Litchfield enquirer., 1881-10-06
Self Government !?

feeling expressed of late by the people of New
 York against the political and personal meth-
 els pursued by Mr. Roscoe Conkling. The Republican press of the State was almost unan
 imous against him. Nowhere was this feeling
 more evident than in New York city. Busi-
 ness men of all classes were outspoken in their
 denunciations and even the politicians were
 silent and apparently acquiescent. or if they
 defended their late chief, it was in that apol- | ogetic way which showed how little faith 1 they really had in him. A legislature that
 was supposed to be devoted to his interests
 turned against hlm, and not only refused to send him back to the national senate, but chose two of his opponents in his and his
 friends place. - '@'s- Yet, this very week, in the face of the
 knowp wishes of the Republicans of New
 York city, the machine" quietly fills the en- tire city list of delegates with names favorable to Conkling. Nor does this occur in New York city alone it has happened in almost
 every city of importance in the whole State. Now is this any true self government. or is it | the better elements of society which generally marks period of rapid decline in the history | of republics 4f -...s...- l So apt are men to be governed by appearan- ces. and to suppose they are really taking part | in government when they merely vote the prin | ted ballots thrust in their hands by cliques of office holders, that they are often uncon- scious of the power that rules them. They | talk politics which they have DO voice in controlling, and take hand in faction fights from which they have nothing to expect but the promotion of one or another set of selfish politicians. Yet this may go on for years and because citizens continue to cast ballots at annual, or biennial elections, they imagine that they are enjoying government of the people, by the people, for the people"
 Yet how little really popular government there is among us. Politicians get together in primaries and carry out their pre- re-arranged campaigns of plunaer. Then comes the State Convention and, lastly, the National Convention, and we have not the people. nor those who represent the people, but politicians who have spent their lives cheating the people, and who have met together to devise some shrewd way of cheating them again. Who did the 306 delegates who demanded Grant at Chicago represent Not the people but the
 machines" and while losing president who administered the government third of year, they gained president who is to administer the government for nearly twelve times that term. To be sure they got only Vice Pres ident; but an assassin, committing hls crime with that very end in view, has made their Vice President President In Great Britain. it is not the people that rules, but wealth. The man who is richest wins doubtful elections and yet even gov- ernment of men of wealth is hardly worse than government of politicians. Through out our land our people seem struggling for liberty as with burglar trying to rob them of it He is armed; they, unarmeo. Luckily they are vastly stronger than he, but he is ready while they are unready he is skillful, they unskilled. This contest of politician against people is not confined to either party it is going on in both.
 Of late years the dominating political force of Great Britain-w wealth-has begun to con. trol American politics also. The plutocrat and the politician combined are vastly worse than either separate. Sometimes the charac- terstics of the one predominate, sometimes of the other according as it is the plutocrat who is the tool of the politician or the politician who is the tool of the plutocrat. Still, on the whole it is wealth that rules It buys the pol ltician, uses him, gives him petty office, but keeps power, honor, high office for itself The politician takes the kicks, and the curses the plutocrat, the "gres.t rewards of merit," sup, posed to be given by the people to the men they especially trust and wish to honor.
 This combination is a difficult one to meet
 A lowered suffrage, a large influx of foreign CTS and a debased native vote has placed
 large proportion of the persons exercising the suffrage within reach of the arts of those who | are lying in wait for just such an opportunity. | The plutocrat furnishes the money ; the poli- tican buys the votes. They cheat the honest P"'''S""' VI "os" o'ueS oy iauutug tuctT pIcJu' iices up to the point where they are ready to shut their eyes to everything but the success of the party They beat the people in short by
 taking advantage of old popular divisions, once founded on principle but now resting
 mainly on prejudice. They keep up the rack ct of the old fashioned politics, they ''rally round the old flag" of this or that time-hon ored organization. But victory comes to the plntocrat who, with his satellite politicians,
 most consistently and skillfuily intimidates the weak, buys the corrupt, divides the hon.
 est, and finally, after years of successful eff.
 fort, founds a "machine.
 | There is but one way in which honest and l independent voters can beat this combination,
 and that is to refuse to be any longer cheated
 by them. When honest men come to recog.
 nize how silly it is to be set quarreling when there is no cause of quarrel, aud to be set
 fighting battles that the putocrats and the politicians may divide the spoil, they may themselves learn to combine to destroy their pppressors Until that happy time arrives,
 they must submit with what grace they can to tyranny which is growing year by year more
 burdensome and more disreputable.
 The trial of four more Nihilists who have
 been long imprisoned will soon begin. The
 accused are Marie Krilova, gentlewoman and | a native of Smolensk, who according to the