People's Pilot, Volume 6, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 November 1896 — ALTGELD SPEAKS. [ARTICLE]

ALTGELD SPEAKS.

What asto Say :|;X HE WHITER AJiED HOT-ADDRESS. Give* tH OppoWtlou a Raking in His Char: acteristie Mannar—Declare? the Fight Will Re Fought Over in . 1900 and Call* •n Hi* Democratic Frlemlsio Bally Their Force* for tke-Contest—Glad to Retire Chicago, Nov. 5. —Governor Alt geld jba* issued Ihe^Upvrtug^^mdoess-.f To the Democrats of Illinois: Although defeated, 1 desire-to Thabk the Ratal and I congratulkte you on the heroic fight you have ' Just- mada. 5 -' Consider that only six' party lay prffstrffte. If had been betrayed intoi.'tht hands: of . fetDfck Jobbers and .monopolists president Cleveland; it "Had 'been" i‘obbbd"of everything Democratic exceafa name; it stood for no great ing torn *■ by tJbntlcat 'birds 6f prey. K was loaedeffi wijftr political deadheads; men who never did anything for the •party esti!&jpt 'tib tide it. and it ‘was infested, lglth political vermin of both the smooth and j[gugh and dusty variety; yet these sore cfjpditloiis the party ,pf oke the cords with which llliputiaris had tied it. It rose with new ehe'rgy; -if out loose from the domination of .trust and syndicates; it repudiated the' men who betrayed it; it threw oft the Joad, of deadheads; it dfove out'the political vermin and with k neW ■ inspiration it Again proclaimed Democratic principles and espoused the cause of-4olllng humanity. Mad* a “Heroic Political Fight.** Although it was obliged to thus reform while under the fire of the enemy It has made the most heroic political fight ever seen In this country. It was confronted by all the boodle that could be scraped together on two continents. It was confronted by all the hanks, all the trusts, all the syndicates, all the corporations, all the great papers. It was confronted toy everything that money could buy, that boodle could debauch, or that fear of starvation could coerce. It was confronted by the disgust which the majority of the American people felt toward the national administration for which they held us responsible. It was confronted with the unfounded charge of being partly responsible for the hard times. It was confronted by a combination of forces such as had never been united before and will probably never be united again—apd, worse still, the time was too short to educate the public. While we are defeated our party is more vigorous and in better condition generally than it has been for a third of a century. Hu a Whack at the “Nationals.” I especially call your attention to the utter insignificance, as shown by the returns, of those men who after having helped to ruin our party wers either driven out or left It in this campaign. Two years ago these men wers with us, and always insisted on occupying front seats and wanted to lead. Then we were not confronted with any powerful opponent and we lost the State by upward of 160,000 majority. This year thea men opposed us, and we had te meet all the forces I have named. We had no sinews of war. We had all the power of corrupt wealth against us. We had to reform under the fire of the enemy, and the time was too short to make a proper campaign, yet we have reduced the adverse majority of two years ago by about one-third. These men are at last where they belong. Dag the Grave of the Gold Standard. While we are defeated we have dug the grave of the British gold standard. One more campaign of education will forever bury the palsied form of that curse which has blighted prosperity and the happiness of mankind. My fellow Democrats,'on account of my health I welcome the retirement which is now assured me and I have long wished for, but let me say In parting that If you cherish republican institutions, then your country will need your services. JTwb years ago several states were carried by the same forces that have triumphed this year, and In every one there followed & Saturnalia of corruption J and rottemiess. Now, these conditions are to toe spread over the whole country, and it will devolve upon the Democratic , party to ultimately stop them. The. shadow of the men and the influences that will control the coming administration is already on the land. Make* Some Prediction*. Republicans tell us that the newlyelected president is weak; that he allowed the manufacturers to frame the tariff bill, and that as governor of Ohio he was very weak. We may assume that the coming administration will be controlled by the men who have been so prominent in securing this'"election. Look at some of them: Mr. Hanna, Mr. Carnegie, Mr. Depew, Mr. Pullman, Mr. Huntington, Mr. Payne, Mr. Thurston, of Pacific railroad fame, and a number of others of the same character. Many of them have long been regarded as corruptionists, as men who have helped to spread a moral leprosy over this country, and who use this government as a convenience to make money for corporations. There will come bond issues and- all manner of government jobs, and although we have no enemy on either side of uS, an effort-win be made to give this country a standing army because plutocracy demands this. Has Hopes for th* Flection of 1900. • ,An effort will be made to advance the doctrine that local self-gpvernment does fiat go hand in hand with federal supremacy, but that the president shall have the same power to use the army * that the czar of Russia has to use his army, 'and efforts will be made to perpetuate government by injunction and ‘ destroy trial by. Jury, because plutocracy demands these things. An effort will be pj»de to still further tighten the grip ofth* money power- onthe throats of the people and to gradually cofivert-: .theis republic Into a plutacratlc oligarchy, and It will devolve on theDemcratio party to save free Institutions. I believe that at the next general election the people will reverse the verdtot

if yesterday; the return Of prosperity will not. noma- as promtsod. -.JJo doubt there will be a spurt of activity built on false Hopes, but as’ the forces, which have produced the present distress willgo rtghT'dfirasfThe dear dbirar must, in the end.j; destroy enterprise, wa permanent relief, can be expected } of, t&is administration. Uo Credit to the RcpffßUcana. Remember it was Jefferson who led the way in .freeing us from Britlskdomlnation in 1776. It was again Jefferson who waved free institutions In 1800. It was Jackson who freed the people from the clutches of the corrupt .money power in 1832. It was the grva,t comon people of Ameilca and nor the rlch who saved aur institutions in. 1861, afid it will devolve wi the great corpon people of the Country to save free government in M —-— JOHN-Pr-ALTGELD.