The Forrest City times., 1900-11-02
ALTGELD ON ISSUES.
Former Governor of Illinois Ar
raigns Republican Party.
Mckinley Administration Charged
with Favoring Trusts and Carry
ing On an Expensive and
UnhoIy War.

John L. Al-gelu, loIlneI SoNSihol Va
Illinois, spoke to an immense audience
at the Chicago Auditorium, Tuesday
night. October %, taking as his text the
issues of the campaign. In the course
of his speech he said:
"The republican party once stood for
the people that did the work of the land,
but IL has gone clear over to the other
sg6e Mark Hanna has told us that this
election is 10 be decided by the full din
nail See what that means, my friends.
When Lincoln guided the republican party
n said that elections should be decided
nv great moral principles. When Hanna
guides II Is 10 be decided by dinner pan.
Nov I have recently been over the west
some have been in the middle states, have
heen in the east, trying to find out whose
dinner pail It is that is to decide this cleo
ton.
Il find that the property of the average
citizen all over this country instead of
rising in price is sinking in price, it is
not his dinner pail. The farmers OF Amer
lea have to sell their products in the world S
open competitive market to a low average
price level, that is as low now as Ii was
In go and they have to buy their neces-
saries in an arbitrary market. where they
have to pay double what they should pays
IL is not their dinner pail.
Thousands of small business men and
manufacturers all over this country have
been squeezed out by the monopolies; tens
OF thousands Of young men are emerging
TO manhood and looking for career and
they find almost every avenue in life, UNI
less little clerkship. closed to them by the
trusts; 1t is not their dinner pail. Thou
sands of commercial travellers in this coun-
try are idle because they were discharged
by the trusts; It's not their dinner pail.
Hundreds of Industrial establishments
found all over this country have been
closed by the trusts and the thousands Of
employees have been turned out 1t is not
their dinner pail. The $1,000 iron workers
of the Amalgamated union in Pennsylvania
alone lately were forced to accept a re-
duetion IN wages of eight per cent; il is
not their dinner pail In the anthracite
coal region of Pennsylvania there are over
100000 miners who have been working their
lives out for one of the greatest moHopo-
lies on this continent and earning on an
average s1.35 a day for mining and on an
average 90 cents day for labor. Reduced
TO the level of starvation, they were obliged
TO strike In order to maintain life; it is
not their dinner pail
Remember the Dinner Pail.
THE men and women doing the work OF
America find conditions getting harder and
harder. They are sinking TO lower and
lower level; il is not their dinner pail.
During the Mckinley administration the
people of Indiana have had to increase
their mortgage indebtedness $50 $40. AS. 1t
is 1t. then? 1t is the dinner pail of the
monopolies. The dinner pail of those men
who eat the bread that is earned by the
sweat of other mems brows; they alone
get any meat or any pie out of that din
ner pail. Does any intelligent man be-
leve that If the monopolies carry this
election that then the trusts will be de-
Ktroyed? Nay, the election of Mr.. McKin-
ley means that conditions will get worse
instead of better.
You ask what will we get II we make
Q change? Let me remind you of this:
Amid al of the utilization and misrepre-
sentation of the last four years no man
In this country has dared to stand up and
say that the trusts and syndicates could
control William j. Bryan. He stands for
what Jefferson stood and what Lincoln
stood for. That is. the great masses of
the American people. The question is.
shall the government at Washington be
run by birds of prey or by the people who
are doing the work of the country and who
make civilization possible?"
Mr.. Altgeld reviewed at length tho
tacit alliance between the present ad-
ministration and the government of
Great Britain. He criticised the presi-
dent sharply for his failure TO extend
sympathy to the Beers and for his
willingness to cede a portion of Alas
ka to England. Continuing. he said:
I'm the spring OF 1898 the democracy
forced the administration to begin a war
of humanity for the relief OF the Cubans.
That war is the browning glory of the
close OF the nineteenth century; never
was there a nobler spectacle. great
people offered its blood and treasure sole
ly for the cause of humanity. That war
was fought TO a successful close, and when
II was over and when the purpose was
achieved, then this administration, with
~ xshf oil an
declare war, used the armies OF the United
States TO begin another war in another
hemisphere. Not for liberty and humanity.
but solely for conquest and for purposes
of subjugation.
I'm February, 1898, two months before we
declared war against Spain in behalf of
Cuba, our consul at Manila advised the
department at Washington that rebellion
was then raging in the Philippine Islands
and that Spanish authority was going TO
be overthrow and that the Filipino peo-
pie were already fighting for independ-
ence. Subsequently We cooperated with
these people. We furnished them arms.
We asked their cooperation against Spain.
They did all the fighting that was done
on land against Spain in the Philippines.
They established government modelled
after ours. Why, even Mr.. Barrett, who
is now supporting the administration. then
declared that it was the best government
that the Islands had had.
Work of FilipinOs.
Eve held Manila and little territory
10 miles square and the Philippine govern
ment and the Philippine army captured
the whole of the Philippine islands took
every Spanish fort and every Spanish SOL
; der. Then at the suggestion of the Brit
ish ambassador and at the demand of the
American syndicates we turned around
and We did the meanest thing that any
nation could be guilty of. We began
war against our allies and for two years
have been carrying on war for the sole
purpose of subjugation and conquest. Bear
In mind that there is no question of ex-
pansion before our people now. The men
VINO talk to you about expansion are simply
trying TO mislead you. Expansion means
development. enlargement and growth.
we nave expanded repeatedly. We ex-
pahued in 1903, when we got the great
country west of the Mississippi; we ex-
pehoed In 1919. when we got Florida; in
10. when we got Texas; in AS. when we
90 New Mexico and California, and in
'ne GUS, when we got Alaska.
., Out In all of these cases il was provided
mat the new territory should form an