The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-04-17
EX-GOV. ALTGELD, OF ILLINOIS,
ADDRESSES DEMOCRACY OF
ALBANY COUNTY
WHAT JEFFERSON WOULD DO
SPEAKER TELLS, AND ADDS WHAT
THE GRAND OLD DEMOCRATIC
LEADER DID
DANGER OF THE REPUBLIC
MIR. AItgeId Appeals to All Patriotic
Americans to Rally to It's Sal
vatiOn-DictatiOn of the
Combines.

Combines.
ALBANY, N Y, April 16.-Former Gov.
John p. AItgeld, of Illinois, was the prin-
cipaI speaker tonight at the banquet given
at the StanwiX hotel by the Bimetalic
League of Albany county, in honor Of the
anniversary of the birth of Jefferson. He
responded to the toast, What Would
Jefferson Do?"
The attendance was large. A hearty
greeting was extended to Gov. Atgeld'
who said:
1t is not for the pleasure, the. solace
or the\ glory of the dead, but FOR the
spiration of the living that we celebrate
the birth of one of the greatest men
known to the annals OF freedom.
In law, in medicine, in science, in gov
ernment, in war, in every field of human
activity, the deeds of the mighty dead
light the path for today and point the
Today the men of America who love
liberty and hate oppression, who love
Justice and despise hypocrisy, look to
the shrine of Thomas JefTerson Tor new
hope and new courage.
The foundations of the republic are
shaking, and the altars Of liberty are
crumbling. Dirty fingers are laid on the
Goddess of Justice, and soiled hands are
pillaging the temple of humanity.
- The effort to secure privilege and to
maintain private monopoly in city and
In nation is not only Fobbing US, but
In America enterprise has come to
mean exploitation, and patriotism has be-
come q new name for plunqer. Any con-
tingent will do, and one hemisphere is
RS good as another so long as the gov
ernment can be used for private enrich
ment.
Finding the government such a profit
able asset these private monopolists have
taken possession of it. They seek to con-
troll caucuses, conventions and elections.
They control legislation, they own courts,
and they dictate to the president of the
United States.
Naturally, they select men with no con-
victions to do their rear stair work and
betray the public, and they have brought
to the front a race of men who make
deception their business and duplicity
their stock in trade.
These men are mere creatures. They
do not rise to the dignity of politicians,
but have the impudence to sit in chairs
once occupied by statesmen.
Through this class Of men the functions
of government have been perverted and
from being the protector, 1t is being made
the desDOiler Of the people.
COMBINES DICTATE.
At the dictation Of the combines, the
courts, which were intended to protect
the citizen in his rights, have been used
to strike down trial by. jury that bull
wark OF liberty for which the English
than for any other thing.
A4thougn living In republic, yet in
stead of being governed by the people
and according to law, the corporations
have had established for their conVen-
lence, government by injunction, and ac-
cording to the whims of prejudice of an
Individual who acts as their creature and
imprisons American citizens at pleasure
Although living in a republic and hav-
Ing 10 need of an army, the corpora
t1ons of America are fostering military
establishment, and the bull pens of Idaho
where thousands Of American citizens
We're last summer imprisoned by military
authority Tor months without warrant
without Indictment and without trial
merely because the governor of the state
was simply convenience for the corpor-
atoms, shows what is in store for the
toilers of America if this corrupt rule Of
the syndicates is not arrested
For over 100 years our country grew
great ana covered the land with cities.
railroads and shops, it protected life and
property and punished crime During y
TINS Tune government by injunction was
itor,,h HoI heard OF, and the use of the mil
1lary as a convenience for corporations
was not thought of. But with the ad-
vent OF the private monopoly, growing
out OF arl1t laws, growing out of fran
cnlses' growing out of special privileges
came a race of manipulators and cor
ruptlonlsts-not captains of industry. but
eXploiters of the public who tramnIe
- doWn the liberty of the citizen at home
and sneer at the idea of establishine
free institutions abroad.
OHSe the hepuDlcan party stood for
great principles, once it had MESSAGE
lot humanity, once its leaders were men
OF conviction, once it believed in the Dec
Iaratlon OF Independence; but the finger
OI the corporation has erased every great
motto motto from its banners, and today the
great party Of Lincoln sits meekIy in The
marker place and takes its fnstructions
from the trust magnates of America as
once 1t had conscience, now only hum
ger once II loved liberty now If Uyor
shlps the dollar; once it stood for hu-
manly, now only for plunder. Time
SnTteGs, men oegenerate and parties rot.
Sant Is at premium and hypocrisv
passes Tor COIN The creed nf King
George mas become the platform of Mp
klnley and Mark Hanna's dollar siSn
Dreeches have become the flag Of t6n
Republican party. u 'he
WHAT JEFFERSON WOULD DO
Under these circumstances it ts natnra,
Tor both Republicans and DenocraIs ~
here? w ~ He were
But there is a special reason wbv Dom
ocrats should ask this question. hecanra
among some Democrats there seems ~
pe a mlSconception of Jefrerson's charao1
ter nave heard men call themselves
Jef1ersonian Democrats who wera ony,oso . D
to every principle that the great VIZ VIZ
ian advocated. Who. then. was Jeffer-
son! What did he do. and what did bo
Stahd Tor! A complete answer wol1Id ijII
manV volumes. We shall be fortunate If
we cdh eaten even the outlines of his
= great career. He was born a landed aris
toerat in a country where that c1aSs n u,.1c
an DoWerIul. He was educated. was a
cIose student and sought the tr11th No
matter where it led. He practiccd law
put devoted most Of his time to an ex
ANIMATION OF public questions and of So