The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1897-08-18
SOVEREIGN Is MAD.
Berates the Populists of Ohio for the
Nonina tion of CoxeY

Cincinnati, Aug. 1S.-General Master
Workman J. R. Sovereign of the Knights
of Labor gave out the following state
nlent containing his views on the action
of the Peoples Party convention which
closed in this city last week Mr.. SoVer-
eign is en- route for Virginia, and ex-
presses a determination to return to Ohio
in few days and lead labor fight
against Mark Hanna. He is of the opin-
ion that no reform is possible while the
corrupting methods of Mark Hanna are
practiced in the politics of this country.
when John ]. Ingalls, said the purifi-
cation of politics is an iridescent dream,
that the decalogue and the golden rule
have no place in political campaign
and that it is lawful to hire Hessians and
purchase mercenaries to destroy the OPP
position, the moral world was shocked
and there was wave of Indignation at
ingalls, justification of corruption in poll
tics. But now comes Mark Hanna and
puts into practice what ingalls, expressed
in words and is justified in SO doing by
the gold power and all the capitalistic
combines arrayed against the people.
1.-THE unmistakable evidence of bribery
and corruption in the late Peoples Party
convention at Columbus by the Hanna
machine exposes the most revolving at
tempt to corrupt conventions and under
mine the foundation of public morals ever
brought to public notice in this country.
The corrupt use of money in the presi-
Dental campaign of last year will ever
remain a black page in the history of
national politics. But if it had ended with
that campaign the good people of the
country might feel willing to draw the
veil of charity over the dark, dissolute
debauchery of Hannaism.
but the hand of Hanna, with his cor
ruption fund, is reaching out into the
ranks of reformers everywhere, seeking
to destroy all that remains pure and pa
triotic in the American heart. He reaches
the black hand of bribery out over the
state of Ohio, down into the trusted coun-
| ellis of the Peoples Party. and throws the
mantle of shame and death upon it. If
I had only one breath left in this life
I would use it appealing to the good peo-
pie of Ohio to defeat Hanna this year
and destroy the black blotch Hanna has
made on the politics of the republic.
ST am proud to say to the working peo-
pie of Ohio that whatever time 1 may
have to offer in this contest shall be freely
given in aid of Mark Hanna's defeat, with
out regard to the action of the Peoples
Party state convention. The great ma
jority of the middle of the road" fac
ton of the Peoples Party are honest in
| their convictions. I have no quarrel with
them. Mr.. J. 8. Coxey, their candidate for
governor, is one of my personal friends,
and, for aught 1 know, all the other can
| didates the ticket are gentlemen of
honor and ability.
"But candidly believe that no man can
| come to Ohio this year and support the
Peoples Party without leaving the i'm
preston with more than half the honest
| people of the state that he is in the en-
! ploy and hire of Mark Hanna. Already
| it is reliably reported that Hanna will
| bring a large number of middle of the
| road Populists from the southern states
| to Ohio to stump the state for the Peo-
| pies Party ticket.
'.Men who come to Ohio this year will
be rated by the company they keep The
| wish of the gold power to divide and con-
quer coupled with the general pollution
| of Hannaism, will be the measure of their
| political character. 1t is already conceded
| by all honest people that any man who
| desires to work for the election of Mr..
| Coxey in Ohio this year and will sup
| port the middle of the road candidates
| for the legislature, can draw pay for it
| from the Republican campaign fund.
| Therefore he will be honestly accused of
| drawing it, whether he is guilty or not
| The Judgment of the people will be that
! if the man stumping the state for Coxey
| does not get his pay from Hanna II VIII
| be his own fault.
| mot for half my life would I be caught
| in that kind of company and I warn the
| Knights of Labor of Ohio against support
| ing a candidate for office who is aided,
directly or indirectly, by this modern Mo-
| looh of political corruption.
! mo honest man will deny that Mark
| Hanna is anxious to have Peoples Par
| ty ticket in the field; that he is willing to
| pay large sums of money to support it;
| that he wants it to receive a large vote,
| and that he is at the same time one of
| the bitterest enemies of the Peoples Par
| ty principles in America. 1t certainly does
! not take any great freak of wisdom to
| see that any person of force on the stump
| can make a high salary as a Populist
! in Ohio this year, and those who are hon
| est and support Coxey from pure motives
| will have to share the disgrace equally
| with the hired emissaries of Mark Hanna.
| ct shall go into West Virginia and plead
| the cause of the starving miners there,
| but shall endeavor to contribute some
| time on the stump in Ohio in the interest
| of higher and purer standard of politics
| on which rests the fate of every reform
now on the calendar of public discussion.
In point of reform legislation 1 may not
secure all 1 may wish, if Mark Hanna is
| defeated by the Democrats, but after the
| fight is over will have the satisfaction
| of knowing that conditions which make
| reforms possible have again been restored
| to the poor of this country.
~. R. SOVEREIGN"
| SVrNRAV SnnnnTS DAP ARE