The Labor enquirer., 1884-07-05
s.ijiii mi aBE4TER ELEHENT.s
Who These Are that Eide Their
Ii & Game Behind Professional
Politicians.

IL.
About every sinpleton, hummer, or half
grown boy who meets me on the street
Immediately accosts me with tkis same
nuisance of a,question: How do you
like the nomination Of Blaine n
In. my disgust at this neyer-ending
twaddle as to what I think of the nom-
nation have at last learned to answer
I quickly and sharply that care nothing
! about the whole humbug anyway and
] that one swindle and rogue in politics
:, is as good to me as another.
Nevertheless, he late convention IN
Chicago involves some yery weighty and
suggestive points which may become
deeply interesting even to one who
stands above the low plane of politics,
The vefY fact of the surprising revolt
against Blaine on the part of what as
sumesto pass for athe better element
of the republican party, and more espe-
cially the disgust of that same "better
element in England, IS matter which
as worth . deep and Searching study.
have thought of 1t considerably and stis-
pect that there If something in it which
lies deeper than what appears on the
surface. Assuming that Blaine is cum |
, ming wire-puller and that his record is
fully as bad as stated, it does not account
. for the singular animus. which is mani |
Tested by this better element" which
= seems especially to be made up of land
: lords and big corporation thieves in
America and of alien land-grabbers in
Great Britain who are rapidly absorbing
our public lands p go -.'
Il take it that the disgust of 4hls "bet-
ter element" is far more on account of
Ttheplatform adopted at Chicago than of
s mere disgust of the personal 4record OF
Blaine. The Official record of President
Arthur shows him to have been most
contemplate and trucking slop in the
matter of defending the rights of Amer
lean citizens IN the clutches of England's5
mob courts He has servilely stood by
Minister Lowell in his career of syco-7
phancy and sop-throwing at the court of
St. James But Blaine stands lwhatso-
ever the claim may be worth) as the.
champion of what has been going the
rounds in the papers under the title of
a"vigorous foreign policy" which means
to the "better element" that if England
had him to deal with he could not be so
easily pigeen-boled by Gladstone as has
been Arthur.
But must confess to great surprise at
the liberal attention paid to the land and
labor questions in the late Chicago plat
form. Nearly one-third of the resolu-
tions are devoted to these topics, and
some of them are nearly as emphatic as
though they had been inspired by labor
and land reform convention itself. Take
the following and it would have even
done honor to the great Chicago Land
League convention:
1.-THE public lands are heritage of the
people of the United States, and should
be reserved, as far as possible, for small
holdings by the actual settlers, We are
opposed to the acquisition Of large tracts
of these lands by corporations or indi-
viduals, especially where such holdings
are in the hands of nonresident aliens,
and we will endeavor to obtain such leg
islation as will tend to correct this evil.
We demand of congress the speedy for
feiture of all land grants, which have
lapsed by reason of noncompliance with
acts of incorporation, in all cases where
there has been no attempt in good faith
to perform the conditions of such
grants"
l think l can see in a resolution like
this why the tory landlord press of En-
gland joins hands with the better ele-,
ement" in America in disgust for Blaine.
All the more is the bottom animus of
this disgust exposed in the light of the
fact that OIL, the day before the commit
tee on resolutions sat Mr.. Alexander Sui
livan pressed upon the Blaine leaders
the justice and necessity of such a reso-
luton. Granted if you will that this
resolution vas a bid of astute politicians
for the Irish vote, it is none the less an
indication hat the land agitation has
borne mighty fruits and can no longer be
safely ignored by the political powers
that be. The stealthy lie that was i'm
mediately put In circulation by the anti
Blaine nell stating that the American
Orangemer were also in revolt at these
concessions to the Irish Nationalist ele-
ment is also proof that the anger of
the "better element" is not at Blaine,
but, at thu platform on which he was
nominated. Reader, you may take my
view for what it is worth, but I do most
strongly suspect that this disgust for
Blaine by the better element" is more a
disgust of the anti-lrish and pro-English
landlord and corporation classes for the
platform rather than for the man. As
these disgusted fellows of the ''better
element" become bolder in their revolt
you will see whether my suspicious are
right or not.
:, The resolution in behalf of labor is
also to me a very surprising thing, COM
ling from thesouce it does: IT,.
I'VE favor the establishment ef ma
tional bureau of labor, the enforcement