The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1888-12-05

anu ne was secure Ill Jne enjoyment OF the
remaining recompense Of his steady and
contented toll. In those days the frugality
of the people was stamped upon their gov
eminent, and was enforced by the free,
thoughtful and intelligent suffrage of the
citizen. Combinations, monopoles and ag-
gregations Of capital were either avoided or
sternly regulated and restrained. The
pomp and glitter of governments less free
offered no temptation and presented no de-
fusion TO the plain people who, side by side,
in friendly competition, wrought for the en-
noblement and dignity of man, for the solu-
ton OF the problem of free government and
for the achievement of the grand destiny
awaiting the land which God had given
them
FoREBoDIYG OF EVIL.
century has passed. Our cities are the
abiding-places of wealth and luxury; our
manufactures yield fortunes very little
dreamed Of by the fathers Of the republic.
our business men are madly striving in the
race for riches. and immense aggregatons
of capital outrun the imagination in the
magnitude of their undertakings. We view
with pride and satisfaction this bright pic
ture Of our countrys growth and prosperity,
while only closer scrutiny develops a.
sombre shading. Upon more careful nspec- =
ton we find the wealth and luxury Of our
cities mingled with poverty and wretched-
ness and uuremunerative toll A crowded
and constantly increasing urban population
suggests the impOverishment of rural sec
UlOnS anu ulSCOnIenu WIN AGRICULTURAL pur-
suits. The farmers son, not satisfied with
his fathers simple and laboriOus life Joins
the eager chase for easily acquired wealth.
We discover that the fortunes realized by
our manufacturers are no longer solely the
reward of sturdy industry and enlightened
foresight, but that they result from the dis
eliminating favor of the government and
are largely built up on undue eXactions
from the masses of our people. The gulf
between employers and the employed is
1
idly forming; one comprising the very rich
and powerful while in another are found
the toling poor.
TRUSTS AND MoNoPoLIEs.
AS we view the achievements of aggre-
gated capital we discover the existence OF
trusts. combinations and monopolies while
the citizen is struggling far in the rear, or is
trampled to death beneath an iron heel.
Corporations, which should be the carefully
restrained creatures Of the law and the
servants of the people, are fast becoming
the peoples masters.
is THE GOVERNMENT ExTRAvAGANT?
Still congratuating ourselves upon the
wealth and prosperity of our country and
complacently contemplating every incident
of change inseparable from these conditions,
1t is our duty as patriotic citizensAp inquire,
at the present stage Of our progress, how
the bond of the government made with the
people has been kept and performed. In
stead of limiting the tribute drawn from our
citizens to the necessities of its economical
administration, the government persists in
eXacting from the substance of the people
millions which, unapplied and useless, lie
dormant in its treasury. This fragrant in
Justice and this breach of faith aud obliga-
ton add to extortion the danger attending
the diversion of the currency of the country
from the legitimate channels of business
Under the same laws by which these results
are produced the government permits many
millions more to be added to the cost of
the living of our people and to be taken
| from our consumers, which unreasonably
swell the profits of a small but powerful
minority. The people must still be taxed
for the support of the government under the
operation Of tariff laws, but to the extent
that the mass of our citizens are inordinately
burdeued beyond any useful public purpose,
and for the benefit of favored few the gov
eminent, under pretext of an exercise of its
taxing power. enters gratuitously into
partnership with these favorites, to their
advantage and to the injury of vast
majority of our people. This is not equality
before the law.
| INJURIOUS TO THE BODY PoLITIC.
The existing situation is injurious to the
health of our entire body polite. 1t STILES,
! in those for whose benefit it is permitted,
all patriotic love of country, and substitutes
in its place selfish greed and grasping avar-
! ice Devotion to American citizenship for
| its own sake and for what it should accom-
plish as a motive to our nations advance
ment and the happiness of all our people is
displayed by the assumption that the gov
eminent, instead of being the embodiment
of equality, is but an nstrumentality
through which especial and individual adj
vantages are to be gained. The arrogance
of the assumption is unconcealed 1t APP
peals in the sordid disregard of all but per-
sonal interests, in the refusal to abate for
! the benefit of others one iota of selfish adj
vantage, and in combinations to perpetuate
such advantages through efforts to control
! legislation and improperly influence the
suffrages of the people
THE MASSES AND THE CLASSES.
The grievances of those not included
| within the circle of these benetciaries, when
fully realized will surely arouse irritation
and discomfort. Our farmers, long suffering
and patient, struggling in the race of life
with the hardest and most unremttng toll,
will not fail TO see, in spite of misrepresen-
tations and misleading fallacies, that they
are obliged to accept such prices for their
products as are fixed in foreign markets,
where they compete with the farmers of
the world; that their lands are declining in
value while their debts increase; and that
without compensatng favor they are forced
by the action of the government to pay for
the benefit of others such enhanced prices
for the things they need that the scanty re-
turns of their labor fail to furnish them sup
port or leave no margin Tor accumulation.
Our workingmen, enfranchsed from all de-
lusions and no longer frightened by the cry
that their wages are endangered by a just
revision of our tariff laws, will reasonably
demand through such revision steadier EN-
ployment, cheaper means of living in their
homes, freedom for themselves aud their
children from the doom of perpetual serv-
tude, and an open door to their advance
ment beyond the limits of laboring class.
Others of our citizens whose comforts and
expenditures are measured by moderate
salaries and fixed incomes, will insist upon
the fairness and justice of cheapenng the
cost of necessares for themselves and their
families. When to the seltshness of the
benetciaries of unjust discrimination under
our laws there shall he added the discon-
tent of those who suffer from such dscrim-
ination, we will realize the fact that the
benehcent purposes of our government, de-
pendent upon the patriotism and content
ment of our people, are endangered. Com
munism is a hateful thing, and menace to
peace and organized government; but the
communism of combined wealth and capital,
the outgrowth of overweening cupidity and
selfshness, which insidiously undermines
the Justice and integrity of free institutions,