w 
 
 President 
 John Smith 
 
 V-J _ - k -^*B^ ^_ 
 
 UC-NRLF 
 
 dams 
 
 Ther$ht of a citizen of the 
 United States todemand and 
 obtain work at waf es sufficient to| 
 support himseli and family shall 
 
 never be abridged. It shall be> 
 
 .allwhodemandit. 
 
 /r ^ 
 
 Charles M. Kcrr S Company 
 
 Fifth Avenue, * Chicago. 
 
PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 The Story of a Peaceful Devolution 
 
 (, WRITTEN IN I92O> 
 
 BY 
 FREDERICK UPHAfl ADAflS 
 
 n 
 
 Editor The New Time, Atithor "Spirits of 76" and "A Corrected School 
 History of the United States" 
 
 CHICAGO 
 
 CHARLES H. KERR & COMPANY 
 
 56 FIFTH AVENUE 
 
 1897 
 
A* 
 
 COPYRIGHT 1896 
 BY CHARLES H. KERR & COMPANY. 
 
 CXJ; 
 
 Library of Progress. No. 24. Quarterly, Si.oo a year. August, 1897 
 
 Entered at the Postoffice, Chicago, as second-class matter. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 THE following chapters were written in the autumn 
 of 1893, just after the close of the great Columbian 
 Exposition. The panic of that year has passed into 
 history, though at this writing the nation has not yet 
 emerged from that enervating depression which surely 
 follows an industrial or -financial collapse. 
 
 It was the intention of the author to rewrite this 
 book; to bring it up to date; to eliminate all reference 
 to certain events which then seemed strange and por 
 tentous, but which now aie accepted as a matter of 
 course, and to insert in their places others of more re 
 cent date, which seem to have a significance to students 
 of our commercial and industrial development. Not 
 many years ago such an event as the legislative theft 
 of a great franchise was regarded with public horror. A 
 decade ago a national bond steal would have aroused 
 vast indignation. But a nation, like an individual, can 
 become accustomed to almost anything. In view of 
 the complacency with which the American people per 
 mit themselves to be deceived, swindled and robbed, 
 and their evident enjoyment of the operation, the au 
 thor is sometimes of the opinion that he was unduly 
 excited over the events of 1898, and that perhaps gen 
 eral bankruptcy, distress, poverty and national deca 
 dence are matters of small consequence. 
 
 Yielding to the advice of friends, the author submits 
 "President John Smith 1 to the public practically as it 
 was written three years ago. In the original manu 
 script, John Smith was nominated against William 
 McKimbly of Ohio, and as a gentleman with a name some 
 what similar wa& recently elected president, it has been 
 
8 PREFACE 
 
 deemed proper to substitute the "Hon. Mark Kimbly" 
 for the former fictitious character. 
 
 The author is not vain enough to regard this book as 
 a prophecy. In common with all who have made even 
 a superficial study of the existing social system, he 
 knows that vast changes are inipending,and is sincerely 
 desirous of adding some thought or suggestion which 
 may be deemed worthy of consideration in the discus 
 sion of this the grandest subject which ever demanded 
 the attention of mankind. 
 
 In the recent presidential campaign the author was 
 an earnest advocate of the free coinage of silver; not 
 because in his humble opinion the consummation 
 of that end would have finally solved any great prob 
 lem, but because the battle between organized greed 
 and the people was fought on that issue. 
 
 Silver should not be the great issue in 1900. It is 
 not worthy in itself of the struggle made in its behalf. 
 More than that, the people cannot win. They might 
 succeed at the polls, but that would avail them nothing. 
 They would eventually be defeated either by the cor 
 rupt use of money at Washington or by that last resort 
 of an influential minority the Supreme Court of the 
 United States. 
 
 The great issue of 1900 will be: "Shall the Constitu 
 tion of the United States be so amended or revised that 
 the rights of the Majority shall be preserved? Shall 
 the Majority rule?" 
 
 To-day the majority has no right which a fortified 
 minority is bound to respect. The people of the United 
 States are powerless to enact legislation for the redress 
 of their grievances. Instead of wasting their time in 
 an attempt to pa co a free silver bill which the Su 
 preme Court will promptly declare unconstitutional 
 
PREFACfe 9 
 
 they should turn their attention to a crusade, which, 
 when successful, will make constitutional any enact 
 ment passed by a majority vote of the free citizens of 
 the United States. 
 
 The United States is not a republic. The Eepublican \ 
 party is not republican. The Democratic party is not / 
 democratic. Does the Supreme Court represent the j 
 people? Are its members elected or appointed by the 
 people? Are they responsible to the people? Can the 
 people by any legal process remove or discipline them 
 when they have trampled under foot some law which 
 the people have passed after a victorious struggle with 
 their oppressors? No. 
 
 What modern monarch is vested with such a power 
 as this? Has Queen Victoria, the legitimate successor 
 of King George, from whom our forefathers wrested in 
 dependence in war, only to sign it away in convention 
 has Victoria any such power? No. Does Emperor 
 William dare disregard the recorded verdict of his sub 
 jects as expressed at the ballot box and voiced by the 
 representatives of the people at a session of the Ger 
 man parliament? No. 
 
 As one who believes that the majority of the people 
 of a republic is right; as one who believes they should 
 be permitted to make and unmake laws without an ap 
 peal to any higher body; as one who believes there is 
 and can be no higher authority than the majority, 
 and that they can be safely entrusted with the regula 
 tion of their affairs and the shaping of their prosperity 
 and happiness, the author dedicates this book to the 
 American people with this sentiment: 
 
 "The rights of the Majority shall no longer be 
 
 abridged." 
 
 FREDERICK U. ADAMS. 
 
To THE READER: 
 
 This book is presented to you by the Majority Rule 
 Club. Your name has been given to the club by one of 
 your friends who is anxious that you shall carefully read 
 it. This friend has paid to the publisher the actual cost 
 of the book and its postage, and requests that you give it 
 to some friend when you have finished reading it. He 
 believes that if you like the book you will assist in ex 
 tending its circulation to the extent of your ability, it 
 being his aim, and that of the Majority Rule Club, to 
 place this book in the hands of every English-reading 
 voter in the United States. Address any communication 
 on this subject to the publishers, 
 
 CHARLES H. KERR & Co., 
 or to 
 
 FREDERICK U. ADAMS, 
 
 56 Fifth Ave. } Chicago, III. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 AMERICAN indifference to misgovernmenfc must end 
 or the republic will cease to exist. American ignorance 
 of economic problems must be dispelled or a great na 
 tion will miserably perish. The United States will 
 survive the panic and depression of 1893-94, but it 
 cannot long exist under the industrial system which 
 made that panic inevitable, and which menaces the 
 nation with a never-ending train of industrial depres 
 sions and financial calamities. 
 
 As these lines are written, millions of American work 
 men are and have been idle for months. These idle 
 workmen are honest, faithful American citizens, who 
 have committed no offense against their former em 
 ployers For eighteen months enforced idleness has 
 been general from one end of the country to another. 
 Thousands have been waiting in vain for the opening 
 of the cotton mills in Massachusetts and Rhode Island; 
 thousands are idle in the iron industries of Pennsyl 
 vania and Ohio; starvation has stalked among the 
 hills of northern Michigan, and 60,000 of her people 
 have been dependent on charity; in the great city of 
 Chicago nearly 200,000 workmen have been unable to 
 find employment; in the far west whole towns are des 
 titute, and the people are fleeing from the stricken dis 
 tricts into the poverty-infested east, glad to reach a 
 country in which even charity is possible. Vast stores 
 of money are piled up in the banks awaiting the com 
 ing of the investor or the manufacturer. In the ware 
 houses are quantities of manufactured goods sufficient 
 to carry on a war, but no purchaser calls for them. In 
 dustry is paralyzed. The manufacturer is helpless. 
 The capitalist is helpless. The banker is helpless. 
 
 U 
 
12 INTR,ODUCTION 
 
 workman is helpless. The statesman is but there 
 are no statesmen. 
 
 The most remarkable fact is that the American peo 
 ple seem to regard the existing state of affairs as some 
 thing natural, a thing to be expected. Certain stupid 
 reasons are advanced for this wholesale poverty, this 
 stupendous waste of capital and wealth. We have be 
 come accustomed to the presence of this vast standing 
 army of fhe idle, and charity is now a science. We 
 seem unable to realize that this condition of affairs is 
 an awful mistake, a colossal and unnatural crime, an 
 atrocious and unparalleled outrage. The dark pages 
 of history, reciting the cruelties of barbaric ages, tell 
 no tale which can match in horror the awful tragedy 
 of 1893-9415,000,000 innocent people condemned 
 through the long months of winter to idleness, pauper 
 ism, suicide and crime in a free country, under the 
 stars and stripes of a republic. 
 
 We have been schooled to expect a recurrence of 
 these periods of hard times. The majority of our peo 
 ple believe that such periods have always prevailed, 
 that they cannot be averted, and that it is patriotic to 
 submit patiently to such seasons of suffering. 
 
 A certain class complacently declares that every thing 
 is all right and that people who do not like the way 
 things are run in this country are at liberty to get out 
 of it. 
 
 There exists another class which imagines that this 
 is a matter in which workmen alone are interested. 
 They declare that the rich oppress the poor, that 
 wealth is unequally distributed, and that capital is 
 reaping great rewards from the depression of industry. 
 All of which is false. The rich, as a class, are not op 
 pressing the poor; on the contrary, the world has never 
 witnessed such generosity as has recently been dis 
 played by the wealthy people of America. Wealth is 
 not fairly distributed, but if it were the situation would 
 not in the slightest degree be permanently improved. 
 We would all be poor. Productive capital reaps no 
 financial harvest in these periods of hard times. This is 
 
INTRODUCTION 13 
 
 not an issue between capital and labor. Both are suf 
 ferers from existing conditions, but capital is in the 
 greater danger and has sustained enormous losses. 
 
 This is not a question of sentiment or of patriot 
 ism or of bombast. It is a plain matter of business. 
 It is a question of facts and figures. The United States 
 cannot exist under the present industrial system. 
 Capital cannot make profits and workmen cannot ob 
 tain employment or wages. The system is inoperative. 
 The industrial machine has locked itself. After a 
 while it will start again, run for a shorter interval than 
 before, and again lock itself. And in this process cap 
 ital will be destroyed and labor will starve. This is no 
 prophecy of things to come. It has already happened. 
 The country is poorer than it was a year ago. National 
 wealth has decreased. We are forced for a time to con- 
 jume more than we produce. We are compelled to re- 
 7naiu idle because there is no work. There is no work 
 because we have already created more than the people 
 can buy. The people cannot buy because they have no 
 work and no money. The manufacturer and merchant 
 fail because there are no customers. 
 U-^That is our industrial system. Clear your brains a 
 moment and take a calm, dispassionate survey of it. 
 It does not seem possible that intelligent human beings 
 \ould consent to exist under such an idiotic system. 
 r \Ve are poor because we are rich; we are in distress be-\ 
 / cause we have created more than we know what to do j 
 
 with; we have invented machinery so perfect that we 
 are about to perish for Jack of employment; the un- j 
 happy da y has come when there is no work. 
 
 Who gains by the continuance of this system? No 
 one. It entails a direct loss on every citizen of the re 
 public. It has no intelligent defender. It survives be 
 cause the American people have been too indifferent or 
 too ignorant on economic questions to make a change. 
 The business men of America must become politicians. 
 They have a problem in government to solve. They 
 must take a few lessons in political economy. They 
 must take immediate steps to forever abolish hard 
 times; if not, hard times will abolish them. 
 
14 INTRODUCTION 
 
 Millions of men are idle in the United States to-day. 
 They are miserably existing either on charity or from 
 the scanty hoard saved from times of employment. 
 The majority of them are being supported by the com 
 munity. Who defrays the greater part of this enor 
 mous expense? The rich. They pay it in public char 
 ities, in private charities, and in added taxation. They 
 cannot escape it. Society will not permit the starva 
 tion of these idle millions and their dependent families. 
 In periods of severe industrial depression the masses 
 may suffer from hunger, but the financial loss falls 
 upon capital. 
 
 The waste of production ia enormous. The loss to 
 capital is almost incalculable. At a conservative esti 
 mate, 3, 000, 000 men have been idle in the United States 
 for over a year. Reliable statistics place the average 
 producing power of workmen at $2,000 per year. Six 
 billions of dollars a year $20,000,000 a day. Cut these 
 figures in two; quarter them if you will, and they yet 
 remain beyond comprehension. And every dollar of 
 this is forever lost. That $20,000,000 a day represents 
 the value of food, clothes, comforts and luxuries which 
 3,000,000 men would have created had they been given 
 a chance. Their labor would have created this value, 
 but society shackled their arms, sentenced them to 
 idleness, and at a vast expense supported them as pau 
 pers. Every man at work stands as an asset in the 
 trial balance of national wealth and production; every 
 idle man must be scheduled as a liability and a loss. 
 He is an incumbrance. He must be fed and clothed 
 and provided for. No system which forces men into 
 idleness is practical, nor can it long exist. 
 
 Unless this book shall shock many good people it has 
 been written in vain. As an American citizen who can 
 trace his ancestry back to a time when no citizen was 
 idle except from choice, to a time when the American 
 nation was a nation of freemen, patriots and fighters, 
 the author has assumed that he has the right to criti 
 cise and even denounce any of the so-called American 
 institutions as they now exist, not excepting the COD- 
 
INTRODUCTION 15 
 
 stitution of the United States and the Standard Oil 
 trust. 
 
 It is time to discuss these matters. It is time to con 
 sider practical remedies It is time for plain talk. It 
 is time for the flag-waver and professional patriot to 
 stand aside and permit the business men, manufactur 
 ers and workmen of the nation to agree upon a plan 
 of action. 
 
 In the chapters which follow, the author has been 
 rash enough to criticise and attack some of the sections 
 of the constitution of the United States. Americanism iiji 
 older than the constitution. Patriotism had riot ifs 
 birth with the framing of that document, and patriots 
 may breathe the free air of America when the consti 
 tution as it now exists is discarded forever. If our 
 form of government is perfect it can withstand the 
 feeble attacks of deluded would-be reformers. If it is 
 faulty in any respect the stupid veneration which is at 
 tracted to any antiquity cannot long stand in the way 
 of common sense. If the American republic has out 
 grown the constitution it is the first duty of its people 
 either to alter or abolish it. All knowledge of govern 
 ment did not perish from the earth with the death of 
 the founders of the constitution. 
 
 If it is visionary to suggest that in a republic the 
 majority should be permitted to rule this book is vi 
 sionary. 
 
 If it is Utopian to urge an industrial system in which 
 a willing man shall not be denied the opportunity to 
 work, obtain wages, and support himself instead of be 
 ing an expense to the community this book is Uto 
 pian. 
 
SIGN IN THE HEAVENS. (See page 23) 
 
PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE ANARCHIST CONSPIRACY. 
 
 THERE was nothing to indicate impending trouble 
 that beautiful spring afternoon. The streets of Chi 
 cago resounded with the accustomed roar of traffic, and 
 hurrying pedestrians dodged truck and cable cars heed 
 less of aught but the immediate cares of life. The af 
 ternoon papers contained no hint of threatened danger, 
 and the afternoon of May 23, 1899, drew to a close as 
 uneventful as thousands whinh had preceded it. 
 
 It was the afternoon before the anarchist riot the 
 last demonstration of force anarchy in America. A 
 prolonged period of industrial and commercial depres 
 sion with its train of poverty and suffering had revived 
 the anarchists groups, scattered and dismembered 
 since the Haymarket tragedy of years before. Of the 
 extent of this movement the press and public knew lit 
 tle, but it was an open book to the police department. 
 
 Chief of Police Sullivan was alone in his private office. 
 The din of the street came in through a half-open win 
 dow, but the chief heard it not. Intent on the study 
 of a strangely marked map, he hardly noted the ap 
 proach of his secretary, who announced the name of a 
 well-known detective. 
 
 u Tell him to come in," said the chief. A slightly 
 built man entered the room, saluted his superior, and 
 drew a chair up to the desk. Sullivan eyed his officer 
 curiously and waited for him to break the silence. 
 
 "They make the attack to-night," the detective said. 
 
 17 
 
18 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 "To-night?" repeated the chief, slightly astonished. 
 "Why have they changed their plans?" 
 
 "They are suspicious that spies are at work, I had 
 to knock a red down last night, who made a sort of in 
 sinuation that I was not all right." 
 
 The chief pressed a button and a clerk responded. 
 He was instructed to send messengers to all the cap 
 tains and inspectors for a meeting in the chief s office 
 a 4 o clock. An earnest conversation followed. 
 
 "Have you the signal which has been agreed upon?" 
 asked the chief. 
 
 " Watch thesky at about 11:30, is all the instructions 
 they have sent around," replied the detective "John 
 son expects to get the details before night, but the 
 signal is known only to three or four men and I am 
 afraid he won t get it. We know as much about it as 
 the reds do, and can watch the sky and them too." 
 
 "The big parade of the unemployed comes off to 
 night," said the chief. "I am sorry now I issued a 
 permit for it, though the poor devils are harmless 
 enough if let alone. I have an idea that the reds are 
 calculating on assistance from the men in the proces 
 sion. We will see about that." 
 
 Every detail of the conspiracy, excepting the signal, 
 was known to the police. The anarchists had enrolled 
 1,200 desperate men in the various groups, and for sev 
 eral months had been planning a revolution. The time 
 was ripe for trouble. They expected to blow up the 
 police stations, rout the police, and capture the city 
 hall and the various armories. They anticipated that 
 their temporary success would bring to their support 
 the thousands of idle workmen, who for weeks had been, 
 whenever permitted, parading the streets with banners 
 and transparencies demanding work. The anarchist plot 
 was sheer folly, and even had they succeeded in defeat 
 ing the police their success would have been short 
 lived. As it was they were walking into a carefully laid 
 trap, to almost certain death. For a week the police 
 stations had been guarded at night by detachments of 
 militiamen and volunteers, carefully selected and sworn 
 
THE ANARCHIST CONSPIRACY 19 
 
 to secrecy. With great caution Gatlingand other rapid- 
 firing guns were transferred from armories to the police 
 stations. The arrangements were all completed, and 
 at the 4 o clock conference Chief Sullivan issued final 
 instructions to his officers. 
 
 "Don t shoot before they show themselves," he said. 
 u Tell your men not to be afraid of any dynamite bombs 
 which may be thrown through the windows. They 
 won t hurt anything. Our men made the bombs them 
 selves, and they are filled with as fine a brand of sand 
 and sawdust as you ever saw. The reds have plenty of 
 guns and will use them. Warn your men not to expose 
 themselves until after the first volley. Have them keep 
 on the inside of the building. The men in the sur 
 rounding buildings will take care of the re<?s when they 
 break and run. Don t shoot to kill after the first vol 
 ley." 
 
 At 9 o clock that evening 1,200 officers and 2,000 
 armed citizens were massed in and around the police 
 stations, awaiting the coming of the anarchists. It 
 was a merciless arrangement, but it was a fight in which 
 neither side gave or accepted quarter. The anarchists 
 were longing for revenge. They had not forgotten the 
 execution of Spies, Parsons, Engel, Fischer and Lingg, 
 and the police had not forgotten the dead and mangled 
 officers who lay bathed in blood on the cold pavements 
 of the Haymarket that eventful night of May 4, 1886. 
 The anarchists had lost all patience with the labor 
 movement, and denounced the men who were march 
 ing the streets in parades of the unemployed as cow 
 ards and weaklings. 
 
 In the streets along the river hundreds of idle men 
 lounged away that beautiful spring afternoon. They 
 leaned against the walls of buildings on the sunny side 
 of the street and sullenly regarded the well-dressed 
 passer-by. Some were looking for work, waiting day 
 after day for some one to come along with the glad 
 offer of employment. Others were loafers. There may 
 have been a time when they wanted work, but that time 
 was forever past. They were tramps, some of them, 
 
20 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 and others were far more dangerous than the shiftless 
 vagabond tramp. The bridewell knew them well, and 
 the frowning walls of Joliet only awaited them. 
 
 Chief Sullivan and his officers met in conference at 
 4 o clock. Fifteen reporters met in an adjoining room. 
 The conference lasted for an hour. At its. close a re 
 porter for an afternoon paper stepped up to the chief 
 and the following interview ensued: 
 
 "What was the meeting held for, chief?" 
 
 "We met to make arrangements about the labor 
 parade." 
 
 "Are you going to stop it?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 "Do you anticipate any trouble?" 
 
 "You need not print this, " said the chief, lowering 
 his voice, "but confidentially, I do expect a disturb 
 ance. The entire force will be massed along the line 
 of parade until after midnight. We are reliably in 
 formed that there will be a large number of anarchists 
 in line prepared to make trouble. If you say anything 
 about it warn the people to keep off the streets and 
 remain at home. It is the innocent spectator who al 
 ways gets hurt, you know." 
 
 The confidential interview with the chief appeared 
 in the extra evening editions of the papers. The an 
 archist leaders read them and chuckled. Chief Sulli 
 van and his inspectors read them and smiled. Timid 
 people stayed at home, but thousands remained down 
 town and watched the great demonstration of the un 
 employed. 
 
 One hundred thousand men marched in parade that 
 evening The vast army of the idle massed on and 
 around the lake front and, headed by a detachment of 
 police, swept through the city It was a strange and im 
 pressive demonstration. Twenty years ago it would have 
 been regarded as phenomenal, but in those later years 
 people had become accustomed to such manifestations, 
 though never before had idle labor made so grand and 
 awful a showing. No bands of musicians marched in 
 their ranks; no banners or transparencies fluttered 
 
THE ANARCHIST CONSPIRACY 21 
 
 over their heads. Pinned over the breast of each man 
 was a large paper card, on which was printed in plain 
 type the word 
 
 IDLE. 
 
 There were thousands of bricklayers, carpenters, stone 
 masons, plasterers and others in the building trades; 
 iron molders, machinists, printers and scores of other 
 trades and occupations. Eight thousand retail clerks 
 marched in a solid body. Immediately following the 
 police were over 100 idle reporters, who were cheered 
 all along the line. It was interesting to listen to the 
 comments of the thousands who crowded the streets 
 along the line of march. Here are some of them: 
 
 "I would like to see myself in that kind of a crowd. " 
 
 "Bet there ain t fifty men in the whole lot who would 
 work if they got a job." 
 
 "Tramp, tramp, tramp, the bums are marching." 
 
 "Guess those fellows wish they d saved some of the 
 money they ve spent for beer." 
 
 "There ain t that many honest idle men in the 
 country." 
 
 "That fellow there looks as if he needed a bath more 
 than he does a job." 
 
 It was 7 o clock when the parade started and it was 
 after 11 o clock before the shoemakers, who formed the 
 last division, paced wearily past the city hall. There 
 was not the slightest approach to disorder. No one 
 seemed to notice the gradual disappearance of the 
 police. 
 
 It was clear early in the evening, but the sky became 
 overcast about 8 o clock. Great masses of fleecy clouds 
 overhung the city, and in the west an occasional flash 
 of lightning betokened an approaching storm. The 
 thousands of spectators and marchers paid little heed 
 to the warning and the downtown streets were yet 
 crowded. The theaters poured additional throngs into 
 the multitude. It was nearly 11:30 that evening when 
 
22 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 Sergt. Morse of the signal service bureau left his office 
 in the eighteenth story of the Auditorium and in com 
 pany with a reporter climbed the iron stairs and landed 
 on the top of the great tower. Morse was busy re 
 cording some indications registered by the signal ap 
 paratus when the watchful reporter uttered an excla 
 mation. 
 
 "Look at that! What in thunder do you suppose that 
 is?" 
 
 To the north a stream of light came from the roof of 
 the Masonic Temple, a huge pile of masonry at the cor 
 ner of State and Randolph streets. 
 
 "That s the searchlight on the Masonic Temple," 
 said Morse, regarding it intently for a moment. "What 
 is it burning at this time of the night for? Look at 
 it now." 
 
 From their watch-tower the signal officer and his 
 companion witnessed a peculiar sight. Nearly 800 feet 
 below them lay the city of Chicago, half buried in 
 a sea of steam and smoke, from out whose billows 
 came occasional flashes of electric and gas lamps. To 
 the south long rows of lights on Michigan boulevard 
 gleamed brightly in the foreground and faded away 
 until swallowed up in smoke and fog. In the western 
 sky masses of clouds were occasionally illumined by 
 lightning flashes, while low scudding clouds heralded 
 an approaching storm. But their eyes noted none of 
 these picturesque features of the scene before them. 
 
 From the roof of the Masonic Temple, wnich lifted 
 itself above all surroundings, a powerful flood of light 
 swept out over the lake, focused at first on the north 
 government pier. For a few seconds it remained sta- 
 tionary,growing in volume. The fluttering and flickering 
 incident to the adjustment of the carbons ceased, and 
 under the manipulation of a skilled operator the great 
 shaft of light shot across the lake and burned a disk of 
 pure white light in the low-hung clouds in the eastern 
 sky. It rose rapidly until the shaft pointed upward at 
 an angle of 45 degrees. Against a bank of clouds was 
 a white disk of twice the apparent size of the sun. 
 
THE ANARCHI8T CONSPIRACY 23 
 
 As the startled watchers gazed over the lake the light 
 vanished for an instant, and when it reappeared in the 
 center of the white disk was the word 
 
 "STRIKE" 
 
 in letters of red. With a majestic sweep the disk, 
 with its red and portentous inscription, traversed the 
 southern and western sky, passed to the north, and 
 then slowly increased its altitude until it stood station 
 ary in the heavens, a threatening, malignant midnight 
 sun, burning almost directly overhead. A broad sheet 
 of lightning played angrily across it. Mingled in the 
 thunder which followed, came the unmistakable rattle 
 of musketry to the north. In the west the red glare 
 of a fire illumined the sky. 
 
 "Hell!" said the reporter, "I must go to work," 
 
 The anarchists had struck, and with frightful results 
 to themselves. Betrayed by their associates, they 
 plunged recklessly into a trap which had been carefully 
 laid, and from which there was no escape. The scenes 
 at East Chicago avenue were repeated at seven other 
 police stations. At the signal 120 desperate men who 
 had been massed around the building for an hour 
 dashed down the street and hurled themselves against 
 Winchester rifles and a Gatling gun. One dynamite 
 bomb was exploded by a daring "red," whose life went 
 out with the crash of the bomb, which caused no fur 
 ther loss of life and only nominal damage. 
 
 Four men were shot down while attempting to blow 
 up the waterworks and two were captured while trying 
 to destroy the city hall. 
 
 Three hundred rioters were killed and wounded and 
 over a hundred arrested. The anarchists were success 
 ful in starting several fires, which were extinguished 
 with little difficulty and small loss. In spite of all the 
 preparations of the police, the man who manipulated 
 the searchlight made good his escape. As the anarch 
 istic electrician adjusted the great light so that it 
 
24 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 pointed high in the western sky, two officers advanced 
 toward him. Stepping quickly to one side, ho raised 
 a trap door and disappeared, the door closing with a 
 snap. He was never captured. The dead and imprisoned 
 anarchists received little sympathy from the thousands 
 of unemployed trade unionists. A small defense fund 
 was raised and expended in a triai which resulted in 
 imprisonment for terms ranging from three to twenty 
 years for twenty-eight of the rioters. Such was the 
 tame and unromantic ending of what was the Jast 
 anarchist conspiracy in the United States, 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 SOME HISTORICAL FACTS. 
 
 How carne anarcny on American soil? What inspired 
 the anarchist consoiracy of May 28? Where and when 
 was planted the seed which ripened into the Hayrnarket 
 riot of May 5, 1886? Why did vast armies of unem 
 ployed men skilled in their several crafts parade the 
 streets of New York, Cincinnati, Chicago, St. Louis 
 and other great cities in the fall of 1893? These are 
 pertinent questions, and it is the duty of the historian 
 to answer them These were new experiences in 
 America. There was a hint of industrial revolt in 1877, 
 but it was smothered only to break out in 1886, and to 
 assume new and more dangerous forms in 1893. There 
 was something majestic and pitiful in the silent protest 
 sent up by hundreds of thousands of men marching 
 through the streets of cities, past granite walls whose 
 impressive fronts guarded the wealth their now idle 
 hands had helped to create. 
 
 It was a new thing in America America, whosa 
 proudest boast it was that upon her soil was work 
 and welcome for the nations of the world; America, 
 whosei sovereigns were the men who earned their bread 
 by work, and whose laws were framed for the protection 
 of her wage earners. For the first time in history the ad 
 mission was reluctantly made in the latter part of 1893 
 that there was no work for willing x hands, idle through 
 no fault of their own. A most remarkable situation. 
 Perhaps a study of the past may afford some clew, which, 
 closely followed, shall solve the mystery of American 
 poverty and American idleness. 
 
 Away back in 1787 a number of distinguished gentle- 
 
 25 
 
26 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 men met in Philadelphia for the purpose of forming 
 a general government. The several colonies had just 
 emerged from a terrific struggle with England, and 
 had hardly recovered from their surprise and joy at 
 finding themselves the victorious and undisputed pos 
 sessors of what promised to be the greatest country on 
 earth. It may be well at the start to mention that the 
 majority of the gentlemen present at this momentous 
 occasion had had but little experience in founding great 
 countries. The commonwealth of Massachusetts, with 
 a constituency fewer in numbers than her principal 
 city has to-day, was, perhaps, the most powerful sov 
 ereignty with which they were closely identified. It 
 is hard for us at the present day to realize the con 
 ditions which then existed, and the author has not the 
 slightest desire to disparage and belittle the work and 
 efforts of the estimable gentlemen who convened in 
 Philadelphia for the purpose of forming a constitution 
 which would last all time and should read to future 
 generations as an inspiration. 
 
 To tell the plain truth, these gentlemen had no such 
 idea when they met in Philadelphia. A great many 
 of them did not know what they had come together for, 
 and when Mr. Randolph and others told them they 
 threatened to put on their hats and go home and allow 
 Mr. Randolph, Mr. Madison, Mr. Hamilton and their 
 friends to ascertain how the people who lived in 1896 
 should be governed. They were finally prevailed upon 
 to remain and, as a consequence, the constitution as 
 adopted was probably different in many respects from 
 what it would have been had these gentlemen not been 
 placated. It was a strangely composed convention, 
 a mingling of broad statesmanship and narrow and 
 bigoted partisanship. It adopted a compromise dic 
 tated by the representatives of the weaker states, and 
 by the aristocrats, Hamilton and others, who feared 
 the people. 
 
 The constitution as adopted was fairly well fitted for 
 the people of that generation, They would have pros 
 pered under any form of government. It remained for 
 
SOME HISTORICAL FAOT8 7 
 
 certain of the people of 1870-96 to discover that the 
 compromise constitution of 1787 was the final embod 
 iment of all earthly wisdom, and that all knowledge of 
 government ended with the death of the men who 
 formed it. They refused to open their eyes to the pal 
 pable fact that the constitution of 1787 was, in many 
 important respects, as absolutely unfitted for their 
 government as if it had been written to regulate the 
 affairs of the people who are supposed to inhabit Mars 
 
 It is not strange that the primitive .people who lived 
 in 1787, many of whom yet held allegiance to Eng 
 land and considered the revolution a crime, were un 
 able to agree upon a constitution suitable in all re 
 spects to the demand of the people of 1887. The re 
 markable historical fact is that the constitution as 
 adopted at Philadelphia survived the close of that 
 century. 
 
 When the original thirteen states had ratified the 
 constitution and it stood adopted as the organic law of 
 this great country there was not a mile of railroad in 
 existence. There were no steamships, no telegraph 
 lines, no adequate means of communication and ex 
 change. Invention was in its swaddling clothes. There 
 was no Chicago, no Cincinnati, no St. Louis, no San 
 Francisco, no St. Paul. The greater part of that mag 
 nificent empire, the Mississippi valley, was down on 
 the maps as a desert. There was no Standard Oil trust, 
 no Tammany, no solid south, no bloody chasm, no Van- 
 derbilt,Astor, Pullman, or Carnegie. Messrs. [Randolph, 
 Pickering, and their associates, not being gifted with 
 prophecy, foresaw none of these. It is but fair to as 
 sume that if they had there would have been mention 
 of them and certain remedies adopted in the constitu 
 tion as finally drafted. These last-named men lived and 
 died before the birth of modern civilization. 
 
 Measured not by time, but by achievements, the con 
 stitution of the United States as it existed in 1893 was 
 an antiquity, the cherished heirloom of a vanished age; 
 a venerable, doddering old document whose senile sec- 
 
28 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 ond childhood was taken advantage uf by those whom 
 wealth and influence thrust into position. 
 
 The founders of the constitution did not attempt to 
 rear a government which would survive unaltered 
 through the ages. They knew better than to attempt 
 it. When they had finished their labels and adjourned 
 to their homes they did not think much of what they 
 had accomplished. Several of the states represented in 
 the constitutional convention took two years time for 
 deliberation before adopting the constitution, and came 
 into the fold then only because they were forced to by 
 circumstances and environments. It was nearly a hun 
 dred years before the discovery was made that the con 
 stitution was an inspired document, a summing up of 
 all earthly wisdom pertaining to government. After 
 amassing $40,000,000 under its munificent regime and 
 having successfully engineered a reduction of wages 
 among his 6,000 employes, Andrew Carnegie made the 
 discovery that ours was the greatest government on the 
 face of the earth. He embodied his ideas in a book 
 labeled "Triumphant Democracy" and inflicted it upon 
 a helpless world. 
 
 The founders of the constitution evidently had a 
 most wholesome fear of or contempt for the people. 
 They certainly succeeded in so molding the document 
 that the majority of the people had limited legal re 
 dress for their wrongs. With the avowed intention of 
 founding a government of, for and by the people, they 
 established a system in which the majority of the peo 
 ple often had no power to shape or direct their affairs. 
 The only national officers the people were permitted 
 to directly vote for were members of the house of 
 representatives. They were not trusted even with a 
 direct vote for president or vice-president, but were 
 compelled to vote for electors. As a result several 
 presidents were inaugurated and served their terms who 
 received many votes less than their defeated oppon 
 ents. This was considered " representative govern 
 ment." The house of representatives was not trusted 
 with representing or deciding anything. A senate 
 
SOME HISTORICAL FACTS 29 
 
 founded upon and copied after the English house of 
 lords, was elected by the several state legislatures 
 two senators from each state, regardless of its size, 
 population, wealth or importance and delegated with 
 power to defeat anything which might emanate from 
 the house. 
 
 Even this precaution was not enough for the mon 
 archists, who controlled the constitutional convention. 
 For fear the voice of the people might prevail despite 
 the cumbersome machinery of the house and the ever- 
 threateningjhostility of the senate, the president of the 
 United States was clothed with the power to veto any 
 bill after its passage through both bodies. It could then 
 prevail only after receiving a two-thirds vote in both 
 houses. So that the president could more easily sway 
 both houses he was empowered to appoint 100,000 
 officeholders. Federal patronage in the hands of the 
 president becarno a powerful whip and was used un 
 sparingly. 
 
 It would seem that the aristocratic founders of the 
 constitution of 1787 had removed the control of affairs 
 so far from the people as to render their meddlesome 
 interference impossible, or at least impracticable. But 
 no. They wanted another safeguard. They proposed 
 to take no chances. It was just barely possible that 
 the fool people might pass through the house and sen 
 ate and over the president s veto a Jaw harmful to their 
 own best interests. The all-wise lawgivers of 1787 
 wished to make sure that the people would be gov 
 erned. To their minds a government that did not over 
 ride the people apd that did not govern them was not 
 worth having. So they established a Supreme Court. 
 The Supreme Court was supposed to know everything. 
 After the people had set their hearts on the passage of 
 some measure and had overcome the stumbling-blocks 
 placed in their way, had elected a huge majority of the 
 House of Representatives and also of the Senate, and 
 passed their favorite bill over the head of an unfriendly 
 executive, the Supreme Court could calmly declare the 
 bill as passed "unconstitutional," and that was the 
 
30 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 end of it. In 1894 this was termed "representative 
 government," and a considerable part of the people 
 fondly imagined that the United States had a govern 
 ment "of the people,for the people and by the people." 
 
 None of these matters, however, seriously affected 
 those who lived in the happy days from 1787 to 1830 
 or even up to a time twenty years later. Poverty was 
 unknown. There were no millionaires and the pauper 
 was a curiosity. The greatest undeveloped country on 
 the face of the earth was waiting for a free people to 
 take possession of it. There were no foes more dan 
 gerous than Indians. Deadly competition had not yet 
 fastened its grasp upon the throat of industry. Land 
 was free. There were no great cities, with their pent- 
 up populations of thousands of toilers struggling for a 
 chance to work. Tired of the town, the toiler was at 
 liberty to leave it and become a pioneer and the found 
 er of a prosperous community in the seemingly inex 
 haustible west. Those were the days of homely lives 
 and republican simplicity. They were living in an age 
 which has now forever vanished and were standing on 
 the threshold of a new era the "mechanical age." 
 There was no labor question in those days. There 
 was work enough for all and the foreign immigrant 
 was warmly welcomed. There was no struggle between 
 man and man, no enmity between employer and work 
 man, no banding of employers and no unions of wage 
 earners, None was needed. All these peaceful condi 
 tions were swept away with the advent of the mechan 
 ical age. 
 
 The mechanical age had its birth and first develop 
 ment in the years between 1800 and 1840. Its influ 
 ence was not severely felt until 1850-60, and it did not 
 attain full sweep and sway until 1870. From that time 
 for a quarter of a century everything was subordinated 
 to the iron rule of the new regime. 
 
 The dawn of the present century found Watt work 
 ing on the steam engine. Two years later gas was first 
 used for illuminating purposes. America had begun 
 to raise cotton, and in 1830 the invention of the spin- 
 
SOME HI9TOEICAL FACTS 31 
 
 ning mule established a new industry. Fulton built 
 his first steamboat in 1807,and in 1819 the first steam 
 ship crossed the Atlantic. America built her first mile 
 of railroad in 1827, and telegraphing became possible 
 in 1835. An industrial revolution was brewing, but 
 the people did not notice it, and the constitution did 
 not recognize it. Factories reared their tall chimneys 
 on every side. Bands of iron and steel bound the 
 country together. The boy rested on the plow handle, 
 watched the train rush by toward the great city, and 
 his heart was filled with a strange longing and unrest. 
 The next month he had left the farm forever. The 
 great heart of the west was penetrated. Railroads were 
 projected across the continent, and the government 
 donated them land enough to found empires. While 
 the government reserved some land, it permitted great 
 corporations to grab millions of acres of forest and rich 
 prairie, vast tracts filled with mines, property worth 
 billions of dollars. All this was almost unnoticed. 
 There was plenty left, the people said. Uncle Sam had 
 a farm for everybody. This was in 1850. 
 
 In 1898, 300,000 people massed around the Cherokee 
 strip, a barren tract of land the government had pur 
 chased from the Indians, and at a signal made a wild 
 scramble for a home in the treeless wilderness. Many 
 were killed. While these unfortunate people were 
 fighting for a home millions of acres of choice farming 
 land in New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio were in the 
 undisputed possession of foreign syndicates and cap 
 italists who were holding them for speculative purposes. 
 For over seventy years the people lived and prospered 
 under the constitution adopted by our forefathers back 
 in 1787. The country was so great, its resources so in 
 exhaustible, and the opportunities for expansion so 
 limitless that questions which vexed the statesmen of 
 other lands never presented themselves to the favored 
 people of America. It would have waxed powerful un 
 der a monarchy and its people would have grown rich 
 had there been no government. The first severe test 
 came in 1860. 
 
82 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 The constitution had recognized slavery, and in after 
 years the people almost came to war over the establish 
 ment of a line which should divide the slave labor of 
 the south from the wage labor of the north. As the 
 manufacturers of the north proceeded with the devel 
 opment of machinery the south learned with chagrin 
 that it could not compete in open market even though 
 it had the supposed advantage of slave labor. It was 
 the first triumph for the mechanical age. Jealousy 
 turned to rage when the political leaders of the south 
 saw its national candidates defeated, and they decided 
 to sever all connection with the government at Wash 
 ington, found a confederacy of their own, and they un 
 doubtedly contemplated levying a protective tariff 
 against the machine-made products of the north. 
 
 South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia and the other 
 southern states declared in their state conventions 
 that they were sovereign states having full power to 
 sever at will all connection with adjacent common 
 wealths. In support of the justice and truth of their 
 position they quoted the constitution of the United 
 States, and invoked history to prove that they entered 
 the union as sovereign states and had an equal right to 
 withdraw as such. They proved by the constitution 
 beyond any doubt that they had this right, and there 
 upon seceded. The north whipped them into subjec 
 tion and thereby demonstrated that it is better to have 
 common sense and plenty of ammunition than to be a 
 strict constructionist of the constitution and state 
 patriot. Bat the war did not originate in any cortro- 
 versy over state rights; it was not waged by the north 
 for the purpose of freeing the slaves; it was an inevi 
 table outgrowth of the triumph of the mechanical age 
 and resulted in a life and death struggle between the 
 slave labor of the south and the wage labor of the north. 
 That the latter won was logical. More that that, it was 
 just. Any other result would have been an irretrieva 
 ble disaster. 
 
 No man who reads history aright can make any de 
 fense for the position assumed by the south in that 
 
SOME HISTORICAL FACTS 33 
 
 controversy. Sovereign states 1 They may have been 
 sovereign 200 years before they seceded; they may have 
 preserved some of that sovereignty up to the time they 
 merged their fortunes in the Union, and the constitu 
 tion undoubtedly affirmed that sovereignty, but in the 
 seventy years which had intervened this country had 
 become a nation in spite of a constitution framed by 
 men, some of whom cared more for their political for 
 tunes as officeholders in their respective states than 
 they did for the glorious future of the republic. When 
 it came right down to business the people of the north 
 spent precious little time trying to find out exactly 
 what Mr. Randolph and his associate constitution man 
 ufacturers meant. The north knew that this was the 
 United States poor grammar, but good patriotism 
 and they proceeded to shoot a little common sense into 
 certain politicians who attempted, by quoting the con 
 stitution, to perpetuate colonies, petty monarchies and 
 land grants founded by dead and almost forgotten Eu 
 ropean tyrants, The government laid the constitution 
 aside while this was being done and got along very well 
 without it. It was a splendid time to revise or rewrite 
 the aged document. 
 
 The progress of the war did not check the industrial 
 and mechanical development of the country. On the 
 contrary, it stimulated it. A few years previous to the 
 war of the rebellion the country had experienced its 
 first panic. There was a period of "hard times." 
 Factories shut down, workmen were thrown out of em 
 ployment, banks failed and a period of depression en 
 sued. The wise men of that day did not appear to know 
 what caused this phenDinenon. Politicians accused each 
 other of responsibility. After a time the factories re 
 sumed work, business revived, and the experience was 
 almost forgotten. 
 
 Times were never better in the country than during 
 the four years of the war. There was plenty of work. 
 The more there was destroyed the better the times be 
 came. Wages increased. The government issued green 
 backs and bonds, the former passing current as money, 
 
34 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 but not maintaining parity with gold. The nation was 
 enabled, however, to keep up a vast army at enormous 
 expense, and those who remained at home prospered as 
 never before. 
 
 The war undoubtedly was a curse, but it create 4 good 
 times. The south surrendered aiid the war was ended. 
 That certainly was a blessing. A million of the nation s 
 defenders returned to peaceable avocations. No longer 
 would the men who remained behind be compelled to 
 support the soldiers in the field. This certainly was 
 a matter for congratulation. A million men were 
 added to the working force of the nation and new life 
 was to be infused into the republic. Surely an era of 
 happiness and prosperity was at hand. 
 
 Strange to relate, nothing of the kind happened. The 
 advent of peace was followed by industrial depression. 
 The men who had been making guns and ammunition 
 to kill other men and destroy property were thrown 
 out of work. A million men entered into competition 
 with those already at work and wages fell, A stranga 
 phenomenon! The prosperity of the country evidently 
 did not depend upon the perpetuity of peace, either 
 inside or outside the country. The manufacturers had 
 made a discovery. War was just the thing they want 
 ed. Continued peace had a depressing effect on busi 
 ness. So they scanned the papers and smiled with joy 
 when a war cloud darkened Europe. Stocks and pro 
 visions rose when war was imminent and fell when the 
 cables announced that hostilities had been averted. 
 
 The depression following the war was short-lived. It 
 did not take the country long to assimilate the ex-sol 
 diers. To the west there were still tracts of land open 
 for settlement. A period of marvelous activity in the 
 invention field began in 1867 and continued without 
 serious interruption for a quarter of a century. Under 
 such a stimulus manufacturing establishments doubled 
 their capacity. Old models were discarded and im 
 proved devices put in place. By means of automatic 
 machinery hundreds of men were displaced for a time 
 and forced to find other employments. The producing 
 
SOME HISTORICAL FACTS 35 
 
 power of labor was rapidly increasing. The wages of 
 the laborer remained stationary or fell. The price of 
 products decreased. In every department of industry 
 the inventor was at work. Farming was revolutionized 
 by tfc e creation and successful operation of planting, 
 mowing and harvesting machinery. In 10,000 factories 
 whizzing belts and pulleys sang a song of triumph for 
 the mechanical age. Poets wrote of the wonders of 
 machinery and foresaw a golden time when through its 
 agency man should live without work. 
 
 There was a crash in 1873. A bank failed in New 
 York. Securities on Wall Street tumbled down the 
 scale. Great workshops closed their doors and surprised 
 workmen came the next morning, but walked sadly 
 home. The sheriff nailed notices on shop doors all over 
 the United States. Money depreciated in value and 
 gold was at a high premium. What was all this trouble 
 about? 
 
 Why, it was a panic. Oh, yes; there was a panic 
 away back before the war I What caused it? No one 
 seemed to know. It was generally supposed to be some 
 thing like cholera, which had a sort of license to sweep 
 around the world once in so often. Good Christians 
 explained it on the ground that the Almighty took this 
 method of punishing the nation for some great wrong, 
 not specified. The Democrats said it was caused by the 
 Republicans,and the Republicans avowed it was caused 
 by a fear on the part of the country that the Democrats 
 would get into power at the coming election. During 
 all this time business was at a standstill. Property 
 depreciated and fortunes were swept away. Mortgages 
 were foreclosed by unscrupulous money-lenders. Fam 
 ilies were driven from their homes, and poverty stalked 
 throughout the nation. 
 
 The panic of 1873, in common with all other com 
 mercial and industrial panics, or periods of depression, 
 was caused by the overproduction of manufactured 
 articles. There came a time one day when the manu 
 facturer awoke to the realization of the fact that his 
 warehouses were filled with goods for which the jobber 
 
36 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 and retailer had made DO demand. He made an exam< 
 ination of his books and learned that the retailer had 
 not paid for the last bill of goods. The retailer also 
 had a store full of goods for which there was little sale. 
 The word went out that this condition prevailed all 
 over the country. Too much had been manufactured. 
 The factories therefore closed. Banks called in loans 
 and refused to extend accommodations. Over a million 
 workingmen found their wages cut off entirely. Others 
 had theirs reduced and were permitted to work part of 
 the time. 
 
 All this happened because the people had produced 
 more than they could purchase with their wages. 
 Hence the panic; hence workmen discharged and homes 
 impoverished. 
 
 It might be supposed that the people declined to pat 
 ronize the tradesman and consume his wares for the 
 reason that they had already purchased sufficient quan 
 tities of such articles as they needed. This was not so. 
 They had expended all or nearly all their wages and 
 were still in need of the various things which the re 
 tailers had for sale. In 1878, as in other panics, 
 the people needed shoes, but could not buy them. They 
 had no money. The shoe manufacturers had buildings 
 full of shoes, but could not sell them. The discharged 
 shoemakers would have been glad to make shoes for the 
 barefoot multitude, but there was no way to do so. So 
 therefore the people went barefoot or stubbed along 
 with their old shoes, the manufacturer held possession 
 of his unsold shoes until the sheriff closed him out, and 
 the shoemaker hired out as a farm hand or became a 
 tramp until the panic was over. 
 
 This is not an overdrawn picture. It happened in 
 this country in 1857, in 1873, in 1882, in 1889, and in 
 1893. 
 
 The situation was an extremely simple one, and it is 
 difficult, to understand why the people were at a loss to 
 ascertain the cause of panics or to provide a remedy. 
 
 Production is limited by consumption. The man 
 ufacturers of the United States aimed to produce an 
 
Held possession until the sheriff closed him out, 
 37 
 
SOME HISTORICAL FACTS 39 
 
 amount equal to that which the people consumed. To 
 this should be added what was sold abroad, but, stated 
 broadly, production was limited by what the people 
 consumed. Now, the great mass of the people was com 
 posed of wageworkers or i armers. The great bulk of 
 manufactured and other products was consumed by the 
 workers and producers. Their capacity to consume was 
 limited by their wages. Hence production was limited 
 by wages. That was all there was to it, and that sim 
 ple statement contains the key to the mystery of 
 panics. 
 
 The people were unable to purchase with their w^ges 
 that which their labor had created. They could not 
 keep up with the machines they operated. They could 
 come nowhere near it. Even when aided by the extrav 
 agance of the rich and independent they could not keep 
 pace with the machines. A first-class conflagration 
 which would destroy millions of dollars worth of prod 
 ucts helped matters once in a while, but a new machine 
 would more than offset the blessings which followed 
 a destructive fire, flood, or other calamity. So in the 
 natural course of events a surplus or overproduction 
 would be created and a panic ensue. 
 
 Now that we have reached a period in civilization 
 when such a thing as a panic or financial depression is 
 unheard of and impossible, it may be interesting to 
 recall how the paople of 1860-96 survived a panic and 
 how good times were restored. This is how they brought 
 about a "revival of business": 
 
 In times of panic or depression a large percentage of 
 the factories was closed and others operated part of 
 the time with decreased forces and decreased wages. 
 The problem was to consume the already manufactured 
 product. The unemployed were not in good shape to 
 accomplish much in this direction, their purchasing 
 power being destroyed, and the burden of absorbing 
 this surplus fell upon the rich. Such of the discharged 
 and discarded workmen as had saved money for old age 
 or a rainy day spent it. When their scanty hoards were 
 gone those who had homes placed mortgages on them 
 
40 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 at high rates of interest, money being a scarce com 
 modity at such times, and usurers and pawnbrokers 
 were more than usually exorbitant. Others of the un 
 employed were forced to depend on charity. The largo 
 cities would extend and enlarge the scope of charitable 
 institutions, and enterprising newspapers did good work 
 by supervising free-soup, free-bread and old-clothes 
 distributions. A great many of the unemployed be 
 came thieves and tramps, and some of the more ener 
 getic embraced train robbery as a profession and were 
 quite successful. All of these expedients reduced the 
 surplus and hastened the advance of good times. The 
 charitably disposed rich acted nobly in such times. 
 They gave freely of their money, and kind-hearted 
 ladies engaged in the work of relieving the distressed. 
 
 Father Time also did good work. He rotted the per 
 ishable articles which "good times" had produced in 
 superabundance and laid his destroying fingers on 
 costly products stored away in the warehouses of the 
 manufacturers. Dame Fashion also came to the rescue 
 and with an edict destroyed the commercial value of 
 clothes, fabrics and wearing apparel which deft and 
 dainty fingers had created and for which no purchaser 
 came in time. During all this period the wealthy and 
 independent classes were eating away at the surplus and 
 after a time it vanished. All hail the prowess of good 
 old Father Time, aided by Taxation, Charity, Patience, 
 Dame Fashion, and the rotund stomachs of those who 
 lived without workl The panic was past, the depression 
 was over, hard times were gone, good times were at 
 hand. 
 
 The people who lived in those days must have been 
 singularly lacking in an appreciation of humor. It 
 was a side-splitting farce, a wildly hilarious national 
 comedy, but the people did not seem to enjoy it and 
 took it seriously. Some of them got mad and started 
 riots and the militia had to shoot them. The whole 
 situation growing out of a panic was full of comical 
 complications, which were utterly lost on the people. 
 
SOME HISTORICAL FACTS 4i 
 
 They had become so rich that they were poor. 
 
 They had invented a machine which sawed and split 
 so much wood that they had to freeze in winter time. 
 
 They had reduced shoemaking to so fine a science and 
 piled up so many boots that the whole nation had to go 
 barefooted. 
 
 The unhappy day had come when there was no work. 
 Poets had dreamed of a time when work should be ban 
 ished from earth. Now that the day had arrived a mil 
 lion men fell on their faces and worshiped work as a 
 god and begged that they might be his slaves. Every- 
 Vjdaere the cry went up for work. 
 
 One day a man made a speech to a crowd of unem 
 ployed and half-starved men and told them that what 
 they needed was not work, but something to eat. .He 
 advised them to kill off the rich and take possession of 
 the things their labor had created. The speaker was 
 not very logical and knew little or nothing of the cause 
 which had produced the distress of his audience, but he 
 had that rude eloquence which hunger and desperation 
 inspires and his speech created a riot. He was clubbed 
 and arrested. The next day some of the papers said he 
 was an anarchist. Other papers said he was a socialist. 
 Some said he was an anarchist and a socialist, which 
 was as consistent as it would be to accuse a man of be 
 ing an infidel and a Christian. Anyhow he was an 
 enemy to society and had dared to attack the spirit of 
 American institutions. More than that, he was not 
 born in this country, and knew nothing about liberty. 
 If he didn t "like things as he found them why didn t 
 he go back whence he came?" This was a very popular 
 expression and was supposed to contain a vast deal of 
 wisdom. Even full-blood Americans who could trace 
 their ancestry clear back to the time their forefathers 
 burned witches in Salem, and who should have been 
 running over with the spirit of American institutions, 
 made themselves extremely unpopular by denouncing 
 certain things they did not like. 
 
 As a result of all this it came to be understood that 
 Americanism consisted (1) in submitting to everything 
 
42 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 which happened with sublime resignation, (2) an im 
 plicit trust in the government which was handed down 
 from Washington and Jefferson, and (3) a childlike 
 belief that everything was all right no matter how un 
 just it might appear. Any other mode of conduct was 
 stigmatized as being un-American. And in these few 
 years following the panic of 1878 the people were actu 
 ally made to believe that ifc was un-American to protest 
 against vested authority, when every school history in 
 the land proved that the American people had advanced 
 as a nation only by repeatedly battering down the laws 
 which some one had made to govern them; by indulg 
 ing in revolutions; by instigating rebellions; ignoring 
 when necessary the constitution, and in short by fight 
 ing, usurping power, arid striking right and left at any 
 thing and everything which stood in the way of their 
 progress. Up to 1873 the American nation was a nation 
 of fighters; after 1873 any man who talked about fight 
 ing for his rights was branded as un-American, and 
 there was always a suspicion that he was a foreigner. 
 
 Great was the influence of the machine. Strange 
 were the forces which governed in the mechanical age. 
 
 The panic of 1873 was followed by a depression, which 
 lifted toward the close of 1877. From 1877 to 1882 
 there was a period of activity, finally resulting in over 
 production. Hard times again .ensued, and the business 
 and manufacturing depression culminated in the Hay- 
 market riot in Chicago in 1886. A favorable reaction 
 occurred in 1888 and 1889, but there was not much of 
 a boom. New forces were at work. There was almost 
 a panic in 1889-90, but it resulted in nothing more seri 
 ous than general depression all over the country. The 
 skies brightened in 1891, and under the spur of the 
 Columbian Exposition a genuine boom set in. The 
 bubble burst in 1893. 
 
 Note the shortening interval between panics. Nearly 
 a score of years elapsed between the first panic and its 
 successor. The people had forgotten there ever was a 
 panic. Those who remembered it never expected an 
 other one. The third panic did not wait so many years, 
 
SOME HISTORICAL FACTS 43 
 
 and shrewd observers had expected it and made prepa 
 rations accordingly. After 1886 the forecasting of 
 panics became a part of a business man s education. 
 The intervals between became so short that periods of 
 depression were almost continuous. What was done to 
 check this awful waste of wealth and demoralization 
 of industries? Nothing. What statesman, inspired 
 by the perils of his countrymen, arose to sound a warn 
 ing and give the nation a remedy? None. What was 
 the result? The birth of American discontent; the 
 planting on American soil of the seeds of anarchy and 
 hatred; the fostering of a growing distrust in the jus 
 tice of American laws; a hatred of the rich, a contempt 
 for legislators, and a groping in the dark. Grotesque 
 political heresies found eager followers, but elections 
 were held, congresses met and adjourned without pro 
 ducing a statesman or a patriotic national policy. So 
 the country drifted on. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 A COUNTRY WITHOUT A STATESMAN. 
 
 FROM 1865 to 1896 the United States did not produce 
 a statesman, 
 
 It did not produce a man whose broadness of intellect 
 and courage in execution could by any stretch of the 
 imagination be construed as statesmanship. From 1865 
 to 1898 the United States did produce a crop of poli 
 ticians who disgraced and well-nigh ruined the fairest 
 country the sun ever shone upon. 
 
 These twenty-eight years produced business men, and 
 the best business men this world has ever seen. It gave 
 to civilization great generals of production; men skilled 
 in the science of manipulating industries; men who 
 could look into the future and surely read the events 
 of the coming years and lay their plans accordingly. 
 It produced men gifted with the genius of organization 
 and vested with the power to so concentrate human 
 endeavor as to achieve the highest possible commercial 
 results, These men handled vast armies of workmen, 
 each of whom became a part in a perfect working ma 
 chine. For politicians and the counterfeit statesmen 
 of the day they had nothing but contempt. No induce 
 ment was strong enough to tempt them to accept polit 
 ical positions. They declined to enter Congress and 
 participate in its sham legislation. Whenever they 
 desired anything at the hands of the lawmakers they 
 paid for it like gentlemen, and made the proper entries 
 in their ledgers. 
 
 The age of conquest proved great warriors; the age 
 of letters gave to the world its philosophers, and the age 
 of rqechanics. crowned as king the business man,. 
 
 44 
 
A COUNTRY WITHOUT A STATESMAN 45 
 
 With the close of the war of the rebellion statesman 
 ship became a lost art, and business established a code 
 of laws for itself and brought the country to its feet. 
 Competition and unlimited and unrestricted produc 
 tion precipitated the panics of 1873, 1884 and 1893. 
 These stupendous object lessons were lost on the poli 
 ticians. They were a mystery to the common people. 
 They were plain as day to the clear-headed business 
 man. He had learned that with free competition prof 
 its were uncertain, and ultimate business failure inev 
 itable. 
 
 Take a single example; a shoe manufacturer. For 
 twenty years he had been adding to his business and 
 tilling his factories with improved machinery. The 
 panic found him with an immense stock on hand, which 
 had to be sacrificed at. a loss. This must not occur 
 again, he declared. How was he to prevent it? There 
 were fifty large shoe factories in the country which he 
 acknowledged as competitors. Now, our friend, the 
 shoe manufacturer, knew just about how many shoes 
 the people of the United States used in a year. He 
 had reliable trade statistics on that point. He knew 
 how many he could make, He knew how many his 
 competitors could make. But he did not know how 
 many he could sell. He did not know how many his 
 forty-nine competitors would sell. He did not know 
 how close they would shave prices in the fierce compe 
 tition which prevailed. He was therefore powerless 
 under the free competition to protect himself against 
 overproducing. He had made a discovery; competition 
 was not the life of trade; it was the death of profits. 
 He had ascertained that as long as manufacturers were 
 pitted against each other in an open market ultimate 
 bankruptcy was certain for the majority of them. 
 
 Our friend then proceeded to analyze the situation. 
 There was no reason why the shoe business should not 
 pay sure and steady profits. He was making better 
 shoes,more shoes,and selling them cheaper than twenty 
 years before, but at less profit. His competitors were 
 in the same predicament. They were reasonable men, 
 
46 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 and he decided to confer with them. An idea presented 
 itself. He addressed a circular letter to the shoe man 
 ufacturers of the United States and suggested the call 
 ing of a convention to consider mutual interests. The 
 proposition met favor and was adopted. The great 
 manufacturers met and talked it over. As a result of 
 their deliberations it was decided: 
 
 1. That unrestricted competition meant loss or 
 bankruptcy. 
 
 2 That combination was a good substitute for com 
 petition. 
 
 3. That there was no sense in manufacturing more 
 shoes than the people could buy. 
 
 4. That there was no sense in selling shoes at less 
 than cost price. 
 
 They therefore formed a trust. Their trust included 
 nearly all the shoe manufacturers in the country. They 
 regulated the price of shoes and took good care not to 
 make more than the public demanded. They regulated 
 \\ages. When the demand for shoes fell off they shut 
 down some factories and reduced the forces in others. 
 The trust was a success. Jt was a distinct advance in 
 civilization. Several states passed laws against trusts. 
 They had no more right to interfere with the affairs of 
 two manufacturers than they had to pass a law forbid 
 ding two milk peddlers to consolidate their respective 
 routes. The legislative bull had no effect and the trust 
 survived, 
 
 Other trades followed the example set by the wise 
 shoe manufacturers. In a few instances the attempts 
 failed for a time, but in 1890 all the great industries 
 of the country were merged into trusts, pools and as 
 sociations. Their methods of procedure varied. Some 
 industries embraced in their trust all of those engaged 
 therein at the time of its formation. Others were 
 formed on more selfish and cruel lines. The watch trade 
 was an example of the latter. The Elgin National 
 Watch Company and the American Watch Company, 
 of Waltham, consolidated their interests. These two 
 concerns had about $25,000,000 invested in machinery, 
 
A COUNTRY WITHOUT A STATESMAN 47 
 
 and together practically controlled the trade. ID three 
 years they bankrupted the outside small competitors, 
 with one or two exceptions, and then absorbed them. 
 
 The trust was the logical and inevitable outgrowth 
 of competition in the mechanical age. It was made 
 necessary by the fact that the output of the machine 
 exceeded the capacity of the people to consume. The 
 trust was a life raft for manufacturers and producers. 
 It was a shield against an all-destroying competition. 
 
 To the thinkers and to the student of political 
 economy the evolution of the trust had a deep signifi 
 cance. It foreshadowed the downfall of the system of 
 industry and production which gave it birth. The fact 
 that the trust was necessary proved that the prevailing 
 industrial system was wrong. Capital had abandoned 
 competition and embraced co-operation. It shrewdly 
 urged competition among the wageworkers. 
 
 The trust became the political scapegoat of both great 
 political parties. Their platforms, their orators and 
 organs launched argument and invective against the 
 trust. They demanded the passage of laws compelling 
 the disruption of all such associations. This was done 
 by people who also denounced paternalism in gov 
 ernment, but they were willing that the strong arm of 
 the law should step in and prevent two men from com 
 bining their resources for the purpose of cheapening 
 production, systematizing business and thereby increas 
 ing their profits. Of course no such laws could be en 
 forced, though several were passed. The politicians 
 knew this; so did the orators, the press and the mem 
 bers of the trusts. But the people took up the harm 
 less cry and the trusts came in for all manner of abuse. 
 It did not hurt the trusts, it amused the people, and it 
 furnished them with an excuse for being out of work. 
 
 Let it not be understood that the clear-headed and 
 sagacious business men who founded that new school 
 of commercial economy, the trust, were actuated by 
 any desire to serve their fellowmen. Far from it. 
 They formed trusts because they had to, and remained 
 in them for the very good reason that they would per- 
 
48 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 ish on the outside. They were interested in the pub 
 lic only from the fact that it consumed their products, 
 and the more prosperous the public the more the prod 
 ucts consumed and profits accrued. They kept prices 
 just as high as good business policy dictated. They 
 paid their employes the lowest wages they would ac 
 cept. That was business. That was what the society 
 they lived in gave them a right to do, and they would 
 have been fools to have pursued any other policy. They 
 were in business for the money there was in it, and 
 they had joined in a trust to increase their profits. 
 Whenever the stockholders wanted to bestow a favor 
 on the public they gave it in the form of charity," en 
 dowed a hospital or founded an educational institute. 
 
