Los Angeles herald., 1890-04-05
The "Daily Herald"
SATURDAY, APRIL 8, 1890,
A PArERNAL FORM OF GOVERNMENT.


In reading our exchanges we have
come across bit of Democracy, pure
and simple, that is so lucid and so forci-
BILE, and that comes from so unexpected
a source that we feel constrained to re-
produce a large part OF the article. 1t
comes from no less an exponent OF the
doctrines of the opposite party than the
San Francisco Call. This exposition of
Jefferson's doctrine runs thus:
1t will be observed that the schemes
for the relief of the unemployed in cities,
and for the relief of agriculturists who
are suffering from the low price of farm
produce, are generally predicated upon
Federal interference with the laws Of
trade and industry, Whenever accident
reduces the demand for labor in cities or
a good wheat crop in France knocks
down the price of wheat in this market
somebody is sure to get up and propose
that the Federal Government shall ap-
pear on the scene like machine god
and set everything straight either by an
issue of greenbacks or by an issue OF
bonds to be loaned to the impecuniOus,
or by the construction of works which
are not wanted. Such notions rarely
emanate from Americans. The normal
American is not prone to lean upon his
Government. He stands erect, with his
sovereignty under his own hat, and relies
upon his own wit and his own muscle to
get him out of any trouble which may
befall. But the Continental European
never gets over the idea that he is an
infant in law; that his Government is
his guardian, and that when accident
occurs it is the business of that Govern
ment to shelter and protect him and
pull him through. 1t seems that we
have in this country sufficient number
of these persons to cut quite a figure
from time to time in our politics.
These curious individuals invert the
roles of Government and citizen. In
Europe, where accident established
thrones and appointed certain fami-
lies to fill them, the paternal theory
of government may be grasped. But in
this country the Government is an ema-
nation from the people. 1t is their
creature. They made it and clothed it
with certain powers to perform certain
tasks which it is inconvenient for the
people to undertake for themselves. 1t
has no capacity and no authority except
what was granted to it by the people.
1t is no more the guardian or parent OF
the people than watch is the guardian
of the Matchmaker or ship the parent
of the shipbuilder. 1t is a mere tool
and servant of the community at large.
The Call, after classical paragraph
on Homer and the gods OF Greece and
Troy, closes with this:
This was paternal government in its
simplest form. 1t was quite as logical
as the appeals which are made in our
own time to Mr.. Harrison and to Con-
gress to intervene to prevent natural
causes leading to their normal effects.
Little comment is necessary to impress
the readers OF the HERALD with the full
force of this reasoning. They have had
these arguments used time and again fol
the same purpose; but they were
claimed as Democratic doctrine, and as
diametrically opposed to the teachings Of
the Republican party. How often has
the Democratic party in all parts of
the country pleaded with their brethren
of the Republican form of faith to keep
hands off of business; to let the course
of trade alone to follow the natural
channels prepared by those laws that
govern in matters commercial? The
dignity, the manhood, the independence
and enterprise of the American character
have been shown to be at stake in these
paternal interferences of the Govern
ment with the laws of trade.
There has been but one marked differ
ence between the attitude taken bv the
exponents of Democracy everywhere,
and that of our esteemed metropolitan
contemporary. That is that the plead
ings of our party have been for the poor
man, the agriculturist, the artisan
and the laborer, and against the
paternal use of the Government for the
benefit Of the millionaires. And if the
normal American" stands erect, with
his sovereignty under his own hat, and
relies upon his own wit and his own
muscle" surely the abnormal American,
the millionaire, the plutocrat, ought to
be able to do the same. If it is no more
logical to appeal to Congress than it was
to appeal to heathen gods "to intervene
to prevent natural causes leading to their
normal Effects when the cry is for the
poor man, surely similar appeal does
not become any less illogical when it is
made to the same influences
and for the same purpose, only on behalf
of people whose wealth has already
placed them above the need of such
vicious disturbances of natural causes.
But is it not little hard for the Gov
ernment to be used as a nursing mother
for corporations, plutocrats, millionaires,
trusts and combines of all sorts, that
grind, cheat and rob the poor, and then
to have these same poor, in their hour
of need, told in such plain terms that
they are mere normal Americans"
whose sovereignty is under their own
hats, and that it is their business to
depend on their own wits and their own
Why is not this economic
sauce, 80 good for the toiling geese, the
poor, good also for the fat ganders with
their millions?
"a