People's Pilot, Volume 4, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 June 1895 — Page 4
4
The People’s Pilot. BY F. D. CRAIG, (Lessee.) m PUBLISHING Cft, (UriHJ Meters. sAvn> H. Y bom am, President Wm. WabhBVRN, Vice President. Lbb E. Glazbbbook. Sec’y. J. A. McFarland. Treas Thb People's Pilot Is the official organ of rike Jasper and Newton County Alliances, and ,'n published every Saturday at ONE DOLLAR PER ANNUM . Entered as second class matter at the post office in Rensselaer. Ind. Beewwlfler, Thurnday, June 13.
People’s Party Platform.
FOUNDATION PRINCIPLES. First.—That the union of the labor forces of the United States this day consummated shall be permanent and perpetual; may its spirit enter into all hearts for the salvation of the republic and the uplifting of mankind. Second.—Wealth belongs to him who creates it, and every dollar taken from industry without an equivalent is robbery. ‘"lf any will not work, neither shall he eat." The interests of civic and rural labor are the same; their interests are identical. Third—We believe that the time has come when the railroad corporations will either own the people or the people must own the railroads, and should the government enter upon the work of owning and managing any or all railroads, we should favor an amendment to the constitution by which all persons engaged in the government service shall be placed under a civil service regulation of the most rigid character, so as to prevent an increase of the powerof the national administration by the use of such additional government employes. FINANCE First—We demand a national currency, safe, sound and flexible, Issued by the general government only, a full legal tender for all debts public and private, and that without the use of banking corporations, a just, equitable and efficient means of distribution direct to the people at a' tax not to exceed 2 percent, per annum to be provided as set forth in the sub-treasury plan of the Farmers’Alliance or a better system; also by payments in discharge of its obligations for public improvements. We demand free and unlimited coinage of silver at the present legal ratio of 16 to 1. We demand that the amount of circulating medium be speedily increased to not less than (50 per capita. We demand a graduated income tax. We believe that the money of the country should be kept as much as possible in the hands of the people, and hence we demand that all state and national revenues shall be limited to the necessary expenses of the government, economically and honestly admihistered. We demand that postal savings bank be established by the government for the safe deposit of the earnings of the people and to facilitate exchange. TRANSPORTATION. Second—Transportation being a means of fxchaHge and a public necessity, the government should own and operate the railroads in the interests of the people. The telegraph and telephone, like the postoffice system, being a necessity for the transmission of news, should be owned and operated by the Government in the interest of the people. LANDS
Third—The land, including all the natural sources of wealth, is the heritage of the people, and should not be monopolized for spec-' ulatlve purposes, and alien ownership of land should be prohibited. All landsnow held by railroads and other corporations in excess of their actual needs and all la n ds now owned by aliens should be reclaimed by the government and held for actual settlers only. SUPPLEMENTARY RESOLUTIONS. Whzbeab. Other questions have been presented for our consideration, we hereby submit the following, not as a part of the platform of the People's Party, but as resolutions expressive of the convention. Resolved, That we demand a free ballot and a fair count in ail elections and pledge ourselves to secure It to every legal voter without federal intervention through the adoption by the States of the unperverted Australian or secret ballot system. Resolved, That the revenue derived from a graduated income tax should be applied to the reduction of the burden of taxation, now levied upon the domestic industries of this country. Resolved. That we pledge our support to fair and liberal pensions toex-Umon-soldiers and Bailors. Resolved. That we condemn the fallacy of protecting Americanlabor under the present system. which opens our ports to the pauper and criminal classes of the world and crowds out our wage earners; and we denounce the present ineffective luws against contract labor and demand the further restriction of undesirable immigration. Resolved. That we cordially sympathize with the efforts of organized workmen to shorten the hours of labor and demand a rigid enforcement of the existing eight hour law on government work and ask that a penalty clause be added to the said law.
Resolvid. That we regard the maintenance of a large standing army of mercenaries, known as the Pinkerton system, asa menace to our liberties, and we demand it* abolition and we condemn the recent invasion of the Territory of Wyoming by the ikred assassins of plutocracy, assisted by federal officers. Resolved. That we commend to the thotrg*t<ul-ctfi|M»i<iee«tiwwf the people-aud the reform preaS-' the legislative system known us the initiative and referendum. Resolved. That we favor a Constitutional provision limiting the office of President and Vice President to one term and providing for the election of senators of the United states by a direct vote of the people. Resolved. That we oppose any subsidy or national aid to any private corporation for any purpose. Nearly every reader of the Pilot has a friend some where who would like to hear from Jasper county. It costs but 2c a week to send them all the news, beautifully printed; why not do it? 7 wenty-five cen s for three months including Coin’s Finan- 1 cial School.
