The farmers' union., June 25, 1891, Image 1

About The farmers' union. (Memphis, Mo.) 1891-1895

Image provided by: State Historical Society of Missouri; Columbia, MO

                
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VOLUME I.
MEMPHIS, MISSOURI, THURSDAY' JUNE. 25, 1891.
NUMBER 21
, T Tt
J
I. DUNNO AND I. KNOWIT.
I. Tmnmrntarted out on a niemomblo trii
Wflh a valiant romptmion, I. Knowit ;
"Let us feel our way slowly,' suys olow I.
Dnn-
no,
X. Knowit snys: I.et us just go it !"
And ono would fast nni one would go slow
Ilitbia trip of 1. Knowit nnd slow 1. lMiiino.
X. Diinno picked his nay. felt aliout with Ilia
rune.
And CHrefuUy tested the brlittfes :
I, Knowit duHiu-tl on like- a Into esj'reps train,
Over lij-itintniiiK and river., nnd ridges;
HoliHikcil li:ck and crio.1 : "Cii't amove oil, old
low!"
Oil, I'll go my own jog," sni.l old slow I. Dnuno.
1. Knowit rot tnngli-d nnd lost in the swniup
Anil well-nih Kubnu ix;ed in tho mire;
I. Pmmohe fuund out. :n hi., It inurely loinp,
Thnt tbetn'onud wiiafoo --oft and went higher;
'I'll soke wi;li i:iy enne wherever I ;:o.
Aud .stub alons vaj"," ee.id slow" 1, lnnno.
I. Ktmvit ernwled oi:t nU covered wiihmud.
And 1':!Ht1 und buttered with bruises;
Hays bo: "A fellow- wiib fire in bis blood
fnn duff in just wherever ho ebooes."
'"1 is Ivtter to o kinder mod r.ite mid slow
And not j;'t banged sad battered;'' said glow
1. lUlliUO.
I. Putino tr.nvd. d slow, but lie got far ahead
f the rapid onrusiier, I. Knowit.
X. Iunorin said; Let us carefully trend."
I. Knowu till said: "I.'-t us o it."
I. Knowit brought "P in i he swiiinpof Ilontenre ;
I. Duimo re:ubed the beautiful l.md of Uot
t liero.
-S. it'. iW in Yfi,,,;- Hl-i,h;
BAFFLED.
The sun dropped into tho sen ; long,
fluttering banners of cloud, red as
blood, streamed upward toward the
zeuith; a litt'e wind shivered over the
glossy wafer. Tin; oars of the boat
men six gigantic fellows in uniforms of
blue and white linen made a rhythmic
splash in the silence. Mine. D'Erloff
leaned back oil her silken cushions, un
der the white anmg, at;d looked off
into the tlaming Ve-t. Without mov
ing her eyes from the gold and orange
nnd crimson blaze, she Mid to the man
beside her in ealni accents:
"Kindly cease fixing your gaze upon
tuo. it irks iuo. It grows lUOnotoll
OUS." "Lena!"
"And do not call me by my namo,"
she rou tin ued as before. "I never gave
you permission."
The man's fallow cheek grew paler.
His dark eyes emitted a sudeu Hash, un
der their thick brows.
"Can no devotto.- w in ycu? Can no
man move you no man save that cold
livered, blond stripling of an Ameri
can?" He had gone too fur. The woman
turned upon him and half raised tho
jeweled handle of the parasol she
held, us if she would have struck him.
He met her ;aze untlinching. At that
instant the bout rounded a verdurous
promiutory of the coast and they came
in sight of the first traces and garden
walks of the D'Erlofl villa.
On the terrace, their backs turned to
the advancing pleasure craft, were two
figures. Mrac. d'Erloff and her com
panion saw them at the same instant.
"Ah! Meester 1'benix!"' said Arville
in an indescribable hone. '"Speak of an
angel "
The womau on the siiken cushion bad
not stirred. All life in her had become
concentrated in the glance of the jewel
like eyes. The second figure on the
terrace was that of a girl in a silver
gray dress ; a figure slight and almost
as tall as Mine. d'ErloiT's own. Against
the collar of the silver gray dress there
hung a schoolgirl braid of flaxen hair.
The wan, who wa3 tall aud blonde also,
had just raised the hand of the girl to
Lis lips.
Ten minutes later the pleasure boat
swung softly up to the white water
stairs of the villa.
Mme. d'Erloff stepped out. Her
companion, bowing low, stood with un
covered head, that smile still beneath
his black mustache. A glance that
wa3 like steel clashed against his.
"You were going?" said Mme. d'Er
loff. "I don't wish you to go. Follow
me."
The smile grew deener. He followed.
She swept in through, the long, open
window, against which the thin curtain
swayed in the perfumed breeze. That
palpitating, changing red was still in
the West. She sunk on a divan and
turned her eyes i full upon him. She
spoke very slow ly, very clearly ; her
voice had not a tremor.
"I wish to be revenged. Do von
hear?"
They measured each other an instant,
The smile had died from the Chevalier's
lips. Unco more a slow pallor had
come over his swart cheeks. Not a pal
lor of fear, of apprehension ; a pallor of
expectancy, of deerate determination.
She made a motion that was like a
ahrug.
"You have always said that you were
my slave. That you would die for me,
if necessary. Well, no one asks you to
die. It is a smaller service that I want.
Prove your devotion."
In her forced calmness, almost non
chalance, there was something terrible.
He who knew the fires of jealousy, of
revenge, of insaue passion beneath
that icy chest, made one short step for
ward. "Whatever you ask of me I will do,"
he muttered, below his breath. "But
I expect my reward. I do nothing for
nothing."
She bowed her head.
"I acquiesce in the condition."
She motioned him imperiously to a
seat beside her. Thereafter they talked
in tnes low as the wind which stirred
the flowers outside in the pale light of a
rising moon.
To Monica Fenrhyn, the slight, fair,
shy young American compauion of
Mme. d'Erloff, sitting without on the
moonbathed terrace, there came pres
ently a slight step.
