The Hocking sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1871-1906, 1897-07-15
Dangers and Hopes of a Great Repub-
lie Arc Preeented-True Democracy
Advised as a Cure for the Ills of the
Country.
No Middle Ground.

the Brooklyn Academy of Music Monday.
Mr. Altgeld began his speech by saying
hat the Fourth of July had become a day
tor retrospection as well as rejoicing. He
continued:
To-day the most wonderful nation on earth
Is in distress. Its children are suffering. and
Its foundation stones are slipping away. May
we not ask the reason why! In the anairs Oh
nan, as in nature there Is no fixed status.
Everywhere there is either growth or there
S disintegration.
Mr.. Altgeld then reviewed the political
history of the country at great length to
show there was an irrepressible conflict
between the rich and the poor, between
the principles of Alexander Hamilton
and those of Thomas Jefferson. In speak
ing of the revolution he said:
When the agitation in behalf of independ-
Cnce began in the colonies the official classes,
the clergy, the moneyed classes, ana wnat
was then called fashionable society, as
rule were tories and adhered to Engllsh III
terests. The men who advocated inuepenu
cree were denounced as irresponsible agita-
tors. The men who We're clearing the forests
and building State were ready to die Ior
liberty and favored independence, put lhe
influential classes were opposed TO IL.
Mr.. Altgeld asserted that the country
started with two political parties whose
principles have been arrayed against each
other down to the present day. he
charged that the Federalists, led by Ham
ilton, sought to control the country for
the benefit of the rich, and by implication
he asserted the Republican party of to-
day was the legitimate successor of the
Federalists. He said the Republicans, led
by Jefferson, strove to legislate for the
masses. to keep the powers of government
in the hands of the people. and he said the
Democrats of to-day were striving to car
ry out Jelfersonianism.
Triumphs of the People.
Mr.. Altgeld, holding that the hope of
the country was in the common people,
spoke of four triumphs which he said they
had won. The first was in winning inde-
pendence. The second was in electing
jefferson President. The third was in
sustaining Andrew Jackson in smashing
the national bank. The fourth was in
electing Lincoln President and wiping out
slavery.
Mr.. Altgeld then turned his attention to
the money power He charged that
the public debt had been doubled by max
ing it payable in gold. He charged that
after the war the currency was contracted
until the dollar became worth 200 cents,
while debts, interest, taxes and all fixed
charges remained unchanged. To these
causes he attributed the panic of 1873.
But Mr.. Altgeld did not reach his hap
piest vein until he began to discuss trusts.
He made Indictment against corporations,
charging them with depressing the peo-
pie, crushing out competition by the pow
er of might and corrupting the legisla
lures of the people. In this connection he
said:
1t rarely happens that private individual
mas enough interest In any matter either to
corrupt Legislature or to obtain control of
ell branches of the government. The uni
Versal corruption that Is to-day destroying
cur country comes from the concentration of
capital, and the alarming aspect is that it is
rracticed by men who talk patriotism, and
who stand high in the estimation of the pub
lie. 1t Is idle to talk about purifying the
government so long as men of influence and
POSITION offer vast sums to corrupt it. Cut
eff the hand that offers a bribe and you will
end corruption.
We must devise some way of removing
cverwhelming temptations on the one hand,
and of distributing among all men the bene-
is and advantages flowing from the process
Of concentration. As power never limits It.
self, we must find method of curbing it.
Let 1t be understood, the American people
are broad and generous. They envy no man
the fruits of superior effort or good fortune.
They heartily applaud the achievement Of
genius. and In this broad land to-day there
is nowhere voice raised against the man
who has honestly acquired competence:
there is no voice raised against the corpora
tons that confine themselves to legitimate
business and legitimate methods.
The complaint is against monopoly; against
fortunes that haye been corruptly made and
are now used to further plunder the public
and to destroy free Institutions The protest
IS against laws which enrich some at the ex-
pense of others. The Indictment runs not
against capital but the criminal use of it.
1T is not wealth, but the abuse Of 1t that is
working our destruction.
Look at the situation. Lobbyists and cor
ruptionists sit in high places and are count
Cd the great men of the land. Instead of the
government controlling the corporations, the
corporations run the government. Greed
Eakes the laws and labor carries the burden
We hear of assessors being brbed; city
councils being owned; legislatures being
bought, while Congress registers the will of
the millionalres. Men reach the White House
through the portals of the banks, and the
higher judgeshps on certificate from the
corporations.
In no country and in no age have the high
er courts been ON the side of the people or of
liberty. They are everywhere the eXponents
end defenders of that force which for the
tine being dominates the land. Since the war
the higher courts have, as n rule. occupied
the same position toward the corpora tlons
and money power that they formerly did to-
v,
been regarded as cities of refuge by the cor
roratlons. In some respects they have done
more to bring about the present unhappy
conditions than has Congress. But these
things should not discourage our people for
the courts have never yet permanently stop
red human progress.
In discussing the remedies for these
evils Mr.. Altgeld first dealt in generali-
ties, and went so far as to say he would
not undertake to point to the remedy.
Then he abruptly declared the country
must be saved by the Democratic party.
Reforms Suggested.
Under this head he said:
You ask, What shall we dor My friends
no mortal can tell you long in advance. The
exigencies must be met as they arise. The
great purpose Is to restore the basic princi-
pies of the fathers and to reverse the present
destructive policies; to meet the new needs
of the times; to end the corrupt reign of the
collar and substitute the voice of the citizen
to have the Government control the corpora
tlons, instead of having the corporations run
the Government: TO restore financial sys-
TEN under which the world had prospered,
and which will not paralyZe America for the
benefit of England: to prevent the Federal
courts from becoming mere conyenienceS for
concentrated wealth; to do justice to the
rand that tolls; to end monopolles. whether
of money, land. products or privilege. In
short, the purpose Is to maintain free gov
ernment among men and make farther prog
ress possible.
The first thing necessary is to assert our
manhood; to have convictions and dare to
maintain them. Double-headed platforms and
colorless men are the instruments hy which
the abuses of the time are made possible
| do not care to discuss remedies to-day.
The American people will find a remedy, or
q hundred remedies when once aroused and
no remedy has any merit until the people get
il earnest. You hear men say in light speech
that we must have reform or revolution. Ny
friends. in this land revolution can offer no
hope to the toer. 1t simply means more
cruelty, more police and more military. 1t
means a brutal despotism with more fiunkey-
ism and snobbery at the top and more misery
at the bottom.
Let us move along the line of evolution
;.et the plant of justice break through the
crust by natural processes We have peace
able remedies In our hands; all we need is
the courage to apply them. The country
must be rescued by the great patriotic
masses of the people, by the democrats of
America-by the men who adhere to Repub-
Lean institutions. no matter what they call
themselves. From no other source can relief
come.
Democrats as Rescuers.