Affidavit of Circulation.
State of Indiana, County of Jasper, ss. Francis D. Craig, Editor of tht People’s Pik>t,does solemnly swear that the actual number of bonafide subscribers to the People's Pilot is 13!#, exclusive of «B subscribers to the Mt Pleasant, low a. Referendum, which list has been combined with that of the People’s Pilot, and that the regular edition of the People's Pl jot printed during the past three months has been 2.000 copies, and that the number of new subscribers received for the People’s Pilot since the Ist day of January. 1895. exceeds 300. F. D. CraiG. Subscribed and sworn to before me this 20th day of May, 1895. David W. Shields. Notary Public.
The Debs outrage is a warning lo the sons of the ‘minute men’ of ’76. A real live gold bug who is not afraid of his colors, is entitled to respect, but the man who merits only contempt is the straddle bug- _____ The baseness and turpitude of the supreme court decision in the Debs’ case—establishing a government by injunction—makes their former infamous record appear virtuous by contrast. It is in vain to expect England to voluntarily consent to an international arrangement for the free coinage of silver when by so doing the cost to her of our wheat and our silver bullion would thereby be doubled.
The people of this country want neither a 50 cent dollar nor a 200-cent dollar, but the 100cent dollar of their fathers, which, without their knowledge or consent, was taken from them by the act of 1873. The issue is sharply defined. Those who do not favor free and unconditional coinage of both gold and silver at the ratio of 16 to 1, making the silver dollar the unit of value as was done under the act of 1792. are for the single gold standard. There is no middle ground. Our mountains contain enough of one of the precious metals to make us the richest nation oi. earth. If the seal on these mountains was broken and silver restored to the rank it enjoyed from the foundation of the republic up to the year 1873 we would speedily enjoy a monopo ly of the trade with India, China and all the South American states.
An international conference would be of value in elucidating the money question, for it would call out the arguments of the ablest students of monetary science in the world, says the Chicogo Record, but that great paper fails to state that those “ablest students of monetary science” would be the paid agents of the money power of England.
TRIAL BY JURY STRICKEN DOWN.
For over a century our government moved along the lines of the constitution and we became great and powerful. Life and property were protected and the law was enforced. The Debs’ decision shows that now we have made a departure, the bulwark of liberty has been undermined, trial by jury has been stricken down.—Gov. Altgeld.
A JURY WOULD HAVE ACQUITTED DEBBS.
Had there been a jury trial the defendants would have been discharged because it was not proved that they had violated any law. This would have been in harmony with the constitution, with the law of the land and with .eternal justice. But the corporations wanted the constitution brushed aside, and the federal judge kindly obliged them, and the supreme court has now approved his acts.—Gov. Altgeld.
Whether the act of 1792 was or was not surreptitiously repealed one thing is certain, the question of its repeal was never made an i issue in the politics of this country and the voice of the people 1 was never taken upon it at the polls or in any other manner, iNo party or faction ever de--1 manded its repeal and the peoi pie, and many senators and repI resentatives in congress at the j time of.its repeal, were ignorant of the fact that it -had -been repealed until long after the passage of the act. The question now is: Will the people approve jan act whereby one half of the metallic currency—one half of the money of redemption—of the ; country was practically stricken out of existence? This act necessarily appreciated the value of the metal that was retained as money and depreciated the i value of the metal that was demonetized. In this way the purchasing power of the metal retained as money was greatly augmented, while its debt-pay-Jing power was not at all in|cressed.
THE PEOPLE’S PILOT, RENSSELAER, IND., THURSDAY JUNE 18, 1895.
SILVER WAS the UNIT IN 1792.
Judge Caldwell of-Iow«, one of the highest authorities on legal and historical matters in the country says emphatically that silver was the unit of value from the act of 1792 to the demonetizing act of 1873. The following are his words: “I have no hesitation, therefore, in saying that I am in favor of the immediate and unconditional free coinage of gold and silver at the ratio of 16 to 1, making the silver dollar the unit of value as it was under the act of 1792.”