"All alone, mademoiselle?" taid the
Chevalier A rville's vibrant voice, keyed
to a softness she iiad not heard in if, be
fore. "For one so yonng and so lovely
it is melancholy. And alone jou were
all the afternoon, also, is it not so?"
"I do not mind loneliness," said
Monica, curiously i;ervons in this man's
proximity, instinctively shrinking away
from she knew not what. Then the
sensitive love of truth in her constrain
ing the words :
"Mr. Fhenix, too, came to see Mme.
d'Erloff, and finding her out, stayed a
little and talked to me."
"Ah, Mr. Fhenix! A charming man."
"He has been very kind to me," mur
mured the poor child, staunchily.
"Ah, mademoiselle,"" said the low
tone so near to her, "who would not be
that?"
"I hear Mme. d'Erloff calling me, I
think," hastily stammered the girl,
moving away.
Mme. d'Erloff, a scarf of lace about
her radiant bronze-gold head, stood in
the window of the great drawing-room,
in which the lights were blazing softly.
"Did I not see you talking to the
Chevalier on the terrace just now. dear
child? Surely ye. He is standing
: there yet. Go back to him. Enter
: tain him a little. I shall have visitors
for the next hour that would only cause
Shim ennui. Go back, chere petite."
i She watched the girl's slowly re
treating form with eyes from whose
veiled depths there suddenly fl up b cil I
out a light keen as the blade of a sword.
The slender lingers wore crushed t i
gcther till the jeweled rings loft inde' '
tations red as blood in the white fle.s
"Meester Fhenix!" announced a ser
ant.
Sho turned and, U tho unbridled
passiou iu a moment under control, !
swept, with her flexile indolence of
motion across the room. Tho soft hand,
so pliant, so steely strong held, his and
drew him a little away. j
"Come; it i? cooler here. Tho lights
make so much heat and glare."
She led the way into a small adjoin
ing boudoir. She unwound t ho laco
from her throat and head with her in
imitable, supple grace aud stood smiliug
beforo him.
"1 sent for you because you had been
here this afternoon and I had missed
you," she said. She leaned a little
toward him and laid her hands upon !
his shoulders. Her warm, perfumed
breath was on his cheek. Her eyes
shone into his like tho stars in the night
outside. Time had been when this near
ness, this caress, would have tilled j
Fhenix witli rapture. Ilo had been long i
iu her toils under her spell. The
awakening had come in part when the
beautiful widow refused to marry him. j
"Why?" ho had asked sharply. She
had thrown herself, weeping passion
ately, on his breast. F.ut he knew j
why. He was a plain American, poor '
at that. Mme. d'Erloff reigned like a
queen now, while in case of a second
marriage she lost by her husband's will
tho colossal fortune which surrounded
her with her prestige of utter su
premacy. Hut if she could not bear to
abdicate all this supremacy neither
could she bear to give up this hand
some, cold stranger who had taught
her heart to beat, and there came strug
gles and recriminations iu which the
woman's complex passiou grew ever
more iulense, while the man's simpler
love drooped and lost its strength.
"1 took Arville that tiresome Arville
wiiU me this afternoon," she mur
mured, "lou do not mind?"
1'henix had acquired a dreary insight
into her machinations. He knew that
her ostentatious flaunting of Arville iu
his face was done to excite his jealousy.
"Iso," he answered a little wearilv.
"Why should I mind?"
She started away from him. She had
not intended to let him know what she
fo'.t, wh it she hud seen. Hut her mask
had dropped from her.
" lou do not mind because you love
thai white-faced chit of a girl! That
dependent! That child whose t.orth
leas services I engaged out of charity.
A compani n for me for me," she
laughed sardonically, viciously. "iut
you tell you that you love her."
Fhenix looked at ' or, turning a little
pale. Then he . made a shrugging mo
tion. "What folly! I have talked to Miss
Fenrhyn two or three times. I have
felt great sympathy for her and tried to
be kind to her. -She is a friendless lit
tle American alone in a strange land.
As a countryman of hers could one do
less? Does that constitute love?"
Her eyes held him mercilessly.
"You do not speak the truth," stie
said.
Again he shrugged his shoulders.
Suddenly Mine. d'Erlofl began total
cf other things. As he was about t
leave she held him back.
"Why nut go by the terrace and gar
den ? It is shorter."
As he passed the terrace ho started a
little on seeing Arville i-itting on a
bench there aud Monica l'enrhvn be
side him. No, he was not iu love with
that pretty ciiiid, but he would have
liked to warn her. He had a deop dis
trust of this unctuous Chevalier. This
little American girl whose whole sad
history a spendthrift father, a sickly
mother, theu death, poverty and the
need of earning her bread he had
heard from her confiding lips that after
noon, was very iuexperieuced, very in
nocent. Dumb anger rose up in l'lienix
he wished that ho could protect her.
"Come to me at once. I have a
special reason for asking Your presence,
Lena."
These lines reached Fhenix early one
morning. He had not seen Mme.
d'Erlofl for days. He asked him-elf
sometimes why he did not go away.
His unhealthy passion for the beautiful
widow was a thing of the past. And
still he lingered on sometimes taking
a boat and rowing near the gardens of
the Villa d'Erloff, sometimes walking
in that direction; but never stopping.
He found Mme. d'Erloff enveloped in
a epeiguoir of white silk and lace, in the
boudoir she affected.
"Miss Fenrhyn has eloped with the
Chevalier Arville," she said.
There was a deep silence.
"I do not believe it," then uttered
Fhenix. "1 do not believe it," sho
laughed.
" You are flattering to me yet it is true.
If you had a fancy for the girl, I am
sorry to give you such bad news. My
self, too, I have reason to grieve. I
thought Arville. so absolutely, com
pletely devoted to me and to me
alone."
"There is somo mistake."
"Oh. no, none. The maids found
that her room was as it had been left
last night. And one of the gardeners
remembered seeing her get into a boat
at the foot of the terrace steps with
Arville lat e iu the evening. The mau
thought it was a row just for pleasure
they were going to take. There was a
bright moon, as you know."
