Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1889-05-31
AMERICAN PLUTOCRACY.

The rule OF tue flcn IN luiS COuu-
try is a standard theme of depreca-
ton with many persons who do not
always reach conclusions with log
ical precision yet there Is not one
of these who would not gladly eX-
change his poverty for he ailloencet
that SO dIsturbs his equanimlty. II
is a peculiarly OF existing condi'
nons. here more than elsewhere,
that great fortunes may be made
as we'll as inherited. Instances 10y
the dozen may be mentioned OF
men now living in the United States
and the pOssessors of millions, &C.
cumulated by their own successful
efforts or lucky investments since
the close of the war. These men
owe nothing to their ancestry IN a
financial way and started out IN lie
with empty pockets.
The Democrat of tO.Cay Who
rails at plutOcracy as an unmiXeu
evil may be a Plutocrat tomorrow
TO be rallied at himself; and we
have never heard of one yet who
refused to accept the shifting SIT
uation with alacrlty. No man es
teens wealth such menace to the
freedom or purity OF our lnstitn'
lions but that he is all the time
seeking opportunities to menace
them with his own wealth.
The same principle runs through
human affairs generally. The day
laborer on q RAILROAD cut becomes
in time boss the next thing a
contractor, finally capitalist, at
last the president of the corpora.
ton. He who originally worked
for q dollar and a quarter a day
under the dreadful shadow OF plu-
tocratic despotism finds it entirely
agreeable to draw twenty five thou
sand dollars a year as one OF the
desp0ts. And why not
lie got there by his own merit.
Is be any less a man for having
risen from the position of a hire
ling to a plutocratic eminencef Is
there so much danger in plutocracy
that it were better that all men
should be poori
The country may suffer from the
exactions OF powerful corporations
and monopolies, but corporations
and monopoIies must be, and the
danger is not that they are, but
that they are not properly regu-
lated and restrained by law. Had
it not been for corporations and
monopolIes the development of the
natural resources Of the country
would have been at low ebh. Had
1t not been for wealth and its splen-
did benefactlOns we had still been a
primitive people. Education would
have Jagged, science would be
cropping in the dark, civilization
itself would have been more than a
century in the rear of its present
advance.
In the millennial commune all
inequalities may be smootbed out
by some Miraculous and as yet un-
discovered process, but the com
munal millennium is too remote to
enter into present calculations. We
have to deal with present actuall'
ties, not with visionary theories
and desultory experiments. 80
dealing we find the Plutocrat
among us, and he is evidently here
to stay. We must make the most
of him-despiso his aristocralc
airs, if we will laugh at his follies;
condemn his autocratic tendencies,
bot make the most of him. Alto.
gether, we are inclined to think
that the world IS much the better
of for his being here.
fit be true that millionaire
now and the buys his way into the
United States Senate, is 1t not true
that Johns Hopkins founded a
magnificent university that shall
tend to make men better and wiser
and nObler for all time to come !
Would the country be IN any
healthier condition had there been
no millionaire to buy his way into
the Senate and Johns Hopkins to
found the institution that bears
his namef
IT we are to confiscate the vast
estates and prOperty-holdings OF
the Jay GOulds and the AStors and
the Vanderbilts, to distribute
broadcast among the people to be
amassed in the future by a few out
of the many, we must do the same
thing, to be consistent, with the
opulent gifts of the Williamsons
and SutIOs, the grand requests of
the Peabodys and Skaters and
many other philanthroplsts, the
purpose and direction of whose
wealth are freighted with blessings
to humanity.
On the whole, plutOcracy has It's
compensations to mankind that far
outweigh its evils. 1t is something
we cannot be rid Of, and so long az
it rules with wisdom and honor
and enlightened sympathies for
human needs, it is much to be pre-
ferred to the rule OF poverty. The
man who has a million dollars at
his disposal can Go more for the
good OF the world than a thousand
men with but a thousand dollars
each. 1t is not worth while to war
upon HIM as an enemy to his race
Washington Post.
FOOLISH MUGWUMP TACTICS