The Peoples Voice. (Norman, Okla.), Vol. 3, No. 44, Ed. 1 Saturday, June 1, 1895 Page: 1 of 8
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Hirokt th« l w man written down with
^ (Hirrhinftutur with p«u;
I eforc the law inde citiaeus. the moral
law made ineit.
Law Ktaii>U for human rights, but when
it faiia tho e rights to give.
Then let law die. ray brother, but let hu-
uiau beintrs live.
flit
out.
"Our Republic can only exist
so Long as its citizens respect
anil obey tlieir self imposed laws."
Labor Ts The Parent Of Capital, Encourage Labor, and You Build Up Capital.
VOL 3.
KuiJ on the Populist Hen
Koost Claimed by a few
Democratic States-
men out ol°a Job.
The following is the garb in which
they disguise themselves in order to
conceal their design. Their names
attached, however, gives the whole
thing away. With such mid-wives
as Bixler, Smith, Cease and Stovall
attending, the child will die bornin'.
The purpoMe of the gold inonoiuetnlIl t an-
no longer concealed, lly it Hcrica of legislative
measure*, and by a betrayal of aolemd pledge*
maile to the people by those entruxtetl with the
ailmlniHt ration of the government, silver lint*
been demonetized, and all values reduced to
the single gold standard.
The result is apparent. Ilufdnets is every
where paralyzed fuiversal distress prevails.
Million* of our people are out of employment
who are able ami willing to work. The value
ol all property has been depreciate*I nearly
one-half, while the purchasing power of money
lias Increased in equal proportion
The debtor class—the farmers and theme-
hanlcsand the producers of the nation—are at
the mercy of the remo'-qeless Shylocks who
control the gold of ti orld, and who now
propose to make the sinfc.e gold Htandard the
permanent financial policy of the I'nlted states.
In the opinion of the undersigned the time hns
come to resist tills unjust demand.
The above are some of the causes
set forth by a few individuals
in this territory as reasons for call
ing a silver convention to organize a
tree Silver League in this territory.
There were twenty-eight men in
Cleveland county who subscribed
their names to the above. Twenty-
five Democrats, two Republicans
and one Populist. J. M. Stovall,
Geo. Smith, Mort. L. Bixler, Sam T.
I.eavy, L. B. Durkee, Frank P. Cease,
and Dr. Snow, Democrats who have
been recently shoved away from the
pie counter, and who see no possi-
ble show of getting back unless 'hey
can get up another party that will
take them under its wing, and men
who not more than six months ago
were denouncing the Populist for
being anarchists for alleging that it
was the financial system of this gov-
ernment that was out of gear and
causing untold suffering throughout
the land, and that the fight over the
tariff question was only a sham bat-
tle, used to conceal or to divert the
attention of the people from the real
cause of their distress. They are
men who have continually decried a
third party and alleged that it could
never accomplish anything. They
have slept at night with one eye
open trying to devise means to de-
feat the only party in the United
States that stood for free coinage of
silver at the ratio of 16 to i; but
having been turned away from the
pie counter; we suppose, judging
f rom their actions above, that they
have been using their brains a little
and giving their mouths a rest, and
strange to say they have been making
improvement along reform lines.
We had not thought that they were
susceptible of Education along
these lines. It is truly wonderful to
observe how defeat will seemingly
open some men's eyes.
We will watch the actions of these
men closely and if they make as
much progress in the next six months
as they have in the past six they will
be full fledged Populists and their
former democratic brethern, who
still remain with the democratic
party, will be calling them cranks,
anarchists, etc. Knowing the men
as we do we rather suspect that their
growth in reform principles is of a
fungus character; but we hope it is
not, although we realize that if they
have not made great improvement
, since they left the democratic party,
they will be dead weight in the Pop
ulist party. They do not belong to
the class of democrats that we like
to see sailing towards us. Many of
them in days gone by have changed
their politics to suit their new sur-
roundings and they may be at their
old dodge again. However if they
NORMAN, CLEVELAND COl'NTV OKLAHOMA, SATURDAY, ll'NE, I. 18Q.S
the Shylocks ho'd on the throat of
the industry of is country. Their
grip must be broken and that cannot
be done by the free coinage of silver
alone. This country can remonetize
silver and not escape from its pres
ent financial condition to any great
extent. The gold barons are strong
enough and rich enough to buy up
and lock in their vaults all the silver
in the world and make money by so
doing. You must let them under
stand that if they attempt to do it
the government will issue legal ten-
der notes sufficient to do the busi-
ness of the country. The cornering
of the money of this Nation is a
thing that must not be tolerated.