Fhenix, blindly, had turned and van
ished through the door.
Mme. d'Erloff sat in the same placfe,
breathing quickly, her eyes darkening
what was that? Was he returning?
Those were not his footsteps. The
portiere was draw n aside. The woman
started up.
"You!"
It was Arville.
"The game is up!"
"What!" she tremb'ed from head to
foot. "What do you mean ?"
"Simply what I say." His eyes were
lowering aud sullen. "Tho game is
up. She got away from me. "
"Idiot! Dolt!"
"She got away from me. It cost mo
a good deal to erauade her to enter the
boat. Then when we landed down
beyond the grounds and sho saw
the carriage waiting "she took fright.
Before we I and my two men could
prevent it she had shrieked out atom'
for help. Some fishermen down th
coast heard her. Two of them were
quite near us dragging in their nets.
How was I to imagine any human so-.d
could be out there at that hour? Tiioy
rnshednp and the whole thing wis
over. By noon to-day the whole
countty-side will know that it was not
an elopement, but an abduction. When
I saw those two men rush up I jumped
into the carriage, leaving the victim on
the highway. My confidential roan,
whom I sent out to gather information
at snnrise this morniug..ays that she
took refuge with the wife of ou of tiie
fishermen.
And vou come here and tell mo all
this? Sho mauo u gesture of dismis- ,
sal, such as that of a goddess sending a
mortal out of Olympus. "Gol" .
He sprang forward, seizing her wrist.
"You sho.iid keep your promi-el ;
lour promise to marry me in return for
my instrumentality in your vengeance.
I did what 1 could. Fate ballled, as I
claim, tho fulfillment of your word."
"Never! Hound! Yon? Never!
Ho held her wrist the tighter.
"Take care!''
She laughed and furiously struck liinl
across the face.
Along tho dusty stretch of the hot
road, shelterless under the mid day sun,
a closed curriago dashed onward. Its ono
occupant, a man, abruptly pushed his
foot against the bell. The carriage
stopped. He sprang to the ground.
He hud just passed the solitary figure
of another man,
Tho tw;o stood confronted.
"Few words are necessary, Mortimer
rhenix," said Atville, as he motioned
for his coachman to drive on, "You
marvel to see roe here and alone? Ah,
yes. I read as much in your face. I
n'so read there that your do not know
tho truth. This little compatriot of
yours whom you love is asspfeas a dove
in a cote. I will tell you where you cau
fin.l her. I will also tell you 'something
else retleetingon our good and beautiful
friend Mine. d'Etlotl". I abducted that
Kirl to please our beautiful friend's
jealous vengeance I was to have had
our beautiful friend's hand iu marriage
as recompense for the deed. She pun
ishes my abortive attempt by withhold
ing the fulfillment of her vow. I hate
her, and I betray her! thus!"
l'lienix dropped his eyes away from
him, glittering with malignity and re
venge fastened on his.
"One thing," he articulated slowly,
"should reach Mme. d'Erloff's ears. I
had not love, only sympathy and friend
liness, for her victim. She has taught
me by her persecution to love her.
This is the result of her schemes."
In the fisherman's hut as the day
was declining Fhenix stood and held
Monica l'enrhyn's hand.
"I must go away somewhere - some
where " she was saying. "Heaven
will guide me."
"Will you go home, Monica with
me?"
She raised her head and a great light
came into her eyes.
1'henix stooped and kissed her. Xav
York Mcn iinj.
4'i em.itton and Crime.
It is said that the Fcnnsylvania Leg
islature will take steps concerning cre
mation in that State so as to prevent
that process from being used to conceal
evience of crime. The wonder is that
laws covering so great a danger have
not already been enacted.
A c impany is getting ready to build
a cermatory in Chicago. It ought to go
on with the enterprise. Cremation is
tho purest, cleanest, most gentle and
kindly mode of carrying out the law of
death which in time effects destruction
of mortal remains by one process or an
other. Conventionality makes buriid
seem more "natural." Ignorant super
stition has grotesquely opposed crema
ti m on the grounds that it will prevent
resurrection of the body as if in the
.housands of .-cars that mankind have
:een in the c "th in countries where in
terment is t' mode of disposal of the
dead any vestige of the individual body
except in phenomenal eases remains;
a", if the miracle of individual! body res
urrection in not as easy of accomplish
ment to deity out of sea as out of land,
out of ashes artificially manufactured in
a cle.inly and heathful mode as out of
ashes naturally produced by the chemi
cal action of earth gases. Or are worms
and vermin more becoming abettors of
heavenly hopes than fire? the great
purifier, for its very name is etymolo
gical ly identical with purity.
Cremation will become the universal
mode of cleansing the bodies of the dead
of impurities and perishable elements
in the tissues, while it wiil preserve the
part that may then be cherished accord
ing to noble sentiment and without d -ing
violence to any creed or belief in
resurrection or in a future existence of
the same physical sheath in which the
spirt has been incased. A cermatory
ought to be built iu this city; aud its
proprietors will themselves be foremost
in securing the enactment of law that
will protect them from becoming in
voluntary abettors or CJiiceaiers of
crime. Chicago Herald.
A Lake of Molten Fire.
The following remarkable account
has been culled from the writings of
Joaquin Miller, and have reference to
tho Volcano of Manna Loa, in the Sand
which Islands:
After visitiug the American Consul
at Honolulu, we started for the volcano,
nnd after a hard, hot climb, reached
the edge of a precipice overhanging a
lake of molten fire, ten miles in cir
cumference and 100 feet bolow us,
This is called by the natives Kiliauea,
or god of fire.
It is the largest active volcano in the
world, and is 0,000 feet above the sea
level. This molteu mass went dashing
ngainst the cliffs on the opposite side
with a noise like the deep and mighty
surges of a stormy ocean. Waves of a
blood-red fiery liquid lava hurled their
billows on an iron-bound headland and
then rushed up the face of the cliff to
toss their gory spray high in tho air.
