Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-04-30
SOME DANGEROUS TENDENCIES OF TIE
TIMES.

lean politics at the present time, and few
laments of the kind have ever been better
founded. There has never been SO much
corruption in our politics, and the situation
is growing worse continually. At the same
time there is a popular feverlshness ana
restlessness which find expression IN all
manner of extravagant movements. 1t
we wish to ascertain the causes OF the evils
we deplore, and to discover the remedies
for them. we must note the phenomena
carefully. And in the first place we shall
perceive that the most marked pop
ular tendency of the times is disposition
to curtail the liberties of Others under
more or less plausible pretexts. The
real meaning of the measures proposed is
never set markedly before the public. 1t is
always disguised as carefully as possible.
1t is always hidden behind some specious
pretense of protection for the people gen.
orally. But no matter what the ostenslbie
purpose, the tendency is towards the de-
privation of liberties in some direction.
Now this is one of the most alarming
symptoms. All pleas for arbitrary meas
ures under the excuse that they are re-
quired to protect the interests of the
majority are movements towards despot
ism. The late Lord Darby had very
sound view of this kind of thing when he
addressed the workingmen on one occasion
and told them there Is hardly despo5-
"ism since the world began that has not
" founded itself on the plea that it would
"carry into effect more surely than free
"citizens the recognized will of the major
"ity. To refuse to recognize the freedom
"of your neighbors is the first step towards
closing your own" That last is a very
pregnant sentence, and it is the keynote
to the present situation. For refusal to
recognize the freedom of our neighbors is
the most conspicuous tendency OF the
period. Everywhere we hear suggestions
being made which when analysed prove 10
be neither more nor less than methods of
taking away the liberties of some
class or grade, and subjecting that class or
grade to special disabilities always in
the name of popular sovereignty. Now
there is no peculiar magic in that name.
Popular sovereignty contains al the ele-
ments OF the most cruel despotism. The
tyranny of a mob is worse than that OF
an individual. And when such injustice
is covered with the pretense of popular
necessity it is apt to blind the masses
completely, and so they will be led on from
one wrong to another, never realizing until
too late that, as Lord Derby puts 1t, " to
"refuse to recognize the freedom Of your
" neighbors is the first step towards losing
"your own"
The form which this tendency to invade
the liberties of our neighbors takes is that
of Paternalism. We are told that the
Government should do this, the Govern
ment should do that that individuals
ought to be prevented from doing this or
that that the law should interfere to
regulate the profits of certain invest
ments; that the State should set up GER
tain shadowy claims under cover Of which
it may confiscate private property that
by employing the shibholeth of ga public
''use" the Legislature acquires a power
to interfere in any private business what.
ever, and to take away its profits, and to
give them to the people that in general
the individual has no rights as against the
community, but holds everything he pos
sesses on sufferance. 1t is to be observed
that these doctrines are strangely and
alarmingly ike those which prevailed in
the old city REPUBLICS Of Greece. and which
led to the disruption and ruin of those
governments. The ancient Greeks never
knew what individual liberty was They
always subordlnated the citizen TO the
State. They recognized no freedom but
that of the State, and to preserve that
they subjected the individual to depriva-
tons and interferences which would be
thought intolerable now.
And therefore such states Of society
could not endure. Not understanding
freedom they were constantly alternating
different forms of anarchy and oppression.
This is the natural result Of the Paternal
line of theories, and therefore the develop
ment of that line in this country at pres
emit should be watched jealously. The
tendency towards Paternalism also fos-
tiers demagogism. Dishonest and I'M
principled men are needed to expound
doctrines which involve fulsome fiattery of
the many at the expense of the liberties
of the few. Wise and self respecting men
will not indorse these dangerous sophisms,
and therefore they are excluded from pub
lie life. And the whole of our present
political machinery is calculated to help
the demagogue and to maintain the ex-
clusion of the honest patriot. For we make
the tenure of Office dependent upon the
favor of the Congressman, and we allow
the least scrupulous and honest
elements in society to manage the
election of Congressman. The latter
therefore owe their elevation, not to the
people, but to the wire-pullers, and these
wire.puIlers must be rewarded with public
offices. Thus the public service is prosti-
tuted and perverted. 1t ceases to rePresent
the people at all. 1t becomes at once the
means of rewarding those who have
cheated the people into making unfit per-
sons Congressman, and of maintaining
those unfit persons in Congress subse-
quently. 1t is not to be wondered at that
Congress resists civil service reform. The
most unfortunate thing for the country is
the fact that Congress has any authority
in the premises, for it is as unlikely to ia