The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1885-06-04
Treason to the People.

lucd VI lettlBR tue ITCH rule the poo
as they please. He is In favor 81
limiting the suffrage to men having
$500 worth Of property and making d
residence Of five years In the county
q necessary qualification for all
voters. These trifling amendments
to the Constitution Of the United
States and the election laws, he
thinks, would very soon correct the
evils Of rule by the masses OF the
people. who have no interest in
good government"
It is fair to presume that Professor
Swing has not given this subject as
much thought as Jefferson, Madison,
and Monroe give it, or he would not
be SO greatly at variance with them.
He is the last man in Chicago who
should have been guilty Of the re-
marks which he has uttered. Under
such rule as he would substitute
for that OF the fathers heretics like
himself from any faith which the
better classes chose to prescribe for
the masses would be rewarded by
dungeons, chains and bread and
water instead OF fat salary for gen.
teel theorizlng in downtown
theatre. Professor Swing would
then preach 10 suit the rich or he
would 60 to Jail. Liberty cannot be
half way destroyed in this country.
When manhood suffrage is assailed
successfully it will be but step to
the destruction Of free thought, free
speech and free press. A people
once enslaved deteriorate with ease
and improve with the greatest diff
Guilty.
The thoughtless and senseless
suggestion Of the learned Professor,
II an active principle in this country
from the first, would have worked
many curious changes in the history
OF America. The people qualified to
vote and speak during the days pre-
ceding and following the shot that
was heard round the world at Con-
cord would have been the Tories who
were in hearty sympathy with King
George. They were the better classes
IN those times, and the s'embattled
farmers" were looked down upon as
vulgar and lawless. Benjamin
Franklin would have been proscrib-
cd until late in life, when by indus
try and frugality he had conquered
penury, and hosts OF other patriots,
statesmen and philosophers whose
achievements adorn the pages of
American history would have lived
and died unknown. Without the
early advantage OF absolute equality
very few Of the great men Of America
would have reached the pre-eminence
that they have.
Coming down to our own day it
may be asked: Where would Gen.
Ulysses $. Grant have been under
the Professor Swing dispensation?
Not certainly the wearer OF Major
Generals uniform in 1868. When he
stormed Donelson aud Vicksburg he
did not have a dollar to his name
outside OF his salary. When he en-
tered Belmont and marched out at
the beginning Of his dazzling career
he could not have voted for road
commissioner if the Swing idea had
prevailed. 1t naturally follows that
Grant would never have had the Op-
portunity to rise and do his country
the service that he did IL citizenship
had depended upon property. The
troops that marched with him to
Donclson, Henry and Vicksburg
would have been under the COM
mand OF some social favorite, the son
OF rich man, who would probably
have been whipped out Of his boots,
and Grant, struggling against pro-
verify and despairing Of obtaining
citizenship, would have remained a
clerk in the Galena leather store at
$40 q month.
Let me people think of these
things. When men occupying high
positions talk thus glibly OF destroy
ing the American form OF govern
ment and substituting therefor some
sort Of plutocracy it is time to wake
up. These are assaults on the lib
critics Of American citizens. no one
can tell how dangerous. They are
blows aimed ut the rnle Of the peo-
pie by selfish or thoughtless men.
They would, il successful in their
object, undo all that American states.
manship and heroism have accom-
plished aud plunge this country into
unutterabie woe. They are despica-
bic, foolish and reasonable.