The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1899-01-18
ALTGELD'S GREAT SPEECH
A POpulist in a Democratic Coat
jackson Day ut Omaha.

jackson Day ut Omaha.
This republic has been the beacon light
of the world for more than a century. 1t
has not only lifted the hopes Of all men.
but by it's example it has turned the face
of nearly all nations toward liberty. Now
the foundations are being pulled from un-
der our own institutions. The very affairs
of liberty being betrayed by the men
set to guard them.
Look about you. Nearly all the wealth
of this land is passing into few hands.
and not one of those hands favorable to
the freedom of the citizen. Every great
industrial, commercial, mining trans
portation enterprise is passing into the
hands first of corporations, and then by
further consolidation into the hands Of
trusts which thus have an absolute
monopOly-a monopoly which can arbitrar-
lily fix prices, fix wages and regulate
output-a monopoly which has soul and
whose chief purpose is to plunder the
public. The monopOlist and the speculator
prosper, but the masses wither. We are
being reduced TO two classes; in the first
stage, these will be known as the very rich
and the moderately poor, and in the second
stage as the masters and the slaves. A
standing army is to be enthroned and
bayonet argument is to govern. Repub-
lican institutions cannot live amid these
conditions. Wealth has never been the
friend of liberty.
Verify, the spirit of Hamilton fits these
times. The Spaniard took what was in
sight, but the Hamiltonite, with his bond
jobbery enters the womb of the future
and plasters his mortgage on remote gen
erations.
I'VE wish to prevent the enslavement of
our people and the establishment of an
aristocracy. When they gave us finan-
cial system which paralyzed our country,
which cheapened property, which crushed
11ln md vxyhi phaa m
destroyed independence, they laid the first
stone for American aristOcracy. The
money question confronts us at the door.
1t is not of our choosing. We cannot
make issues. Issues grow out of wrongs
grow out of injustice, grow out Of human
suffering Cowards and weakings evade
them but men must meet them.
''Other great questions vital to our ox-
istence haye been evolved by the age and
must be met, but the financial question is
basic and central. 1t is the mother of
whole brood of evils. The financial specu-
lators of the east of Europe want the abso-
lutte power to control average prices. There
fore they want silver and g1eenba cks wiped
out, so as 20 make everything rest on gold
this they easily corner-then with
monopoly of issuing paper money they can
concentrate everything into a few hands.
They bridge every chasm with bridge and
catch the political highwaymar with an Of
fetal unifoc-n. The gold STANDARD has never
dra Wn an honest breath nor taken an honest
step in this country.
What about 16 to 1? Well, my friends. it
is not in our power to change this; is is
impossible to get anything alCng any other
line. Change the ratio and the whole case
dissolves. Open the question of ratio ana
you get no action in a century. To drop the
ratio is tc betray the cause We are for the
old ratio because it is right because 1t will
undo great crime, because it will make
prosperity possible, because we cannot sue
ceed in any other way, and because the
suggestions for change come only from the
enemy.
This is an age of concentration in all
things, and the formation of private mon
opolies in particular Competition has
been wiped out. In harmony with the law
as it has stood for centuries we have de-
nounced this, but to no purpose; We have
legislated against 1t. but in vain. When
they could not defeat legislation by Bribery
they went before some subservent federal
judge and had 1t declared unconstitutional.
Our remedy has failed Give the whole pub
lie the benefits of the monopclies instead
of few individuals. Let the government
take them. This is not state socialism, it is
simply protecting the people and therefore
is democracy in it's broadcast sense.
'"There seems to be no other way to pro-
tect the public, and it involves our very ex
istence as a party. The Democratic party
must always stand for the great masses or
else have no mission. The Republican
party stands for private monOpoles and
rottenness. and the monOpolies will always
support it and try to crush US. 1t is fight
not only for humanity but for our very ex-
istence.