The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1897-09-22
HON. O0NNELLY
TALKS ABONT CORPORATIONS ANI
THE MONEY POWER,


He Addresses a Large Audience at the
State Fair On Labor
Day.
At the conclusion of Gov. Clough's ad-
dress Hon. Ignatius Donnelly was in
troduced He. too, read his address
which was as follows:
When, by the Declaration of Indepen.
dence, it was set forth that all men are
created equal; that they are endowed
by their Creator, with certain unalien-
able rights; that among these are life
liberty and the pursuit of happiness; y
there was thereby established a nation
of freemen, in which there could be NO
prescribed or servile class. And mas
much as it is part of Gods providence
that Improvement of this world shall be
accomplished, and can only be accom-
plished by the work of mems hands; for
mental operations without the aid OF
muscles accomplish nothing; it, there
fore, follows that the primary purpose
of our experiment of government was
the elevation and prosperity and happi-
ness of the toilers Of the land
And that this was not mere flourish
of rhetoric is made manifest by the
preamble of the constitution of the
Stofn oh ho
spirit which dwells within the great in
strument, and which must control all
It's legitimate processes OF development.
1--WE, the people of the United States,
In order to form a more perfect union,
establish justice, insure domestic tran
quillity, provide for the common de-
fense, PROMOTE THE GENERAL
WELFARE, and secure the blessings OF
liberty to ourselves and posterity, do or
dain and establish this constitution of
the United States of America"
Those words promote the general
welfare are the keystone of the whole
structure, and as the general welfare in
cludes the individual welfare, these
words prove that our government was
created to make the working people
prosperous and happy. And whenever
it fails to do this it has been REASONABLY
diverted from it's original purpose
That this was the true intent and
meaning of the founders of our govern
ment was made more clearly manifest
by the following subdivision of section
nine of article one of the constitution:
mo title OF nobility shall be granted
by the United States; and no person
holding any Office of profit or trust un-
der them shall, without the consent Of
congress, accept Of any present, emolu-
ment, Office or title of any kind what
ever, from any king, prince or foreign
state''
This is a declaration not only against
the creation of an aristocracy on our
soil; but against our officials being cor
rupted by foreign nations, which, at
that time, with one exception, Switzer-
land, were royal, and hostile to our in
stitutions.
There was thus established in Amer
lea a government of the common peO-
pie, nearly every one of whom was then
toiler, with his hands. There was not
a banker, nor money-lender, nor a cap
italist in the continental army. Not a
drop of aristocratic blood stained the
SHOWS of Valley Forge. There was scarce
ly corporation inthe land. We had tram
pied under foot that villainous supersti-
tion-the divine right of kings-and we
had driven the crowned monsters from
our soil. We had proclaimed the abso-
lute legal equality of every man with
every other man; we had, by express
words, prohibited the establishment of a
nobility, and this included, by infer
ence, every form Of aristocracy.
And this nation of farmers and hunt
ers and fishermen. thus started forth
upon an experiment, without a parallel
in the history of the human family.
And great was their reward. Never
was there seen such growth and devel-
opment as followed. The world flocked
to our shores. Industry, secure of it's
rewards, labored with unprecedented
zeal. The inventive genius cf man
bounded forward and achieved tremen-
dous results A continent was overrun.
The forests disappeared; agriculture
spead it's golden garment Of happy
homesteads over the wilderness. There
being no oppression, there was no dis
content; no discomfort, no turbulence;
we were the most peaceful and pros
porous people in the world.
But our very growth has been our un-
doing. Human greed, which once,
across the ocean, was represented by
brutal robber-b -barons, who reduced the
peaceful people to serfdom, here took
new, but nc less effective. shapes.
Graft then meant strength; now it
means cunning The instructive desire
to avoid labor and make others work for
them, which was at the bottom of the
feudal system, here adapted itself to new
conditions. The man in armor disap-
peared; the corrupter of courts and leg
islatures, in broadeloths, took his place.
That mighty engine for the formation
of public opinion, the press, power un-
extraordinary the world has ever known
more potent than parks Of artillery