This restless, heaving lake of fire boiled
aud bubbled, never remaining silent for
a nngle instant. There is an island on
one side of this lake which the fiery
waves attack unceasingly, and with re
lentless fury, as if bent on hurling it
from its base.
On the other side there was a largo
cavity into which this burning mass
rushed with a loud roar, breaking down
in its impetuous, headlong career the
gigantic stalactites that overhung the
mouth of this cavern, and flinging uu
the liquid material for the formation of
new ones. It is terribly grand, mag
nificently sublime; but no words can
adequately describe such a scene, aud
no power but that of Omnipotence pro
duce it.
11b Knew a Trick.
The owner of a New Jersey pottery
booted a tranm off tho premises for .isk-
: ing for 10 cents. The tramp bought
a pound of sulphur and managed to
'eed it into a burniugkiln, and the re
mit was that SfiOO worth of high ari
pottery lcfn 1 to glaze. The only
consolation t -e owner had was the
knowledge th .i, he had saved 10 cents.
King Omoeu, an African sovereign,
has gone over to the shades. He leaves
seven hundred and six widows and a
large family of children. His eldest
son though of short experience, is be
coming an adept iu the marriage busi
ness, he has four hundred and twelve
wive. 4
ExiioRTEn Brother, do you want tc
be saved? Young Broker (abstnt
uiiadedly) Anything iu it?
"
TIIE GREAT SPEECH
MADE BY IGNATIUS DONNELLY
OP MINNESOTA,
At tlic Kutifienlioll Meeting in Cineiiimiti
4n tlut Work of tlie IVoples Party- II i
Ail vice to rreriare for tho (Jicul Con
vention of I t'll. I Sil.'i.
The Cincinnati 'omiiicr-irl-;n:t'ttf'
reports the speech of Ignatius Don
belly at the meeting held on the even'
ing following the close of the great
conference of February 1'.:', saying
nmong its prefacing remarks that "his
effort was an excellent one; he was
seriously in earnest, and from the
standpoint of the people's party his
speech was a groat success. Chairman
K. M. Davis stepped forward and in
troduced the Hon. Ignatius Donnelly,
who came to the desk and spoke amid
great applause :"
Mil. Chairman, Lapif.s axu Okxtlk
iviEX! We are here in the closing hours
of the most remarkable convention that
has ever been held in the history of
Our country, llemarkable not only in
numbers, but in the splendid and
magnificent enthusiasm that appeared
in all the proceedings of the conven
tion, and, more than that, in the won
derful unanimity and solidarity of
mind that was represented in all our
proceedings. Yer.v few things, my
friends, have struck me with more
force than a little incident that took
place in tin opening of the convention,
when a reverend gentleman was called
upon to open the convention with
prayer. At the close of his prayer he
repeated the words of that wonderful
invocation that cau never become com
monplace, and as he proceeded the
audience, not loudly, not rudely, but
in suppressed tones, followed him until
it seemed as if all that vast body was
praying together to the source of all
good for relief from the evils that en
compass our country. It showed how
decp iu the moral nature of the people
this revolution is builded. It showed
that it was not the flippant outgrowth
of political design or cunning, but that
it came from the hearts of a great, true,
faithful, long-enduring, long-suffering
people, and that the very spirit of God
seemed to have descended upon the
proceedings of that body.
Alongside of this singular nnd ex
traordinary spectacle was the scene
witnessed this nfternoon. No such
scene has ever before been exhibited
within the walls of anv convention hall
the wild enthusiasm, the sight when
representatives of the north and south
stood together, in the presence of this
great convention ntid shook hands over
the bloody and buried memory of the
past, AVe realize, my friends, that it
was the province of this convention,
this movement toobliterate the records
of the past--that it is its province to
wioe Mason's nnd Dixon's line from
the geography of this country. Ap
plause, j
Hut beyond all these there was pres
ent in attendance Upon this convention
n gentleman representing, in fact the
leader of, the colored alliance of the
south. The members Were not here,
for they nre poor and struggling! but
that gentleman stood here in behalf of
1,000,000 negro voters in the southern
states members of the colored alli
ance. We can see from this move
ment, and we can also see that here,
likewise, the alliance movement is
working for the betterment and puri
fication of our country. The
south has long been disturbed by the
threatening dangers of political divis
ions, based upon the line of color; over
the whole country, like an incubus, has
hung the dread of a race conflict, a
conflict that if precipitated tnnst out
parallel any of the terrible calamities
of history. The alliance movement,
going among these colored people, em
bracing them with its membership,
divides up the colored vote of the south
between the alliance and the old re
publican party, and in so doing it will
wipe out the color line from the politics
of the south. So that, my friend, we
can see a new movement, based upon
the declaration for remedial measures
for the redress of grievances, is not
only working for the benefit of the
farmer and the laborer of the north,
but is working for the benefit of our en
tire country, eliminating the last traces
of that terrible civil war, removing that
great danger of race conflict which has
hung suspended these many years over
a large part of this confederation of
states. And, my friends, we hail it n8
an auspicious movement. We can be
lieve that the same line of prayerful
consideration which went up from the
muttering lips of all these thousands
at the opening of the ceremonies, that
the same line of connection has de
scended from the heart of the Most
High God, and is blessing aud inspir
ing this movement. We may for a
time forget our duties as citizens, for
get our duties to civilization, but when
the pressure of oppression and injus
tice becomes so strong that it can no
longer lie borne when the power of
self-government inherent in the breast
of all this great white race, rises up
despite all opposition and all confusion,
nnd we prove again, as the race has
proved many times in its past history,
that it is capable of self-government,
and this movement this gigantic
movement that has spread over all the
prairies and fields aud cities and ham
lets of this land from the Atlantic to
the l'acifio - this movement is inspired,
as I have said and as I earnestly be
lieve, by the will of God, who designed
and it tended that this republic should
not perish. A voice "Amen," and
applause.
lie did not reserve this great conti
nent and keep it clear of the swarming
masses of population that in nil parts
of the world were in the occupancy of
such great fertile tracts of country.
but left it a wilderness for this mighty
white race to settle upon, whose hand
has been manifested iu every stage of
our history. I say that great God does
not intend that this august civilization
should go down under the brutal"' feet
of a mob of brutocrats. A voice
"Amen," and applause. Tho same di
vine power that saved us in our infancy
from the overwhelming strength of the
mother country, that brought victory,'
union, peace and reconciliation out of
our civil war. does not intend that the
nation should be destroyed. A voice
"No."j Docs not intend that our pro
ducing class should be reduced, to
servitude and the wheelsof time turned
backward and conditions established
here in this land that are common
in the old continents of the world.
This republic is Go-4's experiment.
Applause. This republic is a part of
the mighty process of evolution which
the philosophers preached to us. "We
can not go down.. And what are the
evils we. complain of? , Why, my
friends, the tongue of men, nay, the
tongne of angels, could scarcely de
scribe the cop'';'"ii that have been
forced upon this American pcoirle in
the last thirty or fort v years, Whv,
think of it. Turn vour minds and.
your memories back to that great slate
of New York the Empire state, us it
is called gridironed with railroads,
rich in wealth, possessing tile greatest
cities ou the continent, settled for
hundreds of years by a most energetic
ami industrious people what do we
find? Why State Assessor Wood, the
official whose business it is to know
the condition of property in that state,
in an official report, not iu a stump
speech, not in a political utterance,
but in tho cold and unimpeached de
claration of an official report as state
assessor of the state of New York,
makes, in this latter end of the niue
teentuvecntury, the astounding declar
ation that, at the rate at which the
people are being wiped off the face of
the lands in that state by mortgages,
foreclosures nnd executions, that it
will be to use his exact language
but a few decades, that is to say forty
or fifty years, when every farmer in
this great commonwealth will hate
ceased to own the land which he, oc
cupies and will be a tenant nt the will
of the landlord, like the cotters of
Scotland or the poor peasants of Ire
land. ' Applause.
Now, my friends, there is no deny
ing of this statement. If put alone we
might think it was exaggerated. What
do we find in New England? New
England, that claims to lie the birth
place of liberty on this continent,
settled by a mass of intelligent nnd
energetic body of yeomanry ; settled by
the men who fought iu the battles of
the revolution. What do we find of it
thereto-day? Why, its fertile fields
are waste places; the states are at
work trying to import people from the
down-trodden peasantry of Europe to
once more occupy the deserted fields;
the land that once maintained a happy
and prosperous population, are now
being bought up by the millionaires
of the country for the establishment of
deer parks; and Austin Corbin, after
having made his fortune out of the
mortgages on the farms of the people
of the west, I see now proposes to pur
chase thousands of licres of it and im
port wild boars from the forests of
ilussia, and upon the sril of New Eng
land establish a hunting park, to
which he can invite the aristocracy of
the old world. Why, my friends, can
you deny these facts? A voice, "No."j
Are they not know n to all men ?
Why, the census bureau gave out a
short time since that the lust census,
taken a few months ago, proved that
m the state ot jowa--anu no
more fertile Bection of country lies out
side of doors on God's footstool than
Iowa, no more moral, religious or hon
est population can be found anywhere
in this Nation and yet in this State
of Iowa there are mortgages, accord
ing to the U: H. census, of two hun
dred million dollars. In some the
per capita of mortgage debt is from
258 to .2f8 for each man, woman and
child, including the infant in the
cradle: and when we turn to the
south, why that same census shows in
the state of Alabama the mortgages
amounted to ninety-one million dol
lars. Mhese facts came out from the
census bureau, and then they shut the
door and refused to give out anymore.
The revelations were too startling and
horrjble ; and I see by one of out p,t-pei-s
that wheh they Were written to
for additional facts on this important
subject they declined to give them.
Is there not a necessity for the Farm
ers' Alliance nnd for the Feople's
party of America? (Applause. i But
what have our old political parties to
say? What hnV they been doing for
this country? Why, keeping up bitter
sectional feuds to distract the people
that the Work of plunder might go On
without interruption.
They have a game in Spain called
bull-fighting. They form a large ring,
the people sitting on the oittside look
ing down upon it. They lead a bull
into the ring, torture and madden him
by arts with which they ore familiar
and when he is in the proper state of
rage a horseman enters the ring and
begins touching him Up with a spent'.
The bull becomes excited and charges
after the horseman who retreats and
circles around aud so the sport goes
on to the entertainment of the popu
lace. But occassionally it happens
that the bull is too fast or to furious
and he lunges at the horseman so that
his life is in danger, and when that
crisis is reached there are a lot of
light-limbed fellows sitting around on
the fences whose business it is to rush
into the ring and shake a red cloth in
the face of the bull diverting him from
the object of his pursuit, and when
the audience has been sufficiently en
tertained the matador gives tl(o final
stroke and ends the sport arid bull to
gether. Now this is the kind of bull
fighting we have had in America these
many years. (Applause. The Ameri
can bull, tortured with poverty,
weighed down by injustice and agon
ized by suffering, makes a tierce lunge
at its enemy, but just as he is about to
transfix him the right-limbed politi
cians who sit uin the fences of tfiem
closure jump into the ring and shake
the bloody shirt before his face.
Lausrhter and applause.) And when
its sport is over the bull is dead.
Applause. ' . -
Now, my friends, it is time to put a
stop to all this. 1 am a northern man,
an old republican, was in congress dtirJ
ing the war, voted for the appropria
tions to carry on the war. All my
feelingf nnd sympathies were on the
side of the Union and on tho side of
the north, and upon the question of
slavery I have never yet seen any
catise to change my mind. I believe
that Abraham Lincoln was right when
he said that if slavery was not wrong
nothing was wrong. But, my friends, ,
the war is over a generation ago. Why
are its memories and passions perpetu
ated? Why, for the purpose of carry
ing on the mighty game of plunder
Applause), the game of plunder which
haf brought the producer close to the
edge of bankruptcy ami ruin. The pro
cesses that have filled up, are now fill
ing up the Facifie states and Montana
and Idaho with the blasted and ruined
farmers of this old country. The con
ditions that have brought lalwr to
such a state that it is but a trifling
degree above the barbaric conditions
of the old' world.
