Arizona silver belt., 1900-03-15
CAUSTIC FACTS.
Former Governor Altgeld of Illinois on The Plight of
 This Nation.
NoNRoEpoCTRINE sTRANGLEp
The "Swaggering strut of lmreralism Insulting the AltarS of Liberty ''- Battle of 1896 to be Fought
 over Again.

At Detroit on February 26, Ex-Gov- ernor of Illinois, John r. Altgeld, smoke to an audience ot 2j,000 people, and was listened to with exceptionally close attention and was frequently interrupted by ringing applause, es- necially when he denounced the eX- mansion idea as simply a joining with the monarchS in bullying and attack ing weaker nations for purposes ot sooliation. and appealed to his hearers to stand by the American principles of liberty and justice for all.
 The mass meeting was held under the auspices of the Mohawk Club, and the speaker was introduced by c. W. Gleason president of that organi- g3tion. as a representative of the trueSt patriotism. of the sort which refuses tn believe that either the Declaration of Independence or the Consultation are now out of date.
 Mir. .Altgeld spoke, in part. as follows: At the close of the Civil War the farmers of America, could have paid the whole national debt with about fourteen hundred million bushels of wheat. or corresponding amount of other American products. After the Government converted the debt into interest-bearing bonds and went on to q coin basis. twenty hundred million bushels of wheat or a corresponding amount of other American products would have paid the whole national debt. We have now been paving at that debt for thirty-tiye years, besides having paid the interest; yet today il will take more wheat and more oi American products to pay what K left of that debt than it would have taken to pay it at the close of the war. and more even tnan it would have taker to pay it after We had gone onto a con basis. This is what the gold standard has done for us. We are paving inter est on national. state, city. railroad farm and other debts in 70 cent pro duets. when We should be getting sl.
 In 1896 we protested against thl' wrong. Since then the Republican managers have told the country thai three weeks before the election they were defeated: that they saved th' day by raising an alarm. The truth IA they raised nearly Si0.000,00 for cor ruption purposes. We won in tht forum of reason and intelligence We triumphed in the arena of patriot ism, but were borne down by fraud by coercion and by crime.
 This year we are going 10 light thu battle over. In the language of th' great songstress of Michigan:
 "Still truth proclaims this motto
 In letters of living light:
 No question is ever settled
 Until it is settled right
 After the election of 1896 there wa great addition to the worlds suppl. of gold. There was also famine ol three of the worlds continents, whil we had great crops here. We wer called on to feed the world. This tenn porarily lifted farm products aboy the average price level of property The balance of trade was in our favor and according to the treasury statistic there was an increase Of about s21o, OOO, 900, or 10 per cent in the volume 0 primary money in the country. This in connection with the war, shoul' have given and did give Us increase' activity for a little while. It demon strated that our theory in regard L money was correct. Our export amounted to over Sl, BOG, 100000 a yea at gold standard prices. At com 0 bimetallic prices they would hay brought us nearly double this sum.
 PROSPERITY PASSING.
 But no permanent prosperity ca rest on the misfortunes of other Wheat is again down to 50 cents an other farm products range in propoI tion. Gold is again going abroad. w are again having panics, while in pr' portion to the number of inhabitanu our home market is not half q large as it used to be. We are lool ing abroad for markets because W have destroyed our wonderful hon market
 Turning from the economic and II dustria conditions to the arena ( government. we find Washington ar Lincoln dethroned, while the swaggc ing strut of imperialism is insultiI the altars of liberty. The Monr' doctrine is being strangled. The De larationof Independence is sncered a The Constitution is declared to antiquated, and the great doctrine human rights is offensive to the Go ernmcnt at Washington. HaviI grown great by the doctrine that q men are created equal, and that go ernmentS derive their just powc from the consent of the governed, ' are turning our backs on glorious pa and are following old world despotisr in an attempt to govern by-brute fore
 By following the advice of Washln tf,p ,ya haVa hannp,a ba ,,raataSt yyQf