 The writer does not desire to be misunderstood about 
 trusts. Trusts were not great moral agents of reform, 
 and were not grounded on strict justice. But the trust 
 was inevitable as an institution. It followed the dawn 
 of the mechanical age just so surely as a bud opens in 
 the morning under the warming influence of the sun. 
 The trust as it existed in 1890 did not represent the 
 ideal; it was not the final limit of human endeavor. 
 
 But the trust of 1890 the sordid, grasping, cruel 
 and scheming trust represented a distinct advance in 
 civilization and in commerce. It was as great a discov 
 ery in commerce as that made by the old farmer in trans 
 portation, who learned one day that it was not neces 
 sary to load one side of his mule with bricks so as to 
 counterbalance the weight of the wheat on the opposite 
 side, and who revolutionized traffic by throwing away 
 the bricks and loading each side of the patient mule with 
 equal weights of wheat. The trust took a part of the load 
 from that docile mule, the public, and put the increased 
 profits from this innovation in its pocket. The finan 
 cial interests of the mule were not involved. He had 
 none. 
 
 According to most excellent authority there were in 
 1893 not less than 200 fully equipped, well-organized 
 and capably managed trusts, pools, associations and 
 federations and combinations of interests in the United 
 
A COUNTRY WITHOUT A STATESMAN 49 
 
 States. These organizations included almost every 
 industry in which machinery played a part, with the 
 exception of farm products before they left the hands 
 of the producers. . After the farmer sold his grain or 
 corn it passed into the hands of railroad pools, elevator 
 associations, milling trusts, produce associations, and 
 from them to the more or less unprotected retailers, 
 and from them to the absolutely unprotected con 
 sumers. Coal, iron, copper, steel, oil and other prod 
 ucts of the earth had their production limited and 
 their prices fixed by trusts. 
 
 The 170,000 miles of railroad were merged into three 
 or four pools and associations, which fixed rates and 
 prohibited competition. In order to make this more 
 compulsory congress was prevailed upon to pass an in 
 ter-state commerce law. It would be impossible to 
 name any important industry which had been omitted. 
 
 We have noted the generally beneficial effect of these 
 combinations to the men financially interested in them. 
 What was the economic effect upon that vast con 
 stituency the consumers the people of the United 
 States? 
 
 The power to regulate production carries with it the 
 power to say how many men shall work at any partic 
 ular industry, when they shall work and as a rule 
 what they shall be paid. The trusts had that power. 
 They acquired it legitimately under the constitution 
 and laws of the United States. They had not trans 
 gressed those laws and had proceeded under the letter 
 and spirit of the constitution. There was little to com 
 plain of when good times prevailed. There was work 
 enough for all who sought it, money circulated freely, 
 and both manufacturers and employers prospered. But 
 tho time came when the demand for goods diminished. 
 The trust thereupon exercised its undoubted right to 
 manage its own property and accordingly discharged 
 some of its workmen. The purchasing power of these 
 dismissed workmen was curtailed and the depression 
 of the community became more "^ tense. It was no lon 
 ger profitable to manufacture, and over the doors of its 
 workshops the trust placed the sign: 
 
50 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 CLOSED. 
 
 Why not? It was their property. It was not their 
 fault that business was dull. They were not to blame 
 because retailers were unable to sell stocks on hand, 
 much less place orders for new goods. They were un 
 der no obligations to furnish work for men. They 
 were business men, conducting business institutions 
 on a business basis, and were paying taxes to a state 
 whose duty it was to dispense charity, if any charity 
 could reasonably be demanded. 
 
 But the people did not understand this. They wanted 
 work and when it was refused them denounced the 
 monopolies for not opening their workshops and man 
 ufacturing a lot of stuff that the people could not buy 
 for the simple reason that they did not have the money. 
 In this foolish position they were encouraged by cer 
 tain foolish writers, and their passions were inflamed 
 by blatant and ignorant demagogues whose entire stock 
 of political economy consisted of a strong pull in 
 some ward. Other causes as innocent as the "trusts 
 and monopolies" were alleged. Foreigners were de 
 nounced and the government petitioned to check or 
 prohibit immigration regardless of the character of the 
 applicants for citizenship in the glorious free republic 
 of the United States. Others declared that the protect 
 ive tariff was to blame and were ridiculed by their 
 opponents, who announced that the protected manufac 
 turers were afraid to go ahead on account of the fright 
 ful specter of free trade. The truth was so apparent 
 that it would seem the worst fool could have discov 
 ered it factories were closed because more than suffi 
 cient products had already been created. The forces 
 of production were greater than the purchasing power 
 of the consumers. The workman could not buy back 
 with his wages the product created by the machine he 
 manipulated. 
 
 From 1865 to 1894 the United States did not pro 
 duce a statesman. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 GROPING IN THE DARK. 
 
 IN a study of the political and economical literature 
 of the period between 1870 and 1896 the attention of 
 the historian is attracted by the widespread belief in 
 conspiracies which existed at that time among many 
 classes of people. Political parties charged their op 
 ponents with being conspirators against the prosperity 
 of the republic. It would bo equally reasonable to 
 accuse a man of conspiring to depreciate the value or 
 cause the ruin of his personal property. The poor 
 charged their conditions to a conspiracy among the 
 rich, to whom they attributed a desire to hold the great 
 masses in subjection through poverty. 
 
 There were no such conspiracies. No political party 
 sought the ruination of the country. The rich did not 
 desire the impoverishment of the masses; on the con 
 trary, the continued prosperity of the rich depended 
 absolutely on the betterment of the conditions of the 
 common people, 
 
 Of all the people of the United States the business 
 men alone had accommodated themselves to the re 
 quirements of the mechanical age. They occupied van 
 tage ground because they had pre-empted it. The me 
 chanical age, wrapped in its swaddling clothes from 
 1800 to 1840, grew in strength with the years and 
 reached manhood before 1870. The mechanical age 
 had nothing in common with the period which gave it 
 birth. It was governed by no ancient laws and con 
 trolled by no musty precedents. The sun wjiich shone 
 on Philadelphia in 1787 illumined a new civilization in 
 1887 a civilization further removed from that of the 
 
 51 
 
52 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 preceding century than 1787 was from the age which 
 witnessed the birth of Christ. In that short century 
 the world had lived thousands of years, measured by 
 the chronology of progress. 
 
 What had kept pace with that progress? The busi 
 ness and commercial interests, and they alone. States 
 manship groped in the darkness of the past; labor, 
 shackled in the bonds of wage slavery, was chained to 
 the chariot wheels. Justice fumbled over the musty 
 tomas handed down from the decayed and detested 
 kings, and attempted to settle disputes among civilized 
 men by quoting precedents which originated with sav 
 ages. 
 
 A law handed down by a judge who never dreamed 
 of a locomotive engine, and who lived in a day when 
 the murder of human beings was regarded as the only 
 scientific profession, was quoted as a precedent to set 
 tle a controversy arising between an elevated railroad 
 and an electric light company. That evening a ma 
 chinist addressed a company of distinguished guests at 
 a legal banquet to which he was invited as a curiosity. 
 He uttered an aphorism: 
 
 "The path of progress is strewn with broken prece 
 dents." The grand truth contained in that short line 
 was appreciated by a few, but lost on the crowd. The 
 next day a judge issued an injunction stopping work on 
 an enterprise which affected the wealth and comfort of 
 700,000 people,in a decision based on something which 
 occurred during the reign of Henry VIII. 
 
 The people who lived and died amid such grotesque 
 social, judicial and political surroundings accepted the 
 situation with remarkable complacency. They were 
 strongly imbued with a belief which was generally ex 
 pressed in these words: "What always has been al 
 ways will be. " Just who was the author of this re 
 markable statement will probably remain a mystery, 
 but it contains as much untruth and stupidity as can 
 be expressed concisely. It was, however, a great com 
 fort to many ignorant people. It reconciled them to 
 their poverty, their oppression and their wrongs. They 
 
GROPING IN THE DARK 55 
 
 imagined that poverty was something absolutely neces 
 sary, that a certain percentage were ever doomed to be 
 poor, that in some way or another poverty was a bless 
 ing. 
 
 There were other popular beliefs which were of great 
 comfort to the people. With few exceptions every 
 young person firmly expected and resolved to become 
 immensely wealthy some day. A most commendable 
 ambition, but difficult of realization. This thought 
 was instilled into his very being in the public schools 
 and became a part of his education. It generally took 
 from three to ten years steady, monotonous work as 
 clerk in a great dry-goods house, or half a lifetime de 
 voted to cutting threads on bolts in some big machine 
 shop to disillusionize the victim 
 
 How often the story was told of how John Jacob 
 Astor started in life as a muskrat trapper and by strict 
 application to business became a merchant prince; how 
 Commodore Vanderbilt started with a ferry-boat and 
 eventually built and owned the New York Central Rail 
 road; how Jay Gould peddled maps in New Jersey and 
 in later life was able to wreck a railroad company every 
 year; how Phil Armour walked into Chicago, grew up 
 with that great city, and accumulated untold millions! 
 
 These glowing examples were held up before the 
 young, and they were taught that by industry, perse 
 verance and honesty any one could do likewise. But the 
 boy who graduated in 1894 found all the muskrats 
 killed off, and they were not in style anyhow; there 
 was a surplus of railroads, and those in operation were 
 going into the hands of receivers; there was strong 
 competition in the Jay Gould school of financiering, 
 and as near as he could learn there were no new Chi- 
 cagos sprung up in the west. There was no new west. 
 It had been absorbed before he was born. He did not 
 know it, but the fact was he had started in fully fifty 
 years too late. Messrs. Astor, Vanderbilt,Gould, Armour, 
 and other highly successful multimillionaires began 
 their activity with the birth of the mechanical age,and 
 some of them became rich from the simple fact that it 
 was impossible for them to remain poor. 
 
56 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 The schoolboy eventually discovered these facts with 
 some surprise and resentment, and was glad to accept 
 a $60-a-rnonth job as a Columbian guard at the World s 
 Fair as a compromise. He never fully forgave the sim 
 ple-minded school-teacher who deceived him. 
 
 A great many people took intense satisfaction from 
 the general belief that most wealthy people sooner or 
 later lost their fortunes. The man who carried a hod 
 for a living would pick up his weekly paper and read 
 with great glee that Henry Villard, the great railroad 
 king, had had his fortune swept away on Wall Street, 
 or that some speculator had lost a million dollars on 
 the board of trade, by a sudden drop in wheat. That 
 was great news for the honest hod-carrier. He imag 
 ined that in some way it helped the country and indi 
 rectly would benefit him. He was unable to see that 
 the success or failure of any stock manipulator or 
 gambler in no way concerned him or his pocketbook. 
 It was not often that great millionaires lost their for 
 tunes. If they did it would be to other and greater 
 millionaires and not to the honest hod-carrier or his 
 friend the bricklayer or carpenter. But the thought 
 was a consoling one and he was happy in it. 
 
 The people took a deep interest in what they called 
 "politics." Their "politics" consisted in belonging to 
 either the Republican or Democratic party. Those 
 who belonged to the Republican party proved their 
 fealty by cursing the Democrats when the latter were 
 in power, and by proving, or attempting to prove, that 
 all the wrongs under which the country suffered were 
 directly traceable to the legislation, or lack of legisla 
 tion, of the Democratic party. The Democrats would 
 stoutly deny this and "point with pride" to the fact 
 that the country was in as bad or worse shape under 
 the Republican rule. An election would be held and 
 the Democrats defeated. They would then assume the 
 offensive and rail against the Republicans. The "outs" 
 generally had all the best of the argument, for the rea 
 son that the country was usually experiencing a panic, 
 had just recovered from one, or was anticipating one. 
 
GROPING IN THE DARK 57 
 
 Each party had one thing which it always bragged 
 about. The Republicans declared that they saved the 
 Union in the war of the rebellion and boasted about it. 
 The Democrats denied this and proved that they helped, 
 and then proudly declared that Thomas Jefferson, who 
 wrote the declaration of independence, was a Democrat, 
 and so was Andrew Jackson. This the Republicans 
 admitted, but declared that both Jefferson and Jack 
 son would have been Republicans if then living. This 
 constituted a high form of political debate. 
 
 In membership the two parties were about equal. 
 There was generally a third party at different times 
 a Green back, Prohibition, and in 1892 a Populist party 
 the latter being the only one making any decided 
 showing at the polls. Both of the two great parties, 
 as they were called, were made up of strange and seem 
 ingly incongruous parts. Their respective memberships 
 may be thus analyzed: 
 
 The Republican party was made up as follows,in the 
 order of influence and numerical importance: 
 
 1. Manufacturers -who looked to the Republican 
 party to levy and perpetuate a protective tariff. In 
 consideration of this the manufacturers paid a large 
 share of the campaign expenses. 
 
 2. Ex-soldiers of the war of the rebellion, who be 
 lieved that this Republican party saved the Union and 
 who were in favor of a liberal pension policy. 
 
 3. Those who believed that the Republican party 
 comprised the "better class" and who imagined that 
 they belonged to that class. 
 
 4. Those who imagined, for some unknown reason, 
 that the Republican party was opposed to foreigners 
 and intended to prohibit immigration. This was a com 
 mon belief, though there is no case on record where a 
 Republican convention, politician or prominent or 
 ator ever dared say a word against foreign-born citizens 
 or in favor of prohibiting immigration. They some 
 times hinted at restricting it. 
 
 5. Those who imagined that the pope had designs 
 on the United States and who believed that there were 
 
58 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 more Catholics in the Democratic party than in the Re 
 publican. 
 
 6. The vast majority of the negro vote. 
 
 7. Young men whose fathers voted the Republican 
 ticket. 
 
 8. Republican officers, their relatives and personal 
 friends. 
 
 9. About 40 per cent of the men working in pro 
 tected trades. This was strange but true. The party 
 leaders assured the workmen that the tariff was levied 
 for their protection, but few of them seemed to believe 
 it and the majority generally voted against protection. 
 
 10. A scattering of free traders and others of vary 
 ing beliefs and theories. 
 
 The Democratic party was made up as follows, in the 
 order of influence and numerical importance : 
 
 1. The solid vote of the southern states; several mil 
 lions of men who had always voted the Democratic 
 ticket and who swore they always would; mad on ac 
 count of being whipped in the war of the rebellion and 
 more or less jealous of the commercial supremacy of 
 the north; a highly prejudiced and often unreasonable 
 lot of gentlemen who declined to allow the negro to 
 vote in the southern states. 
 
 2. The "machine" in the larger cities, composed of 
 the tough element, backed by the almost solid saloon 
 interest, a id prepared to go to any length in order to 
 carry an election, regardless, when necessary, of law 
 or decency. A tremendous factor and one which de 
 termined many important elections. The Republicans 
 attempted to enlist the same element, but were mainly 
 unsuccessful. 
 
 3. Sixty per cent of the men working in protected 
 trades and a large majority of city workmen employed 
 in unprotected trades. 
 
 4. Free traders and tariff reformers. 
 
 5. Young men whose fathers voted the Democratic 
 ticket 
 
 6. Democratic officeholders, their relatives and per 
 sonal friends, 
 
GROPING IN THE DARK 59 
 
 7. Mugwumps and others who were disgusted with 
 the failure of the Republican party to accomplish 
 promised reforms. 
 
 8. Protection Democrats. 
 
 What the latter were in the party for no one seemed 
 to know. The foreign vote so-called was about 
 equally divided between the two parties. The great 
 bulk of the foreign-born population settled in the 
 northern states, which usually went Republican. Car 
 roll D.Wright of the United States census bureau pre 
 pared statistics which showed an almost equal political 
 division of this much-sought-after vote. The bulk of 
 the Irish, Poles and Bohemians were Democratic and 
 the majority of the Germans, Scandinavians and Itali 
 ans voted Republican. So far as religions were con 
 cerned, the majority of Catholics were Democratic and 
 the majority of the Protestants in the north were Re 
 publican. Many distinguished Protestants were Dem 
 ocratic and many eminent and influential Catholics 
 were ardent Republicans. Religion cut no figure except 
 in the minds of a few bigots on both sides. 
 
 It may be asked how two parties thus composed could 
 unite their partisans on any issue. The answer is plain 
 they could not. What was more, they did not at 
 tempt to. There were no issues. From the time of the 
 close of the war up to 1896 there was not a clearly de 
 fined national issue on which these two parties took 
 sides. There were no statesmen to formulate issues. 
 The people did not know what they wanted and the 
 politicians did not care. The elections were waged for 
 the prize of federal patronage and for that alone. 
 
 There was a pretended issue of protection and free 
 trade, but it was a sham. There were ardent protection 
 ists and equally ardent and honest free traders, but the 
 politicians were indifferent to either theory. They 
 wanted the offices and the patronage. As the struggle 
 for work become more intense this kind of partisanship 
 increased in bitterness. Once in power, an officeholder 
 would turn his back squarely against the platform on 
 which he was elected and devote his entire time to 
 
60 PRESIDENT JOHN 
 
 making as much money as he could out of his position. 
 
 Too ignorant to even attempt the role of a statesman, 
 the officeholder would play the demagogue when an- 
 / other election day came around. He would talk about 
 the old flag, how he loved it and would defend it 
 against all its foes. The mere fact that the flag had 
 no foes weighed nothing with the demagogue. A visit 
 to all the saloons in hie district, a little money left 
 with influential barkeepers here and there, a subscrip 
 tion to the campaign fund and a final rounding up" 
 < of the floating vote were details which all ideal candi 
 dates religiously attended to. The opposition candi 
 date pursued a similar policy, and election day the 
 voters exercised that grand prerogative of American 
 citizens the franchise and elected one of the two to 
 represent them for a term of years. The victors duly 
 celebrated their triumph, and the vanquished calmly 
 awaited the day when the successful candidate s official 
 record became so odious as to render his re-election 
 impossible. That day always came. 
 
 It is certainly doubtful if the average intelligence of 
 the men elected to office under the political system which 
 prevailed in these years, equaled that of the constitu 
 ents they were supposed to serve. Great cities like New 
 York, Chicago and St. Louis were represented in their 
 common councils, and even in Congress, by men who 
 could not pass a grammar school examination; men 
 who could not converse intelligently and properly in 
 the English language; men who were at home only in 
 the slums from which they sprung. The people knew 
 this and deplored it, but they were powerless. They 
 had no voice in the management of the political ma 
 chines, and were called on only to ratify one of the two 
 seta of machine-made candidates. 
 
 Such was the much vaunted "representative form of 
 government" as it existed in the United States in the 
 later years of the nineteenth century. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 SOME SOCIAL PHENOMENA. 
 
 THIS history has slighted a movement which came 
 into existence after the panic of 1873 had strewn the 
 country with financial wrecks, and revolutionized the 
 business interests of the nation. The trade union 
 movement is the one referred to. 
 
 It is true that there were trade unions and labor or 
 ganizations at an earlier date, but they played no im 
 portant part in the history of the mechanical age until 
 1873. A previous statement to the effect that the busi 
 ness man was the only one to recognize that the me 
 chanical age had made free competition impossible was 
 perhaps too sweeping in its assertion. With the forma 
 tion of trusts and the incidental curtailment and regu 
 lation of production a true vision of the situation 
 dawned on some of the workingmen. They realized 
 that it was to be a survival of those who took advan 
 tage of the weapons at hand. The business interests had 
 taken possession of the high ground and fortified their 
 position. The trusts proposed to furnish all the prod 
 ucts the people could purchase. The workingmen de 
 cided to form themselves into trade unions and 
 monopolize all the work. They also expected to regu 
 late their wages and be in a position to dictate or to at 
 least arrange terms with their employers. 
 
 There were many brainy men at the heads of these 
 organizations, and as years gave them experience 
 they developed marked qualities of leadership. They 
 acquired a full and clear understanding of the situa 
 tion, but insurmountable obstacles impeded their prog 
 ress. It was one thing to mass a score or 100 factories 
 
 61 
 
62 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 into a compact pool or trust, but a far more difficult 
 problem to organize 100,000 workmen, speaking several 
 languages, into a union with a discipline equal to the 
 emergencies thrust upon it. But these men persevered 
 and accomplished wonders. They were confronted at 
 the start with the united hostility of the press and the 
 general public. The trusts had not escaped mild de 
 nunciation, but were in a position to ignore it. 
 
 Not so with trade unions. Workmen were taught 
 to believe that trade unions were conspiracies against 
 and inimical to the traditions of America. The work 
 man was told that he forfeited his "individuality 1 
 and his liberty when he joined a union. The leaders 
 were assailed in unsparing terms, but in spite of all 
 this the trade union movement went on. 
 
 The earlier history is a tale of protracted and bloody 
 strikes. The first great outbreak was in 1877, which 
 culminated in the Pittsburg riots and a complete sus 
 pension of business all over the United States. This 
 incident was a set-back for the movement, but it re 
 covered and continued with alternate victories and 
 defeats. The trusts pursued different policies toward 
 the unions. Some of them, including the great iron 
 and steel manufacturers and the glass factories, made 
 contracts with the unions for a term of years, fixing 
 a scale of wages at such a rate as the condition of the 
 business seemed to warrant, Other trusts declined to 
 recognize the unions or to hold any conferences with 
 their representatives. Such action always resulted in 
 a strike, with the honors about equally divided. The 
 trade unions steadily progressed and many of them 
 finally won favor in the eyes of their former detractors. 
 The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers was often 
 referred to as a model. 
 
 Whenever the trade union was successful it occupied 
 exactly the same position among workingmen as the 
 trusts did in the business world. It became a monopoly 
 in the truest sense of the word. That was just what it 
 wanted to become and was the realization of the hopes 
 of its projectors. That was what the union was organ- 
 
SOME SOCIAL PHENOMENA 63 
 
 ized for. They named the minimum wage for which 
 their members would work and would engage on no job 
 which employed non-union men. Not a very liberal 
 or philanthropic policy, but it was the .only one which 
 was fitted to the mechanical age. It was copied directly 
 from the plan adopted by their employers, and it was 
 the scientific and inevitable alternative of starvation. 
 It was decidedly rough on the man who was out of work 
 and who was willing to undertake the same amount of 
 labor for less money. The same complaint was made 
 by the small concern when the trust froze it out of 
 business. 
 
 And so the trade union established itself, and slowly 
 but surely extended its scope and power. 
 
 The author repeats that he does not desire to be 
 misunderstood as having in the preceding pages made, 
 or attempted to make, a defense for the principle on 
 which the trusts and trade unions were founded. Both 
 were essentially selfish in their conception and harsh 
 and cruel in the execution of their respective policies/ 
 But they were not responsible. They were born that 
 way. 
 
 The misshapen children of competition and greed 
 had a hard schooling in the mechanical age and had 
 learned their lessons well. They believed in the truth 
 of the adage that self-preservation is the first law of 
 nature and also in that Darwinian theory concerning 
 the survival of the fittest. They believed they were the 
 fittest. 
 
 There was not enough work for all and the trade 
 union was formed to monopolize what there was and 
 protect its members. There were more factories than 
 the country needed and the trust protected its stock 
 holders. If manufacturing concerns must fail for lack 
 of patronage, due to a defective social system, the 
 trust proposed that no such calamity should befall any 
 of its members. They regretted that any concern 
 nhould fail, but they did not frame the government 
 and were only doing the best they could under the cir 
 cumstances. 
 
64 PRESIDENT JOHN iMITH 
 
 The trade unions felt the same way about it. They 
 sincerely regretted that there was not enough work to 
 go around, but under the circumstances felt compelled 
 to reserve what little there was for their own members. 
 Any one having the required dues and having been 
 duly elected could join the union. 
 
 As it was inevitable that some must starve for want 
 of work, the trade unionists declined to offer themselves 
 up as martyrs. It was not an age of martyrs it was a 
 mechanical age. 
 
 And so it came to pass in the merry whirligig of 
 time that the year 1898 rolled around and found the 
 trusts and trade unions entrenched behind their respect 
 ive breastworks, arrayed against the world at large 
 and prepared to protect themselves against the panic- 
 stricken, half-starved and undisciplined hordes outside 
 their lines. Between the trusts and the unions there 
 existed a sort of armed neutrality, each ready to 
 take advantage of some weakness of the other without 
 asking or expecting quarter. 
 
 Aside from their established and inflexible policy of 
 monopolizing work a purely selfish, but, under the 
 circumstances, a justifiable policy the unions did a 
 magnificent educational work. They taught the work 
 men the much-needed lesson that they had nothing to 
 expect from the government as it was then organized 
 and managed. The trade union served as a preparatory 
 school for that social and governmental substitute 
 which every student, thinker and close observer of 
 events regarded as inevitable. The charge was fre 
 quently made that the trade union was a socialist prod 
 uct, and the trade unionists were at times classed 
 with socialists and anarchists by ignorant writers and 
 speakers who did not even know or seemingly care to 
 learn even the dictionary meanings of these oft-used 
 words. 
 
 Of all the phases of ignorance, bigotry and prejudice 
 which prevailed during the period under consideration, 
 that concerning socialism was the most pronounced. 
 Before 1870 the word "socialist" could hardly be said 
 to be in the American vocabulary. 
 
SOME SOCIAL PHENOMENA 65 
 
 Well-read people before the war considered the social 
 ist a harmless theorist who had a scheme for a pater 
 nal form of government in which the state should act 
 as the employer and distributer of all products. This 
 was a fairly accurate statement of the opinions held by 
 the average socialist and did him no serious injustice. 
 He was regarded in about the same light as a spirit 
 ualist, a green backer, an anglomaniac or any other 
 person who entertained views not in accord with the 
 majority. No one had accused him of a desire to wade 
 in blood, and the newspaper paragrapher had not then 
 discovered that the socialist never took a bath. . The 
 great mass of the people had never heard of one, or, 
 if they had, gave the subject no thought, 
 
 At the time of the panic of 1873 it is doubtful if 
 there were 500 avowed socialists in the United States. 
 The country had been so uniformly prosperous that 
 any proposition to make a social or governmental 
 change would have received no favor. Even during the 
 four years of severe depression following the panic of 
 1873 there was little or no talk about socialism. Thera 
 was no socialistic agitation, and the few placid gentle 
 men who believed in socialism made little attempt to 
 propagate their theories. Then came the big strike of 
 1877, which started among the railroad men, the vast 
 majority of whom were * Americans and not two per cent 
 of whom even belonged to unions. The strike spread 
 and embraced a hundred industries. The strikers took 
 possession of property, and in Pittsburg, Buffalo, Chi 
 cago and other places riots followed in which scores 
 were killed and millions of dollars worth of property 
 destroyed. Not until the government ordered the reg 
 ular army to the front was the trouble quelled. 
 
 It was then and not until then that the American peo 
 ple heard of socialists and anarchists. They were the 
 ones who did it tba terrible socialists and anarchists. 
 Innocent people weva almost frightened to death by 
 stories of the plotting of the bloodthirsty socialists. 
 Little children were told that socialists \vould catch 
 them if they did not behave. So it came to pass that 
 
66 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 for many years following the riots the word "socialist" 
 was used as a general term to designate a rioter, a rev 
 olutionist, a plotter against good government, a worth 
 less vagabond who imagined that the world owed him 
 a living. In the vocabulary of those days "anarchist" 
 was synonymous with "socialist," and the two words 
 were used interchangeably 
 
 Later on it came to be generally understood that an 
 archy was a term used to designate something a grade 
 worse than socialism. A man who instigated a strike 
 or made a speech at a labor meeting or declared that 
 something was wrong with the government was a so 
 cialist ;but the man who physically assaulted non-union 
 workmen or advised a crowd to hang Jay Gould or ad 
 vocated the use of dynamite was an anarchist. An 
 archy was the high school in the educational course of 
 depravity. 
 
 It might be imagined that this confusion of terms 
 existed only among the more ignorant and careless 
 class. Not at all. Even in 1891, when the social de 
 mocracy of Germany carried the city of Berlin by tre 
 mendous majorities and the socialists of that great 
 empire held the balance of power in all Europe, not 
 one -fifth of the alleged well-read people of the United 
 States could give an intelligent definition of socialism. 
 Even in 1893, when every magazine in the United 
 States was discussing socialism in all its phases, when 
 every literary man of any prominence on both sides of 
 the Atlantic was an avowed socialist, when socialism 
 was preached from the pulpit by socialistic preachers, 
 and its principles explained in the great colleges and 
 universities of the country by socialist professors, half 
 the newspapers of the country, including the majority 
 of the great metropolitan dailies, made with evident 
 surprise the sober announcement that William Dean 
 Howells was writing a book giving his theories on 
 socialism and that "Mr. Howells was a socialist and 
 almost an anarchist." 
 
 If they had announced that Mr. Howells was 42 years 
 old and almost an octogenarian or that he had white 
 
SOME SOCIAL PHENOMENA 67 
 
 hair, almost black, there would have been some sur 
 prise, but as it was the incident passed without notice. 
 Mr. Howells was amused; those who knew what the 
 two words meant were too disgusted to say anything, 
 and the people speculated on when and where Howells 
 would throw his first bomb. This description of the 
 prevailing ignorance concerning socialism and what it 
 meant is not to the least extent overdrawn. 
 
 There were then, as there are to-day, several schools 
 and branches of socialism. There were anarchists of 
 varying beliefs. But all socialists agreed on certain 
 points, and all anarchists believed in certain doctrines, 
 and the two were as widely separated as the east is 
 from the west and as antagonistic as heat is to cold or 
 light to darkness. 
 
 The socialist believed that the greatest average good 
 to the human race could be obtained by the perfection 
 of the government; the anarchist believed that these 
 ends could only be obtained by the absolute annihila 
 tion of the government. 
 
 The socialist believed in the perfection of the law; 
 the anarchist believed in no law and claimed that the 
 people could take care of themselves without written 
 law. 
 
 The socialist believed in paternalism; the anarchist 
 believed that the individual could do more for himself 
 than could any government, and only asked to he al 
 lowed to work out his own salvation. 
 
 The socialist believed in the justice of the rule of the 
 majority; the anarchist held that no majority, however 
 great, had the right to dictate to an individual; that 
 the man was greater than the state. 
 
 The socialist believed in the supremacy of the state; 
 the anarchist believed in the supremacy of the individ 
 ual. The socialist had in contemplation a government 
 made perfect through wise laws passed by a majority 
 of the people; a government in which the state should 
 be given supervision over those industries and methods 
 of production in which the people had a common in 
 terest. The socialists pointed to the postofBce, the 
 
68 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 public schools and the municipal systems of water 
 works as familiar examples of state socialism, and 
 claimed that the state could with equal success manage 
 other branches of industries. 
 
 The anarchists claimed that man was not made to 
 be governed; that he needed no laws; that if a com 
 munity were left by itself unhampered and unrestricted 
 by laws it would get along splendidly; that men broke 
 laws simply because the laws were on the statute-books 
 and committed crimes only because they were unnatur 
 ally restrained. They declared that private corporations 
 could render cheaper and more efficient postal service 
 than the government did, and that the same was true 
 with schools, waterworks, etc. 
 
 And Mr. Howells "was a socialist and almost an an 
 archist." What a state of mind he must have been in! 
 
 It is important that history should preserve the com 
 monly -accepted definition of socialism by those who 
 claimed to have "read something" about its principles. 
 Here is a faithful reproduction of what one of those 
 philosophers would say when asked to define socialism: 
 "I tell you what socialism is. A socialist is a fellow 
 who has been too lazy and shiftless to work and wants 
 to divide. Yes, sir, he wants to divide. Here is a man 
 who has been saving his money all his life and has a lit 
 tle home, and along comes one of these socialists and 
 says to him, You have got to divide up with me. We 
 are all going to divide up and start over again. That s 
 socialism Now, of course, I don t think it s just right 
 for Jay Gould and Vanderbilt and those fellows to have 
 so much money, but suppose they did divide up? What 
 good would it dp them socialists? Gould and the rest 
 of them would have it all back in a few years. There 
 is no socialism about me. What I want is to have the 
 government buy the railroads and some other things 
 and run them so as to give us a fair chance. I don t 
 want no socialism in mine." 
 
 How this conception of socialism originated will ever 
 remain a mystery. There is no book extant containing 
 any theory based on the desire fora general division of 
 
The workingman and the employer. 
 CO 
 
SOME SOCIAL PHENOMENA 71 
 
 property, and in all the writings, speeches, essays and 
 newspaper contributions which expounded, explained 
 and defended socialism as it was then understood there 
 cannot be found a hint of any such foolish doctrines-. 
 There were several more or less distinct schools of so 
 cialism, but none of them advocated a division of prop 
 erty. They all protested because property was divided, 
 and each school advocated some method by which cer 
 tain classes of property could be combined, consolidated 
 and merged under the control of the state. Some so 
 cialists desired the absolute abolition of private prop 
 erty of any kind and proposed that the state should 
 have supervision even to domestic affairs. They pict 
 ured a Utopia in which greed, selfishness and vice had 
 absolutely disappeared. This was a beautiful theory; 
 had many enthusiastic but visionary followers, who 
 were quite charmingly seathetic and optimistic in their 
 opinions of the state of the future. They indorsed most 
 of the views expressed by Edward Bellamy in a book 
 entitled "Looking Backward," which described a 
 highly advanced civilization in which people had come 
 to such a point that it was as profitable an occupation 
 to serve as a waiter in a restaurant as to be the manager 
 of a national system of railroad lines, and the social 
 standing of waiters and railroad president was the 
 same. There were no private dining-rooms; all ate at 
 the great hotels, and all, of course, fared sumptuously. 
 The abolition of selfishness had solved all problems. 
 The most serious drawback to this system of socialism 
 lay in the firm grip selfishness had previously taken on 
 the human anatomy. However, these good people did 
 not advocate dividing, and Mr. Bellamy was never 
 arrested for manufacturing bombs or inciting riots 
 
 Then there were other socialists who did not go quite 
 so far as this, and they graded down to the man whose 
 socialism consisted solt-ly in defending the common 
 schools and other existing state institutions against 
 the attacks of avowed and unconscious anarchists. 
 
 On broad lines the people of the entire country were 
 either socialists or anarchists. They were either col- 
 
72 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 lectivists or individualists. They either had faith in 
 the value of government institutions and were in favor 
 of extending the scope of the government or they con 
 sidered the government only as a more or less necessary 
 compact and held that "that government governed best 
 which governed least." 
 
 In principle, theory and declaration the Republican 
 party was emphatic in its espousal of socialism. In 
 practice it was more or less so, but the trend was ever 
 socialistic. Among the more conspicuous examples of 
 Republican socialistic acts and legislation may be 
 mentioned : 
 
 1. A united demand backed by force of arms to se 
 cure the perpetuation of the union of states. The claim 
 of the south that it had the right to secede was a 
 purely anarchistic declaration. They wanted to "di 
 vide," the socialist north wanted to unite. 
 
 2. The fostering of railroads and canals through 
 gifts of subsidies in money and land grants. The gov 
 ernment helped in a work which the individual was too 
 weak to undertake unaided 
 
 3. The levying of a protective tariff for the defense 
 of American manufacturers and workmen against for 
 eign competition was a form of socialism. 
 
 4. The payment of pensions to ex-soldiers and vet 
 erans of wars was a Republican measure and was so 
 cialism in the purest sense of the word. In a general 
 way Republican speakers, conventions and audiences 
 glowed in their praise of the government, shouted for 
 the old flag, raved about the littlo red schoolhouse, 
 denounced people for not being in accord with the spir 
 it of American institutions, and went to that dangerous 
 extreme of patriotism which defends a government, 
 good or bad, and declines to listen to argument or 
 logic. That subsidies, land grants, the protective tariff 
 and th-3 pension laws were abused, and that the people 
 were robbed by scoundrels shouting for the old Hag did 
 not prove that these socialistic features of the govern 
 ment were wrong in principle. Whatever failuve at 
 taches to them may be directly traced to an anarchistic 
 constitution, which successfully subverted the right of 
 
 cia i-faalf anrl 4-.r rrr\roTn 
 
SOME SOCIAL PHENOMENA ?3 
 
 The Democratic party from the time of its birth was 
 saturated with the spirit of anarchy. Democrats, an 
 archists and monarchists inspired and dictated the con 
 stitution, and a man was never counted a good Demo 
 crat unless he was what was termed a "strict construc- 
 tionist. " He was able to defend and find an excuse for 
 every blundering clause in the constitution, and seemed 
 only to regret that its incorporation had not included 
 some more stupendous piece of idiocy that he might 
 prove his rock-rooted bourbonism by falling down and 
 venerating it. 
 
 Democracy was anarchistic in that it denied the 
 rights of the majority and affirmed those of the minor 
 ity. It believed in state rights that the state was 
 superior to the government that the association of 
 states was merely voluntary all of which was exactly 
 in the line of the kind of anarchy which Parsons, Spies 
 and Lingg preached in Chicago, and for which they 
 were hanged. 
 
 Democracy was in favor of cutting down the powers 
 of the government to the lowest possible limit, and 
 hoped to finally reach the time when government would 
 be unnecessary. That was also what the anarchists 
 wanted. In the pursuance of that policy the Demo 
 crats opposed subsidies of all kinds, fought pensions, 
 resisted appropriations of money on every possible pre 
 text, and prayed twice a day to the spirit of Thomas 
 Jefferson, with whom all knowledge of government 
 ceased. Jefferson was a great man, and he may have 
 had a prophetic vision of the coming republic, but he 
 never conjured up the bourbon Democrat of 1893, ex 
 cept in a nightmare. 
 
 The anarchists had the best of the situation. The 
 political game was being pla} 7 ed on rules laid down by 
 them, and so long as the constitution survived in any 
 thing like its original shape there was no danger of ma 
 jority rule. There were but slight indications that the 
 Republicans would soon dare breathe a word against the 
 exact wording of the constitution. 
 
 And thus the country stumbled along under its load 
 
74 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 of mortgages, its armies of unemployed, its trusts and 
 its unions; a grand and magnificent country without 
 a statesman; a country tied hand and foot politically 
 by the traditions of the past, blinded by bigotry and 
 bunkoed by patriotism, the majority helpless to voice 
 a protest or right a wrong until the inevitable came 
 the panic of 1893. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 A COMPLEX SITUATION. 
 
 CONFIDENCE figured largely in the panic of 1893. 
 The daily records of that time gravely announced 
 that the trouble was mainly "lack of confidence " 
 Every one was waiting for a "return of confidence " 
 The panic was "sentimental," so many writers said. It 
 appears that this lack of confidence and sentimentality 
 was all on the part of our old friend the business man. 
 There were a great many reasons given in explanation 
 of how the business man happened to lose that indis 
 pensable factor in production and prosperity "confi 
 dence." Here are some of them: 
 
 1. The protective tariff and the McKinley bill 
 
 2. The fear that the Democrats were going to repeal 
 the McKinley bill and reduce the tariff. 
 
 3. The Sherman bill, which authorized the purchase 
 of 4,500,000 ounces of silver a month. This had debased 
 currency, so the gold monometallist declared. 
 
 4. A scarcity of money. 
 
 5. A lack of faith in the Democratic party. 
 
 6. Too many foreigners in the country. 
 
 7. The Columbian Exposition. 
 
 There were some who had another reason. They ex 
 plained that it might be possible that the factories had 
 shut down because they had enough stock on hand to 
 last awhile and that the manufacturers could not afford 
 to go ahead and accumulate an indefinite amount of 
 stock with no purchaser in sight. The manufacturer, 
 when asked, promptly confirmed this explanation and 
 said he would start the shops as soon as the demand 
 for its products warranted him iq doing so. 
 
 75 
 
76 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 being no politics in this explanation, the statesman of 
 the day calmly ignored the stupid business man and 
 spent several months in a discussion of the Sherman 
 bill. They might better have spent their time in dis 
 cussing the hydraulic paradox. The only valuable service 
 was that rendered by the Senate, which called attention 
 to the fact that it should never have been created. 
 
 An entire library might be devoted to the explanations 
 given at that time of the causes of the panic. It cer 
 tainly was a remarkable affair. It was entirely different 
 from anything which had preceded it. Such bewilder 
 ing and inexplicable things happened. There was no 
 money to be had for a time and the green backers and 
 silver men wildly proclaimed that the currency was so 
 contracted that the people could not do business. They 
 made a great ado about it until the United States treas 
 ury department made a statement proving that the ag 
 gregate circulation of money was $1,701, 939,918, which 
 amounted to $25.29 per capita on an estimated popula 
 tion of 67,806,000. This was the highest per capita in a 
 generation and was nearly 50 per cent in excess of lhat 
 immediately after the resumption of specie payment 
 July 1, 1879, when the amount was $16.75. So it evi 
 dently was not a shortage in the total amount cf money 
 somewhere stored or in circulation. 
 
 Laying aside for a time the further consideration of 
 the muddled opinions entertained at the time of the 
 panic, let us ascertain the exact facts. The time has 
 come when an unimpassioned history can be written, 
 uninfluenced by gold bugs, silver men, green backers and 
 other financial combatants who called each other names 
 and strove to save the country, each in his own way, 
 back in that bewildering year 1893. 
 
 The close of the war found the Republican party so 
 firmly intrenched in power that even the panic of 1873 
 did not depose it. The majority of the people expressed 
 dissatisfaction and unrest by giving Samuel Tilden a 
 popular majority of over 100,000 in the presidential 
 election of 1876, but under the representative form of 
 government which then existed Mr. Hayes was counted 
 
A COMPLEX SITUATION 77 
 
 in. During his administration the country absorbed 
 the overproduction of 1873, and the close of his term 
 found a financial boom at its height and on that wave 
 Garn eld was elected by a tremendous plurality. 
 
 Another period of overproduction and hard times 
 marked the close of his term, and even the magic of 
 Elaine s name was not sufficient to carry the Repub 
 lican party to victory. 
 
 Cleveland assumed the reins of power and he was in 
 the saddle as a result of a general desire for a "change." 
 The first two years of his administration were marked 
 by failures, riots and strikes, after which the country 
 recovered and entered on another era of boom and pros 
 perity. In a message to Congress Cleveland declared 
 in favor of radical tariff reform, so scaring the man 
 ufacturers that they contributed a great corruption 
 fund, and Harrison defeated hfm, Cleveland carrying 
 the country, however, by a popular plurality. 
 
 This was in 1888. Harrison found the country in fairly 
 good shape, but in 1890 there were symptoms of trouble, 
 find in 1892 Cleveland swept the country by the largest 
 plurality ever cast for the candidate of any party. If 
 there could have been a vote two years later Mr. Cleve 
 land would have been retired by a still larger vote. 
 What was the matter with the people? Did they not 
 know their own minds? They were simply attempt 
 ing to bring about good times by electing men and re 
 garded any political "change" as an improvement 
 over the cna they had been compelled to endure. 
 
 Juat .before Mr. Cleveland was inaugurated the sec 
 ond time a decided boom set in. Factories were run 
 ning full force and every one was busy. Money was so 
 plentiful that the city of Chicago had little difficulty 
 in raising $22,000,000 for the Columbian Exposition. 
 The railroads were doing a good business, wheat was 
 high, and everything was lovely. Cleveland had been 
 elected on a platform which promised a radical reduc 
 tion in the tariff. The people had declared overwhelm 
 ingly in favor of that policy and had carried for the 
 first time both branches of Congress. The Democrats 
 
78 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 were in a position to redeem these promises. For years 
 they had preached that the protective tariff was what 
 was blighting the country; that it had prevented us 
 from competing in foreign markets and kept our work 
 men out of employment. For twenty years tariff reform 
 had been the great issue. In the election of 1890 the 
 people had repudiated the McKinley bill and in 1892 
 they had arisen almost as a man against it. Some peo 
 ple imagined that with Cleveland s election on such a 
 clearly defined issue every factory in the country would 
 take alarm and quit. They did nothing of the kind 
 and went ahead as if nothing had happened. Why? 
 The manufacturers had decided that even free trade 
 would not affect them, as they were then situated, and 
 they were sick a-nd tired of being bled by the Republi 
 can campaign managers, and compelled to pay all the 
 expenses of the election. They figured the thing out 
 as only good business men can, and found that the bal 
 ance was in favor of free trade, foreign markets, and no 
 politics, as against high tariff, home markets,and reg 
 ular contributions for a corruption fund. And so they 
 declined to "thaw out" in the u fat-frying process" 
 and consequently the Republicans were almost swept 
 out of existence in the political cyclone which fol 
 lowed. 
 
 So, therefore, to the great surprise of the high protec 
 tionists, the manufacturers contemplated with compla 
 cency the coming doom of high tariff and continued 
 their factories as if nothing had happened. 
 
 This conclusively shows the falsity of the charge 
 which was frequently made by Republican demagogues 
 in 1898 and 1894, that the panic was due to a fear of a 
 change in the tariff. Had that been the cause the 
 panic would have started the 8th of November, 1892, 
 the day after the election, and not have waited nearly 
 a year for the manufacturers to take fright. Just after 
 the election there was every reason to suppose that 
 Cleveland would call a special session of Congress to 
 go to work on the tariff. Nothing of the kind was done. 
 When the panic did occur every word and line of the 
 
A COMPLEX SITUATION 79 
 
 McKinley bill was in force and effect and the discus 
 sion of the tariff had entirely dropped. When Cleve 
 land did call Congress it was for the purpose of repeal 
 ing the Sherman silver bill, which had nothing to do 
 with the tariff. 
 
 With these facts so apparent that no one had any 
 right to misunderstand them, every hide-bound Re 
 publican partisan shut his eyes and howled that Cleve 
 land and the free traders had brought the wrath of God 
 upon the country. 
 
 But the panic was on hand. It struck the country 
 .with full force in July and August, 1898,and left in its 
 train 600 broken banks. 
 
 From all over the country came the reports of bank 
 rupt business houses and ruined firms. Great manufac 
 turing concerns locked their doors, put out their fires, 
 and notified their men that the shops were closed for 
 an indefinite period. Money disappeared as does a tur 
 tle s head on the approach of a foe. Banks drew in 
 their loans and refused to extend any accommoda 
 tions. Business men with assets amounting to 
 $1,000,000 were unable to secure an advance of $10,000 
 on gilt-edge security. Nor was this appalling condition 
 of affairs confined to the United States. Australia 
 was in the throes of an even more severe panic, and 
 Australia had no McKinley bill or other valid reason 
 fo 11 plunging into ruin. England was suffering from 
 severe financial depression, and from Germany, Bel 
 gium and France came stories of widespread business 
 disaster, The devastating scourge of panic smote free- 
 trade England, protected Germany and prance with 
 almost equal force. There was no panic in China. 
 There was no panic in Japan or Java. It may have 
 been a mere coincidence, but panics were always in the 
 CDiintries whioh had created the mechanical age. When 
 a cog in the great machine became clogged in Australia 
 or even in the Argentine Republic the whole civilized 
 world shuddered. Then the wise statesmen and the 
 smug-faoed politicians of each country would tell their 
 constituents just how it happened, and how it could 
 
80 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 all have been avoided had John Jones been elected in 
 place of Bill Smith several years before, or had their 
 party been continued in power, and so on ad nauseam. 
 
 How about our old friend the Trust? How did the 
 Trust stand the panic? First-rate, thank you. 
 
 To tell the truth, the Trust was the fellow who first 
 "lost confidence." He lost it along about Jan. 1, 1892, 
 at which time some of the jobbing houses and retailers 
 reported that they did not care to order any more goods 
 for the present, as they were unable to dispose of stocks 
 already on hand. The Trust proceeded cautiously, and 
 when all the jobbers and retailers were in the same 
 condition the Trust closed down its shops. It did not 
 fail, it simply quit. The Trust had a small surplus of 
 manufactured goods on hand, enough to fill all imme 
 diate demands, but it had no great amount of capital 
 locked up for an indefinite period. Some of the trusts 
 went to the extreme of conservatism in limiting produc 
 tion, and were compelled to resume work right at the 
 height of the panic. A notable instance of this was 
 the experience of the sugar trust, which miscalculated 
 the consumption of sugar, and as a result there was a 
 sugar famine all over the United States during the 
 greatest period of depression. The trust reopened its 
 refineries, called back its idle men, laid in a small stock 
 of material, and again closed its works. The various 
 trusts were also careful in their dealings with the re 
 tailers and jobbers, as all well-managed trusts should 
 be, and as the panic progressed closed many of them 
 up and sold their stocks at auction. 
 
 As the members of the trust looked back to 1873 and 
 recalled the days when they separately went into bank 
 ruptcy they more than ever appreciated the blessings 
 which accrue with trusts and an advancing civilization. 
 In 1873 they were going it blind, piling up stocks in 
 expectation of a coining market, cutting prices right 
 and left, squandering money in advertising, trampling 
 each other under foot, until the crash came and only 
 the stronger ones survived to tell the tale. The more 
 fortunate found themselves with enough surplus and 
 
A COMPLEX SITUATION 81 
 
 depreciated stock on hand to last several years. Those 
 were sad but profitable days to the man who ID later 
 years joined the trust. 
 
 A familiar newspaper item in the summer of 1898 
 read about as folio, vs: 
 
 "CLEVELAND, O,, July 28, 1893. W. H, Hardluc & 
 Co., the well-known manufacturers of harness and 
 carriage-makers , specialties, have made an assign nont 
 to-day. The assets are estimated at $435,000 and the 
 liabilities at $43,200. The assets consist largely of stock 
 and matorial on hand, and Mr. Hardluc insists that every 
 creditor will be paid in full if he is given a chance to 
 dispose of goods already manufactured. Hardluc & Co. 
 withdrew from the trust two years ago and in their 
 present embarrassment have the sympathy and respect 
 of the community." 
 
 Here was another common one: 
 
 "OMAHA, Neb., Aug.3,1893, Rush & Co., the leading 
 dry-goods house west of Chicago, was closed to-day on 
 an execution for $21,382.50 in favor of National Wool 
 en Goods association (limited) of New York City. The 
 failure has created a sensation and was entirely un- 
 lo^ked for. Up to yesterday noon Mr, Rush fully ex 
 pected to be able to meet the claim, but found it im 
 possible to raise the money. The total assets of Rush & 
 Co, will exceed $1.250,000 and the .liabilities not more 
 than $340,000. Dullness in trade and inability to make 
 collections from retailers is ascribed as the cause of 
 the failure. Mr. Rush hopes to make an arrangement 
 with the creditors for an extension of time, otherwise 
 the immense stock will be sold at a sacrifice." 
 
 In almost every failure or suspension the assets 
 doubled or trebled the liabilities. The companies found 
 themselves with immense stocks of purchased or man 
 ufactured goods on hand upon which it was impossible 
 to realize a dallar. The banks were scared to death and 
 would not part with a dollar. In the course of time 
 bills came due and insolvency followed. In a speech 
 before a bankers convention held in the autumn of 
 that year Comptroller Eckels said; 
 
82 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 "It is no exaggeration to say that the happenings of 
 the months past, from May to September, must be ac 
 counted the most remarkable in every phase of finan 
 cial bearing ever experienced by the American people. 
 Heretofore in our financial distresses the test of solvency 
 has always been applied to store and factory, to great 
 industrial enterprises and railway corporations, but 
 within the period of these months an affrighted people, 
 fearful of the resultant effects of a financial system 
 vitiated by ill-advised and ill-considered legislation, 
 became for the first time doubtful of the distinctively 
 financial institutions of the country, the banks, and as 
 a consequence a steady drain upon deposits was begun, 
 until within the period of two months, from May 4 to 
 July 12, from national banks alone had been drawn 
 out more than $198,000,000. 
 
 "To-day so greatly has the situation changed that, 
 having in mind the past, both in the severity of the 
 strain undergone and the long continuance of it, it 
 would be in the light of the present conditions both 
 unfair and unjust to deny that the bankers of this 
 country have exhibited masterful skill in coping with 
 a situation rendered complex beyond anything hereto 
 fore known."" 
 
 The bankers certainly showed great skill "in coping 
 with a situation rendered complex beyond anything 
 heretofore known," and as a result 5,000 business and 
 manufacturing firms were strangled to death with a 
 loss of only 600 banks. It was a glorious victory. 
 
 The gold reserve was what bothered the statesmen of 
 both parties more than anything else. To their minds 
 the eternal salvation of the country depended on the 
 amount of gold stored away in the vaults at Washing 
 ton, and under the idiotic system which prevailed they 
 were half right. When the gold reserve rose their spirits 
 rose, and when it fell they were cast into depths of 
 despair. Had it all suddenly been wiped out of exist 
 ence every man, woman and child in the United States 
 would have quit work and starved to death. There 
 was a rule or a tradition, custom or superstition, that 
 
A COMPLEX SITUATION Sb 
 
 there should be $100,000,000 in gold aa a reserve, a 
 sort of pocket piece for Uncle Sam. 
 
 In the summer of 1892 there were $120,000,000 in 
 this fund and the boom was on and everybody happy. 
 Now this reserve depended almost entirely on the vol 
 ume of our foreign trade, and it was depleted from 
 time to time by the redemption of certificates. If the 
 balance of trade continued against the country to such 
 an extent that the certificates could not be redeemed, 
 why, that would mean a financial cataclysm in the 
 opinion of the wise men at the helm. These financial 
 Brahmins prostrated themselves daily at the feet of 
 the $100,000,000 reserve pile of gold and prayed God to 
 save the poor people who had nothing but several 
 hundred million acres of fertile land to fall back upon. 
 
 Mr. Eckels was right when he said it was a "com 
 plex situation." 
 
 The gold reserve dwindled away and, to the horror of 
 the holy priests of finance, fell below the $100,000,000 
 mark. More gold was going abroad than was coming 
 to this country. The reasons for this were plain aa 
 day. In the first place a protective tariff against raw 
 materials had limited the manufacturers to a home 
 market. The shop and mill owners paid into the govern 
 ment treasury the duties levied against raw materials, 
 added this amount to the cost of the product, 
 and charged it to the consumers of the United States. 
 The trade unions kept up the price of labor and the 
 trusts also charged that up against the consumers. 
 But the trust, powerful as it was, could not change or 
 regulate the laws of international commerce, and, ex 
 cept in rare instances,could not compete in the markets 
 of the world. The consumers paid all the taxes. The 
 consumers had paid all the taxes since governments 
 were instituted among men and they always will. Thus 
 the most prolific country on the face of the earth found 
 itself unable to sell its products abroad, and people 
 went barefoot in England for want of American shoes, 
 and shoemakers in America starved because there 
 was no work in the shoe faotory. Another "complex 
 
84 PRESIDENT JOHN BMITH 
 
 situation." Of course the balance of trade was either 
 against this country or only slightly in favor of it. 
 Foreign countries were selling us tea, coffee, cigars, 
 woolen goods, and the hundreds of necessities that 
 the common people must have, and the number 
 less luxuries that the rich could afford to buy, and we 
 were paying for them out of the limited supply of gold. 
 Wealthy Americans filled every stateroom on the great 
 steamships in the summer and laid their gold at the 
 feet of the British snobocracy. 
 
 On top of all that, production in the United States 
 was regulated and restricted by the trusts, and from 
 the very nature of things nothing else could be ex 
 pected. The manufacturer who created a surplus paid 
 as the price of his folly or boldness the penalty of 
 bankruptcy. 
 
 The country was living from hand to mouth, cooking 
 just enough to last one day ahead, engaged in light 
 housekeeping on an extremely economical scale. What 
 a spectacle! and not a statesman in Washington, not a 
 man whose head rose above the dead level of sickening 
 mediocrity. 
 
 The gold reserve decreased until, as it so happened, 
 England was in a worse fix than the United States, 
 and a few millions came across the Atlantic. This 
 phenomenon was witnessed with great rejoicing. But 
 the current soon set in the other way and despair again 
 ruled. 
 
 Perhaps the most remarkable feature of this most 
 remarkable period was the part played by the "wealthy 
 poor." This may appear a contradiction of terms, but 
 it is not. There was such a class, and they added not 
 a little to the general condition of financial distress. 
 When poverty had finally intrenched itself as an 
 American institution the unfortunate victims received 
 little sympathy. Those who emerged from the depres 
 sion of 1873-78 in a half-starved condition were assured 
 that it was their own fault. They were told that there 
 was always plenty of work in the country except, of 
 course, during times of a panic, for which no one was 
 
A COMPLEX SITUATION 85 
 
 to blama and that any industrious man could support 
 a family and save up money which would come handy 
 in such an emergency as a panic. 
 
 Books were written instructing the people how to 
 live economically. There arose a school of philosophy, 
 whose central theory was that the one problem which 
 confronted civilization was to support and perpetuate 
 the race with the least possible consumption of food 
 and the other necessaries of life. 
 
 Edward Atkinson was the founder of this school, and 
 he invented a stove which he fondly expected was going 
 to usher in a millennium in which a man could live 
 upon an expenditure of not exceeding fourteen cents a 
 day. Just what all the great factories and the stupen 
 dous mechanical plant of the country, with its almost 
 limitless capacity of production, would do when all the 
 able-bodied men in the country each spent fourteen 
 cents a day, Mr. Atkinson did not figure out, and ho 
 had the reputation of being one- of the greatest statis 
 ticians in the world. 
 
 People were told day after day and year after year 
 to save money, and after going through two or three 
 panics a great many of them took the advice. Savings 
 banks became popular; building and loan associations 
 sprung up in every large city; safety deposit companies 
 catered to the general demand and furnished places to 
 hoard money, and where none of these more advanced 
 safeguards were handy the simple farmer and his hired 
 man hid away the treasured doUars in trusty old yarn 
 stockings. 
 
 Note what followed this general fad for economy, 
 Note how the people were rewarded for their attempt 
 to u save money." 
 
 The fame of the coming Columbian Exposition of 
 Chicago added to the saving propensities of the people, 
 and several million wageworkers began to save up from 
 $20 to $200 each to visit the great show. They denied 
 themselves former pleasures and theatrical companies 
 became stranded. The^ bought fewer fine clothes and 
 adornments and the sheriff closed out some dry-goods 
 houses. 
 
86 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 They stopped the daily paper, and the editor set up a 
 howl about hard times and berated the idiots who were 
 withholding money from circulation. 
 
 The panic came and the wealthy poor withdrew over 
 $400,000,000 from the savings banks and $200,000,000 
 from the national banks. They would have drawn out 
 more had not most of the banks failed. When they re 
 gained possession of this money a great many adopted 
 the plan of tlje farmer and his hired man, and millions 
 of dollars reposed in the carefully hidden but ever re 
 liable and solvent sock, and thus did the wealthy 
 poor add their mite to the "complex situation." 
 
 What had these people demonstrated beyond the pos 
 sibility of a doubt? 
 
 They had demonstrated that the widespread practice 
 of economy by the people under the prevailing condi 
 tions meant general ruin. 
 
 They had proven that the man who saved money was 
 an enemy to his country, and that the spendthrift was 
 a political economist and a patriot. That the more 
 people spent the more they would have, and that the 
 less they spent the sooner they would be in want. 
 
 The situation was certainly "rendered complex be 
 yond anything heretofore known." 
 
 Production is limited by consumption. Consump 
 tion is limited by wages. Where wages are hoarded 
 consumption decreases and production is curtailed. 
 When production is curtailed the wage fund decreases. 
 
 Under the "complex situation" which prevailed in 
 1893 and the years preceding it the wageworkers best 
 conserved their interests by spending every dollar in 
 their possession and putting their trust in Providence. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE UNITED STATES SENATE IN 1893. 
 
 FIVE millions of men were idle in the United States 
 on the day that Congress met in Washington to solve 
 the problems which were confronting the nation. The 
 Columbian Exposition of Chicago was in all its glory. 
 No words can paint the splendor of that great white 
 city. It was a superb realization of the dream of the 
 poet, and the world stood entranced in the court of 
 honor, speechless and awe stricken in the presence of 
 art and architecture surpassing that of ancient Greece 
 or Rome. The Columbian Exposition was the crowning 
 triumph of forty centuries of civilization. It may ap 
 pear like sacrilege to mention figures, but the Colum 
 bian Exposition represented an expenditure of about 
 $22,000,000. With this sum a marsh had been reclaimed, 
 lagoons excavated, the architectural genius of the 
 country invoked, the spacious grounds beautified, and 
 hundreds of palatial buildings erected and dedicated to 
 the service of the Columbian celebration. It surpassed 
 with a bound the past, and the future may never reach 
 to its sublime heights. 
 
 The 5,000,000 id la men whose eyes were fixed on 
 Congress could have reproduced the Columbian Exposi 
 tion by the work of two daysl The wasted energies of 
 these 5,000,000 men to whom work was denied could 
 in two working days have delved the iron from the 
 ground, hewed the timber from the forests, fashioned 
 the steel at the forge, and shaped the lumber in the 
 mills; they could have reclaimed the marsh and beau 
 tified it,and in all its unspeakable beauty and splendor 
 could have built three Columbian Expositions in a week 
 and taken a Saturday half-holiday 1 
 
 87 
 
PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 This was termed political economy in 1893. Congress 
 met and the Senate spent three months in discussing a 
 rule which decreed that the majority had no right which 
 the minority was bound to respect. This, dear children, 
 was termed representative government in 1893. 
 
 The majority had not attempted to do anything des 
 perate or revolutionary. Something had to be done to 
 "restore confidence," and President Cleveland wrote a 
 message calling for a repeal of the silver bill and con 
 vening Congress in special session. 
 
 There then ensued the most revolting farce ever en 
 acted under the guise of representative legislation. 
 
 It was nothing more than could have been expected 
 from a body constituted as was the Senate, but it was 
 so insulting a disregard and contempt for the principle 
 of self-government that even the apathetic freeman of 
 America aroused from his stupor and actually hissed 
 that venerated institution, the United States Senate. 
 It had long been known that the Senate was a rich 
 man s club, and it came to be understood that one of 
 the perquisites of a state legislator was the money paid 
 him by rival candidates for senatorial honors. There 
 were a few honorable exceptions. The Senate repre 
 sented nothing but itself, and up to this time had been 
 a quiet, complecant body of men who had been tole 
 rated for the reason that the members had seldom ex 
 ercised their power to resist legislation imperatively 
 demanded by the people. 
 
 Five million half-starved men, many of them the 
 sole support of families, were waiting for the majority 
 of the United States Senate to pass a measure which 
 had been indorsed by 75 per cent of the people of the 
 United States. 
 
 At the end of the tenth week of the revolting farce a 
 man arose in the gallery. He was a plain American 
 citizen, dressed in gray tweed. History does not give 
 his nama, but it is a pleasure to record his nationality 
 and his contempt. The gallery had been guilty of ap 
 plauding Senator Hill for making the statement that 
 the majority should rule. Vice-President Stevenson 
 
THE UNITED STATES SENATE IN 1893 89 
 
 threatened to clear the galleries. It was then that this 
 plain American citizen, probably one of those to whom 
 work had been denied, arose from his seat. He was a 
 large, broad-shouldered man with a heavy voice. He 
 looked down on that collection of aged idiots with im 
 measurable contempt and said: 
 
 "As one of the common people, Mr. President, who 
 has sat here six weeks, I will leave the gallery now." 
 
 His voice rang through the hall like a warning. It 
 was as if the spirit of the American people had sud 
 denly taken part in the affairs of legislation. The 
 senators shrank back in their chairs, half expecting a 
 dynamite bomb. The American citizen turned his back 
 upon them and coolly left the building. 
 
 For the first time a new light appeared. For the 
 first time in the history of the country men of high 
 standing in the community,editors, lawyers and brainy 
 business men, perceived that there was something 
 wrong, but none was bold or broad enough to tell the 
 truth viz., that the crime which was being commit 
 ted the suppression of majority rule was authorized 
 by the constitution of the United States, and that in 
 no section or clause of that document was the principle 
 of majority rule enunciated or its rights conserved. 
 They confined their denunciations to the Senate and 
 its stupid rules. The rules were stupid, but not half so 
 stupid or unrepresentative as that section of the con 
 stitution of the United States which created the Senate 
 itself. Here is the way some of the great editors wrote 
 about the United States Senate crime of 1893: 
 
 Baltimore Sun (Dem.): "It is clear, as clear as the 
 noonday sun, that no government can be carried on, no 
 government is possible, upon the principles professed 
 by Teller and practiced by Dubois. " 
 
 Galvestou News (Dem.): "Unless majorities can 
 rule, rules or no rules, in this country our form of 
 government is a failure. The Senate should be quar 
 antined against so that its anarchy can t spread." 
 
