Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1900-04-18
Come and Let Us Reason roeetner.

4 - ~ 80 ANS0SVD lux Cku0xs
I A few words with you, my reader.
while You have time to quietly think
over the questions 1 want to consider
with you You will agree with ma.
no doubt, that if ours is not "a gov
eminent of the people, by the people
and for the people" it ought to be.
You do not believe any more than I
DO that some people ought to be gov
erned by other people, nor that other
people have any right to gov
ern you without your consent. You
feel and know that God intended you
should have just as many rights as
any other man living, and that YOU
ought to have just as much of voice
In determining what kind of laws we
shall have as any one else. l am not
trying to fatter you in any way nor to
create In your mind an exaggerated
idea OF your own Importance. All
men are not equal in physical strength
nor In mental powers; yet when it
comes to the simple matter of human
rights, you instinctively feel that all
ought to stand on an equality and no
man should be crushed that an other
may be exalted.
But there are men, of course, as
there have been through all the ages,
VINO want to crafty their selfish de-
sires, to live without toll at the ex-
pense of your labor and mine. Thew
can only succeed in their purpose by
depriving us of. some of our rights.
and getting things fixed so that you
Will earn more than You have. while
they have more than they earn. They
90 this by building up and m,in-
tanning a system under which they
fix up the price of what you have to
buy and of what you have to sell.
whether you work for wages or labor
on the farm, you know that you have
TO pay the prices that others fix on
what you have to sell, and at the
same time you can only buy at prices
you have nothing to do with making.
Whether it is days work or bushels
OF corn or wheat, whether it is
pork or potatoes you have to sell,
you know that you have got to
take a price fixed by some corporation
or trust, or else keep your stuff You
know, too, whether it is coffee or
collins, sugar or nails, lumber or barb
ed wire you need, other combin ations
and trusts fix the price and if you
need the stuff badly enough, YOU
must come to their terms. Your
right to the fruits of your labor is
not acknowledged You are expected
to work. not only to support yourself,
but at the same time TO furnish the
profits" by which the middleman,
the Spectator, the stockholder and
the capitalist live.
Why do you submit to the Injustice
and inequality which prevails? Just
because you haven't seen clearly how
to avoid it, and because, too, the fell
lows who are robbing you have been
cunning enough to keep you divided
Into two great parties which have
gotten up tremendous contests over
lmmaterial matters and kept your at
tention diverted from the hands that
were picking your pockets Nothing
can be more certain than that the in
terests of the farmers and laborinQ
men OF Kansas are Identical. The
legislation that will benefit one farm
er will benefit another. The financial
system that will help one laborinp
man will help the rest. Why, then,
do we find farmers and laborers in
antagonistic political organizations
lighting each other as if they were
the worst enemies in the world ?
Simply because they have been worked
for suckers. Until you can clearly
grasp the fundamental truth that
your interests are Identical, and stand
together for equal rights to all and
special privileges to. none," there is
no hope OF your emancipation. As
long as those who live by the sweat
OF your brows can keep you divided,
they need have no.fears that you will
cease to carry them
You tell me, perhaps, that one party
is no better than another. and that
they are all under the control of a lot
of selfish politicians, who are looking
out for their own advantage. and who
care for you only to have you help
them into Office. There is some truth
in this, but it is only huff truth.
Such men are to be found in all
parties We have been training men
to be just SO selfish, by failing to dis.
criminate between honest and unself-
1sh public servants and representa-.
tives and those who care only for
their own interests. We could change
all this and get governors and sena-
tors and congressman and state legis-
lators who would be eaten up with q
zeal for human rights, if we wanted
them. Indeed there is nothing we can't
get if we are willing to pay the price.
We must, however, lay aside, at
once and forever. the idea that we can
have just and impartial government
and equal laws if we are not willing
to give time and thought and money
to secure them. Injustice and greed
and oppression are weak in numbers.
but strong in organization and in their
readiness to see what will be to their
advantage and their celebrity in avail.
ing themselves OF it What we of the
people need, above all things, is to
realize that if We are to be saved we
must save ourselves, and that we must
be united, not alone in action, but in
heart and soul, in order to succeed.
We can't afford to repeI each other.