HILL AltP KIMl>s COIN.
I have just finished reading Coin's
last book, "Up to date," If some-
body don't answer it and prove it a
lie it will shake this country from
center to circumference. The ban-
kers and speculators and money
kings will be overthrown and the dan-
ger is that the masses will go too far
in revenging their wrongs and, like
Sampson, pull down the temple and
crush all alike. When he shows up
the inequalities of taxation and how
the rich escape, it makes the blood
boil with indignation. Aside from
the silver question, he gives a certifi-
cate of David Gore, the auditor of
public accounts for the state of Illi-
onis, which shows that all that the
bankers and brokers of Chicago had
assessed for taxation was only $44,-
000 of money, while farmers of that
country were assessed $84,000 for
agricultural tools and implements,
lhink of it! The farmer's tools are
assessed nearly twice as much as all
the money credits and securites of
all the banks, bankers and brokers
of that great city.
And all the diamonds and jewelry
in Chicago were assessed at #17,750,
when it is know that single families
live there who own diamonds and
jewelry ten times that sum in value.
The money of these banks amounts
to hundreds of millions, but through
the manipulation of municipal poli-
tics the rich contol the assessors and
escape taxation. Can this be true ?
If it is false, why doesn't Eli Perkins
says so? I see that he has taken the
field against Coin, but I can't tell ex-
actly fiom his last piece whether
he is lying or joking. He closes it
by saying that after he had shown
Coin the errors anil fallacies Coin
gave it up and the tears rolled down
his cheeks and he dismissed his
school and declared he wasn't gwine
to teach any more I like Eli. I
like any lie that is funny and harm-
less. I used to like to read Baron
Munchasen, and I like to read Eli
now. I confess that it strains my
credulity to believe what Coin writes
about the Chicago bankers'tax, but
there is the certificate of the state
auditor. Surely there is some Solo-
mon and Paul and the Saviour said
about rich men, but I never believed
that our riih men were that bad.
U e poor folks whose income was
under the mark, believed that to tax
large incomes was the right thing to
do, but it seems that we can't do it.
We are taxed all the time on the out-
go through the operation of the
tariff a tariff for revenue only with
incidental protection. It is the in-
cidental that gets us. An American
sewing machine or a mower or reap
er can be bought in London or Bra-
zil 30 per cent cheaper than we can
buy one here. 1 here comes in the
incidental. It is protected here
from foreign competition and the,
profit is so great that Mr Singer or
Mr. McCormick can pay the freight
across the ocean and sell it for less
than he will sell it to us. Isn't that
funny ? Harper's Magazine sells
all over this country for thirty-five
cents but sells all
cidental but was done on purpose at
Washington and our law makers say
we must stand it.
Boys, let's fight. No, I don't mean
that exactly, but let's meet and pass
some resolutions—lets do something.
Now the Chicago goldbugs have
called a meeting to see if they can't
stop all this rumpus about silver, but
they might as well try stop a tornado.
I wasn't taking much stock in these
financial affairs, for I had read so
much on both sides that it made my
head swim, and so when a friend sent
me Coin's first book I took it up with
prejudice against it, for I supposed
that Mr. Harvey was a Chicago Yan-
and was paid by the Inter-Ocean to
write on that side, and so I fortified
myself against being seduced by his
book. I read it rather huriedly,
watching for traps and triggers, but
I didn't find them, and I found so
much information that was news to
me that I read it more carefully the
second time,' and I cam to the con-
clusion that Coin was ^ ry smart
man, or I was a very great fool
one or the other. His last book is
better than the first, and if these two
little books are made up of fallacies
the goldbugs had better get some-
body else beside Eli to expose them
Eli's forte is fun, not finance—
though I'll bet a dollar he was oppos-
ed to the income tax.—Bill Arp.—In
Chicago Express.
SOCIAL DISINTEGRATION.
Our so-called civilization, made
up as it is to a great extent, of frau
and sham, is nothing but a thin coat
of varnish spread over a wild beast
Our common school system asa sys
tem is all right, but our schools are
institutions for the manufacture of
blockheads, while our colleges are
like lath mills which turn out their
product all of the same length,
breadth and thickness!
