Southern Mercury. (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 19, No. 2, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 12, 1899 Page: 1 of 16
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VtLXIX No. 2.
DALLAS, TEXAS, THURSDAY, JANUARY 12, 1899.
SI Per Annum.
let the: watchword be on-
ward.
The Mercury this week reproduces
President L. L. Polk's able address De-
fore the,,Indianapolis meeting of tne
Rational Farmers' Alliance, in 1892.
The tongue which gave utterance to
this famous appeal to all that Is noble
and virtuous in human nature, has
long since been stilled in the silence of
death, but the hope and the spirit
which his words gave birth to still
go marching on to the final victory,
which must surely in the end crown
our efforts with success. Vhe words
and the labors of the great Alliance
leader were not uttered or made in
vain.
Just at this time, when the work of
organization is to be begun anew, on
a higher plane of intelligence and on
more advanced economic ground, the
words of the dead leader are more than
.timely and applicbale at tbis junct -
ure in the history of the reform move-
ment, and should be the means of in-
stilling new life and hope and vigor in
our great work. Conditions, for the
mass of wealth producers ,are Just as
hard now as they were then, and pros-
perity for them is just as far off. The
glittering promises of the political
demagogues are as far from realiza-
tion as they ever were.
The concentration of wealth in the
hands of the very few rich has not
decreased, but on the contrary has in-
creased at a rapid ratio until well
nigh universal poverty stares the mass
of men uncompromisingly "and hope-
lessly in the face with no possible
Ichance of avoidance save through the
complete abolition of all special priv-
ileges, or in a bloody revolution. There
is hope for the masses in revolution,
but none in blind conservatism or sub-
serviency to the oppressive will pow-
er of great riches. Let the watchword
be onward! Let there be no faltering;
no falling by the wayside. The bat-
tle is more than half won now, if We
ran only be made to believe so. As
the great Alliance leader then said:.
"Patiently, submissively and uncom-
plainingly the farmers of the country
toiled and struggled against the ag-
gressive approach of invading poverty
and hoped in vain for aid and succor
at the hand of those to whom they
confidingly trusted the guardianship of
their interests. Addressing themselves
anxiously and earnestly to the cause of
the anomalous condition of affairs and
aided by the light of history they
reached the solemn and deliberate
conviction that these oppressive con-
ditions and environments are due to
the unjust and discriminating national
legislation. Upon the accordance with
this condition, they formulated their
demands in St. Louis in 1889, and leaid
then before congress. These demands
were reiterated and reaffirmed by us at
Ocala, Fla., in 1890, and while that
body was in session, yet they were
discussed with an interest and ear-
nestness seldom given to any subject
in our history. They were advocated
and indorsed by our order with a una-
nimity unparalelled in popular agita-
tion.
"For the first time in history, the til-
lers of the soil, through their accredit-
ed representatives and by petition, ap-
peared at the door of our national cap-
itol and asked for relief. Under the
instructions of ybur body, a bill was
formulated and presented to congress.
While no measure was ever presented
to congress with stronger indorsement
or more unanimity, yet we accompan-
ied It with the following declaration;
We submit this bill with due defer-
ence to the intelligence, judgment and
wisdom of your body. We do not
claim that it is the best or the only
measure through which relief may he
brought to our oppressed suffering,
and distressed people, but we submit It
as as the best we have been able to de-
vise. We would be glad to receive at
your hands a wiser and better meas-
ure. But these suffering millions must
have relief. They ask for bread and
they will not be content with a stone.
They are not asking for charity but
they are demanding justice.
How was that fair, frank, earnest
and reasonable appeal of the people re-
ceived by that body? This first ap-
peal from those who owning only 22
per cent of the wealth of the country,
a large proportion of which is encum-
bered by debt, yet pay four-fifths of
all the taxes; from those to whose gen-
erous but misplaced confidence a ma-
jority of the members of that body
were indebted for their seats—how was
the appeal of the sovereign people re-
ceived?
Was their bill discussed by the com-
zoittee to whom it was referred? No.
