New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1873-04-03
views OF Leading Journals on
Prominent Matters aud Events.
The Insoisnee OF Corpera,Ie...

OF rporatt0ns.
The New York Essaiag Post cites the &C
ton o! the railroad companies with regard e
I the postal cars rs the most intolerable in
stance Of the insolencc &c corporations. |
Z SAYS:
tankensien, in the modern fable. is sal,
3 10 have spent his days in the artificial con
/ structon OF man, who, as soon as he wa.
made. became master oc his maker. Our leg
/ lslators have e;nulated the example II Frank
enstein. For wears past they have been ere.
atIns various kinds of corporations which. as
soon as they have breathed the breath of life
, and got we'll upon their feet, turn round and
defy the authors of their being They rage
aud shake their fists, and threaten with all
| manner Of reyenses. the very power bv whose
I consent alone they live, as if they, and not
the Government, were the riShtful organs of
the people, and entitled to their way even
against the interests and wishes of the peo-
pie.
Yet these corporations have been So priyi-
legged and pettcd, have been allowed to go on
so long without restraint Of law, that they
treat with the Government, as from sovereign
to sovereign, and menace the entire nation
with disarrangement Of its affairs, in order
to bring about their private ends.
In view OF pretenses like these, is it not
time that our statesmen should take up the
various questions involved in the granting of
corporate privileges, as among the most vital
and imminent now claiming attention: Tho
power welded by few men, who represent
wealth almost fabulous-a wealth surpass-
ing that OF the mightiest monarchs, and who
use tneir positions Tor their own purposes and
not the public goods at this moment the
most formidable that can be conceived.
The old slave power, which cost a half
century of agitation and a five years bloody
war, was hardly more audacious and dicta-
torial in its palmy days than this capital
power has become, or soon will become. Let
us, therefore, be warned in time, and Crap
pie with the danger before it shall have gone
beyond our ability to avert its final abuses
and brought on a terrible civil catastrophe
SPANISH EMANCIPATION.
The Boston Globe sees in the abolition of
slavery in Porto Rico BY the Spanish Assem-
bly, an indication that the hour of Cuban
emancipation is not far oil, and pays this COM
piment to the insurgents
Whatever praise is due to Spain for free
ing the slaves of Porto Rico and for thus COM
hitting herself to the policy of human free
dom, the fact should not be overlooked that
to the struggling republic of Cuba is due the
higher praise of having set the example and
had it not been for the course of the reyolu-
tlonary government Of the island in liberat-
ing the slaves as fast and as far as its power
extended, we doubt very much whether the
emancipation law for Porto Rico would have
been so promptly passed by the Spanish AS
sembly. Ii is also a matter of lust satisfac-
ton to the people Of the United States that
by our own national example in abolishins
slavery, as well as by the friendly and earn
est intcrcession of cur Government with the
Spanish power, something has already been
done towards accomplishing emancipation in
the possessions of Spain, and there is an en-
cOuraging prospect that more will vet be
effected. Our Government has done well to
extend cordial and early recognition of the
Spanish Republic, and there is much to be
hoped for the future of Cuba from the friendly
influence Of the United States with the new
power. That it will be forbearing and con-
siderate towards Spain in the new cxigencies
in which she is placed may be safely assumed ;
but it would be too much to expect for this
country to look on patiently in the time to
come and behold Cuba oyerrun and oppressed
by her old tyrants working through a repub-
llcan instead OF Il mOnarchical form of gov
ernmcnt.'
THE PRESS AS AN AID To GOVERNMENT.
The Hartford Co,rant has n sensible article
on the nonsense of this style of newspaper
criticism which attempts to guide the affairs
Of the world, and points its moral in this
way:
For it must be noticed that the press does
not only attempt to influence public opinion,
to spread news and discuss measures, but to
advise and dictate in all the acts Of the consti-
tuted Government, as lift were an actual part
oft, declaring who ought and who ought not to
fill Executive Offices, what measures must and
must not be carried out, and, in fact, direct
ing how the machinery of government shall
be run from day to day. What the I.egisla-
ture shall do and what the Executive, the
press knows and says every morning, cX-
pressing not merely an opinion upon policies
and men, but LAYING down the course of nc
ton in every detail Of administration, assum-
ing to know great deal better what to do
than the officers who have been specially
| commissioned and are giving their whole at
| tention to the affairs of State.
There is something very comical about
this. There is a young gentleman in an up
the-riyer newspaper office, let us say, who
has not the least doubt that he is capable Of
directing all the affairs Of the Government in
| the most minute details. He takes off his
coat and lights his pipe, and calmly proceeds
to govern" every night. lie may not have
been within thousand miles Of Washington
this season, and yet he knows great deal
| better than Congress does how every ques.
ton ought to be decided. The other day, a
day or two before the 4th Of March, he no.
ticed that the Senate laid aside the Caldwell
case and went at public business. He disap-
proved of this instantly, and he read the
Senators Of the United States such Il lecture
upon their neglect Of duty, upon their attempt
to cover up and pass By the Caldwell iniquity
| that they will no doubt remember il to their
| dying days. He simply "scathed" them that
was all, and let the public see what recreants
they were.
| OF course, he did not know that the Sena-
| tors had consulted on the matter, AMI, see.
| ing that the Caldwell case would consume
much time, and that if it was taken up il
| would consume all the morning hours Of the
/ session to the exclusion Of necessary public
business, had agreed to let il 90 over 10 the
extra session. But all the same he rebuked
the Senate in his best style.
| II IS just possible that il the press keeps
on in the exercise Of authority without IN
| formation or responsibility, il viii by and b.
weaken its real power, aud lose its legitimate
! influence. II j. respects no authority bu,
itself the end may be that the people will be
gin TO doubt its omniscieuce.
/ TRAINING MECHANICS.
The Philadelphia Fleming Tei>gayh an
nounces scheme for supplying the existing
deficiencies in training young men for me
chanical occupations:
A great defect in our social siStefn il tht