1890s

This is a nation of inconsistencies. The Puritans fleeing from oppression became oppressors. We fought England for our liberty and put chains on four million of blacks. We wiped out slavery and our tariff laws and national banks began a system of white wage slavery worse than the first. Wall Street owns the country. It is no longer a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, but a government of Wall Street, by Wall Street, and for Wall Street. The great common people of this country are slaves, and monopoly is the master.

The question will arise and arise in your day, though perhaps not fully in mine: Which shall rule _ wealth or man? Which shall lead _ money or intellect? Who shall fill public stations _ educated and patriotic freemen or the feudal serfs of corporate capital?