Was it reported to either house favor-
ably or adversely? No. Were any res-
olutions offered to the Senate, calling
for a report? No. Was any amendment
to the bill proposed? No. Was any sub-
stitute offered for it? No. What be-
came of the bill and petitions of half
a million farmers asking for its pas-
sage? They were quickly laid away to
sleep the eternal sleep of legislative
death. And what was the answer to
these appeals and petitions? They
■erred only to elicit denunciation, mis-
representation and riducule, slander
and abuse. Virtually, the answer to us
was: 'You do not know your needs, go
back to your homes—work harder and
live closer and keep out of politics,
and all will be well.' Was it just? Was
it generous? Was it kind? Was it re-
spectful to thus spurn this first and
earnest appeal of an oppressed people?
Have these men who are indebted to
the people for whatever of prominence
and official dignity and power they
may enjoy— forgotten that they
are the servants and not the masters
of the people? After a session of thir-
teen months, employed for the most
part ,a8 the record Indicates, in party
maneuver for party advantage, and
expending one billion of the people's
money, eight hundred million of which
came from the sweat and toil of these
same rejected and insulted petitioners,
that body adjourned, leaving not one
single act on record for the benefit of
the people.
"In the light of a plain lesson of
history, that all the civilations wor-
thy of the name that have perished a-
way; perished under the iron hand of
the money power; that those who con-
trol the money of a country control the
destinies of its people, is it not our Im-
perative duty as a people to establish
such barriers and limitations as arrest
the evident and alarming tendency to
centralize money in this country?
"This was one of the grand purposes
of the grand measure presented to
congress. It uld have supplanted
our unjust and oppressive national
bank system by securing to the peo-
ple an adequate amount of money dl-
dect from the government at low rates
of interest to meet the legitimate
demands of the country. But in jus-
tification of the silent contempt which
characterized the reception of this
measure, and with the artfulness of
sophistry and adroitness of skilled
demogoguery, assaults—vehement and
personal assaults—on its minutest de-
tails have been substituted for manly
arguments as to its underlying prin-
ciples. But the discussion and investi-
gation of our demands have added
constantly to their favor and strength
until to-day they stand as the unquali-
fied expression of the sentiment of our
order in thirty-four states of the Un-
ion.
"More and more are the great mas-
ses of the people learning to compre-
hend the duties, functions and powers
of the government as their general
agent to isstie the people's money to
corporations at a cost of one per cent
and license these corporations' to loan
It to the people at a coat of 8 to 24 per
cent. We believe with John C. Cal-
houn that the people should not be re-
quired to pay interest on government
credit while said credit can be extend-
ed to them without interest. We be-
lieve with Thomas Jefferson that the
power to Issue money should be tak-
en from the banks and restored to the
people and to congress, to whom it
rightfully belongs. We believe, not
only with James G. Blaine, that the
one defective element in our national
bank system is that it requires the
permanence of national debt as the
basis of its existence. But that any
such system inherently false and
wrong cannot be justified on any prin-
ciple of justice or equity.
"Touching our present system we
entirely agree with the late Secretary
Windom in his last utterances on tne
subject when he said that financial
'disasters have always c^ne when un-
usual activity in business has caused
an. abnormal demand for moving our
crops.' There will always be,' said he,
'great danger at those times under
any cast iron system of currency as
we now have.' We believe the strong
language of the Monetary Commission,
appointed in congress in 1876, is fully
sustained by the experience and finan-
cial history of all the past. (Page 10 of
this report says: 'An increasing value
of money and falling of prices have
always been and are more fruitful of
misery than war, pestilence or fam-
ine.') A shrinking volume of money
and falling prices always have had
and always must have a tendency to
concentrate wealth; to enrich the few
and Impoverish and degrade the many.
This tendency is subtle and porten-
tious throughout the world to-day,
"We believe that Abraham Lincoln
could have uttered no truer prophet
had his pen been guided by Inspir
tion when he wrote: 'The money pow- ,
er of the country will endeavor to pjto- $
long its reign by working upon '
prejudices of the people until all%
wealth Is aggregated iu a few
and the republic destroyed.'
'"The constitution declares that con-
gress shall have the power to regulstt^
commerce among the several states;
What are the essential elements and
factors of commerce? Money, trans-
portation and the transmission of in-
telligence. Does congress regulate
these? Does congress regulate money?
Does it regulate the value or volume
of money? Organised capital demanded
that congress should degrade and des-
troy our legal tender currency and es-
tablish In Ilea thereof national banks
of Issue, which ihould be based on in-
terest bearing government bonds: con-
■fici*
mm
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Park, Milton. Southern Mercury. (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 19, No. 2, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 12, 1899, newspaper, January 12, 1899; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth185785/m1/1/?rotate=270: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .