Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1897-09-03
GARNETT, KANSAS, SEPTEMBER 3, 1897.


quite as much as could have been enforced by a
single administration if the candidate and plat
form had been elected.
But, says one, that silver platform of Chica-
go required that the legal tender United States
notes should be "redeemable in coin" Well,
that was bit of devils broth to tote uninform-
ed infancy into the fold And it did so, to the
tune of several millions, who, for the first time,
voted for fiat coin on which to base legal ten
der paper. But there is one fact of history
which takes the poison out of that bit of re-
denption broth, namely: There has not been
case in history, in either Europe or America,
where full legal tender paper note, issued by
a responsible government, has been presented
at bank or government counter asking re-
dempton in coin. Not a single of the
sort can be pointed out. | challenge all COM
ers. SO, then, practically the words 'redeem-
able in coin" applied to full legal tender pa
per money means nothing' And when that
coin consists largely of fiat silver, with the op-
tion on the part of the government as to which
coin shall be used for redemption purposes, it
is like doll baby i'll the arms of infancy. 1t
means nothing but to amuse the children; or,
like last years birds nest, it is empty but
it brings cherished remembrances into the sim
pie heads of last years broodlings, until they
are better educated in the affairs of life.
said in the beginning that Populists were
in the habit of making very long platforms In
other words, they are liable to "bite off more
than they can chew" That is all we'll enough,
perhaps, as a matter of discussion and educa-
ton, when there is no thought of electing any
body. 1t is, in fact, all right in the earlier
days of reform, which may be styled the 'the-
oretic" period; but when strike the time of
practical work and earnestly hope and expect
to elect our candidates, then the shorter the
platform, the more votes. This is the expert
ence of all parties in modern times. The Pa
triots of the American Revolution had broad
notions ON chattel slavery, finance, land tenure
"church and state, and many other subjects
are scattered all through their writings, but
when the earnest days Of practical politics ar
rived they dropped all except freedom from the
crown of Englang. In other words, their bat
te-cry was "Amercan liberty only. 1t wasa
snort plat1OTnl, DUt IL meant all Cndl mas since
followed, and all that is to come.
The old Abolitionists made long platforms,
containing every epthct that could be applied
to 'the sum of all villaines." The Constitu-
ton OF the United States was denounced as a
''league with hell and covenant with death!'
They even advocated the dissolution of the
Uuion in order to escape Northern responsible
ity for slavery in the South But when the
day of action came, the anti-savery men went
into the campaign of 1860 with batte-cry of
four words only-"The non-extension of
slavery"
That was the point of the platform on which
Mr. Lincoln was elected. 1t was not satsfac-
tory to the, 5 patient of the Abolitionists
They kicked and called it a surrender to the
enemy, but it proved long enough. The party
had "bit off all it could chew" and it compre-
hended all that old Abolitionists ever asked for
except ''dssoution of the Union" The
fact is, when thes, new party revolutions
founded Oh justice, get started they are hard
to stop, and they never go backward!
q, After the battle of Hastings the English
people were reduced to the lowest fopn of feuda
serfdom OF slavery. Fos more than eight CEN
turies they have been fighting their way up,
inch by inch, in the direc:lon of popular liber-
ty and manhood suffrage. 1t has been very
lcng struggle, and exceedingly earnest. The
English people have had many aud varied ex-
periences in the work of political reform Af-
ter eight centuries Of their experiences, Sir
Archibald Alison, the great English historian,
has recorded his opinion, that to produce