FREE-COINAGE RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED.
Resolutions were abopted by the non-partisan convention held in Des Moines last week in favor of the free and unlimited coinage of both gold and silver at the ratio of 16 to 1, without the aid or consent of any other nation on earth, and asking all men of all parties who hold to the doctrine thus expressed to vote for only such candidates for office and members of the next assembly as will pledge themselves to the principles above announced, and to make this supreme issue till the silver dollar of our fathers be fully restored to the people.
A PACKED SUPREME COURT
For a number of years it has been marked that the decisions of the United States courts were nearly always in favor of corporations. Then it was noticed that no man could be appointed to a federal judgeship unless he was satisfactory to those interests. Over a year ago the New York World talked about a packed supreme court and that court has within a few days rendered two decisions which unfor tunately tend to confirm this charge. A week ago it did violence to the constitution and laws of the land by holding that the government had no power to tax the rich of this country. Now it has stricken down trial by jury and established government by injunction.—Gov. Altgeld.
FEARS A POPULAR ELECTION
Read the following from the plutocratic Chicago Record, the conservative, non-partisan, hypocritical sheet, that never expresses its honest opinion on any subject, but by this paragraph it is plain to be seen where it stands on the silver question, else it would not fear the righteous indignation of the people, who are determined, despite the Anglo-American conspiracy, to restore silver: “There is reason to fear that only a small proportion of the men who will be called upon to vote on the silver question in 1896 know what it is all about. The question is one of the most difficult with which political economists have to deal and one upon which no intelligent opinion can be formed without long study. It is unfortunate that such a question will have to be settled by a popular election. ”
EVILS OF CAPITALISTIC POWER
Just see what a brood of evils have sprung from the power of capitalism since 1870. 1. The striking down of over one-third of the money of the world, thus crushing the debtor class and paralyzing industry. 2. The growing of that corrupt use of wealth which is undermining our institutions, debauching public officials, shaping legislation and creating judges who do its bidding. 3. Exemption of the rich from taxation. 4. The substitution of government by injunction for government by the constitution and laws. 5. The striking drawn of trial by jury. Never has there been so much patriotic talk as in thelast twen-ty-live years, and never were there so many influences al work strangling republican institutions.—Gov. Altgeid.
DESTROYING THE LOVE OF LIBERTY.
The American people crushed the slave power, they washed its stain off our flag and saved our institutions. Can tihey Yescue them again? Many say yes. but they have not reflected that the crushing force which how confronts them is greater than was ever the slave power. Besides slavery itself was sectional and in the end it was possible to unite the rest of the country against it. But the corrupt money power has its withering finger on every pu so in the land and is destroying the rugged manhood and love of liberty which alone can carry a people through a great crisis. What then is the situation today? For over twenty years foreign and domestic capitalism has domin-
abed. “It sits in the white house and legislates in the capitol. Courts of justice are its ministersand legislatures are its lackeys.” And the whole machinery of fashionable society is its handmaid.—Gov. Altgeld.
A GOVERNMENT OF LAW IN THEORY.
The provision of the constitution ‘That no man shall be deprived of bis liberty without a trial by an impartial jury’ is practically wiped out by this decision of the United States supreme court in the Debs’ case and the theory that ours was exclusively a government of law is now at an end, for every community is now subject to obey any whim or caprice which any federal judge may promulgate. And if federal judges cun do this then R will not be long until state judges will follow their example. The constitution declares that our government has three departments, the legislative, judicial and executive, and that no one shall trench on the other, but under this new order of things a federal judge becomes at once a legislator, court and execut’oneer. —Gov. Altgeld.
NOT CAUSED BY OVER CONFIDENCE.
Judge C. C. Cole of lowa, made the following remarks at the silver convention held last week in Des Moines: “We are in the midst of a business depression unsurpassed in the history of the country. It is not spasmodic and ephemeral. That depression has been brought about by no overtrading, by no overconfidence and by no trusting in wild cat money. It is manifest to every one that it is the result oi legislation respecting our financial matters. “The history of commerce and the prices current for twenty years will affirm that this depression has come to us gradually. and that even now it is going on. When partisan papers undertake to sing the praises of the coming good times they forget that the cause which has brought that depression upon us still remains. And those who have brought it give additional turns to the screws of depression by still further dwarfing the currency of our nation. The cause of it all is the demonetization of silver and the destruction of the greenback.”