 Indianapolis Journal (Rep. ): "The adoption of clos 
 ure in the Senate should be made a test question in all 
 
90 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 future senatorial elections until the end is accomplished 
 The people should not stop until the principle of ma 
 jority rule is immutably established." 
 
 Kansas City Star (Ind.): "If even after a hundred 
 years of trial and amendment any feature of our gov 
 ernmental system is found to work hardship, to be in 
 effect an absurdity, then it should be changed. No 
 lapse of time should be allowed to sanctify foolishness. 
 If in a legislative body it is discovered that a minority 
 amounting to only one-fifth can nullify the action of a 
 majority amounting to four-fifths, then a change should 
 be made, no matter how long the injustice and stupid 
 ity of minority rule may have been perpetuated." 
 
 A Chicago paper: "Hang traditions! Let Demo 
 crats act like men who know what ought to be done 
 under existing circumstances, and not like boys guided 
 by traditions of what their grandfathers did under en 
 tirely different circumstances and conditions. The 
 people don t care a copper for traditions. What 
 they want is rational action, and if they can t get it 
 from Democratic representatives they will get it from 
 somebody else." 
 
 Another Chicago paper: "The absolute tyranny of 
 habit and of precedent never was shown more strongly 
 than in the case of these senators. The chains which 
 bind them are mere cobwebs, and yet they say they 
 cannot break them. Evidently there is nothing left 
 for the people but to refuse to re-elect each of these 
 senile senators when his term expires and to put in 
 his place a man who will pledge himself to reform the 
 rules of the Senate so that the majority can rule and 
 legislation be possible again. This will be a slow proc 
 ess, but it will be a sure one." 
 
 The Washington correspondents were even more 
 radical in their denunciation of the Senate than were 
 the editors. A. H. Lewis of the Chicago Times, a 
 gifted newspaper writer, struck some telling blows for 
 the rights of the majority in the following vigorous 
 language: 
 
 "Qn might wonder what Washington would think 
 
THE UNITED STATES SENATE IN 1893 91 
 
 of these people, and how if the dead gentleman at 
 Mount Vernon were to stroll in and ask for the per 
 sonal history of these Senate do-nothings, what thrilling 
 information he would reach. There s Papa Stewart, 
 aforetime the central figure of the Emma mine 
 swindle, who roped in Minister Schenk of the long ago. 
 In the present pantomime of legislation Papa Stewart, 
 the Emma miner, has the role of Pantaloon and gets 
 in everybody s way maliciously, and tips over every 
 thing malevolently, and trots about from one gay vil 
 lainy to the other with the usual string of some other 
 fellow s sausages hanging from his pocket. There s 
 Mitchell of Oregon, whose real name is Hippie but 
 it all go. It s too late. They are all senators now 
 regularly sworn and qualified to assassinate the coun- 
 try s welfare and hold up a nation in its onward march 
 as some masked cutthroats might hold up a stage with 
 their Winchesters. Of course, being senators, these 
 men are all grown very respectable and pure, and one 
 must not dream nor even think, much less say, that 
 the Senate itself is aught but a well-spring of public 
 good and the climax of public blessing. Well, well, 
 well; call it a green tree and a fountain. Maybe it is. 
 But it performs like a gang of horse thieves. 
 
 * The great grandchildren of the present Senate a 
 century from now will still be blowing in the doubloons 
 which their progenitors grabbed off in the rise and fall 
 of stocks occurring from the present Senate antics in 
 the fight over the Wilson bill now raging. 
 
 "It has occurred to Mr. Cleveland, and will occur to 
 the American people when they bend a thoughtful 
 brow to its consideration, that there is neither common 
 justice nor public sense in allowing five men to abso 
 lutely withstand the entire Senate in its rights and 
 duties. It is a Senate s duty to vote. It has no right 
 tc refuse or fail to vote. It has no more constitutional 
 business to pass rules which will block and obstruct 
 and thwart the purpose of the Senate s construction 
 than it has to commit suicide. The vanity of these 
 gray old morrice dancers of legislation has led it to 
 
92 PRESIDENT JOHN SMlfM 
 
 put into every senator s possession the power to poison 
 public interest by a dose of filibuster. But it was 
 wrong, illegal, and without the law to do it. The public 
 would indeed be the idiot which some men deem it, if 
 it sat quietly at its own assassination by less than a 
 half-dozen senatorial criminals simply because this 
 paresis club we call the Senate, in its vainglorious 
 drivelings and rnaunderings, had assumed in those 
 paragraphed and numbered imbecilities it calls its 
 rules to endow this quintet of rnalefactors,the murder 
 ous power so to do. No such power can be conferred. 
 The right of the country to preserve itself, the right of 
 the majority to rule, the right of the dog to wag the 
 tail, are any of them a sufficient reply." 
 
 Incredible as it may seem, the average voter of the 
 United States had firmly believed that the distinctive 
 feature of the government was majority rule. 
 
 He had been told so over and over again by campaign 
 orators and professional patriots who rang the changes 
 upon a "government of the people, for the people, and 
 by the people." 
 
 For the first time in American history the fact 
 dawned upon some thoughtful persons that the ma 
 jority was powerless to express itself. The cool insult 
 ing contempt of the millionaire s Senate had brushed 
 the cobwebs from their eyes and one monstrous wrong 
 stood clearly revealed. The Senate idol was badly 
 cracked, but not shattered. But even then they fondly 
 hugged to their breasts the sweet delusion that the gov 
 ernment was all that the Fourth of July orator had 
 claimed for it, and that the Senate was the only 
 offender, and that its offense consisted in setting aside 
 the verdict of the majority. 
 
 Thomas Cooley, who has declared himself authority 
 on all questions regarding the constitution of the 
 United States, and the author of a book on constitu 
 tional limitations, made this statement when asked for 
 an opinion concerning the alleged subversion of the 
 constitution by the Senate: 
 
 "It is a fundamental principle of representative gov- 
 
THE UNITED STATES SENATE IN 1893 93 
 
 eminent that the majority shall rule. For a majority 
 of the Senate to concede for any reason that a rule of 
 practice in debate or of senatorial courtesy makes it 
 possible for a minority to prevent legislation by indef 
 initely protracting debate is equal to revolution. It is 
 as much revolution as though accomplished with arms 
 and violence." 
 
 Mr. Cooley could not have been referring to the 
 United States or its constitution when he spoke of u a 
 fundamental principle of representative government 
 that the majority shall rule." He knew perfectly well 
 that the constitution contemplated nothing of the kind. 
 
 Mr. Cooley knew perfectly well that the election of 
 Mr. Harrison in 1888 over Mr. Cleveland by a minority 
 vote was constitutional and legal and that it was a de 
 feat for a majority of the voters of the United States. 
 
 Mr. Cooley knew perfectly well that in 1890 people 
 of the United States by a majority of 1,500,000 repudi 
 ated the McKinley bill, and that the Senate under the 
 power vested in it by the constitution of the United 
 States perpetuated that bill on. the statute-books of the 
 country against the votes and wishes of the majority of 
 the people. 
 
 Mr. Cooley knew perfectly well that the spirit of the 
 constitution of the United States had been incorporated 
 ID municipal governments, under which the rights of 
 the people were bartered at the highest market price, 
 public streets and franchises sold to private corpora 
 tions against the helpless protest of an overwhelming 
 majority of the people. 
 
 When Mr. Cooley said that "it is a fundamental 
 principle of representative government that the major 
 ity shall rule" he was partially right, but if he im 
 agined that the constitution of the United States 
 guaranteed such a government or that such a govern 
 ment had been evolved from it he was mentally in 
 Egyptian darkness. 
 
 The closing days of October, 1893, found 5,000,000 
 men still out of work, and the United States Senate 
 yet in session. The Columbian Exposition, the crown- 
 
94 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 ing triumph of the mechanical age, went out in a blaze 
 of glory, and with its close 50,000 men and women 
 found themselves out of employment. 
 
 And Congress was still in session. 
 
 The Senate was finally cowed and bought by Wall 
 Street into passing the bill repealing the Sherman 
 silver law. Was the country saved? Did 5,000,000 
 men return to work as had been predicted? Did 10,000 
 factories resume operations? 
 
 No. Wheat dropped to the lowest point on record. 
 Robbery became epidemic in large cities, and Chicago 
 was forced to declare a condition approaching martial 
 law to protect its citizens. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 HARD TIMES. 
 
 THE panic of July and August was past, and the win 
 ter of 1893-94 set in with the people in the agonies of 
 an unprecedented business and industrial depression. 
 In the great cities of the country idle workmen paraded 
 the streets by thousands until the demonstrations be 
 came so threatening that the authorities felt compelled 
 in self-defense to suppress them. No language can pict 
 ure the sufferings of the people. The distress was by 
 no means confined to the large cities. In the smaller 
 towns the factories, which were the main support of 
 the working population, were shut down. Public chari 
 ties were swamped by applications for aid. The pages 
 of the daily papers were filled with horrors such as the 
 vivid imagination of Victor Hugo could not conjure 
 up; recitals of murders, robberies, suicides, embezzle 
 ments, starvation of innocent children, wholesale 
 pauperism. 
 
 The daily paper was a daily report of crimes. A 
 curse seemed resting upon the people. The man with 
 employment was regarded as being specially favored, 
 and wistful eyes were turned to the workshops where a 
 few lucky mortals were yet permitted to earn a living. 
 
 In October there were in Chicago by actual enumera 
 tion over 135,000 men out of work in the great factor 
 ies alone. Concerns which formerly employed 5,000 and 
 6,000 men had reduced their forces to 300 or 400, and 
 others were entirely suspended. Of the 120,000 men 
 engaged in the building trades not more than one-third 
 were at work. Retail stores and small shops, which in 
 
 95 
 
96 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 good times had scores of clerks, reduced their forces to 
 the lowest possible limit, and it is safe to say that of 
 this class 15,000 were idle. How this vast army of idle 
 subsisted is a mystery. The papers of Chicago and of 
 other cities did splendid charity work, and, with a few 
 exceptions, told the exact truth about the situation. 
 A committee of Chicago business men attempted to 
 raise money for the purpose of furnishing work, and 
 did collect $300,000, but this amount could not go far 
 toward the support of 200,000 idle men, many of whom 
 were the heads of families. The drainage canal com 
 missioners were appealed to and found place for nearly 
 2,000 former artisans and clerks, who were happy to 
 dig dirt in company with imported Italians and Poles. 
 The work was severe, and some of these unfortunates 
 were not able to stand the strain, and their surrender 
 was witnessed with glee by certain human hyenas, who 
 would be convulsed with merriment at a railroad hor 
 ror. 
 
 The wealthy people of America, as a class, were more 
 than usually generous as cold weather approached. 
 The lie that had so many times before been told and 
 believed that there was plenty of work for any man 
 who wanted it had gone out of date. There was no- 
 work. The workman knew it; the business man knew k 
 1 it; the manufacturer knew it and regretted it, and even 
 the professional hater of workmen was compelled to 
 remain silent. 
 
 And this was in Chicago,at whose feet the world had 
 poured a sum of money estimated at not less than 
 $150,000,000, the cost of their attendance at the great 
 exposition. 
 
 The banks were bursting with money, but the shops 
 remained closed. The manufacturer did not want 
 borrowed money; he wanted customers who had money, 
 and his customers were out of work and out of money. 
 The rich must eat up the surplus and the poor must 
 accept what the rich and municipal charities afforded 
 them. 
 
 The complacency with which some well-fed and good- 
 
HARD TIMES 9? 
 
 natnred persons contemplated the sufferings of others 
 in the year of the Columbian Exposition is illustrated 
 by the following editorial clipping from the Chicago 
 Tribune. The writer was musing over the existing con 
 dition and prospects of the 150,000 unemployed. Thus 
 he wrote: 
 
 "Some are on the drainage channel. Others have 
 found something to do owing to the extra demand for 
 labor occasioned by the World s Fair. Manufacturers 
 who shut down during the panic have taken back a part 
 of their men as many as the market for their products 
 would justify and they will go ahead manufacturing 
 as long as they can find a market. During the rest- of 
 this month there will be no lack of employment in 
 Chicago. The pinch will come in November after the 
 closing of the exposition Then the street railroad 
 companies will cut down the number of men. Merchants 
 will discharge the superfluous clerks. Many of the hotels 
 will be closed, and not one of them will need the large 
 force it does now. There will be a general retrench 
 ment after the World s Fair guests have gone, which 
 will make work hard to find during the winter months. 
 But that can be endured providing there is satisfactory 
 assurance of good times in the spring. If the condi 
 tions are such then that capitalists feel justified in 
 putting up new buildings, that manufacturers are 
 reasonably confident they can find a market for their 
 goods, and that storekeepers are convinced they can 
 sell their wares and get paid for them, there will be 
 profitable employment for all." 
 
 A cheering prospect certainly. Any wageworker 
 who would protest against remaining out of work all 
 winter and subsisting on charity, when there was a 
 possibility that the capitalists might decide to put up 
 some new buildings in the spring and thereby give him 
 a job, was certainly an enemy to society, if not a real 
 anarchist. Notice the off-hand way in which the great 
 editor assures his readers, "but that can be endured." 
 He knew whereof he spoke. He knew that a people 
 long used to hardships lose by degrees the very notions 
 
08 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 of liberty. Thera was little danger to be apprehended 
 from this hungry multitude. They would live until 
 spring and be glad to compete against each other for 
 such work as the condition of the labor market afforded. 
 In the meantime they might sack a few bread shops, 
 but as for fighting history never recorded a battle or a 
 revolution won by hungry men. 
 
 For several years previous to that of the panic of 
 1893 many well-intentioned and amiable citizens be 
 came greatly concerned about patriotism. They had 
 observed with growing alarm that the rising generation 
 was not patriotic. Unable to solve this strange mani 
 festation, they decided to propagate the spirit of patri 
 otism in the public schools. To this purpose certain 
 days at the public schools were devoted to the teaching 
 of patriotism. The young people were taught to believe 
 that theirs was the greatest country on the face of the 
 earth; the only one in which the people had a voice in 
 the management of affairs, and other glittering gener 
 alities more or less founded on fact. It must be ad 
 mitted that this manufactured kindergarten brand of 
 patriotiflin was a very inferior article. 
 
 What was the matter with the children and why was 
 it necessary to cultivate patriotism as a house plant? 
 
 The fact was that there was nothing in contempora 
 neous history or happenings to make them patriotic. 
 When the child went home the hard-working father, 
 fatigued from a day s severe toil and harassed by the 
 constant fear of no employment, did not take the child 
 on his knee and tell of the glories of the republic. On 
 the contrary, he complained of his lot, cursed certain 
 politicians, but never praised anything. To his be 
 nighted mind there was nothing to praise. Then again 
 there were no political idols, no giants of statesman 
 ship for the boy to worship. General Grant was a 
 popular hero and was pointed to as a model, but it was 
 hard to enthuse the youthful mind by reciting the ex 
 ploits of Harrison, Cleveland, Hill, Brice, Gorman, 
 Butler, Peffer, Vilas, Stewart, and that miscellaneous 
 crop of alleged statesmen who occupied the public gaze 
 in that period. 
 
The Republican orator s workingman, and another idea 
 of the laborer. 
 
HARI TIMES 101 
 
 There was DO politics nothing but a blind and 
 ignorant partisanship, which fooled men, but made no 
 impress on the truthful mind of a child into whose 
 nature prejudices had not yet been planted. The ex 
 periment of teaching patriotism in the schools was a 
 failure. Those who had faith in such artificial patriot 
 ism could not perceive the truth so finely expressed by 
 a thinker who wrote: 
 
 "Patriotism is a blind and irrational impulse unless 
 it is founded on a knowledge of the blessings we are 
 called on to secure and the privileges we propose to 
 defend." 
 
 They would probably have taken exception to the 
 forceful statement of bluff old Johnson: "Patriotism 
 is the last refuge of a scoundrel." 
 
 There was a growing clamor for the suppression of 
 immigration. To this cause the average American- 
 born workman ascribed all the ills under which he 
 suffered. He claimed that the foreign workman had 
 underbid him in the labor market and that so many of 
 them had come to the country that there was not 
 enough work to go around. Work was the god which 
 they worshiped. There was never any complaint be 
 cause there was not enough food, clothes and other 
 necessities of life. Every one admitted that there were 
 plenty of such commodities, but what, the people 
 wanted was "work. " There being a great sufficiency 
 of everything which labor produces already on hand, 
 there was no work, and the foreigners received the 
 blame. 
 
 The United States was then supporting more or Jess 
 by charity- a population of 67,000,000 people. The 
 single state of Texas boasted that it could support in 
 luxury 150, 000, 000 people, and there was no doubt in the 
 minds of intelligent people that the entire country had 
 productivity and resources equal to a population of 
 500,000,000. The foreign workman, therefore, was not 
 entirely to blame for the prevailing distress. It was 
 popular, however, to abuse him, and some of the most 
 vindictive know-nothings voiced their hatred of the 
 
102 , PRESIDENT fOHN SMITH 
 
 foreigner in accent and dialect so complicated that 
 English-speaking sympathizers in the same theory had 
 difficulty in understanding them. 
 
 These were but a few of the signs of an approaching 
 "something" to the keen forecaster whose eyes roamed 
 over the political heavens. There was a disposition to 
 coddle and confer with the once despised trade unions 
 on the part of men who a few short years before had 
 denounced all such organizations as un-American and 
 to whom a "walking delegate" was a hated and con 
 temptible person. 
 
 A series of "economic conferences" were held in the 
 palatial recital hall of the Chicago Auditorium, in 
 which speeches were made by such distinguished people 
 as Bankers Lyman Gage and Franklin Head, Ferd W. 
 Peck, the projector and largest stockholder in the 
 Auditorium, and many other wealthy representatives 
 of Chicago s capitalistic world. These speeches were 
 responded to by Mr. Schilling and the famous Lucy 
 Parsons, Socialists Thomas J. Morgan, Aveling, and 
 various champions of the single tax and other theories 
 of social and political economy. There was little in 
 tolerance among these great captains of capital and in 
 dustry and the economic conferences were productive 
 of a better understanding all around. They made no 
 impression, however, on the $15 a week clerk who 
 worked in Mr. Gage s bank, who yet imagined that the 
 socialists were planning to make him "divide up" the 
 $75 he had saved up by denying himself an overin 
 dulgence in neckties and russet shoes. 
 
 In the latter months of the year an epidemic of crime 
 swept over the country, train robbery developed into 
 a profession, and the papers were filled with reports of 
 barbarous lynchings from all parts of the United States. 
 Ex-President Harrison in an address at the World s 
 Fair, Indiana day, called attention to this growing dis 
 regard of the law and appealed to all good American 
 citizens to stand back of the sheriffs in the performance 
 of their duties. Out in Colorado Governor Waite pro 
 posed to secede from the Union and was ready with 
 
HARD TIMES 103 
 
 150,000 western miners and mine-owners to "wade in 
 blood up to his horse s bridle." In Kansas the Re 
 publican militia officers were relieved and the state 
 guard reorganized with nothing but populists in the 
 ranks, an ominous incident, and one unprecedented in 
 the history of the country. 
 
 More significant than anything else was the attitude 
 of the farmer, Proverbially conservative, the farmer 
 had broken away from old-party allegiances and was a 
 radical of radicals. He was ready to listen to any 
 scheme for the betterment of his condition, and seemed 
 more inclined to fight than anything else. Unsparing 
 in his denunciation of the "gold bugs of Wall Street," 
 the farmer had cut loose from all former partisan alli 
 ances and refused to listen either to the voice of the 
 professional Republican patriot or to the pleadings of 
 tha constitutional Democrat, whose panacea for all 
 earthly ills was a retrenchment in the expenses of the 
 government. The farmer was satiated with patriotism 
 and had lost money by it, and had become impressed 
 with the idea that governmental extravagance and not 
 retrenchment was the need of the hour. 
 
 And thus in the parade of the years, 1898, with its 
 columns badly disorganized and its band playing dis 
 cordant music, passed before Time s reviewing stand 
 and^ vanished in the distance. Congress was yet in 
 session. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE GREAT BOOM OF 1898. 
 
 [Note by the author. The reader is asked to imagine 
 that a short period of years has elapsed between the 
 months described in Chapter VIII. and the opening of 
 Chapter IX. If singularly gifted with imagination he may 
 conjure up incidents equaling in interest to the lake-front 
 demonstrations of the starving unemployed, the strange 
 march of industrial armies across the mountains 
 to Washington, the arrest of an American citizen who 
 desired to petition Congress and his subsequent im 
 prisonment for the crime of "getting on the grass," the 
 great railroad strike, the judicial promulgation of the edict 
 that American workmen cannot quit work without the 
 consent of their employers, the opening of the sugar bowl 
 in Congress, and other events strictly in accord with the 
 spirit of American institutions. A presidential election in 
 1896 retires the Democracy from power; a slight boom is 
 followed by a panic and a succeeding period of depression. 
 The thread of the history is taken up in the spring of 181)8.] 
 
 THE advent of the spring of 1898 brought a return of 
 better times. The keen edge of the long depression had 
 worn off, and with a beaming face the good husband 
 came home one afternoon -and brought the glad news 
 that the shop was going to start up the first of next 
 week. How they had managed to live the workman 
 and his wife could hardly explain. They were lucky in 
 having a kind-hearted landlord, to whom they owed 
 many months rent, and they congratulated themselves 
 that they had escaped eviction the sad lot of a score 
 of their neighbors. One of the boys had made a few 
 pennies selling papers, and a good lady had called once 
 a week, and, despite the protests of the proud and 
 honest workman, had left groceries and on three oc 
 casions a small sum of money. It had been impossible 
 to send the children to school; they had no clothes and 
 no money with which to purchase books. Some days 
 
 104 
 
THE GREAT BOOM OP 1898 105 
 
 the family had suffered from the cold, and all were 
 glad when the sun arose high in the southern sky and 
 April ushered in the warmer days. And now the fac 
 tory was going to start up. John told Mary all about 
 how it came about, and the good woman listened with 
 tears in her eyes. All that winter there had been 
 rumors of a European war, and hostilities were now 
 considered inevitable. One of the leading foreign powers 
 had placed an immense order with the firm John 
 worked for, and the men were sent for at once. 
 
 "And they say," said John, his eyes dancing with 
 joy, "that war is sure to come and that when it does 
 there will be more work than we can do. We may have 
 to work nights. I wish they would declare war to 
 morrow. " 
 
 "But just think, John," said Mary, a little sadly, 
 "just think of all the men that will be killed and of 
 all the poor women and children who will be made to 
 suffer all the rest of their lives. Think of the homes 
 that will be broken up and the property that will be 
 destroyed. War is an awful thing and when I hear it 
 talked of it makes ma shudder." 
 
 "Yes, I know war is an awful thing," said John, 
 "but it makes good times and gives the people work. 
 The boss was saying the other day that the best thing 
 that could happen to this country would be a good war 
 which would kill off about 2, 000, 000 people and destroy 
 a lot of property. He said that would make the best 
 kind of times, and blamed if I don t think he was 
 right." 
 
 "It seems to me," said Mary, thoughtfully, "that 
 something must be wrong when nothing short of war, 
 with its wholesale murders and crime s, can bring about 
 the prosperity of the people." 
 
 "Women never did and probably never will under 
 stand anything about politics," said John good-na 
 turedly. He was too happy to philosophize about the 
 horrors of war. It had no terrors for him and was in 
 deed his best friend. The situation was exactly aa 
 John had stated it. France and Germany seemed on 
 
106 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 the verge of another conflict, with Russia and England 
 sure to be drawn into the whirlpool of European war. 
 Active preparations were being made on every hand and 
 the United States was already being drawn upon for 
 supplies. Hard times were forgotten. Stocks bounded 
 upward and grain of all kinds followed suit Factories 
 resumed work and in many instances the men succeeded 
 in negotiating for an increase in wages. Money was 
 plenty and the rates of interest high. It was discovered 
 that the stock of manufactured goods had run low and 
 a genuine boom set in. 
 
 Europe placed more contracts in America, and as the 
 papers dwelt triumphantly on this fact the excitement 
 increased until the country resounded with" the roar of 
 machinery. The demand for labor increased and wages 
 were forced higher. New enterprises were projected 
 and many were started. Workmen went about with 
 happy faces and the panic and distress of 1898-1896 
 seemed only as an awful nightmare from which a peo 
 ple had awakened to the grandest prosperity in their 
 history. 
 
 Not for a moment were old conservative business 
 men deceived by the situation. The trusts were not 
 carried away by the excitement. They were in a 
 splendid position to make money and did so, but they 
 went ahead on a conservative basis and kept a close 
 watch upon the market and a steady finger upon the 
 pulse of the consumer. By the middle of July it be 
 came generally known that there would be no war. The 
 empire of Germany wanted war and so did the aristoc 
 racy and bourgeoisie of France, but they dared not 
 declare war against each other. Back of Emperor 
 William and his battalions was the portentous shadow 
 of the social democracy of Germany, ripe for revolution 
 and eager for war to be declared. More potent than 
 the republican government of France was that social 
 ism which had overlapped the walls of Paris, and found 
 enthusiastic adherents among the peasantry The prol 
 etariat of France had no enmity against the humble 
 wage-earning social democrat of Germany, and was 
 
THE GREAT BOOM OF 1898 107 
 
 waiting the day the inevitable day when the revolu 
 tion should be declared. That was why France and 
 Germany did not declare war, and that was why Octo 
 ber found the United States in the throes of another 
 panic. 
 
 There was great disappointment when it became cer 
 tain that war was to be averted, but it had no immedi 
 ate appreciable effect upon business. Stocks declined 
 a little and so did wheat. The people paid no atten 
 tion to these slight evidences. They had come to regard 
 themselves as authorities on good and bad times, on 
 panics and business revivals, and they argued that 
 there was no danger of a panic for several years 
 anyway. But they did not realize the changed condi 
 tions which came into effect with the panic of 1892-93 
 and were totally unprepared for what was in store for 
 them. 
 
 In the early part of September the papers announced 
 that several of the factories belonging to the shoe trust 
 had been closed for "repairs." A few days later the 
 great English brewing trust closed down its Cincinnati 
 and St. Louis houses. There was an increased scarcity 
 of money and the banks raised the rates of interest. 
 It became more and more s difficult to borrow money on 
 good security. September 27 the press announced that 
 owing to lack of demand the refineries under the con 
 trol of the sugar trust would be shut down on the fol 
 lowing Saturday until further notice; also that the 
 trust had declared the usual 2 per cent quarterly 
 dividend. Then came the panic, but one which but 
 little resembled its predecessors. Some big failures 
 were announced of firms which had plunged wildly into 
 the market under the guidance of inexperienced man 
 agers. A few large manufacturing concerns were 
 caught and a large number of small concerns failed, 
 which had branched out in expectation of supplying 
 all of fighting Europe with the sinews of war. 
 
 There were the usual runs on national, state and sav 
 ings banks, but, with one or two exceptions, the banks 
 did not fail. They had money for all who came, ancl 
 
108 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 the people soon became tired of drawing their money 
 out and let it remain in the banks. Money was again 
 plenty, but none who had good collateral desired to 
 embark in new enterprises or to enlarge old ones. All 
 ever the country shops and factories were either shut 
 down -or running on half-time. Winter was approach 
 ing. What was the cause of the panic? 
 
 It was called a panic, but the word was a misnomer. 
 The trouble in 1893 was termed a panic, but it was 
 simply a general suspension of production, more espe 
 cially in the manufacturing line. The remarkable 
 feature of the boom and panic of 1898 was the wonder 
 ful rapidity of its development. The short interval be 
 tween the severe depression of 1898-1896 was followed 
 by a business revival and quickly succeeded by return 
 ing hard times and an even more intensified depression. 
 In the natural course of events the patient would have 
 remained in a dormant state and regained strength only 
 after a Jong period of convalescence. Such had been 
 the history of the past, but history blindly follows no 
 rule prescribing a sequence of events. The political 
 doctors had wisely predicted a lingering illness and 
 prescribed various nostrums supposed to have more or 
 less value, but all their calculations were scattered to 
 the winds by the European war-cloud. 
 
 The sound of the preparations for war came to the ear 
 of the fevered patient. It was like water to a parched 
 throat, as a glass of brandy to a famished traveler. The 
 patient sprang from the sick bed, with one hand brushed 
 aside the astonished political doctors,and with the other 
 tipped over the carefully compounded and mysterious 
 nostrums. "War! War!!" Every repetition of the 
 word made the blood tingle. The invalid had becomo 
 a giant, and from 1,000 chimneys the smoke wreathed, 
 and from 10,000 forges came the music of industry. 
 
 War! War! Blood! Carnage! Sweet words of com 
 fort and inspiration to a Christian nation. Cut loose 
 the bloodhounds, and let Europe run red with rape 
 and rapine that men an4 women and little children 
 may live in America!. 
 
THE GREAT BOOM OF 1898 
 
 For the first time in history the mechanical age had 
 an opportunity to test its capacity. Not at any time 
 in the twenty preceding years had all the powers of 
 production been placed in operation. There had been 
 good times before, but not such times as these. In 
 good and bad times the machine had been developed, 
 hut not until now was it possible for America to show 
 the world her wonderful resources. 
 
 It was a superb exhibition of material greatness. It 
 was as if a big, strong, but indolent and good-for-nothing 
 b ,y, whose only thought in life had been to subsist by 
 the least possible exercise of his muscles, had suddenly 
 attained manhood, and with that manhood had cast 
 away sloth and with every grand faculty of nature 
 awakened into life, had set about the realization of 
 some magnificent ambition. Thus it was with the 
 United States of America. 
 
 Forty million willing hands manipulated the ma 
 chinery of production and added to the wealth of civili 
 zation. Forty million sturdy arms wrested from Mother 
 Nature those blessings which she so gracefully relin 
 quishes to the persistent suitor. A nation was happy and 
 prosperous. 
 
 But why do the wheels of industry begin to slacken 
 and why do men grow pale? 
 
 Ask the mill-owner. He will tell you. There has been 
 an overproduction. The people have worked so hard and 
 accumulated so much that as a penalty they must go 
 hungry and perchance some of them will starve for 
 their folly. 
 
 In the six months from April to October, 1898, the 
 people of the United States had produced more than 
 had ever before been recorded for a year. Some of it 
 had gone abroad, but vast stocks of supplies remained 
 at home. The country had been deceived. 
 
 They had been "confidenced" into manufacturing 
 for a market which did not exist. The price of all 
 commodities fell, but the people had little money with 
 which to purchase at any price. With their wages the 
 people had paid off debt s formerly contracted, and but 
 
110 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 few of them had been able to save up a dollar against 
 that "rainy day" now acknowledged to be inevitable 
 but for which it seemed impossible to prepare. Millions 
 of workmen were discharged from the great factories. 
 
 They had committed a crime. They had created 
 too much wealth.. They had worked too hard. They 
 must be punished by being forced into idleness. 
 In 1893 or 1894 the workmen of America were capable 
 of producing in a few months all the manufactured 
 products the people could purchase in a year. The 
 boom caused by the rumors of war gave the workmen 
 a chance to give the world a practical illustration 
 cf the wonderful resources of production. They then 
 proceeded to starve for a much longer period. 
 
 In the fall elections the Populists refused to combine 
 with the Democrats and made decided gains and car 
 ried states and congressional districts in which they 
 were not supposed to have the slightest chance for 
 success. The adherents of the old partes were surprised 
 and disgusted when it was learned that the third party 
 held the balance of power in the House of Representa 
 tives and would be able to elect three new United States 
 senators. In the excitement of the election the people 
 forgot their sorrows for the time and many of them 
 saw a ray of hope in the presaged success of the Peo 
 ple s party, whose leaders now confidently claimed that 
 they would sweep the country in 1900. 
 
 The increasing strength of the trade union movement 
 in the United States had attracted the attention of the 
 entire civilized world. Under shrewd leadership they 
 had proceeded on strict trade union lines and had suc 
 cessfully avoided the political and other entangling al 
 liances which so many times before had been the rocks 
 on which the movement went to pieces. The great 
 boom of 1898 had greatly strengthened the unions, and 
 their success in obtaining advanced wages had brought 
 hundreds of thousands into their ranks. The panic 
 fcund these organizations in exceptionally fine con 
 dition, with money in their treasuries and the member 
 ship in good discipline. Carefully prepared statistics 
 
THE GREAT BOOM OF 1898 11] 
 
 showed that fully 95 per cent of all the men employed 
 in manufacturing, building and kindred trades were 
 enrolled in the various unions, With hardly an excep 
 tion, the unions were recognized by the employers, and 
 wages were adjusted without difficulty, all disputes 
 being settled by arbitration. In a word, the trade unions 
 had obtained the position which the founders of the 
 movement claimed as possible, and that which they so 
 earnestly worked for and had predicted for years had 
 come to pass. 
 
 Not less than 6,000,000 were enrolled under the ban 
 ner of the American Federation of Labor,and affiliated 
 with them were 2, 000, 000 members of the Farmers Alli- 
 ance and similar organizations. Numerically the trade 
 union movement had achieved the fondest hopes of its 
 projectors. How did the trade unionist and his proud 
 organization confront the situation as it presented it 
 self when the panic of 1893 paralyzed the business of 
 the country? In less than two months more than 3,000.- 
 000 members of trade unions were out of work. Even 
 in the face of this appalling problem the ranks remained 
 fast. The president issued an address in which he said: 
 
 "Trade unionism expects every man to do his duty. 
 Our splendid organization is in no way to blame for 
 the disaster which has palsied the hand of industry, 
 and the darkness of this night but precedes a brighter 
 day when panics and the enforced idleness of armies of 
 men shall live only as a memory. In the hope and ex 
 pectation of the dawning of such a day I entreat you 
 to stand firm. This is to be a test of unselfishness. 
 If every man shall do his duty, his whole duty, trade 
 unionism shall live and to-morrow shall triumph. The 
 alternative is anarchy, a wild struggle for life in which 
 all we have fought for shall be lost to us forever." 
 
 Nofsince the world was created and mankind given 
 authority over animate and inanimate things was there 
 witnessed so fine an illustration of unselfish and en 
 nobling discipline as that displayed in 1898 and 1899 
 by the federated trade unions of America. There were 
 a few weak ones, a few cowards and traitors, but the 
 
112 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 vast majority obeyed the common orders without ques 
 tion and without hesitation. There was on January 1, 
 1899, work for but half of the 6,000,000 trade unionists, 
 and as the winter came on the number of men at work 
 steadily decreased. 
 
 In December a special convention was held. The 
 labor leaders met in solemn session and discussed the 
 momentous problem which confronted them. By a 
 practically unanimous vote it was decided that the 
 work, or the wages paid for work, should be divided 
 among the members. The various unions were in 
 structed to submit to their employers the alternative 
 of accepting one of two propositions either that a 
 double force should be employed half time, or that at 
 the end of a month the men then working should be 
 then laid off and a new force substituted. It was also 
 provided that a liberal trade union assessment should 
 be paid into the treasury for the purpose of sustaining 
 certain trades in which work was almost entirely sus 
 pended. 
 
 This heroic remedy was grafted into a resolution and 
 submitted to the various national trade unions,and by 
 them indorsed without a single exception. The man 
 ufacturers met the men half-way and in many cases 
 offered valuable suggestions, which were accepted in 
 good spirit. Wherever practical the men alternated in 
 working, and by this expedient from 2,000,000 to 3,- 
 000,000 men with their families were constantly 
 supported in idleness. The most rigid economy was 
 absolutely necessary and nearly one-third of the people 
 of the United States existed for months only by deny 
 ing themselves everything except the actual necessities 
 of life. 
 
 This exhibition greatly pleased certain people who 
 imagined themselves political economists. They read 
 the labor people long lectures, pointing out to them 
 the fact that at last they had come to their senses and 
 had acted as they should have years ago. The advan 
 tages of the new system over that of striking were lov 
 ingly dwelt upon and the labor leaders were congratu 
 lated upon their generalship. 
 
THE GREAT BOOM OF 1898 113 
 
 The average well-to-do citizen saw nothing wrong in 
 the situation. He viewed it with the same complacency 
 as he had in 1873, 1884 and 1893. That the govern 
 ment, or the state, or the community, was in any way 
 responsible; that it was under the slightest obligation 
 to furnish employment; that poverty was anything 
 more or less than a dispensation of Providence, he had 
 never imagined, or, in fact, considered to any extent. 
 Men were made to work that is, most men were made 
 to work. Some men had to be rich, and thus were able 
 to give other men work. If there were no rich men 
 there could be no employment. The employer was a 
 great benefactor to society, and society was under ob 
 ligations to employers just in proportion as the latter 
 furnished employment. When the employers were un 
 able, from the condition of the market or from any 
 other causes, to employ workmen why, that was the 
 end of it. Nobody was responsible. It was the duty 
 of employers and wealthy people to be liberal at suxih 
 times, and any attempt to excite the working class, or 
 to lead them to rebel against what was clearly inevita 
 ble, should be frowned down, and if necessary sternly 
 suppressed by the law. Work was ennobling and the 
 American workman was naturally the most peaceable 
 and easiest satisfied of any in the world. Foreigners 
 had no conception of the dignity of American labor, 
 and if they did not like things as they found them in 
 this country they were at liberty to return from where 
 they came. 
 
 The preceding chapters have described the sequence 
 of events which led up to the anarchist conspiracy of 
 May 23, 1899, with which this history opens and which 
 Chief Sullivan and his officers so effectually "nipped 
 in the bud" to quote the language of the new reporter. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 JOHN SMITH, NATIONALIST. 
 
 JOHN SMITH was born in Quincy, Mass., September 
 12, 1853. 
 
 On the Smith side of the family the ancestry can be 
 traced "clear back to old Pocahontas John Smith," as 
 his good Aunt Maria so often expressed it. To tell the 
 truth, John never took the trouble to look the matter 
 up. His mother was a Paine, proud of the revolution 
 ary blood which she had transmitted to her son, and 
 the good lady was never weary of dwelling upon the 
 Paine ancestral tree. 
 
 The Smiths were well-to-do people, and at the proper 
 age young John was sent to Harvard and acquitted 
 himself with honor to his family and to himself. He 
 completed the under-graduate course in 1872 and re 
 turned home in time to witness the bankruptcy of the 
 elder Smith, whose entire fortune was swept away in 
 the panic of the following year. This incident changed 
 the whole current of Smith s life. He had expected, as 
 the only heir to the Smith estate, to go into business 
 with his father, and eventually come into possession of 
 the property. But the property had vanished. Certain 
 unfortunate speculations, the advancing of large sums 
 of money to some promising manufacturing concerns, 
 had conspired against the estate, and a great property 
 was dissipated. 
 
 Denied by the stern mandate of circumstance a life 
 of comparative ease as a capitalise, John embraced law 
 as a profession and first established himself in Boston. 
 Acting on the advice of friends, ne moved to Chicago, 
 formed an advantageous partnership and rapidly ac- 
 
 114 
 
JOHN BMITH, NATIONALIST 115 
 
 quired reputation and standing and with it a profitable 
 clientage. 
 
 John ISrnith had ever been a student of political 
 economy. His education had made him a free trader, 
 and he was born a liberal. There was no taint of 
 Puritanism in his veins, and no one ever heard him 
 boast of his ancestors. He was proud of the fact that 
 he was an American, but his Americanism did not lead 
 him to hate foreigners because they were not so for 
 tunate as to have been born in America. 
 
 John Smith was an American, but his Americanism 
 was not of that rabid, hysterical type which impels 
 men to defend and praise every law, tradition, practice 
 and institution upon which some one had stamped the 
 trademark "American." Smith preferred to pass upon 
 such matters himself. To his mind a thing was right, 
 just or proper not because it was American, but because 
 it was right, just or proper. He could conceive of how 
 a thing could be American and yet be wrong. 
 
 History had not taught him that Americans were a 
 race especially inspired of God and so constituted as 
 to be incapable of making mistakes. He saw, or at 
 least he imagined he saw, where the Smiths and the 
 Paines who lived and died a hundred years before had 
 made some blunders, and as an American citizen it 
 was not only his right but his duty to discuss such 
 matters, and, if possible, ascertain and apply remedies. 
 John Smith had no patience with certain of his friends 
 who would hold up their hands in horror at his decla 
 ration that the constitution of the United States was 
 full of errors. 
 
 "Have you no veneration?" exclaimed Jones one 
 day. 
 
 u Not a bit," responded Smith. u Veneration is a 
 half-witted, obsequious brother to superstition, and I 
 care for the companionship of neither. The man who 
 is afflicted with the venerating habit goes through life 
 in a graveyard, poking around among the tombs, hunt 
 ing for antique monuments erected to the memory of 
 the dead that he may venerate and revere them. The 
 
116 PKESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 fact that a thing is old makes me suspicious of it. I 
 believe in the present. I believe that the people who 
 live to-day know more than any people \*bich have 
 preceded them. Therefore I have no veneration for 
 the past and study it only to avoid mistakes. Its his 
 tory is largely a story of wars, of cruel and revolting 
 crimes, and a ceaseless tale of man s inhumanity to 
 man. " 
 
 The city of Chicago was an interesting study to John 
 Smith. He became a citizen of the western metropolis 
 at a time when the gigantic forces of the mechanical 
 age were at work restoring the ravages of the great fire 
 and of the panic, which had swept through the young 
 giant of cities. He became a part of that seething 
 center of modern competition Chicago. He entered 
 the lists prepared to give and receive blows, with his 
 hand raised against every other man. At this time 
 John Smith had no serious complaint to make against 
 established institutions. He was young and strong 
 and a firm believer in the justice of the survival of 
 the fittest." He believed, and often said, that there 
 was room for all in the United States, and he had no 
 patience with those who demanded protection or 
 charity. 
 
 Ten years brings many changes. In 1885 John Smith 
 had materially modified his views on many subjects. 
 His law business had increased and so had his income. 
 So had his contempt. 
 
 For ten years wealthy clients had whispered into his 
 ears tales of wrong, crime and cunning; for ten years 
 he had defended men against legal robbery and had 
 aided others to take legal advantage of their competi 
 tors. 
 
 For ten years he had been buffeted around in a 
 frantic mob, until his ears rang with the cry of 
 "money," "money," and his very nature revolted 
 against the knavery, plotting and swindling which 
 passed current as commercial honesty. He became 
 convinced that any social system based on the principle 
 which then prevailed was destined sooner or later to 
 
JOHN SMITH, NATIONALIST 117 
 
 fail. John Smith then decided to make a systematic 
 study of the situation and form conclusions based on 
 his own observations. He had abundant opportunity 
 for such a study and for years quietly pursued a philo 
 sophic investigation of the business, social and political 
 phases of the civilization in which he was living and 
 of which he was a part. He subscribed to no creed 
 and was the adherent of no ism. He read all there 
 was obtainable concerning socialism, anarchy, the 
 single tax theory and other schools of -political and 
 economic thought, arid dispassionately weighed and 
 considered their respective merits and shortcomings. 
 He was unable to classify himself under any of the 
 recognized schools of thought, and in fact did not de 
 sire to do so. John Smith could see no reason why a 
 man should blindly follow the tenets of any school, 
 and therefore continued his study of social phenomena 
 unrestrained by any dogmatic bounds. Among the few 
 personal friends with whom Smith discussed such 
 problems he was regarded as a sort of mild crank with 
 socialistic tendencies. 
 
 "I have discovered what you are," said Jones one 
 day, seated in John Smith s private office. 
 
 "Good. Allow me to congratulate you, " rejoined 
 Smith with a suspicion of sarcasm, 
 
 "No offense intended, John, I assure you," Jones 
 hastened to explain. "I was referring to your peculiar 
 theories about government, labor and all that. Well, 
 I was reading to-day that they have formed a club or a 
 society in Boston and the members called themselves 
 Nationalists. I didn t read the whole article, but went 
 far enough to learn that they desire to nationalize cer 
 tain industries They say that the word socialism 
 doesn t mean any tiling, and that the fools who discuss 
 such questions have ascribed every crime and idiocy on 
 the calendar to socialism, and forever ruined whatever 
 utility the word did have. From what I could make 
 out of the article, their platform tallies very close to 
 your ideas as you have explained them to me." 
 
 "Then you have decided that I am a nationalist?" 
 
118" PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 said Smith with a smile. "It is a good word and an 
 expressive one. If nationalism implies an abiding 
 faith in good government; if nationalism believes that 
 there are certain functions that the whole people the 
 government can do better than any faction or part 
 of the people; if nationalism subscribes cheerfully to 
 the rule of the majority with a proper respect for the 
 rights of the minority, then I am a nationalist. It is 
 a matter of little consequence. A name signifies little 
 What are you, Jones?" 
 
 "Blamed if I know. I was a Democrat six months 
 ago, but I am so disgusted with the Democratic Senate 
 and the ranting of a lot of those southern brigadiers 
 that I have a good mind to read myself out of the 
 party. Trouble is, there is no place for me to go. The 
 Republicans are owned by a lot of manufacturers, and 
 as for the Populists well, I should like to see myself 
 training around with those fellows. Don t believe I ll 
 vote any more. It does no good so far as I can see. 
 Think I will investigate this, this Nationalist idea. I 
 may find that I am a Nationalist; who knows?" 
 
 And that was how John Smith, lawyer and man of 
 property, became known among his personal acquaint 
 ances as the Nationalist, and a newspaper friend wrote 
 a sketch about it and headed it "John Smith Nation 
 alist. " Popular among his fellows and in the business 
 world, Smith was nominated by the Democrats for a 
 judgeship and was elected by a large majority. He 
 served with marked ability a term as judge and de 
 clined a nomination in 1898, which would have been 
 equivalent to an election. Judge Smith s letter to the 
 campaign committee declining the nomination created 
 a widespread sensation and was unsparingly criticised 
 and denounced by many of the leading newspapers. 
 In this letter Judge Smith said: 
 
 "An explanation is due the many friends, political, 
 social and personal, who have so loyally supported me 
 in the past and who have so kindly urged me to seek a 
 continuance of judicial honors. In justice to them and 
 in justice to myself I must firmly and unreservedly de- 
 
JOHN SMITH, NATIONALIST 119 
 
 cline to accept a position, the oath of office of which 
 imposes obligations repugnant to my sense of justice, 
 fairness and honor. I am not in sympathy with cer 
 tain of the provisions of the constitution of the United 
 States. I am unalterably opposed to many of the laws 
 incorporated in the federal, state and municipal codes, 
 and submit to their exactions only under earnest pro 
 test. Believing as I do that it is the duty of a judicial 
 officer to construe the laws as he finds them, having 
 ever been an earnest, and, I hope, a consistent advocate 
 of the absolute divorcement of the judiciary and the, 
 executive, I shall no longer seek to maintain myself in 
 a position where I am compelled by my oath of office 
 to dispense injustice under the guise of law. I hold 
 that it is the duty of citizenship to make laws and the 
 duty of the judiciary to interpret according to the strict 
 spirit of such laws. Holding such views, I shall return 
 to the ranks of private life, and as an American citizen 
 shall do what is in my power to repeal, annul and re 
 vise the statutes which now stand as laws for the gov 
 ernment and welfare of the people, aiming to substitute 
 in the place qf the old such new laws as the changed 
 environment of our people has rendered imperative. 
 I have, with the highest esteem, the honor to remain 
 very truly yours, 
 
 "JOHN SMITH." 
 
 This was in September. Judge Smith was accused of 
 treason by some excitable people, and these patriots 
 were not a little surprised to learn that there was no 
 law against criticising the constitution, or, in fact, any 
 thing else in this country. This rabid class was not 
 large numerically, and Judge Smith s letter created a 
 profound impression throughout the country. He was 
 a man of national reputation and a judge whose 
 opinions had ever been received with the greatest re 
 spect. As a lawyer he had amassed a considerable 
 fortune and was a familiar figure in the best social 
 circles. 
 
 When Judge Smith left the bench he resumed the 
 practice of law, and declined repeated invitations to 
 
120 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 make public addresses and positively refused to be in 
 terviewed on economic subjects. 
 
 The excitement following the anarchist conspiracy 
 in 1899, soon died out. There was a slight improve 
 ment in business, but not enough to give employment 
 to any great number of men. Under the constant 
 strain of poverty the people grew more restive. Thou 
 sands of small shopkeepers were driven out of business 
 and added to the ranks of the unemployed. In New 
 York City a procession composed mostly of ruined 
 tradesmen and discharged clerks marched down Broad 
 way. Some trifling incident turned the parade into a 
 mob,and in the fight which followed the stock exchange 
 was wrecked, and many of the brokers offices sacked 
 and damaged. 
 
 As the condition of the country grew more desperate 
 the hatred of foreigners became intense. From every 
 section there came a demand that immigration should 
 be stopped, and this culminated in a riot in New York 
 City, the responsibility of which was charged to the 
 Patriotic Sons of America, a secret society composed 
 exclusively of Americans, and pledged to vote for and 
 support none but native-born citizens. A mob drove a 
 thousand newly arrived immigrants back to their ships, 
 and several of theso unfortunate people were killed and 
 others badly injured. This affair was both applauded 
 and condemned. It was by some compared to the 
 Boston tea party, and by others it was denounced as 
 an unmitigated outrage on a people who had been 
 taught to believe that America was a free country and 
 a home for the oppressed. 
 
 September witnessed the famous Belgian, Holland 
 and English railroad stock speculation, by which Ameri 
 can capitalists lost millions of dollars and the foreign 
 syndicate vastly increased its holdings. A powerful 
 syndicate, composed of wealthy English, Belgian and 
 Dutch financiers and speculators, successfully manipu 
 lated the American market and precipitated a Wall 
 Street panic September 27. The Vanderbilts were 
 pinched for about $8,000,000, and many of the best- 
 
JOHN SMITH, NATIONALIST 121 
 
 known brokers in the country were ruined. It was 
 estimated that the syndicate made .$60,000,000 in the 
 decline and subsequent rise in stocks. During all this 
 period of depression the foreign capitalists had been 
 heavy buyers of American securities, and reliable au 
 thorities placed their holdings at over one-half of the 
 total values of the roads. The successful coup of the 
 syndicate aroused general indignation. Some conserva 
 tive papers even hinted that the time would come when 
 foreign capital would be glad to let go of American 
 railroad stocks, while others proposed increased taxation 
 of foreign holdings and similar radical methods of 
 retaliation. 
 
 The excitable temper of the people was strikingly 
 illustrated in the October riots in New York; instigated 
 by that erratic and grotesque person, George Francis 
 Train. In ordinary times little or no attention was 
 paid to Mr. Train s movements, and his picturesque 
 individuality served only to amuse the public. But 
 these were not ordinary times, and one of Train s 
 practical jokes was the spark which spread into a con 
 flagration, which at one time amounted almost to a 
 revolution. 
 
 In a characteristic letter George Francis Train de 
 clared himself dictator of the United States, and called 
 upon the people to hold a mass meeting in Madison 
 Square, New York City, the afternoon of October 1, 
 1899, at which time he announced that he would form 
 ally assume the dictatorship and lead the people out of 
 their distress. Train circulated thousands of circulars 
 printed in red, white and blue, advertising the meeting 
 and proclaiming his intentions. At first the public 
 regarded the affair as a huge joke, but as the day ap 
 proached for the meeting an undefinable feeling of 
 apprehension pervaded New York City. The afternoon 
 and evening preceding the Madison Square demonstra 
 tion Train flooded the cities of New York, Brooklyn 
 and Jersey City with these circulars; 
 
122 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 LONG LIVE THE PEOPLE! 
 
 DEATH TO MILLIONAIRE STOCK ROBBERS, TRUST BARONS 
 
 (CARNEGIE, PULLMAN, GOULD) ! 
 
 LONG LIVE THE PEOPLE! 
 
 HAIL TO 
 
 DICTATOR GEORGE FRANCIS TRAIN 
 Formerly citizen, psycho, globe trotter, philosopher, 
 
 orator and capitalist. 
 ($200,000,000 in Omaha). 
 
 George Francis Train Avill proclaim himself dictator of 
 the United States of America, at Madison Square Garden, 
 Saturday afternoon, Oct. 1, 1895. Police and regular army 
 dare not interfere ! I will crush them! Down with the 
 Byrneses, Pinkertons, murderers and assassins ! 
 
 CITIZEN GEORGE FRANCIS TRAIN. 
 (Citizen Train to-day only. Dictator Train to-morrow and 
 
 forever. ) 
 
 Shortly after 3 o clock Saturday morning Train was 
 arrested at the Continental Hotel by two officers. The 
 old gentleman did not surrender until after a terrific 
 fight, in which he successfully resisted the officers, one 
 of whom had laid his hand on Train s shoulder. 
 
 "Don t Jay a finger on me," shouted Train in a voice 
 of frenzied rage. "I have not touched man or woman 
 in thirty years, and no man can lay his hand on me 
 and live. Stand back and I will go peaceably, but by 
 all the powers of Psycho, I will kill the first man who 
 comes near me!" 
 
 Tiie officers, who had emerged from the scrimmage in 
 a bruised condition, were undecided how to proceed. 
 Train was finally permitted to have his way, and, after 
 flatly refusing to ride in the patrol wagon, walked to 
 Ludlow Street jail and entered a cell with the air of a 
 conqueror. 
 
 "I have been in jail thirty times," he informed the 
 reporter, "and I ll be damned- if I don t enjoy it. 
 Damn, you know, is Malayan for banana. If I sa} T 
 damn, you think of banana and you won t slip up on 
 it. Went through anarchist trial in Chicago when I 
 expected to have a bomb thrown at me by police every 
 day, but never saw-anything like this. Shall burn New 
 York City to-morrow. Tell Depew to get out of town. 
 
JOHN SMITH, NATIONALIST 
 
 He is a friend of mine and I don t want to See him 
 killed." 
 
 The police took possession of Madison Square early 
 Saturday morning. The morning papers had no account 
 of Train s arrest, but the noon papers were flaming 
 with headlines. As noon approached small crowds of 
 workmen, curiosity seekers, and the general riffraff of 
 a great city gathered around the square. By 1 o clock 
 not less than 20,000 people blocked Broadway and 
 Fifth Avenue. Few of them knew that Train had been 
 arrested, and the papers containing the news were 
 eagerly read. At 2 o clock not Jess than 100,030 men 
 were massed around Madison Square. 
 
 An unknown orator mounted the Wolff monument 
 opposite the HoffmanHouse and commenced a harangue 
 denouncing the police for arresting George Francis 
 Train, whom the speaker lauded as a "true friend of 
 the masses." Wild cheers greeted the orator and the 
 great mob closed in around the monument Superin 
 tendent Byrnes decided to take action and charged on 
 the crowd and ordered them to disperse. 
 
 A hand-to-hand combat ensued, Some one fired a 
 revolver and an officer fell badly wounded. The com 
 manding officer ordered another charge and the 500 
 police pressed forward. The crowd did not run; it 
 could not retreat. For blocks there was a surging mob 
 of men, and those in tront were shoved ahead against 
 their will. The officers clubbed right and left and 
 those in front in sheer self-defense plunged into the 
 ranks of the police and a fearful scone followed. The 
 policemen were overcome by force of numbers and ter 
 ribly beaten. Several drew their revolvers and fired, 
 eight of the cowd, some of whom were idle spectators, 
 being wounded and two killed. Superintendent Byrnes 
 and seventy-five men forced their way through the 
 crowd at the south end of the park and called for re- 
 enforcements. The unexpected victory of the crowd 
 had its effect. They had smelled gunpowder and blood. 
 They had whipped the police. From a curiosity-seek 
 ing gathering of men it became an unrestrained mob. 
 
124 PRESIDENT JOHN SMlTtt 
 
 The storm broke when an unknown man gave the cry: 
 
 "On to Ludlow jail!" 
 
 Fifty thousand men took up the cry, and the resist 
 less wave of humanity swept down the street. All 
 manner of men were there. Barroom loafers and 
 thieves jostled against honest mechanics who had not 
 worked for months; jabbering foreigners from the back 
 streets tramped beside pale-faced clerks whose former 
 employers had been ruined in the panic; loud-mouthed 
 toughs and rowdies from the Bowery joined with small 
 tradesmen, and the seething mass of humanity rolled 
 along with the uucheckable power of an avalanche. 
 
 A crash of glass! Five hundred men gave a wild yell 
 and dashed into a jewelry establishment. A pale-faced 
 proprietor makes a vain show of resistance and the 
 few clerks mingle in the crowd, glad to lose their 
 identity. One brave clerk the proprietor s son, per 
 haps pulls a revolver and points at the mob. They 
 laugh and a burly brute wrenches the weapon from the 
 boy s grasp and hits him over the head with it. In 
 thirty seconds the store is turned inside out. Thou 
 sands of dollars worth of diamonds, watches and adorn 
 ments have been crammed into the pockets of the riot 
 ers, who fight among themselves over the spoils. 
 
 A bakery and a meat market meet a similar fate. 
 The mob has become a monster. The smell of blood 
 and the sight of spoil has aroused the demon which 
 ever sleeps in the breast of man. A small detachment 
 of police attempted to check the devastating inarch, 
 but was swept away. 
 
 Above the deafening roar could be heard the occa 
 sional crack of a pistol. Down the street frightened 
 merchants were locking their doors and putting up the 
 iron shutters. Not all of the mob was bent on rapine. 
 A few endeavored to check it, but their efforts were of 
 no avail. The great mass kept up the cry of "On to 
 Ludlow Street jail." 
 
 The police were prepared for the coming of the mob. 
 Nearly 1,000 officers were massed in and around the 
 jail, and the front rank of the mob received a volley 
 
JOHN SMITH, NATIONALIST 125 
 
 which dropped sixty men and created a momentary 
 stampede. 
 
 But only for a moment. 
 
 Every other man in the crowd seemed to have a revol 
 ver and the fire of the officers was returned. Thousands 
 of men took possession of the surrounding houses,and in 
 comparative safety poured a deadly fire into the ranks 
 of the police. The experience of Madison Square was 
 repeated. The front ranks were pressed forward by the 
 pressure of the rear, until, with a wild yell, the mob 
 charged on the jail. It was all over in a minute. The 
 doors opened to receive the retreating officers and the 
 mob poured in after them. In the desperate hand-to- 
 hand conflict in the corridors which ensued thirty-two 
 officers were killed and as many more of the mob were 
 shot. The cells were battered down and the prisoners 
 released. . 
 
 George Francis Train was found in the keeper s pri 
 vate living-rooms. He had keen kindly treated, and 
 on his promise to make no attempt to escape had been 
 given the privileges of a "trusty." He had been a 
 spectator of the fight, but nof until the crowd captured 
 the jail did Train show himself. As the mob swarmed 
 through the hallway Train opened the door, and, step 
 ping jauntily forward, raised his red fez and shouted: 
 
 "Are you looking for me, boys? I have been expect 
 ing you. Let s go back to Madison Square. Don t 
 hurt these policemen; they can t help it. Some of 
 them are good fellows, but damn em, I don t want them 
 to put their hands on me." 
 
 The white-haired old eccentric was tumultuously 
 cheered, and as he crowded his way to the front of the 
 jail tens of thousands of men yelled themselves hoarse. 
 A carriage was procured and Train seated inside. A 
 hundred men with a long rope pulled the carriage back 
 over the route of the mob and took possession of Madi 
 son Square. Surrounded by an enormous multitude, 
 few of whom could hear a word he said, Train delivered 
 a rambling speech announcing that he would go to 
 Washington the next day and assume charge of the 
 
126 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 government. The crowd slowly disintegrated. At 7 
 o clock Train was still speaking, when eight companies 
 of officers and nearly 500 members of the Seventh Reg 
 iment marched into the park. The mob broke and ran 
 without a shot being fired. Train gracefully surrendered 
 and that night was taken out of the city. He was sub*- 
 sequently tried for inciting a riot, acquitted on the 
 ground of insanity, committed to an asylum and re 
 leased shortly after on a writ of habeas corpus. 
 
 This remarkable riot entailed a loss of nearly 100 
 lives and the destruction and loss of several millions of 
 dollars worth of property. But for this feature it would 
 have been ridiculous. With Train it was nothing but 
 an erratic joke, and he heartily enjoyed the sensation he 
 had created. The significant feature was the reception 
 given by the people to Train s bombastic proclamation. 
 Many of them were deeply in earnest, and thousands of 
 desperate men embraced the opportunity for lawless 
 ness and plunder which was given. 
 
 Had a daring, resourceful and brainy man been in 
 command of such a mo^b, New York would have been 
 powerless and the incipient revolution might have 
 spread until it embraced the country. 
 
 This incident aroused an agitation in favor of in 
 creasing the regular army. At the next session of 
 Congress a bill was passed increasing the army to 100,- 
 000 men, but the President vetoed it. 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 HOW SUPREME COURTS PROTECT THE . PEOPLE. 
 
 GREAT things were expected from the Congress which 
 met in December, 1899. In a stirring message the 
 President reviewed the condition of the country and 
 recommended some radical legislation. He urged an 
 increase in tariff duties for the protection of manu 
 facturers and of workmen. He also urged the passage 
 and rigid enactment of laws prohibiting the formation 
 or operation of trusts, combinations and all agencies 
 designed to regulate and curtail production and com 
 petition. The President also recommended the appoint 
 ment of a commission to inquire into the management 
 and working of trade unions and to ascertain to what 
 extent they were interfering in the free exercise of 
 competition. 
 
 The Congress of 1899 did pass a stringent law 
 against trusts in the spirit indicated by the President 
 in his message. All such combines were declared illegal 
 and a number of ways provided by which state, county 
 and municipal officers, on the petition of a small num 
 ber of citizens or of their own accord, could proceed 
 against a trust and insure its disruption. The law was 
 carefully drafted and conferred upon the attorney- 
 general of the United States such additional power as 
 would enable him to more easily crush out the mon 
 opolies. This bill was passed by a large majority of 
 both houses and signed by the President. None of the 
 trusts made the slightest opposition to the bill, and 
 congressional callers on the trust magnates met a cold 
 reception and went back and worked and voted for the 
 bill. Congress handled the trade union question gin- 
 
 127 
 
128 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 gerly and adjourned without taking action. A presi 
 dential election waa approaching and they dared not 
 offend the unions. 
 
 The Supreme Court at the earliest opportunity de 
 clared the trust law unconstitutional. There was no 
 dissenting opinion. Every sensible congressman and 
 senator knew that the law would be set aside by the 
 court. v 
 
 In their written opinion, the court declared the law\ 
 was an unconstitutional attack upon the right of con 
 tract and an unwarrantable abridgment of individual 
 liberty. The court declared that two or more firms or 
 corporations had the same right to enter into a con 
 tract, agreement or stipulation with a view of regulat 
 ing prices and production as had two or more men to 
 form a partnership for the same purpose. 
 
 In a word, the court plainly said that there was 
 nothing in the constitution of the United States or in 
 the common law which prevented any man or any 
 number of men,firms,corporations or associations from 
 controlling, if they could, any of the articles or com 
 modities which entered into production. The trust had 
 attained its position fairly and legally by taking ad 
 vantage of the recognized Jaws of trade and competition 
 and of supply and demand. If the court had the power 
 to disrupt trusts and kindred associations, it also had 
 the power to annul corporations and partnerships. 
 This theory carried to its logical end would place every 
 man on his own individual resources, restraining him 
 from forming an alliance with his fellowman for any 
 purpose, however useful. This was anarchy pure and 
 simple, and directly opposite to the principles of any 
 recognized system of government. 
 
 This decision had been anticipated by every man 
 capable of making an intelligent analysis of the situa 
 tion. The trust was plainly a legal and justifiable in 
 stitution. ^ 
 
 The cheap politicians of the day ranted about trusts 
 and ascribed all the evils under which the country 
 suffered to them. The fact was that had it not been 
 
HOW SUPREME COURTS PROTECT THE PEOPLE 129 
 
 for the trusts and the trade unions industrial anarchy 
 would have been inevitable and civilization would have 
 gone down in a series of bloody and fruitless revolu 
 tions. The trust was not inherently right or just, 
 neither was the trade union, Both were fortresses be 
 hind which lay intrenched those forces of capital and 
 labor which had been wise enough to fortify themselves 
 against a state of society in which unrestricted compe 
 tition meant general bankruptcy, misery and anarchy. 
 
