Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1899-01-12
ALTGBLD'S ADDRESS
AT the jackson Club Banquet
at Omaha.
CONDITIONS DISCUSSED.

The Country Being Reduced to Two
Classes, the Very Rich and the Slaves
Conditions Under Which Republican In
stitutions Cannot Exist-Aim of the FL
nancial Spectators of lsurope-The Gold
Standard and 16 to 1.-The Aristocracy.
Ex-Governor Altgeid of Illinois.
speaking at the jackson club banquet
at Omaha, said in part:
This republic has been the beacon
light Of the world for more than a CEN
fury. 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. Since the first reading
OF the Declaration Of Independence over
$50 constitutions that were republican
In form have been adopted. Most of
them persisted, but they will arise
again. Now the foundations are being
4pulled from under our own institutions.
The very affairs of liberty are being
betrayed by the men set to guard them.
Two years ago, when we turned the
face Of our party toward the sun, we
protested against the economic policies
that robbed, against financial policies
that paralyzed. and against Judicial
! usurpation that enslaved. Every days
development since that time has shown
not only that we were right, but that
the situation was far more serious than
we supposed.
Look about you. Nearly all the
wealth Of this land is passing into a
few hands, and not one of these hands
favorable to the freedom of the citizen.
Every great Industrial, commercial,
mining or transportation enterprise is
passing into the hands first by corpora
tions, and then by further consolidation
into the hands of trusts which thus
have an absolute monopoly-a monop-
j. oily which can, arbitrarily, fix prices, fix
wages and regulate output-a monop-
oily which has no soul and whose chief
purpose is to plumber the public. The
monopolist and the Spectator prosper,
but the masses wither. Men of moder-
ate fortunes and of fair incomes who
We're the bulwark of the republic, are
slowly but surely being wiped out. We
are being reduced to two classes; in the
first stage these will be known as the
very rich and the slaves. We have es-
tablished monied aristocracy and are
now fastening the yoke on posterity.
A standing army is to be enthroned
and bayonet argument is to govern
Demand for Hamiltonism,
: Republican institutions cannot live
amid these conditions. Wealth has new
yer been the friend OF liberty. Concur
rently with the progress of these
changes we hear the snarling voices of
men who deride the doctrines of JEFF
nd
country great and mighty. Already we
see magazine articles urging the estab-
lishment by law of permanent aris-
tocracy in our system of government,
and from high quarters we hear q de-
mand for Hamiltonism. Hamilton be-
lieved In monoarchy and aristocracy.
bottomed on corruption.
Had Hamiltonism prevailed at that
time the whole history Of the republic
. would have been different; the brains,
the industry, the skill and the enter
prise Of the earth would not have
focked to our shores. The genius of
man being cowed would have withered
here as 1t had in Europe, and the Amer
lean republic would today be simply an
oligarchy, stretching in small settle
ments from the Mississippi to the At
lantic. Hamilton was member of the
constitutional convention, and succeed
led in establishing that aristocratic
branch of the government known as the
federal judiciary. unrepublican and UNI
democratic; 1t is not chosen by the peo-
pile and is not accountable to them In
fact, for practical purposes is not ac-
countable to any one. Jefferson OPP
posed this manner of creating a judic-
iary with all his might, and he pointed
out that here would ultimately be
found the tomb of American liberty.
How prophetic was that vision? Dur
ing its whole career this branch of
1.-THE government has never been on the
[side of the weak, but always on the side
of power.
Verify, the spirit of Hamilton fits
these times, but what shall we say of a
judiciary that openly rejoices over the
fact that an era of corruption has en-
veloped the land, that the betrayal of
the people has become science, and
that the robbing Of the people has be-
come a fine art? And now we are to
widen the sphere of this class of states
men by giving them a chance to rob
the Filipinos. Heaven pity those poor
people. 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 generations.
Where Aristocracy Exists.
1--WE wish to prevent the enslavement
Of our people and the establishment of
an aristocracy. We see that no aris-
tocracy, either of birth or wealth, can
be established or maintained where the
great masses are prosperous and. inde-
pendent. 1t can exist only amid cheap
property, cheap labor and cheap men.
"A cowed and q poor people are the soil
in which 1t grows. When they gave us
10 financial system which paralyzed our
country, which cheapened property.
which crushed labor and which cheap
ened manhood and destroyed indebend-
ence. they laid the first stone for Amer:
lean aristocracy II these conditions
are to continue, then. the star of the
republic has set. But If we can over
throw this system; If we can re-estab-
lish bimetallism, if we, can. found sci.
entiic monetary system and restore the
price of products and of property, if we
can raise the spirit of labor and renew
the independence of the masses, then
the beginning Of the next century will
crush this aristocracy to atoms and cast
it to the four Winds and liberated
people, bowling only to the God who
made them, will leap forward with a
Joy that shall gladden. the earth. sYou
Gee the money question confronts us at
the door. It is not Of our choosing. We
cannot make issues. Issues grow out