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products of those who toil, he turns resolutely away from the conquest of power and seeks only the conquest of bread, for when the freedom to produce and consume his bread in peace is secured he is conqueror of the ills which now beset him so thickly.
The Populists have set out to conquer the powers of the State, hoping, oh how fondly, but how vainly, to make use of that power in bringing about a betterment of conditions. With a zeal worthy of any cause, they began their campaigns of conquest and succeeded in conquering the powers of the State in Kansas, Colorado, South Dakota, and partially so in Nebraska, Minnesota and other states. What has been the result? One after another of those placed in power by this struggle of the producers have found themselves unable to remedy the present evils and given it up, or they have fallen a prey to the same spirit of "thrift" that has ever prompted office holders to "fix" themselves while they had a chance. Still the attempt to carry their conquest "on to Washington" and gain possession of the general government is continued, and while much of the revolutionary fire which characterized the early history of the party, has died out, electioneering tactics like unto those of the old parties have grown up, and only the conquest of power is now their object. In the hope of catching votes they have become conservative, and the starving widow, the honest man losing his home, and the denial of the young the chance to be and do on an equal footing with all others, is lost sight of in the constancy of their gaze, fixed as it is on the conquest of power.
One fraction in the great family of agitators, one fraction alone, stands out boldly advocating the direct and immediate conquest of bread. They see that all energy and time expended in conquering the powers of State is only wasted. They see that it is only swapping masters and that the struggle is not ended by putting the lash into the hands of a new set of masters. The Anarchists alone taboo the idea of gaining freedom by the conquest of power. They it is that boldly proclaim for freedom; for bread for all, and in abundance. At first reviled and persecuted, represented as the enemies of labor and the paid tools of plutocracy, they have continued the propaganda which is so obnoxious to the self-seeking politicians, and little by little the beauty and sublimity of the conquest of bread is dawning upon the minds of the toilers, and they begin to see the uselessness and folly of conquering power for others to use; of wresting the lash from the hands of some and placing it into the hands of others, and as knowledge takes root and spreads amongst the workers, the power of the State will wane and the conquest of bread gains in strength and certainty of success.
Brothers! the struggle is on. We must sink in deeper depths of servitude or conquer the world for freedom. The history of our race shows all too clearly that all conquests of power have finally resulted badly for the useful classes; for those who labor and produce the necessities of life, as well as its comforts and luxuries. Power once acquired requires constant effort to be retained. In fact, so much effort is needed in maintaining it that there is no time for anything else.
Time and again the downtrodden have arisen and wrested the powers of State from their oppressors, but in every instance where that power has been left intact, or some new form inaugurated, its possessors have made use of it to their personal advantage, and its exercise has grown oppressive as of old.
Seeing then that slavery or conquest is before us, which will we try to conquer, political power or bread—freedom? Wisdom and all the lessons of experience show the futility of the conquest of power. Before us lies the world fruitful and abundant. The cool streams laughing and joyous are ready to assist us in grinding grain or weaving cloth, while the constant change of seasons insures abundant yields of fruit and cereals if our attention is turned to conquering the obstacles that lie between us and the free and untrammeled use of all these natural bounties and latent possibilities.
