The Hocking sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1871-1906, 1897-07-15
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er and deeper than that of our forefathers.
You ask. '1s there hope?' Without enter
Ing too far on the field Of partisan discussion:
we may glance at what are now matters of
history. Look back eight months and gaze
upon spectacle that marked the high-water
roint OF corruption. There were arrayed
against the people nearly all the banks the
corporations, the trusts. the rNrroads, most
OF the grea. papers and every influence that
money could control. Manufacturers and
small merchants were cOerced; debtors were
forced and laborers were driven by the lash
of hunger. All of the corruption funds that
conld he raised on two continents were used
TO debauch the people, the lobbyists. the
trading politicians and the time servers We're
On that side. The men who owed their
wealth and position TO the fact that they
had helped to corrupt legislation and to pol
lutte the streams of justice were on that side.
The clubs and the fashionable pulpits were
were held out; every method of defeating the
will OF the people at the polls was practiced
Says the People We're Deceived.
On the face of the returns 1t appeared as
if the enemy had Won According to these
returns, 10000 more votes, properly distrib-
eight months have elapsed, and the people
have already discovered that they were
made the victims of deception. Only eight
E'onths have elapsed. but the harvest is al
ready being reaped.
In Illinois we have just had a carnival Of
official debauchery such as the world has
rarely seen. The living have been robbed !;
the unborn have been defrauded of their
rights, and saddled with unjust burdens:
public property. privileges and franchises.
worth untold millions, have been given to
monopolies. numerous acts striking down lib
erty have been passed, and the people are
helpless.
Had corruption burned fifty cities a free
people would have rebuilt them In ten years,
but the destruction Of republican institutions
blasts the hopes of man and must increase
M world whore
Will. the conditions are the same. They are
the legitimate harvest Of that poisonous seed
that was sown broadcast last fall. The peo-
pie see that they were msled, and do not
believe that even special providence could
soon again unite all of the forces that work
ed together In the last campaign. Disinte.
grafton is already at work In the ranks Of
the enemy.
Now, look on the other side. Over six mill
ion of intelligent. patriotic and substantial
citizens fought for the rights of man. They
were men who had convictions and dared to
act on them. They were men who could not
be bought, who could not be ca joled. who
could not be frightened they were the men
who do most of the country's work and bear
Its burdens. They had no Doodle, but they
had manhood. They refused to be European
ized. but fought for American institutions.
Look at these men to-day. They stand in
solid phalanx. eager, determined, confident.
None have deserted; none have laid down
their arms. Their line of battle stretches
across a continent; their banners are way
ing; their drums are beating, and they are
moving on the enemy. They see the gided
palaces of injustice; they listen to the cry OF
ilbor; they hear the wall of free institutions
and, with an appeal to the Omnipotent they
resolve that England shall not devour this
land.
In every State the people are aroused; they
see their condition growing worse; they see
the hope Of their children disappearing; they
see poverty hanging over the future: they
see the black flag of hunger floating over
some of the richest sections of Gods earth
and they are crying for justice. My friends
that cry will free the American people.
Even If we should be borne down again and
again. the voice of humanity will arise from
the dust and drive the money changers ont
of the tempt, and the traitors out of the
land. The Benedict Arnold of 17S0 sleeps on
English soil. Let the Benedict Arnolds Of
this age make their graves beside him.