 This decision of the United States Supreme Court 
 recalls an interesting decision which was handed down 
 by a Supreme Court of Illinois in October, 1893, which 
 illustrated the extent to which the voice of the people 
 was heard in the framing of laws. Illinois had become 
 a great manufacturing state. Wages had been steadily 
 reduced and the ranks of the unemployed increased. 
 The workmen decided that they could do better with a 
 weekly pay day. Many large firms had held back wages 
 for a month. After a man had been idle for two or 
 three months it was a hardship, after securing a position, 
 to be compelled to wait thirty days before receiving the 
 money he had earned. The weekly pay day was made 
 an issue. The distinctively capitalistic papers strenu 
 ously opposed it, but the workmen elected two branches 
 of a legislature and a governor favorable to the law, 
 which was passed and signed. The Braceville Coal 
 Company, an institution which for years was a member 
 of a syndicate which had grown rich by starving men, 
 women and children, and which had enforced by Pink- 
 erton rifles a condition of slavery compared with which 
 Siberia was an earthly paradise this firm, with the 
 blood of innocent children on its hands, wen tin to court 
 in 1892, and at its beck the Supreme Court of Illinois 
 reversed the opinion of all lower courts and hurled 
 back into the face of the people a law which they had 
 passed in the face of combined capital and capitalistic 
 influences of the state. Here is the substance of this 
 opinion, written by Justice J. P. Shope, stripped of its 
 citations of references back to the time of Charles II. : 
 
 "There can be no liberty protected by government 
 
180 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 that is not regulated by such laws as will preserve the 
 right of each citizen to pursue his own advancement 
 and happiness in his own way, subject only to the re 
 straints necessary to secure the same right to all others. 
 The fundamental principle upon which liberty is based 
 in a free and enlightened government is equality under 
 the law of the land It has accordingly been every 
 where held that liberty, as that term is used in the 
 Constitution, means not only freedom of the citizen 
 from servitude and restraint, but is deemed to embrace 
 the right of every man to be free in the use of his 
 powers and faculties, and to adopt and pursue such 
 avocation or calling as he may choose, subject only to 
 the restraints necessary to secure the common welfare. 
 "One .illustration of the manner in which it affects 
 the employe out of many that might be given may be 
 found in the condition arising from the late unsettled 
 financial affairs of the country. It is a matter of com 
 mon knowledge that large numbers of manufacturers 
 shut down because of the stringency of the money 
 market. Employers of labor were unable to continue 
 production for tha reason that no sale could be found 
 for the product. It was suggested in the interest of 
 employes and employers, as well as in the public inter 
 est, that employes consent to accept only so much of 
 their wages as was actually necessary to their susten 
 ance, reserving payment of the balance until business 
 should revive, and thus enable the factories or work 
 shops to be open and operated with less present ex 
 penditure of money. Public economists and leaders in 
 the interest of labor suggested and advised this course. 
 In this state and under this law no such contract could 
 be made. The employe who sought to work for one of 
 the corporations enumerated in the act would find him 
 self incapable of contracting, as all other laborers in 
 the state might do. The corporations would be pro 
 hibited entering into such a contract, and if they did 
 so the contract would be voidable at the will of the 
 employe and the employer subject to a penalty for mak 
 ing it. The employe would therefore be restricted from 
 
HOW SUPREME COURTS PROTECT THE PEOPLE 131 
 
 making such a contract as would insure to him support 
 during the unsettled condition of affairs. They would, 
 by the act, be practically under guardianship, their 
 contracts voidable as if they were minors, their right 
 to freely contract for and to receive the benefit of their 
 labor as others might be denied them." 
 
 Note this judicial description of the economic con 
 ditions of 1893: "Employers of labor were unable to 
 continue production for the reason that no sale could 
 be found for their product." And it was to enable the 
 hundreds of thousands of Illinois workmen to labor 
 fora pittance sufficient to keep body and soul together 
 that the kind-heartd judge repealed the wicked weekly 
 pay-day law. 
 
 Read that decision carefully. It pictures a condition 
 of grotesque distress more vividly than anything in the 
 preceding pages. Look at the picture which Judge 
 Shope presents. Factories and mines are shut down 
 because they have produced so much that there is "no 
 sale for their product." The unfortunate workmen who 
 were guilty of doing all this wicked work are starving 
 for the food they have created and freezing for want 
 of the coal they have mined and the clothes they havf 
 woven. They beg to be allowed to work for "only so 
 much of their wages as was actually necessary to their 
 sustenance." They beg to be allowed to produce more 
 stuff that thej 7 can not buy and for which there is no 
 market. And in order that there may be nothing in the 
 way of making such a contract Judge Shope, in the 
 kindness of his heart, repeals with a stroke of his pen 
 the weekly pay-day act. Such was the marvelous 
 patience of the people who lived in 1893. 
 
 The author has refrained from any mention of the 
 barbarous treatment accorded certain workmen and 
 the outrages which were perpetrated in the develop 
 ment of child and female labor, for the reason that as 
 a rule the American employer was kind and considerate 
 to his employes. But there were exceptions, and as the 
 fight for life grew more intense certain classes of labor 
 were treated with a savagery which almost surpasses 
 
182 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 human belief. And the Braceville Coal Company be 
 longed to a coterie of slave-drivers in whose company 
 a cannibal would blush for his manhood. 
 
 It was the duty of the writer as a newspaper reporter 
 to visit the Braceville, Braidwood, ar.d Spring Valley 
 coal regions and to spend several weeks with the miners 
 and their families. This was in the spring of 1889, and 
 while the introduction of this incident may be out of 
 its proper sequence the author excuses it on the ground 
 that it presents a true picture of mining districts as 
 they then existed, and illustrates tho depths of deprav 
 ity to which competition and greed can descend in the 
 pursuit of money. 
 
 The majority of the Braidwood workmen were Amer 
 icans or Scotch and English coal miners who settled 
 in Braidwood before the war. Most of them owned 
 their homes. Then there was a scattering of recently 
 imported German, Polish, Italian and some Irish work 
 men living in houses rented them by the company. 
 The old miners had lived to see their wages decrease 
 from $5 and $6 a day, until in 1889 $18 a month was 
 considered fair pay. This decrease had been steady, 
 and had all been accomplished under a protective tariff, 
 the workmen steaily voting to perpetuate that system. 
 Early in 1889 the coal company made another reduc 
 tion and the men struck. The company made no effort 
 to operate the mines in Braidwood, but kept open for 
 a time those in Streator, Spring Valley and other 
 points. No language can describe the suffering at 
 Braidwood. The people had been unable to save a 
 dollar in anticipation of a lockout for that was what 
 it was. 
 
 Little children starved in their mothers arms, and 
 hundreds would have perished had not the good people 
 of Chicago, urged on by the newspaper accounts of the 
 distress, sent car loads of provisions to the afflicted 
 town. 
 
 Beneath a round hill near the town the skeletons of 
 sixty miners repose under masses of rock and coal, in a 
 flooded mine. The company decided that it would not 
 
Occasionally there was a riot. 
 133 
 
HOW SUPREME COURTS PROTECT THE PEOPLE 185 
 
 be profitable to attempt to work the mines or recover 
 the bodies, and to-day these unknown and forgotten 
 toilers sleep beneath the tons of rock and coal. In tho 
 dreary days and nights of that summer the children of 
 these dead miners starved, while the millionaire mem 
 bers of the syndicate drove their carriages down grand 
 boulevards and on Sundays lolled back in their church 
 pews and listened to the teachings of Christ. 
 
 Every conceivable device was employed to rob these 
 men. They were swindled in the weighing of coal, 
 forced to patronize robbing company truck stores, 
 and paid in vouchers which the banks cashed at a dis 
 count. After years of such treatment the company de 
 cided to restrict the production of coal, and the faith 
 ful miners were not given the consideration accorded 
 swine and poultry. 
 
 Even worse was the crime committed at Spring Val 
 ley. Not in all the pitiful annals of the poor can be 
 found a parallel to the outrage perpetrated in 1889 
 against 4,000 innocent people at Spring Valley. It 
 was a new town built around several coal shafts. The 
 company advertised for men, offering good wages. The 
 company laid out the town, sold the miners lots and 
 built them houses, taking mortgages on the same, and 
 forced a contract stipulating that regular monthly 
 payments with high interest be taken from their wages. 
 
 Five years passed. The wages had been steadily re 
 duced until the monthly payments left but little for the 
 growing family. But the workman smiled as he thought 
 that the house and lot was over half paid for. Then 
 came the news of the Braidwood strike. A few days 
 later the Spring Valley men were notified of a cut in 
 wages. They did not strike as the company had desired 
 and anticipated. Thereupon the company closed cer 
 tain shafts and locked half of the men out. The locked- 
 out men and their families were on the verge of starva 
 tion. The men still at work held a secret meeting and 
 agreed to divide their time with those out of work. 
 Their wages did not exceed $16 a month. No greater 
 unselfishness was ever shown. Two weeks later all the 
 
136 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 shafts were closed down. Spring Valley was isolated 
 from the rest of the world. It was distinctively a min 
 ing town. There was not a factory of any kind in the 
 vicinity. Spring Valley s starving people went into 
 the woods and gathered acorns, which they ate raven 
 ously. They begged farmers for half-ripe field corn. 
 
 Did the wealthy company give these honest people a 
 doJlar out of its abundance? No. 
 
 What did it do in this time of pitiful distress? 
 
 It foreclosed the mortgage s on their half-paid-for 
 homes and ejected weeping women and children from 
 humble cottages, which represented the miserable sav 
 ings of five years of the hardest kind of toil. 
 
 And the people who* lived in those days marveled 
 much that once in awhile a crazy man threw a dyna 
 mite bomb. 
 
 How did these people at Braidwood and Spring Val 
 ley accept their fats? As though it had been decreed 
 by God. They made little complaint. They seldom 
 talked violently. I saw men whose children were 
 crying for food great, strong men stand around a 
 truck store filled with groceries and closed because the 
 company knew the people had no money. There was 
 not enonsrh manhood in the crowd to batter down the 
 doors and take that which lay before them. Long years 
 of oppression and enervating toil had effaced from their 
 souls the very conception of liberty. Then, and not 
 until then, did I realize that the spirit of liberty does 
 not exist in hungry men. 
 
 People talked about a day coming when the people 
 would become so hungry and desperate that they would 
 rise in a revolution and sweep all before them. Such 
 a day will never come. Hungry men may fight, but it 
 will be for a bone not for liberty. The perpetuity of 
 liberty rests with those who eat three square meals a 
 day. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE PEOPLE HOLD A CONVENTION. 
 
 THE presidential campaign of 1900 was held under 
 conditions which did not differ materially from those 
 which prevailed in 1893. Manufacturing showed little 
 change for the better. Shops would resume operations 
 for a time and continue until they had supplied the 
 limited demand, while others remained open and ran 
 with decreased forces of men. New inventions created 
 new industries, some of which thrived, while others 
 failed, but the demand for employment ever exceeded 
 the supply. The danger of overproduction was gen 
 erally understood- and with it the panic had evidently 
 become a thing of the past, and in its place had come 
 an era of constant depression, the concomitant of a 
 carefully regulated method of production. The farm 
 ing interests suffered even more than the mercantile 
 from this cause. Every workman who could save 
 enough money moved into the country in the hope that 
 he could at least support his family upon the products 
 of a rented farm. Wheat and grain of all kinds steadily 
 decreased in price. The causes were simple enough. 
 Production of grains had increased and home con 
 sumption had decreased. Wheat sold at 45 cents a 
 bushel and except in speculative bulges seldom went 
 above 55 cents 
 
 As the time for the conventions approached political 
 excitement increased. The Republicans made an ag 
 gressive campaign and charged the Democrats with 
 the entire responsibility foi the prevailing disaster. 
 Mark Kimbly and Thomas Reeve were the rival can 
 didates for the presidency, but Kimbly was the 
 favorite. Kimbly was a typical representative of 
 
 137 
 
IBS PRESIDENT JOttN SM1TM 
 
 the protective system, undoubtedly the most idiotic 
 heresy with which any considerable section of a 
 people have been afflicted. Kiinbly and his adherents 
 believed, or claimed to believe, that the nation could 
 become rich and prosperous by levying a high tax on 
 imports. This was to "protect American labor." He 
 did not propose to prohibit these imports, but simply 
 to make a tariff so high as to "maintain American 
 wages." Had there been a demand for labor in excess 
 of the supply it is possible to imagine how an artificial 
 wage scale could have been forced upon the employer 
 by his workmen under the operation of a protective 
 tariff. But there were two workmen for every position. 
 Wages were thereupon regulated by two causes, viz., the 
 surplus supply of starving workmen, and secondly, the 
 strength of the trade unions. The trusts therefore 
 manufactured under the tariff and sold their products 
 at a sum a little below the market price of the foreign 
 commodity with the tariff added. This did not stop 
 imports, the foreign manufacturers supplying their 
 products to American merchants, who paid the tariff, 
 charged the amount up to their customers, and then 
 disposed of the imported material to people who pre 
 ferred foreign-made articles to those of home manu 
 facture for one reason and another. The effect of the 
 Kimbly and other tariff bills therefore was: 
 
 1. To increase the profits of the trust and to more 
 strongly fortify the trust against competition at home 
 or abroad. 
 
 2. To force the consumer to pay a duty not only on 
 all imported goods, but also on all home products of a 
 similar nature. 
 
 8. To limit manufacturers largely to a home market, 
 it being impossible for them to pay duties on raw 
 materials and compete in foreign markets. The tre 
 mendous natural commercial advantage which came 
 from the development of American machinery was 
 therefore lost. 
 
 4. It had not the slightest effect on wages, which 
 were regulated by the iron law of supply and demand 
 
THE PEOPLE HOLD A CONVENTION 139 
 
 and which constantly fell from the time high tariff 
 was first adopted until they reached the starvation limit 
 in 1893-96. 
 
 In 1896 the larger part of a high protective tariff 
 bill was still in force and effect, and Republican ora 
 tors were telling stupid workmen that the Democrats 
 had brought hard times upon the country. These men 
 had the brazen effrontery, in the face of facts so plain 
 that any man with an ounce of brains could understand 
 them, to openly proclaim that shops and factories were 
 shut down for the reason that manufacturers were suf 
 fering from a "lack of confidence" in the* Democratic 
 party. 
 
 What of the Democratic party? What had it done? 
 
 Nothing. 
 
 That had been the consistent record of the Democ 
 racy for 108 years. The most timid factory owner in 
 the country was not losing sleep over the prospective 
 policy of the Democracy. It had no policy. The 
 Democracy spent its time in venerating. It venerated 
 the constitution. It venerated Jefferson, Jackson, and 
 last but not least, it venerated the McKinley bill. 
 When the Democrats came into power in 1892 they 
 found the McKinley bill a part of the governmental 
 furniture, and aside from removing some of the un- 
 Democratic gewgaws and un-Jacksonian adornments 
 the McKinley bill remained in all its glory under an 
 other name. It was the same old Democracy in 1900. 
 It found all its ammunition in a denunciation of Re 
 publicanism for the passage of laws which it declined 
 to erase from the statute-books. The Republicans 
 were guilty of sins of commission and the Democrats 
 of those of omission. 
 
 In 1900, as in 1892, the Republican party was mar 
 shaled by brilliant, brainy, but dishonest and unscru- 
 pulous]leaders,who had no difficulty in controlling sev 
 eral millions of sentimetalists, bogus patriots, bigots 
 and dupes, and other millions of well-intentioned pec- 
 pie who could find no better company but desired to 
 belong to some party. The Republican party wag so 
 
140 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 tainted with corruption that many men naturally Re 
 publicans were forced into the graveyard of Democracy 
 or into the Populist party. 
 
 The great middle class the small merchants, trades 
 people, the mechanics and workmen who had saved a 
 little out of their earnings; the professional class- 
 doctors, lawyers, journalists; that powerful, conserva 
 tive body which lay between arrogant wealth and help 
 less, ignorant poverty,had lost all faith in the so-called 
 Republicanism and Democracy of the day. 
 
 For hal^a, generation they had been waiting for a 
 leader who should disrupt old party lines; a Moses who 
 should direct them out of the panic-infested and de 
 pression-haunted wilderness, but no such leader arose 
 above the dull level of political mediocrity. No man 
 prominent in the ranks of the Populists attracted the 
 fancy of this dissatisfied but conservative army of 
 voters, and as the campaign of 1900 drew near it be 
 came evident that the same old sham battle was to be 
 again waged on the same dreary old lines. 
 
 The Republican national convention met in St. Louis, 
 and after a bitter contest between Thomas B. Reeve of 
 Maine and Mark Kimbly of Ohio the latter was nomi 
 nated, and a platform adopted pledging the party to 
 an increase in the tariff, a defense of the pension laws, 
 and a strict adhesion to "honest money" meaning a 
 gold standard of monometallism. 
 
 The convention was absolutely under the control of 
 the bankers and American representatives of the Euro 
 pean money syndicates. The orators made glowing pre 
 dictions of the good times which would follow a strict 
 adhesion to sound money. They declared that the time 
 had come when the government should go out of the 
 banking business and pledged the party to a permanent 
 retirement of the greenback on an issue of bank notes 
 by the national banks. They attempted to prove that 
 the country was enjoying a degree of prosperity and 
 talked much about the old flag, a restoration of confidence 
 and the necessity of closer relations with Great Britain. 
 The leaders confidently predicted an easy and overwhelm 
 ing victory. 
 
THE PEOPLE HOLD A CONVENTION. 141 
 
 The Democratic national convention was held in New 
 York City. The south demanded recognition, and 
 presented Miles of Texas. ^Gorland of Maryland had 
 some followers, and Boise and Pick had pledged dele 
 gations. It became evident that Miles could not win, 
 and after a caucus the silver men decided to throw their 
 strength to Hild of New York, who w,as considered not 
 unfriendly to silver and was the stanchest kind of a 
 spoils and partisan Democrat. He was not so strict a 
 constitutional constructionist as the southern delegates 
 would have liked, but otherwise he filled the bill. After 
 a bitter contest Hild was nominated and Boise accepted 
 second place on the ticket, the Republicans having nomi 
 nated Thomas Reeve for that position. 
 
 The Populist party promised to be a factor in this 
 campaign, but it was badly handicapped by reason of a 
 lack of organization, leadership and cohesion. In its 
 ranks were found men holding such widely varying op 
 inions that nothing but a common hatred of the prevail 
 ing conditions held them together. There were green- 
 backers, pure and simple, who believed that the country 
 could be saved if the government would only issue enough 
 paper money based solely on the credit of the country. 
 Closely allied to these were the silver men, handicapped 
 by the fact that they were led by the mine owners, who 
 were alleged to have a selfish motive in urging the free 
 coinage of silver. Their followers believed in an increased 
 supply of money and were willing to enrich the mine ow 
 ners if the country could in return be flooded with money. 
 There was also an aggressive and influential body of 
 socialists and nationalists who urged the governmental 
 purchase and control of railroads and telegraph lines, a 
 proposition in which the farmers concurred and in which 
 the silver men had little sympathy and took no interest. 
 There was also a smattering of woman suffragists and 
 not a few free traders who had become disgusted with the 
 Democratic party and had abandoned all hope of an over 
 throw of the protective-tariff citadel at the hands of the 
 Bourbons. 
 
142 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 Each of these factions had earnest, uncompromising 
 leaders and followers, and at the party conventions it 
 became more and more difficult to form a platform 
 which would placate the conflicting interests. But with 
 all these discouraging features the Populists survived, 
 and with each election had increased their voting 
 strength. In the south the Democrats lost by this de 
 fection and in some of the northern states the Repub 
 licans found their majorities cut down and ofttimes 
 obliterated. 
 
 The People s party, or the Populists, as it was more 
 commonly called, met in national convention July 1, 
 1900, in the Coliseum at Chicago. Every state in the 
 Union was represented by a complete delegation. The 
 great ball was filled to overflowing on the first day of 
 the convention, and as the respective delegations filed 
 in they were greeted with tumultuous applause. All the 
 men who had become in any way prominent in the 
 movement were present, and as the vast audience recog 
 nized some familiar character they cheered in that 
 wildly boisterous way which marks the enthusiast. 
 
 Every shade of discontent was represented. The age 
 which had forced this remarkable gathering had been 
 a prolific breeder of selfishness. Each ism had its 
 narrow representative, anxious to force to the front 
 some remedy calculated to promote the renewed pros 
 perity of the class or craft composing it. 
 
 Among the delegates of Illinois was Judge John 
 Smith of Chicago. Judge Smith was known only by 
 reputation to the majority of those present. Since his 
 retirement from the bench he had devoted himself to 
 law practice and had created somewhat of a sensation 
 in the literary world by a series of articles in a leading 
 magazine in which he boldly attacked the theory of 
 representative government. He had also written articles 
 on nationalism, in which he took advanced ground in 
 favor of the nationalizing of railroads and other methods 
 of transportation and exchange. These articles had 
 attracted much attention, and among literary people 
 Judge Smith was always spoken of as u The Nationalist. " 
 
THE PEOPLE HOLD A CONVENTION 143 
 
 After much persuasion Judge Smith had consented to 
 become a delegate and was heartily welcomed by the 
 old-time Populist leaders, most of whom he now met 
 for the first time. 
 
 Judge Smith was in the full prime of a magnificent 
 manhood. Six feet in height; a massive head covered 
 with black hair and shaded with gray rested on a pair 
 of shoulders of which an athlete might well be proud; 
 a smoothly shaven face, keen but kindly black eyes, 
 and nose and chin that betokened character and strength 
 were the physical characteristics of Judge Smith. Judge 
 Smith had none of the personal magnetism of the suc 
 cessful politician. He was described by a reporter on 
 the day of the convention as a man who impressed one 
 as "a cool, thoughtful, calculating investigator; a man 
 of decided ideas, of hatred and contempt for the con 
 ventional ; a despiser of shams and a lover of the truth ; 
 earnest in his convictions, but not a bigot or an en 
 thusiast; a man conscious of his strength and confident 
 of his power, but whose batteries were masked and held 
 in reserve." 
 
 Judge Smith had all the bearing of an aristocrat. 
 
 As one paper expressed it, u he looks like a banker and 
 
 writes like a labor agitator." Few of the delegates 
 
 presant dreamed that around this quiet man vast forces 
 
 t would center and move irresistibly onward. 
 
 The convention organized, appointed its committees, 
 and indulged in oratory while waiting for their reports. 
 The expected and inevitable wrangle occurred over the 
 platform. The committee on platform was unable to 
 submit a unanimous report. The majority submitted 
 a platform favoring the free and unlimited coinage of 
 silver, the levy of an increased income tax, the govern 
 mental purchase of railroads, and the passage of a na 
 tional eight-hour law. 
 
 The minority omitted all reference to silver and rec 
 ommended the issuance of greenbacks, the establish 
 ment of government grain elevators and the issuance 
 of grain certificates which should pass current as 
 money, an increased income tax and governmental pur- 
 
144 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 chase and control of railroads and the establishment of 
 a minimum scale of wages. Twenty delegates were on 
 their feet at once demanding recognition. Jt was openly 
 stated that the majority report had been inspired by 
 money. The lie was passed and the convention was on 
 the verge of a riot. Violence was prevented by the activ 
 ity of the sergeants-at-arms and the police, and after a 
 struggle the presiding officer secured something like 
 quiet. 
 
 During this disgraceful proceeding Judge Smith had 
 remained quiet. He had listened to the reading of the 
 two reports and to the outburst which followed with 
 out giving expression to the honest indignation he felt. 
 He addressed the chairman and was recognized. Judge 
 Smith advanced to the platform and in a voice and 
 manner which commanded immediate attention said: 
 
 " MR. CHAIRMAN AND DELEGATES OF THE CONVENTION: 
 I move you, Mr. Chairman, that both the majority and 
 minority reports of the committee on platform be re 
 jected, that the committee be discharged, and that a 
 new one be appointed, and on that motion I desire to 
 be heard You have mistaken the temper and spirit of 
 the American people. They have not delegated to 
 cheap politicians the right to use the sacred name of 
 the people. They have made no demand for a party 
 with a platform constructed of the political driftwood 
 your committee has so laboriously collected and over 
 whose comparative rottenness a conflict is now impend 
 ing. There is no high place in American politics for a 
 second-hand political junk syndicate. I do not believe 
 that your committee reflects the patriotism and com 
 mon sense of the convention or of the people of the 
 United States. 
 
 "Why this stupid imitation of old-party methods? 
 Has one generation of comparative poverty so stupefied 
 the nation that the eyes of the representatives of the 
 common people are blind to the weapons within their 
 reach? What care you for the silver question? This 
 is not a convention of bankers. What do you know 
 about the money problem? Leave to the financiers for 
 
THE PEOPLE HOLD A CONVENTION 145 
 
 the present at least the discussion of monetary affairs. 
 Open your eyes. Brush aside the crafty plotters who 
 have muddled your brain and step out into the clear 
 sunlight and let the free wind sweep away the cobwebs 
 which oust o;n and superstition have woven around you. 
 . "Stand on an elevation and take a calm, dispassion- 
 late view of the country in which we hold citizenship. 
 ! What do we see? A free people in slavery. A country 
 without a king suffering from absolute despotism. A 
 republic in which the majority is throttled by a minor 
 ity, A land burdened with wealth, fields wavering 
 (with grain, warehouses bursting with manufactured 
 ^products, and millions of people dependent on charity 
 tind at the verge of starvation. It is election day and 
 they have ballots in their hands. The bands are play 
 ing in the streets, and the people seem happy and con 
 fident. Are these poor people voting to improve their 
 condition? They think so. Are they all voting the 
 same ticket? Oh, no. Some vote the Republican, 
 some the Democratic, and some the people s ticket. 
 What are they voting for? They are voting for men. 
 These men when elected represent them. They go to 
 Washington, to the various state capitols, and to the 
 city halls. What do they do there? As they please. 
 "Gentlemen of this convention, bravery is as es 
 sential to success in politics as it is to achieve victory 
 in war. No successful political party was ever founded 
 by cowards. Give the people an issue. The country is 
 awaiting the formation of a political party that shall 
 present questions in which the whole people is inter- 
 esfcecl. They do not care for the silver question; they 
 are not demanding greenbacks. They would like to see 
 the government wipe out railroad monopoly and dis 
 crimination, but the national ownership of railroads is 
 not what the people of the United States are now 
 urgently demanding. They are interested in the suc 
 cess of trade unions and in just wages, but not all the 
 people are members of such unions. They would desire 
 to see the mortgage lifted from the home of the farmer, 
 but all the people are not farmers. 
 
146 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 "But all the people love liberty. Every man desires 
 to be free. Slavery has few defenders. Let your plat 
 form declare for the political and economic freedom of 
 the people of the United States. There are two great 
 attributes of freedom: The right to live and the right 
 to have an equal voice with all other men in the affairs 
 of government. No man is a free man to whom these 
 rights are denied or abridged. 
 
 "Both of these rights have been denied and are to 
 day trampled under foot in this country. 
 
 "Deny a man the right to work and earn a living 
 and you have taken from him life, liberty and honor. 
 You have made him worse than a slave. The slave 
 earns his living. The man whom society denies work 
 has a pitiful choice between suicide, starvation, the ac 
 ceptance of charity, or a career of crime. Thomas Jef 
 ferson said that all men were endowed with the inalien 
 able rights to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. 
 This trinity could have been expressed by the word 
 wages, signifying that which honest toil brings. Any 
 country, any condition of society, in which by any 
 combination of circumstances a man is refused an op 
 portunity to make a living by honest work deserves to 
 be swept into oblivion by a defrauded and indignant 
 people. The first duty of the government is to protect 
 the life of its subjects. 
 
 "Man must live by work. In payment for that work 
 he receives wages. That government governs best which 
 assures to its subjects the largest share of the products 
 of their labor. Any government which tolerates a con 
 dition under which a willing subject is denied work has 
 denied to that subject all the inalienable rights which 
 nature bestowed upon him. The United States is essen 
 tially a nation of workmen. It has been our proudest 
 boast that honest labor is dignified and that the sov 
 ereigns of the republic are its toilers. Under our in 
 dustrial system, with its introduction of machinery and 
 the minute subdivision of labor, the workman has been 
 stripped of his tools and his entire capital has become 
 his brains, hands and muscles. Deny him the right to 
 
THE PEOPLE HOLD A CONVENTION 147 
 
 use these and receive compensation for this service and 
 you have sentenced him to death, pauperism or crime. 
 In the United States within the last four years not 
 less than 5,000,000 men have been at one time sen 
 tenced to involuntary idleness, entailing misery on un 
 told millions of dependent wives and children. No 
 greater crime ever blackened history. The blame rests 
 upon the government and can be traced directly to the 
 constitution of the United States. 
 
 "Give the people an issue. Declare in your platform 
 that: 
 
 " The right of a citizen of the United States to de 
 mand and obtain work at wages sufficient to support 
 himself and family shall never be abridged. It shall be 
 the duty of the government to guarantee employment 
 to all who demand it. 
 
 "Radical and revolutionary? It may be, but it out 
 lines the duty of the government of to-morrow, unless 
 reason shall disappear from among men and anarchy 
 prevail. Radical and revolutionary? Do you expect- 
 to check Niagara s flood with a mud wall? Do you ex 
 pect to awaken the sluggish blood of the republic, viti 
 ated and poisoned by a century of malpractice, with 
 some such mild nostrum as an injection of diluted 
 silver or an application of paper plasters? Do you be 
 lieve in magic and wands? The knife of the surgeon 
 and not the incantations of the magician will save the 
 life of the government. 
 
 "Give the people an issue. Declare in your platform 
 that: 
 
 " The right of the majority to rule shall no longer be 
 abridged. We denounce representative government as 
 a failure and demand that the people be habilitated in 
 the right to elect what laws shall govern them. We 
 demand the absolute supremacy of the majority, from 
 whose decision no appeal shall be taken. We demand 
 the repeal of every clause in the constitution of the 
 United States and in the constitution and laws of states, 
 counties and municipalities, the language, construc 
 tion and execution of which has nullitied the will of 
 
148 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 the majority and made the United States a republic 
 only in name. We demand that to the people shall be 
 given a direct vote on all important legislation, and 
 that all officers elected shall be the servants of the peo 
 ple, subject at any time to recall or dismissal and not, 
 as at present, the masters of those who created them. 
 u Such, Mr. Chairman, is my conception of a plat 
 form broad enough for a party which takes its name 
 from the people. It is idle to waste time and energy in 
 an attempt to work out political reforms with the ma 
 chinery at hand. I have a great deal of respect for our 
 friend the farmer, who is so numerously represented 
 here to-day. He wants government grain elevators, and, 
 being a peaceable citizen and a patriot, has faith in 
 what we are pleased to term the republican institutions 
 of the United States. He believes that his prosperity 
 would be assured if the government would issue him 
 grain certificates the same as it has issued silver cer 
 tificates. He has a perfect right to that belief. He has 
 been taught that this is the country in which the ma 
 jority rules, and he has good reason to believe that the 
 majority favors his proposition. Now let us see if this 
 honest, law-abiding American citizen, with the major 
 ity of the people back of him, can place one law on the 
 statute-books of his country. A good Republican or 
 Democrat, he spends ten years in a fruitless attempt to 
 have his party make grain certificates a political issue. 
 He does not control the primaries, he was not built for 
 a ward heeler; he has no political patronage; he is only 
 a common voter against whose name the secretary of 
 the campaign committee has marked R or D, as the 
 case may be. The politicians laugh at his request, but 
 he persists, and after ten years leaves the party he has 
 served so faithfully and attempts to build up a new 
 one which shall be in full sympathy with grain certifi 
 cates. What is arrayed against him? The combined 
 capital of the country, the federal, state and municipal 
 patronage of two parties, and, more than that, the in 
 bred conservatism of the people against a new party 
 a conservatism which often amounts to bigotry and 
 
THE PEOPLE HOLD A CONVENTION 149 
 
 ignorance. He makes a fight against these tremendous 
 odds. The first campaign is a failure. Two years later 
 a few congressmen are elected. Two years later and 
 the new party is a recognized power, and at the subse 
 quent election the farmer has carried the country by a 
 popular majority and has captured the House of Rep 
 resentatives and the presidency. But the Senate blocks 
 the way. The Senate has nothing to do with popular 
 majorities. It was designed for the express purpose 
 of defeating our friend, the farmer. It takes many 
 years to dislodge an unfavorable Senate, but firm in 
 his faith in representative-government and in the rule 
 of the majority, the farmer attacks the state legislatures 
 and wins a majority of the Senate. In the meantime the 
 complexion of the lower house may have changed. An 
 unfriendly president may have been elected. He vetoes 
 the bill as it comes from the House and Senate. The 
 former must now muster up a two-thirds majority. If 
 he can surmount all these obstacles it is a happy day for 
 our persistent and patriotic friend, the farmer. His faith 
 has never faltered. He celebrates his victory, which illu 
 mines the declining years of a life spent in overcoming a 
 minority. In the midst of his joy and while preparing io 
 enjoy the well-earned fruits of his victory, the Supreme 
 Court of the United States declares the grain certificate 
 bill unconstitutional, and that is the end of it. The polit 
 ical machine, the United States Senate, the President 
 of the United States, and the United States Supreme 
 ;1 ourt have successfully defeated the plainly expressed 
 will of. the people, I have assumed that no money had 
 bean illegally used. If the farmers of the United States 
 ; ind a majority of two-thirds of the people of the United 
 States back of them to-day it would take them ten 
 v; ars to advance a grain certificate bill to a presidential 
 vwto, and from twelve to fifteen years of the hardest 
 kiu;l of work to obtain an adverse decision from the 
 Supreme Court declaring grain certificates unconstitu 
 tional. The banking interests alone could and would 
 defeat any bill inimical to their interests, no matter 
 how great a majority of people favored it. 
 
150 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 "Have you faith in the majority of the people? If 
 not you should change your name. Do you believe in 
 the rule of the majority? If so incorporate that belief 
 in your platform. No reform for the good of the whole 
 people as against active private greed is possible under 
 the voting machinery and alleged representative system 
 of government as provided by the constitution of the 
 United States. 
 
 "Too Jong have the people of the United States been 
 bound hand and foot by a false conservatism and by a 
 slavish adhesion to obsolete precedents and out-of-date 
 customs. You are Americans. Who shall tell you 
 your duty as Americans? Beware the man who is ever 
 prating of the patriotic duties and obligations of 
 American citizenship. The first duty of a citizen is to 
 his family and his home. Next to home and family a 
 man should love his country. But love of country 
 transcends a blind devotion to the written laws which 
 may be ingrafted on the statute-books. I may love my 
 country and yet patriotically hate laws which have 
 survived their usefulness, and may despise enactments 
 which corrupt men have passed for my government. 
 The first duty of an American citizen is to batter down 
 that which threatens the life, liberty and happiness of 
 those who depend upon his labor. 
 
 "The people are in no mood to tolerate class legisla 
 tion. They have had enough of it. They have wit 
 nessed the building up of monopolies as the result of 
 class tariff legislation. They are not in a temper to foster 
 trade unionism at the expense of the general interest. 
 They will never consent to make grain or silver the 
 foundation of a currency at the expense of any other 
 commodity. It is not good politics to force such meas 
 ures. You cannot win if you do force them. Even 
 with a majority the undemocratic machinery of exist 
 ing laws will defeat you. Attack those undemocratic 
 and majority-defying laws. That is good politics. 
 Unforge the chains you have aided in welding. In the 
 name of the people champion the rights of the majority. 
 You will be opposed by every man, every interest, every 
 
THE PEOPLE HOLD A CONVENTION 151 
 
 institution which has reason to fear the people. The 
 aristocratic spirit which animated Hamilton and which 
 impressed its hatred and fear of the people in the con 
 stitution of the United States still lives, and will be 
 defended by argument, money and all the weapons that 
 an existing plutocracy can command. It will be no 
 easy task to overthrow the conspiracy against the ma 
 jority, a conspiracy which had its origin among certain 
 of the founders of this republic, men who had no sym 
 pathy with popular government, men who, though cowed 
 and defeated in the war of the revolution, still loved 
 the monarchical institutions of England and were 
 powerful and crafty enough to force the hatred of pop 
 ular rights into the warp and woof of the constitution 
 which now governs us. 
 
 "Boldly attack every word and line bequeathed us by 
 these conspirators against the people. Heed not the 
 cries of treason and traitor which will be raised 
 against you. If it is treason to advocate the rights of 
 the majority in a republic, then I desire to be adjudged 
 guilty of treason and punished as a traitor. 
 
 "Mr. Chairman, I move that the committee on plat 
 form and resolutions be discharged, their reports re 
 jected, and that a new committee be appointed and in 
 structed to draft and submit a platform which shall 
 affirm our allegiance to the rule of the majority, our 
 eternal opposition to all laws which aim to defeat the 
 will of the majority, and our belief in the inalienable 
 right of a citizen at all times to obtain employment 
 and compensation." 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 JUDGE JOHN SMITH IS NOMINATED. 
 
 THE opening sentence of Judge Smith s address was 
 greeted with cries of disapproval. To this he paid not 
 the slightest attention. As he proceeded the great 
 audience paid the closest attention, and cheers greeted 
 his declaration that every citizen of the United States 
 was entitled to employment at honest wages. When he 
 denounced the monarchists who inspired the unrepub- 
 lican clauses of the constitution and closed his speech 
 with a bold appeal for radical action the delegates and 
 the great audience gave cheer upon cheer. The silver 
 men did not abandon the fight without an effort, but 
 they were no longer in a majority. Judge Smith had 
 given expression to a thought which awoke a response 
 in the heart of the convention. While there were dele 
 gates who yet favored a patchwork platform, composed 
 of various selfish planks, the great body of the conven 
 tion swept them aside and Judge Smith s motion was 
 carried by acclamation. The chairman appointed Judge 
 John Smith and a committee of seven to prepare a plat 
 form. In less than an hour the convention ratified a 
 platform in accord with the views so clearly expressed 
 by Judge Smith. The afternoon of July 4, 1900, Judge 
 John Smith of Chicago was unanimously nominated for 
 President of the United States by the People s party. 
 In a conference with a committee Judge Smith was 
 tendered the nomination, and in the course of the con 
 ference said : 
 
 :< Gentlemen, you have asked me to accept an honor 
 which no true American can refuse. If you believe that 
 I am qualified to make the campaign, if you are willing 
 that the People s party shall stand sponsor for the 
 
 152 
 
JUDGE JOHN SMITH IS NOMINATED 153 
 
 radical and even revolutionary opinions I hold and shall 
 fearlessly express; if I am guaranteed your earnest 
 support and unselfish aid, you may present my name 
 to the convention. If nominated by a substantial ma 
 jority I will accept the honor and the responsibility 
 and to the best of my ability will work for the triumph 
 of those principles laid down in our platform." 
 
 Fifty thousand people were massed around the Coli 
 seum the closing day of the convention. Inside the 
 great hall other thousands filled every available space 
 and even encroached on the section reserved for the 
 delegates. In an eloquent speech General Warker 
 presented to the convention the name of Judge John 
 Smith and amid tumultuous applause said: 
 
 "I present to you an American of Americans, in - 
 whose veins flows the blood of an ancestry which fought 
 for American liberty before the days of Washington. 
 Born in the state of Massachusetts, almost beneath the 
 shadow of Bunker Hill, and reared from boyhood in 
 an atmosphere of Americanism, John Smith grew to 
 manhood and entered upon the duties of citizenship. 
 His life has been that of an American. In early years 
 he became imbued with an intense American hatred of 
 shams and of hypocrisy. He has lived long enough to 
 witness the birth and development of a moneyed aris 
 tocracy, an insolent, domineering plutocracy, with a 
 cry of patriotism ever on its lips and its hands ever in 
 the pockets of the people. He has lived to see the fair 
 acres of his native country confiscated by alien corpo 
 rations, syndicates and speculators. With pain and 
 humiliation he has seen the majority of his countrymen 
 defrauded by the ballot box and the voice of the people 
 stifled by organized rapacity. Into his life has come a 
 day when the door of the workshop has been closed 
 against the mechanic and when the little children have 
 pleaded to their parents in vain for bread, And this 
 in America, a land favored of God, the home of the 
 free and a haven for the oppressed of all nations. To 
 Judge John Smith the disiress of an American commu 
 nity, the impoverishment of a people by panic or finan- 
 
154 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 cial depression, is not an economic phenomenon to be 
 calmly studied and diagnosed, but an outrage to be 
 condemned, a crime whose perpetrators should be ap 
 prehended and punished. 
 
 U A scholar of splendid attainments; a lawyer of 
 national fame and honor; a jurist whose decisions 
 have never been questioned, but whose sense of the just 
 impelled him to retire from a place where practice di 
 rected the dispensation of injustice; a man of business 
 sagacity and of a considerable fortune honestly ac 
 quired; a gentleman in the truest sense of the word; a 
 philosopher whose breadth of mind is bounded by no 
 contracted horizon; an uncompromising opponent of 
 bigotry and prejudice, a searcher and defender of 
 the truth Judge John Smith is an ideal American 
 citizen. Higher praise can be given to no man. On 
 behalf of the people of America and in the name of the 
 People s party of the United States I present the name 
 of John Smith of Chicago and ask that the nomination 
 be made by acclamation." 
 
 A hundred men seconded the nomination, and in a 
 voice of thunder the entire convention and audience 
 swelled the chorus of u ayes" when the chairman put 
 the question. Judge Smith was seated with his dele 
 gation. He had smilingly declined to conform to the 
 usual custom of retiring to some convenient place and 
 greeting with feigned surprise the committee charged 
 with breaking the news. Escorted by the Illinois dele 
 gation, Judge Smith marched down the aisle and to the 
 platform. When the cordial ovation had ceased Judge 
 Smith addressed the chairman and said: 
 
 "Early American history is a tale of hardship, a 
 story of peril, successive chapters of suffering, and a 
 struggle against seemingly insurmountable obstacles, 
 from which struggle a sturdy people emerged victorious. 
 In these colonial days the young nation was ofttimes 
 menaced by secret and open foes, but not since the 
 pilgrim fathers landed on American soil has so great a 
 danger menaced the people as that which confronts 
 them to-day. The fathers of America, tbe pioneers 
 
JUDGE JOHN SMITH IS NOMINATED 155 
 
 whose ashes DOW peacefully rest in the beautiful valleys) 
 of New England, had escaped from despotism and their 
 veins thrilled with that exhilaration which comes with 
 newly acquired liberty. They were free men, and they 
 transmitted to their children a heritage grander than 
 that bequeathed by kings. That heritage has been lost. 
 
 "I have sometimes thought that only the slave can 
 appreciate freedom. I have sometimes thought that 
 the king-ridden peasants of England who fled to this 
 country were the only Americans who ever tasted and 
 appreciated liberty. What does the child of to-day 
 know of freedom? What has become of the heritage 
 left by the pioneer founders of America? 
 
 "The history of America is a history of the decadence 
 of liberty. Its pages tell the story of how a birthright 
 was lost. Its chapters mark the annals by which a 
 republic faded into an aristocracy an aristocracy not 
 of position, title or heredity, but of nfoney. The 
 gloom of this history is relieved by pages which glow 
 with the inspiring story of a re-awakening of the in 
 born spirit of liberty a spirit which crushed for a 
 time the strength of aristocracy in 1776, and which 
 asserted itself again in 1861. 
 
 "The revolution of 1776 was inspired by grievances 
 and abuses which would pass unnoticed to-day. But the 
 people of 1776 had not lost the notion of liberty. The 
 slow encroachments of England and the growing influ 
 ence of a tory aristocracy had dulled their conception 
 of liberty, but had by no means destroyed it. They 
 were a handful of people skirting the Atlantic coast 
 with few resources useful in war, but they defeated 
 Great Britain, the most powerful nation in the world, 
 and sacrificed their lives and property rather than sub 
 mit to a few trifling exactions which to-day are toler 
 ated without a murmur. They had been taxed with 
 out representation. Why, for years the American peo 
 ple have been taxed and robbed out of more money 
 than the entire property of the thirteen colonies was 
 worth taxed billions of dollars for the benefit of home 
 and foreign tariff barons, and the tax is imposed to-day 
 
156 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 in spite of the fact that in successive elections the peo 
 pie have declared by emphatic majorities against a 
 continuance of this robbery. The men of 1776, witn^ 
 their peevish notions about rights and liberty, would 
 be denounced as anarchists if they lived to-day. They 
 would be invited to leave this country if they did not 
 like it, and reviled in all manner of terms if they talked 
 of fighting for such ridiculous things as they termed 
 their rights. Not so in 1776. They fought and they 
 won. We are proud of the revolutionists and glad to 
 trace our ancestry back to our fighting forefathers. 
 What would Patrick Henry, Benjamin Franklin, George 
 Washington, General Stark, General Warren and the 
 patriots of 1776 what would that illustrious body of 
 freemen think of a modern United States Senate, of a 
 Carnegie syndicate, a Homestead riot, and a Hocking 
 Valley, with thousands of starving families? What 
 would they think of 5,000,000 men out of work? 
 What would they think of a panic, of a period of de 
 pression on account of an overproduction of wealth? 
 What would they think of a people who would tamely 
 submit to corruption in high places, to the sale of their 
 streets to the highest bidder, to the gift of consulships 
 in consideration of checks for $50,000? Would they 
 revolt because their children were starving or would 
 they meekly accept the crust which charity offered 
 them? These questions need no answer. The spirit 
 of 1776 is dead. It did not survive the close of the 
 revolution long enough to protect the constitutional 
 convention of 1787 against the plottings of English 
 toryism and an aping American aristocracy. Liberty 
 slumbered in the breasts of the American people until 
 human slavery had dragged its loathsome form almost 
 across the continent. Then there came to the common 
 people of the north a resurrection of the spirit of the 
 forefathers, a revival of the days of 1776. Under that 
 inspiration they fought for the preservation of the 
 Union, the freeing of the slave, the glory of the repub 
 lic^ 
 "With the close of the war commercialism strength- 
 
The real socialist and the newspaper idea of the socialist. 
 
 157 
 
I 
 
 JUDGE JOHN SMITH IB NOMINATED 159 
 
 ened its grasp on a country weakened in the protracted 
 struggle. Slowly, surely and insidiously a new slavery 
 has enthralled a people a wage slavery infinitely worse 
 than that of human bondage. Brave soldiers, upon 
 whose bodies ara honorable scars, received in battle for 
 the abolition of slavery, are to-day in a bondage com 
 pared with which the old slave days of the south seem 
 as a pleasant memory, 
 
 "This is no figure of speech, no phantasy of words. 
 It is a fact, a hideous reality. A nation has drifted 
 into slavery. The crack of the slave-driver s whip is 
 cringingly obeyed by ignoble slaves. The cruel mandates 
 of the slave-owner are executed without a murmur of 
 revolt from the white slaves of the republic. 
 
 "American liberty 1 American freemen I The free- 
 born American citizen I The spirit of American insti 
 tutions! What mean these phrases? 
 
 "Words with which to conjure the masses. Soft 
 platitudes with which to flatter dupes. Meaningless 
 terms which tickle the ears of fool slaves, who hug to 
 their breasts the delusion of liberty and tamely submit 
 to the lash. 
 
 "What is the picture drawn for your edification of 
 the free-born American citizen? A stalwart, bearded 
 workman in the full vigor of a splendid manhood; the 
 protector of a fair wife and the father of happy chil 
 dren. He is an honest workman who looks every one full 
 in the face and fears no man. He is a sovereign free 
 man, owning allegiance only to his country and to his 
 God. Favors he asks of no man. With his strong arms 
 and clean brain he can wrest from nature her wealth 
 and secrets and bestow them upon his children. A 
 hater of tyrants and tyranny, a lover of law and order, 
 and a respecter of rights of all men. Ever jealous of 
 his rights, watching with vigilance any encroachment 
 upon his liberties, and ready at all times to take up 
 arms in defense of his home, his family or his country. 
 Independent, fearless, honest and ever industrious 
 such is the picture drawn of the free-born American 
 citizen. Such was the American citizen of the long 
 
160 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 ago. What is he to-day? Let me sketch a typical Ameri 
 can citizen of to-day. 
 
 "He is a workman in a great city. Factory labor 
 has bent his shoulders and dimmed his eye. He lives 
 in a rented house, and only yesterday the landlord 
 handed the trembling wife a five days notice to vacate 
 the premises. He is out of employment. For three 
 weeks he has been begging for work. The factories are 
 closed his fellow workmen and companions are power 
 less to lend him aid. The scant hoard saved from ir 
 regular toil has been exhausted. He is skilled in his 
 craft and only asks to be allowed the use of his hands 
 and brain, But it is a period of hard times. What 
 shall he do? Take a farm in the undeveloped west? 
 He knows nothing of farming, and there is no unde 
 veloped west. An agent of a charitable institution calls 
 at his home. The good wife suppresses a sigh, looks at 
 the hungry children, swallows her pride and accepts 
 with thanks the food that willing hands cannot earn. 
 He is a fr^e-born American citizen He is a voter. He 
 is one of the nation s sovereigns He is an honest man. 
 He is a slave. 
 
 "Another picture. He is a farmer. While yet the 
 nation s lands had not been absorbed by railroad and 
 land syndicates he pre-empted 1(30 acres of fertile land. 
 As years pass by he sees the price of his grain decrease. 
 He is robbed by railroad pools, fleeced by elevator syn 
 dicates, and upon the product of his labor speculators 
 fatten. An iniquitous tariff system enhances the price 
 of every article necessity compels him to purchase. In 
 order to meet his obligations his wife becomes a drudge, 
 and his children work on the farm instead of going to 
 school. A failure of his crop plunges him into debt. 
 He is in the mesh from which there is no escape. In 
 a few years the mortgage is foreclosed. He is now a 
 tenant farmer, a shade above a Russian serf. There 
 are 8,000,000 such farmers in the United States. They 
 
 [e American citizens. They are honest workmen. 
 ff are voters, and they are slaves. 
 Another picture. He is a merchant a small trades- 
 
JUDGE JOHN SMITH IS NOMINATED 161 
 
 man. From his wages as a mechanic he has saved, 
 enough to start in business on a small scale. He is 
 honest in his dealings with men. In fairly prosperous 
 times he has enlarged his store, devoting his profits to 
 that ^irpose. A panic comes. Factories close and his 
 trade decreases. Workmen customers remain away or 
 obtain credit. Rent continues and bills for goods fall 
 due. The sheriff nails a notice over the door, and at 
 the auction sale the agent of a great down- town store 
 buys the goods for a trifle. The execution is satisfied 
 and the merchant is ruined. Not from any fault of his 
 own. He is a free American citizen, but a slave. His 
 number is myriad. To whom are these men slaves? 
 They are slaves to themselves. They are slaves to a 
 system which they have helped fortify and which they 
 have the power to overthrow. 
 
 "The people are enslaved because they deserve to be 
 enslaved. Slavery is the natural condition for a peo 
 ple who have lost the very idea of what constitutes 
 liberty. Men who will tamely submit to idleness, 
 hunger and poverty, and accept it as a dispensation of 
 Providence have never tasted liberty. The future has 
 nothing to hope for from such men. Liberty can count 
 no defenders in their ranks. History records the 
 sufferings and the death of men who have devoted their 
 lives to liberty and to the people, but no band of 
 patriots ever slavishly starved in the name of their 
 country and for their country s good. 
 
 "The slave must ever be freed; he cannot, he will i 
 not free himself. Slavery finds some of its most earnest 
 champions among the slaves. In the armies of the south 
 in the late rebellion were found many black men will 
 ing to sacrifice their lives in defense of a system which 
 held them in bondage. A few negroes fought in the 
 ranks of blue and fought nobly, but the great mass 
 remained dormant and took only a passive interest in 
 the battle for their freedom which was waging around I 
 them. They had been born slaves and taught that such 
 was their natural condition. Their masters had quoted \ 
 them passages from the Scriptures upholding the insti- 
 
162 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 tution of slavery and they accepted their lot without 
 question. 
 
 "Thus it is to-day. The poor are taught and repeat 
 to each other that poverty is no crime, that some 
 must be poor and some must be rich. They ai con 
 soled by the Scriptures. Christ s saying, The poor ye 
 have always with you, is distorted into a divine ap 
 proval of poverty. They are taught to believe that 
 there is consolation in the fact that it is easier for 
 a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a 
 rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven, and are 
 coddled into a belief that earthly misery and suffering 
 paves the way for an early entrance into the kingdom 
 of heaven. An insult to the -intelligence of the Supreme 
 Being! The industrial slave takes a foolish pride in 
 the increasing affluence of his master. From afar off 
 he is content to gaze at the splendor of his establish 
 ment. He is elated at a passing glance from a factory 
 lord, and a nod of recognition from a millionaire fills 
 his simple heart with joy. Is this an overdrawn pict 
 ure? No. It but faintly portrays an obseqiousness, 
 a smirking humility, which has developed in the last 
 twenty years and more clearly than anything else indi 
 cates the decadence of the proud spirit of equality and 
 independence which once marked the citizen of the 
 American republic. Show me an act of tyranny in the 
 last generation at which thousands of its victims have 
 not arisen and defended it! Point to an act of oppres 
 sion and usurpation in which the oppressed and down 
 trodden have not kissed the hand which smote them! 
 
 "Unscrupulous men have taken advantage of the 
 growing servility of the American people. Outrages 
 against the people were committed in 1850 which 
 would have been avenged in blood in 1800. National 
 disgrace and scandal were glossed over in 1870 which 
 would have plunged a nation into war in 1850. Crimes 
 against the people were sanctioned, maintained by a 
 form of law, and only feebly apologized for in 1893 which 
 in the earlier years of our national life would not have 
 been attempted, much less tolerated for a single day, 
 
JUDGE JOHN SMITH IS NOMINATED 168 
 
 "The American people have been criminally patient. 
 Patience with oppression and injustice is not a virtue 
 but a crime a crime whose penalty is national death. 
 
 "Delegates of the people, from out of the free prairies 
 of the west a breeze is wafting, which with the coming 
 of the dawn shall pile into fantastic shapes the now 
 obscuring clouds. The rising sun shall tinge their edges 
 with beauty until, like some enchanted dungeon, they 
 shall scatter and melt into nothingness before the eyes 
 of men. Truth is not dead ; reason is not dead. Not until 
 you blot from the human race the attributes of reason 
 and truth shall liberty forever disappear. 
 
 "The battle must be fought and won by those who 
 yet are free. Into their hands has been intrusted the 
 fate of a nation founded by free men. The works of 
 the enemy are not so formidable as they appear. Be 
 fore the coming onslaught the already disorganized 
 ranks of plutocracy will break and run. 
 
 "The time in which we live may be designated as the 
 mechanical age. It had its birth in the years between 
 1800 and 1820 and reached its highest development in 
 the period of 1870-90. Inventions will be made in the 
 future, but as an era distinct in the progress of civili 
 zation the mechanical is already on the decline, and 
 this gray old world is awaiting the advent of another 
 and a grander epoch of progress. The mechanical age 
 will make way for the age of government. 
 
 "Hail to the coming age, the grandest in the history 
 of civilization! For centuries man devoted his energies 
 to war. The earth shook with the tread of armies and 
 her soil drank deep of the blood of contending hosts. 
 The age of war reached its culmination in the eighteenth 
 century, and with the growing years of the next century 
 went into decline. The mechanical age forever checked 
 war. It perfected death-dealing instruments; it made 
 the destruction of hurhan life a science. War became 
 impossible. Nations dared not go to war. A battle 
 meant death to nearly all engaged. War had become 
 a science and it disappeared. The age of competition 
 the era of commercial activity and the struggle for 
 
164 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 business supremacy followed. Competition became a 
 science and it disappeared in the mechanical age. War 
 was dead, competition was dead, man was half-starving, 
 but the machine survived. 
 
 "Great was the machine. Tt supplanted man, de 
 throned labor and ruled the world. Everywhere there 
 was heard the whixziug of belts and pulleys and the 
 ceaseless clatter of tireless metal. When the machine 
 stopped the pulse of the nation beat slowly; when the 
 wheels again revolved men went about with smiling 
 faces. Great was the machine. By it nature had been 
 subjugated and man enslaved. The enslaving of man 
 was not primarily the fault of the machine, but was a 
 logical outcome of attempting to harmonize the scien 
 tific with the unscientific. The machine was scientific? 
 Its environment, the government, was crude and un 
 scientific. In the language of a great philosopher, the 
 introduction of modern machinery into the govern 
 mental conditions of to-day is like placing a triple ex 
 pansion marine engine in one of the old wooden hulks 
 built by the shipbuilders of a vanished generation. The 
 engine was perfect, but the combination was disastrous. 
 The powerful throbbing of the engine is fast shattering 
 the feeble and rotten walls of the old hulk, and the water 
 is pouring into the hold and the crew is in peril. The 
 fault is not with the machine, but with the old hulk 
 the government. Run the old hulk into dry dock, take 
 out the magnificent engine and place it where it be 
 longs, in an environment fitted to stand the strain of 
 a mechanical age. 
 
 "The age of government is the coming age. Progress 
 has touched with its magic wand every science and art 
 but that of government. Music, poetry, philosophy, 
 war, medicine, literature, astronomy, mechanics, navi 
 gation have progressed with the advancing years. Gov 
 ernment the grandest study of man lias alone re 
 pelled the aid of science and with its eyes fixed on the 
 past and its ears deaf to the higher activities of the 
 present, exists among men to-day, grotesque, antique, 
 incongruous. There is no applied science of government. 
 
JUDGE JOHN SMITH IS NOMINATED 165 
 
 Where science and precision should prevail superstition 
 and precedent hold sway. Modern government is a 
 patchwork, handed down from an age of kings and of 
 wars, for the observance of a people who hate kings 
 and wars. 
 
 u ln the future years earth s greatest heroes shall be 
 its gifted lawgivers. Government will not become per 
 fect from a multiplicity of laws, but the nation will 
 prosper in proportion to the wisdom displayed by the 
 people in the enactment and enforcement of just and 
 simple Jaws. Government can never be an exact science. 
 The wisdom of one generation is not sufficient to draft 
 laws for a future it cannot read or whose changed con 
 dition it cannot comprehend. No age is empowered to 
 enact an unalterable law. None but the criminally 
 egotistic arrogate to themselves the attribute of in 
 fallibility. A true government is one which profits by 
 the lessons of the past, governs for the people of to-day, 
 and erects no bars for the generation of to-morrow. 
 
 "Such is the government of the future, and in that 
 day slavery will be dead and man shall live. In that 
 cause I concentrate my energies and my life. Dele 
 gates of the people, I accept the responsibility you have 
 reposed in me. Let us bury the past and lift our eyes 
 to the future. Hail to the people! Hail to the com 
 ing age the age of government!" 
 
 The ticket was completed by the nomination of Frank 
 M. Brewster of Springfield, Mass., as Vice-President. 
 Brewster was an editor of ability and an orator eloquent 
 ;md convincing. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 PRESS COMMENTS. 
 
 THE press greeted the work of the convention and 
 Judge John Smith s nomination with comments, -of 
 which the following are fairly representative: 
 
 U A remarkable speech before a remarkable conven 
 tion."^. Paul Globe, 
 
 "Judge Smith s speech was a strange mingling of 
 rare common sense and rank socialism." New York 
 Sun. 
 
 "The platform has the merit of brevity. It will be 
 popular with those who believe that the world owes them 
 a living, but is repugnant to the sturdy good sense of the 
 average American." St.^Louis Globe-Democrat. 
 
 "At last the Smith family has been recognized. 
 Judge John Smith seems to possess the hard-headed 
 common sense of the Smiths and the inborn courage of 
 an American who dares tell the truth. Recalls a spade 
 a spade, and the subjugation of the majority a crime. 
 On this issue tho American people are with him." 
 New York Recorder. 
 
 " Judge Smith s attack upon the Democratic party is 
 unwarranted. The Democratic party has always stood 
 for the people as against the encroachment of a moneyed 
 aristocracy. The people will . conserve their own in 
 terests by letting Smith and all such agitators severely 
 alone. " Atlanta Constitution. 
 
 "The People s party has drifted into socialism. It 
 has affirmed its belief in the odious theory of paternal 
 ism in government. Judge Smith is a radical, who 
 disguises his socialism with a pretense of Americanism. 
 The trouble with this country is not a lack but a super 
 fluity of laws!" New York World. 
 
 166 
 
PRESS COMMENTS 167 
 
 "The platform ignores the tariff, free silver, green 
 backs and wild-cat money, and all the old issues which 
 have been flailed until the straw is pulverized. It con 
 fines itself to an affirmation of a belief in the right of 
 the majority to rule and the right of a citizen to de 
 mand and obtain work. This is a new departure in 
 politics and one which will be watched with interest." 
 Pittsburg Despatch. 
 
 "Judge John Smith is a politician. He is enough 
 of a politician to take advantage of an issue which the 
 people have been demanding for years and which the 
 old parties, engrossed in the struggle for spoils, have 
 ignored. The right of the majority to rule was affirmed 
 in the declaration of independence and ignored by the 
 constitution of the United States. The People s party 
 may not go to victory on this issue, but they have done 
 the country a service by forcing it to the fore." Kan 
 sas City Star. 
 
 "Judge Smith s speech was the rant of a socialistic 
 demagogue who is shrewd enough to take advantage of 
 temporary hard times. The people of this country are 
 not demanding paternalism with its state penitentiary 
 system of work and compensation. In spite of Smith 
 and other calamity howlers the people rule ever have 
 and ever will. His tirade against the constitution of 
 the United States comes with poor grace from a man 
 whom the people of Chicago once honored with an 
 election as judge. It is little short of treason." 
 Chicago Tribune. 
 
 "When Judge Smith declared that the right of the 
 majority to govern has been lost he told the truth, and 
 he told it well. All the platitudes of professional 
 patriots and self-styled Americans to the contrary 
 notwithstanding, the constitution of this country does 
 not guarantee the rule of the majority of the people. 
 The performances of the Senate in recent years should 
 bo sufficient to prove this statement to intelligent men. 
 This issue must be met. Abuse, lyir^g, subterfuge, and 
 cheers for the old flag will not prevail against cold, 
 hard facts. The majority do not rule; honest, willing 
 
168 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 men are denied work. The majority must rule; the 
 right of men to work must be granted. "Baltimore 
 American. 
 
 "The platform is an open attack upon the constitu 
 tion of the United States. The reforms which Judge 
 Smith and his adherents propose can be accomplished 
 only by the practical repeal of the fundamental clauses 
 of that document. This issue is made plain. The con 
 test is to be between those who believe in the perpetuity 
 of American institutions as bequeathed us by Washing 
 ton and Jefferson and those who have lost faith in the 
 republic and seek its overthrow. There can be but one 
 outcome. Fanaticism will be defeated and the republic 
 will live." Milwaukee Sentinel. 
 
 "Does the majority rule? Have the American peo 
 ple been deluded into a belief that the republic is in 
 reality but a sham? Has a citizen an unalienable right 
 to demand and obtain work? These are questions which 
 must be answered. Judge John Smith, the Populist 
 candidate for the presidency, speaks in no uncertain 
 tone upon these issues. He denounces representative 
 government as a failure and declares that the people 
 can assert themselves only by a direct vote on all great 
 public questions. This is not a novel idea, but is 
 presented in a new light. The Campaign will be unique 
 in the history of politics." Omaha World-Herald. 
 
 "The sober sense of the American workman will re 
 pudiate the Populist platform. His salvation lies not 
 in an assurance of governmental protection and work, 
 but in the tearing down of the tariff wall, which denies 
 him a chance to work in those industries which should 
 compete in the markets of the world. The Democratic 
 party is pledged to the destruction of that tariff, and 
 a little patience on the part of the people is all that is 
 needed. Nothing will be gained by a support of the 
 radical and even revolutionary doctrines advanced by 
 Judge Smith and affirmed in the platform of his 
 party. " Louisville Courier-Journal. 
 
