154 HISTORY OF THE WHEEL AND ALLIANCE. 



and the intimacy and influence that still exists between our 

 representatives and these powerful corporations and com- 

 bines, are such as to give good reason for serious alarm. 



' ' We have reached a period in the history of our gov- 

 ernment when confidence in our political leaders and great 

 political organizations is almost destroyed, and the estrange- 

 ment between them and the people is becoming more 

 manifest every day. 



"The common people are now beginning to see that 

 there is no just cause for the now almost universal depres- 

 sion that pervades the laboring classes of every section of 

 our country, and are disposed to attribute the same to the 

 corrupting influence that these great combines and corpora- 

 tions exert over our leaders and political, moral and social 

 institutions. 



' ' So long as our people neglect to inform themselves 

 upon the great issues of the hour, and continue to follow 

 blindly machine politicians to the neglect of their own 

 interest, they will continue to lose their individuality, 

 influence and power in our political institutions, and be 

 wholly at the mercy of the soulless corporations that are 

 now wielding such, an influence over our Government. 



"The very existence of our free institutions and 

 republican form of government, the very life and pros- 

 perity of the agricultural and laboring people depend 

 largely, if not wholly, upon financial, land and transporta- 

 tion reformation. 



" It is a conceded fact that a republican form of gov- 

 ernmet lives alone in the hearts of the people; and its 

 destiny depends entirely upon the purity of the ballot, and, 

 as this is in the hands of every man, there can be no safety, 

 except as is guaranteed by its intelligent use. 



"This is the fortress of our nation's strength; and if 

 our Order would reach that high degree of usefulness for 

 which it was created, it must through a well-defined system 





