Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1900-02-16
Tue CAMPAIGN OF 1900.

The political campaign to precede
the Presidential election OF. 1860 will
produce an intensity of effort on the
part of the two great political organlz-
ations Of the country such as this ma
ton has not witnessed since the newer
generation of voters came upon the
stage of action. It promises to exceed
in earnestness the heated contest Of
1896. Practically, all the membership
of three parties arrayed in opposition to
the Republican party will be concen-
trated into one working body and will
support one ticket. their candidates will
be named in seperate conventions. So,
to borrow a sanguinary phrase, the bat
tie will be fought between two armies
that Of the allies and that of the Ad-
m;nistration supporters.
Political issues which divide the peo-
pie of common country are the creation
of events. Since The Presidential elec-
tion events have brought into being
questions of such importance as to rem
der them paramount to. many Of the
issues of past conflicts. We are tread
ing new ground. We are projecting
our nationality into broader fields of
the worlds politics. No man can say
that the voters of the United States
will endorse 80 radical a departure
from the traditions Of our past. Neith-
or can it be prophesied that they will
not. We are face to face with problems
that will change the politics of men
and send them into alliances.
In advance of the nominating con-
ventions, the campaign of 1900 has al
ready opened. Such is the interest of
the people in newly born issues that
they have abandoned the conventional
tiles of politics and are discussing in
public and private places candidates
and platform-the PRONUNCIATION of
conclusions reached in the greater for
um of the people. This is an encourag-
ing sign of the times. It promises in
dependence of thought and action and
more freedom from the tyranny of par
ty than has been witnessed in the polit-
ical degeneracy of the recent past.
We have reached point in our nat
ional career when the verdict of an elec-
tion is to decide whether govern
ment dedicated to human liberty, based
upon the familiar principles of the De-
~ n ~ <;o,, of TpIopop1oroo will s,,r1,;vo
or perish. This is a paramount-the
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES of the camgaign.
Other questions will engage the consid-
Grafton of the conscientious voter and |
will in measure guide the ballot of
which he should be the sole master.
The trusts, bimetallism, national fin
ance, the concentration of wealth, have
all become issues and are squarely be-
fore the people. Not one Of Them will
depart from the arena in which parties
wage their cou,ests until it is settled
and rightly settled. An economic
principle, just in itself, buried beneath
an avalanche of hostile ballots, will rise |
again and again, until the defusions Of
ignorance are overcome and the masses
confer tardy justice upon themselves.
As allied conditions. We have cor
porate trade domination under the com. |
mon title Of trusts, money system for
the benefit of the smallest number of
people, and an appalling concentration
of the wealth of the country. These
issues form an inseparable group. They
create and maintain each other. They
are the outgrowth Of the conspiracy
which deprived the country of one-half
Of its money of final redemption. To
contend, therefore, against one is to
contend against all. They are the
of our social system. They
defy law and misshape the ends OF
justice. They form the stepping stone
to imperialism and seek the overthrow
of self-government. They will remain
as living issues before the people until
they are settled along utilitarian lines
So they stand to-day as an invocation
to the ballot and are an important
factor in the campaign of 1900.
Though the country has witnessed,
on several recent occasions, the obse-
quies of the tariff question, it is no near
er dissolution than is the ordinary cat
aleptic patient. It must survive as a
future issue, because in its protective
aspecLic, it feeds and faItens our trade
combinations. 1t guards our trusts
against the destructive competitor of
the importer and will enable him to-
impose absolute monopoly upon the
consumer The tariff question for the
time being, is overshadowed by issues
that are partially the outgrowth of the
high protective features Of some Of our
tariff enactments. Therefore, in wag-
ing political warfare upon trusts, pro-;
,ective, tariff versus free trade will
naturally come into the controversy as
a collateral issue, even if it does not
return to it's time honored position as a
leading issue.
The measure now pending in congress