GOVERNMENT BY INJUNCTION
The remanding of Debs is in itself a matter of small consequence compared with the principle established, which is of transcendent importance. This decision marks a turning point in our history, for it establishes a new form of government never bofore heard of among men. that is government by injunction. Under this procedure a federal judge sitting in a rear room can on motion of some corporation lawyer issue a ukase which he calls an injunction forbidding anything he chooses and which the law does not forbid. Where the law forbids a thing no injunction is necessary. In other words he can legislate for him self, and having done so can then turn around and arrest and im prison as many peoles as he pleases; not for violating any law but on the mere pretext that tney had disregarded his injunction. and. mark you. they are not tried by a jury according to the forms of law. but the same judge who issued the ukase and who claims that his dignity was offended himself tries the case, and whether anything is proven or nothing is proven he can send men to prison at pleasure and there is no remedy.—Gov. Altgeld.
IT WAS A CONSPIRACY.
At the recent non-partisan state silver convention held in Des Moines, the free silver people of lowa without'regard to party took measures to make the currency question the leading issue for this falls campaign. The delegates were enthusiastic for the white metal and were not slow to denounce the efforts of party leaders to prevent a free expression of opinion on the part of the voters of the state. Many republicans were conspicuous in their advocacy of free coinage. ' The man who attracted the most attention was Amos Steckel. the well-known banker of Bloomfield. lowa, who has been a lifelong republican until now. He was made chairman of the meeting. Iu his brief address on taking the chair Mr. Steckel insisted that the business of the world would easily absorb the product of the silver mines of the earth with but slight effort. The $4.000,000.000 of gold in circulation as
money, he contended, is not nearly sufficient to transact the commerce of the world. He claimed that the present deplorable condition of business was the result of a conspiracy on the part of the money changers of Europe and America, wbo, so long as we are confined to a single standard, will control the gold product and through it the commerce of the world.
NO LAW VIOLATED BY DEBS.
In reading the following by Governor John P. Altgeld of Illinois, it must be remembered that he was for years a judge and is considered one of the ablest jurists in that state. His opinion should also have the weight accorded an honest man with the courage of his convictions: “There were two separate proceedings against Debs. One was according to the established forms of law; .he was indicted by a grand jury for acts alleged to have been committed during the strike, and he was regularly tried by a jury and it turned out. there was absolutely no case against him. Nothing was proven. It is true the jury was not allowed to bring in a verdict because near the end one of the jurors became ill and the prosecution refused to go on. Debs’ attorneys offered to proceed with the remaining eleven or to add a new man and proceed, but the railroad lawyer, who also represented the government, feeling that he had no case at all, would not consent, and he thereby prevented a verdict of acquittal and had the case postponed. The other proceeding was by injunction. A federal judge on motion of some railroad attorneys issued a ukase against the people of all the states in that judicial circut, in which he forbade nearly every thing that the ingeniuty of man could think of and which the law did not forbid, and thus legislated he then turned around and had Debs and others arrested, not for violating any law but for failing to respect his ukase or injunction. And then this judge not only refused to give a jury trial, but he himself proceeded to determine whether his own dignify had been offended, and he promptly sent the defendants to prison, the judge being legislator, court and executioner.”
A PATRIOT'S WORDS.
