The Goodland republic. [volume] (Goodland, Kan.) 1891-1907, 1896-05-01
THE FIGHT GOES ON.

THE FIGHT GOES ON.
freedoms battles once begun,
Are carried on from sire 10 son,
Though sometimes lost
They're ever won"
Some Of the men who have been long
at the front of money reform are getting
frightened at the long delay of victory,
and our frequent reverses, They be-
hold the steady and at times irresistible
encroachments of the money power.
They see in the far past, how in the
terse, eloquent statement Of George H.
Pendieton, "they enhanced the burden
Of the public Indebtedness by making a
home debt foreign debt; by making a
paper debt a coin debt; by extending
the time of its payment; by making
coin debt a gold debt; by contracting
and boarding and selling bonds. And
all this they did without other apparent
reason thanthe demands and the profit
of the holders of bonds"
They go over the more recent fnan-
cial history, including the demOnetiza-
ton of silver, and see that if Cleveland
gets in again he will surely destroy the
greenbacks. Then they get disoOurag-
ed and fear that if the peoples party
does not elect a president this year the
doom of the republic is fixed.
Indeed, dying Horace Greeley was
not far wrong when he cried out in his
agony: "The country is gone, the Tri-
bune is gone and am gone" The
country is gone sure enough. But
there is still large reason to hope that
it can yet be rescued from the hands Of
the pIunderers that now control it.
Modern political wars are fought
much as was that of the rebellion. Al
though one side will appear vastly
weaker than the other from the start,
to the initiated, to the ordinary on
locker they may seem nearly balanced.
Each side marshals all its forces with
great skill over vast territories and with
a long look ahead. Sometimes, on the
great checker-b board, we see pawns sud
denly transformed to cOnquering kings.
Each general calls up his reserves from
distant points to fill gaps in the nick of
time.
Lee, with central position, had the
advantage of celebrity Of movement on
short lines. Grant needed many more
men and much more of the muniments
of war working as he did on the circum-
ference. The generals keep up a bold
front and claim to be sure of victory
up to the last gasp. Then how sudden
ly the weaker side coIapses. Like the
French in the Franco Prussian war and
the south at AppOmatOx.
How hopeless the anti-slavery party
seemed after 20 years of struggle as the
"Liberty" and "Free Soil" party. And
behold, suddenly Abraham Lincoln was
elected by the new aggregation of re-
formers called republicans.
How strong chattel slavery was long
after the war began. In 1861 Lincoln
said slavery must be protected where
it is, but must go no further" In 1868
he wiped it out of existence.
Just so now, gold, from its vast en-.
trenchments-insoIently aggressive to
the last-laughs to scorn the aIhonest
money men, and even plans the destruc
ton of the greenback.
The psalmist hath said;
IhaYe seen the wicked in great power, and
spreading himself like a green bay tree,
Yet little while and he was not yea, dill
gently considered his place and it could not b
found
Our brethren should not fear. At one
time there was but one newspaper adj
vocating the principles of the great
populist party. That paper was a small
country weekly of 900 circulation. To
| day there are a thousand All better
than that one. Some of the best stud
ents and statesmen of the land are il
our ranks, and the grandest army O
honest, patriotic, determined men TIT
country ever saw. They count into TIT
millions. Nothing short of success car
stop their onward course. One defea
more would count but little dozeI
years hence. In the battle of this yea
one of the old parties must take SECOND
place, aud then go off the stage Of &C
ton, for there is no great principle tt
hold them. Some of the peoples part!
leaders may step out, exhausted, bu
the party will 60 on. We expect to vii
this year, but We will go on if re dont
and with US will go the patriotism, tn
intelligence and the honesty Of tn
iand.-Sentinel