I remember a friend of mine, iu
whose word I have perfect confidence,
telling me that some years ago he
visited the mining regions of Fennsyl
vania, and early one morning he went
out of curiosity to the mouth of a coal
pit when the miners were descending
to their work to that long, hard,
dangerous work in the ,lowels of the
earth at the risk of death and at the
cost of snffering they were able to
wring out a mere fragment of a living, -and
he said as they went into the pit-
mouth the tin ket'". carried by one of
them which contained his dinner that
was to maintain his life and muscular
strength in their dark depths, the lid
of that kettle happened by accident to
come off, and my friend looked down,
beheld the dinner of that American
citizen. What was it? Was it the
roast beef and plum pudding of old
England? Was it even the good pork
fend beans of the. western farmer? No,
sir ; that American citizen was descend
ing to his toil, and his dinner waa two
cold boiled potatoes; that is all he got
out" of life. That was all hi was to
get out of the American constitution
and the Declaration of Independence,
and the victory of our armies and the
glories of Ourllag, j Applause.
Now, my friends, this is all wrong.
We live iu tire midst of a gigantic civ
ilization, ft civilization that God di
rected, a civili7.atiou.that has been
lifting up the human family to unex
ampled heights of power nnd great
ness. We, the people of America, the
laborer, the plain people, as Abraham
Lincoln called them, we nre entitled to
our share in -the blessings of the
abounding civilization. Applanse.)
What is the farmer getting? What is
the workingman getting out of the
magnificent inventions nnd discoveries
which glorify the age in which we live?
Nothing; Tile laborer has got the old
world conditions; almost jsiatic con
ditions. The struggling farmer has
got mortgages,, poverty, suffering and
bankruptcy. Now, my friends, where
have the profits of the world gone'
Why, they have gene into the hands
of a few. What have they done.
Built up an aristocracy that In its
heart of hearts hates liberty nnd de
spises this flag. Applause. What
are they producing? Why the condi
tions in which a Kepnblic can not con
tinue to exist, for you can maintain a
Kepnblic, where a minority are rich
enough to corrupt the ballot box nnd
the poor are poor enough to be com
pelled to sell their manhood. Ap
plause The republic originated from the
common jicople. The men who framed
our government were men in home
spun. The men who fought in the
great revolution were clad in deer
skins; there were no millionaires
among them ; there was no great wealth
anywhere. Now, while we do not want
to go back to homespun and deerskins,
we claim, we insist, that we shall have
our share of the blessings of that civil
ization which God has given in these
latter davs of the world's history.
Applause. And that demand is just
and rip-lit, and whv should it be
changed? Whv should it be denied
us by invoking the memories of the
war ? Now, as I said before, I am an
old republican, a northern man, from
the extreme northern tier of states, but
say tins,, my mends, that while we
think the south was wrong in invoking
the terrible goddess of civil war m
their land, vet we do see clearlv that
it was no criminal outbreak that made
that rebellion. It was by men who be
lieved from the standpoint of their
education that they were right, nnd
thev brought to the defense of their
principle" a courage, a heroism
chivalry ?uch as the world has hardly
ever seer! before, Applause.
For all those noble qualities the
people of the north can be proud. It
would be a disgrace to us, my friends,
if one-half of the territory of this
country had been inhabited by a caitiff
race. Their courage nnd heroism is
part of the heritage of American glory,
and the heart of America I say it as a
northerner and an old republican the
heart of America is big enough and
generous enough to enshrine iu the re
cesses of its tenderest memories, not
onlv the names of Grant nnd Lincoln,
but the names of liobert E. Lee and
StonewallJackson. Applause j And
as we pass away from that dark and
terrible time, clearer and clearer will
the American people see that we must
give np the recriminations of the past.
Applause
And oh, what a glorious sight it was
here to-day, when, on that platform,
we saw the representatives of north
and south, under the waving banners
of the greatest republic and greatest
government on (tod's earth applause
shake hands across the bloody chasm
and renew- the memories of Bunker Hill
and Yorktown. And, my friends, never
has there been witnessed such a scene,
as grand in enthusiasm as that which
then presented itself. Tho war is over.
The feelings which accompanied it
must die with it. This whole land
must address itself to tho great econ
omic questions; they must address to
the problem: How can We take the
plunderer from our throat ? How can
we lift up the downtrodden and the de
jected? How can we strike down
these continental evils that oppress
us? W hv, niv' -friends, our
"? Whv. mv' -friends, our national
lebt to-dav, after deducting the sink
ing fund, is considerably less than one
billion of dollars. But what do we
find? Why, we find that the railroad
corporations of the United States have
saddled a debt upon the American
people for which the American people
never received one, cent ; from which
they have derived and will derive no
benefits, a debt, represented by ficti
tious capital and watered stock, which
amounts to four billions of dollars,
more than four times the actual debt
of the country t But for that national
debt we have something in exchange.
We have a redeemed and rescued
nation. We have our flag, high float
ing in the face of mankind, triumphant,
victorious and glorious. We have
union from sea to sea, nnd from the
lakes to the gulf, but what have we
ever got for that bogus debt which
oppresses you? Not one penny not
one penny of actual capital ever was
invested for it. It is fraud, it is rob
bery. (Applause
And vet, mv friends, there is not a
man in this hall, there is not a man in
these I mted States, nor a woman nor
a child that is not levied upon to pay
the interest upon that bogus capital
ization. Some of you may ask how
Why, the bogus capitalization, in
creasing the nominal cost of railroads,
increases their charges for transporta
tion, and those charges are taken out
of the people, upon everything they
buy and upon everything they sell;
and there is no money wo can have or
can earn, we can not draw the breath
of life in this great land without pay
ing tribute to these gigantic rings.
