Kansas agitator. [volume], September 21, 1893, Image 1

About Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905

Image provided by: Kansas State Historical Society; Topeka, KS

                
VOL. 4.
KANSAS AGITATOR.
Devoted to the interests of
THE MASSES.
A Fearless, Aggressive, Progressive
Advocate of All Reforms.
THE LAUGH WON'T WIN.
It is the favorite pastime of the
newspaper correspondents t make
sport of the Populists in congress.
If the lying reports were believed,
the Populist voters would be
ashamed of the men they voted for.
The truth of the matter is that,
making allowance for experience,
our congressmen are ahead, either
in wit or oratory, and we have cer
tainly sent to congress no such
chump as Funston. Baker's speech
on silver would be a credit to any
congressman, and it certainly con
tains no such stupidity as Curtis'
speech in which he advocated the
coinage of silver 20 to 1. John
Davis'is better informed on economic
questions than nine-tenths of his
colleagues. "Sockless Jerry" is a
match for any of them in running
debate. Senator Peffer is a constant
thorn in the side of the gold-bug
senators, and he has risen above the
whiskers gibes of his enemies, who
formerly smiled, but now scowl,
when Peffer speaks. We say
nothing about our men from other
states, only that none of them are
drunkards, and all attend to busi
ness. It takes brains to make a Populist,
and any baboon can laugh. The
supposed witty things "fired off" by
the newspapers is. no proof that our
men are dull, and certainly no
argument against our principles ;
and we may add that the time has
passed when the Peoples party can
be laughed to death. It might be
shot to death if the plutocrats had
au army, and doubtless that would
be its fate if nothing was lacking J
but will on the part of our enemies, i
but all the baboons in Africa, as well
as the newspaper baboons of
America, cannot laugh away a single
demand, or detract one iota from the
justice of our cause.
It is the states where the woman
suffrage sentiment is almost un
known chat the age of consent ii
placed at from eleven to thirteen
. eai.
GARNETT, KANSAS, SEPTEMBER 21, 1893.
j SILVER MEN THREATENED.
It is reported that the lives of
Senators Peffer, Jones and Teller
have been threatened, and guards
have be'Mi appointed to watch per
sons going into the galleries. Each
person is examined to see that he or
she carries no explosives, such as
sticks of dynamite, etc
So, v Nat the Wall street-Gold-bug-Cleveland
gang cannot secure
by fair means they are determined
to accomplish by foul means. They
propose to have a gold bug majority
in the senate if they have to hire a
gang of GuiteaiH and Booths to as
sassinate a few silver senators. It is
well that they have a care, however
The people will stand but little
more foolishness.
Had as great per cent. of either
of the old parties voted for the tree
coinage of silver at the ratio of 16
to 1, as did the Populists, Grover
would be hobbling about Buzzard's
Bay, and that wonderful baby wuld
not have been born in the White
lloue ; no would Wall street have
held a devil's carnival over the vote
of the 28, nor would old John Sher
man have risen in congress and bit
terly denounced the millions who
are to day execrating his name. The
Populist vote for the people was
one hundred per cent.
Congressman IIartek, who ap
pealed to old soldiers to stand for
the goid standard because of in
creased value of their pension money,
stood up in congress the other day
and declared that not a member
present could borrow $1,000 dollars.
We presume Harter is right and
no wonder, if all the members are as
dishonest as he. The man who
could make an appeal to the cupid
ity and venality of the old soldiers
is men enough to steal the coppers
off his dead mother s eyes.
Louis of France was shorn of his
head for outraging the rights of his
people, and Charles of England had
no mourners around the" scaffold
when the ax fell. Dictators bring
their own punishment. It may be
death, it may be no more than
wresting from their unholy hands
much abused power, but in either
event, ihe people are justified.
