Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1884-07-19
zancaster fntelligenrsr.
Mr. I,laIne's Message.


dents message. There Is an old saying
that one should not count ones chick.
ems before they are hatched. Candida es
for president may very properly, in &C
cepting the nomination, accompany
their yes with some statement Of their
political doctrine; and they have a
right, no doubt, to say whatthey please,
and q good deal Of 1t. The approved prac
tice, however, has been to be somewhat
brief; and seeing that the party doctrine
Is expressed In the platform, there does
not appear to bo any great occasion
for candidate to be very long
winded In his acceptance. Some
men run to words, however, and
Mr.. Blaine has proclivity of this kind
which has become uncomfortable by its
long indulgence. He accepts the Re-
publicanlnomination in several columns,
and reviews the history Of creation with
great elaboration. The scope of his
letter is very much as that Of presi-
dents message, and it will answer Mr..
Blaine very we'll for his inaugural If he is
ever called upon to speak one; about
which there is at present some difference
Of opinion prevalent. Perhaps he thinks
IL prudent to get of his presidents speech
at this early date, lest he may never
have more eligible opportunity or,
pprhaps he is only yielding to the histor-
ical impetus which he has acquired from
years work on historical book.
BY those who can find time to read
Mr.. Blaine's letter, it will be found as
interesting as a novel. Mr.. Blaine thinks
that we have great country, aud that
its greatness has come to 1t in its twenty
years of Republican rule. He states that
the property in the country in 1850
amounted to fourteen thousand millions,
and in 1880 to forty four thousand mill.
ions and quotes the census as authority.
That certainly is an interesting state
ment I; aud If the census states it, there
is better reason to believe it To be fact
than Mr.. Blaine is always ready To give
for his facts. He is not very reliable in
dealing with those troublesome things.
1t would be we'll to know, however, some
other things, before we congratulate
Ourselves too much upon our growth in
wealth since 1860. We should know, for
instance, what our debts amounted
to then, and what they are now:
There are great many million
aires in the country yet, though they
have been sadly diminishing of late
and our recent observation has i'm
pressed upon US the fact that man may
possess great deal Of property and ye
be worth much less than nothing, beins
simply trustee for his creditors. Now
the question that Mr.. Blaine has no,
solved is as to whether or no we as ;
people are trustees for other people Il
whom we owe more than we own, o
any great part Of it, We remembe
that the late Hester Clymer, soT,
years ago, in the last period of business
depression, was prompted to look oveI
the records of judgments and mortgage
in Berks county, and he was astounded
to find that in their aggregate the liens
knocked about all the dollars out OF
Berks county real est ate that were in it,
according to the assessed value. We
know no way in which the Indebtedness
of our people could be reached in a
census inquiry and our real wealth will
never be disclosed by it, Mr.. Blaine's
figures are glittering, and suited we'll The
aim of his argument /; and 50 he used
them, though we'll knowing their lack
of value to prove his point, which was
that the protective policy Of the Republi
can administration had enriched the peo
pie Of the country in far greater proper
tion than nature had enriched it IN popu
latioD.
Mr.. Blaine's persuasion is that "a peo-
pie who have done so well in twenty
years should keep along under the sam,
party under whose rule the happy result
was achieved and there would be
strength in his idea, undoubtedly, if the
situation was just as he describes it. But
suppOsing that We admit the country s
prosperity and give the Republican party
credit for II, must we not admit that the
country is not now prosperous and give
the Republican party credit for that too
And are we not dealing with the present
rather than the past aud az we have
garnered the good fruit of Republican
governmental it was truly that which
gave us the fruit-must We not look uI
another tree now, since the old one ha
failed US, and has apparently exhausted
its vigor? We all know that we cannot
rely on a good tree forever the tim,
OF decay must come aud as the biz
fortunes OF the country are undoubtedly
now fast waning away, mus
not the Republican party wan,
too-if 1t is true that it gave then
to us--since 1t can no longer do th,
trick That seems to us to be solic
argument, IL Mr.. Blaine's is.
And then we have to suggest TO Mr.
Blaine that the poor man does not fin
himself senslbly better off than the poo
man was twenty years ago. 1t is still
struggle fer bread, and just as hard q
ever. Wages are no better, if as good
provisions no cheaper, IL as cheap 1t
as hard to lay by money against rair
day now as then, II not harder. Whe
then has the country'5 thirty thousau
millions of increased wealth gone to, If
has been gained at all 1t must have gor