Where a monarch exist, the gov-
ernment will be good or bad in pro
portion to the goodness or badness
of the monarch. So it is equally
true that a republic will be good or
bad in probortion to the ruling ideas
of its people.
In the early days of the American
Republic a majority of the people
were governed by patriotic motives.
Public men vied with each other in
their efforts to enact measures for
the benefit of the people. Today
the ruling motive is the accumula-
tion of wealth, and as a result, pub
lie men are so completely absorbed
with this idea that they sink every
other consideration in the one great
motive of obtaining wealth. This
mad search and scramble for riches
dwarfs the higher faculties of the
human mind, and tends to confine it
within the region of the propensities.
It does not require a high order of
intellect to accumulate property.
Aground-squirrel will lay up enough
acorns in a hollow log in a few days
to last him all winter. The faculty
of acquisitiveness man holds in com
mon with all of the inferior animals
and when all other faculties are dom-
inated by this one, the man has no
superiority over the brute.
The Brotherhood of man is based
upon the moral nature and is guided
by reason. But whenever the baser
propensities begin to control the in-
dividual, that moment moral disin
tergation supervenes. A vivid illus-
tration of this may be seen in the
following fact: Let a theatre be fil-
led with an audience of cultivated,
refined men anil women. Politeness
and defer;nce are there in a superla
live degree. But let the cry of fire
be raised, and a volume of smoke
and flame pour forth from the stage.
Where is all the refinement and cul-
ture then ? In their frantic fear men
become transformed into wild beasts,
and they will emulate the tiger of
the jungle or the stampeded buffalo
A pile of timber or a wooden struc
ture takes fire and is quickly con-
sumed, or it may rot away, requir-
ing years in the process. But chem-
istrv tells us that it is in each case,
the action of oxygen which does the
wotk.
'I he bedizzened dudes of modern
society are a perfectly legitimate
product of our social system. They
ar the heirs apparent of the intel-
lei lal barrenness of their progeni-
toi The father, absorbed in the
process of money getting, dwarfs all
of his mental powers save the selfish
propensities. The mother, engrossed
n the maze of conventional custom,
loses all that nameless charm which
characterizes true womanliness.
And the unfortunate offspring, par-
taking of both natures, is a combin-
ation of selfishness and convention-
ality which is pitiable to behold. Not
possessing moral stamina, he is a
veritable sponge for the absorption
of vice. His intellectual range is
confined to his own infinitesimal
personality. He is the victim of a
chronic paranoia. He is "built that
way," and the worst of it is that he
is not to blame.
When men become inordinately
rich, as a rule they become inordin-
ately selfish and brutal. And social
disintegration will surely come to
any nation which is under the domin-
ion of this class-
No miracle has been performed to
make different the people of today
from the people of Rome at the close
of the Empire. Lust and crime,
murder and rapine, run riot then,
and as like causes produce like effect
they will run riot more and more in
the present unless the cause is re-
moved. Then the masses had sunk
ow in poverty and degradation
that they had lost the spirit and the
sower to resist. And unless the peo-
ple of this land act before it is too
late, some Pliny of the Twentieth
century will, like his Roman proto-
type, record the sad fact that "all
morality was extinguished ;vice reign-
ed supreme without control The
rocks in desert places were stained
ith clandestine murders, and he
who lived without an enemy died by
the treachery of ? friend."
1 his was Rome under a plutocracy
shall the American Republic die
similarly ?
C. W. Steward.
Littleton. Colo.
Kit HI
Kit con vkxtion.
I'opulist should lt<> on tlielr
Guard.- What Does it Moan?
Tlie Call anil Comment s.
From the Star of Oklahoma City,
of May 26th, we clip the following
call, which, considering the past ac-
tion ot parties and present revolu-
tion in progress, is very significant.
Here is the call:
"The purposes of the gold monome-
tidlUts are no longer concealed. My a
series of legislative measures and by h
betrayal of solemn pledge* made to the
people by those entrusted with the ad-
ministration of the government, silver
has been demonetized, and all values
reduced to the single standard.
The result is apparent. Business is
everywhere paralyzed. Universal dis-
tress prevails. Millions of our people
ftre (iut of employment who aro able
and willing to work. The value of all
property has been depreciated nearly
one-half, while the purchasing power
of money has increased in equal pro-
portion.