The following is taken from a circular issued to the American Railway Union members by Eugene V. Debs before going to jail. They are the words a true patriot, who is unjustly suffering persecution at the bands of a rotten judiciary, which reaches from the trial judge to the highest tribunal, the supreme cutfrt of the United States: “A cruel wrong against our great and beloved order, perpetrated by William A. Woods. United States Circuit Judge, has been approved by the United States supreme court. Our order is still the undaunted friend of the toiling masses, and our battle cry now. as ever, is the emancipation of labor from degrading. starving and enslaving conditions. We have not lost faith in the ultimate triumph of ttuth over perjury, of justice over wrong, however exalted may be the station of those who perpetrate the outrages. I need not remind you. comrades of the American Railway Union, that our order, in pursuit of the right, was confronted with a storm' of opposition such as never before was visited on labor organization. The battle fought in the interests of starving men. women and children stands fo r th in the history of labor struggles as the ‘great Pullman strike.’ It was a battle, oc the part of the American Railway. Union fought for a cause as holy as ever aroused the courage of brave men. “What has been your reward for your splendid courage and manifold sacrifices? Our ene mies say they are summed up in one word: ‘Defeat.’ They point to the battlefield and say, ‘Here is where the host of the American Railway Union went down before confederated enemies of labor.’ Brothers of the American Railway Union, even in the defeat our rewards are grand beyond expression. True it is that the ‘sons of Brilisn force and darkness, who have drenched the earth with blood’ chuckle over the victory. Tney point to the blacklisted heroes of the American Railway Union, idle and poor, and count upon their surrender. Their hope is that our order will disband; that persecution. poverty and prison will do the work. In this supreme juncture I call upon the tnem-
bers of the American Railway Union to stand by their order. In God’s own good time we will make the despots’ prisons where innocent men suffer- monuments.”
THE DEADLY PARALLEL.
The Slave Power of 40 Years Ago vs. Capitalism of To-day. SLAVERY. | CAPITALISM. “Slavery sat Capitalism sits in the white: J v • x house and made n white laws in the cap- house and makes itol; courts of laws in the capjustice were its itol; courts of ministers and justice are its leg islat ure s ministers and were its lack- legislatures are eys. It silenced its lackeys. It the preacher in sile nc e s the the pulpit; it preacher in the muzzled the edi- pulpit; it muztor at his desk zles the editor at and the proses- his desk and the sor in hislecture|professor in his room It set thepecture room. It ■ price upon the sets the price heads of peace- upon the heads ful citizens; it of peaceful citirobbed the mails zens; it robs the and denounced mails and de - the vital princi- nounces the viples of the de- tai principles of claration of in- the declaration dependence as of independence treason? Even as treason. Even in states whose in states whose laws did not tol- laws do not tolerate slavery it erate capitalism ruled the club it rules the club and the drawing and the drawing room, the sac- room, the factory and the of- tory and the office. It swag- fice. It swaggered at the din- gers at the dinner table and ner table and scourged with scourges with scorn a coward- scorn a cowardly society. It ly society. It tore the golden tears the golden rule from school rule from school books and the books and the pictured benign- pictured benignity of Christ ity of Christ from the prayer from the prayer boo k.”—G e o. book, Wm. Curtis.
Found A Lost Scoop.
Picked up on the highway, where it may have been thrown by a highwayman, burglar or ordinary sneak thief, or lost by a somnambulant owner while contemplating the effects of the single gold standard on his lusty farm mortgage, a tolerably well preserved grain scoop, capacity about one peck, “A. Graves Cast Steel.” a little green paint on lower side of handle which is bent in the ordinary way at the shank and has the usual grip and hole at the end. This shovel was found, or alleged to have been found by a man, who probably shoveled his wheat when it was 30c a bushel, and possibly the finding of the scoop reminded him of the present price of that commodity of which he has not any to sell, and so exasperated this alleged finder, .that he determined to return it to the owner. Therefore he straightway delivered the said scoop to the editor of the People’s Pilot. the subscription price of which is $1.00 per year, and which is payable in gold coin of the Rothchild’s standard of fineness, and instructed said editor to advertise said shovel and collect from the proven owner pay for said advertising. The owner will please call with witnesses, give satisfactory reason for losing this scoop and for owning the same, and after paying for this notice subscribe to this paper. if he is not already a subscriber. in which case he is requested to subscribe for the neighbor who borrows his paper. The above consise advertisement will not be inserted again without further notice.
A Summer Resort at Home.
The proper way to enjoy life during the summer months is to resign the blistering cook stove to a condition of ipocuous desuetude and purchase a gasoline stove of Warner & Son. They have the Monarch and Reliable, the two leading favorites; handsome, convenient, absolutely perfect in construction, and safer than coal or wood. Every stove guaranteed to give satis faction. Prices within reach. Now that the Pilot is comfortably settled in its new first floor quarters on the west gide of court house square, its friends are invited to call and see the machinery and inspect the most complete printing plant in this or adjoining counties.
THE WINDSOR.
B. F. Furguson sells the Windsor bicycle, a strictly high grade wheel, for Jess money than any one ou the market. Call and get prices before purchasing else wher e.