Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-11-14

penditure among the people tend to Sc
cure thrifty government, and cheap
and careful living on the part of indI-
viduals ought 10 enforce economy in the
public expenditures.
When, therefore, men III high places
of trust, charged with the responsibility
of making and executing our laws, not
only condemn but tiippantly deride
cheapness and economy within the homes
of our people and when the expenditures
of the government are reckless and
wasteful. we may be sure that something
is wrong with Us, and that condition
exists which calls for a vigorous and re-
sentful defence of Americansm, by every
man worthy to be called an American
citizen.
Upon the question of cheapness ard
economy, whether il relates to indivd-
uals or to the operations of the govern
ment, the Democratic party, true to its
creed and its traditions, will uualterably
remain attached to our p!nin and frugal
people. They are especially entitled to
the watchful care and protection of their
government: and when they are borne
down with burdens
GREATER THAN THEY CAN BEAR,
and are made the objects of scoru by
hard taskmasters, we will not leave their
side. AS the great German reformer,
insisting upon his religious convictions,
in the presence of mis- accusers exclaimed,
81 can do nought else. Here / stand.
God help me, - so, however much others
may mock aud deride cheapness and the
poor and frugal men and women of our
land, we will stand forth IN defence of
their simple Americausm defantly pro-
claiming, eve can do nought else.
Here we stand.
Thus when the question is raised
whether our people shall have the neces-
saries of life at cheaper rate. we are
not ashamed to confess ourselves ''in
full sympathy with the demand for
cheaper coats;'' and we are not dis
turbed by the hint that this seems "nec-
esssrily to involve cheaper man or
woman under the coats.
When the promoter OF q party measure
which invades every home in the land
with higher prices, declares that "cheap
and nasty go together, and this whole
system of cheap things is a badge of
poverty; for cheap merchandise mean
cheap men and cheap men mean cheap
country We Indignantly repudate
such an Interpretation of American senti-
nent.
And when another one, high in party
councils, who has become notorious as
the advocate OF q contrivance to per-
petuate partisan supremacy by out
rageous interference with the suffrage,
announces that 1.-the cry for cheapuess is
I'M American, - we scornfully reply that
his speech does not indicate the slightest
conception of
TRUE AMERICANIsM.
! will not refer to other utterances of
tent myself with recalling the most
prominent and significant. The wonder
is that these things were addressed by
Americans to Americans.
What was the occasion of these con-
demnations of cheapness end what bad
honest American men and women done,
or what were they likely to do that they
should be threatened with the epithets
''cheap, - 'nasty' and "uu-Amerl-
cau?''
1t is hard TO speak patiently as we an
swer these questions. Step by step a
vast number OF our people had been led
on. following biiDdly in the path of
party. They had been filed with hate
and sectional prejudice; they had been
cuioled with misrepresentation and
false promises; they had been corrupted
with money and by appeals 10 their sell
fishuess. All these things led up to their
final betrayal to satisfy the demands OF
those who had supplied the fund for
their corruption.
This betrayal was palpable; and 1t was |
impossible to deny or canceal the fact !
that the pretended relief rendered to the |
people in ful!iilment of promise to |
tighten the burdens of their life made |
by the party entrusted with the govern
ment, was but a scheme TO pay the debts |
incurred by the purchase of party sue
cess while ii further increased the
IMPOvERIsHMENT OF THE MASSES.
The people were at last aroused and !
demanded an explanation. They had |
been taught for one hundred years that !
in the di trihutioE OF benefits their
government should Le administered with |
equality and Justice. They had learned |
that wealth was not Indispensable to !
responsibility and that 1t did not enfitle |
its pOssessors to especial governmental |
favors. Humble men with scanty in |
comes had been encouraged by the in |
fluence and the spirit of our institutions, |
to practice economy and frugaiity to the |
end that they might enjoy to the utmost |
the rewards of their toll. The influence |
of the American home was still !
about them. In their simplicity |
they knew nothing of new |
dispensauou which made cheapness
disreputable, and they still loved the |
cheap coats of Lincoln AMI Garfield, and |
hundreds of their countrymen whom
they held in generation. And thus these
uusophisticated Americans, unconscious
of their wrong dong, demanded the re-
demption of party pledges and clamored |
for cheapness, in order that they might
provide the necessaries and comforts of |
life for themselves and their families at
the lowest possible cost.
THE LEADERS OF THE PARTY
which was caught IN the act of robbery,
and which was arraigned by the people
fer Il violation of its trust, were forced
by their sad predcament to a des 5erate
expedient. To attempt to reverse the
current of true Americanism and dis
credit the most honorable sentiments be-
longing TO American manhood, were the
disgracsful tasks of those who insulted
our people by the announcement OF the
doctrine that to desire cheapness was to
love nastiness, and to practice economy
and frugslity was un-American.
Thus do we plainly see that when the
path pointed out by patriotism and