St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-09-28
HISTORY REPEATING ITSELF.

The yandalS IN literature, who delight
TO invade the sacred precincts of tradi-
ton and destroy the popular idols en-
hrined there, imagine that they have
torn the WILLIAM TELL chapter from
history. Possibly they have succeeded
in demonstrating that no such tyrant as
GEssLER ever ruled Switzerland. but
they can never make a myth Of WILL
lam TELL. The legend which tells of
his heroism may have misnaned him
and may have fixed thedate of his valor-
Gus deeds at the wrong time, but for all
That there was a hero corresponding othe
one who has been immortalized by
SCHILLER. He is ubiquitous fellow.
this WILLIAM TELL. and is just as liza
bic to have been found III Switzerland
as elsewhere. He is person with i'm
mortal gifts, aid may have lived in the
thirteenth century as we'll as any other
time. So that the date of his deeds and
the field of his achievements, and the
name by which he is known among his
fellows are all matters of but little con-
sequence III comparison with the more
important fact that the spirit of his
heroism was a sublime reality. There
have been WILLIAM TELLS in every
age and in every country. There will
continue to be WILLIAM TELLS all the
world over as long as men aspire to be
tree. There are GEssLERs, too. and
have always been and always will be,
1t is the type, rather than the man,
which has been preserved in the his
toric legend. The name is of but little
consequence in comparison with the
fact. The WILLIAM TELL of tradition
has his counterpart to-day. And so has
the tyrant GEsSLER. The latter finds
his counterpart in the imperious speaker
Of the national house of representatives,
who forces Legislation by the exercise
of tyranny that would have made a
GEssLFR blush. The WILLIAM TELLS
of this age are the toiling millions who
pay tribute to the favored few under the
operations of our tariff laws.
Tyranny is always oppressive, and
there is no form of tyranny so oppres-
sive as monopoly. The concentration
of power and wealth into the hands OF
the favored few has always been the
object of tyrannical government. And
when that object is attained then
tyranny becomes cruel. NERO and
GEssLER are fair types of enthroned
monopoly.
Ihe1e is no occasion for The MCKIN-
LEY bill, nor even the semblance OF a
pretext upon which its enactment can
be justified. Under the operations of
existing tariff laws the revenues are
now far in excess of all legitimate de-
mandS upon the public treasury. The
four yeas of Mr.. CIEVELAND's admin
lstratlon demonstrated that the receipts
under existing laws are annually many
millions more than are demanded bv the
necessities of the government. A more
tyrannical measure was never devised
TO tXtort money for private purposes
than this same MCKINLEY bill. The
interests Of the government and of the
masses of the people have not been
taken into account. In the enactment
of the bill everything has been done
with an eye single to the protection and
upbuilding of monopolies.
Speaker REED is the typical GEssLEB
of this day. His tyrannical perform.
ances in forcing this Infamous measure
through congress are in keeping with
the deeds Of his prototype. The inter.
views with our st. Paul jobbers, printed
in to-Gay's GLOBE. tell the whole story
OF this exercise of arbitrary power, and
of how cruel and unjust it is to the
overtaxed millions. 1t tyranny in the
worst form 10 rob man under the
cover of law
Whether real or mythical. the mora