The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-05-16
THE CRY OF THE CRANK.

words quoted were the utteranae of the chair
man of the Anti-monopoli"E convention, at
Chicago, who declared that 9ideas they con-
veyed were all the platform needed oy that
body. The absurd, irrelevant and puerile
closing clause of this impromptu platform is
probably the browning one in the affections of
Anti -monopolists 1t is bizarre and outre
enough to enlist the allegiance of every crank
in the country. To ostentatiously proclaim
opposition to monopolies is a very mere
tricious performance, unless some tangible and
practical line of opposition be presented. All
political parties, as representative of the
rights and the will of the people, are "opposed
to monopoly" The vexatious problem has
been and is how to prevent mOnopolies by
constitutional, legal and effective methods.
1t is the Chinese puzzle of craftsmanship to
draw laws that shall encourage commercial
enterprise and at the same time prevent the
formation of companies with monopolistic
features. The same personal freedom guaran-
teed by the Constitution that permits man
to buy horse permits dozen men to buy
hundred horses thousand, or any indefinite
number. And the very same principle is
guaranty of protection to any number
of men who might combine to buy
all the horses III the country.
What is to be done9 This is not saying that
nothing can be done; but it is evident that the
question is not one to be settled by the COM
munistic cry Down with monopolies." We
live in an age Of law, and as atoms composing
the law-making power, each and all owe fealty
to such laws as may be passed in accordance
with our peculiar manner of government.
The incorporation of a belief in any one man
as a cardinal party principle is absurd to a de-
gree, and the committee on resolutions APP
pears to have been wise enough to recognize
that fact
Resolving against mOnopolies, without
outlining the manner of their overthrow, is
no less absurd than to illuminate
against a pestilence without furnish
ing remedy Humanity in common is
opposed to" plaques; but the plaques occur
in spite of humanity. Suppose an anti plague
convention should assemble at Chicago, and
seriously appoint committee and unanimous
ly and enthusiastically pass resolutions in OPP
position to plagues9 What would the people
think of such an act of supererogationa And
would the plague be stayed and it's ravages
mitigatedf There are those who beat gongs,
ring bells, do penance through cruel physical
infections, to deliver the world from the march
of pestilence. Then there are those who at
tend to matters of sanitation, seek out and ad-
minister remedies, and by every means known
to science rob the plague of its terrors and
save the people.
The Greenback, OF Anti monopoly party has
done duty continually as bowling dervish,
has gloated over financial disaster, and bat
tened on the tribulations of the people As
an organization it is never so happy and conf
dent as when commerce is PROSTATE and the
poor are in distress Yet in all the reverses
that have come upon the American people it
has never come forward with any restorative
other than pitiful dose of paregeric, in the
shape of ben Butler" or some other equally
audacious demagogue. The people have never
turned to the Greenback party for
help, for the simple reason that it
never had faith in it. 1t has never
commanded the confidence of the people, be-
cause it never deserved to- 1t is the quack
who has catholicon-tbe same for the Ash
attic cholera as for collie, and for mole on the
face as for spinal meningitis There is a
financial panic-we must have Ben Butler;
the Democratic House refuses to pass reform
measure-Butler is the man for US; pesti-
lence appears-Ben Butler; the crops fail
still it is Butler. Coming or going, up or
down, it is always the same; "a crank" must
deliver us, and Ben Butler is his prophet. In
all seriousness, the people are opposed to mo-
nopolies, just as they have reason to fear
plague or any other common calamity. But
when pestilence breaks out the people do not
place their lives in the hands of the shrieking
mountebank who hawks his nostrums on the
street corner The safe doctor is the one who
is constantly and unostentatiously seeking
newer and better modes of treatment, and. if
possible, a specific. There is no place in civ
ilized society for the man who rejoices over
plaques and hopes for gain only through the
general distress of those about him. Hence,
there is little room and no sympathy for that
party whose members rejoice to-day because
of the situation in Wall street. and who ex-
claim, as one did on Wednesday, at Chicago,