Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1900-08-10
ASSailed by Altgeld.

Ex-Governor John P. Altgeld delivered a
speech before the Ohio association of Demo
cratic clubs, at Toledo, one day last week, in
which he arraigned Mckinley for his many
shortcomings. His speech was partly in reply
to Roosevelt's speech at St. Paul, Mimi.
Among other things, Mr.. Altgeld said:
"There are only two principles or systems of
government known to nan-government by
brute force and government by consent of the
governed. The one is applied from without,
and is repressive, and, in the end, destructive,
because it arrests growth while the other
works from within, is evolutionary and pro-
gresssve.
"Government by force has existed for thou
sands of years, and It's tendency is everywhere
the same. The constant tendency of such
government is toward lower and lower level,
and repressive measures become more and more
severe, until finally conditions are created
which result in dissolution and death.
"The principle of government by consent OF
the governed was first applied in its broadest
sense in the formation of our republic, and it
worked revolution in human society. 1t has
given the world more progress in one century
than it achieved in the fifty or sixty centuries
of recorded time. By freeing the intellect, by
encouraging the higher aspirations, man ieaped
into an activity in all lines OF human effort
that had been impossible in the past; there was
new birth in invention, in the industries, in
agriculture, in art, literature, in government
and in education. To this we are largely in
debted for our shops, our railroads, our cities,
our agriculture and everything that makes us
great
"Incredible as it may seem, at the close OF
this marvellous century, which is the child of
the Declaration of independence, we are asked
to go back to the principles which have cursed
the world for thousands of years, and which, If
again given swav, will bring back the dark
ages You ask who are the people and whence
come the influences that make this astounding
proposition? They are the people who repre-
sent greed, rapaclty and corruption. They are
the same class of people and they are the same
infences that have arrested human progress
and human development in all lands and in all
periods where they had sway. The fates have
decreed that greed should be short-sighted and
should hold the penny of immediate advantage
so close to its eyes as to shut out the sun.
"Long before we declared war against Spain
in behalf of Cuba, the people of the Philippine
islands bad been waging war for their own in
dependence. They continued this warfare, and
finally drove the Spaniards off of the islands.
And we now engaged in war to rob the
islanders of their independence and make the
people subjects, not citizens, of this republic.
"There is to-day no question of expansion
before the American people, and all the talk
about expansion is simply an effort to conceal
the facts and to mslead the public. The sole
question is whether we shall 60 into the colo
NAL busines; with England and the despotc
nations of Europe.
"Recently, gentlen an in New York who
had become famous for having been alone in
Cuba-a gentleman who has adopted as his life
motto or coat of arms two 'P's' and double
s. which four letters signify 'pompous posing
and strenuous strutting-left the capital of
New York and went to St. Paul and delivered
speech in an association of Republican clubs.
The speech has not, from beginning to end,