326 HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL. 



cal upheaval in Kansas, Nebraska, Minnesota, and Dakota was pro- 

 duced, in the political campaign of the summer and fall of 1890, which 

 resulted in the election of some fifteen independent members to the fifty- 

 second Congress a result which has profoundly astonished the leaders 

 of the two old political parties. It has so revolutionized public thought 

 that, at the time of the penning of this article, there is no living person 

 who can prognosticate the political complexion of the coming presi- 

 dential campaign of 1892. 



These ideas have gained such a hold upon public opinion, that they 

 bid fair to cause a complete change in our form of government, as far 

 as its industrial conditions are concerned, during the next quarter of a 

 century. It looks as though, before that period was passed, the govern- 

 ment would assume control and ownership of all means of transporta- 

 tion in the form of railroads ; that the government would adopt a system 

 of issuing money to the people without the aid of banking institutions, 

 and that a larger volume per capita would be in circulation than ever 

 before in the history of any government in the world ; that the local 

 governments of cities and towns would assume control and complete 

 ownership of all street railroads, gas and water works. In fact, it bids 

 fair to be a radical revolution in the industrial affairs of government. It 

 looks as though the days of individualism and corporations were doomed, 

 and that the next step in the line of human advancement would be the 

 adoption of the socialistic state of society. 



