The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1869-02-13
IrHE PRESS,
SATURDAY. Morning, February Is, 1852
ia, representation of Property.

ReUreDenLattO1 OF property
A DIR. Hopkins wants our governmental
svstem, State and National, reorganixed in
such way as to have one branch of legisla-
tive bodies represent men and the other prop
erty. If the constitutional amendment pro-
posed by the United States Senate for sub
mission to the States is ratified it will prove
q lal check to all schemes of this kind, multi
,des of which have always been in readiness
fJr smuggling into our democratic institutions.
Batter still, it will lop off such dead branches
as still cling to our institutions in the way of
property qualifications aud other invidous dis
EXAMINATIONS against citizens. Under it Rhode
Islaud will receive publication as well as Ma
ryland and Kentucky. .a4.aL- go -
Capital Is marvelousy aggressive even ~,
America. The Democratic battle-cEsc -. -
sets forth that the general tendency :.
is to make ''the rich richer ana 'ne PoS. P'o'
err" Is entitled to little consiuerauon' oeeaose
those who utter it propose ho pe'.el reueoy
than reputation OF contracts wnicn would
involve rich ard poor alike In common and ir-
rstrieyable disaster. Besides, these same pat.
riots avail themselves of their opportunity,
when in Office, to equatze the distribution of
property by stealing from the public funds
But in the declaration itself there is much
truth. Capital demands more and more privi-
leges and immunities every year. Its possess
ors accumulate immense aggregations of
wealth, unite their forces and then demand
aocessions to their store from the public treas
ury for the acco nplishment of designs that
may or may not be for the general good. Cap
ftal has the highest opinion of it's prerogatives
md tAnal ofadr
dustry" and other pet names. 1t demands all
sorts of concessions to itself and confidently
predicts that it will be "driven out of the
State, if 1t is not humored. If the State does
not raise money by taxation of all the people
to swell its bulk in the hands Of individuals,
it will put ON seveA-league boots and depart
Immediately. If rum is not permitted to be
sold to the ruin of good citizenship capital
takes umbrage and threatens to move toward
the frontier. If the rate of interest is fixed at
maximum rate SO as to place some legal lin
It to the productiveness OF money, capital ex-
presses an unalterable determination to Ike
the first express train for more hospitable
shores.
It is true that capital is the product of in
dustry," but it is hardly ever the legitimate
product of the industry of the indioiduals soho
posssss it. 1t represents the results of the in
dustry of the men and the women who devote
themselves to manual toll quite as mucn as
that of those who have superintendent their la
bors or conducted the exchange of their prod
ucts How much credit is it to the heir of
millions, who has never added dollar to the
value of the possessions of mankind by his
own labor,mental or physical, that money is the
product of industry? tiA2ti
No, property can never be formally accorded
grsater influence in the government than it
now gets indirectly. That indirect influence
is enough and more than enough. There are
several States whose governments are control
ed wholly oy capitalists Maine is not one of
those States, thank Heaveni Dsa " iiih