Ex-senator Ingall's Lecture

A large audience assembled at University hall Friday night to listen to the famous Kansas statesinan on ■'Hard Times, Their Cause and Cure." Mr. Ingalls did not strive for oratorical effect, but chose rather to present hard facts as they now exist. The address was of a character that shows that the Ex-Senator has lost none of his ability for clear thinking which so deservedly made him a leader in national politics. He is the same fearless, forcible, logical speaker of former days. Mr. Ingalls introduced his subject' by relating a conversation which took place between himself and a Dartsmouth student in which the student claimed that because of his many other duties he liad no time to read politics. The speaker gave solid food for reflection when he declared that one great reason for our hard times is the indifference of the educated, intelligent class to their political rights, duties. and obligations. They seem to forget that education, money, tariff immigration, - everything that affects our national welfare must be settled at the ballot-box. On every hand is heard the cry of evils in legislation, - of "Cuckoo" representatives and millionaire senators. No "cuckoo" representative goes to congress who has not a "cuckoo" constituency behind him. No millionaire senator reaches the senate save by the expressed will of the people of his state. "People in this country have just as good government as they are entitled to have." The political burial of a corrupt Judge in New York and the re-election of one in Chicago show the power of the people when wide awake. Mr. Ingalls said he would fall short of his purpose if he failed to impress his hearers witu the need of discharging thejr political duties. He thereupon reviewed the changed conditions of affairs from those of a short time ago, and proceeded to analyze the causes and to suggest remedies. The economists' theory of overproduetion is least plausible of all. Is it reasonable that one-sixth of our population should go hungry because there is too much to eat, that the poor should want for fuel because the mines are too productive? No, the hard times are not from over-production but from underconsumption caused by unequal distribution. The theory of over-population was shown to be an absurdity, and applied only in so far as it related to the coming in of the low classes from Europe. Hard times will in a measure disappear when restrictions are placed on these classes, when no man is allowed to cast a ballot until j he can read and write the English tongue. The silver question was taken up ! and disposed of in a way that shows Mr. Ingalls to be a firrn bi-metallist. He stated further, that he had spent a portion of the time which the mistaken judgment of his constituency had given him in reflecting and meditating on the proposition that the rich are getting richer and the poor poorer, -through legislation. But the cause is not in government but in the ability of individuals. We have been like children blowing bubbles in the sun, which grow larger and larger and finally burst. Let every one remember that the streets of Jerusalem were kept clean by every man sweeping before his own door. Let us have a government of laws and not of individuals, and the unity of our government and our individual prosperity wil! be preserved.