The Lexington intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1901-1949, 1902-05-31

address very short. He was afraid h
could not live up to his repnfa,ion IL
told of a man who had louged to Sc,
Niagara Falls. and at last had a chancI
to VISIT that wonderful place. whcr
he returned home MS friends asked
him what he thought Of the tails. H,
replied that he bad fallen into lh,
hands of the hackmen. aud found tha.
they were so much higher than th,
falls that il made them appear insig.
%niicant. He said be did not know how
to address a class of girls, yet be would
try to tell them something, hoping thai
they would impart the information to
some stupid boy, and that it might
make him a good citizen. He said be
did not deal 10 compliments of alabas-
ter necks, and cheeks that put roses to
the blush, and azure eyes that rivaled
the skies, and lips that were redder
and more luscious than cherries; but
be wanted to make a plain, practical
talk to the young ladies and to the
audience. Woman gets man into more
serapes than his philosophy can get
him out of, and then she sticks closer
to him than any other creature on
earth.
That we now have a free government
is no indication that we will always
remain free. 1t will remain free only
so long as the people remain true to
themselves. The tendency of all legis-
lation now IS to enlarge the powers of
the government and to decrease the
power of the people. The first step
taken toward the downfall of Rome
was the accumulation Of large wealth
in the hands of the few then the land
began to pass from the ownership of
the people, and the fabric of Rome
tumbled down, crushing the inLelli-
gence of the world. | do not deny
any man the right to accumulate
wealth by his own industry and fru-
but | deprecate the law which
takes the wealth from one mans
pocket and confers it upon another.
The United States has such laws. 1t
Is not in accordance with the principle
''equal rights to all and special
privileges to %none,' to take one mans
patrimony and bestow it upon another.
am opposed 10 wealth which is
created by statute. 1t Is we'll to ask
ourselves where we are driltingP If a
rides on the river all day he will
lose all sense OF motion. So we do not
seem to know that we are drifting rap
idly away from our old principles, nor
do we know the extent Of our drift
until we begin to look for some histori-
cal point, and find that we are far away
from it. | want tc warn you now
the aggressions of corporate
0ur fo~refathers were almost
IN despair because there we're eighty
corporations in the state of New York.
one days work of one corpora
lion in New Jersey is equal to all the
eighty corporations which scared our
fathers, and the capital Of one New
Jersey'corporation is equal to the COM
bined capital of the eighty New York
concerns. These corporations are the
of law.
Time was when a young man with
brain and Drawn was independent. He
not have TO put up with insult or
mistreatment by his employer. He
could go anywhere and sell his labor.
But now If a man is discharged from
one factory he finds all the factories
against him. He must put up
the insults of his employer or lose
bis job. These corporations are draw
the life blood Of our industries, and
in a short time will be able to control
every industry in North America. One
corporation last year declared a dIvi-
teDd equal to all the wheat, corn, cat
lie, hogs-all the products of the great
of Missouri. Such institutions
control their employees, and the friends
Of the employees, because these en-
know that If they are discharged
hey cannot get employment in the
line of work. Great wealth is
Give a corporation power to
pass laws, and how long will it be be-
lore it will be seeking to control the
votes of its employesP When that time
comes there will arise an ~aristocracy OF
wealth which will be worse than an
.aristocracy of blood.