88 HISTORY OF THE WHEEL AND ALLIANCE. 



self upon all questions of an economical nature, and that it 

 was liis right, nay his duty, to try to secure the ends of 

 justice through the medium of the ballot by the intelligent 

 use of the right of suffrage. Hence they formed their 

 demands. They may have been rudely constructed, as 

 the brains that conceived them and the hands that penned 

 them were not trained in the arts of the wily politician. 

 But they were prompted by honest hearts and founded on 

 the bed-rock of eternal justice. The men who drew up 

 those demands were prompted by no selfish motives. The 

 body that adopted them were inspired by patriotic impulses. 

 They were the outgrowth and legitimate result of a false 

 system and corruption in high places. They boldly 

 published them to the world. They were sufficiently 

 plain that politicians saw a new factor rising in the domain 

 of politics. They saw the demands of men whose 

 interests they had neglected. 



The plodding farmer who was slow to revolt against 

 the methods which had surrounded him for years was 

 awakening from his lethargic sleep. He beheld the 

 Star-eyed Goddess weeping at the encroachments made 

 against liberty. This plain plodding man, who had been 

 as docile as a lamb, whose vote counted as much as a 

 Gould's or a Vanderbilt's, was rising up, and with the 

 dignity of an American citizen and freeman, was demand- 

 ing his rights. Some of these men might be threatened, 

 coaxed or cajoled for a time, but the professional politician, 

 the subsidized press and recipients of privileges from 

 class legislation saw that their doom was sealed if this 

 movement was not crushed. They prepared themselves 

 for the struggle. They set the press to work. They 

 secured the aid of the jack-legged lawyers. Through 

 flattery they secured the help of petticoated farmers. 

 They were aided and abetted by bankers, lobbyists, 

 railroad magnates, bondholders, thugs, thieves and 



