Centre Democrat. [volume] (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1848-1989, 1880-12-23
SENATOR WALLACE.

telligent rule of the masses and vested
II III u power rs yet formative and ur.
defined. Among these were the civil
war, the creation and peculiar manipu.
lation of the public debt, reconstruction
gro suffrage, plethora of paper money
loose public morals, enormous growth
of private fortunes, and n close connec.
ton of the government with the bank.
ing interest. Each had its weight in
swapping the foundation of a govern.
ment by the masses, and in shaping
our course toward different rule.
Whether that rule is to be suffrage
qualified and raretied, or suffrage con.
trolled by the power of aggregated
wealth or monopoly, or senatorial
oligarchy, or hereditary government, is
beside the present inquiry, save as they
each and all show distrust of the peo.
pie, and build their foundations upon
universal suffrage, debased, corrupted
and dominated
The tendency toward a so called
stronger government is as manifest as
are the causes that have given it form.
1t is in the nature of things for govern
ment to grow stronger at the expense
of the governed; but the plain proof
of the existence of this tendency is
found in the opinions of the federal
judiciary, in federal legislation over
matters heretofore within the control
of the people of the States, in the
modes of execution of those statutes,
by which local rule, local courts, and
personal liberty are overthrown, and in
that ramitication of executive patron.
age which sends its mandates to the
extremitles, and at will gathers in a
single hand enormous contributions and
unscrupulous obedience from ninety
thousand paid officials. Executive
patronage will bring us to MASTER
A network of office. holders, bound
each to the other, welding time and
money and power of place to pack pri.
maries, dictate nominations, crush in.
dependent thought and action and
subordinate local control to the will of
an executive who governs in the name
of party, points the road with unerring
certainty to the end that Franklin, the
wise man, predicted. Further guide.
boards on that road are seen in large
donations of money by corporations,
monopolists and wealthy men, to sup.
plement the power of the executive,
and carry elections in the interest of
an arlstocratic class who dislike and dis.
trust the people; in the domination
of employe by employer in the
marked ballot in the third term
candidacy and pilgrimage on the stump;
in the national aud labor organizations,
which are but over.zealous protests
against this tendency, and in that i'll
concealed demand for energetic govern.
ment, which has been the fundamental
thought of the opponents of Democra.
cy since the days OF John Adams.
The issues of 1899 and 1900 again
confront the people. The theories of
that day are again to struggle for the
mastery. The government OF the Re.
public is already centralized. The can.
vass of 1880 teaches this. The federal
executive has been felt from the ward
caucus to the vaults of the treasury,
from the primary, to the presidential
election. A high federal official quits
his place to take n nomination for gov
ernor of the pivotal state, and at once
the executive arm is extended to his
support. Marshalls, detectives, collect
ors, secretaries, and all else that are
needed, locate themselves within the
State, and its suffrage is debauChed and
its undoubted will reversed. 4 suffrage
first debased, then corrupted, then
obedient, is centralized in its worst
form. This is but one means to the end
sought. This mission Of the Democrat.
ic party is decentralization. Its duty
is to restore the government OF the
Rebublic TO the intelligent rule OF the
masses Of the people. 1t must teach
the practice and doctrines of its illus.
trious founder. It must appeal to the
people themselves in their own inter.
est. II must preach the eternal truth
that the individual citizen is the unit
IN the government, from whom pro
ceeds all power in whom is vested all
rights save those which are granted hy
him for the good of the whole. The
people at the base, the States and the
federal government each supreme with
in its sphere, is the system to which it
looks for liberty, and il must teach
that he who looks for paternal govern.
ment, to Capitalization or to empire,
looks to despotism. Care for and per.
feet the government and it will protect
the liberties of the people, was the
thought OF Hamilton. Give intelli.
gence and information to the people,
teach them that il is their government,
and their interest to preserve law and
order was the thought of jefferson.
Paternal government and vigor in the
federal head on the one hand, infsrma.
ton to the masses and energy from the
extremities on the other. The former
gave the republican alien the sedtion
laws, direct taxation, federal marshalls
and centralized rule in 1893. The lat.
ter swept these out Of existence in
1900; carried us successfully through
two foreign wars acquired an empire
OF territory, and governed the country
for sixty years. We must choose be.
tween these two now. The Democracy
must again plant itself upon the axium,
Governments are made for men, not
men for governments" 1t must be
trta IN tho Yanpta and -, a