San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1888-03-29
Is There Dangerous Class" In This
Countryi Ifso, Where 10 1T

Countryi Ifso, Where 10 III
From the Now York Herald.
A correspondent writes to the Her
aid as follows:
IL not tho dangerous class increasing II
this country TO an alarming extent? l feai
that unloss some vigorous measure Of sup
preston Ia sot on foot, tho experiment ol
government by tho pooplo will be failure
Well, the question is worth asking
and worth answering.
We hasten first Of all however Ia
say that there is no such thing as
"ths experiment of. government by
the people" Government by the
people is firmly established fact
and on the whole, yielding more hap
piness and prosperity to the square
mile than can be found in any other
nation ON the planet.
Then, again, there is no dangerous
class in the republic-that is, no
class that has the power to endangsr
the we'll being of society. OF course
there are theroists, scores, hundreds,
possibly thousands, who are rs crazy
as looms. They are the topsy turvy
men Of the time, who want to stand
the world on its head. They kick up
o terrible dust, until the whole COM
munity sneezes; but what OF itf
No radical change can be made
without the sanction Of public opin-
ion. That is where our grip is strong.
Public opinion wears the crown, and
it is the best kind OF q crowned head,
by the way. 1t governs everything
and holds the fate of the country in
it's hands. When public opinion
fails to be proud of our institutions
they will 60 to pieces, but not till
then.
II, however, we should consent to
us the phrase dangerous class,
where shall we find iti Don't be
surprised If we look for it in q very
strange place.
It does not consist OF the march
lists. They amount to no more than
q flash in the pan. Their influence
on the stability of our institutions
hasn't O feathers weight. A thous-
and men, ten thousand men on one
side and sixty millions of people on
the otherl Why, our fears are only
folly.
It does not consist OF discomfort
ed wage earners, who have had some
pretty serious things to talk about of
late. They do not want to smash
things, but to mend them. What
they say may not be more pleas
ant to hear than q dose of salts and
SIENNA is to taste, but their objectis is to
produce a healthier condition Of So
ciety. They sometimes get hot-tem-
pered and make egregious blunders,
but that is nothing. They are not
an element of danger, because their
purpose is to reform, not ruin.
Where shall we look, then, for the
so-called dangerous class? We have
looked down and not found it, sup
pose we look up.
A shrewd observer once said that
the frontier Of civilization is not in
the far west, where the cowboy is
rampant and every man carries pis-
tol or a rifle, but in our large cities.
He meant that large cities contain
more permanent and far reaching evil
influences than can be found else
where.
For instance, there is strong ten
dency to create monopolies. It is
one of the worst features of the
times, bscausea monopoly is violent
interference with the legitimate meth
ods Of trade. It concentrates in the
hands of q few the business that be-
longs to many. The air is thick with
so.called "trust," and trust is sim
ply an unholy alliance to capture and
control given kind Of product or
manufacture-as the wheat crop. the
coal mines, the oil wells, and what
not
With millions behind them, they
grind to powder all opposition. Com
petition, which is the life Of trade,
for awhile, but at last sue
snmbs to bankruptcy. The field is
cleared of obstacles by underselling
the market and killing off the small
dealers. The people suffer, because
they are thereafter at the mercy OF
men who own q whole line of goods
which are needful to the comfort OF
life.
II the story Of the various "com-
bines," which are now in existence to
corner and control the necessaries OF
life, and entered into by men al
ready worth fortune, whose object
is to raise prices and swell their own
Golfers regardless OF whatever misery
may be caused thereby, and Of whom
over may suffer in consequence there
off that story, in all its bald-naked-
ness Of detail, could be told you
would not need to ask second time,
(which is the dangerous class in
America7" You would see that IL is
not the poor. not the wild anarchist
nor the wage Garner, but the rich
syndicate and grasping monopoly
which smash competition and gobbls
the profits Of higher prices without q
pang Of remorse and without q throb
Of pity.
II there is any real danger that
threatens US, that is il; il there is .
class, you have found il
The Fdltor,s Terse RenlT.