270 HISTORY OF THE WHEF^L AND ALLIANCE. 



since they have so silently ignored them? Are we going 

 to follow the example of the celebrated 



"King of France with twenty thousand men, 

 March up the hill and then march back again? " 



O faithless and perverse generation of men! A pup 

 gets its eyes open in nine days. How many years will it 

 take the people to see their own interests? u But how is 

 this to be brought about without organizing ourselves into 

 a political party?" Is the American Banker's Association 

 a political party? Are the associations of brokers, merch- 

 ants, millers, lawyers, doctors and other trades and profes- 

 sions, political parties? Yet they secure legislation by 

 being represented by men of their respective vocations. 

 Corporations secure legislation by being represented by men 

 who are in their paid interests and by bribery. We must 

 put our intelligence against their trickery, and our man- 

 hood against their money. We must demand and obtain 

 representation in the legislative halls in proportion to our 

 numbers and our interests. We should not stop for a 

 moment to inquire to what party a man belongs. L* he 

 honest ? Is he able ? Is he a farmer whose interests are iden- 

 tical with ours? Will he work to our interests? These 

 are the questions which should present themselves to the 

 mind of every man. These are the qualifications which 

 should be demanded of the man who seeks to obtain our 

 suffrages. The writer has in mind the name of a man 

 who was the regular nominee of the Democratic party. 

 The following questions were asked during the campaign: 

 " Is he honest ?' ' Answer, * ( No, but he is a good Demo- 

 crat." u ls he able?" "No, but he has sense enough to 

 vote with his party." "Is he a farmer?" "No, he's a 

 lawyer, but he'll do as well as the rest of them." And he 

 was elected simply because he was a Democrat. Thous- 

 ands of Republicans have been elected in the same man- 