The debtor class the farmers and
tbe mechanics and the producers of the
nation are at the merey of the re-
morseless Rhyloeks who control the
gold of the world and who now propose
to make the single gold standard the
permanent financial policy of the Unit-
ed States, In the opinion of the un-
derstand the time has come to resist
this unjust demand. We believe that
the free and unlimited coinage of ail ver
at the ratio of 16 to 1, and its maiute-
nance in common with cold us money
of ultimate redemption, would do much
,, ' everv lownsnin a
to lelieve tbe present distress and in-t. , .
auguratea new era of prosperity. a watcn ,his
We, there (ore, invite the friends of
the free coinage of sliver in the differ-
ent counties of Oklahoma, without dis-
tinction of party, to assemble in mass
convention at Oklahoma City on the
2oth day of June, IS! 15, at three o'clock
p. m,, for tbe purpose of organizing a
territorial free silver league, and to
take such notion as inay be necessary
to cooperate with simila.- organizations
in other sections of the country.
Hon. W. J. Bryan, of Lincoln, Ne-
braska, has accepted an in ration to ad-
dress the convention.
Senator Henry M. Teller, of Colo-
rado, and Senator Wm. M. Stewart, of
Nevada, have been invited and are ex-
pected to be present and make ad-
dresses."
The above carries the signatures
of eight citizens of Oklahoma City,
ten from El Reno and twenty-eight
from Cleveland county, and upon
examination of the names it is dis-
covered that a majority are or were
Democrats less than a year ago.
To the Populist of Oklahoma.
The financial agitation is plainly
leading in the right direction, even
though a causal glance, at the situa-1 r"™ . •.-
tion might leave the inference that I vention of the reformers in 1S74, you
ic monev was the all ahsnrh. I or nlany of y°u have kept "P an m-
I'or the past twenty-one years, or
ever since the first Indianapolis cor.
metallic money was the all absorb
ing topic. Every student of finance
must finally come to the one conclu-
sion, that intrinsic value, is not a re-
qusite, for a medium of exchange.
Tbe silver question is leading to dis-
cussion, and a full understanding of
many of you have kept up
creasing warfare against money con
traticn and for free coinage of silver
at 16 to 1. Your platforms have,
without omission, contained these
demands as the foremost isssues.
Year by year the conspirators against
both our greenbacks and silver have
/ I over England for
continue to grow in grace and good j twenty-five cents. An American
works we will, as soon as their minds j ce<lar pencil of the best quality sells
become strong enough to bear it. j here for a nickel, but you can buy
and broad enough to com
show them tha' tbe .... „ „u„urcos, wmc
age of silver alone will not furnish t°fother things that are made in this I causes The other f„Pm 1 •• . • ■
the remedy that will loosen the grasp .country. This incidental is not a/- 1 ,• 1 , disinte- ing issue. It s in the front and will
* p J incidental is not ac- graticn is slower but no less certain-1 remain there
the function of money never fails to j
result in the one conclusion, that i become more bo,<i and while the
law makes money whether it be of 1PeoP'e 'lave favored both, yet tbe
gold, silver or paper.—Chicago Ex-1 "lac'1'nery °f both old parties has
press. | been used constantly to carry out tbe
• • •> ( designs of the single gold standard
The lamentations of Job in his suf-j manipulators.
fering were as nothing when you j Regardless of party, every admin-
conipalr them with the wails of the istration from and including Grant
defunct democratic office holders of' on down to the present has conduct-
this country. One would think from j ed a warfare on both silver and
the reason they assigned for calling j greenbacks and the despised "Green-
a silver convention that they had | backers," "Nationalists," "Union
just awakened from a Rip Yan Win- j Laborites," and Populists have been
kle sleep. The pushing of a demo- j the only sentinels on guard. They
crat away from the pie counter is a 1 have in season and out, coustantly
very arousing antidote 'tis true; but { held the searchlight of danger on the
little did we think that the first J reefs of contraction and financial
thing they would do after being; disaster against which our social
awakened would be to commence craft was surely drifting. All this
trying to steal from their benefac-1 twenty years neither of the old par-
tors. Such, however, seems to be ties have uttered a word of warning
the disposition of a few of them ; or put up a staying hand against
in this county. j this work of ruin progressing, but
* " * | the despised reformer has never slept
From the editor of the big daily, ~
Plank i. Of your last national
platform reads simply this: "We he-
man!) thf. kree and unlimited
coinage ok silver anh gold at the
present legal ratio ok l6 to i."