 "Mark Kimbly and not Judge John Smith is the true 
 friend of the American workmen. Smith has sullied 
 
PRESS COMMENTS 169 
 
 his fame as a judge and developed into a dangerous 
 agitator with the temerity to attack the constitution 
 of the United States. In the coming election the 
 American workman will repudiate the Hilds and the 
 Smiths and the other enemies of protection for Ameri 
 can workmen and American homes. The twin foes of 
 American workmen are free trade, represented by Hild 
 and the Democracy, and anarchy, as represented by 
 Smith and the Populists. Hurrah for Kimbly and 
 the old flag! Down with anarchy and up with the 
 stars!" Chicago Inter Ocean. 
 
 "In a country where every American citizen is a 
 sovereign voter and a free man there is no room for 
 men like Judge Smith. The government which pro 
 duced a Washington, a Jefferson, a Lincoln, a Grant 
 and a Garfield cannot be destroyed by any crank or set 
 of cranks howling about majority rule. There is plenty 
 of work in this country for men who want work. There 
 is no room for loafers and agitators who seek to make 
 capital out of the temporary financial distress of the 
 community. If Judge Smith and his colleagues do not 
 like this country they are at liberty*to get out of it." 
 St. Paul Pioneer-Press. 
 
 "There is the true ring of Americanism in Judg^ 
 Smith s speech accepting the people s nomination for 
 the presidency. He is an American citizen of a sturdy 
 type and is not afraid to denounce tyranny whei- 
 ever he finds it. When Judge Smith declares that 
 the constitution of the United States has fostered and 
 perpetuated the rule of the minority he says what 
 every Democrat and every honest man knows to be 
 true. If a belief in the rights and rule of the majority 
 is socialism the great mass of the American people are 
 socialists. Judge Smith has given the people an issue 
 which must be met. He has cleared the political at 
 mosphere and the situation stands plainly revealed. 
 He has done what the Democratic party should have 
 done years ago affirmed faith in the intelligence of 
 the majority. The fact is that both the Republican 
 and the Democratic parties are under the control of 
 
170 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 men who fear the people. They will be found among 
 the stanchest defenders of a political system which in 
 theory is founded on the will of the people, but which 
 in reality holds them firmly in check. Under existing 
 conditions the reign of the majority is a myth; a legend 
 told by designing demagogues and listened and heeded 
 by gullible voters. Unless it shall become a reality 
 American liberty is forever lost. THE TIMES will sup 
 port Judge John Smith for the presidency and predicts 
 a victory which will sweep from power the enemies of 
 majority rule and inaugurate the reign of the people." 
 Kansas City Times. 
 
 In the short limits of this book it is impossible to 
 give an extended account of the presidential campaign 
 of 1900. Tt was waged with extreme bitterness. The 
 Republicans and Democrats fought on the familiar old 
 party lines, varied only by an increased attention to 
 the third party. As the campaign progressed the Pop 
 ulists made astonishing inroads on the strength of the 
 old parties. Judge Smith confined himself entirely to 
 the large cities and addressed immense audiences of 
 business and working men. The accession to his ranks 
 seemed divided almost equally between both parties 
 and both claimed the advantage. During the campaign 
 there was little change in the business situation. Some 
 factories were running on half time and wages steadily 
 decreased in spite of the activity of the unions, whose 
 discipline was threatened and eventually ruined by the 
 long-continued hard times. Members with large families 
 rebelled against remaining idle part of the time for the 
 common benefit of the unions and desertion became 
 common. Employers took advantage of this growing 
 feeling of dissatisfaction among trade unionists and as 
 a result a series of strikes followed. The summer of 
 1899 witnessed the practical disruption of the trade 
 union movement. A writer in a New York magazine 
 tli us summed up the causes which led to the downfall 
 of that stupendous organization of workmen: 
 
 TRADE UNIONISM IS DEAD. 
 
 1 "Hunger is stronger than discipline. Men will face 
 
PRESS COMMENTS 
 
 the black muzzles of cannon without a quiver, but will 
 tremble and cower before the wail of a hungry chil<~ 
 The trade union movement reached its height in 
 It enrolled as its membership practically all the wage 
 toilers of the nation. In the boom incident to the war 
 scare there was work for all. The panic which followed 
 did not disorganize the ranks. They apportioned the 
 work among the members, and for over a year main 
 tained their ranks unbroken against the forces of in 
 dustrial depression. But hunger is a relentless enemy?\ 
 He works in the weary hours of the night and gnaws at \ 
 the vitals of his victims, silent and insatiate. Hunger j 
 has won. The trade union has fallen. The arguments j 
 of industrial economy fell powerless on ears which J 
 could not resist the pleadings of half-starved children^ 
 At first there were a few desertions. Then men refused 
 to work with the deserters and a strike followed, the 
 employers declaring their intention of repudiating their 
 agreement with the unions and employing whom they 
 pleased at prices mutually satisfactory to those who 
 accepted work. They justified this policy by the state 
 ment that alternate periods of work and idleness less 
 ened the skill of the workmen. The temptation to 
 secure steady employment was too strong to be resisted. 
 One concern after another adopted the steady work 
 system, and had little difficulty in obtaining deserters 
 from" the ranks of the unions. The faithful members 
 saw their places filled by those whom hunger had 
 weakened. The defection became a stampede and trade 
 unionism was doomed. Probably 55 per cent of the 
 former members are now at work. Their positions are 
 threatened by the unemployed 45 per cent, who do not 
 hesitate to bid against the employed and find justifica 
 tion in the fact that the latter were traitors against a 
 system which insured at least a pittance for all. Under 
 this fierce competition wages are tending lower, and 
 have already reached a point where the man who now 
 works full time receives about the same as he did when 
 networked half time. It is noteworthy that in spite of 
 this decided decrease in the wage fund the priee of 
 
PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 manufactured products has not appreciably decreased, 
 although there is a constantly diminishing demand for 
 the products of factory and mill." 
 
 No other result could have been expected. The trade 
 union stood alone, as a barrier against that competi 
 tion which, unrestrained, inevitably forced wages down 
 to a point where men would consent to work the star 
 vation line. That is the iron law of wages. Under a 
 competitive system in which the workers exceed the 
 demand for work, the starvation line is the one around 
 which wages slightly fluctuate. Men will not work for 
 less than will support life, but that wage which will 
 support a single man is inadequate for the man of 
 family. The stern necessities of the married man there 
 fore limit the point below which wages cannot far tend 
 without a revolt. The trade union recognized the in 
 exorable force of this natural law and stood as a bar 
 rier against it. So did the trust. Under free compe 
 tition between manufacturers and jobbers profits ever 
 tended to decrease until they reached and fell below the 
 line where profit ceased and loss ensued. Any slight in 
 dustrial depression or congestion forced prices below 
 this line and hundreds of producing concerns failed 
 trom this cause. The trusts opposed a barrier against 
 fhis and by the aid of co-operation and favorable legis 
 lation defied the forces of competition and maintained 
 artificial prices. Hunger did not menace the trust. The 
 commercial greed and selfishness of its members oc 
 casionally led to brief disorganization,* but in 1900, as 
 in 1898, the trust had learned its lesson well and was 
 firmly bound by the strongest of ties, those of self- 
 defense and self-interest. 
 
 Trade unionism was dead and the trust survived. 
 The crushing defeat of the unions was gleefully received 
 by certain people who had ever held that the organiza 
 tion was one which checked the independence of the 
 American workman. He had plenty of liberty now and 
 spent most of his time roaming the streets in search of 
 work, pouring into the ears of employers tales of woe, 
 and oilering to go to work at any price which would 
 
PRESS COMMENTS 173 
 
 keep soul and body together. Eighteen hundred and \ 
 ninety-three destroyed one delusion the people learned 
 under the existing conditions that economy was a fail 
 ure; that the general saving of money meant general 
 depression and distress. This year destroyed another 
 delusion the workmen learned that no combination 
 of workers could maintain wages under a system of 
 limited production. 
 
 The Democrats were badly handicapped in the cam 
 paign of 1900. Their ranks had been split by the 
 silver issue and the more progressive of the party had 
 gone over to the Populists. Hild, their presidential 
 candidate, was a skilled politician, but it soon became 
 evident that the fight was between the Populists and 
 the Republicans. The south had rebelled against the 
 bourbons, and the frantic appeals of the fire-eaters 
 were in vain against the victorious march of the Peo 
 ple s party. The west was in revolt against both old 
 parties. In the early part of October it was generally 
 conceded that every state west of the Mississippi, with 
 the possible exceptions of Arkansas, Texas and Cali 
 fornia, would cast their votes for Smith and Brewster. 
 Tt was the south and west against the east, with the 
 Ohio valley as fighting ground. The Republicans made 
 their fight on the gold standard, high tariff and pen 
 sions for all soldiers. They "raised an immense cam 
 paign fund and flooded the country with speakers and 
 literature. The Democrats lacked the advantage of 
 fe leral patronage and were badly in need of money. 
 As the day of election approached the excitement be 
 came intense. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM CAMPAIGN SPEECHES. 
 
 JUDGE SMITH delivered addresses in New York, Boston, 
 Providence, Albany, Rochester, Buffalo, Philadelphia, 
 Baltimore, Pittsburg, Detroit, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, 
 Cleveland, Louisville, St. Louis, Kansas City, Omaha, 
 St Paul, Milwaukee and Chicago. The author has been 
 permitted to select from these speeches which will 
 shortly be published in full, with the history of the 
 life of John Smith such extracts as created the most 
 comment at that time. 
 
 Extract from speech delivered in New York City, 
 August 14: "No political party or social theory that 
 attacks the right to own property can ever succeed in 
 the United States. I care not how much property a 
 man has acquired under the laws of the United States, 
 he is entitled to that property or a fair compensation 
 in consideration thereof. No system of government or 
 taxation which aims directly or indirectly at the ap 
 propriation or confiscation of wealth, honestly acquired 
 by labor, capital, or both, will ever meet the sanction 
 of the American people. The love of property is deeply 
 implanted in the human nature. It is a sentiment not 
 to be uprooted, but to be wisely nourished and culti 
 vated. 
 
 l The charge has been made that the People s party 
 proposes to confiscate the bulk of the property in this 
 country under the leadership of a desperate socialist 
 myself. It is hardly necessary for me to assure the 
 good people of New York that we have no designs on 
 the massive and beautiful buildings which for miles 
 make Broadway the grandest business street in the 
 
 174 
 
EXTRACTS FROM CAMPAIGN SPEECHES 175 
 
 world. We may look almost with envy on the palaces 
 of Fifth Avenue, but no hand shall be raised against 
 them in the name of the people. Not in our platform, 
 not in the minds of our leaders, not in the great heart 
 of the people exists there a thought of taking by force 
 or theft that which can be duplicated by labor. We 
 claim and when the will of the majority shall vest us 
 with authority shall demand that every citizen of the 
 republic again be clothed in that God-given and man- 
 denied right to work and earn a living for himself and 
 for his children. We intend to beat down the obstruc 
 tions which skilled politicians have interposed against 
 an expression of the voice of the people. 
 
 "None of the rights of property is in peril because of 
 these demands. The owner of the great factory may 
 rest secure in his possession. The people can duplicate 
 his factory. The landlord with his thousand tenement- 
 houses need not fear the uprising of an indignant and 
 rent-racked population. The people can build houses. 
 The man with the little home and plot of ground has 
 naught to fear. The people desire not the fruits of his 
 labor. The capitalist with his bonds and mortgages, 
 his accumulated stock of gold and gold-bearing securi 
 ties, need fear no invasion of modern Goths and Vandals. 
 The people cannot eat money and their willing hands 
 can produce all that money can buy. 
 
 "But the people cannot produce land. The labor of 
 a million generations cannot produce a continent. 
 Land existed before man, and with water and air will 
 survive when man shall be no more forever. LancLis 
 not^j^m^erU 7 . Concede the right to monopolize land 
 alid yoTrsmrm the justice of human slavery. The peo 
 ple must have land and they will have it, but so long 
 as my voice shall prevail it will not be acquired by con 
 fiscation. Unwise laws handed down from past ages 
 have made land a legal property and its holders are en 
 titled to just compensation for any land which passes 
 from them into the hands of the people. The govern 
 mentthe people possesses the right of eminent do 
 main. A railroad, under the same right exercised in 
 
176 PRESIDENT UOHN SMITH 
 
 the Dame of the people, cuts its way across a continent, 
 condemning property and reimbursing its owners in 
 proportion as justice may direct. The people have that 
 same right and existing Jaws empower them to use it. 
 We affirm the right of the people to exercise eminent 
 domain and acquire such lands as public policy may 
 from time to time direct, paying therefor a fair and 
 honest compensation. More than that the people do 
 not demand; less than that they will not accept. 
 
 "I am aware that vast tracts of land have been ac 
 quired from the government by favoritism, bribery 
 and fraud. Some of this land still remains in the 
 hands of those who wrested it from the people and some 
 has passed into the possession of innocent purchasers. 
 They have paid for it and should be protected. No 
 man should be defrauded out of a dollar of the money 
 he has honestly invested, be it in land or in property. 
 But the people will demand their own. They will con 
 demn and purchase under the right, not alone of emi 
 nent domain, but under the higher right the right to 
 live all lands held for speculative purposes, all lands 
 which the present generation cannot occupy, and will 
 hold it as a sacred trust for the children of the future. 
 There are many who urge that all such land should be 
 confiscated without the payment of a dollar in return, 
 and while such a procedure would result in no injustice 
 to thousands of dishonest speculators, it would wrong 
 some innocent people. Nationalism seeks to work in 
 justice to no man. 
 
 "The people demand only that land which the pres 
 ent generation cannot use. That they will have, and 
 all the forces of wealth and prejudice shall not prevail 
 against them. 
 
 j"Upon some of the laud thus acquired the govern 
 ment will erect shops and factories, confining itself nt 
 the start to those industries most indispensable to the 
 actual needs of the people. Farming and mining land 
 will be developed on such an industrial plan as the peo 
 ple may elect. So long as a human want remains un 
 satisfied, so long will there be employment. Those who 
 work will receive the profits of their toil. 
 
; 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM CAMPAIGN SPEECHES 177 
 
 r 
 
 u VVe have in contemplation no plan of socialism or 
 / communism in which the products of an industrial 
 I community are to be equally apportioned among its 
 members; no scheme by which the dull and the pro- 
 | ficient. the weak and the strong, the lazy and the ener- 
 \ getic shall work on a common plane. There may be 
 \advocates of such a policy, but they are not delegated 
 \to voice the principles of the People s party. 
 ,*\ u We contemplate the establishment of a system of 
 industry in which the government shall hold in trust 
 certain property in the interests of the people. No man 
 will be compelled to work for the state. No effort will 
 be made to destroy or ruin the various industries which 
 exist to-day. We simply propose that the government 
 shall ever retain in its possession enough of the tools 
 and means of production to insure remunerative em 
 ployment for all who demand it. If, under the man 
 agement of the United States, the people cannot 
 produce enough to support themselves, starvation is 
 I the only alternative. No such calamity will ensue. 
 
 "Give the people a chance to work and this country 
 will witness a prosperity unexampled in the history of 
 the world. Look at what we propose to do. There are 
 to-day not less than 5 ; 000,000 men out of work. Upon 
 these men 10,000,000 people are dependent. Fifteen 
 millions of people are, therefore, living on charity. So 
 far as the community is concerned, they %re a burden. 
 The wealthy must support them. FjQj^fiana^the rich 
 of the_UjQJifid_States-.l)ave^been supporting bj^taxation 
 jnTtTlTbarity a number of people sufficient to form a 
 powerful natuujr THe"FeopTe s party proposes tcTTialEe 
 this burden from the shoulders of the rich. 
 
 "We propose to make these 5,000,000 men producers 
 and not paupers. Jf . p^niitted they can average five 
 dollars a day and add that amount to our national wealth. 
 Twenty-five million dollars a day! Seven and a hall 
 billion dollars a year! Five times the amount of our na 
 tional debt? Every dollar of this enormous sum stands 
 for a necessity or a comfort which is now denied. 
 
 "Such is the policy of the People s party. It is not 
 
178 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 visionary. It is common sense applied to affairs of 
 state. Government has too long been conducted on sen 
 timent; it is time that accepted business principles 
 were applied." 
 
 EXTRACT FROM SPEECH DELIVERED IN BOSTON, 
 AUGUST 18. 
 
 "Stunted production is the curse which is afflicting 
 the nation. If the combined products of American 
 manufactories were divided equally among the 70,000,- 
 
 000 people of the United States, we should be a shabbily 
 dressed, poorly shod and half-starved people. The 
 general prosperity of a nation can exist only under two 
 conditions, viz,, an adequate production and a compre 
 hensive system of distribution. We have neither. In 
 this respect our country is not more unfortunate than 
 other countries, but that is no argument. The United 
 States should be an earthly paradise as compared with 
 a,ny of the densely populated, land-starved nations of 
 Europe. 
 
 "Does anybody pretend that in this country an aver 
 age man by the unrestricted exercise of his labor is un 
 able to create enough to support life? No. And yet 
 men are denied labor. Itis almost impossible to obtain 
 accurate statistics of the numbers of the unemployed. 
 
 1 doubt if in the last thirty years there have been twelve 
 consecutive mouths in which there was work for all 
 who wanted it. In various places at divers times there 
 has been a demand for labor which the immediate com 
 munity could not furnish, but idle men cannot travel 
 from Chicago to San Francisco in search of work which 
 may not last more than three months. The percentage 
 of the unemployed has steadily increased. Forced idle 
 ness begets loaferism. The discharged mechanic of 
 to-day is the ti anip of the future. 
 
 "All wealth is created by labor. The United States 
 to-day is worth just what the men who have toiled with 
 hands and brains have created. The man engaged in 
 useful toil counts in the assets of to-day. He is valu 
 able to the nation just in proportion as he is productive. 
 
EXTRACTS FROM CAMPAIGN SPEECHES 179 
 
 The idle man, be he rich or poor, idle from choice or 
 idle from necessity the idle man counts in the sched 
 ule of liabilities. He consumes without producing. 
 When an idle man dies the liabilities of the country 
 are reduced. When one of them goes to work the country 
 is a distinct gainer, 
 
 "It does not cost the country much more to support 
 an idle millionaire than it does to support a tramp. 
 The millionaire can eat so much food and wear out so 
 many clothes. The tramp eats three meals a day and 
 wears out old clothes. Both the idle tramp and the" idle 
 millionaire consume products for which they render no 
 return. The millionaire cannot eat his houses, hia 
 lands or any of his property. He holds them while he 
 lives and they remain in the country after he is dead. 
 The community has simply been compelled to feed and 
 clothe him during his lifetime. He is enabled to leave 
 $1,000,000 behind for the simple reason that in his life 
 time he could not consume it if he tried. True, he could 
 squander it, but property squandered, lost in gambling 
 or in speculation, is^not lost national wealth. It has 
 simply changed hands. I desire to make this point 
 plain, and therefore repeat that in spite of all the cry 
 about bloated bondholders and millionaires eating up 
 the substance of the country, the hungriest mil 
 lionaire cannot eat more than twice as much as the 
 hungriest tramp. 
 
 "But the idle millionaire is of some use to the coun 
 try and the idle workman and the tramp are not. The 
 millionaire pays taxes and the idle workman does not 
 and cannot. It is said that labor pays all the tax. As 
 a rule that is true, but there comes a time when the 
 burden is shifted to the shoulders of the rich. In 
 periods like the present, when wages have reached the 
 lowest point at which men will work, labor pays no 
 taxes. The idle millions must live. Some die of star 
 vation and as the result of long continued privation, 
 but the majority live, and live at the expense of the 
 rich. Charity must be extended or revolution and riots 
 follow. Public charities depend upon taxation, and 
 
180 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 private charities are founded by the rich. The moneyed 
 class is therefore interested, or should be interested, in 
 the abolition of idleness. 
 
 ^ "Chicago has given the world two examples of what 
 can be accomplished by pressing into service the idle 
 workmen of a nation. In 1871 the great fire swept 
 $200,000,000 worth of property out of existence and 
 in two years the bulk of that property was reproduced. 
 The idle workmen of a hundred cities flocked to Chicago 
 and upon the smoking ruins erected palaces which 
 stand to-day the admiration of the world. Did this 
 influx of workmen to Chicago absorb the surplus of 
 unemployed? Did Boston or New York or Philadel 
 phia suffer for want of workmen while Chicago was 
 being rebuilt? Not at all. A year later and a panic 
 swept over the country and 2, 500, 000 men were thrown 
 out of work. Even the burning of Chicago could not 
 check the coming of a panic caused by an overproduc 
 tion. 
 
 "When Chicago built the Columbian Exposition it 
 required the constant vigilance of the local trade unions 
 to prevent the idle army of the country from moving 
 on Chicago. Even while 20,000 men were at work in 
 the grounds and 50,000 were engaged in preparing ex 
 hibits, Chicago had 25,000 men looking for work. 
 An insignificant fraction of the idle army reared in a 
 little over a year the grandest group of buildings the 
 world has ever gazed on-. The rapidity with which the 
 great exposition was built is one of the wonders of the 
 age. . 
 
 "Like magic an enchanted city grew from a swamp 
 in a little over a year. Trained contractors and archi 
 tects were no less astounded than laymen, and watched 
 giar,t palaces grow almost in a night. And this sublime 
 task was pushed to completion by a single regiment of 
 the grand army of the unemployed. 
 
 "Had the romancer or the political economist pre 
 dicted that which actually happened at Jackson Park 
 he would have been denounced as wild and visionary. 
 One one-hundredth part of the idle men^of America 
 
EXTRACTS FROM CAMPAIGN SPEECHES 181 
 
 built in a little over a year*the peerless white city, the 
 sublime realization of the dreams of architect, artist 
 and poet; the matchless wonder of the world. 
 
 "The people of the United States, irrespective of 
 party, are seeking a solution of the problem of the un 
 employed. A few greedy manufacturers may desire a 
 surplus of workmen who shall forever bid against each 
 other for work, but the best brain of the age is ear 
 nestly searching for a true remedy, The politicians of 
 the Republican and Democratic parties are not to be 
 tasted. With them it is the same old fight between 
 the employed and the unemployed. The Republicans 
 have a job and the Democrats want it; the Democrats 
 have a position and the Republicans seek it. They 
 whisper into the ear of their employer, the people, de 
 lusive promises, and on falsa pretenses secure a four- 
 year contract. The people are about to dispense with 
 the services of both these corrupt and inefficient work 
 men. 
 
 "The Republican party pities the unemployed and 
 assures the idle workmen that under a protective tariff 
 there is work for all. But we are under a protective 
 tariff now and have been for years. That does not dis 
 turb the serenity of the Republican politician Pie 
 ascribes the cause to lack of confidence in the Demo 
 cratic party and to a fear of "a revision of the tariff. 
 
 "General Grant tfas President in 1873. He had been 
 elected by a tremendous majority. The tariff was not 
 
 , threatened and protection prevailed^in all its ,glory. 
 But the panic came and millions were out of work for 
 years. I have no patience to discuss the protective 
 tariff. Workmen who yet believe in it deserve to die 
 of starvation. 
 
 > "Democracy urges free trade. Free trade is logically 
 right, but it does not guarantee work to the citizens of 
 a nation. We had a condition approaching free trade 
 before the war, but it did not prevent the panic of 1857. 
 England has had free trade for nearly a century, and 
 \vhile the nation has grown rich, her artisans are out 
 of work during long periods in which the suffering is 
 
182 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 intense. England makes the world work for her capi 
 talists. The crowning ambition of some of our states 
 men is to shape a policy so that English gold will be 
 invested in the United States. We are told that if we 
 are good, English millionaires will send task-masters 
 over here and put us to work. They will hire us to 
 build railroads in the United States for England and 
 Belgium and Germany that is, if we are real good and 
 don t scare them away. The advocates of free trade 
 assert that under it America can compete in the mar 
 kets of the world. 
 
 "We are told that under free trade the United States 
 will manufacture for the world all the cotton and 
 woolen goods, the iron, steel, agricultural implements, 
 knives, watches, and in fact all manufactured products. 
 What a glorious prospect! We shall become the hired 
 girl of nations, the tireless, faithful drudge, working 
 from year to year for the people of England, Germany, 
 France, Holland, Spain, Italy and Russia. That may 
 be the ambition of some statesmen, but it is not mine. 
 
 "Here is the policy of the people: The first duty of 
 the United States is to manufacture enough of those 
 products the raw material of which nature has lavished 
 upon us for the people of this country. It should then 
 produce and sell abroad a surplus sufficient to purchase 
 from the continent and the orient those necessities and 
 luxuries which are produced abroad and not at home. 
 And when that demand is satisfied stop. Reduce the 
 hours of labor and take life easier. What sense is there 
 in impoverishing a country of its resources of timber, 
 iron and fertile soil merely that a people slave them 
 selves with work to pile up gold that cannot be legiti 
 mately spent? 
 
 Workmen of America, how much longer will 
 you be deluded by these false issues of protection 
 and free trade? How much longer will you stupidly / 
 follow some ass who tells you that free silver or paper / 
 money is the one thing needful? You want work, j 
 You have votes. You are in the majority. Your lib- 1 
 erty of voting has not been taken from you. By those j 
 
EXTRACTS FROM CAMPAIGN SPEECHES 183 
 
 votes vest the government with authority to guarantee *N 
 work and the products of that work to every man who / 
 demands it. 
 
 "Cease your railing against the millionaires. Their 
 property is not hurting you. The idle millions of 
 American workmen can create more property in a week 
 than the combined possessions of the richest men in 
 the world. The United States is a vast tract of fertile 
 land filled with inexhaustible mines and is sparsely 
 populated. It is capable of a demonstration by figures 
 that the workmen of America can in twenty years 
 more tham duplicate all the tangible property in the 
 United States. 
 
 "They can reproduce on a grander scale all the great 
 cities, towns and villages, the farmhouses, barns and 
 fences, the 175,000 miles of railroad and its rolling 
 stock, depots and properties, and every colossal project 
 which labor and capital have created from the Atlantic 
 to the Pacific, from the Gulf of Mexico to the British 
 line. 
 
 "The imagination cannot grasp the tremendous pos 
 sibilities of modern methods of production. That which 
 required the labor of thousands of men for months 
 forty yoars ago, is now performed by children in a day. 
 In machinery we have summoned into existence a genie 
 which threatens us with destruction. Whisper a word 
 into his ear and he becomes an obedient slave What 
 is that word? Co-operation." 
 
 Appended is an extract from a speech delivered by 
 Mr. Smith, candidate for President. It was at a Phila 
 delphia meeting held August 25, and this is what the 
 speaker said : 
 
 "I am in receipt of a letter from the president of 
 your board of trade, in which I am asked whether I 
 am in favor of honest money. While fhis is tanta 
 mount to asking me if I prefer the right as against the 
 wrong, all things being equal, I shall take no offense 
 and unhesitatingly answer the gentleman in the affirm- . 
 ative. 
 
184 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 "The money issue does Dot appear in the platform 
 of our party. The men who framed that platform did 
 not consider the question of sufficient importance at 
 the present time to force it to the front. Money 
 honest, dishonest silver, gold and paper is an issue 
 between the debtor and creditor class of this country. 
 
 "The unemployed workmen of this country belong 
 to neither of these classes. They have nothing to lend 
 and no one will extend them credit. Just at present 
 they are endeavoring to take such political action as 
 will guarantee them work. When they obtain that work 
 they intend t cure tain the products of that work after 
 paying their debts and their fair share of the expenses 
 of the government. They have assumed that it will 
 not be a difficult task to arrange some system by which 
 the products of their toil can be exchanged. 
 
 "The president of your board of trade may rest as 
 sured that whatever may be the medium of exchange 
 adopted by the people when they shall have estab 
 lished their right to work it will be an honest one. J 
 very much doubt if any considerable portion of the 
 people will devote their time to the mining of money. 
 If it shall be found necessary, as it doubtless will, to 
 mine gold and silver for use in the sciences and arts, 
 Mother Nature will be called upon for such resources, 
 but we shall not devote valuable time or waste muscu 
 lar tissue in delving the soil for a medium of exchange. 
 
 "Let us imagine an inhabitant, say, of Mars, upon 
 which planet they had a system of finance and exchange 
 strange to us. Let us imagine this visitor from Mars 
 making a trip here for the purpose of writing for our 
 heavenly neighbor a book on his Impressions of Amer 
 ica. He lands in Colorado and Senator Wildcot shows 
 him around the Centennial State. They proceed to 
 Leadville or Aspen and inspect the great mines. 
 
 " This is the greatest silver and gold mine in Amer 
 ica, explains the senator. Three thousand men are 
 digging these treasures from the ground. Sixty-five 
 per cent is silver and thirty-five per cent is gold. 
 
 " Oh, yes. It is very interesting. Is it hard work? 
 asked the gentleman from Mars, 
 
EXTRACTS FROM CAMPAIGN SPEECHES 185 
 
 " Rather hard, but it is good pay. 
 
 " What ia gold used for, may I inquire? 
 
 " Money. 
 
 " Excuse my ignorance, but what is money? asked 
 the puzzled martial gentleman. 
 
 " Why, money is a medium of exchange. It fixes the 
 price of things, regulates values and all that. 
 
 " How? 
 
 " Because there is not much of it. It is hard to get. 
 It represents so much labor. The supply is limited, you 
 see, and it cannot fluctuate much. The senator ap 
 peared ill at ease, 
 
 " I hardly understand. You say it represents so 
 much labor. Then these men have all the money they 
 find. How do other people 
 
 " No, no, interrupted the senator, The men who 
 do the work don t have the silver or gold. They are 
 hired to dig it. It belongs to the mine-owners, I own 
 several mines myself. 
 
 " You puzzle me. I cannot understand what fixes 
 the standard. You said labor. Do you always pay the 
 laborers the same price? 
 
 " No; they form unions and raise the price some 
 times. 
 
 " Are all mines equally rich in minerals? 
 
 " I should say not. The silver mines are too blamed 
 rich. A few years ago they became so rich that the 
 United States stopped buying silver. 
 
 " Remarkable system, mused the visitor. Do all 
 the people own silver and gold mines? 
 
 " Well, hardly. 
 
 " Plow do they get gold and silver? 
 
 " They exchange things for it boots, horses, wheat, 
 pictures, everything 
 
 " What do they want of the gold and silver? 
 
 " Why, it s money, I told youa medium of exchange. 
 They have to have it The senator was perspiring. 
 
 " But you said that three years ago the government 
 refused to purchase silver because there was too much 
 of it. What do they use now? 
 
186 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 " Gold. 
 
 " Suppose you should mine so much gold that the 
 government would not buy it, what would the people 
 then do for money? 
 
 " Damned if I know, said Senator Wildcot. Let s 
 go back to the hotel. 
 
 " They had such a system as that on the moon, said 
 the traveler from Mars, but they outgrew it 8,400,000 
 years ago. 
 
 "The power to issue money should be vested in the 
 general government and in that alone. The United 
 States government is to-day the richest property-owner 
 in the world. Uncle Sam schedules as assets: 
 
 "Seventy millions of people, 80,000,000 of whom are 
 or should be producers. 
 
 "Vast tracts of land. 
 
 "Hundreds of thousands of miles of roads and 
 thoroughfares. 
 
 "More than $200,000,000 invested in public build 
 ings. 
 
 "A public-school system, a postal system, an army 
 and navy with vast stores of ammunitions. 
 
 "Can you place a money estimate on that property? 
 Would ten billions or twenty billions of dollar s cover 
 it? In commercial transactions a man s note is good 
 for at least half of his unimpaired assets. Uncle Sam 
 is in debt a trifle over a billion of dollars, and under 
 any reasonable system of finance and production could 
 pay that in two years. I hold that the credit of the 
 United States is good for any obligation that the people 
 care to assume. We are told that the United States 
 cannot purchase the railroads. If the people have 
 created something greater than themselves, if the rail 
 roads are more than the state, this assertion is true. 
 
 "The unit of money should be based upon the average 
 productivity of an hour s or a day s labor, and its credit 
 should be based on the resources of the government 
 and its fundamental right to levy taxes. Gold has no 
 more right to govern as a standard of value than have 
 
EXTRACTS FROM CAMPAIGN SPEECHES 187 
 
 undressed hides or peacock feathers, The fact that it 
 is accepted as a standard, and that it has been so ac 
 cepted for thousands of years, is the strongest argument 
 why it should be abolished. 
 
 "I am not authorized to forecast just what will be 
 the form of the currency adopted by the people, but it 
 requires no prophetic instinct to assert that it will not 
 be silver or gold. If the people in their wisdom decree 
 that it will be safe to advance money with silver or 
 gold as security they will do so. If they elect that the 
 government be authorized to issue a currency, accept 
 ing as security houses, lands, imperishable manufact 
 ured products and available and convertible property 
 of whatever kind, such will be a part of the financial 
 policy of the future. And any money thus issued will 
 be honest money, and will pass current among the 
 people as a medium of exchange, convertible at all 
 times into any product that labor can create or any 
 service civilization can render. And when that time 
 comes, and whatever form the currency may take, I 
 have an abiding faith that a way will be found to ex 
 change American wheat for English woolens and 
 American sewing machines for Chinese teas, even 
 though the gold standard prevail in every heathen 
 and semi-civilized nation on the face of the globe." 
 
 EXTRACT FROM SPEECH DELIVERED BY JOHN SMITH AT 
 CINCINNATI, SEPT. 2, 1900. 
 
 "In recent years we have heard a great deal about 
 confidence. If the papers are to be trusted and they 
 fairly reflect what the public believes to be the truth 
 the prosperity of the country is entirely a matter of 
 confidence. You pick up your morning paper and 
 here is what you read: 
 
 " The business interests in every part of the country 
 are less sanguine and the tone of trade is less confident 
 
 " An increase of the tariff on soap and scissors would 
 greatly tend to restore the confidence of the business 
 world. 
 
188 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 u< The ratos on money still tend upward, and there is 
 no decrease in the feeling of timidity among bankers 
 and capitalists. The unconditional repeal of the tax 
 on walnuts would speedily brighten affairs. 
 
 " Bohmer & Co, failed to-day for $862,000. Mr. 
 Bohmer ascribes his embarrassment to the prevailing 
 business depression and lack of confidence. 
 
 " Not until confidence is fully restored will business 
 assume its normal proportions, etc. 
 
 "All of which is perfectly true. Under the business, 
 mercantile and productive systems which the last fifty 
 years have developed, everything is more or less regu 
 lated by confidence. Not of the entire community 
 not by any means. It makes little difference whether 
 the man who works has confidence or not. He does 
 not count. It is the man of money, the banker, the 
 merchant, the manufacturer, who alternately burns 
 with a fever of speculation or chills with a lack of con 
 fidence. When confidence is abroad in the land work 
 is plenty, vast workshops resound with the din of in 
 dustry, and at evening long processions of tired but, 
 happy workmen wend their way homeward. When the 
 business world has lost this cud of confidence, this 
 magic wand or potent incantation, depression reigns, 
 industry is paralyzed, children beg on the streets, and 
 poorhonses and prisons are crowded to their doors. 
 
 "How tenderly the financial high priests and com 
 mercial quacks nurse the new-born babe of confidence, 
 the stunted infant cf hard times born in travail and 
 agony 1 Its feeble life is preserved for a time, but loud 
 lamentations arise when, after a few years of miserable 
 existence, the pale youth passes away. 
 
 "What is business confidence? Where does it come 
 from? Why is it necessary and what can be done to 
 perpetuate it? These are questions which should be 
 answered. Let us analyze the situation, 
 
 Business is conducted for profit. Manufacturing 
 is in the hands of men who have invested money and 
 expect some return for it. So long as a steady demand 
 exists for goods produced, manufacturers, jobbers and 
 
EXTRACTS FROM CAMPAIGN SPEECHES 189 
 
 retailers are assured of profits, provided they exercise 
 reasonable business discretion and economy. But a 
 time comes when the demand for products decreases. 
 Then is when the business world begins to lose confi 
 dence. They have their hand upon the public pulse. 
 It may be a false alarm and the demand may again re 
 sume a normal stage. Sooner or later the symptoms 
 reappear. Trade falls off, the manufacturers take 
 alarm, the shops shut down, confidence is lost, and 
 hard times are on. Confidence in what? In the 
 people; in the power of the consumer to keep up 
 with the machinery of production. The reservoir is 
 full to the top and threatens to run over. The engines 
 of production are shut down. 
 
 " Money is a coward, and gold is the greatest coward 
 of all Money is not only a coward, but it is an ignor 
 ant, blundering coward, whose bead js devoid of brains 
 and filled wifh timidity. Money does not know when 
 it is in danger, and as a rule is most timid when there 
 is nothing to fear, and assumes a bravado when there 
 is real danger. Money never created hard times. When 
 the keen-eyed manufacturer perceives that he has pro 
 duced more than enough to meet the demand, the 
 country, ignorant of that fact, is yet in its normal 
 condition. Money knows nothing of the manufacturer s 
 secret, and likely enough is at that very moment dupli 
 cating the great factory which is about to close its 
 "doors. The factory shuts down, Gold trembles. A 
 bank shuts down. Bankers raise their rates of interest 
 and call in loans. The people become alarmed, a run 
 on the banks ensues, every one secures all the money 
 he can and locks it up. The panic is on. Gold has 
 locked himself up in a cage and the chattering of the 
 teeth tells of his pitiful cowardice. But gold did not 
 precipitate the panic. The manufacturer made the 
 paiiic and gold did the running. A period follows in 
 which gold refuses to leave his cage. Three or four 
 months pass and finally he ventures out. He is not 
 harmed and loses some of his fears. Money flows back 
 into the banks. The rates of interest fall. Money be- 
 
190 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 comes a drug in the market. The manufacturers can 
 not use it. They are not ready to start up their shops. 
 The surplus of manufactured goods yet remains unsold. 
 Such was the experience in 1893 and such was the ex 
 perience in all preceding panics. 
 
 "The panic of 1893 was made the subject of more 
 partisan misrepresentation than anything which ever 
 occupied public attention. In their attempt to make 
 political capital and to secure a temporary partisan 
 advantage out of a great national calamity public 
 speakers and writers lied about the causes of the panic 
 or knowingly and maliciously distorted the facts Every 
 thoughtful business man, banker or manufacturer, ev 
 ery student of political economy, and every intelligent 
 citizen of the United States knew in August, 1893, that 
 the panic was caused by an overproduction of manu 
 factured goods. The factories began to shut down in 
 the latter part of 1892, when the country was enjoying 
 almost unexampled prosperity. Hundreds of them had 
 closed down before the general public were aware of it. 
 There suddenly developed a demand for the repeal of 
 the silver bill. Republican and Democratic papers, 
 Republican and Democratic orators, Republican and 
 Democratic partisans declared that the factories were 
 closed down because the banks would not advance 
 money to the shop-owners. This assertion was made 
 again and again and never refuted. It was absolutely 
 false. The manufacturers did not want money. They 
 did not close down on account of a money stringency or 
 a money panic. A financial panic and a stringency 
 followed because the factories closed down. The fac 
 tories were the cause and not the effect. 
 
 "The people did not kno^v this. They were told that 
 work would be resumed just as soon as the banks had 
 money to lend. They believed this. When the panic 
 fwas past money began to pour into the banks, but the 
 factories did not resume work. What was the matter? 
 The predictions of the politicians had not come true. 
 The Sherman silver bill had been repealed, money was 
 plenty, but the hard times continued worse than ever 
 before. 
 
EXTRACTS FROM CAMPAIGN SPEECHES 191 
 
 "Money never created an industrial depression and 
 never averted one. 
 
 "Politics never created an industrial depression and 
 never averted one. Manufacturers do not allow politi 
 cians to interfere in business affairs and the demand of 
 the manufacturers fixes the rate of interest at the banks. 
 
 "When the factory shuts down, the banker knows 
 that there is trouble ahead. He therefore lends no more 
 money. He begins to prepare for the inevitable run on 
 the bank. During the panic money cannot be had. 
 The banker does not know who is in danger of failing. 
 After the scare is over depositors return their money 
 and the banker waits for men with security who want 
 money. The factory-owner has plenty of security, but 
 he does not need money. The banker has plenty of 
 confidence, but it availeth nothing without the confi 
 dence of the manufacturer. 
 
 "A day finally comes when the mill owner decides to 
 open the doors of the shop and put his men to work. 
 He does not ask the banker when to resume. He has 
 been examining the shelves of the retailers. They are 
 empty. The surplus has been consumed. He borrows 
 the necessary money and the wheels of the great factory 
 again revolve. Another factory does the same thing 
 The bank raises the rate of interest. Good times have 
 come. Everything is on the boom. Money prances 
 around and builds new factories and the rates go higher 
 and higher. 
 
 "A few years roll by and again the manufacturer 
 shuts down, a panic follows, and the same performance 
 is repeated. 
 
 "The kingpin, therefore, is the manufacturer. He 
 shuts down not because he wants to, but because he has 
 to. He watches the consumer. The banker watches the 
 manufacturer and such of the statistics of trade as ho 
 Otin reach He obtains confidence and loses confi 
 dence in this way. The system is simple and amusing, 
 
 "It has been politically impossible to successfully 
 assail the Chinese wall of protective tarilf. Manufac 
 turers who close on account of overproduction have 
 
192 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 lyingly told their workmen that the reason for their so 
 doing \\as either a lack of sufficient tariff or a fear 
 that the existing one was about to be reduced. Lying 
 editors have backed up this falsehood. Some factories 
 have curtailed their production for fear that an im 
 mediate reduction in the tariff would find them with 
 a stock of goods on hand which might have to be sold 
 at a slight sacrifice, but these cases are rare. Not all 
 of the workmen have been fools enough to believe what 
 protection editors have told them, but the forces of 
 ignorance in a close election are powerful and too often 
 have prevailed. 
 
 "We therefore witness in this country a remarkable 
 phenomenon. We have a country of unsurpassed nat 
 ural resources as yet hardly touched. We have a strong, 
 willing and industrious population, intelligent on all 
 subjects save that of government, and the greatest 
 inventors on the face of the earth. They are attempt 
 ing to exist under a social, business and producing sys 
 tem so highly nervous in its organism that an inquiry 
 about^its health is likely to bring on a state of extreme 
 depression. Business is a bed-ridden invalid, covered 
 with fever sores, the victim of political quacks who 
 grow rich by applying nostrums which aggravate the 
 disease. 
 
 "Clear your brains for a monent, voters of America, 
 and indulge in the luxury of a thought unclouded by 
 bigotry, custom or prejudice. 
 
 "Suppose that the people of America should wake up 
 one of these beautiful autumnal days, when the glorious 
 old sun shines down on field and meadow, on forest and 
 mine, on lakes, bays and rivers, glinting the sails of* 
 commerce; when warm breezes waft into waves vast 
 fields of grain, until a continent from the Atlantic to 
 the Pacific, rich beyond the dreams of the fabled Croe 
 sus, lies bathed in sunlight, awaiting the coming of 
 the harvester and inviting the toil of the workman 
 suppose that on such a morning the people should take 
 old lady Business out of her chamber, hustle her de 
 crepit limbs into ^God s sunlight, throw the sick bed 
 
EXTRACTS FROM CAMPAIGN SPEECHES 
 
 198 
 
 and its foul linen from the window, open the doors, and 
 air out the house. What do you suppose would happen? 
 Would the old lady die of the shock? No. Would the 
 people all perish of starvation? No. But how the 
 quacks would rush around with smelling bottles and 
 restoratives! 
 
 "Suppose that the people of the United States should 
 suddenly determine to exercise in government that 
 common sense which inspires them in business, in me 
 chanics and in their social relations with each other. 
 Suppose they should abolish the United States Senate, 
 wipe out of the statute-books all laws designed to choke 
 the majority, elect officers by majorities, pass laws by 
 majorities, and repeal Jaws which worked injustice 
 by majorities. Suppose that the people should 
 determine to intrust the welfare of the nation to 
 the common good sense of the majority. Sup 
 pose that they should place tools in the hands of 
 idle men and endow them with a chance to work for a 
 living. Suppose they should at one stroke abolish 
 every tariff law on these statute-books and declare that, 
 as the grandest country on the face of the earth, with 
 the grandest soil, mines, forests and resources, peopled 
 by the grandest people now in the full possession oi 
 their faculties, they feared not the pauper labor of an} 1 
 downtrodden country. Suppose they should do that. 
 Would the world come to an end? Would the rivers 
 run dry, the grain wither in the shock, and the arms oi 
 strong men become palsied? A thousand times no. 
 What reason is there why the people should not do 
 this? 
 
 U I hear some weakling whisper that it is not practi 
 cal. There exists in this country a class of human be 
 ings who call themselves practical men and who believe 
 that poverty is practical, that idleness is practical, that 
 the rule of the majority is impractical, that tariff rob 
 bery is practical, and that any man who assails an ac 
 knowledged wrong is a crank and impractical. Such 
 men encumber the earth and are permitted to exist ii* 
 a civilization whose glories are bequeathed by patriots, 
 
104 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 philosophers and inventors whom the apes of succes 
 sive ages have termed impractical, have derided and 
 vilified, and whenever possible have crucified. 
 
 "I give you a sentiment: Long live the reign of 
 the majority. " 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM SPEECH DELIVERED AT INDIANAPOLIS, 
 SEPT. 12. 
 
 "I shall speak to-night of paternalism. Paternalism. 
 You have seen and heard that word frequently in re 
 cent years. Paternalism in government, believers 
 in paternalism, are phrases generally coupled with a 
 well-worded sneer. Those simple-minded but well- 
 meaning people whose political beliefs are hand-made 
 and who dare not trust themselves to form opinions of 
 their own have been made to believe that paternalism 
 is something awful, which if not checked may sap our 
 national existence. 
 
 "A republican orator will talk himself red in the face 
 defending the protective tariff and then launch into a 
 tirade against farmers who want the government to ad 
 vance them credit on wheat, denouncing it as a pater 
 nalism which no intelligent people will subscribe to. 
 Another will extol the glories of the public school sys 
 tem and wind up by urging every American citizen to 
 assert his own individuality and frown down the rising 
 tide of paternalism. 
 
 "What is this paternalism, who introduced it into 
 the country, and how can we frown it down? 
 
 U I may as well confess at the start that I am a pater 
 nal 1st and prepared to defend myself on any charge 
 which may be brought against me. A paternal govern 
 ment is one which is watchful of the interests of its 
 subjects, one which stands ready to aid its people, a 
 government which holds itself to an extent responsible 
 for the personal comfort and happiness of its subjects. 
 It is the antithesis of anarchy. Of all the words in the 
 dictionary the true anarchist hates paternalism worst. 
 
ANOTKER GOVERNMENT .SI.&V& 
 
 t4-80VBIi:iMIU SLAVE. 
 
 J95 
 
EXTRACTS FROM CAMPAIGN SPEECHES _197 
 
 The government of the United States and our various 
 states and cities have many paternal features. Here 
 are a few of them: 
 
 "The public school system. 
 
 "The post office system. 
 
 "The pension system. 
 
 "The protective tariff. 
 
 "The government land system (now obsolete). 
 
 "Public waterworks. 
 
 "Fire department. 
 
 "Street-lighting system. 
 
 "All of these are examples of paternalism. Anarch 
 ists and a great many other people do not believe in 
 such institutions. They believe that individuals and 
 private corporations can render better service than the 
 government. They prefer private schools, and object 
 to being taxed for public schools, and denounce the 
 system as an odious paternalism. They assert that 
 private corporations would improve on the postal serv 
 ice. They rail against pensions. They are opposed to 
 the protective tariff. I plead guilty of entertaining an 
 opposition to the protective tariff form of paternalism, 
 
 "The paternal features of our government are the ones 
 which save it from a complete and lamentable failure. 
 The splendid service which the state renders to the peo 
 ple through the school, post-office, and the various 
 municipal departments partly atones for the ignomini 
 ous failure to legislate in the interest of the people. 
 Eliminate these paternal features of government and 
 little remains but official corruption. 
 
 "A government is directly responsible for the per 
 sonal comfort and happiness of its people. If the mass 
 of a people are in financial distress the fault lies with 
 the government. If an honest citizen starves to death 
 the government is a murderer. Deny this proposi 
 tion and you renounce your faith in government. 
 
 "If the government is not responsible who or what 
 is? In this city of Indianapolis to-day there are 6,000 
 men out of work. They are good, honest, industrious 
 men, capable of earning a living, but there is no work 
 
198 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 for them to do, They have families dependent upon 
 them. Their means of support is cut off. Who is re 
 sponsible? The men who own the great factories? No. 
 They are under no obligations to give these men work. 
 They are at liberty to close down any time business 
 policy so dictates. Your wealthy citizens are not re 
 sponsible and are not compelled to feed these men or 
 keep their families from starvation. The men them 
 selves are not to blame. The United States govern 
 ment is responsible. It is the fault of some evil system 
 that honest men are denied work. In some way the 
 machinery of the government is defective or this thing 
 would not have happened. 
 
 "Here is this idle workman. He is an American citi 
 zen, a voter and a tax-payer. He fought to protect his 
 country and has ever been a law-abiding citizen. He 
 has ever defended the constitution and laws of his conn- 
 try. A day comes when the factory in which he works 
 is closed down. Other factories are closed. It is im 
 possible for him to obtain work. In other parts of the 
 country the same holds true. This man has been 
 swindled. The government of the United States has 
 obtained money for taxes from him under false pre 
 tenses. Instead ol protecting his interests it has brought 
 about a condition of affairs ruinous not only to himself, 
 but to his employer. Why shall he not hold the govern 
 ment responsible? Is not the^ government responsible 
 for the lives of its subjects? 
 
 "As a believer in paternalism, as a believer in the 
 responsibility of a government, I declare that any hon 
 est citizen of this country, when denied employment 
 in private workshop and mill, has the right to demand 
 and obtain from the government work and compensa 
 tion. I hold that any government which refuses such 
 a demand invites revolution and anarchy. -^^"l 
 
 "American workmen do not want charity. Charity I 
 breeds revolutionists and criminals. A public soup- 
 house will make mere criminals in one week than all 
 Johann Host s ravings can in a year. ^^ 
 
 "An American workman desires a chance to work 
 
EXTRACTS FROM CAMPAIGN SPEECHES 
 
 and earn a living. He cannot supply himself with 
 work. The watch factory with its 3,000 operatives 
 and wonderful machinery has taken the place of the 
 patient, plodding watchmaker of the olden time. The 
 age of machinery has robbed the workman of his indi 
 viduality. He is nothing but a hand, The factory 
 is part of his life. He answers to the ring of a bell, 
 the sound of a whistle, and willingly obeys the petty 
 rules of tyrants that he may earn a living. Shut down 
 the factory and he is lost. He is not to blame for that 
 system. It grew up around him and unconsciously he 
 became a part of it. He is helpless to release himself 
 from it. He is a small and not very important part of 
 the machine, and one very easily replaced, and when 
 the machine stops he stops. Whom shall he look to in 
 this his day of distress? 
 
 "I say he should look to the government, and I make 
 the assertion that no government can long exist which 
 sits idly by and watches its faithful subjects subsist on 
 the bread of charity or sees them forced into pauper 
 ism or crime. 
 
 "The day is at hand when the American republic 
 must choose between paternalism and anarchy. The 
 day is at hand when the American government must 
 either protect its people or go down in revolution and 
 blood. There is no middle ground. We must either 
 have a government of the people, for the people, and 
 by the people, or have no government. 
 
 "/ have an abiding faith in government, in the will 
 of the majority, in wise paternalism, in scientific nation 
 alism. I believe in the people. I believe that the great 
 heart of the people is kind, loving and unselfish. I be 
 lieve that we can trust in the good common sense of a peo 
 ple who are permitted to express their opinion unhampered 
 by restraints. I distrust the individual. He is selfish. 
 He is often dishonest and corruptible. He is easily misled 
 and influenced. Bat you cannot long deceive the whole 
 people; you cannot corrupt the whole people. 1 bel eve 
 that it is the duty of the government of the United States 
 to immediately establish industries which will give employ- 
 
200 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 ment to everg idle man in America. The government has 
 or can command the capital and the people are eager to 
 supply the labor. This plan is perfectly practical. It 
 solves the most difficult problem -which ever confronted civ 
 ilization. It should have no opposition. 
 
 "But it will be fought by those who are opposed to a 
 strong government and to paternalism, by those man 
 ufacturers and capitalists who fear the competition of 
 the government, and by a lot of idiots who believe that 
 a do-nothing policy is conservatism. 
 
 "The strongest argument made against paternalism, 
 against any comprehensive extension of the functions 
 of the government, is that it will create an army of 
 government officials and workmen who -will perpetuate 
 themselves in power by means of an enlarged political 
 machine. It is stated that the power of political pat 
 ronage is already too powerful, and that any extension 
 of it is unwise. This argument is worth answering. 
 It contains a foundation in fact. Patronage is abused, 
 butjjet us examine into the purely paternal features of 
 our government and see to what extent this patronage 
 is wielded for political effect. The two purest exam 
 ples of state paternalism are found in the public school 
 and the post-office. Both could be carried on by private 
 enterprise and both have competitors backed by enor 
 mous capital. There are private schools and there are 
 wealthy express companies. The official patronage of 
 the public school system is enormous. How often does 
 the school-teacher meddle in politics? How often is 
 his political belief made a test of his employment? 
 When have the school-teachers been enrolled as apolit 
 ical factor in this or in any other country? Care is 
 even exercised in the selection of school books, so ns to 
 preclude the introduction of teachings which tiud to 
 fortify religious or political doctrines. The public 
 school, with its army of 250,000 teachers and officials, 
 cannot be cited as an argument against paternalism. 
 
 "The post-office system is another pure form of pater 
 nalism. It is but slightly tainted with the curse of 
 political patronage. The high officials are generally 
 
A flagrant example of paternalism. 
 201 
 
EXTRACTS FROM CAMPAIGN SPEECHES 203 
 
 selected by the party in power, but the civil-service 
 rule is enforced without protest. In Chicago, New 
 York, Philadelphia, and in all the large cities of the 
 country political changes do not impair the discipline 
 of the force. Even high officials, with authority to 
 employ and discharge hundreds of men, are not dis 
 turbed by meddlesome politicians in the exercise of 
 their duties. There- may be rare exceptions to this rule, 
 but these exceptions prove the rule. The vast num 
 bers of postal clerks and mail carriers are selected by a 
 civil-service examination, and an efficient and faithful 
 workman can hold his position for life even under the 
 existing corrupt and partisan system of politics. 
 
 "The United States government has immense navy 
 yards and government workshops filled with great ma 
 chinery and employing thousands of mechanics and 
 laborers. Surrounded as these institutions are at pres 
 ent with an environment of fierce partisanship and cor 
 ruption, these great industrial concerns are conducted 
 on a business basis. The mechanic is seldom selected 
 for his political belief or disbelief. In workmanship 
 the government workshops rival any private corpora 
 tion in existence. Any thoughtful man who inspected 
 the government exhibit at the Columbian Exposition 
 must have been impressed with this fact. The superb 
 exhibit was not a Democratic argument, it was not a 
 Republican argument. It was a triumph for the dis 
 tinctly paternal features of our government and a glori 
 ous contrast to the partisan exhibit which was being 
 displayed at that very time in the senate chamber of 
 the United States capitol at Washington. The splen 
 did exhibit of the fish commission which is filling our 
 lakes and rivers with game fish at the expense and under 
 the direct management of the government; the distri 
 bution of seed to farmers and the scientific development 
 of new fruit and food products; the equipment and ex 
 tension of the signal and life-saving systems; the erad 
 ication of fruit and grain destroying insects; the per 
 fection of precautions against cholera and other conta 
 gious diseases these are a few of the paternal features 
 
204 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 of the government which were displayed at Chicago in 
 the splendid exhibit of the United States. 
 
 "The paternal features of the United States are the 
 ones which have saved it from destruction; the ones 
 of which the people are , proud; the ones which reflect 
 the progress of our civilization. The great mass of the 
 people are in favor of these paternal features, but they 
 meekly join in a chorus pf condemnation when some 
 fool politician or editor warns them against paternal 
 ism, as if it were something little less than a crime. 
 
 "The postal system of the United States and the fire 
 departments of several of our large cities are not only 
 the finest illustrations of -paternalism, but they are the 
 most superb illustration of mechanical and scientific 
 progress in the world. There is nothing in private en 
 terprise that can approach them. They are in acute 
 touch with the progress of to-day. They are ever ready 
 to test any promising improvement and to adopt it if 
 it proves of value. They are not conducted for profit, 
 but for the benefit of the whole people. 
 
 "While the people of the United States have been 
 stupidly listening to the denunciation of paternalism, 
 the monarchies of the old world have been putting into 
 operation many wise plans for the betterment of the 
 people. Germany has adopted a pension system by 
 which the faithful workman, after serving a term of 
 years, receives from the government a stipend sufficient 
 to support his declining years. In this country we send 
 him to the poorhouse. 
 
 "Australia has abolished the private monopoly of 
 railroads and telegraph lines, and given to the people 
 the finest service in the world. In France and even in 
 Spain the spread of paternalism has been noted. 
 
 "It has remained, however, for Glasgow, the leading 
 municipality of Scotland, to give the world an example 
 of what can be accomplished by wise paternalism. Un 
 der the leadership of local statesmen that city, ten 
 years ago, began to undo the blunders of former years. 
 It has taken charge of its street-car lines and given the 
 people a splendid service, It dispenses with the private 
 
EXTRACTS FROM CAMPAIGN SPEECHES 205 
 
 gas and electric lighting companies and furnishes its 
 citizens with these necessities at half the monopoly 
 prices. It has established a public telephone service 
 at reasonable rates, and from these and other enter 
 prises it derives all needed revenue and has abolished 
 local taxation. 
 
 "Is there anything wild or visionary about this? 
 There is not the slightest reason why New York, Chi 
 cago, Indianapolis, and in fact every city in the United 
 States should not take immediate steps to follow Glas 
 gow s example. They should own and operate street 
 car lines, gas and electric lights, telephones and other 
 great public enterprises. They would derive enormous 
 incomes from these paternal features and their citizens 
 would be relieved of the immense tax now paid into 
 the pockets of stockholders. 
 
 "The triumphs of paternalism in the United States 
 have been achieved in the face of tremendous odds. 
 They have approached perfection in spite of the fact 
 that they have been surrounded with an atmosphere 
 of hostile partisanship, and menaced by corruption 
 and the greed of private competition. Unscrupulous 
 partisans have attempted to use them; corrupt officials 
 have stolen or diverted the funds which should have 
 gone to them, political bigots have railed against 
 them; economists like Homan of Indiana have cut 
 down the appropriations which rightfully belonged to 
 them, but they have survived and grown more beauti 
 ful a lily in a quagmire, the one redeeming feature 
 in an age of political degeneracy, 
 
 "Wipe out this corrupt political system, which pro 
 tects the individual official in the robbery of the public. 
 
 "Give the people the power to elect their officers by 
 majorities and to remove them when unfaithful to their 
 trusts. 
 
 "Invest in the people the right to pass laws for their 
 improvement and the last argument against the scien 
 tific development of paternalism shall be swept away. 
 The school, the post-office, the government workshops, 
 and all other paternal industries will then be planted 
 in a friendly soil and thrive as never before. 
 
206 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 U I am not advocating a paternalism or a nationalism 
 which shall subjugate the individual which shall es 
 tablish a monopoly of production and of labor. I be 
 lieve that the government should assume the exclusive 
 right to maintain an army and to issue money, and 
 own and manage the great interstate railway lines. 
 More than that it does not require. To those who de 
 mand competition the government will act as a com 
 petitor. If private enterprise can safely and econom 
 ically carry letters and perform postal service permit 
 them to do so and let the government compete with 
 them. The fittest will survive. If the government can 
 manufacture guns and sewing machines and fairly 
 compete with private enterprises the government should 
 engage in such enterprises. If the millions of idle 
 men in this country can find remunerative employment 
 in the government manufacture of agricultural imple 
 ments, boots and shoes, cotton goods, woolens and 
 clothing,no private enterprise has a right to protest. 
 
 "If private enterprise cannot compete in any given 
 industry against the government but one conclusion is 
 possible the government should undertake thai in 
 dustry. If the g overnment cannot compete in any given 
 industry against private enterprise but, one conclusion 
 is possible the government should abandon that en 
 terprise and devote its attention to something else. 
 There need be nothing unfriendly in this competition. 
 If the government shall undertake, let us say, the 
 manufacture of shoes, and in the competition which 
 follows a certain shoe manufacturer finds it impossible 
 from any cause to compete successfully, the govern 
 ment should stand ready to purchase his plant at an 
 honest price and resume work where he left off. 
 
 " Under such a system injustice could be done no 
 man. The government would produce, manufacture 
 and sell its products a shade above cost price. It would 
 sell to the community at large. The government could 
 lose nothing and the producer would be able to buy- 
 back the products of his labor. The private competi 
 tor would be compelled to meet government prices. If 
 
EXTRACTS FROM CAMPAIGN SPEECHES 207 
 
 his means of production, management and economy 
 were equal to that of the government his profits would 
 be in proportion. In so much as he excelled the govern 
 ment he would increase his profits. If he could not 
 compete the logic of events has simply demonstrated 
 the superiority of government control of that industry. 
 In such a system ambition would not be checked and 
 the spirit of invention would not be stifled. Well-man 
 aged private enterprises would survive and flourish, and 
 wages would ever hover around the point at which the 
 laborer could buy back the products of his toil. Pri 
 vate capital would ever be ready to embark in new and 
 promising industries or to develop new inventions. 
 The inventor who desired to sell or develop an inven 
 tion would find in the government an active competitor 
 against the private capitalist." 
 
 EXTRACT FROM SPEECH DELIVERED AT ST. LOUIS, 
 SEPT. 19. 
 
 "The declaration of independence was written by a 
 statesman; the constitution of the United States was 
 drafted by politicians. We look to the declaration for 
 inspiration, to the constitution for political trickery. 
 The country is governed by the constitution, and the 
 declaration is for use only on the Fourth of July. 
 
 "The politicians who represented the petty and jeal 
 ous colonies in the constitutional convention had a 
 hearty hatred of majorities and a fear of the people, 
 but it is unfair to their memories to intimate that they 
 contemplated a constitution whose enforcement would 
 result in the existing subjugation and degradation of 
 the majority. The} 7 could not have anticipated a band 
 of protected freebooters ready to combine in a com 
 mon raid on the people. The men who drafted the 
 constitution did not knowingly erect the political ma 
 chine which has turned out a Tammany in New York 
 and a blocks of five system in Indiana and Ohio. 
 
 "It is idle to talk of reform under any such political 
 system as now prevails. If the history of the last 100 
 
208 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 years has demonstrated anything it is the absolute 
 failure of lepresentative government. Do not talk to 
 me about the glories of this country. Its glories and 
 triumphs have been achieved in spite of the constitu 
 tion and not because of it. No system of misgovern- 
 ment can entirely ruin this country. The existing one 
 has gone the entire length of imbecility and the coun 
 try triumphantly survives. 
 
 "No maladministration of affairs, however criminal, 
 can entirely eradicate happiness. Some modern philos 
 opher has declared that there is happiness in hell. He 
 must have made his discover} 7 at the time when Ameri 
 can citizens, hungry and panic-ridden, were going 
 around with smiling faces with a United States Senate 
 in session at Washington. The American citizen in 
 recent years has developed a patience and a smile under 
 discouraging circumstances, which breeders of mules 
 would give a fortune to successfully imitate. 
 
 X "A returning board swindles the majority of the peo 
 ple out of a presidency, and after pouting over it a few 
 \ days they regard the steal as a huge joke. 
 ^-~ "A street-car syndicate steals fifty miles of streets 
 from a city, and the citizens poke their alderman under 
 the ribs, slyly wink, and ask him how much he got. 
 This is so good a joke that the alderman buys the 
 \ drinks. 
 
