Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1881-01-18
Capitalization of tho Government.

american Review for January, in an
article by VIM. A. Wallace, he says that
"the events and processes of more than
a generation have taken the control of
governmental affairs away from the in
telligent rule of the masses and vested
it in power as yet formative and I'M
defined. Among these was the civil
war, the creation and peculiar manipu-
lation of the public debt. reconstruction
outside the Constitution, universal ne
gro suffrage, plethora of paper money.
loose public morals, enormous growth
of private fortunes, and close connec-
ton of the Government with the bank
ing interest. Each had its weight in
sapping the foundations of a Govern
ment by the masses, and in shaping our
course toward different rule. Whether
that rule is to be suffrage, qualified and
rarified. or suffrage controlled by the
power of aggregated wealth monopoly,
or Senatorial oligarchy, or hereditary
Government, is beside the present in
quiry, save as they each and all show
distrust of the people, and build their
foundations upon universal suffrage, de-
based, corrupted and dominated.
The tendency toward a so called
stronger government is as manifest as
are the causes that. have given it form.
IT is in the nature of things for govern
ment to grow stronger at the expense of
the governed; but the plain pfoof of
the existence of this tendency is found
| in the opinions of the federal judiciary
IN federal legislation over matters here
tofore 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
overthrow, and in that ratification of
executive patronage which sends its
mandates to the extremities, and at will
gathers in single hand enormous con-
tributions and INSCRIPTIONS obedience
from ninety thousand paid officials.
Executive patronage will bring us to a
MASTER" A network of office-holders
bound each to the other, welding time
and money and power of place to pack
primaries, dictate nominations, crush
independent 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,
monopoIists and wealthy men to sup
plement the power of the Executive,
and carry elections in the interest of an
aristocratic 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 and Labor organizations. which
are but over-zealous protests against this
tendency, and in that ill-concealed de.
mand for energetic government which
has been the fundamental thought OF
the opponents of Democracy since the
days of John Adams.
The issues of 1899 and 1900 again con-
front the people. The theories of that
day are again to Struggle for the mastery.
The government df the republic is al
ready centralized. The canvass of 1886
beaches this. The federal Executive
has been felt from che ward caucus to
the vaults of the ire asury from the pri-
mary to the Presidential election. A
Thigh Federal official quits his place to
!take nomination for Governor of the
pivotal State, and at once the Executive
arm is extended to his support. Mar
shals, detectives, collectors, secretaries,
and all else that was needed, locate
themselves within the State, and Its suf-
frage is debauched and its undoubted
will reversed. A suffrage, first debased,
then corrupted, then obedient, is GEN.
traIization in its worst form. This is
but one means to the end sought. The
mission of the Democratic party is de-
Capitalization. Its duty is to restore the
Government of the republic to the in
telligent rule of the masses of the peo-
pie. It must teach and practice the
doctrines of it's illustrious founder. II
must appeal to the people themselves in
their own interest. It must preach the
eternal truth that the individual citizen
is the unit in Government, from whom
proceeds all power, in whom is vested
all rights save those which are granted
by him for the good of the whole. The
people at the base, the States and the
1 Federal Government each supreme
within its sphere, is the system to which
it looks for liberty, and it must teach
that he who looks to 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 intelligence
and information to the people, teach
| them that it is their Government, and
their interest to preserve law and order,
| was the thought of Jefferson. Pater-
1
nal government and vigor in the
| federal head on the one hand, informa-
ton to the masses and energy from the
extremities on the other. The former
gave the republic alien and sedition
laws, direct taxation. federal Marshals
and centralized rule in 1899. The latter
swept these out of existence in 1900
carried us successfully through two for
eign wars; acquired an empire of ter
ritory, and governed the country for
sixty years. We must choose between
these two now. The Democracy must
again plant itself upon the axiom,
Governments are made for men, not
men for Governments" 1t must strike
with mailed hand the tendency to
strong Government. 1t must be true to
the people and aggressive in its fealty.
Dominated labor must be taught its
rights and its interests. Capital must
see it's safety in the Intelligence and