The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1898-09-28
DENOUNCED



whenever that scarce or dear metal was
the base of the coinage Of the world the
purchasing power of that money was in
creased, and the purchasing power of mans
labor was reduced. AS dollar went up,
property and man went down. (Applause)-
And they demanded the decentralization
of gold but it was not but little while
before the deposits in Australia and Cali
fOrnia began to give out, and then they
changed their tune. They had taken the
wrong metal. Our silver is pouring out of
Nevada aid this is found to be the cheap
metal, and that must be demonetized and
this gigantic battle commenced over the
whole world. and you have its results today.
What is property worth here in Minneapolis
or St. Paul or any Of these cities. Is it
worth half what it was II or 20 years ago.
say 10 years ago? It is not
The more real estate a man has in either
of these great cities, the poorer he is And
you take up your newspapers and look
at the advertisements of goo Is for sale.
Well, some of you may be ShortsiSnted
enough to smile when YOU see things SELL
ing for One-half or one-third OF what they
We're worth 10 years ago. You say
can buy SO much more with our money;
bat Jou 10 not stop to think. my friends,
that the wages of him VINO made those
goods must have been corresppndingly r.
duced. You forgot to think that this SIS
tenn is crOwding the mechanic Off the face
Of the earth. A friend Of lnine who had
just got back from Alaska told me that
that country overlooking with doe
tors, overlooking with lawyers ami edit
ors. No work for them and 10 prospect.
Go ask any of your professional men in
this city, and they will tell yu the same.
1t is a desperate struggle to live. Now.
nay friends. when this state Of things was
forced on this country, 1 say Grover (1eve-
land the eX-hangman OF Buffalo, was the
principal agent selected by the people OF
the country to carry it out (ApplauaS)
And when met in 1882 10 nominate a
ticket for the Peoples party--the first ticket
it had ever made-we went into that
against both of these old parties not
, against the Republican party or the Demo-
i cratic, but all.
READS FROM THE OMAHA PLATFORM.
! Now, my friends. just let me read ycu
an extract from your Omaha platform, and
it will confirm what [ have said: tRcltis1
I'VE have witnessed for more than a.
quarter Of a century the struggles or tho
great parties for power and plumber while
grievous wrongs have been inflicted upon
suffering people. We charge that Tie
controlling influences DOMINATING. both these
parties have permitted the existing ter
rible conditions to develop without serious
effort TO prevent or restrain them. Neither
do they promise any substantial reform
They have agreed to ignore in the coming
campaign evey issue BUT one They D.o-
pose to drown the OutcrieS of a Dlulllet.d
people with the uproar of sham Dosrie
over the tariff. that capitalists cor
porations, national banks rings trusts.
watered stocks, the characterization OF s,l-
yer. and the oppression OF the usurers
may all be lost sight of. They propose 10
sacrifice our homes and children on the
altar of Mammon, to destroy the multi
| tude in order to secure corruption funds
from the millionaires.
! This you see. my friends. was in the
| mind Of both of these old parties We do
-
! cut Democracy. I wear my breast to-
| night, and am proud of it, the medal that
| was coined and sold by the thousand at the
| time when the first steps were taken, Nav
! 10 and 20. 1891. to start this Peoples marty
| There 1t is. my friends. and upon il Is q
picture entitled underneath. Keen in the
! Middle Of the Road (Applau sel And II rem.
! resents a wagon and team advancing across
| trail, with a marsh each side and
| upon each side are logs and boulders mark
! ing the instructions of the old parties. "A
! voice: The boulders: that is good We
started out upon our career as party in tho
| middle Of the road. and we are there to-
night. (Applause.)
MILLIONS HUMBUGGED.
| Now, then. my friends, Mr., Cleveland wa 9
eiec.ed in 1892 upon the tariff questiop Just
think Of it! Fifty million people humbuesee,
| into voting for another old humbug ON the
! tariff question AS if every man did not
! know that II this country was PROSPEROUS
! 1t could bear any kind of tariff and if n
| was not prosperous tariff with the weight
| of a mosquito was a burden to it. GaugI,-
! rer.p Give this people prosperity and what
| do they care whether the tariff on a ward
! Of calico is a half penny or penny And
! yet that old fraud-I do not call the whole
! American people fools, because the people
: are naturally disposed to follow their teach
| ers-and you will remember that in the 'a2
/ campaign, how l and other men went
| around this country talking to you about
| the financial question. We told you that the
! prosperity of the people depended upon the
| relation between the amount of currency in
| circulation and the amount of population
and wealth.
We talked from the highest PLATFORM of
| facts. and the next night in this hall Won
! would have seen Democratic or Repubjca n
meetings. Did they attempt to answer us ?
! Did they take any notice of us? Why, no.
| They turned up their ungodlv noses and
! went on their way taking about the tariff.
| applause and laughter.) Then %, came
! What followed? Why. a terrific collapse.
| There were earthquakes and crashes in the
midst of the business of tbs country Mill
| ions Of good, honest men lost all they ha i
in these banks. We had been ciamorino
Tor years for postal savings banks. where
the nation could take care of the money
| of the people. but we could not get them,
| and when the crash came it was the poor
| who suffered. 1t was the poor who lost
\
thought that something had got to be done
! and forthwith he issued call for special
! session of congress. Well. you say to your-
self now we are going to have the remedy
| Now we going to put tariff plaster
| upon the soles of the feet of the patient
| a mustard plaster to his head, and are
| going to get him we'll with the tariff and
| the mustard. What did he do? Why, h
| called an extra session of congress to con
! slider the money question, when they told
| us the fall before there was no money Ques-
| ton, and that we a lot of idiots, and
you people who supported us were in the
! same category Now, my friends, Wnat was
! the remedy? Why, when these rascals hao
| fixed it that by that act of q a man
who mined gold out of the earth could take
| it to the m Mt and have 1t coined into dol
| lars, but the man who mined silver wculC
have the door shut in his face. Why, my
friends. when we got to that condition. anc
the mines of the silver mining states were
being shut up and closed. and the miners
| were being turned off for lack OF Work
| for there was TO demand for silver, the
| white metal began to drop. say when tina
! state of things came around the miners
went to Wash ngton and they said. we
| don't know anything about your theof1e:
Of government but. for Gods sake. gfv'
us a market for our silver, for II you az
not we are ruined. Our state is ruined
THE ANSWER TO THEIR APPEAL.
What did they do? Did they say Yes
we will open the doors and we VIII lie
you take your metal there and coin 1t!
No for if they did that silver would bt
worth what IT could be converted into a