St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-08-11

"a 70 be attributed to two things,
Firstly, to tbe withdrawal Of the lawyers
arenai and secondly. % Ehen practice
the professional politicians and the
press. Of late years an increasing nun
Der OF newspapers. no longer held ~
Independents proprietofs, haHe virtually
general survey, then, Of the last twenty
five years points to the fact that the
political influence once welded by the
Intellectual classes in America has
passed into the hands Of the plntoeraey,
and that unless the present Process IS
arrested the United States, informally.
no doubt, but none the less really, will
be governed by an oligarchy Of million
aires.
Seeking for the Cause.
The explanation suggested by the
writer in the Nation in regard to these
changes for the worse may at first sight
seem somewhat fantastic; but, for all
that, we believe it f. substantially the
true one. He declares that it is the
tariff and the protective system that are
to blame for the disquieting nature
of the alterations that have taken
place in the political CONFORMATION OF
the Union since the war, and uses what
appear to US very sound arguments to
support his theory. Odd as 1t may
sound. it is protection that has driven
the lawyers and the clergy out of poll
ties and substituted that for them great
capitalists. Protection, while it has
prevented the farmers and agricultural
laborers from being as prosperous as
they might otherwise have been. has
created a large class of capitalists,
whose wealth depends, Or who at any
rate sincerely believe that their wealth
depends, solely upon the maintenance of
the tariff. AS politics has gradually
hardened into a fight over the tariff
question, these men have been drawn
into the struggle. They have, however,
not entered political life in order to
serve their country, but merely with the
desire to do what they look upon as
protecting their property. The result
has been that those who occupied them
selves with public affairs for less selfish
reasons have been shouldered outs and
that the maintenance of the protected
industries has become matter of vital
Importance in American politics, just as
in England the preservation of power in
the hands of the landed interest came to
be looked ON as the one thing needful
for British prosperity.
Doesn't Like Our Tariff.
While the tariff lasts and it's friends
are supreme, there is no room in the
government of the country for any
other interest but that of the protection
ist. For example, the professors of the
universities are almost to a man free
traders; hence the rich men, who might
otherwise like to avail themselves of
their talents, sternly refuse to allow
them to enter political life, and even
clamor for the withdrawal Of local state
aid from SeminarieS where the works OF
Mill and Fawcett are used ito poison
tariff. On this point we may again
quote the actual words used by the
writer in the Nation: during the
thirty years of high protection which
followed the outbreak OF the war, there
has been an unprecedented amount of
money put into industries created or
maintained by legislation; and as the
volume OF this investment has Swefled,
the tariff question has gradually not
only dominated all other ques-
tions but has driven them out
of the field. In every country
property which has been di-
rectly created by legislation, OF WHICH
needs special legal protection, is extra
ordinarily sensitive and jealous. Negro
slavery and the English corn laws were
two striking examples of this i'll cur
own time. Such property if seriously
assailed is always ready to defend itself
by any weapon within its reach, and is
sure to surround itself with elaborate
bulwarks and safeguards. Foremost
among these safeguards is apt to be re-
striction on the liberty of speech of all
within reach Of its influence; the pres
ence of men known to be hostile to it
becomes odious; their actions become
suspicious: their aims in every direction
become tainted with treason or immor-
atty; and, finally, any means of coun-
teracting their influence OF destroying
their authority seems legitimate. In
truth, nothing defends itself so deSper-
ately. and with such serenity of con-
science as to the means to be used. as
property III danger" In word, in the
desperate efforts of the protectionist
capitalists to defend the privileged po-
sition which the now enjoy, every other
influence has been stndiously sup
pressed.