Why, if this was all, it were enough,
in the language of the poet, "to breed
a fever in the lungs of death, and
make an infant's sinews strong as
steel."
But this is not all. These scoun
drels, taking advantage of the money
they wring from us, go into our legis
latures aye, into our very courts and
corrupt our people, poison and taint
and disgrace tho principles of self
government, lefonl the spring of truth
at its source and, prevent us from ob
taining that redress of grievances
which a republican form of government
was supposed to insure to us. W hv,
look at it. We are a republic, We
think we are a free people. We im
agine we have the right to some power,
aud we have congressmen to make
laws for the nation and legislators to
make them for the states; but, my
friends, this oligarchy has developed
something more astounding.
Who is the ultimate jiower in this
country to-day ? Is it congress? Is it
the president? Is it the people? Is
it the ballot liox? No. It is a lot of
judges sitting upon the supreme court
bench at Washington, begowned, sit
ting there the final arbiters of the lib
erties of this country. And how is
that court composed? Why, it is
packed by railroad corporations of this
country in their interests. You cannot
forget the disgraceful event when Jay
Gould dictated the appointment of
Stanley Matthews to the supreme
court, and the very senate was com
pelled to reject him, so foul and dis
graceful was the transaction.
Where are vour poli'ical parties?
Why, on the-ir knees at the feet of the
plutocracy cringing in Wall street for
the largesses and liounties with which
they may carry elections and corrupt
the people These are the men that
leclare who shall be your supreme
judges. What do you say ? Why, my
agricultural brethren, sonu. years ago
the state of Minnesota and I was one
of those interested in the movement at
the time, o brought up before the
supreme court of the United States on
cases that went up from Minnesota the
question whether the legislature of a
state had the power to control the cor
porations created by the state that
has been more than twenty years ago
and we obtained a series of decisions
that in my judgment were second in
importance only to the declaration of
independence, for they declared that
the creature was less than the creator,
that the corporation was less tl m tho
state, and that the state through its
law-mak'ng power has a right to govern
aud control these gigantic corpora
tions. But Jay Gould and the rest of them
have been at work, nnd what does that
court tell us now? Why, only a few
months ago they put forth a decision,
the most important that ever was made
in this country, by which they declared
that the government and the railroad
corporations are twin " sisters of one
birth, equal in dignity and power;
that the state has no power to control
the corporations, but that the state and
the corporations must go into the
courts of law and fight the battle out
before courts and juries.
What does this mean? Why, the
destruction of the very fundamental
principles of our government, Ap
plause What does it mean? Why,
that we are to go as states into these
rotten tribunals, where money too often
its does filthy office, to contend for the
rights of freemen at the hands of courts
and juries. I find, my friends, the
autocrat of Uussia is not a more des
potic monarch in that afflicted country
than that supreme court, and its sub
ordinate courts, are m these United
States to-day.
Now, there was a time, my friends,
when Chief Justice lanev and his as
sociates put forth from that same court
the declaration iu what was known as
the Dred Scott case. But the people
who thought slavery wrong in this
country, did they sit down patiently?
Did they say to that court, You have
the pow-er to do the thinking and the
governing for this great nation? No,
sir; they went on with their agitation
until they had taken position of this
whole government and purified that
court, and that is what we have got to
do to-day in America. Applause.
And tliat'is what this FeoplcB' party is
going to do. Why, my friends, I
would say in conclusion that we must
do it. Applause. J We must do it in
the name of God, and of righteousness
and of American liberty. We can not
stand by and see this republic de
stroyed. How can we do it ? Why, by organ
ized effort, by this system of agitation,
by carrying into the minds of our
friends and neighlwrs the facts and
thoughts that possess ourselves, by
every man making himself a priest and
apostle to preach this faith to the mul
titude ; and I tell you, my friends, I
see the light ahead.
I wrote a book you will pardon me
for alluding to it which attracted
some nttention, in which I prophesied
that if this state of things continued
for another hundred years it would end
in the destruction of civilization, as
well ns liberty, on the face of the globe.
I believe that as solemnly as I Indieve
in my existence. What is the remedy?
Why, just such a movement as you
have inaugurated here to-day. Ap
plause, j
Let us possess the widest toleration
for every honest difference of opinion
in every honest, man. Let us stamp
under our feet the knaves and scoun
drels who would sell out the liberties of
the American people Applause
This is what we have got to do; and
now, my friends, I would say to you as
a parting word, let the mighty enthus
iasm which has filled 3 011 here to-day,
which was manifested in all your pro
ceedings, let it go out north, east,
south and west ; let it go forth in every
hamlet, aye, to every farm house, to
every mill and miue and factory, and
let us all work together; and I lielievo
on the 22d day of Feb., Washington's
birthday thank God for that great
and immortal man ou that 22 day of
Feb., if you do your duty, there will
be a convention held that will have in
it 5,000 representatives of organized
labor and agriculture applause that
will hold in its hand the three potent
powers of destiny, that will sweep this
country anil save this nation, and will
make this banner no longer the em
blem of a land with nine millions mort
gaged homes, oppressed and held down
by plutocrats and scoundrels, but we
will make it indeed, as it should be,
the land of the free and the home oi
the brave I applanse; the land where
every man shall enjoy the fruits of his
own "labor (applause, where every man
will keep in las hands 'J'J per cent. 01
that which he producs; where, in
short, every man may sit under his
own vine and fig tree, with none to
molest or make him afraid, and where,
from the depth of his grateful heart, he
may pour out to the great Maker of
the universe his praise and thanksgiv
ing for this magnificent land, this mag
nificent government, this glorious ago
in which we live.
The Chicago & Alton railway is be
ing boycotted, not by a labor organiza
tion, but by a combination of other
roads, who desire to force it to stop
paying commissions to ticket agents.
As the boycotters are wealthy corpora
tions and their managers, this is not a
conspiracy. K. of L. Journal.