 "Twenty-five thousand idle men parade the streets 
 
 with banners demanding work, and the next day every 
 
 newspaper paragrapher in town has a joke to the eilect 
 
 that what the men needed most was a bath. At this 
 
 excruciating bit of humor a great city laughs .until 
 
 \ its sides ache. But the day for laughing at these things 
 
 V is past. Good humor and cheerfulness is an excellent 
 
 \ thing when it is not accompanied by asininity. 
 
 v "This country has attained a degree of prosperity be 
 cause unwise laws and thieving politicians were not 
 potent enough to overcome natural advantages. The 
 pioneer who drifted into the west laid the foundation 
 of a fortune without the aid and without the restraint 
 of any form of government. He became rich because 
 
EXTRACTS FROM CAMPAIGN SPEECHES 209 
 
 he could Dot help it. Every newly developed country 
 has been prosperous before the blighting influences of 
 our so-called civilization became fastened upon it. 
 Look at the state of Illinois to-day. With its imperial 
 city of Chicago and all its wealth the standard of hap 
 piness is lower than it was fifty years ago. The burdens 
 which now rest upon the country can never be removed 
 until the people are given a voice in the management 
 of their political affairs. 
 
 "So long as the people permit themselves to be deluded 
 into a belief that they are governing, so long will they 
 be robbed. So long as they cherish the shadow, and 
 refuse to grasp the reality which is in their reach, so 
 long will they be robbed, and so long will they deserve 
 to be robbed. The people have had just the kind of gov 
 ernment they deserve. Their criminal carelessness, stupid 
 patience with wrong-doing and inane complaisance 
 with steadily encroaching tyranny, has had the inevita 
 ble result and they are paying the well-deserved pen 
 alty. 
 
 "Representative government is a failure. It is wrong 
 in principle and criminal in practice. It should have 
 been repudiated fifty years ago, when its defects were 
 discovered, but instead of boldly denouncing the mis 
 takes of the founders of the constitution the people 
 have been led by wily politicians into a defense of the 
 very things which struck down their liberties. 
 
 :"Man is naturally honest. He is born that way. He 
 learns dishonesty. Naturally a man will do the right 
 rather than the wrong thing. Where he is not directly 
 interested he will decide fairly bstween right and wrong, 
 Thrown into a contest where he is compelled to strug 
 gle with others for a living or for advancement, he be 
 comes selfish. This is natural. His natural sense of 
 fairness and inherent honesty becomes dominated by 
 self-interest. Few men escape the action of this gen 
 eral law. A representative system of government is one 
 in which a number of people delegate to one of their 
 number or to several of their number the power to pass 
 Jaws and transact business in which all are interested, 
 
210 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 The men they select as representatives are also inter 
 ested. The theory of a representative system is that 
 the best men in the community will be selected. lu 
 practice this does not come to pass, and even if it should 
 it would not save the system from failure. 
 
 "Only in rare cases i a representative elected on a 
 specific issue. Take a state election. Eighty mem 
 bers of the lower house are to be elected. In different 
 parts of the state various issues are being forced. There 
 are such issues as mining reforms, eight-hour laws, tax 
 ation of corporations, the method of electing senators, 
 etc. The people elect representatives to decide these 
 issues. No representative can reflect the will of his 
 constituents on all these questions. He does not even 
 know what the majority of his constituents desires. 
 More than that, he does not care. But all the people 
 have decided views on all of these questions. The eighty 
 representatives proceed to the state capital and for 
 months the hotels are filled with lobbyists from all 
 parts. These questions are decided in defiance of the 
 known will of the majority and the only recourse the 
 people have is the right of petition. The same is truo 
 of municipal councils, 
 
 "The history of state legislatures and city councils in 
 this country is a history of revolting and openly pa 
 raded corruption, in which the property and sacred 
 rights of the people have been bartered and sold with 
 as little compunction as brokers buy and sell wheat 
 and hogs on a board of trade. There is no need to 
 particularize. The record is a shame to civilization 
 and the people should have wiped out the iniquitous 
 system a generation ago. 
 
 "In no monarchy or despotism, ancient or modern, 
 have the people been so robbed by corrupt and insati 
 ate officials as in the United States. From the Alaska 
 seal-thieving syndicate in the United States Senate to 
 the petty thief who steals postage stamps in a country 
 town the taint of corruption is spread. The people do 
 not even have the power to depose an official when he 
 is detected iu rascality. They have given their author- 
 
EXTRACTS FROM CAMPAIGN SPEECHES 211 
 
 ity for a term of years to an agent they are powerless 
 to discharge or discipline. He can serve his term and 
 draw his salary in spite of the people, unless by proc 
 ess of law they succeed in landing him in the peniten 
 tiary. 
 
 The people should not be compelled to surrender 
 their rights to a representative. It may be policy to 
 transact certain routine work by means of a represent 
 ative body, but on all laws, issues and large expend 
 itures of "money in which the whole people are inter 
 ested, and by which they must be governed, the people 
 should cast the vote, yes or no, and the minority 
 should abide by the result without appeal to any 
 higher authority. 
 
 "There should be, there is, no higher authority than 
 the people. Laws have created many such higher 
 courts of appeal and they have ever decided against the 
 people. These petty monarchs, these usurping rulers 
 should be deposed, and the laws creating them should 
 be abolished. 
 
 : The Supreme Court of Illinois has -overthrown every 
 law in which the farmers and wageworkers of that 
 state have directly interested themselves. 
 
 "The people passed a law providing for a weekly pay 
 day. The Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional. 
 "The people passed a law against the crime of child 
 labor in factories, mines and stores. The Supreme 
 Court declared it unconstitutional. 
 
 "The people passed a law against the iniquitous sys 
 tem of truck stores. The Supreme Court declared it 
 unconstitutional. 
 
 "The list might be continued indefinitely. In every 
 instance where a newly passed law operated to the ad 
 vantage of the workman as against that of his employer 
 the Supreme Court promptly and enthusiastically de 
 clared that law unconstitutional, and the people were 
 forever checked from obtaining legal redress for their 
 wrongs. 
 
 "The right of the majority to rule will be secured 
 only after a feariul struggle, The issue of majority 
 
212 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 rule will be fought inch by inch by every great corpora 
 tion, thieving syndicate, money shark, office-holding 
 politician, and by the combined forces of those whose 
 supremacy would be imperiled by the rule of the ma 
 jority. 
 
 "For one hundred years Privilege has been rearing 
 a wall against the people. It is intrenched behind 
 this wall with its thousands of court decisions in 
 favor of monopoly and against the people. Able ad 
 vocates will tell you that it is not wise that the people 
 should have a direct vote on laws; that it is un- 
 American and contrary to the spirit of American insti 
 tutions; that people who advocate any such measure 
 are attempting to overthrow the work of Washington 
 and Jefferson, consecrated by Lincoln, Grant and Gar- 
 field. They will call you anarchists, socialists and 
 revolutionists in an impartial and indiscriminate man 
 ner. They will thereby convince a great many men 
 that the people are not safe rulers for themselves. They 
 will spend untold millions of dollars in an attempt to 
 defeat popular ruJe. They will spend this money fool 
 ishly and in vain-foolishly for the reason that the peo 
 ple will, when successful, in no way encroach upon their 
 rights or attempt to confiscate their property; in vain 
 for the reason that the people are no longer to be kept 
 away from their birthright." 
 
 EXTRACT FROM SPEECH DELIVERED AT ST. PAUL, 
 OCT. 14. 
 
 "Under our present industrial system we are depend 
 ent on the wages of the man who runs the machine. 
 Capitalists and the independent classes are small in 
 numbers. The farmer cannot consume the total prod 
 ucts of his fields. He looks to the workman in the 
 city as his customer. When a thing is produced it must 
 be sold or permitted to rot. If 4,000,000 men are work 
 ing in factories and new machinery throws 3,000,000 
 of them out of work the wages of the remaining 1,000,- 
 000 must be nearly sufficient to purchase the same 
 amount of the product of the factories as was formerly 
 
EXTRACTS FROM CAMPAIGN SPEECHES 213 
 
 bought by the wages of the 4,000,000. Otherwise a 
 surplus is inevitable. The non-producers depend on 
 the wages of the producers. Stated broadly, therefore, 
 the wages of the wokrnan must be sufficient to purchase 
 back the increment his labor has added to raw material 
 -after a fair profit has been deducted by the capital em 
 ployed in manufacture. 
 
 "The logical and theoretical end of the development 
 of machinery is one vast machine, manipulated by one 
 workman, and owned by one capitalist the workman 
 the sole wage-earner and the capitalist and the work 
 man constituting the consuming class. They would 
 pay all taxes, support the government, and maintain 
 a police and standing army to preserve the peace. The 
 wage-earner would receive the lowest rate of wages at 
 which any efficient workman would consent to run the 
 machine, and would go on a strike whenever he could 
 organize himself. The machine would run until a sur 
 plus was created, which would be in about fifteen 
 seconds. An industrial depression would then ensue 
 until the workman, capitalist, and the several millions 
 of idle workmen, paupers, criminals and tax-eaters had 
 consumed the surplus, when business would revive and 
 a new panic and depression follow. We have been 
 rapidly approaching this beautiful condition of affairs 
 for thirty-five years, a condition disastrous to every 
 .member of society, and one which can be commended 
 by no man possessed of one grain of common sense or 
 actuated by that political horse sense which is the best 
 kind of patriotism. 
 
 "Look over the United States to-day. There are 
 great factories filled with machinery so perfect that if 
 can almost think. It stands idle and the corroding 
 touch of time is frosting the delicate mechanism with 
 rust. Strong and willing workmen look wistfully 
 through the windows and watch in vain for a wreath 
 of srnoke from the great chimneys. In the warehouses 
 are manufactured goods for which no purchaser calls. 
 A million people are in need of these necessities of life 
 which swift-moving machinery has so easily fashioned. 
 
214 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 The capitalist paces through the deserted rooms of the 
 factory and looks sadly at the decaying machinery. 
 Taxes, insurance and perhaps rent are eating their way 
 into his pocket and destroying his capital. The morn 
 ing paper says that the stock in that factory dropped 
 three points on the exchange the day before. Twenty- 
 five thousand hungry men march through the streets 
 of a great city. A reformer timidly suggests that some 
 thing is wrong in our industrial system. Four thou 
 sand editors and 10,000 preachers pronounce him a 
 crank and a fool, who cannot understand the spirit of 
 American institutions." 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE WILL OF THE MAJORITY. 
 
 A STATESMAN had lifted a party from obscurity and 
 made it a power in politics, The People s party, as it 
 existed in 1888, 90, 92 and 93, had passed away, and 
 only its name survived. No longer a coterie of green- 
 hackers, trade unionists, debt-ridden farmers and po- 
 Jitical faddists, it had been transformed into a political 
 party of the sternest American type, American in its 
 platform, its leaders and its methods. Self-interest 
 had been eliminated from its platform and statesman 
 ship substituted. Its orators fearlessly demanded the 
 rule of the majority, and with that as a battle cry they 
 carried the fight into the very strongholds of the enemy. 
 
 In Boston a "Majority Rule Club" was organized. 
 The idea spread like ^wild fire. Majority rule clubs 
 sprang up everywhere* and embraced in their member 
 ship all classes of citizens. Not since 1828, when the 
 people of the United States repudiated President Adams 
 who had served a term after being elected by a minor 
 ity vote of 105,000, as against Jackson s 155,000 and a 
 second time triumphantly elected and inaugurated Jack 
 son, had such a political revolution swept the country. 
 
 For twenty years the people had been waiting to 
 break away from the old parties. They had waited long 
 and patiently for a man and an issue. There had been 
 third parties, but neither their platforms nor leaders 
 commanded general respect. 
 
 For twenty years the political discontent of the peo 
 ple manifested itself in an unmistakable manner. Like 
 a caged panther they paced the short limit of their 
 
 215 
 
216 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 cage, reversing again and again, only to be confronted 
 bp the same old iron bars and prodded by the same old 
 trainers. In 1876 they repudiated the Republican party 
 and elected Tilden by a popular majority (not plural 
 ity), but were counted out by the party in power. In 
 the four years of Hayes administration the financial 
 depression eased and Garfield obtained an election on a 
 minority vote. Hard times again returned and the peo 
 ple wanted "a change." They elected Cleveland and 
 in four years more repudiated him and took the back 
 track. One term of the old Republicanism was enough 
 to again sicken the people and they demanded and ob 
 tained another change. Cleveland was again elected 
 by sweeping pluralities. 
 
 One year after his election the Republicans swept the 
 country on the issue of hard times. The same men who 
 voted against Blaine and Harrison on account of the 
 then prevailing hard times voted in 1893 for McKinley 
 and Jackson and other Republicans on the same issue. 
 
 But the panther was becoming more restless. He 
 threw himself against the bars more recklessly. In 
 1890 Chicago went Republican by 10,000 majority. In 
 
 1892 it went 35,000 Democratic. In 1893 it went 7,- 
 500 Republican. Six months later it went 1,500 Dem 
 ocratic. In 1892 New York State went Democratic 45,- 
 000, and a year later it went Republican 75,000. 
 
 What good did all this do? The people were simply 
 electing one set of men and repudiating another. In 
 
 1893 hundreds of thousands of disgusted citizens re 
 mained away from the polls and no pleading could 
 persuade them to vote. The result was received with 
 apathy except by a few dupes who imagined that in 
 some way the country would be benefited. Free trade 
 has been rebuked, they said. In that election there 
 had not been a man elected who had any voice in de 
 ciding on tariff or any other national measure. A few 
 men had secured political jobs, and the people had been 
 accorded their annual privilege of "voting." 
 
 Affairs were changed in 1900. Old party lines were 
 obliterated. From one end of the country to another 
 
THE WILL OF THE MAJORITY 217 
 
 the people demanded "a change" which would amount 
 to something. In vain protection orators addressed 
 themselves to workingmen ; in vain old-time Democrats 
 protested that the Democratic party was the repository 
 of the hopes of the people. There was a new south, a 
 new west and a new northwest. Bourbon politics re 
 tained its hold only in the east and along the Atlantic 
 coast and in the extreme south. Early in the campaign 
 the Republicans abandoned all hope of carrying Kansas, 
 Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota and the Pacific coast states. 
 They realized that Illinois and the central northwestern 
 states were in danger and poured money into them 
 without stint. They made their stand in New York, 
 Pennsylvania and Ohio, and with a corruption fund 
 exceeding $5,000,000 conducted a campaign which will 
 never be forgotten in American politics. They had 
 able speakers and writers. They organized a literary 
 bureau and buried the country under a flood of pam 
 phlets. The autumn sky was red with fireworks, and 
 processions of men paid for the purpose paraded the 
 streets of Chicago, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Pittsburg 
 and New York. 
 
 Every trick of the politician was brought into play. 
 The manufacturers, capitalists and business men were 
 scared into giving liberally, and the day of the election 
 found the Republicans with an enormous campaign 
 fund on hand. It wag used. In large and small cities 
 bribery was openly practiced. In a subsequent inves 
 tigation it was ascertained that in New York City alone 
 30,000 votes were bought and delivered. 
 
 The Democrats were handicapped and disorganized. 
 The south was in revolt. The new generation of the 
 south was tired of hearing the war talked about. That 
 splendid section was held back by existing conditions, 
 and the southern voters refused to follow the old-time 
 leaders. The new party cut the Democrats in two in 
 several of the pivotal states, and early in the campaign 
 it became apparent that Hild was defeated. 
 
 Judge Smith closed the campaign in Chicago, holding 
 bis Uiat meeting in Manufacturers Hall on the lake 
 
218 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 front. One hundred and fifty thousand people crowded 
 in and around the great building The meeting was a 
 surprise to the local politicians, but they were not pre 
 pared for what followed. 
 
 Election day passed quietly and an immense vote 
 was cast. The afternoon papers claimed everything 
 for their respective sides, but the people patiently 
 waited. In the evening the streets of Chicago were 
 blocked by a surging mob. The newspaper offices were 
 the points of interest. The first bulletins were of the 
 usual vague," speculative nature and varied with the 
 politics of the newspaper men at the opposite ends of 
 the wire. Here are some of the early bulletins which 
 set the crowd howling: 
 
 "The Sun estimates that Hild has carried New York 
 State by 45,000 majority." 
 
 "Kimbly has carried Ohio by a large majority." 
 
 "Ten precincts in Burlington, Vt., give Kimbly 908, 
 Hild 840, Smith 648." 
 
 "Who is Smith? Seems as if I have heard the name 
 before." 
 
 "Texas has gone Democratic by from 150,000 to 200,- 
 000 majority." 
 
 "South Carolina is Democratic by the usual large 
 majority." 
 
 "The Cincinnati Commercial- Gazette claims Kim 
 bly s election by a large popular majority." 
 
 The first authentic news from New York State came 
 over the wire about 8:20 in the evening. It read: 
 
 Two hundred and twenty-seven precincts give: 
 
 Hild 28,427 
 
 Smith , .25,812 
 
 Kimbly 12,713 
 
 A roar went up from the street which brought every 
 busy writer in the newspaper offices to the windows. 
 While the cheering was still in progress the bulletin 
 disappeared and this one flashed across the street: 
 
 Four hundred and ten precincts in Philadelphia 
 give: 
 
The last rally before election. 
 
THE WILL OF THE MAJORITY 221 
 
 Kimbly 41,318 
 
 Hild 83,917 
 
 Smith 50,428 
 
 The wildest excitement prevailed. In the clubs and 
 in the Republican and Democratic headquarters the 
 assembled politicians refused to believe the news until 
 private telegrams confirmed the report that in the cities 
 Smith was running even or ahead of Hild and Kirnbly. 
 Judge Smith received the returns at the People s head 
 quarters on Adams Street. Out in the streets the cheer 
 ing mob yelled itself hoarse. Here are some of the bul 
 letins displayed before 11 o clock: 
 
 Chicago Twenty-nine precincts give: 
 
 Hild . 2, 172 
 
 Kimbly 1,841 
 
 Smith 5,874 
 
 New York City Seven hundred and twenty-nine pre 
 cincts give: 
 
 Hild 71,118 
 
 Kimbly 85,021 
 
 Smith 85,490 
 
 Smith s plurality, 14,372 
 
 The New York Herald estimates that Smith has 
 carried New York by from 25,000 to 30,000 majority. 
 
 Chairman Matt Quinn of the Republican national 
 committee claims New York State by 15,000 majority. 
 
 Seventy-two cities and towns in Connecticut give: 
 
 Kimbly 48, 121 
 
 Hild 1 7, 433 
 
 Smith 46,207 
 
 Charleston, S, C. Charleston has gone Populist by 
 not less than 5,000 majority. The Populists are claim-- 
 ing the state by 40,000 majority. 
 
 Burlington, Iowa Smith and Foster have swept 
 Iowa by not less than 85,000 majority. 
 
 San Francisco, Cal. Judge Smith has carried San 
 Francisco by 30,000 majority. Chairman Potter esti 
 mates Smith s plurality in the state at 150,000. 
 
 Burlington, Iowa (11 o clock) Nine hundred and 
 eighty towns and precincts in Iowa give; 
 
222 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 Smith 178,640 
 
 Kimbly 55, 924 
 
 Hild 37,683 
 
 Smith s plurality 117,716. 
 
 St. Paul, Mirm. Scattering reports indicate heavy 
 Populist gains. The Republicans claim the state by a 
 small majority. 
 
 Pittsburg, Pa. Pittsburg gives Smith 28,000 ma 
 jority. The Populists claim the state by a good major 
 ity. Returns are coming in slowly. 
 
 New York City Returns are coming in very elowly. 
 The Populists have probably carried New York City 
 and the state by large majorities. 
 
 New York City (11:15 o clock) The Associated Press 
 reports indicate the election of Judge Smith as Presi 
 dent of the United States. 
 
 Cleveland, O. (11:85 o clock) Governor Kimbly 
 concedes Judge John Smith s election and has just for 
 warded him the following telegram: 
 
 << CINCINNATI, O., Nov. 5, 1900 To Judge John Smith, 
 Chicago, 111. : Permit me to congratulate you on the 
 most stupendous popular victory ever attained by an 
 American citizen. Accept my sincere congratulations. 
 
 "MARK KIMBLY." 
 
 In the exuberance of their joy men laughed and cried. 
 Frenzied crowds paraded the streets all night. Men 
 who had voted the Republican and Democratic tickets 
 joined in the popular victory. The landslide was so 
 sweeping that party ties were sundered and every one 
 seemed to go with the victors. 
 
 The day after the election brought no subsidence of 
 the excitement. As the returns came in the victory 
 appeared more sweeping. Here are a few editorial 
 comments: 
 
 New York Herald The People s party has swept the 
 country. The west and the south, with the possible 
 exception of Texas, have cast their votes for Smith and 
 Foster. New York State has gone Populist by not 
 less than 50,000 majority. Pennsylvania for the first 
 time in forty years has repudiated a Republican presi- 
 
THE WILL OF THE MAJORITY 223 
 
 dential candidate. The HERALD has no comment to 
 make on the result. None is necessary. 
 
 Chicago Inter Ocean Governor Kimbly s election is 
 in doubt. The result is a surprise and can be accounted 
 for on no other grounds than that the people want a 
 change. There was a decided tailing off in the Republi 
 can vote. Thank God, the Democrats did not win any 
 how. 
 
 Louisville Courier- Journal The Democratic part} 7 
 is dead and no smirking Republican is alive to follow 
 the hearse. In the face of the popular uprising of the 
 people the COURIER-JOURNAL has no invidious comments 
 to make. The star-eyed goddess of reform is safe in 
 the company of Judge John Smith. As Democrats we 
 take off our hats and shout: "Long live the reign of 
 the people." 
 
 New York Mail and Express The latest advice indi 
 cates the temporary triumph of anarchy, lawlessness 
 and Judge Smith The Republicans have not yet aban 
 doned all hope. The Democratic party is wiped out of 
 existence. There is some consolation in that. 
 
 Bangor Express Maine was true to her traditions 
 and is still in line. We cannot realize that the country 
 has departed from its time-honored traditions. 
 
 Wednesday the returns from New York State gave 
 Smith 48,000 majority Thursday s figures cut this 
 down to 32,000. The following day it was announced 
 that owing to mistakes in the count this figure would 
 be considerably reduced In three days Smith s major 
 ity in Pennsylvania decreased from 70,000 to 15,000, 
 and in Ohio from 35,000 to 8,000. Saturday afternoon 
 the Chicago Tribune displayed a bulletin claiming Kirn- 
 bly s election. Scenes of wild excitement followed. 
 Newspaper offices were besieged by mobs of people and 
 all manner of exciting rumors prevailed. 
 
 There was a scent of bribery everywhere. A Chicago 
 paper published a dispatch from New York giving the 
 details of a Republican-Democratic conspiracy to steal 
 the election. In later years the details of that account 
 were verified. Tuesday night, when it became evident 
 
224 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 that Smith had carried practically everything except 
 the Atlantic states, a meeting of New York politicians 
 was hurriedly called. Messengers were sent in different 
 directions, and at midnight in a room at the Hoffman 
 House the plans were laid. Tammany agreed to deliver 
 New York to the Republicans and a representative of 
 the Pennsylvania political syndicate agreed to take 
 care of the state. The people had few election clerks 
 or judges, and the task was not a difficult one. 
 
 The returns were withheld and falsified in New York, 
 Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Ohio and Michigan. In 
 the latter state eight electoral votes were needed and 
 would have been obtained had not a Grand Rapids 
 newspaper man discovered the conspiracy. As it was, 
 six districts were successfully manipulated. For this 
 job thirty men were subsequently convicted and sen 
 tenced to long terms in state penitentiaries. But they 
 had done their thieving work well. After 28,000 votes 
 had been stolen in New York State, 38, 000 in Pennsyl 
 vania, 40, 000 in Ohio, 20, 000 in Massachusetts and 31,- 
 000 in Michigan the official count gave the result 
 indicated in the table on the opposite page. 
 
 According to the constitution of the United States 
 there was no election and it devolved upon the House 
 of Representatives to select a President. The mere fact 
 that Smith had carried twenty-seven out of the total of 
 forty-five states and had received twice the vote of any 
 opposing candidate and a majority of all the votes 
 cast, made not the slightest difference. The 805 votes 
 of New York State, representing the stolen plurality, 
 cast thirty-two votes in the electoral college and offset 
 the thirty-two electoral votes of California, Minnesota, 
 Kansas and Montana with their 650.000 majority. 
 
 The rage of the people knew no bounds. In New 
 York a mob sacked Tammany Hall and burned the 
 buildingto the ground. Several of the Tammany chiefs 
 who were under suspicion were roughly used, and but 
 for the intervention of leading Populists would have 
 been killed. In Boston, Philadelphia and Chicago 
 wild mobs paraded the streets and in several instances 
 
STATES WITH REPUBLICAN PLURALITIES AND THEIR ELECTORAL VOTES. 
 
 States. 
 
 o-a 
 
 "<B 
 
 EC 
 a 
 
 Cfl 
 
 3 
 
 er*j 
 
 y.*gB 
 
 Sr.S <3 
 
 p"" 1 <a 
 
 T 
 
 Electoral 
 vote. 
 
 Conn 
 Me 
 
 68,714 - 
 58,327 
 
 43,103 
 23,604 
 
 61,823 
 
 44,982 
 
 6,991 
 12,345 
 
 6 
 6 
 
 Mass 
 Mich 
 N. H 
 
 JH- 
 
 201,781 
 122,644 
 43,618 
 146,388 
 509,622 
 
 58,728 
 48,623 
 16,241 
 75,911 
 427,213 
 
 198,320 
 118,742 
 36,820 
 138,161 
 509,317 
 
 3,461 
 8,902 
 
 6,798 
 
 8,227 
 305 
 
 15 
 
 7 
 4 
 10 
 36 
 
 Ohio 
 
 306,121 
 
 297,681 
 
 301,280 
 
 4,841 
 
 ?3 
 
 Pa 
 
 415,849 
 
 274,303 
 
 402,111 
 
 13,638 
 
 33 
 
 R.I 
 Vt 
 
 28,326 
 32,416 
 
 17,812 
 
 7,293 
 
 19,641 
 26,313 
 
 8,685 
 6,100 
 
 4 
 4 
 
 Totals 
 
 1,932.803 
 
 1,290,512 
 
 1,857,510 
 
 75,293 
 
 147 
 
 STATES WITH DEMOCRATIC PLURALITIES AND THEIR ELECTORAL VOTES. 
 
 
 M 
 
 a 
 
 Cfl 
 
 w V 
 
 M 
 
 States. 
 
 3 
 
 a. 
 
 3 
 
 MJ 
 
 o 
 
 
 . 
 
 
 *" 
 
 E3"| ~.Z 
 
 ? 
 
 
 
 
 : 
 
 Od w 
 
 g 
 
 Dela 
 
 11 398 
 
 16291 
 
 16 103 
 
 188 
 
 3 
 
 Texas 
 
 23.814 
 
 225,747 
 
 218,614 
 
 7,133 
 
 15 
 
 Virg 
 S. Car 
 
 62,212 
 
 4,822 
 
 136,614 
 47,815 
 
 135,590 
 46,812 
 
 5,024 
 1,003 
 
 12 
 9 
 
 N. Car 
 
 43,662 
 
 192,218 
 
 182,741 
 
 9,477 
 
 11 
 
 Mo 
 
 141,600 
 
 238,101 
 
 236,418 
 
 1,683 
 
 17 
 
 Mar ld 
 
 63,817 
 
 92,281 
 
 84,512 
 
 7,769 
 
 8 
 
 Total 
 
 331,354 
 
 949,067 
 
 916,790 
 
 32,277 
 
 75 
 
 STATES WITH PEOPLE S PARTY PLURALITIES AND THEIR ELECTORAL VOTES. 
 
 States. 
 
 o-S 
 CT3 
 
 ffi 
 
 CL 
 
 in 
 
 3 
 
 3- 
 
 ft 
 
 rt^ 
 
 W5 W 
 
 [Electoral 
 1 vote. 
 
 Ala 
 
 
 65 728 
 
 188 321 
 
 112 593 
 
 
 Ark... 
 
 23 814 
 
 41 914 
 
 108 648 
 
 58 73<i 
 
 g 
 
 Cal . 
 
 82 119 
 
 76 416 
 
 239 937 
 
 157 818 
 
 Q 
 
 Col 
 
 12,555 
 
 
 109 412 
 
 94 857 
 
 4 
 
 Fla... 
 
 
 14818 
 
 29 747 
 
 14 929 
 
 4. 
 
 Ga 
 
 
 81 684 
 
 178 814 
 
 97 130 
 
 13 
 
 Idaho 
 
 6,714 
 
 
 15,746 
 
 9632 
 
 3 
 
 Ill 
 
 238 396 
 
 228 864 
 
 374 101 
 
 JOK irAK 
 
 91 
 
 Ind 
 Iowa 
 Kan 
 
 122,399 
 
 86,401 
 86,682 
 
 141,428 
 
 58,063 
 
 357,848 
 373,717 
 329 146 
 
 216,420 
 287,316 
 242 464 
 
 15 
 13 
 10 
 
 Mich 
 Ky 
 La 
 
 62.417 
 32,446 
 
 52,241 
 133,192 
 28 742 
 
 188,446 
 238,430 
 116 318 
 
 86,019 
 105,238 
 87 576 
 
 7 
 13 
 
 g 
 
 Minn, 
 
 108 559 
 
 53918 
 
 295 422 
 
 186 863 
 
 g 
 
 Miss 
 
 
 15 843 
 
 57 31) 
 
 41 476 
 
 g 
 
 Men, 
 
 7,767 
 
 
 73982 
 
 66 215 
 
 3 
 
 Neb 
 
 36422 
 
 
 213 431 
 
 177 009 
 
 8 
 
 Nev 
 
 1,480 
 
 
 12 617 
 
 11,137 
 
 3 
 
 N. Dak.... 
 
 12,902 
 
 
 47 588 
 
 34686 
 
 3 
 
 Tenn... 
 
 Wash 
 
 32,726 
 15,616 
 
 61,717 
 
 212 464 
 
 88992 
 
 150,747 
 73,376 
 
 12 
 4 
 
 W. Va 
 Wis 
 Wyo 
 
 27,411 
 
 108,883 
 6223 
 
 43,929 
 
 101,828 
 
 138,820 
 209,862 
 26 141 
 
 94,891 
 
 100 97 .) 
 19,818 
 
 6 
 12 
 3 
 
 Ore 
 
 22,373 
 
 
 64,914 
 
 42,541 
 
 4 
 
 S. Dak 
 
 19,822 
 
 
 83617 
 
 63,795 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Totals 
 
 1,145,127 
 
 1,200,725 
 
 4,373,866 
 
 2,771,866 
 
 222 
 
 225 
 
226 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 RECAPITULATION. Kimbly. Hild. Smith. 
 
 Republican states 1,932,803 1,290,512 1,857,510 
 
 Democratic states 331,354 949,067 916,790 
 
 People s states .1,145,127 1,200,725 4,373,866 
 
 Totals 3,409,284 3,440,304 7,148,166 
 
 Smith s plurality over Kimbly... 3,738,882 
 
 Smith s plurality over Hild 3,707,862 
 
 Smith s majority over Kimbly and Hild 298,578 
 
 Smith s electoral vote 222 
 
 Kimbly and Hild s combined electoral vote 222 
 
 attacked Republican newspaper offices Nothing but 
 the coolness and patriotism of Judge Smith and other 
 party leaders saved the country from revolution and 
 anarchy. 
 
 Nov. 21 Judge Smith issued an appeal to the mem 
 bers of the People s party and to the voters of the 
 country, urging them to maintain order and respect the 
 laws of the country. In this address he said: 
 
 "The 7,000,000 men who voted for the People s elec 
 tors can afford to wait yet a little time longer. While 
 the written laws of this country proscribe majority 
 rule no clique or conspiracy, no bribery or corruption 
 can stand against the people and their overwhelming 
 verdict as recorded at the polls the ninth day of No 
 vember. Privilege dies hard, but it has received its 
 deathblow. Let us with patience await the results. 
 Refrain from lawless demonstrations. This is a re- 
 volution not of force, but of intelligence. I earnestly 
 appeal to every American citizen to maintain the peace 
 and with calmness await the coming session of Congress. 
 
 "JOHN SMITH." 
 
 This appeal effectually put an end to riots, but excite 
 ment ran high. It was rumored that the Republicans 
 and Democrats had combined and by bribery had 
 secured one or more electoral votes from the Populists. 
 Congress convened in January. The Vice-President, in 
 the presence of the Senate and House of Representa 
 tives, broke the seals and read the results. The vote 
 as cast was: Kimbly, 147; Hild, 75; Smith, 222. Nec 
 essary to a choice, 228. The Vice-President announced 
 that there was no choice and that the election would 
 go to the House of Representatives. 
 
The mob sacks the Senate Chamber. 
 
 227 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 A GOVERNMENT OF THE PEOPLE. 
 
 THE last session of the House of Representatives does 
 not illumine with glory the. pages of American history. 
 The American people have vainly attempted to forget 
 it, but the record is there, sad and shameful. The 
 author prefers not to enter into the details of the con 
 spiracy by which a popular verdict was twice set aside 
 tinder the form of law. It is sufficient to say that 
 through bribery, open and flagrant, enough votes in 
 the House of Representatives were secured by the Re 
 publicans and Kimbly was declared elected as Presi 
 dent of the United States. That honest and honora 
 ble gentleman was not a party to the conspiracy, and 
 in a dignified address to Congress and the people of the 
 United States firmly declined to serve either as Presi 
 dent or Vice- President. The details of the plot were 
 made public in later years. The leaders of the con 
 spiracy had been advised by both Kimbly and Reeve 
 that they would not accept an election secured by 
 fraud, but they refused to believe it and went ahead 
 with their damnable work. 
 
 Washington was in the hands of a mob. When the 
 result was announced to the thousands on the outside 
 of the capitol building nothing could restrain their 
 fury. They broke through the lines of police and 
 soldiers and poured through the marble hallways of the 
 great structure. Doorkeepers and sergeants-at-arms 
 were swept aside like chaff and 50,000 enraged men ad 
 journed Congress. Three of the Populist representa 
 tives who betrayed their party were shot down in the 
 great chamber. A score of representatives were badly 
 injured, some of them being hurled from the windows 
 
 229 
 
280 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 of the/japitol by the mob. The President ordered out 
 the troops, and after a determined fight the mob was 
 repulsed and dispersed. He also issued a proclamation 
 warning the people against riotous demonstrations and 
 counseling moderation. To this no attention was paid. 
 
 Anarchy prevailed. Business was completely sus 
 pended and, in fact, had been since the day of election, 
 The victory of the people s Party had precipitated a 
 business panic, and stocks of all kinds sank to the low 
 est points ever recorded. Factories were closed down, 
 their owners declaring that it would be suicidal to con 
 tinue work under the existing "unsettled state of 
 affairs." Judge Smith ^ appeal for law had quieted 
 the people for a time, but the news from Washington 
 broke down all restraint. 
 
 The country was on the verge of a revolution. In 
 Chicago the great business houses were closed and heav 
 ily guarded. From every great city in the country 
 there came appeals for state militia and government 
 troops. Bread riots, were of daily occurrence. 
 
 In Kansas the state militia refused to protect prop 
 erty, and the President sent three companies of regular 
 troops into the state. In the fight which ensued sev 
 eral citizens were killed. The state militia came to the 
 aid of the mob and in the fight the regulars were re 
 pulsed with some loss and compelled to retreat. The 
 general government was powerless and the country was 
 rapidly drifting into a state of absolute anarchy. This 
 was in the early days of December. 
 
 In the prevailing excitement little attention was 
 paid to some very startling rumors from Alaska. In 
 October it was reported that important gold discoveries 
 had been made in that country. Wild stories of fabu 
 lous gold deposits were in circulation and there was a 
 stampede from California and the coast states for that 
 northern territory. 
 
 December 7, 1900, the steamer W. R. Baker landed 
 in San Francisco having on board $48,000,000 in gold. 
 In spite of all precaution the story leaked out, the 
 secret being disclosed by a sailor. The facts were not 
 
A GOVERNMENT OF THE PEOPLE 231 
 
 made public until the minors had secured several mil 
 lion dollars worth of railroad and other property in 
 consideration of the yellow metal. The Alaska gold 
 mines were practically inexhaustible. With crude 
 methods of mining twenty men hud secured over $40,- 
 000,000 worth of gold ore in less than three weeks. 
 
 Almost simultaneously with this came equally start 
 ling news from the Witwatersrand gold fields of South 
 Africa, where gold deposits estimated at the current 
 value of $75,000,000,000,000 had been discovered- 
 enough for a per capita of $50,000 for every man, woman 
 and child in the world. Gold was demonetized. It was 
 of no more value than iron. Gold-bearing securities 
 w,ere worthless. The national debt of the United 
 States was wiped out in a day. Europe was in 
 a panic. Men worth millions woke up to find them 
 selves penniless. But nothing had been destroyed. No 
 real property had been wiped out of existence. Houses 
 and railroads and all forms of improvements yet re 
 mained. Nothing was lost but an artificial standard 
 of measurement. Silver went to an enormous premium. 
 But this financial revolution did not affect the hungry 
 millions of American people. They could not eat- sil 
 ver or gold. 
 
 Such was the chaotic condition of affairs Jan. 15, 
 1901, when a number of men met in Judge Smith s 
 office in Chicago and issued a call for a national con 
 ference of the people at Omaha, to convene Feb. 2. The 
 call briefly set forth the condition of affairs, the peril 
 of the country and imperative need of action. The 
 people were requested to select one delegate from each 
 congressional district and invest him with power to 
 act, These elections were held Feb. 21,- and two weeks 
 later the 350 delegates met in session at Omaha. There 
 was none of the enthusiasm of a political convention. 
 Every man seemed to feel the responsibility resting upon 
 him. Judge Smith and other national leaders were 
 heartily applauded as the.y entered the convention hail. 
 R. C. Brewster, a St. Louis business man, occupied the 
 chair and called the convention to order. A temporary 
 
232 g PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 organization was perfected, credentials examined and 
 approved, and the temporary organization made perma 
 nent. Judge Smith was called for and amid great 
 applause thus addressed the convention: 
 
 "MR. CHAIRMAN AND DELEGATES OF THE PEOPLE: The 
 time for oratory is past. This is a day for action. We 
 are called together to-day to take the initial steps in 
 the correction of abuses which have been patiently 
 borne by the people for over a century. If any man 
 has come to this hall with a selfish nature, if any dele 
 gate is inspired by a thought other than that of the 
 highest welfare of the whole people, his place is not 
 within these walls. Let us proceed with our work in 
 spired by a patriotism which seeks naught but the com 
 mon weal. 
 
 u The government of the United States, after a cen 
 tury of existence, has failed in its duty to the people. 
 It has been found lacking and inoperative when con 
 fronted by a condition which its founders could cot 
 foresee or provide against. It is not necessary that we 
 shall go back 100 years for a precedent or an inspira 
 tion to urge us on. If precedents for the action we are 
 about to take are needed we may go back to the illus 
 trious patriot who penned the declaration of independ 
 ence and repeat the glorious words of Jefferson in that 
 immortal document, in which it is declared that the 
 people not only have the right nay, more than that 
 that it is their duty to abolish a bad government and 
 institute a new one. The spirit of Thomas Jefferson is 
 with us to-day. 
 
 u No republic can exist in name alone. An avowed 
 monarchy or despotism is perferableto a state in which 
 the people are deceived by a pretense of liberty and 
 freedom and cunningly enslaved by their own political 
 action. The republic of to-day is not the one of which 
 Jefferson dreamed. That republic must be made pos 
 sible, and we are assembled to-day for the purpose of 
 laying the corner-stone of a government which shall 
 be of the people." 
 
 Judge Smith urged the appointment of a committee 
 
A GOVERNMENT OF THE PEOPLE 233 
 
 empowered to draft a constitution which should be 
 submitted to the conference at a subsequent meeting. 
 He suggested that the delegates discuss in a general 
 way the outlines of a new constitution, and that two 
 weeks be given the committee in which to submit their 
 reports. On motion the delegates from each state were 
 empowered to select one member of the constitutional 
 committee. The committee retired and organized by 
 electing Judge Smith chairman. The conference then 
 devoted three days to a general discussion, a full record 
 of which was preserved by the committee. The con 
 ference adjourned until Feb. 20, at which time the con 
 stitutional committee was instructed to submit its 
 report. Before adjournment the following proclama 
 tion was issued to the country, signed by every mem 
 ber of the conference: 
 
 PROCLAMATION. 
 
 "To THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES, GREETING: 
 We, the delegates of the people, by virtue of authority 
 vested in us by the majority vote of our constituents, do 
 respectfully address the sovereign citizens of the United 
 States. 
 
 "We solemnly reaffirm our allegiance to the truth 
 contained in the inspired words of Thomas Jefferson 
 and incorporated in the glorious declaration of inde 
 pendence, and with him declare that all men are cre 
 ated equal; that they are endowed with certain in 
 alienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and 
 the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights 
 governments are instituted among men, deriving their 
 just powers from the consent of the governed; that 
 when any form of government becomes destructive of 
 these ends it is the right of the people to alter and 
 abolish it and to institute a new government, laying its 
 foundations on such principles and organizing its pow 
 ers in such form as shall seem to them most likely to 
 effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will 
 dictate that governments long established should not 
 be changed for light and transient causes, and, accord- 
 
284 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 ingly, all experience hath shown that mankind are dis 
 posed to suffer, while evils are sufferable,than to right 
 themselves by abolishing the forms to which they were 
 accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usui- 
 pations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces 
 a desire to reduce them to absolute despotism, it is their 
 right, it is their duty to throw off such government 
 and to provide new guards for their future safety. Such 
 has been the patient suffering of these colonies and 
 such is the necessity which constrains them to alter 
 their former systems of government. 
 
 "Such .has been the patient suffering of the people 
 of the United States, and such is now the necessity 
 which impels them to revise the existing system of 
 government. 
 
 "We declare it to be a self-evident fact that the ma 
 jority of people of any republic have rights which any 
 minority, however fortified by wealth, influence or 
 power, must be compelled to respect, and declare that 
 any laws which defeat the plainly expressed will of the 
 majority must be erased from the statute-books. 
 
 "We declare it to be the first duty of any govern 
 ment to so shape its laws and regulate its affairs that 
 the humblest citizen shall have the opportunity to ob 
 tain employment at such a compensation as will enable 
 him to live comfortably and maintain a famil}? 1 . Any 
 country or community in which this right is denied is 
 without government, and the senseless forms which exist 
 tinder the guiso of constitutions and laws should be 
 swept away by an outraged people. 
 
 "It is not necessary to lodge formal and specific in 
 dictment against the existing government or to fix the 
 responsibility for the crimes which have been committed 
 under the name of law and so long tolerated by a 
 deluded people, who have been taught that it is more 
 patriotic to submit to a wrong than to arise and resist it. 
 In the name of the people national honor has been 
 sacrificed. Under the protection of the law public 
 lands have been wrested from the people and bestowed 
 on corporations; snobbery has been extolled and hon- 
 
A GOVERNMENT OP THE PEOPLE 235 
 
 est labor insulted. Justice has been made to pour with 
 one hand wealth into the laps of avaricious affluence, 
 while with the other she has taken bread from the hand 
 of starving families. Under the malign influence of 
 such conditions brutish instincts have been so devel 
 oped that it has become only a question of a few years, 
 when, unless a reform be instituted, civilization shall 
 relapse into that barbarism from which it came. 
 
 "A corrupt government has fallen without a blow 
 being struck against it. Over its ruins the people 
 must erect a new government, avoiding the mistakes 
 of the past and profiting by the experience of a century 
 of national life. In a few days there will be submitted 
 to the people for their approval or rejection a constitu 
 tion which shall embody a true republican form of 
 government. The men who draft that constitution 
 have in contemplation a republic in which the people 
 shall make and unmake laws, in which the people shall 
 elect and depose officials; in which the will of the 
 people is supreme. They have in contemplation a re 
 public which shall enable its people to secure the great 
 est possible share of those blessings which multiply 
 with an advancing civilization. We have an abiding 
 faith in the wisdom, justice and sound government of 
 any people in whose hands is lodged the untrammeled 
 exercise of a ballot. 
 
 "Mindful of the rights of the minority, the framers 
 of the constitution will care that their opinions be re 
 spected, their rights, property and legitimate privi 
 leges preserved inviolate. They aim to encourage the 
 desire for the accumulation of property and believe 
 with the philosopher that property communicates a 
 charm to whatever is the object of it. It is the first of 
 our abstract ideas, it cleaves to us closest and longest. 
 It endears to the child its plaything, to the peasant his 
 cottage, to the landlord his estate. 
 
 "Governments long established should not be changed 
 for light and transient causes, and not without the 
 consent of an actual majority of the people to be governed. 
 It has, therefore, been decided by the delegates of the 
 
236 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH. 
 
 people, and is hereby affirmed, that no clause of the con 
 stitution about to be submitted shall be adopted or in force 
 until it shall be approved by a majority of the registered 
 and qualified voters of the United States. We appeal to 
 the people of the United States to go to the polls on the 
 day fixed for the constitutional referendum, and with a 
 full realization of the responsibilities resting upon them, 
 vote as their conscience and their duty dictates. 
 
 "Respectfully submitted to the people of the United 
 States this sixth day of February, in the year of our 
 Lord nineteen hundred and one. 
 
 "JOHN SMITH." 
 "And 340 Members of the Conference." 
 
 Congress was in session, but the people paid little 
 or no attention to its proceedings. The Populists had 
 a small majority in the House of Representatives, but 
 were powerless to do anything. In fact, there was noth 
 ing to do. The government was dead. There was no 
 system of finance. Silver had been demonetized sev 
 eral years before. Alaska and Witvvatersrand had de 
 monetized gold. One-third of the members of Con 
 gress went home after the second week of the session. 
 In the later part of February the plot by which Judge 
 Smith was defrauded "of an election was exposed by the 
 confessions of two New York politicians. Governor 
 Kimbly issued an address to the American people ask 
 ing them to support Judge Smith and pledging his own 
 hearty co-operation 
 
 It was a peaceful revolution. The mayor of Chicago 
 called a conference of citizens in extraordinary session. 
 A relief committee was formed and clothed with prac 
 tically unlimited powers. They were backed by the 
 credit of the city and authorized to purchase, or seize 
 if necessary, provisions and other absolute necessities 
 of life. The latter expedient was not required. The 
 great packing-houses, the wholesale grocery-houses, 
 flouring-mills,and other food-handling concerns placed 
 their resources at the hands of the relief committee 
 and accepted scrip currency in payment. Other cities 
 
A GOVERNMENT OF THE PEOPLE 287 
 
 followed the example. The country was practically 
 under localized provisional government without a cen 
 tral head at Washington. Production, with the excep 
 tion of farm products, had almost ceased. The excite 
 ment died away and the people patiently awaited the 
 report of the committee on constitution 
 
 The conference reassembled at Omaha Feb. 20, and 
 after a three days session ratified the following con 
 stitution of the United States of America and arranged 
 for its submission to the voters March 2, 1901. 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF 
 AMERICA. 
 
 "We, the United people of America, in order to pre 
 serve to ourselves and to posterity the blessings of civili 
 sation, to maintain the republic, to establish justice,in- 
 isure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common de 
 fense, secure and guard the rights of the majority, and 
 to guarantee to every citizen a fair opportunity for a 
 livelihood, do hereby ordain and subscribe to this con 
 stitution of the United States of America. 
 
 ARTICLE I. 
 
 "Section 1. The executive power shall be vested in 
 A president of the United States of America. He shall 
 hold his office during a term of four years unless re 
 called during that time by a majority vote of the peo 
 ple. He shall be elected by a direct vote of the people, 
 and must receive a majority of all votes cast If at any 
 election no presidential candidate shall receive a ma 
 jority of all votes cast a second election shall be held 
 and a choice made between the two candidates receiv 
 ing the highest number of votes in the preceding elec 
 tion. 
 
 "Sec. 2. No one shall be eligible to the office of pres 
 ident unless he shall have been born in the United 
 States and shall have attained the age of 40 years. 
 
 "Sec. 3. A presidential election shall be held once 
 in four years on the first Tuesday in November. The 
 vote shall be canvassed by a returning board in each 
 
238 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 state and the certified result forwarded to the secretary 
 of state and presented by him to the house of represen 
 tatives, which shall convene on the third Tuesday of 
 November two weeks after the day of election. If no 
 candidate has a majority a second election shall be 
 held on the fourth Tuesday of November and the 
 result announced by the secretary of state in the house 
 of representatives on the second Tuesday after the 
 fourth Tuesday of November. The president shall 
 take possession cf his office January 1, unless that date 
 shall fall on Sunday, in which event the president 
 shall take possession the Monday following. 
 
 u Sec. 4. In case of the death, resignation, disability 
 or removal for any cause of the president, the secretary 
 of state shall act in his place until such time as a spe 
 cial election may be called according to law as may be 
 hereafter provided. In the event that the death, resig 
 nation, disability, or removal for any cause of the sec 
 retary of state prevents him from acting as president, 
 the secretary of the treasury shall be called to the pres 
 idential chair. The line of precedence shall be: Pres 
 ident, secretary of state, secretary of treasury, secre 
 tary of war and navy, attorney-general, secretary of 
 the interior, and superintendent of education. 
 
 "Sec. 5 The president shall be commander in chief 
 of the army and navy of the United States and of the 
 militia of the several states when called into the actu 
 al service of the United States. He shall have power 
 by and with the advice and consent of his cabinet to 
 make treaties provided two-thirds of the cabinet con 
 sent, and he shall nominate and by and with the con 
 sent of the cabinet shall appoint ambassadors, other 
 public ministers, and consuls, judges of the Supreme 
 Court and such other officers of the United States as 
 he may be authorized by law to appoint. From time 
 to time he shall give the people information of the 
 state of the country, may recommend to their consid 
 eration such measures as ho shall judge necessary and 
 expedient, and he may on extraordinary occasions 
 convene the house of representatives. 
 
A GOVERNMENT OF THE PEOPLE. 239 
 
 ARTICLE II. 
 
 "Section 1. At the presidential election the people 
 shall also select by popular vote a secretary of state, 
 secretary of the treasury, secretary of the army and 
 navy, secretary of the interior, attorney-general, secre 
 tary of census and statistics, superintendent of educa 
 tion, secretary of foreign commerce, and chiefs of de 
 partments of agriculture, transportation, mechanics, 
 and mining, the last four constituting a bureau of in 
 dustry of which the president shall be chief. These 
 twelve officers shall form a presidential cabinet for the 
 advice and guidance of the president in the adminis 
 tration of the affairs of the country. 
 
 "Sec. 2, No person shall be eligible to a cabinet po 
 sition except he shall have been a citizen of the United 
 States for twenty-one years and shall have attained the 
 age of 30 years. 
 
 "Sec. 3, Cabinet officers shall be elected in the same 
 manner as the president and may at any time be re 
 called by a majority of the people. 
 
 "Sec. 4. The duties of the secretary of state, secre 
 tary of the treasury, secretary of the army and navy, 
 secretary of the interior, and attorney-general shall be 
 the same as those which have devolved on these offi 
 cials in the past, subject to such new regulations as the 
 president and his cabinet may from time to time direct. 
 
 "Sec, 5. The secretary of the census and statistics 
 shall collect and make public such statistical informa 
 tion as may be demanded by the president ov required 
 by the bureau of industry. 
 
 "Sec. 6. The superintendent of education shall 
 have charge of the public school and university sys 
 tems. 
 
 "Sec, 7. The chiefs of the departments of agricul 
 ture, transportation, mechanics, and minings shall sys 
 tematize and supervise the work of their various depart 
 ments. They shall appoint by and with the consent 
 of the president and his cabinet such subordinate offi 
 cers as the people shall provide by law. 
 
240 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 "Sec. 8. The secretary of foreign commerce shall 
 be the custodian of such surplus manufactured and 
 other products as may be placed at his disposal by the 
 bureau of industry. He shall be authorized to sell 
 such products to foreign purchasers and make such ex 
 changes as the president and his cabinet may direct. 
 
 "Sec 9. The president, cabinet officers, and their 
 subordinates shall receive such compensation as the 
 house of representatives may direct, subject to the ap 
 proval of a majority vote of the people. 
 
 ARTICLE III. 
 
 "Section 1. All legislative power shall be vested in 
 a majority vote of the people, subject to such excep 
 tions and regulations as the people may formally direct. 
 
 "Sec. 2. Each federal state shall be divided into 
 congressional districts on a unit of representation ob 
 tained by dividing the whole number of inhabitants of 
 the United States by 200. Upon the adoption of this 
 constitution the secretary of census and statistics shall 
 make an enumeration of the inhabitants, and congress 
 shall divide the several states into districts. There 
 shall be no fractional representation, each state being 
 allotted such a number of districts as will be obtained 
 by dividing the whole number, of its inhabitants by the 
 unit of representation, the remainder being appor 
 tioned among the districts thereby obtained. Any 
 state not entitled to a district under this law shall be 
 merged into such adjoining state as a plurality of its 
 voters may select. 
 
 "Sec. 3. A census shall be taken and congress shall 
 make a re-apportionment of districts once in four 
 years, said apportionment being made and put into 
 effect within sixty days preceding the presidential elec 
 tion. 
 
 "Sec. 4. Each of the districts thus obtained shall 
 be represented by a congressman, the 200 composing 
 the house of representatives. A congressional election 
 shall be held once a year on the first Tuesday in 
 November, and congress shall convene at the national 
 capitol on the first day of January immediately follow- 
 
A GOVERNMENT OF THE PEOPLE 241 
 
 ing its election. On extraordinary occasions the presi 
 dent may convene congress in special session. 
 
 "Sec. 5. No person shall be eligible to an election 
 as congressman except he shall have been a citizen of 
 the United States for fourteen years, and shall have 
 attained the age of 30 years. 
 
 "Sec 6. On the vote of fifty members of congress 
 any question pending before them shall be submitted 
 to the people for a final decision. Congress shall have 
 power to make its own rules and define its powers, 
 subject to the approval of the people. It shall not be 
 empowered to finally pass upon any act of legislation 
 in which the whole people are directly interested. In 
 all questions of national importance, such as the levy 
 ing of taxes and the enactment of important legisla 
 tion, they shall draft and prepare such bills as shall 
 seem to them fitted for the government of the republic 
 and submit them to the vote of the people for approval 
 or rejection, at such times and in such manner as may 
 hereafter be provided by law. Any law thus passed by 
 the people shall be in force and effect from the time of 
 its passage, and there shall be no appeal from it. Con 
 gress shall be guided in its deliberations by the opin 
 ions of the Supreme Court and the attorney-general, to 
 whom all important measures shall be submitted for 
 an opinion. Congress shall not be bound by this opin 
 ion, and may submit the law as drafted and the opinion 
 to the people for approval or rejection. 
 
 "Sec. 7. No person shall represent a district utoless 
 he shall be an inhabitant of the state in which that 
 district is situated. 
 
 "Sec. 8. Congressional representatives shall receive 
 a salary for their services to be fixed by law and paid 
 out of the treasury of the United States. 
 
 ARTICLE IV. 
 
 "Section 1. The judicial power of the United States 
 shall be vested in a Supreme Court and such inferior 
 courts as the people may from time to tirae establish. 
 
 "Sec. 2. The Supreme Court shall consist of a su- 
 
242 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 preme judge and four associate judges, to be appointed 
 by the president and indorsed by Congress. 
 
 "Sec. 3. The Supreme Court "shall be the final court 
 of appeal, and shall be clothed with power to decide 
 all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers, 
 and consuls; to controversies in which the United 
 States shall be a party; to controversies between two 
 or more states, between a state and a citizen of an 
 other state, between citizens of several states, and be 
 tween a state and citizens thereof. The Supreme Court 
 may pass upon the constitutionality of laws passed by 
 federal states, counties, townships, or cities, but it 
 shall have no jurisdiction over laws passed by the peo 
 ple of the United States. It shall, when asked, exam 
 ine any law under consideration by congress, and shall 
 at such times furnish congress an opinion containing 
 such advice and suggesting such alterations or amend 
 ments as will in their judgment more strictly conform 
 to the spirit of the constitution. 
 
 "Sec. 4. Upon the recommendation of the presi 
 dent and a majority of his cabinet, or upon the recom 
 mendation of a majority of the house of representa 
 tives, the question of the retirement of any United 
 States judge or judges may be submitted to the people, 
 and upon a majority vote of the people such judge or 
 judges shall be retired and a successor appointed or in 
 dorsed. 
 
 "Sec. 5. The judges of the Supreme Court and of 
 all inferior courts shall receive a compensation to be 
 determined by law and to be paid out of the treasury 
 of the United States. 
 
 ARTICLE V. 
 
 "Section 1. The United States shall issue a currency 
 and bonds of such denomination, volume, and upon 
 such a basis as is specified in this constitution or as 
 the people may hereafter enact by law. 
 
 "Sec. 2. The secretary of the treasury shall be em 
 powered to issue a currency of a volume authorized by 
 the president and his cabinet, based ou the credit of 
 
A GOVERNMENT OF THE PEOPLE 243 
 
 the United States and redeemable in such products, 
 labor, property, services, assets, or valuable compensa 
 tion as shall be in the possession or at the disposal of 
 the United States government. The treasurer of the 
 United States" is authorized to issue bonds, which shall 
 bear no interest, payable in currency .of such a vol 
 ume and for such purposes as the cabinet, con 
 gress, or the people, may direct. The treasurer of 
 the United States is authorized to issue currency or 
 bonds to federal states, counties, townships, cities, pri 
 vate corporations, or individuals, accepting as security 
 such tangible assets as state, county, township, or city 
 property, or upon unencumbered and valuable proper 
 ty, lands, or convertible and negotiable products of la 
 bor, provided that in no case shall bonds or currency 
 be issued in excess of half the value of the securities 
 pledged to the redemption of this currency. 
 
 "Sec. 3. These bonds and the currency of the 
 United States shall have as a unit a dollar, the said 
 dollar standing as the representative of the average 
 productivity of one hour s work, the said unit to be an 
 approximation of the average benefit the community 
 receives from one hour devoted to mental, manual, 
 physical, and supervisory employments and positions. 
 
 "Sec. 4. The secretary of the treasury shall be em 
 powered to issue such an amount of bonds and curren 
 cy as may be necessary to defray the debts and ex 
 penses incurred by the government. The government 
 may at its discretion -refuse to sell, exchange, or dis 
 pose of any property or privileges except on payment 
 therefor of such an amount of its own currency or 
 bonds as may be mutually agreed upon. 
 
 "Sec. 5. Bonds and currency of the United States 
 shall be printed or stamped in such a manner and upon 
 such material as the secretary of the treasury may di 
 rect, provided that no article or substance which is of 
 rare value or utility in mechanics or the arts be thus 
 employed. 
 
 "Sec. 6. Counterfeiting the bonds or currency of 
 the United States shall be a crime punishable by death, 
 
244 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 and any person or persons convicted of knowingly 
 handling or passing such counterfeits may be adjudged 
 guilty of treason and punished accordingly. 
 
 "Sec. 7. No federal, state, county, township, mu 
 nicipality, individual, or combination of individuals 
 shall be permitted or authorized to issue a currency or 
 a medium of exchange which shall conflict with that 
 issued by the government of the United States. 
 
 ARTICLE VI. 
 
 "Section 1. The United States shall possess and is 
 authorized to exercise the right of eminent domain, 
 but this right shall be employed in such a manner as 
 to work no injustice to any citizen of the United States 
 or to the citizen of any other country. 
 
 "Sec. 2. The United States is authorized to pre 
 empt and occupy all unoccupied and all unused lands, 
 taking possession of such lanfl in the name of the 
 people of the United States and holding them in trust 
 for the citizens of the present and the future genera 
 tions. The government shall proceed to acquire such 
 land in a manner prescribed by congress. 
 
 "Sec. 3. The United States may purchase and acquire 
 under the right of eminent domain such railroads, 
 canals, telegraph and telephone lines, and such other 
 inter-state and national mediums of transportation, 
 communication and exchange as the people may by a 
 majority vote direct. 
 
 "Sec. 4. The United States may upon the recom 
 mendation of the bureau of industry acquire by pur- 
 cba^se under the right of eminent domain such lands, 
 mines, forests and other property as may be deemed 
 necessary to general production and the prosperity of 
 the nation. 
 
 ARTICLE VII. 
 
 "Section 1. The United States, through its presi 
 dent, cabinet and congress, with the indorsement of 
 a majority vote of the people, is authorized to under 
 take and supervise any of the forms of industry and 
 
A GOVERNMENT OF THE PEOPLE 245 
 
 production which may be deemed necessary to the 
 .welfare of the people, retaining such a share of the 
 products thus created as shall be sufficient to retire the 
 bonds and indebtedness incurred by the government. 
 When such indebtedness shall have been retired 
 the government shall withold none of the profits of 
 production from those engaged in it. 
 
 "Sec. 8. The United States may levy taxes for the 
 general expenses of the government, but no tax shall 
 ever be levied against the products of labor. 
 
 ARTICLE VIII. 
 
 "Any section or article in this constitution may be 
 repealed, revised or amended by a majority vote of the 
 people of the United States. Any proposed amend 
 ment shall be submitted to the people sixty days in ad 
 vance of the date of the referendum for its consideration. 
 
 PROVISIONAL. 
 
 "This constitution shall be submitted to the people 
 March 10, 1901. It shall be voted on by sections, and no 
 section shall be adopted unless it shall have received 
 an actual majority of the qualified voters. The adop 
 tion of this constitution, or any substitutes, altera 
 tions or amendments, shall repeal all other consti 
 tutions, statutes, or laws conflicting with it. 
 
 "The first presidential election shall be held March 
 24, 1901, at which time the people shall elect a presi 
 dent, twelve members of a cabinet, and a provisional 
 congress consisting of one representative from the con 
 gressional districts as now constituted. The president 
 shall take possession of his office and congress shall 
 meet in Washington April 4, 1901, the first presiden 
 tial term expiring January 1, 1905. A presidential 
 election shall occur the first Tuesday of November, 
 1904, in the manner as set forth in this constitution. 
 
 "It shall be the duty of the attorney-general, acting 
 with the Supreme Court, to proceed immediately with 
 the formation of a code of laws in harmony with the 
 spirit of the constitution as finally adopted. The pres 
 ident and his cabinet are empowered to form such a 
 
246 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 provisional government, appoint such officers, and ex 
 ecute such a policy as the immediate needs of the coun 
 try may dictate. The provisional congress shall remain 
 in session until such time as it may decide to suspend 
 the provisional government, at which time the consti 
 tution shall go into, full force and effect." 
 
 Before adjourning the conference issued a call for a 
 presidential nominating convention March 7, and a 
 general election March 24. There was some debate on 
 this question, several delegates claiming that the call 
 should not be issued until after the constitution had 
 been passed on by the people, but the majority urged 
 that valuable time would be wasted, and that in the 
 event of a rejection of the constitution the call for the 
 nominating convention could be annulled, The call 
 for the convention provided for two delegates from 
 each congressional district. The primaries were held 
 March 1, and March 7 the convention met at the Audi 
 torium in Chicago and was held amid scenes of enthu 
 siasm and joy. John Smith was nominated for Presi 
 dent and a full ticket placed in the field. 
 
 With few exceptions the constitutional election of 
 March 10 was held under the regular forms of law as a 
 special election. In New York, Boston, Chicago, and 
 in all the large cities the representatives of the Omaha 
 conference went before the election commissioners and 
 secured the calling of a special election. In small towns 
 and villages the regular polling places were used by 
 common consent. The People s party always insisted 
 on having one judge of election, though the result 
 proved this to be an unnecessary precaution. In most 
 states the election was held under the Australian ballot 
 system. 
 
 The agitation against the adoption of the constitu 
 tion was confined mainly to the old-time bourbon Dem 
 ocrats of the south and their few northern sympathizers, 
 who protested that it subjugated the federal states to 
 the general government. These honest, but antique, 
 statesmen found themselves allied with the anarchists 
 
A GOVERNMENT OF THE PEOPLE 247 
 
 of New York and Chicago, who issued proclamations 
 and addresses without number denouncing the proposed 
 constitution as a "paternalistic outrage," a "contem 
 plated governmental monopoly," a "villainous conspir 
 acy to subjugate the minority." 
 
