The Grange advance., 1874-05-20
Old Line Politicians Die Hard.

the Cnlcago F0st G mat. 1t remlnQs
of what might have been the language
OF an old feudal lord, long accustomed
to look down upon herd of plebiaus.
The editors standpoint is so far the
level Of ordinary life, that thought of
an agricultural element being found
competent to form laws to govern
themselves, never occurs to him He
tastens his eyes upon a pack of muvies
wheeling dirt on railway or canal, and
jumps at the conclusion that Of such
material is his imaginary substructure
Of society composed, intellectually too
feeble to know or provide for its own
wants.
This pretumptuous argument might
have had weight some forty years ago
and in some of the Kingdoms of Europe
may be appreciated to-day, but since
the system Of common school education
has exercised its bene6cent influence
upon the popular mind, the argument
is at this time as ridiculous as offensive
A singular infatuation possess the
minds Of some nervous old gentlemen
They are always afraid to trust the in
telligence Of the people. The horrid
spectre Of communism is ever present
before them. The people will commit
some wild irregularity it they break
loose from the old partizan leaders.
That if the people even mean we'll,
mentally they are too feeble to act in-
dependently. Better keep quiet and
bear patiently present evils that risk
everything by invoking the power of
the people,
Just now the people are not taking
much stock in that style of argument,
| and when the end comes we will see
what we shall see. We have already
gained a point on the railroads, the
next tilt will be at the public swim
dlers:
POLITICAL DIFFICULTY.
A day or two since boiler-maker from
Milwaukee, on his way to the East, re-
marked that the Milwaukee & St. Paul Rail-
road men would submit to reduction Of
| ten per cent. Of their wages, during the
| fight with the State. "For," said he, "if
the byes stand by the road, the road will
stand by the byes, don't you see?" 1t does
not matter whether this statement is true
or not; the boiler-maker thought it was
true, and his philosophy deduced from that
| belief is very important. 1t illustrates the
| fallacy Of imagining that the average of
men can be depended on to consult the
ultimate advantage Of their class when it
| seems to be opposed to their own personal
interests. Poor men are eternally warning
| upon and talking about the extortious and
| overshadowing influence Of capital At
their meetings, when begrimed and fervid
| orators have the floor, and their blood is
up, spectator would imagine that any
plan which tended to repress and control
! capital anywhere, would secure the united
| voice and influence of work;ngmen and
that National party, made up Of working
men in the shop and on the farm, on the
| platform Of s. cheap transportation and
big wages would be not only emipently
practicable, but sweepingly successful.
But this gentle boiler-maker, with his
| notions about the "byes " standing by the
road and the road standing by the "byes,"
| calls attention to an insuperable difficulty.
It indicates that when the suff rage is, broad,
the balance Of power is held by voteAs who
are too ignorant to understand and too
selfish to believe that to secure the good Of
all the persons in class is preliminary
| step to securing the good Of each individ-
usl in that class. This difficulty increases
directly with the number and extent of
the influences to be harmonized, and the
consequence is that an absolute democracy
is perhaps the worst government in the
| world in which to institute sweeping re-
forms. Where few persons operate the
legislation it is possible to compromise, but
this possibility varies inversely with the
number let into the ring. 1t is always easy
to band men together to pull down those
| above them and near to them, who oppose
them. Probably many bosses and Super
intendents in the Milwaukee st. Paul
shops, and along their lines, could be
hurled from power any time when the bal
lot of their subordinates would do the
work but they have no spite, and only
sympathy and admiration for the great
oyershadowing corporation which, wrapped
| in the gloom Of its solitude. seems to them
a sort Of vice-deity, source Of blessine<or
cursing, beyond their power to hinder and
surely for their advantage to propitia.e.
This disposition accounts largely for the
party collapses between the great Presi-
dential elections The local elections brinp