the nation. what has brought stArya-
ton and poverty to the door of every
| farmer In the land, What has ruined
| millions O. merchants and business
men. stand here to-day and charge
and defy contradiction-thAti 10 has
been brought upon US solely BY infa-
nous laws enacted in this Capitol, and
| By . still more infamous execution ~
defiance Of law by the Administration
at the OF Der end of Pennsylvania ave-
| nue..
The same thing has gone on y neither
the Republican party WAS in charge or
the Democratic party in charge. The
| people Are not TO be blamed, eNcep; In
one particular. and that IS in allowing
themselves to Be cAjoled or fooled or
aroused by partisan prejudice into
voting for and keeping in power their
faithless agents who have robbed them
The great majority OF voters in this
country are opening their eyes 10 this
infamy and to this betrayal OF trust.
The great majority OF the people are
throwing oil their party yoke which
l
astrously. They are anxious TO get to-
gether under one banner and drive
from power these gold conspirstors.
The greatest hindrance to- day in
the way Of this, the men who are to
| day the most 10 blame for keeping
apart the people who would come to-
gether and right their wrongs and re-
establish the Government OF Lincoln,
Jefferson, and Jackson, are some of the
| men who claim TO stand by the people
| and for good government, the men
| who claim to oppose the gold standard
and the rule Of monopoly, but yet who
| sacrifice every principal Of good gov
eminent, who sacrifice the interests Of
the people for party success that they
may remain in power and continue TO
draw their salaries. 1t is the duty of
such men, placed in positions of trust
by cOnfiding constituency, 10 put pa
triOtism above party when the inter
| est Of the nation is at stake, and to
point out to their people at home the
| sure way to relief. They ought to do il
| even if their advice resulted in crush
ing their own parties, for is not the
country greater than party? Is not
the welfare of the people more impOr-
tant than the success of any party? Ii
| is criminal for the peoples representa-
tives to try to hide the real issues and
allow the people to be robbed in order
that party may triumph, in order
that few politicians may hold office.
The people can never get relief by
simply voting for congressman and
Senators who are pledged against this
gold conspiracy, because too often
such men are hampered, side-tracked.
brOwbeaten, or converted in the inter-
ests of party harmony, il by no other
means, after having come within these
walls. Did we not have the humiliat-
ing, the shameful, spectacle of the
Fifty-third Congress, elected by the
people, pledged not to repeal the Sher-
man law unless free coinage was put
in its place, but yet that Congress,
with large majority pledged to stand
by the people, yet changed by some
mysterious and subtle power from the
White House into . majority against
the people and for the gold combine?
1t was when President Cleveland
and his gold conspiratOrs of the two
old parties were trying to strike down
the only law that recognized silver
and provided for the increase of the
currency in this country, that the late
Senator Vance, who represented my
State in this body for many
years so faithfully, SO periodically,
said that the man who claimed to be a
friend of the people, who claimed to be
an American, yet who would vote for a
bill to strike down the Sherman law
without at the same time and in the
same bill putting in its place a law
providing for the free and unlimited
coinage Of silver on equal terms with
gold, was either a knave or q fool"
Yet under the mysterious power be-
hind the President large number of
men who were sent here pledged by
their constituents to stand for free sill
yer played either the "knave or the
fool" or both.
DO not use those words. They were
used by Zeb. Vance, the great COM
mOner of North Carolina. He was a
man not only with big brain, but also
with a big heart. He was kind and
genial man; he would never utter a
word that was harsh or unpleasant if
he could avoid it. But as he stood
here in this hall and saw the great
crime that was about to be committed
and the base betrayal of the people by
their trusted agents and servants, be
felt that it was his duty to speak out
and place the blame where it belonged.
He thought it was his duty to brand
such men as unfit to represent the
people in such a high and important
position. Would that he were on
earth to serve with his patriotic deyo-
tion the people to-day, when new
crimes are about to be perpetrated.
The power which the President of
the United States has is dangerous to
human liberty; it is greater power
than should be vested in the hands of
any one man. No Congressman can
get an appointment in his district
without bowling to the autOcratic will
of the President. / repeat that the
tremendous power in the Presidents
hands is more potent for evil over the
legislative department of this govern
ment than if One-third of the silver
men in each body were to, within an
hour, openly declare for the gold stand
ard. If the wonderful transforma-
tiOns which the country saw i'm the
Flfty-third Congress is any criterion
by which to judge the probable con-
duct of men, | venture the assertion
that If We had had in the Whitsl4Ouse
Pres ident who was an American pa
triOt that the last Congress would
have stopped the issue Of bonds, would
nave passed a free-cOinage bill, and
would also have passed a graduated in
come-tax bill.
Besides, there is another danger
The President has the power of veto.
Any measure We pass that conflicts
with the interests of organized greed
Is sure to meet his veto. This done. j;
requires tw0-thirds of each House of
Congress to overcome a single stroke
OF his pen, and every Senator on this
hoor knows that it is next to impossi-
Bile to get two-thirds of both bodies. at
the same time, to favor any one meas
ure to give the people relief and JUS
tice. YOU may pass ninety-nine bills
in this body for the relief Of the people
by majority vote where you can pass