THE TRIO AT CINCINNATI.
An incident on tho birth of th people'
party of the Uuited SUtes. May 20. ISiil I
He stood where the state flairs fluttered.
And the banners were waviinr bright,
1 n the 1-ck of tho IVotnVs Party,
in the hour it saw the UBhU
And he erlei tn the thousands gathered
I'niier the Flajr f the free: r
An ex-t..onrelenit? soldier.
Comrades, beholil in me '."
Then leaped to his side another;
"A Union man am I.
Who tiaMlett against you. tq-nther.
In the bitter days gone by !
"flive us your hand, companion,-"
Your kiss uinui my mouth.
And blest be the i'eople"s Party
That i welding us, north and south''
Hands elasp'd. and kind eyes meeting,
While loud the rafters mn
With the shout f applauding grangers,
A man of color sprang
To the front. and t he iWtime foemen
Oreiv tearful unawares.
As he smiled in their friendly faces,
Aud smote his hand on thiols '.
What time the taMraun ricant
Like heav'nly vision shone.
The platform of the ls,ie
Was made their very own.
And all beheld the marvel
.!; God s own llncer wroucht.
The !rav and the lllne united
With the Hlaek for whom they fought.
A trinity of lovers
That shall re;nem!ered
As lou?; as the triune v'olors
Float o'er the brave and free!
"Tis these. O People's Party!
Shall iead the nation's van,
Pr.el aiming t't all tyrants
The Hrotherhood of Man.
Shall mareh. in raptfrroiis union,
Aeross the wreeks of those;
Old dead ordyinc part !-
That in their path repose.
And. as their noble cohorts.
Triumphant sv.-eep along,
KeformtTijr all abuses.
And rightuiu every wrong.
Glory to (Jod in heaven.
And peace to men below! ' '
' Th Hr. oppress'd. downtrodden
Shalj IdexH them as they k.:
A'r'o.w (.,'. lioHiifHy. in itf. ran'. (.Iinn. I Great
SUPPORT THE REFORM PRESS.
Papers That Arc True to the People
In-
tere-Kt SlioiiliI He Supported.
We are entering a mighty conflict.
The usurpers who have enslaved labor
nnd seized the reins of government,
though comparatively few in number,
are entrenched in office. They have
summoned to their aid all the preju
dices of ignorant conservatism and the
mercenary venality of subsidized intel
ligence. In the battle for the emanci
pation of industry, the press is to be
the most important factor. The great
dailies of the country have almost with
out exception steadily and insolently
opposed all reform measures advanced,
aud a host of lesser satellites through
out the country who move in obedience
to the same forces have echoed their
railings.
Many of the most influential religions
and agricultural journals, which have
hitherto leen admitted as confidential
advisors to the homes of the people are
opening their columns to long disquisi
tions on "honest money" and "class
legislation," and pleading the cause of
"vested rights" and "business interests,"
while insolently refusing old-time
friends and supporters the privilege of
presenting the cause of the people. A
few papers have through many years of
adversitv, struggling against poverty,
calumny and ridicule, been true to the
cause of the great common people.
Ami to-day reform papers are spring
ing up all over the country, many of
them edited with conspicuous ability,
devoting more space and thought to a
discussion of vital issue in one edition
than the so-called "great papers" do in
half a dozen. The duty of all true
friends of reform to lend a hearty sup
port to the papers which fight for their
principles is so plain that it ought not
to be necessary to urge it upon them.
Their duty to promptly withdraw their
support from all papers which resort
to falsehood and scurrilous abuse and
ridicule of reform measures and their
advocates, is equally plain. Support
your friends and refuse aid and sus
tenance to the enemy. Ioira Tribune.
The .System of Finance KeRponMble.
It is not American capital that is
causing the tyranny and oppression of
the masses of this country; it is not an
American system of finance that is
managed so unfairly and unjustly
toward capital and against the people
by the government ; it is not an Ameri
can financial policy that is reducing
the masses to surfdom; but it is Eng
lish capital, English system and Eng
lish policy that has engrafted itself
upon our government that has wrought
all the damage. Most of the syndi
cates havo an American figure head
and an English body. Nearly every
scheme has American manipulators and
English backing. England Wlieved
Bhe had her golden opportunity in the
war between the states, and at once
went to work to accomplish by diplo
macy what never would have been un
dertaken by force Her plans have
been well organized, her schemes well
arranged, and her efforts well directed.
The little figure heads who are the vile
instruments of her management are the
most despicable traitors who ever dis
graced the world; for they are trying
to sell the liberties of their country,
not for a price, but ten per cent, of a
price a mere pittance of the whole.
There should be no patience with this
gang, but still less with their aiders
and alettors, who are foolish fish biting
at a hook with no bait on it. The pur
pose of England is to reduce the United
States to two classes, just as in that
country an aristocracy and serfs.
The policy is working for the consum
mation of the purpose, and unless the
masses shall rise up as one man and
annihilate the hireling traitors em
ployed in this unholy mission it will
be accomplished. Let every patriot be
nt his post ready for the conflict, and
prepared to wield that little instru
ment of jiower the ballot to ' de
throne the conspirators and annihilate
this vile iniquity. Montgomery (Ala.)
Alliance Herald.
For GaicrBor of Iowa,
Reciprocity with countries which do
not want and cannot use onr agricul
tural products is all right enough so
far as it goes, but it doesn't go far
enough to be of any material benefit to
the western farmers. WThat they want
and must have, before they can begin
to pay off their mortgages, is recpi
rocity with countries which are will
ing to double their purchases of Ameri-
tn grain, meat, etc., and pay for the
...ime in commodities which we need.
This sort of reciprocity is free trade,
and we notice that A". J. WestfalL of
the Farmers Alliance, declares for it.
So does the Democrat. Alton, (la.)
Democrat.
Poverty is simply a testimony to the
imperfection of onr social condition;
vice is simply the bloody sweat of
poverty. Religion must begin by im
proving the condition of mankind.
Ignatius Donnelly. -
.1 -