The Louisiana populist., 1898-02-18
THE BATTLE OF 1898.
GEN. JAMES B. WEAVER ON
THE OUTLOOK.
the Masses OF the People Advance to
the Contest Against Class Rule.
Rising Tide of Indignation.


since the campaign of 1896 is some
thing marvellous, and gives promise of
overwhelming victory in approaching
struggles. The people who were mis-
led in the whirl of that memorable
conflict began to comprehend the real
situation before the smoke Of battle
had fairly cleared away. Their indig-
nation Is now rising like an ocean tide.
1t is a dangerous thing for party lead
ers to attempt to secure power by false
pretenses. When the party of the sec
ond part finally learn Of the delusion,
they smite back as with thunderbolt
hurled by the gods, and the refuge Of
lies Is swept away. 1t is one thing to
win upon the strength of lavish prom
ises, reinforced at the critical juncture
by the corrupt use of money, fraud.
and intimidation; but quite another to
retain power in the midst of a sullan
and indignant people after those prom.
ises have all been broken. Every man
who was intimidated is filled with re-
sentiment and every broken pledge gives
birth to an avenger The first end Of
their promises looked well; but it was
the view from the other end that has
filled the people with wrath. Time and
events have proven, and will continue
to demonstrate, that every substantial
assertion uttered by the gold advocates
was incorrect, and every promise made
basely false and made to conceal bad
ulterior purposes. Look at the SUBJ
terfuge OF international bimetallism,
and its humiliating sequel And again
at the explicit promise of Mckinley in
his letter of acceptance that the party
would keep in circulation and as coed
as gold all the silver and paper money
now included in the currency of the
country" That this was an insincere
promise Is shown. three times over, by
the treacherous platitudes concerning
our currency embodied in the inaugural
address, by the currency message sent
to the extra session Of congress, and by
the pitiable annual message of Decem-
Der s. They constitute a substantial
and reiterated plea of guilty on the part
OF the president to the charge of dupli-
city. Every sane man knows and will
readily admit that Mckinley would
have been overwhelmingly defeated
had he given expression to those views
in his letter Of acceptance. We charged
at the time that he intended to do
these very things, but the charge was
bitterly denied. Why was this avowal
of their real purposes withheld? Sim
ply to lead the people into trap. The
willy hunter was Turing the lion into a
concealed pit. The Indianapolis junta
and its protege, the bankers commits
sion, which has lately been in session
behind closed doors at Washington,
and even Secretary Gage, of the Pres
ident's official family, have all given
us their estimate of the sanctity Of
these ante-eleetion promises by boldly
proceeding to outline currency
scheme for the administration and for
congress in utter disregard Of the
pledge. They have coolly outlined a
project, and are now urging it upon
the country, involving gold bonds, de-
struction OF greenbacks, contraction
and bank domination, which is so in
famous that had it been disclosed be-
fore election as 1t has been since, it
would have been rejected by the people
in a whirlwind of disapproval. No
power on earth could have saved them.
Their plot is so grim and cruel as to
suggest Homer's description of Scylla,
as she beloved from the dreadful pas
sage which lead to hell:
Her jaws grin dreadful with three
rows of teeth;
Jagged theiy stand, the gaping den of
DEATH"
The people will revolt against It.
Vengeance is on the wing, and heaven
in arms"
What was il that caused the over
whelming popular revolt against Cleye-
land? 1t was not against the, person,
but the policy of the administration.
1t was his gold bonds and bank
schemes, his attempt to retire the
greenbacks. the revenue deficits under
the Wilson tariff law, and his pro-
Spanish-Cuban policy. Conceiving all
these essential points, McKinley's adj
ministration is an exact duplicate of
Cleveland's, minus the latter's back
bone. With this one, minus quantity,
the parallel is complete. The same
evil counselors who thronged The
white house when Cleveland was there
are all powerful within it's walls and
the chamber Of everys cabinet official
today. If there is any difference the
trust magnates are more potential
there today than ever before. McKin-
ley is as completely within the power
of his vicious advisers as was the weak
and vacillatins Louis XVI, when the
catastrophe Of 1889 fell upon him like
a bolt from the sky. The thunderclaD
will come in our era from the ballot
box. The world moves, and a free
people will abide their time, which is
fastening on with wonderful rapidity.
james B. Weaver.