Justice to the greatest number.
THE BOSSES AND DE HOSSES.
Some years since WilliamMahone,
an ex confederate general, was Re
publican U S. senator from the state
of Virginia. Mahone made a good
Republican boss, and the voters were
for a time unmercifully shipped into
line. For a time in Virginia, as in
all Southern states, the colored peo
pie did the Republican voting, and
the white carpet-baggers, and ex
confederates held the oflices. In
one locality, the colored people
rebelled, and held an opposition
picnic, and a colored minister was
chosen for orator of the day. He
portrayed the situation in the fol
lowing language:
"My colored friends, las' night
es 1 slept', I dreamed dat 1 died and
went perambulating up to de gates
ob Ileaben, and 1 knocked on the
doah, and says ole Saint Peter,
Who's dar?' and says 1, 'Pompey
Jones, of Virginy'; and says old
Saint Peter, 'Is you mounted or is
you afoot?' And says I, Ts a-totjt,'
and says ole Saint Peter, 'you cain't
get in.' So 1 turned me sadly about,
and slowly moved down de hill,
meditatin' on de great calamity dat
had befell me, dat how, after all de
years of toil and poverty in de work
in de Lawd's vineyard, 1 was a
homeless wanderer on de steep ob
eternity; and just den I met General
William Mahone on foot, and says I,
'Gineral, whar's you gwine,' and de
Gineral, says he, Ts gwine to
Ileaben;' and says I, 'You cain't git
in, andsays he, 'Why?' Caze you is
a-foot.' De Gineral studied a little
while and says he, Til tell yo, Pom
pey what we'll do: you get down on
all-fours, and 1 will get astride your
back, and we will go up to de gates
and we will bofe get in.' So 1 got
down on all-fours and we went
perambulatin' up to de gates ob
Ileaben, aud de Gineral, he knocked
on de doah, and says ole Saint Peter,
Who's dar?' and says the Gineral,
Gineral WilliamMahone,of Virginy.'
'Is you mounted or is you a foot?' 1
is mounted.' 'All right Gineral, jist
hitch your boss outside, and come
right in."
The colored preacher's illustration
was not only a fair illustration of the
political situatiou throughout the
the nation, now. ihe great com
.
18.
mon people are down on all-fours,
while the bosses are astride their
back, but when the gates of legisla
tion are reached, "de bosses" are
hitched outside, and the bosses
enter the golden gates of Wall
street paradise. There is absolutely
no difference between the two old
parties in the riding qualities of the
bosses, or in the benefits conferred
upon "de bosses." In both cases
the voters are "de bosses" and are
securely tied to the h itching-racks
of promises, to feed on wind, and be
sheltered from the Brorm of panics
by recommendations to renewed
confidence. Hungry and lean "de
bosses " Fat and vicious the
bosses.
The cat plays with the mouse
when it is full. The bosses have
led a long career of deception, and
are now lull ol conceit ana arro
gance, uieveiana anu congress
laugh at the mangled mouse wound
ed by the cruel claws of the gold
power, or covertly sneer at the ig
norance of "de bosses"; but it is a
long lane that has no turning. Some
of "de bosses" are bucking. Ma
hone long since ceased to ride. As
national riders, the Republican
bosses will have to trudge on foot
from this time henceforth, and the
time is not far distant when the
Cleveland riders will be rolling in
the dust.
'De bosses" are breaking loose
all along the line, and are scurrying
away" to pastures green.
The smart alec who says women
will be degraded by going into
politics gives away his own case in
that the degradation of men and the
elevation of women is admitted.
We purify foul air by the admission
of a purifying agent, and we can
purify politics by admitting the
purifying agency of women at the
ballot-box and in our legislatures.
It is the foul air that yields.
If the Apostle Paul taught that
women could not vote or hold office,
thyn he was not inspired. Inspira
tion can not be in conflict with a
plain, every-day fact is that women,
in a hundred ways, demonstrated
her ability to do anything that a
man can do in which only the head
and heart are brought into action.
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