 The only difference between the bourbons and an 
 archists was in their methods and in their numerical 
 strength. In 1893 there were about a thousand anarch 
 ists and about 50,000 bourbons in the United States, 
 but they made noise enough to make up for their nu 
 merical weakness. Ninety-five per cent of the people 
 of the country believed in a government. Bourbonism 
 and anarchy make no distinctions in government. 
 There is no such thing as "good government" with 
 them. The anarchist wanted no government, and the 
 bourbon fairly detested the word and regarded a govern 
 ment of any kind as a more or less necessary evil. For 
 the numberless wrongs resultant from existing condi 
 tions the anarchists had a theory and a remedy which 
 few people could understand and which no two anarch 
 ists ever explained in the same way. The bourbons had 
 no remedy, and when prodded hard mumbled some 
 thing about Thomas Jefferson or old Andy Jackson or 
 the Darwinian theory of the survival of the fittest. 
 
 This interesting faction of the American people made 
 a fight against the new constitution. There were a few 
 who protested against what they termed "fiat money," 
 and wanted to return to a silver basis. England, 
 France and Germany had adopted a silver basis, gold 
 having been demonetized, and some financiers urged 
 that unless the United States did the same this coun 
 try would never be able to make a living. They, there 
 fore, talked against and probably voted against the 
 currency features of the constitution. 
 
 March 10, 1901, the American people, by a popular 
 vote of 14,490,000 against 1,824,000, ratified the new 
 constitution. March 24, Judge John Smith was almost 
 unanimously elected President of the United States, 
 and on the 4th day of April was formally inaugurated 
 at Washington amid scenes of popular rejoicing uupar- 
 
248 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 alleled in the history of the United States. In his in 
 augural address in the presence of 500,000 people Presi 
 dent Smith said : 
 
 "No executive or administration in history ever was 
 confronted with a problem so complex and momen 
 tous as that which demands solution at the hands of 
 those the people have to-day intrusted with power. The 
 years of our national life which have passed into history 
 have not chronicled the failure of popular government. 
 The mistakes of the past cannot be charged against the 
 people. The long train of abuses which culminated in 
 the unparalleled distress of our people sprang not from 
 the popular branches of our government, but from those 
 monarchical traditions incorporated in the constitution 
 by certain of our forefathers who had not shaken off 
 the superstitions which bound them to the throne of 
 England. They gave to the country the name of a 
 republic, and to its people the constitution of oligarchy. 
 They so framed that document that while its preamble 
 and spirit proclaimed popular rule and majority rights, 
 its context made the people subject to any clique or 
 cabal of men wealthy, daring and unscrupulous enough 
 to take advantage of its provisions. That the country 
 has advanced in wealth and that^its people have secured 
 a fair share of prosperity testifies not to the wisdom of 
 the constitution, but to the glory of the citizen who 
 has risen superior to unjust laws. The true American 
 citizen looks not with envy upon riches honestly ob 
 tained, bjiti he demands for himself and his children 
 the opportunity to live and to contribute his share to 
 the commonwealth of the republic. No government 
 which permits this right to be subverted can long sur 
 vive, Upon the ruins of a government which fell bo- 
 cause it was not of the people let us erect a new govern 
 ment, laying its foundations on such principles and 
 organizing its powers in such, forms as shall seem to 
 the people most likely to effect their safety and happi 
 ness. 
 
 "This country is not ruined. Anarchy has prevailed 
 for a period, but no permanent loss has been inflicted. 
 
A GOVERNMENT OF THE PEOPLE 249 
 
 Financial distress and business depression have stopped 
 the smoke from factory chimneys and dulled the fires 
 in forge and mill, but the country is solvent. The 
 United States of America is the most magnificent piece 
 of property which nature ever lavished upon the chil 
 dren of men, and the operations of no systems of un 
 wise laws can destroy its inexhaustible stores of natural 
 wealth. Nature knows no politics. She yields up her 
 treasures alike to Democrat and Republican, Prohibi 
 tionist and Populist, anarchist and socialist. She only 
 demands the tribute of labor and brains, and the 
 financial cyclone which swept across the country has 
 not seriously impaired the brawn of the workman or 
 the brain of the great captain of industry. The land 
 lies smiling before us. Willing arms are eager to work. 
 Let no man again say that the country is poor so long 
 as land yields its wealth to labor. 
 
 "In the name of the people this administration as 
 sumes control of the government. In the name of the 
 people and by virtue of the power vested by the people 
 in the President and his cabinet, I now declare a provi 
 sional government to be, and to continue in effect until 
 such time as Congress shall install in power the con 
 stitution passed by the people. It shall be the policy 
 of this administration to so administer the immediate 
 affairs of the government as to secure at the earliest 
 moment the greater good to the greater number of peo 
 ple. Private interests and private rights and property 
 will be conserved and protected, but no individual or 
 combination of individuals shall in this emergency 
 stand between the government and the welfare of the 
 people. This administration will act in the capacity 
 of a receiver for a valuable but mismanaged estate or 
 corporation until such time as a majority of its stock 
 holders, represented by Congress, shall terminate that 
 receivership. 
 
 "I appeal to every American citizen to do his full 
 duty and loyally support the administration in the 
 stupendous task now before it. Selfishness must be put 
 aside and patriotism act in its plaoe. Not in a day or 
 
250 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 a week or in a month can the vast machinery of this 
 country be put in perfect motion. Years of semi-idle 
 ness have incased with rust the working parts of our 
 national mechanism, but under the magic touch of 
 labor friction will disappear, and like a great engine 
 abandoned for a time by its makers will the nation 
 throb with a higher and more perfect activity." 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THE RULE OF COMMON SENSE. 
 
 PRESIDENT SMITH and his cabinet, after a Jong and 
 earnest conference, decided to take immediate action 
 looking to the restoration of industry. Production 
 had been suspended almost entirely for six months, 
 and for over two years had been carefully restricted 
 and curtailed to the lowest possible point. The demon 
 etization of gold and the startling political revolution 
 had paralyzed everything. Silver and silver certificates 
 were used as money, and in Chicago, New York and 
 other large cities the local governments had issued 
 scrip in payment of food and other necessities pur 
 chased by the relief committees and distributed among 
 the people^ The secretary of the treasury was author 
 ized to issue $1,000,000,000 in paper currency and 
 bonds, the said issue to be considered as a temporary 
 expedient and to be retired and replaced by a perma 
 nent system at the earliest possible date. This cur 
 rency and the bonds were based on the credit of the 
 government, and had as a precedent if one were 
 needed the issue by the government of several billion 
 dollars in greenbacks during the war of 1881-65. The 
 administration had already determined on a perma 
 nent financial system, and Treasurer Childs lost no 
 time in organizing and perfecting his department. 
 
 Agriculture, of all the industries of the country, was 
 saved from the wreck which had overwhelmed the na 
 tion. As a rule the farmers had planted their usual 
 crops. Chief of Agriculture Moulton, the day after his 
 installation into office, issued an address to the farm 
 ers urging them to increase their acreage of crops to the 
 
 251 
 
252 PRESIDENT JOHN 
 
 greatest possible extent, and offered, on the part of the 
 government, to supply any reasonable quantity of seed 
 corn or grain of any kind. Thousands of requests were 
 made, and Secretary Moulton made large purchases of 
 grain from elevator companies in Chicago, Minneapolis 
 and Duluth, paying for" the same in the new currency 
 and bonds. Some of the elevator men protested and 
 accepted the crisp new bills with poor grace. They 
 had no alternative, however, and contented themselves 
 with denouncing the "fiat stuff" and proclaiming that 
 they had been robbed in the name of the law. The 
 banks and merchants at first refused to accept the new 
 money except at a heavy discount. This was just 
 what the enemies of the administration had predicted, 
 and they took a grim satisfaction in the realization of 
 their doleful forecast. 
 
 Chief of Mechanics Browning took possession of the 
 great manufacturing industries of the country. In a 
 circular addressed to the owners he outlined the pol 
 icy of the government as follows: 
 
 "It is imperative that the industries of the United 
 States be restored at once to their fullest possible ac 
 tivity. The supply of manufactured products is so 
 low that the whole people is threatened with want. 
 The government desires the earnest co-operation of 
 factory-owners in this stupendous task. 1 am author 
 ized by the President of the United States to take tem 
 porary possession of your factory in the name of the 
 people and for the common welfare, The government 
 will hold itself responsible for all damages done your 
 machinery, all losses by fire, and other Josses during its 
 occupancy. You are earnestly requested to act as the 
 agent of the government or to appoint a representative 
 to act as your agent during this period. You will co 
 operate with an officer of the department of mechanics, 
 whose duty it shall be to jointly keep with your aid an 
 accurate account of the value and quantity of materials 
 used in production, the rate and quantity of wages and 
 such other data as properly come under the department 
 of book-keeping. Our representative, acting on your 
 advice, will fix a scale of wages conforming as nearly 
 
THE RULE OF COMMON SENSE 253 
 
 as possible to the average which prevailed in the fairly 
 prosperous years of 1879 and 1891. For any material em 
 ployed in production, for your own services, and for any 
 other expenses which may be incurred or losses which 
 may follow the "temporary occupancy of the govern 
 ment you will be reimbursed by the payment of govern 
 ment bonds or currency. The government officer will 
 pay the wages of the men and all other expenses which 
 may be incurred, and turn over the finished product to 
 the government. The department of mechanics trusts 
 that you will find it to your interest to co-operate with 
 the government at this time. An immediate answer to 
 this communication is requested." 
 
 In response to this fully 65 per cent of the manufac 
 turing establishments of the United States notified the 
 department of mechanics of the appointment of an 
 agent. Secretary Browning appointed government rep 
 resentatives for the larger establishments, and in the 
 smaller ones trusted for the time to the books of the 
 concern. Where manufacturing concerns ignored the 
 government address the department took possession of 
 the plants and resumed work. There was some lit 
 tle trouble, but the firm stand of the government soon 
 convinced the most stubborn factory-owner that oppo 
 sition was not only futile, but foolish. Every work 
 man in the country was pressed into service. They had 
 an abiding faith in the administration, and did not 
 hesitate to accept the government scrip. 
 
 President Smith issued a message to the people, 
 warning holders of the new currency or bonds against 
 accepting any discount from merchants or bankers un 
 less forced to by the direst calamity. He informed the 
 people that the government was establishing distribut 
 ing retail stations in every city of the country, at which 
 government money would be accepted at a shade above 
 the labor cost of the article purchased. Bondholders 
 were also assured that their securities were of the high 
 est order, and were advised to hold them for a time 
 rather than sacrifice the new bonds for silver at a loss. 
 This address had a slight reassuring effect, but for the 
 
254 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 first thirty days the government currency was either 
 refused or accepted at a heavy discount by the banks, 
 merchants and retailers, The new bondholders ac 
 cepted President Smith s advice and held on to their 
 securities, and with more or less faith awaited the re 
 sult. 
 
 The first government distributing system was estab 
 lished in New York almost simultaneously in twenty 
 places in the city. Agents of the government had no 
 difficulty in renting for a short term many of the large 
 unoccupied buildings, into which there began to pour 
 the products of thousands of factories. In Chicago, 
 Cleveland, St. Louis, Kansas City, St. Paul and all the 
 great cities of the country such depots were in oper 
 ation before the end of April. At the outset these dis 
 tributing depots contained the simplest necessities of 
 life, such as flour, sugar, cheap clothing, meats, coal 
 and wood. But the prices caused a sensation and pre 
 cipitated a small panic among private retailers, and 
 even among wholesale merchants. The average rate of 
 wages then being paid in the government shops was 
 about $2.50 a day, but with this the workman was able 
 to purchase from the u gov. shops," as they were termed, 
 twice as much as the same wages had formerly com 
 manded. Tho government prices were experimental, 
 it being possible at the start to ascertain only ap 
 proximately the cost price. As a result the government 
 found at the end of a month that it had lost heavily on 
 some articles arid gained on others, but the average 
 was a fairly accurate measure of the cost of production 
 and distribution. 
 
 The effect of the introduction of the government 
 shops was magical upon the private retail and whole 
 sale trade of the country. The wholesale merchants 
 had a considerable stock of goods on hand and were 
 compelled to meet the government prices. The retail 
 ers not only had to meet the same prices, but were com 
 pelled to accept the new money in order to do business. 
 The government shops accepted silver and silver cer 
 tificates at par with the government currency. As fast 
 as silver coins and the silver certificates were paid into 
 
THE RULE OF COMMON SENSE 255 
 
 the depots they were forwarded to Washington and re 
 tired from circulation. 
 
 The government shops ha.d forced the credit of the 
 government money. By the middle of May, less than 
 six weeks after the inauguration of President Smith, 
 the inexorable law of supply and demand had estab 
 lished the solidity and credit of the fiat currency. 
 Every dollar which had been issued from Washington 
 represented a fixed value and had something substan 
 tial back of it. The money advanced to the elevator 
 companies for seed grain was represented by growing 
 fields of grain. The money advanced to the factory- 
 owners and to the 6,000,000 men already at work was 
 represented by the vast stores of products now in the 
 possession of the government stores and exchangeable at 
 their cost value for this very currency. 
 
 The moment $1 or $100,000 was transferred from 
 the treasury department at Washington to a private 
 individual it was represented by and based on a prop 
 erty or commodity then in the possession of the govern 
 ment. The holder of the currency could purchase back 
 from the government all but a fraction of the property 
 on which that currency was issued, The credit of 
 this currency depended not upon the fluctuating in 
 trinsic value of stored-up quantities of silver or 
 gold, at the mercy of any bold or lucky developer 
 or discoverer of mines. Its value was enhanced by every 
 advance in civilization or discovery in science, inven 
 tion, art or skill 
 
 Commerce with England and other foreign countries 
 for the first two months was carried on by means of 
 silver, vast quantities of which were stored in the treas 
 ury vaults at Washington as security for the silver 
 certificates. The government coined into silver dollars 
 all of this bullion and purchased abroad such commod 
 ities as sugar, wool, woolen manufactures, chemicals, 
 coffee, flax, hides, fruit, tobacco, India rubber, tea and 
 other necessities and luxuries. June 16 Congress demone 
 tized silver, and the secretary of state informed the 
 nations of the world that on and after July 1 the 
 
256 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 UDited States government would refuse to accept any 
 consideration other than its own currency. Europe re 
 fused to believe it. 
 
 Shortly after the passage of the act demonetizing 
 silver the representative of an English grain syndicate 
 called on Secretary of Commerce Field to negotiate for 
 the purchase of 4,000,000 bushels of wheat, large 
 quantities of which had been exchanged by farmers to 
 the government in consideration of currency and stored 
 in elevators leased by the department of commerce. 
 Mr. Field and the syndicate representative agreed on 
 the price of 73 cents per bushel. 
 
 The Englishman tendered the amount in silver, and 
 was astonished to have it refused. 
 
 "Why, sir," said the English gentleman, "silver is 
 the standard coin, don t you know. It has a ratio of 
 114 to 1 as against gold. It has been accepted as the 
 standard by the monetary congress of Europe." 
 
 "lam aware of that," said Mr. Field, "but, really, 
 we have no use or demand for silver at present. We 
 are not even working our silver mines, and have a large 
 quantify of silver we would like to dispose of." 
 
 "No use for silver? Why, bless me, man, it is 
 money!" 
 
 "Not in the United States," said Mr. Field. "If 
 you desire to buy any wheat from the government you 
 will have to pay us in United States currency." 
 
 "But we have no United States- currency; it is not 
 good in England, don t you know. Our merchants 
 won t accept it, and all that sort of thing, don t you 
 know. How am I going to get it?" asked the puzzled 
 syndicate representative. 
 
 "That is not a part of my department," answered 
 Mr. Field. "Secretary of the Treasury Childs can in 
 form you as to that. The United States accepts no 
 money other than its own." 
 
 The Englishman called on Mr. Childs and was in 
 formed that the United States could not assume the 
 risk of accepting silver in payment for wheat or any 
 other product of the soil or of labor. 
 
 "We can mine enough silver in two years to flood 
 
THE RULE OF COMMON SENSE 257 
 
 the world, "explained the kindly secretary of the treas 
 ury. "For all we know, there are other such mines in 
 the world. Any day may bring the news of the dis 
 covery of a new and prolific silver mine. That would 
 find us with several hundred tons of white metal on 
 our hands which is valueless only in the arts. We can 
 take no such risk. We will accept any good securities 
 or bonds based on land or safe and imperishable prop 
 erty. If you have no such system of currency or se 
 curity you would beter make an arrangement with Mr. 
 Field to exchange certain English products for the 
 wheat you desire. If your firm is responsible I may 
 accept their note for the amount, provided it so reads 
 as to be negotiable for English products at current 
 rates governing the exchange of such products. But we 
 will not accept silver. Perhaps Mr. Field may make a 
 bargain with you for copper or tin. I understand he 
 is in the market for tin. Otherwise, you will be com 
 pelled to furnish me with some absolutely safe security, 
 in exchange for which I will give you the desired amount 
 of United States currency or bonds." 
 
 The Englishman returned home without making the 
 purchase. He vainly attempted to buy wheat from 
 Chicago capitalists, but they would not accept silver, 
 the government having retired it from circulation. 
 For nearly three months the commercial relations be 
 tween the United States and England were in a pecu 
 liar condition. The United States continued to pur 
 chase from England, paying their debts in silver, but 
 steadily refusing to accept silver in payment for any 
 thing. The commercial contest was too one-sided, and 
 England surrendered and made terms for United States 
 currency. 
 
 That was the opening wedge which eventually forced 
 the credit of American money upon the world and 
 finally established a new international financial stand 
 ard. For ten years the United States continued to un 
 load silver upon Europe and the rest of the world, re 
 ceiving in return every product of labor from the poles 
 to the equator. These foreign products were placed on 
 sale at the government depots, and the people of the 
 
258 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 United States were not compelled to pay any McKinley 
 or other tariff as an added price to the cost of purchase 
 and transportation. The pauper labor of Europe did 
 not seem to bother the administration, and whenever 
 Mr. Field could make a good purchase of any commod 
 ity needed by the people he did so regardless of the 
 cost of production in the United States. 
 
 In a few industries it was found that the United 
 States did not possess natural advantages which en 
 abled it to produce at the labor cost abroad, and it was 
 the policy of the government to gradually curtail and 
 eventually close such industries, employing the re 
 sources and the labor of American workmen in other 
 directions and buying the required products in the 
 cheapest market. The production of sugar and wool 
 was practically abandoned, these necessities purchased 
 abroad, and the capital and labor formerly unprofit- 
 ably invested in them was employed to better advan 
 tage. The tariff question ceased to be an issue and was 
 relegated to history. 
 
 The government took immediate possession of the 
 railroads, and Chief of Transportation Jeffery assumed 
 the control of the 175,000 miles of railroad. The great 
 railway trusts and pools had simplified the work of 
 this department. The railroads had already been merged 
 into four or five great trusts. The officers in control 
 were not disturbed at first, and as a rule were made 
 agents of the government under Chief Jeffery. The 
 stockholders and bondholders were assured that their 
 property rights would be respected and protected bj r 
 the government. In this stupendous industry the peace 
 ful revolution was effected without the slightest friction 
 and without the loss of a day s usefulness. The rail 
 roads accepted, of course, the new currency, and this 
 had a tremendous influence in establishing the credit 
 of the government. The inter-state commerce com 
 mission operated with the government, and the great 
 railroad presidents lent valuable assistance to the ad 
 ministration. Many of them had for years been in 
 favor of the national control of railroads and had fore 
 seen that such was the inevitable trend of events. It 
 
THE RULE OP COMMON SENSE 259 
 
 was not necessary to issue government bonds to the 
 owners of railroad property, the administration pledg 
 ing itself to recognize, at the proper time, all lawful 
 issues of stocks and bonds. 
 
 President Smith assumed personal supervision over 
 the most difficult, complicated and delicate problem 
 confronting the administration, that of taking posses 
 sion of unused and unoccupied land. A land commis 
 sion was formed and the work subdivided among the 
 several states. The title to every acre of property in 
 the United States was examined into and properly 
 classified. Speculators had subdivided their holdings 
 in anticipation of this action of the government and 
 rendered the task a more difficult one. In mining lands 
 the commission allowed to the owners an acreage equal 
 to thirty years average development of the mines then 
 in operation, taking as the standard of measurement 
 the highest production in any given year. In mines, 
 as well as in forest and other property, recent transfers 
 made with an evident intent of defeating the policy of 
 the government were ignored. 
 
 The vast undeveloped tracts of land in New York, 
 Pennsylvania and the central states which had been 
 held for years by home and foreign speculators were 
 condemned and purchased and their holders paid a fair 
 profit on their investment. The work of the commis 
 sion was rendered more easy by the action of Congress, 
 which in September levied a heavy tax on all unoccu 
 pied or unimproved land, which had the effect of de 
 stroying its speculative value. It was many years 
 before the land commission completed its work, which, 
 while of great importance to the future of the country, 
 was not of such vital consequence to the people of that 
 time. The United States eventually found itself the 
 owner by purchase, condemnation, and forfeiture by 
 reason of non-payment of land taxes, of over one-half 
 of the fertile, productive land of the United States, and 
 of not less than 85 per cent of the coal, iron and other 
 mining lands. 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 UNDER*the provisional government the people were 
 enjoying a prosperity such as had never before come 
 to a nation, and on every hand was expressed the hope 
 that the administration would make no change. But 
 President Smith was eager for the day when Congress 
 could safely declare the provisional government at an 
 end, and the President and his cabinet bent every en 
 ergy in that direction. In the latter part of June, 
 Treasurer Childs had perfected the permanent system 
 of finance, which consisted of: 
 
 1. United States paper currency of denominations 
 of $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50, $100, $200 and $500, and 
 a fractional currency of 1-cent, 2-cent, 5-cent, 10 cent, 
 25-cent and 50-cent pieces, stamped on aluminium, a 
 cheap and light metal. 
 
 2. Agricultural certificates of the same denomina 
 tions as the currency, and issued upon standard farm 
 products sold to the government. 
 
 3. State certificates issued to a federal state by the 
 general government on the credit of the state, and of 
 the same denominations as the Currency. 
 
 4. Municipal certificates issued to an incorporated 
 city by the general government on the credit of the 
 city, and of the same denominations as the currency. 
 
 5. Manufacturing certificates issued to owners of 
 factories and manufacturing plants by the general gov 
 ernment in consideration of the purchase of said plants 
 by the government. These certificates were in denomi 
 nations of $50, $100, $200, and $500, and $1,000, 
 $2,000, $5,000, and $10,000. 
 
 6. Railroad, telegraph, and general bonds issued to 
 the owners of railroads, telegraph, or other corporate 
 
 260 
 
PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT 261 
 
 stocks or bonds of denominations of $100, $200, and 
 $500, and $1,000, $2,000, $5,000, and $10,000. 
 
 The government currency and agricultural certifi 
 cates were intended as a general circulating medium 
 for the payment of wages and for the general use of 
 the people. The government was authorized to issue a 
 sufficient volume to meet all the demands of production. 
 The secretary^of the treasury was authorized to issue 
 agricultural certificates upon such standard grains as 
 could be easily stored and for which the world always 
 had a market. He was ajso empowered to determine 
 from time to time the certificate value of such grain 
 or standard and ever negotiable farm product. 
 
 State and municipal certificates were issued to fed 
 eral states and cities for public improvements 5 and were 
 redeemable after stated terms of years in national cur 
 rency raised by the states or cities from the revenues 
 of such public improvements or by taxation. 
 
 Manufacturing certificates were issued by the gov 
 ernment in the purchase of manufacturing plants, be 
 ing a full payment for such property on terms mutu 
 ally agreed upon by the government and the owner or 
 owners of such property. These certificates were ex 
 changeable at any time by the government into cur 
 rency. 
 
 The most important issue was that of railroad 
 bonds. The railroad capital of the United States in 
 1891, according to the report of the inter-state railroad 
 commission, was $9,437,343,420, divided as follows: 
 
 Railroad stock $4,409,658,485 
 
 Funded debt 4,574,576,181 
 
 Miscellaneous debt 453,108.804 
 
 Total $9,437,343,420 
 
 "Of this, "says the report of the commissioners, "the 
 bonds or funded debt represents the certain or bed-rock 
 value of the railway property, while the stocks repre 
 sent their speculative value." 
 
 The dividends on this stock and payments of interest 
 on the bonds amounted to an annual dividend, interest 
 
262 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 or profit, of 3.85 per cent. In no year after 1891 had 
 the railroads shown an equal prosperity, and the state 
 ment of that year was accepted as a fair basis of settle 
 ment. The railroad property of the United States was 
 appraised by Congress at $5,400,000,000, and bonds for 
 that amount were issued to the stock and bond owners, 
 the said bonds bearing interest at the rate of 4 per 
 cent, or $216,000,000 annually, a sum exceeding that for 
 merly paid in dividends and interest, except in the 
 more prosperous years. These bonds bore interest for a 
 term of thirty years and were so numbered that one- 
 thirtieth of the total amount, or $180,000,000, was re 
 tired each year-by the government, both interest and 
 principal being paid in currency. The cancellation of 
 the face of the bond did not impair its interest cou 
 pons, which were payable each year. The government 
 therefore stipulated to pay to the railroad owners the 
 sum of $396,000,000 annually for a period of thirty 
 years, or a total sum of $11,880,000,000. These figures 
 fairly staggered the people and many declared that it 
 could never be done. 
 
 In answer to this criticism, which amounted almost 
 to a protest, President Smith in a message to the people 
 said: 
 
 "The reason why it can and -will be done will be 
 found in the fact that it has been done for years under 
 the most distressing financial circumstances and even 
 when the whole nation was staggering under the handi 
 cap of restricted production and general business and 
 financial depression. The people of the United States 
 have created nothing greater than themselves. They 
 have always paid by their patronage all dividends 
 which have accrued to the stock and bond holders, 
 and have annually added to the railroad equipment a 
 value of not less than $200,000,000 a year. The $216,- 
 000,000 fairly represents the earnings of the roads, 
 which will be vastlv increased under the management 
 of the government." The $180,000,000 applied to the 
 purchase of the roads divided among the 75,000,000 
 people of the United States amounts to $2.40 per capita, 
 or to less than $10 a year to the average head of a fam- 
 
PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT 263 
 
 ily. The decreased cost of products to the consumer in 
 cident to a lessened rate of transportation vviJl more 
 than thrice offset this trifling sum,," 
 
 This was strictly true. The consumer and the pro 
 ducer had always paid not only the stock dividends but 
 the interest on the bonds. Every day, when the citi 
 zen of the United States seated himself at the breakfast 
 or dinner table, he paid a small tribute to the railroad 
 stock and bond holders. From across the broad At 
 lantic the long arm of the English, Belgian, German 
 and Holland bondholder reached out and collected its 
 tax. Every dollar of this represented the product of 
 American labor. It meant that the American work 
 men were compelled to annually produce $500,000,000 
 worth of grain, boots and shoes, lumber, cotton goods, 
 knives, etc., the proceeds of which went to pay the divi 
 dends and interest of the railway capital. The burden 
 was not increased by the government purchase of these 
 roads. The sum stipulated was enormous in the aggre 
 gate, but under a system which permitted the people to 
 produce to their full capacity the $11,880,000,000 was 
 a mere trifle. 
 
 Even under the provisional government over 3,000,- 
 000 formerly idle men had been placed at work. This 
 was in excess of the number which had at any former 
 time been employed in production. Their work was a 
 clear gain to the community. It was more than that. 
 Formerly the community had to support them in idle 
 ness. Each of those 8,000,000 men created a product 
 of value not less than $3 a day, or $9 000,000 a day. and 
 $2,700,000,000 for the 300 working days in a year. 
 These 3,000,000 idle men, unaided by the 20,000,000 
 other producers of the United States, were therefore 
 able to cancel the entire debt to the railroad stock and 
 bond holders a sum of $11,880,000,000 in the short 
 space of four years and fi\e months. 
 
 To put it in another way, the obligation assumed by 
 the government was annually met by the labor of 560, 
 000 men, less than one-ninth of those who had for 
 merly been forced into idleness. The 5,000,000 men who 
 were idle in 1893 could produce every mile of railroad, 
 
264 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 every car, bridge, and the entire assets of the railroad 
 companies of the United States in less than eighteen 
 months. They could do even better than this. The 
 railroad values were based on labor performed by the 
 clumsy processes in use in former years before the time 
 of steam dredges, shovels, and all the magnificent equip 
 ments of the present. 
 
 Had it been necessary the United States could have 
 duplicated the railroad property in a year without the 
 slightest strain on the national resources. 
 
 This is a striking illustration of the waste of pro 
 duction permitted in the years before the reign of com 
 mon sense. The United States railroad bonds became 
 the finest securities ever placed on the market of the 
 world. They were based on the actual railroad prop 
 erty and bucked by the credit of the United States. 
 Their annual interest amounted to more than had ever 
 been paid in dividends and in interest on bonds and was 
 payable in a currency which could by no possibility de 
 preciate. They had a life of thirty years a genera 
 tion with interest paid in some cases for twenty-nine 
 years after the face of the bond had been redeemed. 
 This system worked exact justice to every holder of 
 railroad property. It would have been manifestly wrong 
 for the government to have taken possession of the rail 
 road property and forced the acceptance of non-interest 
 bearing bonds in full payment. This would have 
 deprived investors of a steady income for a term of 
 years a consideration they were clearly entitled to, 
 and one which was recognized by the government. 
 
 The new railroad bonds commanded a high premium, 
 and were eagerly sought after by European investors. 
 The manufacturing certificates were also accepted 
 abroad as a perfect security, being represented by im 
 proved and steadily enhancing property. 
 
 The administration proceeded, after the adoption 
 and installation of the permanent system of finance, 
 to organize its industries on a solid basis. Up to this 
 time the government had been acting under a provi 
 sional form, in which the administration had for the 
 time annulled all laws, though aiming to work injus- 
 
PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT 265 
 
 tice to DO private interest. ID this President Smith aiid 
 his cabiDet had succeeded even beyoDd their fondest 
 expectatioDS. The liberal treatment accorded manu 
 facturers and capitalists had won to the administration 
 thousands of powerful friends, who rendered valuable 
 aid in the permanent introduction of the government 
 workshops. Congress placed at the credit of the depart 
 ment of mechanics the sum of $2,000,000,000 to be ex 
 pended in the purchase and extension of manufactur 
 ing plants and machinery. 
 
 Chief Browning devoted a coDsiderable part of this 
 sum to the erectioD of machine shops near Philadel 
 phia, New York, Chicago, Cleveland, St. Louis, Cin- 
 cinnati and other manufacturing cities. Large forces 
 of machinists were placed at work in the production 
 of standard and special machinery. About one-half of 
 the appropriation was expended in the purchase of 
 fully equipped plants. Large agricultural manufactur 
 ing plants were located at Omaha, St. Paul and Kan 
 sas City, giving employment to about 30,000 men. In 
 Michigan and Wisconsin the department rapidly devel 
 oped the lumber industries. 
 
 In his report to Congress January 1, 1898, Statisti 
 cian Wright reported that the goverDment had pur 
 chased 6,223 manufacturing plants at a price of $876,- 
 485,000 and had invested in 551 new plaDts the sum of 
 $423,000,000. He estimated that the 551 Dew establish 
 ments, then under construction, would, when com 
 pleted, exhaust the 12,000,000,000 appropriation, each 
 plant representing an average investment of $2,000,- 
 000. There were employed in the purchased plants 
 439,420 workmen and in the new government enter 
 prises a total of 396, 718, a grand total in the employ of 
 the department of mechanics of 836,138. The average 
 rate of wages was $2.98 a day* the minimum wage be 
 ing $1.75 and skilled workmen receiving from $3.50 to 
 $10 and, in exceptional cases, $18 and $20 per day. The 
 cost of direct government supervision had been 1.3 per 
 cent of the total product, this sum representing the pro 
 portional expenses of the national government, the sala 
 ries of government officials and inspectors directly in 
 
. 
 266 PBESIDENT JOip SMttfflf 
 
 charge, and other general expenses. The products of these 
 industries had been sold to the customer at an average ex 
 cess of 9| per cent over their cost price. This repre 
 sented the expenses of transportation, retailing, and 
 losses from various causes. Statistician Wright stated 
 that this percentage could be materially reduced. 
 
 In his report to congress Chief Moulton of the depart 
 ment of agriculture set forth that his department was 
 ready to rent or lease farming lands, and in a few weeks 
 would be able to co-operate with the department of 
 mechanics and enable occupants of government land 
 to secure, upon proper security, such farming tools and 
 machinery as was necessary. His report showed an 
 average crop thrQughout the country, only a small 
 portion of which had been sold abroad. 
 
 Chief Skiff of the department of mining reported 
 that little had been accomplished in his department, 
 owing to the lack of mining machinery and the neces 
 sary caution of the land commission in proceeding with 
 its work, The government had purchased and acquired 
 by condemnation valuable iron mining lands, and work 
 on such lands would be hastened as" rapidly as possible. 
 The forced development of the mines under the man 
 agement of the government had reduced the price of 
 ores until it was possible, if advisable, to export large 
 quantities to England and other countries. The chief 
 made no recommendation on this point. 
 
 Attorney-General Burke submitted a long report, 
 detailing the work and proceedings of the inter-state 
 legal convention, called for the purpose of forming a 
 code of laws in conformity with the new constitution 
 The secretary of the interior and superintendent of 
 education reported that no material changes had been 
 made in their departments, the postal and school sys 
 tems having been well nigh perfected under preceding 
 administrations. Superintendent Ely recommended 
 the founding of great universities in New York, Chica 
 go, Denver and San Francisco, modeled after the Co 
 lumbian Exposition held at Chicago in 1893. 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 DOWNFALL OF THE MIDDLEMAN. 
 
 APRIL 4, 1902, exactly one year after President 
 Smith s inaugural, Congress declared the provisional 
 government at an end and decreed the constitution as 
 adopted by the people in full force and effect. The day 
 was one of great rejoicing, tinged with a slight feeling 
 of apprehension among the hundreds of thousands of 
 workmen who for a year had been retained at work by 
 the authority of the government. There were fears 
 among the timid that many of them would be dis 
 charged or their wages reduced, but the majority had 
 faith in the future, and the first anniversary of the 
 new government was celebrated with parades and great 
 public demonstrations. In his annual message to Con 
 gress and to the people President Smith paid a tribute 
 to the capitalists and great manufacturers of the coun 
 try. In his message the President said: 
 
 "The administration is under deep obligations to 
 the manufacturers, railroads, and other capitalists 
 of the United States, who have loyally aided the gov 
 ernment in the stupendous task of repairing the losses 
 inflicted by years of idleness and depression. With but 
 few exceptions they have voluntarily placed the entire 
 resources of their great producing plants in the hands 
 of the administration and have generously co-operated 
 with us in the work of the last twelve months. Such of 
 these factories, mills and plants as have not been pur 
 chased by the government are now placed in the full 
 possession of their former owners. With but few excep 
 tions the government has made a satisfactory settle 
 ment with the owners for the use of their plants and in 
 payment for materials, and all disputes which have 
 arisen have been submitted to arbitration, the verdict 
 of which will be accepted by both parties. 
 
 267 
 
268 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 "Every industry of the country is now in full oper 
 ation, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from the 
 Gulf to the British line no American workman is idle 
 by reason of a lack of opportunity to work. A refer 
 ence to the accurate reports submitted to Congress by 
 the secretary of census and statistics shows that the 
 total output of manufactured products for the year 
 more than doubles that of 1891, which was considered 
 a prosperous year, and quadruples that of the corre 
 sponding period of 1900, the year preceding the adop 
 tion of the constitution of the United States, 
 
 "It will be the policy of the government in the second 
 year of its existence to extend the industries now in 
 process of construction, and to add to their number and 
 scope as rapidly as the prosperity of the people will 
 permit. The government now enters into a friendly 
 competition with the private capital and manufactur 
 ing interest of this country, but none of its powers will 
 be exercised to secure an unfair or unnatural advan 
 tage. Railroad rates will be made uniform, all depart 
 ments of the government paying into the department 
 of transportation such freight and other rates as that 
 department may establish, which rate shall be the same 
 as those made to private users. 
 
 "No system of taxation shall be proposed or adopted 
 which shall operate against private interests, and what 
 ever influence the executive or the present cabinet pos 
 sesses will be urged against any discriminating legisla 
 tion. It is but fair that private capital and the private 
 machinery of production should bear its fair share of 
 the common expenses of the government, and to that 
 end it shall be the policy of the administration to urge 
 the adoption of a system which shall place the burden 
 upon lands held for purely speculative purposes. 1 
 
 The provisional government came to an end and the 
 constitution entered into effect without the slightest 
 friction or disturbance of the affairs of the country. The 
 government officers were withdrawn from private fac 
 tory and mill. The thousands of workmen applied for 
 
DOWNFALL OF THE MIDDLEMAN 269 
 
 work the next morning and with hardly an exception 
 were assigned to their former positions. There were 
 some slight modifications of the wage scale and a few 
 men were discharged. Such men applied at the govern 
 ment shops and were placed at work. The changed 
 condition had no effect on the government industries, 
 and the Bureau of Industry steadily increased the force of 
 workmen, drawing upon the private concerns for its 
 extra men. Under this stimulus wages rose slightly, 
 the manufacturers being compelled to meet the govern 
 ment prices in order to retain their workmen. 
 
 The first congressional election was held Jan. 10, un 
 der the new apportionment of districts as prepared by 
 the preceding Congress. Of the 200 congressmen nearly 
 two-thirds were selected from the membership of the 
 provisional Congress, which had been in continuous 
 session for a year. 
 
 The newly elected Congress assembled in Washing 
 ton Jan. 28. The most important question before it was 
 that of immigration. A long debate on this problem 
 ensued. Immigration had almost ceased in 1896, but 
 the prosperity of the country under the new government 
 brought thousands of more or less desirable emigrants 
 from the old country. Many citizens were in favor of 
 absolutely prohibiting immigration, and others urged 
 that this was not only unwise, but impolitic. 
 
 At the close of the debate Congress submitted three 
 propositions to the people for an informal expression 
 of opinion. The first provided for a restriction of im 
 migration to 300,000 a year for a period of five years, 
 the second provided for the absolute restriction of im 
 migration, and the third for no restriction or limita 
 tion of immigration. The people by an overwhelming 
 majority indorsed the second proposition and Congress 
 enacted it as a law. 
 
 It is interesting to note that the people made a mis 
 take the first time they decided a great popular ques 
 tion. For years many of the evils of the country had 
 been charged against immigration. It was a curse un 
 der such conditions as prevailed in 1870-1896, but those 
 
270 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 conditions were changed. There was a demand for 
 workmen. Production had increased to such a point 
 and work was so plentiful that Chicago, New York and 
 other large cities found it impossible to employ men to 
 work on the streets. Farmers could not obtain hired 
 hands. In all departments where hard or distasteful 
 labor was required it was impossible to employ men 
 except at very high wages. The government found it 
 impossible to hire all the men it required. Six months 
 after the passage of the law prohibiting immigration 
 the people repealed it and substituted a law providing 
 for the admission of 450, 000 foreign workmen a year, 
 with strict provisions against the admission of crimi 
 nals or paupers. In 1904 this law was repealed and all 
 restrictions taken from immigration. The country was 
 then in a position to take care of any number of indus 
 trious men, and what was more, the overthrow of the 
 German and Russian empires had opened to the people 
 of those countries vast tracts of crown lands which 
 were taken possession of by the newly formed republics 
 and leased to the land-starved people. In Germany 
 over one-third of the most fertile land in the empire 
 had been reserved by the king and the nobility for 
 hunting preserves. 
 
 Congress submitted to the people a system of tax 
 ation providing for a tax on land, by which house lots, 
 and home property owned by the occupant was exempt 
 from taxation.- All rent and income-producing lands 
 were slightly taxed, as were farm lands under cultiva 
 tion. Unoccupied and unused lands, whether held 
 for speculative purposes or otherwise, were heavily 
 taxed. 
 
 The first four years of President Smith s administra 
 tion were years of prodigious effort on the part of the 
 government. Not until the latter part of 1904 could the 
 government industries be considered as being upon a 
 permanent basis. These were years of construction :n 
 which vast amounts of labor were expended on build 
 ings, mines and forests, and nature was levied on for 
 much of her prolific treasure. President Smith was 
 elected to a second term in 1904. 
 
DOWNFALL OP THE MIDDLEMAN 271 
 
 Four years before, John Smith, a plain American 
 citizen, with good, honest common sense which went 
 as far as to consider government a matter of business 
 and not of sentiment John Smith found himself Presi 
 dent of the United States and in a position to put into 
 practice those business principles which the "patriot 
 ism" of 1898, 94 and 95 denounced as visionary and 
 its advocates as cranks. 
 
 In those four years the nation had almost doubled 
 its wealth. John Smith entered upon the first presi 
 dential term at a time when the United States was act 
 ually starving to death. The country was constitu 
 tionally built on the lines of a turtle, which when 
 turned on its back has no power to right itself and 
 miserably starves surrounded by plenty. Every panic 
 turned the clumsy creature on its back. 
 
 President Smith s first term witnessed the decline of 
 the middleman. The middleman came into existence 
 back in the centuries and reached his highest develop 
 ment in the later years of the nineteenth century. 
 He flourished as a wholesaler, jobber, retailer, petty 
 tradesman, peddler, fakir, agent, and had a thousand 
 branches and ramifications. The middleman was the 
 direct product of a false system of industry. He ex 
 isted by manipulating the products of others. Like 
 any institution founded on false principles, the struct 
 ure raised by the middleman was doomed to destruction. 
 
 The middleman was in his glory in 1893. Take a 
 hat, for instance There was the manufacturer who 
 made the hat and the people who wanted to buy and 
 wear the hat. It would seem a simple transaction, but 
 it was far from it. The manufacturer sold his hats to 
 a jobber, the jobber purchasing them in large quantities 
 at a small margin. The jobber in turn sold them to 
 the wholesaler, who kept hats and caps and many other 
 specialties. The wholesaler sold them to the retailer 
 fit a profit, and the retailer sold them to the customer. 
 The manufacturer had, therefore, presumably, made a 
 profit, the jobber had made a profit, the wholesaler had 
 made a profit, the retailer had made a profit and the 
 customer was permitted Jo buy a hat. 
 
,272 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 This beautiful system was defended in 1893 and in 
 I other years by people who were fearful that the trusts 
 or something were menacing the "occupations and use 
 fulness" of the middlemen. The, great trusts and the 
 general stores ignored the middlemen and kept eating 
 up the little retailers, and people denounced the trusts 
 and all other comprehensive and scientific systems of 
 handling productions. 
 
 Great retail stores in Chicago and similar enterprises 
 / in other large cities bought directly of the manufactur 
 er and ignored both wholesaler and jobber. The little 
 retailer could not compete with them, and many people 
 who reason with a substance which takes the place of 
 brains condemned the great stores and passed laws 
 against any concerns which attempted to carry on the 
 business of the distributers of products in a scientific 
 manner. The trust, with its national policy, its con 
 formity to the laws of business, of supply and demand, 
 and to every natural law of production and distribu 
 tion, was condemned by law; state legislators and 
 Congress were appealed and petitioned to destroy the 
 one valuable product of modern commercialism. 
 
 But all the man-made laws in the world could not 
 destroy the trust. Its birth was inevitable. It came 
 as a prophecy of something to follow. The trust did 
 not conform to the age in which it survived, but that 
 was not the fault of the trust, but of the age. The 
 trust was not an unselfish affair and was not intended 
 for the benefit of the people, but it was scientifically 
 perfect and was the fittest to survive. It crushed down 
 competition the foolish, petty haggling among small 
 merchants which went by the name of competition 
 and absorbed small rivals as a snowball grows in vol 
 ume as it rolls down-hill. The general store and em 
 porium was formed on economic lines, and thousands 
 of small retailers were forced by it out of business. It 
 was hard on them, but they were members of a class 
 whom progress had marked for slaughter. They were 
 going the same way as the old stage-driver, the old 
 mail-carrier and the ferry-boat man. 
 
 But some foolish people wanted to stop the wheels of 
 
 v 
 
DOWNFALL OF THE MIDDLEMAN 278 
 
 progress because the job of the retailer was threatened. 
 The u job" was the thing in 1890-96. The great prob 
 lem was to furnish "jobs." It made no difference to 
 the political economist whether the job was a produc 
 tive one or not. The capitalist or philanthropist who 
 would set 100 men at "work" hauling stone up the 
 street and then hauling it back again indefinitely was 
 considered a public benefactor. He had given men 
 "work," a "job." The retailers had a "job" and it 
 was generally as non-productive as any occupation well 
 could be. 
 
 In 1893 the retailer -was nothing but a wageworker. 
 His importance to the community had lessened year by 
 year. Slowly but surely he was being forced to the 
 wall by thfl powerful and well-equipped general stores. 
 In the great cities thousands of them were forced to 
 the wall by the panic of 1893, and on distinctively re 
 tail streets the doors of stores were plastered with 
 sheriff s notices. The advent of a great department 
 store, backed by unlimited capital, meant the certain 
 downfall of from 100 to 500 retailers. The general 
 store sold better goods at cheaper prices. It could 
 afford to and yet make a profit. One clerk in a great 
 store easily did the work of a dozen in a small retail 
 shop. It was but another illustration of the develop 
 ment of the machine. The department store was mod- 
 * ern, scientific and labor-saving. The retail store was 
 antique, unscientific and labor-creating. It fostered 
 useless labor. It ran on useless errands. It was the 
 old stage coach pitted against the compound locomo 
 tive with its record of 100 miles an hour. 
 
 The retail store was doomed in 1893 surely and in 
 evitably doomed but its fate was deplored by a cer 
 tain class of alleged thinkers, who wanted the obsolete 
 system of petty retailing continued because it made 
 "work." These same men would have destroyed a 
 valuable machine because it saves "work." They hated 
 a trust because by a system of production and distribu 
 tion it made profit by doing away with "work." 
 
 But a day had come when the people wanted not 
 "work," but rather the products of work, and the prob- 
 
274 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 lem was to derive the greatest results with the least 
 expenditure of toil. 
 
 In 1893 a great invention was a curse. It did away 
 with work. 
 
 In 1903 a great invention was a blessing. It did 
 away with work. 
 
 In 1893 a great fire was a blessing. It destroyed the 
 products of work and created a demand for labor. In 
 1903 a great lire was a national calamity. It had de 
 stroyed the products of labor and decreased the actual 
 wealth of the nation. 
 
 The government had not extended its scope so as to 
 include all of the forms of industry. Such was not its 
 policy. The administration confined its attention to " 
 the production of the actual standard necessities of life / 
 and left to private capital the development of the hun- ) 
 dreds of specialties which increase with civilization^ - 
 But in all commodities for which there was a general 
 demand, and in which it had been possible for trusts 
 to assume a monopolistic control by reason of vast re 
 sources and good management, the government became 
 aa active competitor. 
 
 Among the great government industries against which 
 private capital competed, these may be mentioned: 
 Cotton and woolen manufactories, flour milling, stock 
 yards, and cattle raising, the production of standard 
 grocery and drug articles, standard articles in the 
 hardware line, coal, coke and wood, lumber, agricul 
 tural machinery, planing mills in a word, the govern 
 ment engaged in the production of the actual necessi 
 ties of modern life and ignored the thousands of spe 
 cialties and luxuries for which the demand is more or 
 less limited. But the government made and had on 
 sale enough of the standard products of civilization to 
 support the people independent of outside production, 
 and its competition with private capital in these 
 branches forever precluded high and exorbitant prices. 
 
 The government extended its retail system on the 
 same plan as that pursued in the perfection of the post 
 office system. Whenever, in the opinion of the depart 
 ment, it was advisable to locate a distributing retail 
 
DOWNFALL OF THE MIDDLEMAN 275 
 
 depot in any given locality, a site was selected and a 
 building purchased or erected of such a capacity as the 
 present or future needs of the adjacent district seemed 
 to warrant. The location of such a depot would, of 
 course, threaten the supremacy of the local retailers, 
 who usually found it impossible to long compete against 
 the government shops. It was the policy of the ad 
 ministration to offer such retailers advantageous terms 
 for their stocks of goods on hand, a proposition which 
 was generally accepted. 
 
 Thus the old-fashioned retailers of meats, boots and 
 shoes, dry goods, coal and wood, lumber and other 
 commodities gradually disappeared without loss of 
 anything but his u job, " a much kinder fate than that 
 which befell the old stage drivers on the advent of the 
 unsympathetic but superior railroad company. In cer 
 tain specialties the retailer survived and so did the 
 wholesaler and jobber, but as a class the middleman 
 gradually faded out of existence and joined the other 
 discarded rubbish stowed away in Father Time s attic. 
 
 The great army of retailers easily accommodated 
 themselves to the changed conditions. The more pro 
 gressive found profitable employment as heads of de 
 partments in the government depots or in the compet 
 ing stores of the private industries. The poorly paid 
 retail clerks were happily released from a monotonous 
 life in a dreary store and engaged in the higher activi 
 ties of the new regime. Their work was more easy and 
 their wages sufficient to enable them to support them 
 selves in comparative luxury. They were no longer use 
 less adjuncts to society, deriving a miserable existence 
 by filling a needless position. They now formed a part 
 of a perfect system of production and distribution. 
 They were absolutely independent, and at liberty at 
 any time to retire from their present occupation and de 
 vote their time and energies in any of the numberless 
 activities surrounding them. The line of promotion was 
 ever open. The retail clerk of to-day may be the high- 
 salaried head of a vast department in the coming dec 
 ade. 
 
 The government was a gigantic trust, with the people 
 
276 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 as stockholders. It transacted business on a national 
 scale, manufacturing to the best possible advantage. 
 The department of mechanics did not attempt to locate 
 iron mills in New York City or in Chicago when pro 
 duction could be carried on more cheaply at points 
 nearer the mines. It did not attempt to force anything 
 against natural surroundings. It conducted the busi 
 ness affairs of the nation the same as the head of a 
 great corporation manages its affairs for the benefit of 
 the stockholders. Against this vast and scientific sys 
 tem of production the small competing manufacturer 
 who attempted to "go it alone" was inevitably forced 
 under. He was compelled either to combine with other 
 manufacturers and become a stockholder in a compre 
 hensive system of production on lines of scientific econ 
 omy, or he had the alternative of retiring from business 
 or of selling to the government or to any other pur 
 chaser In order to do business the private manufac 
 turer had to meet the prices of the government. So 
 had the great trust. 
 
 It was absolutely free competition, in which the best 
 system or systems survived. 
 
 Except in specific and limited industries, the small 
 factory passed out of national existence. There re 
 mained the great private industries and trusts and the 
 government industries. Both were supported by the 
 consumers. The government retailed through its own 
 depots and distributing departments. In every city 
 these magnificent stores were established and conducted 
 on the most perfect business systems, with every fea 
 ture reduced to an exact science, even to a greater ex 
 tent than prevailed in the post-office departments of 
 former years. In order to meet this competition the 
 trusts were compelled to form a similar system. The 
 little retailer could not compete. The government 
 would sell him goods at the same rate as that charged 
 against the depots, but the margin was so small that 
 living profits were impossible, Ther^ was no jobbing 
 trade and there were no jobbers in the great national 
 products. The government and the trusts did their 
 own wholesaling and the private wholesaler sold out his 
 
DOWNFALL OF THE MIDDLEMAN 277 
 
 stock and retired from business. Such of those mid 
 dlemen as had a competency retired and lived at ease. 
 Others connected themselves with the industries of the 
 government or with private interests, and the world 
 moved on as though no back-street clerk had ever sold 
 5 cents worth of ribbon over a dusty old counter in a 
 dingy little store. 
 
 The middleman, who for a century had stood between 
 the producer and the consumer, demanding and receiv 
 ing his toll, had been relegated to the past along with 
 other forms of extortion, which the people of former 
 years had accepted and indorsed on the plea .that "they 
 always had existed and probably always would" the 
 helpless wail of a man too lazy to strike a blow at that 
 which oppresses him. 
 
 The consumer derived the greatest benefit from this 
 new system. All of the people are consumers. They 
 profited by the competition between the government 
 and the trusts. Prices ever tended to the lowest point 
 at which the government could manufacture, handle 
 and distribute its products. The trusts sold at the 
 same figures, and consequently at very slight margins 
 of profit. All of which was to the direct advantage of 
 the consumer. It was no longer possible for combina 
 tions of private capital to monopolize any great indus 
 try and force up prices at the expense of the consumer. 
 
 The competition between the government and its 
 powerful rivals was inspiriting. Compelled as they 
 were to meet the prices fixed from time to time by the 
 bureau of industry, the trusts and other private inter 
 ests were forced to seek their profits in superior skill in 
 manufacturing and in handling. The railroad rates 
 were the same to both competitors. It was a contest 
 in which superiority of management, workmanship, in 
 ventive skill, and close attention to detail was sure to 
 win. Skilled workmen were in great demand. They 
 transferred their allegiance from one shop to another 
 and received wages in proportion to their fitness and 
 capacity. 
 
 It was impossible for the trusts to force the average 
 scale down. The government regulated the wage scale. 
 
278 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 It ever stood ready to employ a capable workman at a 
 standard rate of wages in keeping with his skill com 
 pared with other workmen. The government had every 
 resource that the trusts had. It was prepared to bid 
 against them for talented managers of industry, and in 
 its employ were many great organizers of industry in 
 receipt of salaries exceeding $20,000 a year. The trust 
 was, therefore, compelled to pay the same wages and to 
 fix the same prices for its products as the government. 
 It had always been claimed that private management 
 was superior to that of the government. The trusts 
 had an opportunity to prove this. Their profits rep 
 resented their exact superiority over the government, 
 but were not increased either by enforced low wages 
 or monopoly prices for their products. The commu 
 nity, therefore, obtained the benefit of all the good 
 features of combination and competition, without the 
 evils which are ever resulting from monopoly. 
 
 The rivalry resulted in a rich harvest to the inven 
 tor. The government was always willing to purchase a 
 valuable invention and the trusts were ever prepared to 
 bid against it. The inventor therefore received the 
 full value of his genius. Private capital was in the 
 field to back any promising new enterprise fortified by 
 patents or other privileges, and inventors were pro 
 tected in their rights by patent laws substantially the 
 same as those of former years. 
 
 In 1908 the number of men employed in private in 
 dustries was 7,638,492, and in government industries 
 5,429,603, according to the annual report of the sec 
 retary of census and statistics. For a period of twenty 
 years the government percentage gradually increased 
 until at present the number is about equally divided. 
 
 In 1907 the United States found itself confronted 
 by an actual condition of overproduction in manufac 
 tured goods of many kinds. The foreign markets had 
 been supplied and exchanges made until the govern 
 ment stores were loaded with foreign articles and lux 
 uries. In this emergency the hours of labor were re 
 duced from 8 to 6 and some of the surplus energy of 
 the nation diverted to great public improvements in 
 
S 
 
 : 
 
 DOWNFALL OF THE MIDDLEMAN 279 
 
 parks, public buildings, and in extension of the railway 
 system. In July and August all government workmen 
 in certain departments bad two months vacation on 
 full pay, and in September and October those who had 
 not been so favored took a vacation on the same pleas 
 ing terms. The summer holiday became a regular fea 
 ture and was extended to three months. This was a 
 simple and by no means disagreeable way of meeting 
 what in 1893 would have caused a panic. In 1898 the 
 factories would have closed down, the men would have 
 been discharged and denied a chance to work, their 
 power of purchase or consumption cut off, and the 
 country permitted to drag out a miserable, half-starved 
 existence for a period of years. 
 
 Occasionally a trust w r ould succumb to the severe 
 competition. Some found it impossible to contend with 
 the national industry against which it was pitted. In 
 such cases the bureau of industry conferred with the 
 owners and purchased the competing plant, adding the 
 resources and equipment to the national plant, Such 
 cases were of rare occurrence. It was the policy of the 
 government to encourage competition, and in no in- 
 ustry was a monopoly long permitted to exist. 
 
 It was observed that in the absence of competition 
 he efficiency and esprit de corps of the industry in 
 volved suffered from that cause. Between the heads 
 of departments in trust and nation there existed an 
 earnest though friendly rivalry. The public kept a 
 close watch on the dividends declared by private con 
 cerns. A large dividend paid by a trust indicated the 
 superiority of private management, and its long contin 
 uance generally led to an overhauling in the government 
 department which suffered by comparison. 
 
 Under such a system there was no chance for laziness 
 or incompetency among the workmen or of long-con 
 tinued inefficiency among heads of departments. It was 
 the policy of the bureau of industry to allow the oper 
 atives to select foremen and superintendents, provided 
 the popular choice was possessed of a skill and manage 
 rial capacity equal to his popularity. A foreman stood 
 in a direct line of promotion to a superintendency, and 
 
280 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 from that to the directorship of an industry or a posi 
 tion in the presidential cabinet as a chief of the bureau 
 of industry. The workmen were always able to secure 
 the dismissal or removal of an inefficient or unpopular 
 foreman. No foreman or superintendent was under the 
 slightest obligation to keep an inefficient or disorderly 
 workman. 
 
 A discharged workman could be reinstated, upon prop 
 er assurances and guarantee of fair conduct, at the dis 
 cretion of the foreman, but a workman thus discharged 
 had no inalienable right to demand and receive work 
 in that department. He was at liberty to apply for 
 and receive work in some other, and probably less prof 
 itable, branch of work, or he could leave the service of 
 the government and find work elsewhere. 
 
 Every workman could not be a foreman or superin 
 tendent or a chief of a department, but there was al 
 ways a chance of advancement to a capable and faith 
 ful employe. There was none of the slavery that some 
 alleged political economists had predicted would follow 
 the government control of industry. 
 
 But the 10,000,000 men employed by the trusts 
 and the government were but a part of ,the forces of 
 production, and by no means constituted the only ave 
 nues open to employment. There were doctors, lawyers, 
 artists, newspaper men, and the thousand and one dev 
 otees to professions and occupations not directly con 
 cerned in the general production of a nation. The 
 peaceful revolution had not materially affected their 
 status. Their general prosperity had increased with 
 the prosperity of the nation, and in no way had the gov 
 ernment abridged in the slightest degree the liberty of 
 any individual. 
 
 The press was absolutely untrainmeled and at liberty 
 at any time to attack the government or any part of it, 
 a liberty they took advantage of when any responsible 
 government official allowed the work of his department 
 to deteriorate. 
 
 Begging was a lost art, and had ceased to be profit 
 able. People had no sympathy for and paid no atten 
 tion to able-bodied mendicants, and there were plenty 
 
 nf rmhhV. n,nrl nrivfltft insHtnt.inns fnr wnrthv n,nrl hfiln- 
 
DOWNFALL OF THE MIDDLEMAN 281 
 
 In Chicago, New York and other cities the 
 greatest change was in the long streets, formerly devoted 
 to hundreds of musty little retail shops. These had dis 
 appeared, and at intervals corresponding to the density 
 or character of the adjacent population were the mag 
 nificent bazaars of the trusts or of the government. In 
 terspersed between these great marts were the more 
 modest shops of dealers in such specialties as art works 
 or the product of some industry which did not enter 
 into general production. But the endless string of alter 
 nating grocery stores, butcher shops, drug stores, dry- 
 goods stores and hardware stores had disappeared. 
 
 There were no long processions of idle men with 
 banners demanding work and bread. There were boards 
 of trades, but no maniac, inspired by a belief that such 
 institutions were impoverishing the people, shot at the 
 noisy throngs of speculators and dealers. Great mer 
 chants and capitalists did not find it necessary to main 
 tain guards around their private offices or residences to 
 head off the desperate crank. There were no meetings 
 of anarchist groups to discuss bomb-throwing or mur 
 der. No man had lost his liberty. The right of a man 
 to demand and always obtain employment had simply 
 been affirmed and carried out. With this as a condi 
 tion there was no longer any good excuse for poverty. 
 
 There were endless opportunities to acquire wealth. 
 The annual productiveness of the nation had been more 
 than doubled. The wages of the cheapest workman 
 were more than sufficient to support a large family in 
 comfort. Things which would have been deemed lux 
 uries in 1893 were in general demand. The purchasing 
 power of a workman was enormous as compared with 
 the rate which prevailed in 1893-96. Careful estimates 
 indicate that the wages of the average workman in 1910 
 guaranteed him a daily purchasing power of not less 
 than $15, as measured by the wage scale and prices 
 which prevailed in 1898. In 1898 the workman pro 
 duced about $7 a day and received less than $1.50 as 
 wages. In 1910, measured by the same standard, the 
 workman produced $16 a day and received not less than 
 $15 of it as wages. The balance went either to the 
 
 4- 4- 4- 4-\ 4-4- * -A j 
 
CHAPTER XXL 
 
 NEW PROBLEMS. 
 
 MUNICIPAL governments were made to conform to the 
 theory of the new constitution. Chicago was the first 
 city to fall into line. By a popular vote the people 
 overthrew the old city charter and formed a municipal 
 government in which each ward was represented by a 
 councilman whose powers were limited to the transac 
 tion of routine work and who could, at any time, be 
 recalled by a vote of his constituents. The power to 
 vote away the use of streets and alleys to private cor 
 porations was revoked. The city condemned, under the 
 right of eminent domain delegated from the state, the 
 various street-car, cable and elevated railroads occupy 
 ing the streets, and purchased the same from their 
 former owners. 
 
 Chicago voted for a loan from the general govern 
 ment, and the cabinet authorized the secretary of the 
 treasury to advance to Chicago the sum of $6,000,000, 
 to be expended in the extension of the intramural rail 
 way system. In six years Chicago rede emed this pledge 
 from the profits of the new enterprise, without raising a 
 dollar by taxation. All large expenditures of money 
 were submitted by the city council to the people. 
 
 Having been shorn of all opportunity to steal, the 
 aldermen were honest. Politics was no longer a pro 
 fession. The heads of such departments as the ele 
 vated railroad system, telephone system, electric light 
 ing plant and other public enterprises were elected for 
 long terms of years and could be removed during such 
 terms only by a majority vote of the people. The rates 
 of wages paid employes in these concerns corresponded 
 with those paid by private concerns and in the govern 
 ment industries. There was no wild scramble for 
 work, apd the position of conductor or lineman under 
 
 282 
 
x NEW PROBLEMS 288 
 
 \ 
 
 the^city administration VaV no more sought after than 
 was an equally reinu iterative and responsible position 
 in the great wholesale and retail establishment or in 
 the shops of the Agricultural Machinery Company of 
 America. 
 
 There was no political patronage, for the reason that 
 the granting of a "job" was no longer a favor. The 
 American people had reached a point when the right to 
 work w r as not considered a rare privilege. The press 
 and the public held tfre officers of the various heads of 
 departments strictly accountable for the efficiency of the 
 service rendered. If a cable road broke down two or 
 three times a week, some official head was sure to fall 
 in the basket. It was not difficult to induce the man 
 agement to heat the cars in winter or to provide cars 
 enough for the people in the summer. In other respects 
 municipal government remained much the same as in 
 other years, The people always had a chance to con 
 demn inefficient management, and a decided improve 
 ment in the police force was soon noticed. 
 
 Some cities adopted the Glasgow system and erected 
 municipal dwelling-houses, but the plan was not gen 
 erally successful, the people preferring to erect their 
 own houses, a task not difficult when steady work and 
 good wages was assured A few cities erected free 
 theaters, but their patronage did not much exceed that 
 of the private theatrical enterprises. It became the 
 settled policies of cities, as of the government, to re 
 frain from interference in those activities and profes 
 sions not directly connected with the production of 
 standard necessities or in the execution of some public 
 function. The management of street-car lines or of 
 any system of intramural transit was of necessity a 
 monopoly in private hands. It remained a monopoly 
 in the hands of the city. It could be nothing but a 
 monopoly, competition being impossible. The differ 
 ence was that the private monopoly was for the benefit 
 of the few stockholders and the city monopoly was for 
 the benefit of the entire public. 
 
