Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1904-09-16
THE ONWARD SWEEP OF POpULISM

the hook, It is merely question of
catching the voter, and winning the
Office
Dropped the Income Tax
A few .icars ago they were clamOr-
ing for the income tax. What has be-
come of that demand? Who told them
to drop It? The plain people Of Amer
lea did not. The masses Of our people
are in favor OF such tax, almost
unanimously. The corporation kings
who are financing the Parker cam
paign are naturally opposed to the in
come tax. 1t has dropped out of sight.
By whose orders?
A few years ago the democratic
party went back to its historic position
uron the question of national banks,
and proclaimed the old doctrine of
Jefferson and Andrew Jackson that the
government should retain in Its own
hands the sovereign power to create
money.
What has become Of that doctrine?
What did they mean when they re-
proclaimed it in 1896? Controlled as
they are by Wall street bankers, they
meant in 1896, when they made the
declaration just what they mean at
the present time when they do not
make it. They mean to uphold the
powers and the privileges and the
profits of the national bankers, over
whelming proof of which is to be found
in the fact that when the national
banks came to congress in 1902 asking
to be rechartered for a term of years
not single democrat in either house
or senate made an attack upon that
system which Thomas Jefferson SOL
emily declared was Of greater hostility
to the spirit Of republican government
than a standing army.
Why Dwell on Democracy's Mlsdeeds?
You may ask why do consume more
time discussing the democrats than in
speaking of the republicans. My reply
is: It's an easier and quicker job to
strike an open enemy right between
the eyes than it Is to tear off the mask
from the face Of pretended friend
and show him to be the hypocrite that
he is.
The great mass OF the people from
whom l have entertained the hope of
support are in no danger of voting the
republican ticket. They know that the
republican party stands for class legis
lation. They know that it stands for
national banks, corporate wealth and
special privileges.
No MISLEADING Republicans.
Hence have no fear that the people
to whom I shall appeal will make any,
mistake about the republicans For
know they will do as I shall do-lght
the republican party will all the power
that is in them. But the national DEM
ocratic leaders, pretending to be in ia
vor of Jeffersonian principles, when at
heart their purpose is the same as that
of the republicans, hope to misead
those millions of voters who will al
ways be found voting for Jeffersonian
principles unless they are deceived.
Speaks for Populists.
1 speak tonight for the populists-a
people who have been ridiculed, mis-
represented, vilified in every way
known to political warfare The art
list with his picture. editors with their
pens, book writer's and pamphleteers.
have pursued us with a persistent
cruelty which has not been known in
this land since the passions of the civil
war died down. Our leaders have been
caricatured until they seem to be mon
strosities. Our principles have been
burlesqued until they appeared to be
the vagaries of madmen, headed for
chaos
Tonight l shall do what I can to
make you understand us better. do
not speak for the lordly magnates of
class legislation. do not speak for
these who for one hundred years have
stood at the doorways of national leg
islation begging for special favors.
No!
Pleads for the Tollers.
The men whose cause would plead
before the bar of American public
opinion are chiefly those who toll in
the hundred different fields of industry.
and who have never lifted their voices
to ask anything of this government
except Just laws and honest admins
tration.
They are the meh of the mine, the
mill, the shop and the field. They are
the obscure toilers who in time of
peace send pulsing through the veins
OF commerce the rich blood of pros
perity. They are the men who in time
| VI wal opIlH6 iuIO Iuo udIllc lluo az
the tap of the drum and with patient
feet follow the march and with fear
less heart make the charge upon which
is based and builded the worldwide
fame Of your commanders to whom
you rear monuments in the open places
of your cities. am not ashamed OF
these men. You will not find them as
a rule housed amid the luxuries and
elegances of life, but as rule you will
find them in the humble walks where
men are still earning their daily bread
in the sweat of the face.
You will find them in the shop where
the anvil rings; In the mill where the
spindle huns. You will find them in
the wheat fields of the west, where, as
far as the eye may reach, runs the yell
low harvest in waves Of gold. You will
find them on the farms of the south
the dear, old south!-where the cotton
blossom, white and be-dlamoned with
the morning dew-drops, bushes and
becomes as pink as the rose under the
kisses of the midday sun. No, | am
proud to speak for these men and
proud to proclaim their creed