St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-01-27
POLICIES
That Lead to the Absorption c
the Means Of the Peopie.

that it is the unsound and unWise poll
cles of goyernment-policies that lead
to the picking away from the great
masses of people nickel after nickel,
dime after dime, and dollar after dollar
that leads to the impoverishment of a
nation, and to those disturbances and
panics which periodically come upon all
organized societies; and it is the greater
industry. frugality and economy of the
great masses of the people, superin-
duced by the demand Tor the veryneces-
saries of life, and to enable them to sup
port their families and dependants. that
produces the increased wealth and
prosperity that universally fol-
low after these periods Of de-
preston. 1t is not legislation nor
change of policy at such a time. In
this way is the paradox accounted for
OF the conquered aud depleted nation
heavily fined. and overburdened with
debts, to be paid to the c%oEquering ma
ton, found in a few years after peace
to be the wealthiest and happiest nation,
and to AVE the demands OF all classes
OF its people most easily and fully sup
piled. The success of the victorious
nation has induced idleness and extrav-
agance. and consequent want and weak
ness, While the failure of the conquered
nation, and the eXorbitant demands
upon it, have induced industry, frugal
lty and economy. and consequent wealth
and happiness; and, considering that
the real wealth of any nation consists
wholly OF annual production, we reach
the conclusion that ordinarily a
nation is the WeaIthiest when
its people feel the poorest,
for at such time they are producing the
most, and the poorest when they feel
the ~Wealthiest, for at such a time thew
are producing the least. The further
conclusion is reached. that II public
policy that leads to greater industry,
greater economy and frugality on the
part OF all classes, is that policy which
induces the
GREATEST NATIONAL WEALTH
and the greatest happiness among the
lower classes, whose demands thereby
can all be supplied. Any policy that
tends to produce idleness and unthrift
is unsound and vicious, and while the
act of bene ficence on the part of the
government in beStowing pensions and
charities upon the unworthy NAV be Of
little detriment to it, it is a most Serious
detriment to the recipient, for it de-
stroys those habits by which alone the
demands OF his physical nature can be
fully supplied. The question will now
be suggested to the mind, why cannot
all civilized governments, whatever their
form, adopG those policies which will
give TIC labor the broadcast fields of in
dustry, and thereby make the largest
possible demand, and hence the highest
value for labor, and at the same time
give them all the supplies of life de-
manded for their personal wants and
necessities at the lowest price at which
the world can produce them. It is be-
cause the evil of avarice and selishness
is always present, and except in periods
of great public connection, when the
eye of every man is turned toward the
institutions of his country, dominantin
national affairs. The result is and must
continue to be that no form of govern
ment can be free from the abuses of
legislation and unjust and oppressive
laws until the moral sentiment of the
race is raised to a higher standard tn an
now exists, and avarice and seIfshness
carried farther into the background.
All attempts to relieve the public
from the burden of unjust laws present
the same phenomenon. Unlimited num-
bers of interests, wholly selfish, rise up
to oppose the change. Agents. attor-
news. solicitors and other interests Op-
pose the required relief, and the public
servant is overwhelmed and overcome,
and led to abandon his well meant
purpose to relieve his constituency of an
unjust public burden. In time of war
it has been the custom of every nation
to have cou to everything from
which money could be gathered to meet
the extraordinary demands upon the
treasury. 1t is a time when individual
life, individual fortune and individual
hanninncc &c tn no nnrnnriafnd If Y,nn1
be, to the public welfare and to save the
institutions of the country. Everything
proceeds upon the theory that the whole
is greater than any of its parts, and
that to save the whole any part
must be sacrificed. 1t is always at such
times that unjust and oppressive laws
and systems have their origin, and happy
is the people who have sufficient patriot
ism and virtue after such demands have
passed away to repeal them and relieve
themselves of unnecessary burdens.
Few, indeed, are the nations that have
had this
PATRIOTISM AND VIRTUE.
Even the humane and just mStitu-
tons of Ly%curgus, under which Sparta
developed and was protected and sus-
tanned for the long period of 500 years,
and was made Que of the most renoWned
states of antiquity. were forced to give
way before the c0rrupting influences of
gold, the accumulated wealth of the ma
ton in the hands of the smaller number,
resulting from laws making provisions
for mercenary soldiers by which she
sought to add to her wealth by overcom-
ing and ~conquering other states, instead
of relying upon those simple methods
Of producing it which mark her career
during the first centuries of her exist
ence.
1t is true OF most Of the ancient ma
tons, and, so far as | know, of all those
of modern times, who have attempted to
adopt and enforce systems of municipal
law relating to demand and supply.
that they have done so ostensibiy to
broaden their fields of industry,
and to give increased compensa-
ton to the producing masses of
their cOuntrymen, or to diminish
the value of the supplies necessary
for their use and happiness. The En-
glish corn laws. which were in use
nearly 400 years, were originally passed
for the purpose of reducing the price of
food to the consumers. But like all
such laws, under the operation of the
avarice of the ruling classes, they were
kept in force for purposes of revenue,
and the general result was exactly the
reverse from what was claimed for
them in their origin-the %impoverish-
ment instead of the improvement of the
masses of the people. All laws for the
raising of the revenues for the govern
men should be framed so as to draw
the revenue from the class
BEST ABLE TO PAY IT,
and at the same time not Cypress OF re-
duce the value of the labor of the pro-
dueing classes. The laws of the United
States which have come down to us as
a legacy of the war, and bearing di-
rectly upon the law of supply and de-
mand, which are wholly without justifi-
cation in time of peace, and when not
required for the purposes of revenue are
those the inevitable effect of which
is to increase the market price and
necessary cost of the articles of food
and apparel required by all the poorer
and all the laboring classes Of our peo-
pie. Upon the point of the repeal of
these laws all men of all parties should
be of II mind, except possibly a very
small number of men who prSIuce