 In a report submitted to Congress in 1912, Secretary 
 of the Census Wright showed that the average produc- 
 
284 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 tivity of the individual was more than three times that 
 of the year 1894. He ascribed this wonderful increase 
 to the following reasons: 
 
 "1. Increased opportunity for profitable and steady 
 employment. 
 
 "2. The decided reduction in the percentage of the 
 indefinite and non-productive class. 
 
 "3. An improvement in and a systematizing of the 
 methods of production. 
 
 "4. Decreased losses from the *vaste which formerly 
 resulted from overproduction during the periods of de 
 pression and crippled consuming power which followed." 
 
 In his report Secretary Wright said: 
 
 "From 1890 to 1896 not more than one-half of the 
 workmen of the United States were steadily employed. 
 There were more non-producers, middlemen, and hand 
 lers and exchangers of products than there were pro 
 ducers. It cost the nation more to sell and protect its 
 products than to pay its workmen. Every dollar taken 
 by the middlemen was deducted from the share which 
 would otherwise have been divided between the capital 
 ists and the workmen. In 1893 the numbers of the 
 middlemen exceeded those of the combined industrial, 
 commercial, professional and independent class, and 
 were exceeded in numerical strength only by the agri 
 cultural class, upon whose resources and products they 
 levied a heavy tax. In 1893 not less than 40 per cent 
 of the income-receiving people of the country were non- 
 producers. In 1904 the percentage of non-producers 
 was 28. Four years later it had decreased to 19, and in 
 1912 less than 10 per cent of the income-receiving peo 
 ple of the United States were employed in the hand 
 ling, storing, distributing and manipulation of the pro 
 ducts of industry. 
 
 "With the perfection of the system now in use by 
 the great private industries copied to some extent 
 from that of the government I am of the opinion that 
 in a few years not to exceed 5 per cent of the workmen 
 of the country will be required in that necessary work 
 which comes under the classification of unproductive. 
 
 "The hundreds of thousands of men once engaged in 
 unnecessarv work have been forced into the ranks of 
 
NEW PROBLEMS 285 
 
 the producers. Every man thus transferred has not 
 only taken a load from the backs of capital and labor, 
 but has also added another unit to the total industrial 
 force of the country. This gradual diminution of the 
 ranks of the non-producer has not been made at the ex 
 pense of the complicated machinery of distribution and 
 exchange. On the contrary, the work of that impor 
 tant department, both in public and private industry, 
 has been made more perfect from year to year. 
 
 "In 1894-96 each workman was compelled to support 
 himself, another idle workman, and two non-producers. 
 
 "To-day a workman receives the total sum of his 
 products after there has been deducted less than 10 per 
 cent as the necessary expense of transmitting, storing, 
 selling and delivering. 
 
 "In other words, in 1894-96 the workman received less 
 than 25 per cent of what his labor had added to raw 
 material, and to-day he receives over 90 per cent. His 
 average productivity has also been enormously increased 
 by improvements in methods of production and ma 
 chinery, all of which has gone to him after the deduc 
 tion of a fair percentage to private capital, to the gov 
 ernment, and the rewards of inventive genius and su 
 perior management. " v 
 
 Among the employments which had disappeared, or 
 in which but few representatives yet remained, were 
 those of the commercial traveler or drummer, insur 
 ance agents, solicitors, officials, clerks, etc., book agents, 
 and agents of 100 other kinds. In 1898 there were 
 800,000 commercial travelers traversing the country at 
 an enormous expenditure of money and energy, and 
 engaged in the task of convincing the retailer of the 
 superiority of a certain manufacture of goods. In 1904 
 both the drummer and his former customer, the re 
 tailer, had disappeared. Three hundred thousand 
 good-looking and bright men were devoting their time 
 and energies to other and more productive work at 
 much higher wages, and 2,500,000 retailers had disap 
 peared as retailers from the face of the earth. One 
 clerk in one of the great retail departments, aided by 
 one delivery man, easily did the work formerly done 
 
286 PRESIDENT JOHN SMITH 
 
 The government and private retail establishments 
 had certain delivery routes and certain times for the 
 distribution of articles, the same as in former years was 
 the practice with the delivery of postal matter and in 
 the handling of an immense business by the great ex 
 press companies. 
 
 It appears almost incredible now that a time ever 
 existed when forty or fifty rival grocery wagons, from 
 forty or fifty different parts of the town or city, each 
 delivered small quantities of goods in the same block. 
 This was called competition in those days, and the peo 
 ple paid the wages of the fort} T -eight superfluous de 
 livery men, the feed bills of the forty-eight superflu 
 ous horses, the wages of the forty-eight superfluous 
 grocery or butcher clerks, and the profits of the forty- 
 eight superfluous retailers, and protested against any 
 system which would do away with any one of them. 
 
 The government did an insurance business and paid 
 all losses incurred. There was no incentive to incen 
 diarism, for the reason that the government stood ready 
 to purchase any property at as high a figure as it would 
 place insurance. In 1893 thousands and thousands of 
 men and millions of dollars in money were wasted in 
 insurance business. Banking was engaged in both by 
 the government and by private capital, but the rates of 
 interest were so low and the demand for money so 
 slight that the business was not a profitable one for 
 private capital. The government was ready to advance 
 money with land or unimpaired improved property as 
 security. 
 
 For the first time in American history farming be 
 came generally profitable. In preceding years the 
 farmer had managed to live until the mortgage on his 
 farm was foreclosed, when he became a tenant farmer, 
 a tramp, or an unemployed workman in a great city. 
 The stunted production and wage fund of 1870-9(5 made 
 the farmer dependent on the European market for the 
 sale of the surplus which hungry Americans could not 
 buy, and the price was also fixed by that same foreign 
 market. Lack of profits deprived him of the superb 
 machinery stored in deserted factories, and lack of 
 nrofitfl nrevanted him from heiner a rmrchasm in the 
 
NEW PROBLEMS 287 
 
 marts of industry. In the stimuulated industrial era 
 which began under President Smith the consumption 
 of farm products was doubled in twelve months. Wheat 
 jumped from 43 cents per bushel to $1.17. Railroad 
 rates,under the management of Chief Jeff ery, decreased. 
 The government ever stood ready to purchase wheat 
 and grains at the quoted market price, which rose 
 and fell slowly from supply and demand, and not 
 from the manipulation of board of trade operators and 
 gamblers. Secretary Moulton established in several 
 states model farms of from 6,000 to 20,000 acres of 
 land, some of which were purchased and some forfeited 
 by speculative holders. Every modern improvement 
 was employed and the experiment was a success. As a 
 result of this, co-operative farming became a feature 
 throughout the west and south and in many parts of 
 the east. A score or more of farmers would combine 
 their acreage and form a stock company. In some 
 cases a small village would be located near the center 
 of the co-operative farm, and the advantages of closer 
 associations profited by. These farming companies 
 were enabled to purchase and employ every labor-saving 
 device known to invention, and farming became profit 
 able with the advance of civilization, instead of steadily 
 retrograding as in the past. 
 
 An event of great importance to the United States 
 marked the present year. At an international mone 
 tary congress held in Paris the currency of the United 
 States was accepted by the great nations of Europe as 
 an international standard of value. The fluctuations 
 of silver had been so marked and its decline so inevi 
 table that it was as valueless as gold as a standard. 
 The paper American dollar, based on labor and secured 
 by the inexhaustible stores of wealth of a continent, 
 was unanimously adopted as a standard by which all 
 Values could be measured. Based on the average pro 
 ductivity of labor, ever exchangeable in the United 
 States for not less than 95 per cent of the products of 
 one hour s labor, backed by a nation of 100,000,000 
 people with an ever increasing wealth, it formed the 
 ideal of an "honest dollar." 
 
CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 THE PAST AND THE PRESENT. 
 
 IT is difficult in this year of our Lord 1920 to account 
 for the toleration of abuses which distinguished the 
 American people in 1893. The American of to-day is 
 jealous of his rights. He considers himself a part of 
 the government. There is nothing shadowy or unsub 
 stantial about his citizenship. He makes ai^ unmakes 
 laws; elects and deposes public officials; is an equal 
 factor with any other man in the deciding of the affairs 
 of the nation, state, county, township or municipality. 
 He is not ruled, he rules. He is the government. He 
 is the state. 
 
 There is a growing tendency of modern historians 
 which the author must condemn, to ridicule, denounce 
 and hold up to contempt the paople of the latter part 
 of the nineteenth century. They were not cowards, 
 as has been alleged by some. They were not fools, as 
 has been allegad by certain writers who were at that 
 time too young to analyze the conditions which pre 
 vailed, The crime of the nation in those years was 
 superstition- and national superstition is a national 
 crime. 
 
 Their politicians, preachers, writers and schoolteach 
 ers taught superstition and labeled it patriotism. That 
 splendid word patriotism came to mean bigoted, parti 
 san, class and caste ignorance and superstition, It was 
 taught in the public schools, The half-starved children 
 of idle mechanics were taught to believe that their 
 country was the greatest and wisast governed country 
 on the face of the earth, the home of liberty, and a ref 
 uge for the oppressed of all nations. Intelligent 
 foreigners came from monarchical countries, visited 
 America, and went back across the Atlantic amazed, 
 astounded and discouraged. But the American people 
 
 288 
 
THE PAST AND THE PRESENT 289 
 
 firmly believed the fairy tale of their freedom. Hungry 
 workmen year after year drank in the lies of demagogues 
 and ignorant but cunning politicians. They were ready 
 to accept any excuse for their poverty, and with child 
 like faith grasped at the delusive phantom of hope held 
 out before them. They rallied at the polls, elected men, 
 and men, and men, and were robbed, and robbed, and 
 robbed. And into their ears the public teachers were 
 pouring patriotism, preaching the infallibility of a 
 government, constitution and laws which were defraud 
 ing and impoverishing the very men who were preach 
 ing patriotism and superstition. Bankrupt merchants, 
 crippled capitalists, idle and despondent workmen, be 
 draggled and forlorn in the financial storm sweeping 
 over them, would cursa the reformer who told them to 
 come in out of the wet, The curse was the curse of 
 time. The constitution of the United States was 110 
 years old. Therefore it was something to venerate, to 
 worship, to scare little children with. If it had been 
 but ten, or twenty, or thirty years old, it would not 
 have survived the first week of a panic, but would have 
 been cast aside by a disgusted and defrauded people. 
 hag anjaan e n d e ooy over the under standing; 
 
 ^ 
 
 says the philosopher WatTsi ^aiTT^iToTFel^great tHm ker" 
 has declared that in the great majority of things habit 
 is a greater plague than ever afflicted Egypt. The peo 
 ple of the United States proved -this in the years they 
 submitted to the rule, of the constitutional antiquity 
 handed down from the little monarchical colonies which 
 a hundred years before lined the Atlantic coast. John 
 Smith punctured that aged enemy of the people, and 
 the bubble of superstition broke and at the same time 
 the film came from the eyes of the people. Progress has 
 no greater foe than precedent; no grander champion 
 than a true hater of superstition, The path of progress 
 is strewn with broken precedents, and over the shat 
 tered traditions of a majority-fearing constitution a 
 free people planted a milestone in history and on it in 
 scribed these words: 
 
 44 The rights of the majority of a people shall no 
 longer be abridged." 
 
To THE READER: 
 
 We have taken this method of pointing out some of 
 the glaring defects of our social, industrial and govern 
 mental system. Until a remedy is found and enacted 
 into legislation there can be no prosperity for the Ame 
 rican people. Legislation can rise no higher than its 
 fountain source the average intelligence of the people. 
 No effort of any individual to contribute to the enlight 
 enment of the voter on these questions, is lost. 
 
 Looking at it from the purely selfish standpoint of the 
 man who never spends a dollar without expectation of fi 
 nancial returns, how can a small amount be better ex 
 pended than in a practical attempt to revise an industrial 
 system, which has already impoverished the great mass 
 of our people, and which, if perpetuated, will inevitably 
 reduce our middle classes to absolute dependency and 
 slavery ? 
 
 It is not going to take years to accomplish these re 
 forms. If every man who reads this book, and who be 
 lieves that it contains the essence of great truths will 
 do his duty to himself, his children and to his country, 
 the dawn of the new century will usher in the reign of a 
 grander and nobler republic. Help us to make men 
 think. Help us to make American citizenship something 
 to be proud of. 
 
 The fund for the free distribution of President John 
 Smith 1 was started by Thomas Lowdermilk of South 
 Greenfield, Missouri. He believed with hundreds of 
 others that it should be read by every American voter. 
 He contributed ten dollars for that purpose, and ten dol 
 lars was more to him than ten millions to some men who 
 never did an honest day s work in their lives. The au 
 thor, Mr. Frederick U. Adams, contributed $100 more 
 
and instructed his publishers to reduce the selling price 
 from 25 cents to the actual cost of printing, binding, 
 mailing, postage, office and clerical expenses. This 
 amounts to a fraction over nine cents and the price has 
 been fixed at ten cents a copy. Whatever of profit re 
 mains will be devoted to the general circulation of this 
 book and other literature along similar lines. 
 
 If you are not financially able to extend the circulation 
 of this book, help us by giving it to some friend and tell 
 him in turn to pass it along. 
 
 If you are able and willing to place "President John 
 Smith" in the hands of the voters, do so. Decide for 
 yourself how much your contribution should be. This is 
 a voluntary work. Every man should be his own judge 
 in this matter. Here is our plan of action. 
 
 Every man or woman who desires to help in the circu 
 lation of "President John Smith 1 should first make out a 
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 The Majority Rule Club will attempt to supply the 
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 In case any subscriber to this fund sends more money 
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 Rule Club will mail the purchased books to other addres 
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 To those desiring a large number of books for personal 
 distribution, or to clubs and various organizations, we can 
 send the books by freight and save a large part of the item 
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 chaser, the packages being forwardod C. 0. D. Here is a 
 
table of rates and estimated weights of books and packing 
 
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 This is certainly the most remarkable offer ever made 
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 venture. So long as space will permit a record of all con 
 tributions will be published monthly in The New Time, a 
 magazine of social progress, published in Chicago and 
 edited by B. 0. Flower, the founder of Arena, and Fred 
 erick Upham Adams, author of "President John Smith" 
 and editor of New Occasions, which has been consoli 
 dated with "The New Time." 
 
 Kindly consider the feasibility of forming a Majority 
 Rule or Direct Legislation Club in your vicinity. The 
 time is ripe for such a movement and it must be done 
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 Smith" has no ambition to lead any such movement, and 
 subscribes himself a volunteer in the ranks. 
 
 Address all communications to 
 
 CHARLES H. KERR & COMPANY, 
 or to 
 
 FREDERICK UPHAM ADAMS, 
 
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To THE READER: 
 
 Are you in favor of Majority Rule? Do you believe 
 that it is of sufficient importance to become an issue in 
 1900? Do you believe that any reform can be carried 
 into execution by the majority so long as the minority is 
 in control? 
 
 Kindly consider the feasibility of forming a Majority 
 Rule Club in your vicinity. The author has no ambition 
 to lead any such movement, and subscribes himself as a 
 volunteer in the ranks. But he is desirous of giving this 
 and other books on the same subject a wide circulation, 
 and would esteem it a favor if the reader will forward his 
 name, with those of friends who maybe interested in the 
 reform movement. We must help one another, and by 
 granting this favor you may materially advance a move 
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 Without education there can be no progress. If you re 
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 Sincerely yours, 
 
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 President John Smith 
 
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WH.THER ARE WE DRIFTING? 
 
 A Bjok of Over Seve-.i Hundred Pauvs Oovoted 
 
 to tf.e Discusshm of fcJconomic 
 
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 Tills Boon Handles In ati .Vble .Ulan^T the Various 
 
 J oliffea! INMIIP* Irc \Vh!ch tli People 
 
 Arc Interested. 
 
 The silver question; transportation in all its varied 
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 no other work so ably treated or so thor 
 oughly discussed. 
 
 That there is something radically wrong somewhere, 
 
 all admit, and everyone who reads this book says 
 that it contains more that is calculated to show 
 where that wrong is, than is contained in 
 any other book ever written. 
 
 It is jiot the advocate of any existing political organ 
 ization, but treats economic questions in a broad 
 and comprehensive manner. No other work 
 published is so intensely pleasing in style, 
 vigorous in presentation and thoroughly 
 
 convincing on every point discussed. 
 Every voter, to be well posted on the living questions 
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 "National Platforms and Political History of the 
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 Along with all the national platforms from the 
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 Every voter is interested in the political history 
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 Ask your newsdealer for it. Price 25 cents. // sell at 
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 THE DOGS AND THE FLEAS, a keen satire on 
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 WHITHER ARE WE DRIFTING AS A 
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 STORY OF THE BUTTONS; OR, THE MAN 
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 COINS AND CURRENCY. C. B. Fenton. A 
 handbook of finance with quotations from lead 
 ing men of all parties^ .25 
 BREAKERS AHEAD, by Edward Irving. .10 
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 of the money question, by Anna D. Weaver. .25 
 
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HISTORY OF 
 
 Monetary Systems 
 
 B. O. 369- A. D. 1895. 
 
 As Drawn from their Laws, Treaties, Mint Codes, Coins, Archae 
 ological Remains, and other Authentic Sources. 
 
 Bu flLEXftNDER DEL MflR, M. E. 
 
 PRESS OPINIONS: 
 
 He who masters Mr. Del Mar s book will know 
 more of monetary systems than 999 men out of a 
 thousand. Financial News, London, May 25, 1895. 
 
 As an authority on Monetary Systems this 
 work deserves to rank high. It is in fact an en 
 cyclopaedia on the subject, and no one who is 
 making a study of this important matter can afford 
 to be without it. New York Herald, June 2, 1895. 
 
 Mr. Del Mar ranks high as a student and is one 
 of the ablest writers on money. His work is full of 
 exact facts eminently pertinent to the discussion now 
 in progress. Chicago Inter-Ocean, May 25, 1895. 
 
 Alexander Del Mar, the authority on precious 
 metals and their history as money, has published 
 in this country the history of monetary systems 
 which he published about a year ago in England. 
 It is a critical and complete record of actual exper 
 iments in money made by the various States of the 
 ancient and modern world. This work is of great 
 importance, especially at this time, and its recep 
 tion in this country will doubtless be as warm as 
 its welcome was in England, since Mr. Del Mar 
 has long been an American of great prominence in 
 this field of thought. The work is especially 
 adapted to the need of the American people at this 
 day. Indianapolis Sentinel. 
 
 444 large pages, complete index. Beautifully printed and 
 well bound. Sent, expressage prepaid, to any address in 
 the United States on receipt of $2.0O, and as the Denver 
 News remarks, it is well worth that sum. 
 
 Catalogue of other books mailed free. 
 
 Charles H, Kerr & Company, Publishers, 56 Fifth Ave,, Chicago 
 
A Classified List of 
 
 BOOKS OF SOCIAL PROGRESS 
 
 AND A FEW OTHER BOOKS 
 
 BOOKS ON FINANCE 
 
 History of Monetary Systems in the various 
 States of the World, B. C. 369 A. D. 1895. By 
 Alexander Del Mar, M. E. Authorized American 
 edition. This is the great authority for the whole 
 world on coinage and the ratio between gold and 
 silver. Mr. Del Mar was at the head of the United 
 States Bureau of Statistics under President Andrew 
 Johnson. The present volume is the result of 
 fifteen years of research at the British Museum 
 and elsewhere. The latest information and most 
 accurate details relating to the Monetary Systems 
 and History of the Various States, their coins and 
 coinages, paper systems, monetary expedients and 
 experiments, the coinage .prerogative, principles 
 affecting money, the demonetization of silver, etc., 
 will be found in Del Mar s "Monetary Systems." 
 Cloth, library style, complete index, 444 pages, 
 $2.00. 
 
 He who masters Mr. Del Mar s book will know more of 
 monetary systems than 999 men out of a thousand. Financial 
 News, London, Eng. 
 
 Those who are at all interested in the monetary conflicts 
 which have been going on of late, will appreciate this volume. 
 Financial Times, London, Eng. 
 
 Mr. Del Mar s book is a monument of labor and research, 
 representing, indeed, practically the results of a lifetime of 
 study in the history of monetary systems Public Opinion, 
 New York. 
 
 Banking Systems of the World. By William 
 Matthews Handy. An impartial statement of the 
 conditions under which Bank Notes are issued in 
 
BOOKS ON FINANCE. 
 
 every Nation, and the actual workings of the 
 systems; with separate chapters on Postal Savings 
 Banks of the World, also an appendix containing 
 Abstracts of Proposed Currency Reforms. The 
 author s idea has been to furnish a manual of 
 reference. The work is impartial and the sta 
 tistics are the latest accessible. It is of spe 
 cial interest at the present time, when the bank 
 ing question threatens to overshadow the silver 
 question. The present work is the only com 
 prehensive work on banking in all nations covering 
 the whole ground in a few words, and contains 
 information which would otherwise be accessible 
 only to those possessing a large library of expensive 
 books. The chapter on "Postal Savings Banks" 
 contains information not accessible elsewhere in 
 books. Crown octavo, extra cloth, 192 pages. 
 Price, $1.00. 
 
 The chief points of merit of the book are, that it is accurate, 
 and second that it is up-to-date two essentials in a work of 
 that sort, if it is to be of any real value to the owner. Mr. 
 Handy s manual is, perhaps, the most inclusive of the kind 
 ever compiled. It tells about everything worth knowing con 
 cerning the monetary systems of all nations, in addition to a 
 great variety of other information of a correlative nature, 
 which would otherwise be accessible only by those pos 
 sessing an ample library. Separate chapters on the postal 
 savings banks and currency reforms will commend them 
 selves as being especially pertinent in view of the important 
 financial problems which Congress will soon be called upon 
 to consider. We have seen no work covering the same 
 ground that has covered it so thoroughly and so well. Phila 
 delphia Bulletin. 
 
 Admirably designed, * * the carefully skimmed cream 
 from nearly a hundred ponderous and little-known volumes. 
 * * Well bound, of convenient size, and furnished with an 
 excellent index. Chicago Tribune. 
 
 Honey Found: Recovered from its Hiding-Places, 
 and Put Into Circulation through Confidence in 
 Government Banks. By Thomas E. Hill, author 
 of "Hill s Manual of Social and Business Forms," 
 
BOOKS ON FINANCE. 3 
 
 etc. In this book the writer, a practical business 
 man, proposes a practical system by which the 
 United States may carry on the banking business 
 in the interest of the whole people. He suggests 
 that the government open a bank at every county 
 seat, receive deposits subject to check without 
 interest, and time deposits at three per cent, and 
 make loans at four per cent, up to half the value of 
 all approved collateral that may be offered. The 
 book contains an appendix of valuable statistical 
 matter, with a glossary of financial terms. Paper, 
 25 cents; cloth, 75 cents, flexible leather, $1.00. 
 
 A Breed of Barren fletal, or Currency and Inter 
 est. By J. W. Bennett. This is a scientific and 
 thorough-going treatise which does for interest 
 precisely what Henry George s works have done 
 for rent. Mr. Bennett shows that the whole 
 theory of interest-taking is based on fallacies. 
 He shows the inevitable result of interest-taking 
 is ruin for enterprise and poverty for labor He 
 shows that with a currency system framed in the 
 interest of the majority, interest could be abol 
 ished and humanity set free. He has written a 
 book that is needed, and is needed now. Cloth, 
 crown octavo, 256 pages, 75 cents; paper, 25 cents. 
 
 "A Breed of Barren Metal" is the peculiar title which J. W. 
 Bennett gives to his book telling us why interest is robbery. 
 Those who wish to have the best arguments advanced on this 
 side of the subject will find them here set forth. New York 
 World. 
 
 Mr. Bennett tackles bravely the conditions of today and, 
 not content with theorizing, plunges into the dangerous sea 
 of definite reform. His socialism is honest and reasonable 
 and the pleading of his cause, if at times a little bitter, is 
 always strong and earnest. Denver News. 
 
 The Modern Banker: A Story of His Rapid Rise 
 and Dangerous Designs. By James B. Goode. 
 
4 BOOKS ON FINANCE, 
 
 Mr. Goode is a successful writer of popular fiction, 
 and the present book is written in a style that will 
 please the average novel reader, while it carries 
 with it a great deal of forcible argument that will 
 awaken people to the evils of our present system, 
 which allows a few individuals to make enormous 
 profits by controlling the circulation of the peo 
 ple s money. Paper, 180 pages, 25 cents. 
 
 A story having its beginning in the war times and continu 
 ing over a period of some thirty years. Nothing could more 
 clearly show how the love for gain and desire for riches can 
 turn brother against brother and son against father. The 
 book so to speak, draws back the curtain and gives the world 
 a view of the inside history of the actions and plans of the 
 money kings of this country. A book well worth reading. 
 Living Issues, Detroit. 
 
 Mr. Goode s "Modern Banker" is a "novel with a pur 
 pose," a purpose equally obvious and laudable. The bank 
 ers methods are described with, the exact knowledge of a 
 professional expert, and the impression left on the reader s 
 mind is one of invincible repugnance to the whole tribe of 
 money-manipulators and profound compassion for their vic 
 tims. Times and Echo, London, England. 
 
 The Honey Question. The 50 per cent. Fall in 
 General Prices; the Evil Effects. The Remedy: 
 Bimetallism at 16 to i and Govermental Control of 
 Paper Money, in order to secure a Stable Measure 
 of Prices Stable Money. Monetary History, 
 1850-1896. By George H. Shibley ("Justice"). 
 This book of 743 large octavo pages, with over 80 
 pages of illustrations and 10 charts, is a complete 
 encyclopedia of financial reform. Cloth, $1.50 ; 
 paper, 50 cents. 
 
 I find it the best and most comprehensive work on the sub 
 ject that I have ever seen. John P. Jones, U. S. Senator 
 
 from Nevada. 
 
 The most comprehensive and interesting of the flood of 
 books on finance. St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 
 
 A treasury of information Manchester Guardian (Eng.). 
 
 The most extensive, exhaustive, comprehensive and con 
 vincing. Farmers Tribune. 
 
BOOKS ON FINANCE. 5 
 
 Sixteen to One. Shall the United States Under 
 take Alone the Free Coinage of Silver at this Ratio? 
 By Richard Lowry. Paper, 121110., 272 pages, 
 25 cents. 
 
 " 16 to i," by Richard Lowry, is one of the numerous books 
 that are doing very much to enlighten the darkness of the 
 American mind on the most important question of political 
 economy that underlies our civilization. " 16 to i," like the 
 title of many books, does not convey the real character of the 
 book, which is among the best treatises which has been writ 
 ten on the money question. The chapters on Banks and 
 Panics are especially valuable for the much needed informa 
 tion they contain. The author commences at the foundation 
 of the government and clearly demonstrates the fact that to 
 the banks every financial crisis that has scourged the busi 
 ness of the country is due. * * * Every panic which ever 
 existed in this country is traced to the banks by the author, 
 and a decrease in the money or circulating medium is their 
 weapon. 
 
 A history of Jackson s war against the U. S. Bank is given 
 in a condensed form that will greatly add to the much needed 
 information on the subject. The audacity of the Bank in its 
 attempts to defy law and its interference in the politics of the 
 time, is an exact parallel of the interference of the national 
 banks of to-day. Jefferson and Jackson clearly pointed out 
 the great danger the liberties of the people were in from the 
 constant menace of these arrogant institutions, all of which 
 is set forth in language so plain and forcible that the most 
 humble reader can readily comprehend. 
 
 Every phase of the money question is treated in the same 
 forcible and direct manner. Valuable tables are given from 
 unassailed statistics, which the student will appreciate. 
 
 The great and crying need of the people for more money 
 and money that cannot be affected by artificial panics en 
 gineered by the banks is the strong point, unassailable, which 
 lies back of the demand for the remonetization of silver at the 
 ratio of " 16 to i," the title of the book. flidland Journal. 
 
 The People vs. the (ioldbugs. By A. D. War 
 ner. A complete arsenal of facts, figures and 
 arguments for bimetallists. The author draws 
 freely from the best writers in favor of the free 
 coinage of silver at the ratio of sixteen to one, and 
 condenses his material into 144 convenient pages. 
 Paper, 25 cents; eight copies mailed for $1.00. 
 Special terms by the hundred or thousand. 
 
 This corrtpact volume is, what it purports to be, a brief on 
 the all-important question of currency. Citations are given 
 from some of the leading spirits of the day, including some 
 
6 BOOKS ON FINANCE. 
 
 who formerly were silver men, who now bend the knee to the 
 behests of bankers and the gold bugs. The author contends 
 that one-half the money of actual redemption has been de 
 stroyed and that business rests on one leg of gold instead of 
 two legs of silver and gold; that there is only money for 
 those who can control it and none for those who cannot ; those 
 who oontrol the gold getting richer, and those who cannot, 
 getting poorer ; that there is not sufficient money to repre 
 sent values of the middle classes, and that as long as this is 
 permitted the creditors will become richer and the debtors 
 poorer; that in place of Congress regulating the coinage of 
 money, the power has been handed over to bankers, and con 
 sequently the products of the farm, the mine and the shop 
 has decreased in value, and "gold" has caused distress, 
 want and woe among the toilers. 
 
 A concise history of money and its value is given, from 
 the earliest period to the present. This volume contains the 
 record of the administration of silver and its effect upon the 
 classes. 
 
 Arguments are presented, showing that the single standard 
 of gold has caused the outflow of gold from this country. 
 
 Strong arguments are made that free silver would not and 
 could not flood this country with silver. 
 
 This is a valuable book of reference on the great issue now 
 before the American people. Sacramento Bee. 
 
 Money Chart. By Marvin Warren. A book which 
 is accepted by the leading populist newspapers and 
 workers as an authoritative statement of the pres 
 ent position of the People s Party on the money 
 question. Paper, 136 pages, 25 cents. 
 The infamy of the money redemption theory is naturally 
 awakening much thought among currency reformers who 
 have given the subject attention. No other heresy has had 
 such evil effects and done more to befog and mystify the 
 minds of the people than this absurd and indefensible posi 
 tion on the money question, that there must be a metallic 
 money of "ultimate redemption." 
 
 It is the masterly manner in which this subject is handled 
 that gives such importance at the present time to this new 
 work. The book strikes the most vigorous and effective blows 
 at this popular error, and makes a clear, comprehensive and 
 able argument for the only true money system which can in 
 the light of sound reason be accepted by thinkers who probe 
 the subject to the bottom. 
 
 This little book can be placed to advantage in the hands of 
 millions who have never studied the subject from a true sci 
 entific standpoint. 
 
 It may yet fill a place of much importance in our literature, 
 dispelling the erroneous teaching about money of " final re 
 demption." And for this reason Populists can well afford to 
 extend its influence to the greatest extent possible, and there 
 by acquaint the voting public with the vital truths on which 
 the work is founded. Chicago Express. 
 
BOOKS ON SOCIALISM. 7 
 
 The Effects of the Gold Standard, or Bimetal- 
 lists Catechism. By Dr. W. H. Smith. The 
 cause of panics and hard times, the absurdity of 
 the over production theory, our financial depen 
 dence, cornering the gold, the robbery of the silver 
 miners and other producing classes, how England 
 is enriched at the expense of America, why 
 bimetallism gives us the better dollar, legislation 
 by which the American people are legally robbed, 
 these and many other topics fully treated. A re 
 markable book, full of information, well written, 
 entertaining, logical and highly instructive. Paper, 
 202 pages, 25 cents. 
 
 No writer on the money question has more clearly, ac 
 curately, concisely and truthfully described what money is, 
 its necessities to civilization and the disasters of the gold 
 standard, than Dr. Smith. The book is simple in style, con 
 vincing and conclusive in statement, and ought to be a text 
 book in every institution of learning in the United States. 
 Silver Knight, Washington, D. C. 
 
 BOOKS ON SOCIALISM. 
 
 President John Smith. By Frederick Upham 
 Adams. The story of a peaceful revolution, es 
 tablishing the rule of the majority and a national 
 system of production and distribution in the 
 United States. Cloth, i2mo., 290 pages, $1.00; 
 paper, 10 cents. (Trade discount on the paper 
 edition is "special.") 
 
 This remarkable story the most striking novel of the age 
 is destined to outsell Edward Bellamy s "Looking Back 
 ward." American Nonconformist. 
 
 President John Smith is a greater book than " Looking 
 Backward." It pictures our complex social and industrial 
 situation as it is to-day and gives a very practical way out. 
 It is a story of absorbing interest. Toledo Union. 
 
 "President John Smith, or the Story of a Peaceful Revolu 
 tion," by Frederick U. Adams, published by Charles H. Kerr 
 & Co., of Chicago, in cheap form, is a book I recommend to 
 
8 BOOKS ON SOCIALISM. 
 
 every reader of The Press. The majority of them will not 
 agree with its teachings, but it does the mind incalculable 
 good sometimes to read a book of this kind or listen care 
 fully to the other side. And when such a work is penned in 
 a clear, incisive style, such as Mr. Adams wields like a lithe 
 Toledo, there is literary delight to be gained by encountering 
 his iconoclastic doctrines. New York Press. 
 
 The Garden of Eden, U. S. A., A Very Possible 
 Story. By W. H. Bishop. The present co-oper 
 ative movements lend new interest to this delight 
 ful story of an experiment in socialism without the 
 aid of legislation. Cloth, crown octavo, 369 pages, 
 $1.00; paper, 50 cents. 
 
 One of the best of the many novels of modern times that 
 have for a motive social reform is " The Garden of Eden, U. 
 S. A.," by W. H. Bishop. The reformation set out is chiefly 
 social, but is also municipal. A millionaire established an 
 ideal city in a secluded valley among the North Carolina 
 mountains. Theoretically it is an exemplification of social 
 ism. The chief reformation is the independence and the 
 emancipation of woman, making her wholly the equal of man. 
 The story pictures the consequence of such a reformation. 
 The interesting feature of the book, however, lies in the 
 unique love story that runs through it, which is very original 
 in its character and is most cleverly presented by the author. 
 Indianapolis Sentinal. 
 
 How to Govern Chicago. By a Practical Re 
 former. This is a study in municipal reform by a 
 writer who takes Chicago for his text/ Nearly 
 every page in the book, however, will be found 
 suggestive by reformers in other cities. Paper, 
 118 pages, 25 cents. 
 
 A timely, sensible, feasible plan. In substance, it means 
 the restoration to the people, the citizens, of their fee in cor 
 porations that now Bold the city in their clutches. The 
 author pleads for municipalizing light, transit, government, 
 and the civil service, and he pleads in a thoroughly practical 
 way. The Boston Academy. 
 
 This is a very useful little publication. It has many good 
 ideas as to the management of municipalities, sharply and in 
 cisively put, and it backs up its positions by published letters 
 from a good many men of recognized ability and experience 
 in the business. New Orleans Picayune. 
 
 A small volume having quite a local flavor, but of interest 
 to all students of municipal reform. The suggestions are 
 good and practical, pot being at all revolutionary, but basd 
 
BOOKS OF AMERICAN HISTORY, 9 
 
 on a logical development of municipal reform along modern 
 lines. Indianapolis Sentinel. 
 
 Man or Dollar, Which? A story of the co-oper 
 ative commonwealth in the United States of the 
 twentieth century, and how it was brought about. 
 A delightful picture of what the world will be 
 when people work to help each other instead of 
 struggling to overcome each other. A unique 
 
 . feature of the book is its story of the universal 
 strike, which proved that the farmers and laborers 
 of the United States acting together are stronger 
 than the money power. Paper, 199 pages, 25 cents. 
 
 This is a new novel by a " Newspaper Man," that sets 
 forth a realistic picture of what the world will be when co 
 operation takes the place of competition. The conception 
 is strong, bold and not beyond the grasp of the average 
 reader; nor so Utopian as to discourage the utilitarian. The 
 Golden Rule is its inspiring principle, and that is held as the 
 alchemy that will transform this baser civilization into the 
 enduring fabric of the Golden Age. The book, while social 
 istic, is not offensive to the daintiest partisan, and running 
 through the narrative is a pure story of love and heroism that 
 strongly appeals to the best and noblest in man. Oklahoma 
 Representative. 
 
 BOOKS OF AflERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 Our Nation s History and Song, or The Cam 
 paign Songs Our Fathers Sung. By Joseph M. 
 Clary. This book is of more than ordinary his 
 torical interest. The author has collected from 
 original sources, by diligent research in the great 
 library of the Wisconsin Historical Society in the 
 state capitol at Madison, the principal songs actu 
 ally sung in the successive presidential campaigns 
 from Washington s time down. The relation of 
 song to national life is traced in an interesting 
 series of prefactory chapters, and the body of the 
 work is arranged by campaigns, The songs are 
 
10 BOOKS OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 made intelligible by a detailed account of the can 
 didates and platforms of each campaign, and a 
 complete table of election figures is given in each 
 case, together with the personnel of each presi 
 dential cabinet and the political divisions of every 
 congress from the beginning. It is an invaluable 
 work of reference to any student of American his 
 tory. Crown octavo, 480 pages, cloth, $1.00; 
 paper, 50 cents. 
 
 A History of the American Tariff, 1789-1860. 
 
 By Eugene C. Lewis. This history is not written 
 in the interest of any party or theory, the author s 
 sole object being to collect and arrange the princi 
 pal facts bearing on the subject. Cloth, 121110., 
 157 pages, 75 cents; paper, 25 cents. 
 
 The book is designed to show the actual results of every 
 free trade experiment that has been tried, and its impartial 
 style will commend it to the study of every voter, democratic, 
 republican or populist, who wants to get at the facts of the 
 past in order to determine his course in the future. Burling 
 ton Hawkeye. 
 
 As a handy book of reference it serves admirably, and 
 dates and other information are carefully correct and may be 
 depended upon. Milwaukee Journal. 
 
 Mr. Lewis work is more than a mere addition to campaign 
 literature. It is, in fact, what its name implies, a history of 
 the American tariff, which is told briefly and well. The 
 American. 
 
 The Pullman Strike. By William H Carwardine, 
 Pastor of the First M. E. Church, Pullman, 111. 
 To the future historian this bit of chronology by 
 an eye witness will be one of the most valuable 
 documents on the closing years of the nineteenth 
 century. The strike at Pullman is described in 
 this book with absolute fidelity, by an impartial 
 observer committed to neither party. Paper, 126 
 pages, 25 cents. 
 
BOOKS OF MODERN SCIENCE. 11 
 
 This volume contains all that one desires to know about 
 the Pullman strike and the points at issue between the Pull 
 man Company and the men who went out on the strike. It 
 would seem as if Mr. Carwardine had told his story fully and 
 fairly, and the statement is more complete and more docu 
 mentary than what has been given in the daily press. It gives 
 a good idea of what were the points at issue, and of what 
 Pullman, as a community, aims to accomplish and where it 
 fails. The speed with which this book has been brought out 
 is a good illustration of what can be accomplished when every 
 effort is made to hasten its publication. It is remarkable that 
 so good a book could have been prepared under the circum 
 stances. Boston Herald. 
 
 A very careful, unbiased and accurate compilation of the 
 facts. New York World. 
 
 BOOKS OF MODERN SCIENCE. 
 
 Proofs of Evolution. One of a series of popular 
 lectures before the Brooklyn Ethical Association, 
 by Nelson C. Parshall. Contents : The Growth 
 of Evolutionary Thought ; Practical Benefits of 
 the Evolution Theory ; the Four Great Factors of 
 Evolution ; Proofs from Geology ; Proofs from 
 Morphology ; Proofs from Embryology ; Proofs 
 from Metamorphosis ; Proofs from Rudimentary 
 Organs ; Proofs from Geographical Distribution ; 
 Proofs from Discovered Links ; Proofs from Arti 
 ficial Breeding ; Proofs from Reversion ; Proofs 
 from Mimicry ; Spontaneous Generation ; a Sum 
 mary of Evidence ; Language and the Moral 
 Sense ; Conclusion. Cloth, 50 cents. 
 
 One of the most systematic, concise and comprehensive 
 esentations in 
 ublic Opinion. 
 
 , 
 
 presentations in popular form of the theory of evolution. 
 P 
 
 Hypnotism Up to Date. By Sydney Flower, edi 
 tor of the "Hypnotic Magazine." This book is 
 unique in its field. It is written in a bright and 
 entertaining style, simple enough to be intelligible 
 
12 BOOKS OF RELIGIOUS THOUGHT. 
 
 to any reader of ordinary education, instead of 
 bristling with technical terms. Moreover, it is 
 thoroughly scientific, and will serve to correct 
 many of the popular delusions that now attach to 
 the subject of hypnotism. It is in the form of 
 narrative and dialogue. Cloth, i2mo., 161 pages, 
 . $1.00 ; paper, 25 cents. 
 
 Full of information, put in an interesting and readable form. 
 Milwaukee Journal. 
 
 The style throughout is bright and interesting, and vrill 
 attract many readers who have hitherto found the subject too 
 difficult. Woman s Tribune. 
 
 Apparently written with some knowledge of the subject, 
 which is not always the case with these popular accounts of 
 scientific subjects. Hartford Times. 
 
 It is a plain and lucid explanation of the hypnotic influ 
 ence, cast in dialogue form to render it easy of understand 
 ing. It should be read with delight by those who desire to 
 form some idea of the real meaning of hypnotism without re 
 course to abstruse scientific works on the subject. Philadel 
 phia Call. 
 
 Life and the Conditions of Survival. The 
 
 Physical Basis of Ethics, Sociology and Religion. 
 By Dr. Lewis G. Janes, A. Emerson Palmer, Dr. 
 Robert G. Eccles, Dr. Rossiter W. Raymond, 
 Prof. W. O. Atwater, Prof. Edward D. Cope, Dr. 
 Martin L. Holbrook, Dr. David Allyn Gorton, 
 Mrs. Lizzie Cheney Ward, Z. Sidney Sampson, 
 John White Chadwick, John C. Kimball, James A. 
 Skilton, and E. P. Powell. A volume of lectures 
 and discussions before the Brooklyn Ethical Asso 
 ciation. The edition is limited and the plates have 
 been destroyed, therefore orders must be sent at 
 once to secure copies. Cloth, 447 pages, $2.00. 
 
 This collection of fourteen lectures, together with the dis 
 cussion which follows the delivery of each, covers well the 
 broad field af research and of speculation which is named by 
 the title. Boston Transcript. 
 
BOOKS OF RELIGIOUS THOUGHT. 13 
 BOOKS OF RELIGIOUS THOUGHT. 
 The Gospel of Matthew in Greek. Edited by 
 Alexander Kerr and Herbert Gushing Tolman, 
 professors in the University of Wisconsin. Crown 
 octavo, 142 pages ; cloth,-$i.oo ; paper, 50 cents. 
 
 Several features distinguish this volume, among which 
 may be noted the indication by bold type in the text of those 
 words which Matthew alone of the New Testament employs; 
 the estimate of the frequency of occurence of every word in 
 Matthew; the list of passages peculiar to Matthew; the sum 
 mary of the prominent examples of Hebraism in Matthew; 
 and the vocabulary, restricted as far as possible to the use 
 and meaning of each word in Matthew. The type is excel 
 lent, the form of the book handy, and the arrangement of 
 matter excellent. Education, Boston. 
 
 Take this volume all in all it is a treasure for the student 
 of Matthew, setting forth almost at a glance and with great 
 clearness the peculiar features of Matthew s work, the indi 
 vidual characteristics of his gospel. Central Christian Ad 
 vocate. 
 
 A Narrow Ax in Biblical Criticism. By Rev. 
 Charles Caverno, A, M., LL. D. Cloth, crown 
 octavo, 300 pages, $1.00. 
 
 On every page of this interesting volume the reader is 
 made conscious that the subject is in the grasp of a-strong 
 and well-furnished mind. Indeed we do not know any book 
 of this size which contains more helpful discussions of the 
 subjects in hand than are found here. The volume contains 
 chapters upon the interpretation of the Apocalypse, of Job, 
 Jonah, Isaiah, the Imprecatory Psalms, the story of Eden, 
 and several other topics. The chapter upon the Imprecatory 
 Psalms is unexcelled in the wisdom of its treatment and the 
 vigor of its style. The literary merits are throughout of a 
 high order. Bibliotheca Sacra. 
 
 A man who preaches as Dr. Caverno writes would compel 
 his hearers to think. The Outlook. 
 
 The thought throughout is reverent and believing, but also 
 judicial and independent. The style is excellent, sturdy and 
 entertaining.Hartford Seminary Record. 
 
 Nature and Deity. A study of religion as a quest 
 of the ideal. By Frederick Meakin. Cloth, crown 
 octavo, 136 pages, $1.00. 
 
 "Nature and Deity" is a noteworthy book. The theme is 
 treated in a comprehensive and penetrative way. The author 
 shows a strong grasp of thought. The object of the volume 
 is "the rationalization of religion," This is to be done by 
 finding in experience widely interpreted the impulse and law 
 
14 BOOKS OF RELIGIOUS THOUGHT. 
 
 of our religious life. This impulse is the quest of the ideal. 
 Our religious life is given in our natural life. How given? 
 is the inquiry of our author. The sufficiency of natural law 
 in the sphere of religion is the postulate of the book. It is 
 well fitted, on the one hand, to steady the steps of those who 
 are losing the footing of faith ; and to make, on the other 
 hand, more cautious the steps of those who are pursuing the 
 unseen in a conventional and assured way. The Dial. 
 
 The Morals of Christ. A comparison with con 
 temporaneous systems. By Austin Bierbower. 
 Crown octavo, 200 pages, cloth, $1.00 ; paper, 50 
 cents. 
 
 This is the second edition of a book that justly claims 
 hearty commendation on the ground of its suggestiveness. 
 Originality, pure and simple, is hardly to be looked for save 
 in matters of form and method. Mr. Bierbower s book, if 
 not absolutely original, is at least very valuable from the fact 
 that he invites his readers to a study of the teachings of 
 Christ, from a standpoint that has been largely overlooked by 
 the ordinary reader. There are three chapters only in the 
 book. But they are divided, and the subject matter is care 
 fully classified, so that the reader finds no difficulty in an 
 orderly mastery of the book. The Mosaic, the Pharisaic, and 
 the Graeco-Roman systems of morals are set face to face with 
 the teachings of the son of man. The study of these pages 
 will set the thoughtful mind at work, and the result will be, 
 that however the reader may agree or disagree with the 
 author as to the general results of the comparison, he will 
 become more and more deeply impressed with the wealth of 
 meanings and the practical wealth of the words of Jesus. 
 Saturday Evening Herald. 
 
 Theodore Parker. By Samuel Johnson, edited by 
 John H. Clifford and Horace Traubel. Cloth, 
 crown octavo, $1.00. 
 
 A new volume concerning Theodore Parker, has just been 
 given to the reading world in the form of a lecture by Samuel 
 Johnson, and the book proves to be one of much interest. 
 Boston has not only had a great civil and political history, 
 but in theology also, it has been the center of the greatest 
 changes in modern times 
 
 Theodore Parker, the American Luther, as he has been 
 called, was a man of such strength and virility of character, 
 and has left such an impress of his individuality on the 
 thought of our time, that this sketch of his character will 
 interest not those in the theological arena alone, but also, 
 and perhaps most, the general reading public. The book is 
 made up of an Introductory address, and a lecture which, 
 Mr. Johnson wrote soon after the death of Theodore Parker, 
 in 1860, and which he delivered at various times until his 
 decease in 1882. Mr. Johnson was eminently fitted to write 
 
B O OKS OF POE TRY. 15 
 
 such a sketch, both from his scholary attainments, and from 
 his personal knowledge of the subject. The book has been 
 carefully edited. Boston Commonwealth. 
 
 BOOKS OF POETRY. 
 
 America Liberate. A poem by Robert H. Vickers. 
 Paper, 75 pages, white antique cover, uncut edges ; 
 50 cents. 
 
 As will be judged, it is a song of freedom and an eloquent 
 one not at high-flown, frenzied space, but in earnest dignity 
 of measure that gives each phrase a statelier rhythm, a 
 nobler seriousness. The descriptiveness of the Western 
 land, with which it opens, is richly thoughtful as well as finely 
 colored, bestowing on the lines a characteristic grace that 
 conveys much toward a feeling of reality. The vision builds 
 therefrom at ease a joyous scene, profusely radiant with 
 Nature s lavish gifts. And into this scene comes human 
 strife that barbarous strife which is evolution s weapon in 
 the earlier days of human awakening. 
 
 Briefly are sketched the Eastern uprisings which sent their 
 exiles to our Western land. The oncoming of the Spaniards, 
 their bloody onslaughts on the natives, their impious deeds in 
 enforcing subservience to their will this is told from the 
 earlier years of oppression and somewhat beyond 1820, when 
 military revolution freed finally all of Spanish America. It 
 is a gruesome, heart-rending tale, locating principally in 
 Central and South America and Mexico. It embodies a vast 
 deal more of history than one would suppose these seventy- 
 five pages to contain and the haunting romance of it all is 
 inconceivable. Boston Ideas. 
 
 The Sailing of King Olaf and other poems. By 
 Alice Williams Brothertcn. Cloth, burnished red 
 edges, with beautiful cover design in silver, 145 
 pages, $1.00. 
 
 Not only manifests freshness, versatility, and considerable 
 imaginative power, but more attention to form and a higher 
 degree of restraint than ordinary. Boston Journal. 
 
 It is the work of a real poet, and one who has at times a 
 daring inspiration. Cincinnati Commercial Gazette. 
 
 It is a dainty little book, just the thing to have handy to 
 read over and over in waiting moments, and ever the melody 
 will grow upon the ear and quiet come to the heart. Wo 
 man s Tribune. 
 
 It is beautifully designed for a little gift book, and its con 
 tents make it a worthy offering. Dayton Democrat, 
 
16 BOOKS OF POETRY. 
 
 The Flaming Meteor. Poems of Will Hubbard- 
 Kernan, with portrait of the author, and life-sketch 
 by Hon. John R. Clyner, of Ohio. Cloth, crown 
 octavo, 270 pages, $1.50. 
 
 The book is divided into Poems of Pessimism, Melodies of 
 Misogamy, Poems of Passing Moods, Agnostic Arguments and 
 Poems Political. In all of these the author possesses a posi 
 tive individuality and a vein of originality underlaid by 
 strong conviction. It was said by one who knew him: "As a 
 man Kernan stands apart, because few can understand him. 
 He is an intense I might say vindictive hater of shams, and 
 he never conceals his opinions or hesitates to speak his creed 
 in unmistakable Saxon. He is a free-thinker in religion and 
 a free lance in society. His mind is constantly at war with 
 existing conditions. 
 
 The justice of all these assertions is readily seen in Ker- 
 nan s writings. The unrest is noticeable, but the sentiment 
 and style, meanwhile, is very fascinating. For instance: 
 
 O! Fate is cruel, and Fate is cold, 
 
 And only giveth a grave at last; 
 And what is glory, or love, or gold, 
 
 When this brief hour is over-past? 
 
 What doth it matter us how we live? 
 
 What doth it matter us how we die? 
 What can all of the future give 
 
 When under the grassy clods we lie? 
 
 What will it matter to you and me 
 
 Insensate there in immortal calm 
 Whether our funeral dirge will be 
 
 A reptile s hiss or a nation s psalm? 
 Whether our friends were false or true, 
 
 Whether our foes were strong or weak, 
 What will it matter to me or you, 
 
 After our candle is out? O, speak ! 
 
 Other poems in their brightness and good cheer are 
 marked contrasts to this, but in whatever mood, Kernan en 
 tertains his readers well. Kansas City Journal. 
 
 Poems. By James Vila Blake. Poems of love, of 
 friendship, of nature, but especially of religion 
 the religion based not on dogma, but on the cease 
 less search for truth. Mr. Blake is not afraid of 
 modern science and does not shut his eyes to mod 
 ern thought. To those who cannot accept ancient 
 creeds but do care for religion, these poems will be 
 profoundly satisfying. Cloth, I2rno,i88 pages, $1.00 
 
BOOKS OF BELLES-LETTRES. 17 
 
 "Love and Law" is a truly noble poem, rising at the last 
 into a passion of trust and worship that is refreshing as a 
 breath of mountain air. Some of the little jets of thought or 
 feeling, like "On the Road" and "In Him," are wondrous 
 fine, the last a bit of lyric rapture strange to find so near the 
 arid realism of to-day, 
 
 Though the bee 
 Miss the clover, 
 Fly it by and know it not ; 
 Though the sea 
 Wash not over 
 
 On the sands a wounded spot; 
 Heart, O heart! 
 Thou wilt part 
 
 From the All-hold on thee, and lose thy way, 
 Never, never; 
 Nor wilt sever 
 
 Thy sweet life from the life of night and day. 
 Thou in Him 
 Liest as dim 
 
 As yellow wings in golden atmosphere, 
 Or in the sea each watery spiritual sphere. 
 * * * The circle of poems on Jesus elaborate a splendid 
 simile with cumulative and impressive power. The poems of 
 love are of the most striking quality. They are as pure as 
 Danta s "Vita Nuova," but are not so remote as that from 
 natural human tenderness. There is something invidious 
 in the mention of particular poems. There are others quite 
 as interesting and impressive as any we have named, and we 
 recommend the volume as a whole to all who wish to see a 
 novel landscape and to breathe a fresh, invigorating air. 
 John W. Chadwick, in Boston Index. 
 
 BOOKS OF BELLES-LETTRES. 
 
 Essays. By James Vila Blake. Subjects: Choice, 
 Faculty, Public Education, Happiness and Time, 
 Vainglory, Luck, Seeing Good Things, Side- 
 Lights of Intelligence, Individuality, Questions of 
 Heroism, Praising, Censure, Flattery, Govern 
 ment, Hand-writing, Knowledge, Meditation, Com 
 mon Sense, Recuital, Anger, Judgment of Others, 
 Patience, Enemies, Immortal Life, Death, Emer 
 gency, Conscience, His Letters, Character as a 
 Work, Superiority. Cloth, i2mo., 216 pages, $1.00. 
 
 Passages taken from all parts of the volume indicate better 
 than anything we could say the wit and warmth, the keenness 
 and kindness, the catholicity and the humaneness, the com- 
 
18 BOOKS OF BELLES-LETTRES. 
 
 mon-sense and the sententiousness of Mr. Blake s essays. 
 Christian Register, Boston. 
 
 The essays of Mr. Blake will surprise and delight all 
 lovers of good English prose. He has made a contribution of 
 lasting value to our literature in a form so condensed and so 
 original as to inevitably attract and hold the attention of 
 thoughtful readers. Chicago Tribune. 
 
 Mr. Blake s essays will give pleasure to all thoughtful 
 persons reading them, and they can hardly fail of doing many 
 great and lasting good. The Index. 
 
 St. Solifer, with Other Worthies and Un- 
 worthies. By James Vila Blake. A volume of 
 literary essays. Contents: St. Solifer, Motive and 
 a Story; Yima; Sprinkling the Thermometer; A 
 Story from Meuleville, the Tripling of the Muses; 
 A Dying- Speech; A Life Case; From the Dabstan; 
 Morning; Death as a Neighbor; Thamyris; Syrinx; 
 Antaeus. Cloth, crown octavo, 179 pages, $1.00; 
 paper, 50 cents. 
 
 This pretty book of 179 pages contains some fourteen 
 chapters or stories, or essays. One can call them what he 
 likes. They are certainly hardly chapters, for they are all on 
 different subjects; nor stories, for while they contain many 
 curious tales and bits of folk lore, they have no unity. They 
 are just genial, rambling chats, and very quaint and curious 
 and readable. The author certainly has a style of his own, 
 very graceful and antiquated, and very charming. His book 
 is well worth any one s reading. New Orleans Picayune. 
 
 We do not remember to have read any book of essays in 
 modern times which are so suggestive and which are written 
 in such classical English. These essays should have a wide 
 circulation, if for nothing else simply as models of style. 
 Tacoma Globe. 
 
 The book is a pleasure. Minneapolis Tribune. 
 
 The Legend of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark: as 
 found in the works of Saxo Grammaticus and 
 Other Writers of the Twelfth Century. By George 
 P. Hansen, late U. S. Consul at Elsinore, Den 
 mark. Edited by C. B. Simons. Cloth, square 
 18 mo., 57 pages, with portrait, 50 cents. 
 
 A concise statement of the sources in legendary record of 
 the Hamlet myth, and of all the traceable links that unite the 
 
BOOKS OF BELLES-LETTRES. 19 
 
 story of the stalwart hero, who feigned madness for the sake 
 of revenge, with the events of Danish history, together with 
 the legend itself, as Saxo tells it, will be found in a well- 
 printed little book, entitled "The Legend of Hamlet," 57 
 pages. The authorities are not new to the special scholar, 
 but the material for this account was freshly gathered by 
 the late Mr. Hansen during his residence in Elsinore as U. 
 S. Consul, and the account itself may be commended as giv 
 ing the general reader in cheap and convenient form all the 
 details of interest concerning the old story, whch the great 
 Dramatist used mainly as a point of departure. Shakes- 
 peariana. 
 
 Outline Studies in James Russell Lowell; His 
 
 Poetry and Prose. By Mrs. Susan B. Beals. Fifth 
 edition, revised. Paper, square i8mo, 32 pages, 
 10 cents. 
 
 The little book both interested and astonished me. I had 
 no notion that anybody would think what I had written 
 worthy of so thorough and exact a study as this book bears 
 witness to. The author is far more familiar with my works 
 than I can pretend to be. J. R. Lowell. 
 
 Outline Studies in Holmes, Bryant, Whittier; Their 
 
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20 BOOKS OF FICTION. 
 
 BOOKS OF FICTION. 
 
 Asleep and Awake. By Raymond Russell. A 
 strong and realistic story of Chicago s dark places, 
 daring in its choice of subject but delicate in its 
 treatment. Crown octavo, cloth, 199 pages, $1.00. 
 
 "Asleep and Awake " is a book that is finding its way 
 among the reading public of the west. It is a peculiarly in 
 teresting narrative; it shows the difference in the conditions 
 of different people; illustrates the trials and difficulties 
 and treatment by the world, of onej who attempts to ennoble 
 her life by noble pursuits and attainments, and finally pictures 
 a scene amid the debauchery and deviltry of Custom House 
 Place, Chicago. The Independent, Le Roy, Minn. 
 
 The Auroraphone. A Romance. By Cyrus Cole 
 A remarkable story of an invention for telegraph 
 ing without the aid of wires (written by the way 
 before the newspapers announced this invention as 
 a fact). The inventor in the story to his surprise, 
 found himself in telegraphic communication with 
 the planet Saturn, and received much interesting 
 information regarding the religious and social in 
 stitutions of that planet. Cloth, i2mo., 249 pages, 
 50 cents. 
 
 The story is a romance of the most startling character. 
 . . . exceedingly amusing. . . . There was ample time 
 for the author to weave into his story several pretty love 
 episodes and exciting incidentals. The story is decidedly 
 well writen, and will be read with much interest. Philadel 
 phia Item. 
 
 A Daughter of Humanity. By Edgar Maurice 
 Smith. A story of the life of girls employed in 
 the great department stores which have become a 
 distinctive feature of our cities. Those who pre 
 fer to shut their eyes to unpleasant facts will not 
 care for this book. Those who believe in telling 
 the truth and in seeking a remedy for wrongs will 
 find in it much food for thought. Crown octavo, 
 317 pages, cloth, 75 cents; paper, 125 cents. 
 
BOOKS OF FICTION. 21 
 
 In "A Daughter of Humanity" we have a simple story 
 simply told, of the temptations and perils of shop girls in too 
 many of our great stores, where starvation wages are paid 
 and where the poor girl too frequently falls into the toils of 
 lecherous men or procuresses. I think no one conversant 
 with the facts relating to this painful subject will accuse the 
 author of overdrawing his picture. * * * Suffice it to say 
 that, while written in a simple manner, the volume deals del 
 icately with awful crimes which do exist, and the high and 
 noble purpose of the author is evident throughout. It is 
 another voice in the call to conscience, to man s higher self 
 the demand for a nobler civilization. B. O. Flower. 
 
 The Juggernaut of the Moderns. By Rosa 
 
 Hudspeth. The title of this novel is misleading 
 in that it suggests heavy reading, while in fact the 
 story is full of action and movement from begin 
 ning to end. The book, like all other novels 
 worth reading, has a purpose, but the author does 
 not stop to point out her moral; she tells a story 
 that irresistibly carries its moral with it. Read 
 " The Juggernaut of the Moderns," and you will 
 realize the iniquity of our social code which 
 crushes a woman s life in penalty for an offense 
 which in a man is lightly condoned. Crown oc 
 tavo, 327 pages, cloth, 75 cents; paper, 25 cents. 
 
 The Story of a Dream. By Ethel Maude Colson. 
 A subtle and searching story founded on the idea 
 of reincarnation. The scene is laid partly in 
 Assyria thirty centuries ago, partly in modern 
 Chicago. The same leading characters, a woman 
 and two men, appear in both, and the wrongs of 
 the first life meet poetic justice in the second. 
 Whether the thought is true philosophy or only 
 beautiful myth, the reader must judge; at all 
 events, the story is a charming one. Cloth, 302 
 pages, $1.00. 
 
 This story has an unusual plot, and for the lovers of mysti 
 cism, it has a strange fascination. Baltimore American. 
 
22 BOOKS OF FICTION. 
 
 Richly colored is "The Story of a Dream " by Ethel Maude 
 Colson. The imagination has been given full play and in 
 picturesque phraseology is told a story that has fairly dreamed 
 itself out of the gifted author s brain. Columbia Herald. 
 
 A delicate study * * * wrought out with much poetic 
 feeling and a not ordinary gift of words. Chicago Evening 
 Journal. 
 
 A most charming production from beginning to end, as 
 bright as the haloed mists of morning. Banner of Light. 
 
 Lovers of the psychological, whether believers in the 
 tenets of theosophy or not, will read with interest this 
 cleverly written story. The Open Door. 
 
 It is a weird tale which might be effectively read by the 
 firelight in the gloaming, or at the witching hour when dis 
 embodied spirits hover about their former homes, involun 
 tarily looking over our shoulders expecting to see the sad face 
 of Father Bertram or the shadowy form of the Ishmaelitish 
 maiden. A tender story within a story is that of " Grey 
 Angel," and some very pretty verses, "The Beautiful Land of 
 Dreams," form the introduction to the book. The small vol 
 ume is in an attractive form and will doubtless find many 
 readers. Saturday Evening Herald. 
 
 Shylock s Daughter. A novel. By Margaret 
 Holmes Bates. It is one of the brightest and 
 ablest reform novels of late years. It is by a prac 
 tical writer who. brings to the reform cause her ex 
 perience and reputation gained in other literary 
 fields. The hero of the story is a talented young 
 farmer elected by the People s Party to the legis 
 lature, where he meets Shylock and his daughter. 
 Cloth, I2mo., 146 pages, 75 cents; paper, 25 cents. 
 
 " Shylock s Daughter " is another instance, among multi 
 plying proofs, of the interest women are taking in public 
 questions of late years, The story is cleverly written, from 
 the People s Party stand-point to whose cause the book is 
 dedicated. The drama is well sustained, and the author has 
 the faculty of bringing her reader into hearty sympathy with 
 the personalities of her story. 
 
 The description of the campaign and the denouement of 
 John s nomination is exceedingly well told ; and the picture of 
 family life at the Longwood home is very pleasing and 
 natural. I fear there are not many "society" girls who 
 would rise to the occasion as does Bertha Rader; and per 
 haps few young men, who, in John s position, would prove 
 faithful to the public trust reposed in him, as did he. The 
 sweet, wholesome, early influences of home show finely in 
 the outcome of his manhood. The story of the strike " and of 
 the midnight " mob " breaking in upon the ball at Mr. Raber s 
 
B O OKS OF FIC TION. 23 
 
 palatial residence is told with graphic force. Merely as a 
 story, the book will prove worth reading, to those who look 
 no deeper; to those who do, the earlier chapters will have 
 special interest in their description of the mortgaged farmer 
 and the large land-owner, whose immense holdings of idle 
 land put the industry of his neighbors to such disadvantage 
 of cultivation and marketing facilities. San Francisco Star. 
 
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