have failed to find that act,” said Darrow. “The demands of the East were complied with, and the interest of the millions who labor with their hands were trampled upon, for the benefit of the few who own the property and credits of the world.”
When Cleveland sent the army to break the railroad union it was “the most dangerous act ever committed by any President,” Darrow said, and “a precedent which some day may furnish a door for some ambitious ruler to ride over the liberties of the people, and the ruins of the Republic, to a dictator’s throne.…
“Mr. Cleveland has an Attorney General.” The audience hissed.
“He is a Democrat.” (More hisses from the audience.)
“Some of you may know his name.” (More hisses.)
“Your children will not.” (Laughter and applause.) “How does the Democratic Party of Illinois stand on this question today? Where does the Democratic Party of Illinois stand, with Cleveland or Altgeld?”
“Altgeld!” the crowd shouted. “Altgeld!”
And then, in closing, Darrow turned to his hopes, and those of his fellow Populists.
It may be that the platform of the party is not perfect. I presume that it is not. We may be out upon the sea in a leaky boat manned by visionists and cranks, that will sail but a little way before it meets the rocks and sinks forever.
But as for me, I would rather sail upon a raft out into the wildest and most tempestuous sea, beneath the blackest skies, moved only by the desires and hopes of those on board than to rest securely in the staunchest ship, anchored to the creeds and errors of the past.
It may be that we are dreamers … it may be that the land we seek is a far-off Utopia which lives only in the imagery of enthusiastic minds.
But not all ideals are simply visions. We have made them real in the past, we will make them real in the days to come.
Today the privileged institutions of America, fattened by unjust laws and conditions, boastfully proclaim that monopoly is king.
But I hear a voice rising loud and louder from the common people, long suffering and over patient, a voice which says in thunder tones, “Not monopoly but the People are king!” And that these people, emancipated and aroused, will one day claim their own.
Darrow rushed about the city, speaking for candidates like Lloyd, who was running a long-shot race for Congress, and battling his old pals in the Democratic machine, who had formed a “People’s Party Populist” ticket and tried to get it on the ballot in the place of the authentic Populists. It was an old Chicago trick, and Darrow foiled the plot.
The Populists capped their campaign in Chicago with a massive torchlight parade on November 3. Brass bands and fife-and-drum corps made the marching music, skyrockets and Roman candles lit the sky, and wagons bore transparencies—illuminated billboards—proclaiming, “ThePeople Are Coming.” Some twenty thousand tramped the streets, carrying signs, cheering, and honking horns. Darrow was among the speakers at the rally that followed, at Tattersall’s amphitheater. The crowd was so loud that he despaired of being heard. “Nothing but a trumpet or a fog horn could make any impression,” he would recall. But for all the excitement that it stirred, the Populist initiative in Chicago was a crushing disappointment. “It looked as if all Chicago was there,” Darrow recalled, “but if it was, most forgot to vote.” 14
In Illinois, and across the nation, the share of the vote claimed by Populist candidates rose in that off-year election. But the People’s Party was inadequately funded. The major newspapers were hostile. Catholics were alienated by the socialist jargon. Leading liberals likeSamuel Gompers andHenry George kept their distance. And the big-city organizations, with money, patronage, and control of the election machinery, held their own. The Republicans were the real victors, as voters disenchanted with the Democrats clung to the two-party system.
When Cleveland sent the army to break the railroad union it was “the most dangerous act ever committed by any President,” Darrow said, and “a precedent which some day may furnish a door for some ambitious ruler to ride over the liberties of the people, and the ruins of the Republic, to a dictator’s throne.…
“Mr. Cleveland has an Attorney General.” The audience hissed.
“He is a Democrat.” (More hisses from the audience.)
“Some of you may know his name.” (More hisses.)
“Your children will not.” (Laughter and applause.) “How does the Democratic Party of Illinois stand on this question today? Where does the Democratic Party of Illinois stand, with Cleveland or Altgeld?”
“Altgeld!” the crowd shouted. “Altgeld!”
And then, in closing, Darrow turned to his hopes, and those of his fellow Populists.
It may be that the platform of the party is not perfect. I presume that it is not. We may be out upon the sea in a leaky boat manned by visionists and cranks, that will sail but a little way before it meets the rocks and sinks forever.
But as for me, I would rather sail upon a raft out into the wildest and most tempestuous sea, beneath the blackest skies, moved only by the desires and hopes of those on board than to rest securely in the staunchest ship, anchored to the creeds and errors of the past.
It may be that we are dreamers … it may be that the land we seek is a far-off Utopia which lives only in the imagery of enthusiastic minds.
But not all ideals are simply visions. We have made them real in the past, we will make them real in the days to come.
Today the privileged institutions of America, fattened by unjust laws and conditions, boastfully proclaim that monopoly is king.
But I hear a voice rising loud and louder from the common people, long suffering and over patient, a voice which says in thunder tones, “Not monopoly but the People are king!” And that these people, emancipated and aroused, will one day claim their own.
Darrow rushed about the city, speaking for candidates like Lloyd, who was running a long-shot race for Congress, and battling his old pals in the Democratic machine, who had formed a “People’s Party Populist” ticket and tried to get it on the ballot in the place of the authentic Populists. It was an old Chicago trick, and Darrow foiled the plot.
The Populists capped their campaign in Chicago with a massive torchlight parade on November 3. Brass bands and fife-and-drum corps made the marching music, skyrockets and Roman candles lit the sky, and wagons bore transparencies—illuminated billboards—proclaiming, “ThePeople Are Coming.” Some twenty thousand tramped the streets, carrying signs, cheering, and honking horns. Darrow was among the speakers at the rally that followed, at Tattersall’s amphitheater. The crowd was so loud that he despaired of being heard. “Nothing but a trumpet or a fog horn could make any impression,” he would recall. But for all the excitement that it stirred, the Populist initiative in Chicago was a crushing disappointment. “It looked as if all Chicago was there,” Darrow recalled, “but if it was, most forgot to vote.” 14
In Illinois, and across the nation, the share of the vote claimed by Populist candidates rose in that off-year election. But the People’s Party was inadequately funded. The major newspapers were hostile. Catholics were alienated by the socialist jargon. Leading liberals likeSamuel Gompers andHenry George kept their distance. And the big-city organizations, with money, patronage, and control of the election machinery, held their own. The Republicans were the real victors, as voters disenchanted with the Democrats clung to the two-party system.
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