Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1868-05-30
GOVERNMENT SUBSIDIES AND PRI-
WAITE ENTERPRISE

GOVERNMENT SUBSIDIES AND PRI-
WAITE ENTERPRISE.
The subjoined remarks from the New
York Erening Post are pertinent and
forciblc There is no more fragrant evil
than the system which first received the
impetus it now possesses from the man
moth grant to the Illinois Central rail-
road, conceived and accomplished by
stephen A Douglass feat Of legislation
which laid the foundation Coz his i'm
mense popularity in the Northwest That
though it has wrought out magnifcently
prosperous results for a region covering
millions Of acres, was wrong in principle
and set precedent which has done nd
is doing incalculable damage Though
all may not cOncede the correctness OF
all the doctrines of that political school
which insisted upon strict CONSTRUCTION
Of the powers Of government we believe
that this policy Of government assistance
and interference in matters which it was
not formed to take cognizmoe OF, viii,
if continued at the rate it Is now being
practiced, prove SO manifestly pernicious
that public opinion will demand that aids
and subsidies to works Of internal i'm
provement and protection to certain in
dustries shall cease altogether. The
system is now ia the flush tide and
it is defended by much specious and
ingenious reasoning. 1t is, however, a
species Of logic which is acute rather
than strong, and acquires its sharpness
from the sclf,interest Of the logieians.
Every man who has an AK to be put to
the public grindstone, can adduce
reasons thicker than blackberries in
Judy, why the public will be greatly
benefited by supplying the water and
the revolving force for his special pur-
poses; and the number Of this sort of
people is vast, and the influence they
4 .
WELD is enormous and irresistible. A
newspaper article cannot describe the
number and varieties Of mischief it en-
tails. 1t destroys general self reliance of
the mass Of citizens. Ii fosters and
pampers privileged classes, 1t increases
the common burden Of government, and
lightens it upon favored portions. 1t IS
the father OF the Legislative lobby system,
which is a corrupt power behind the
throne greater than the throne itself 1t
aggrandizes the weight and authority of
government, at the expense of the inde-
pendence Of the citizen-making the
former a gigantic machine, and the lat
ter the parts only Of which it is cons
posed-thus reversing the fundamental
principle upon which this government,
at least was founded ..
But 10 the article of the Post:
One of the curious phenomena Of poll
tics in England and here Of late is a mark
ed tendency to permit and even to court
the interference of government in the az
fairs Of society; 10 allow or even to de
mand, that the government shall under
take enterprises relating to the comfort Of
the people, which they can much better do |
themselves, and which ought to be left to
them or 10 encourage 10y bOunties and
special privileges some branches Of indus
try, Of coarse at the expense of the others.
When il was proposed IN England that /
the government should buy, own and |
manage the telegraph lines, the PROPOSE |
ton found favor in the most unexpected |
quarters. The British government has al
ready undertaken TO some extent the Ia /
bors and responsibilities of life insurance. /
IL has been urged by influential English i
journals that the government shall buy all /
the railroads and manage them for the
benefit Of the travelling public; and we
are amazed 20 find the Westminster Repleir
as a means Of making Ireland |
happy, that the government shall not only
bay and manage the railroads in that
island, but also acquire and hold the fee of
the land, and rent that out 10 the people
IN lots 10 suit
We have not got quite so far as the Eng
lish on this road but as far as we have
gone, we have acted, while az yet they
only talk. We have now for six years
given enormous bounties ont Of the general
purse TO few favored industries, until we
have disabled both them and nearly all the
others.
We are not, after ali, much behind the
English and the people of British Aus
Iralia are, a. we showed some weeks ago,
far ahead of both. Some day we shall
learn by experience the lesson that pa
thence is also a virtue that a slow growth
is a sound growth and that the only true
way TO prosperity is for the government TO
avoid all such interference with the indus
tries or charities Of a country as consists
in using its power or the money draws
from the whole people for the purpose of
fayoring or protecting part.
Ia that way only can n true and sound
growth and healthful development Of in
lU4frr 10 attained bv ,pv ,a,ov,la