In every instance the old parties
have evaded or straddled this ques-
tion for the people and continued
the warfare toward a single gold
standard, lheir platforms demand
nothing and mean anything to catch
voters.
We are on the reefs and everybody
wants to get off, but the cowardly
politican is yet trying to hide the
truth and by taking advantage of the
education that the Populists have
spread, are promising all the peo-
ple demand in order to keep in pow-
er, and by tariff complications, ifs,
restrictions and compromises make
demanded reform fall helpless in
failue.
Populists, this is yoi r business,—
it is your "stock in trade" and while
we would not presume to recommend
or ask for party action or recogni-
tion in this convention, yet, not as
your chairman, but as a humble
worker in the ranks I suggest that
you be on the alert. Don't be lulled
into restful indifference by the clam-
or of their waking demands, for
iless these reforms are accomplish-
ed right, we will only rally from this
crisis but to be squeezed again when
partly recovered and at ease.
I suggest that the Populists of
every township and county in Okla-
move with jealous
care and such as can arrange to wit-
ness the deliberation of these novice
silver politicians in pretending to
undo what they have heretofore
done.
This vexing question must soon be
settled, and if any are friends of sil-
ver in earnest, they are friends to
the Populist platform. We have
prior rights in this case, and when
the aim, history and purpose of a
party on the question at issue is as
clear as that of the Populists, it is an
insult to all real reformers to ask
fifteen thousand of them in Oklaho-
ma to surrender organization and
get aboard a new craft, piloted by
the most crafty and wiley of the old
party politicians. It may be we are
shooting at a passing phantom, but
when Tabby has Populists feathers
in her teeth it is reasonable to sup-
pose she has designs on the Populist
roost. Watch 'em!
Leo Vincent.
Guthrie, May 27th '95.
The preamble of the Populist par-
ty was the source from which the
fellows in this county, who are trying
to organize a silver party, drew their
inspiration In fact they copied
parts of it almost verbatim .Great
Statesmen they are indeeds.
The Supreme Court refused to
grant a writ of habeas corpus and a
reversal of a judgment in the Debs
case. Mr. Debs will have to serve
out his six months sentencd in Jail.
I he leaders of the labor organiza-
tions may be put in Jail; by the min-
ions of plutocracy; but it will only
serve to hasten the day when their
power will be overthrown. The next
great strike that labor makes will be
at the ballot box.
A careful perusal of the Editoral
columns of the Transcript for the
past two years would reveal that
during the Populist administration
in the State of Kansas, about one-
third of the Editorial space of that
paper was devoted to the abuse of
those officials. We have carefully
observed the Editorial columns of
that paper of late and not one word
do we see concering the Republican
...... I officers of thit State although it is a
Thousands of tons of literature j notorious fact that the Republican
c.eai down to the cross-roads politi J has been published anil circulated, Governor has used State funds to
of 1 ho nlain ti " t I C3n' ^CS' e^e" down to Cleveland | but by sheer brute force, ignorant j pay private indebtness incurred by
1 f T|le',' Sear<" 1 or P''y himself, the money question is the | mockery and derison, both old par-j him previous to his election, and
panic is but a j leading topic. 1 retty good evidence j ties have kept our social craft head- that the State Treasurer is often seen
le's riarflf «.,c rlirk t A.I f... U. t . . t _ .-Ill 1: 1 1- .I . em
iprehend it, Ithe ver>' same in London for a cop- : sudden disintegration If ° 'if3 I ' "f tOP,',C' Pretty good ev'dence j ties have kept our social craft head- ; that the State Treasurer is often seen
free coin- i Per- AnJ just so it is with hundreds which is onK-Vn moral or. es .ti.it t ie epple's party was right j ed for the reefs of contraction till. reeling drunk on the street of Tope-
not furnish !()f other things that are made in this I causes. The other 'for 1 of''.'lisint'-S 1 'ir' WaS a we strllck w'th a crash in '93, from ka. We would like to see a little in
til a change is made
the direct and immediate result of | the Transcript
causes long existing. ; model officers.
concerning those
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Allan, John S. The Peoples Voice. (Norman, Okla.), Vol. 3, No. 44, Ed. 1 Saturday, June 1, 1895, newspaper, June 1, 1895; Norman, Oklahoma Territory. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc116707/m1/1/: accessed April 24, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.