The great West. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1889-18??, 1890-04-25

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| The Word s'Demagogus."
j One OF the most potent engines
which the enemies of the producers
possess is the word edemagogue. =
They howl it; they hiss it; they Whis-
per it in the ears of those they
would mislead.
The5real meaning of the word is,
"a leader Of the people," Certainly
no man could wear a higher title
than that, in this the peoples coun-
try. Why then is the word SO potent
for evil in the mouths of the plumber
ers OF the populace? Why does itwhirl
multitudes around from the straight
path of their own interests, and set
them running down hill, among the
rocks, like lot of stampeded sheep
When our republic was founded
about a century ago, it grew out of
conditions which. had been formed
under the rule of kings and aris-
tocracies. The doctrine of the divine
right Of kings, the belief in ''the an
nointing oil,'' and in ssthe divinity
that doth hedge a king" had left
their impress in the blood of the race.
1t was terrible innovation when a
governmentwas formed on the found
alton OF the popular intelligence. If
there had been an aristocracy, or q
royal family. in the limits of the
United States, at that time, we never
should have had a republic. There
were thousands of the Weather and
more influential class who wanted to
make Washington king; just as a
few years ago the whole capitalistic
class of this country supported
General Grant for a third term, be-
lieving that his election meant an en-
pire. But as nearly the whole popula-
ton OF the United States consisted,
at that time, of poor yeomenry, in
home-spun or buck-skin, republic
naturally followed. The statesmen
OF that day however, had a holy hor-
ror OF the people, and took every pre-
caution to prevent them from ruling
their own country. They constitute
ed an aristocratic upper branch, call
ed the United States Senate, which
was to negative the popular excuses
OF the House of Representatives
then they provided for an elective
king, called a president, with more
real power than the English king
and they gave him the right by his
single vote, to veto the conclusions
OF the House and Senate and the
whole people. Then they established
a written constitution, with nu-
merous limitations OF the people, in
the interests of wealth and vested
rights, and above all they placed a
Supreme Court, which has another
veto upon president and Senate and
House and people, and which in one
great crisis OF our history decreed
that man, because his skin was
dark. was absolutely without rights
in this republic: And every man who
looks at all deeply into the nature Of
these things knows that these sixty
millions of people live today under
the dreadful threat that q railroad
king, like Jay Gould, may, any
bright morning, pack that court,
and obtain decision declaring that
white men have no rights in this
country, when their interests clash
with the interests of the corpora
tions. The result OF all this is that
there is in the United States less real
liberty of legislation than there is in
England. There are indeed no limit
atiOns to the power of an act of Par
lament; there are no written sections
OF constitution to tie it up; there
is no supreme court to bring it to
naught, upon a verbal bubble.
This letter was written before the
recent decision of the United States
supreme court, in the Minnesota
cases, was made, and it was therefore
prophetic.-ED. GREAT WEsT.l
The truth is our much-lauded pre-
decessors we're, in some respects, q
say it respectfully a set Of fools.
They had horrible dreams of the
thousand-headed populace rising up
and Over-throwing the rights of prop
erty and money. They did not dream
that at the end of the first century
of their constitution the populace
would find themselves utterly at the
mercy OF the capitalist and corpora
tions, that the House of Representa-
tives would be based largely on cor
ruption; that the United States
Senate would be the greatest collec-
ton of millionaires that ever set in one
body since the days of ancient Rome!
and that New York railroad presi-
dent could dictate the name of an
appointee to the supreme bench, as
the condition of a princely gift to
to a political party. 1t is not the
many who are to be feared in this
country, it is the few. Never in the
history of the world, have the people
shown such moderation, such conser-
vatism, such self-control, such pa
thence, as in this great country.
But the word "demagogue" is re-