The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1874-10-27
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Ine dangerous Glasses
In the Journal of Thursday there is a
very strange editorial entitled Sword of
Warning" and written in elaboration of a
paragraph in the address of Schuyler Colfax,
before the Manufacturers and Real Estate
Exchange. Whatever lesson Mr.. Colfax in
tended to convey by his denunciation of
the dangerous classes in cities, there can
be no doubt about the Interpretation which
the Journal puts upon his teachings. He
may have intended to draw lesson in NOR
ais; that paper gives the whole matter po-
litical Specification.
After a short description of the SOURCES
from which the dangerous classes" are re-
cruited, and declaration that their rapid
increase threatens to give them the mas
terry over the advocates of law and
order, the Journal makes the following
estimate of their influence in politics:
Possessing no property, and having no inter-
est in the preservation Of order they regard the
elective franchise either as matter Of merchan-
disc or as weapon to be used as they would use
knife or torch. They think no more OF vio-
lating the election law than any other law no
more of debauching the ballot box than of pick
ing pocket or taking drink. They have an
instructive hatred Of tax payers, and always
side against the party of law and order of de-
cency and morals They are unanimously in
favor of free whisky and license of ali kinds
and in every contest between law and
lawlessneSS, between good and bad government
they wiki be found united on the side of the lat
ter. In most of our large cities this dangerous
class holds the balance of political pou er. They
are able TO dictate, and in some cities do dictate
the selection of officers, The distribution OF the
spoils and the policy of the municipal admins
tration. Without being tax payers themselves
they virtually cont oil the revenues of the city.
heir utter dsr gard for the interests of society
becomes apparent in disorjered finances, cor
rupt police forces weakened fire departments,
and general Generalization.
This can not of course apply merely to the
criminals in large cities, for criminals are
few in number, void Of influence, and, in
some instances disfranchsed for their crimes.
1t is only when the laboring men, the uned-
ucated, and those engaged in petty trade are
included that the dangerous classes" be-
come so numerous as to over-bslance the
rest of the community. Under cover Of the
term Dangerous clssses'' it is clear that
these people, especially such of them as vote
the democratic ticket, are slandered in the
Journals editorial. The reiteration of the
charge that they possess no property,
that they are not taxpayers. and that
they hate taxpayers with an instinc-
tive hatred is sufficient to show the
animus of the writer. No meaner accusa-
ton was ever made against the poorer peo-
pie Of the country. 1t breathes the very
spirit of prescription. 1t is aristocratIc and
un-American in design aud inaccurate in
statement. 1t is against every principle
and pretense of the party to viii h the Jour
nal processes to belong. The only inference
to be drawn from the argument is that the
day must come when all political power
shall be taken away from these dangerous
classes" In plain terms the Journal comes
out as theopponent OF univeral suffrage and
the advocate of property qualification and |
an educational test. 1t is we'll that its |
malicious discomfort under its recent defeat |
has put it into this position; and out of the |
pillory which it has made for itself, it |
should not be allowed to escape It attacks |
the majority of the people in the northern |
cities as unfit for self-government, and TO |
support its argument, ISLANDERS their indus |
try, their virtue, and their intelligence, |
confessing want of faith in republican insti- |
tutions. Now that the Journal has painted |
so feelingly the woes of society in which ig- |
norance and poverty are put to rule over in |
LelllS6QC6 anu Wcdlbu, lCt ~ tuIu dblcU- L
ton from northern cities to southern states |
from the fancied evil to the real one. In
those communities it is not pretended |
that the colored voters are in |
any respect the equals of the low
est classes of the north. 1t is not |
possible that they should be, for they have
been but few years free from debasing |
system of slavery. and can know nothing |
of the duties of citizenship which have been |
thrust upon them. They are Left as it were
naked of education, capital and industrial |
skill. And all this mass of ignorance and |
poverty has, in the hands of a few political
adventures, been set to rule the south. The |
very state of things which the Journal de- |
plores as possibility in our northern cities,
the republican party has deliberately plan |
ned and brought about in the reconstructed |
states, and a Generalization beyond the
power of the pen to describe has been the
result. This shows how hollow are the
professions of philanthropy with which
the party in power has deluded the people.
1t is clear that the same men who
gave the negroes suffrage for the sake of
securing party triumph in the south would
for the same end deprive the white masses
of suffrage in the north. Their motive is
manilestly the desire to crush opponents,
and not the desire to elevate humanity.
Let these unwary threats he put on record.