St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-11-16
quite long list i'm the enumeration of
Americas population.
THE AMERICAN CITIZEN.

"The American Citizen" was the
theme of Mr.. CLEvELAND's speech at
the THURMAN banquet, and it as.in a
very comfortable frame of mind he APP
preached its discussion. The world had
just witnessed an assertion of the SOW
ereignty of American citizenship in the
election that was held on the 4th of this
month. the like of which has never be-
fore been witnessed. \ form of despot-
ism has grown upon the country insid
ionsly. Under the pretense of protect
ing home industries system Of legiSla-
ton had been enacted which was rap
IDLY destroying the equality of American
citizenship, and which, by the concen-
tration of the wealth of the nation into
the hands Of few persons, was estab-
liShing class supremacy. The greedy
avarice and inSatiate demands of a
hig0ted and specializing class sought to
absorb the right to think, the right TO
act, and the right to possess and enjoy,
to the exclusion of all who existed out
side of their malignant circle. This
class had obtained control of all the de-
partmenis of the federal government,
their power. threw off the mask under
which they obtained that power and
boldly proclaimed the policy that the
privileged few had the right to Cypress
the toiling many. That was the real
spirit and scope of the MCKINLEY law.
The purposes for which the federal
union had been formed, Ito establish
justice, promote the general welfare,
and secure the blessings of liberty to
ourselves and our posterity," seemed to
have failed. There seemed to be no way
to rebuke the arrogant assumptions of
Dlutocracy. If some sage with the gift
of second sight could have risen on the
floor of the convention whose laborS
developed the American constitution,
and there announced as a vision what
was made reality in the beginning of
our second century of national exist
ence-that party pretending patriotism
would organize itself upon the doctrine
of the inequality of American citizen
ship. and would proclaim the chief end
of political labor to be the discrimina-
ton through the power of the federal
government against the vested rights of
the maSSeS-if such an announcement
had been made and its truth foreseen,
then it is safe to say the American
Union would never have had place in
history. The convention would have
adjourned without day, and the dele
gates returned to their homes in the
several states. there TO establish liberty
exposed to no such future calamity and
curse.
But the reign of plutocracy was short
lived. In any other country in the
world it would have been perpetuated.
1t could not have been dislodged from
its Notifications. But here it only
needed the crisis to call forth the I'M
DERIVING forces of our American institu-
tons in their protection. No interest
that appertains merely to earth is of
such sublime consequence to the Amer
lean citizen as the maintenance of his
birthright to the equal enjoyment of
legal liberty. When the hour came for
the vindicatiOn of the equality of his
citizenship, he stepped forth in the
majestic might of young giant awak-
ing from sleep and proclaiming his
sovereignty. The people declared that
there should be no privileged classes in
this country. They asserted for them
selves the right to become their own
rulers, and denied the superiority of
any branch of their own blood. They
asserted the right to become their own
nobemen, their own aristocracy and
their own king. Looking out upon the
grand future which is yet awaiting the
work of their hands, they asserted the
equality of American citizenship. The
result of the late election was a grand
enunciation of the principles of freedom
which made us free nation.
And why should not the American
citizen continue to be his own ruler
and preserve the equality of his own
citizenship? He deScends from the
governing race of the world. He incor-
porates within his own bosom all the
vital elements of human progress. The
ancestry of the American citizen has
achieved greatness and glory in every
field of mental, moral and physical ac-
ton, and it remains only for him to be
true to the supremacy which has al
ready been won and which all history
comedies. Here on this Western CONT
nent the race from which he descends
has found its chief theater for the dis
play of its vast power and resources.
The fathers who superintendent the
early lab0rs that were bestowed on the
questions of our liberties and the con-
struction of our constitution built here
temple beautiful in its proportions;
and, remembering all the time for
whom it was being constructed, they
proclaimed the lawful inmate free
from the despotic form. of govern
ment which then darkened the whole
face of the globe, and equal to all 9TH
ers whose rights were thus recognized.
Liberty has not merely conferred I'M
equaled civil rights on the American
citizen. but, like BRIAREUs of old, it has
touched with hundred hands all the
springs Of human progress. The rapid
development of the country gave an
opportunity to the greedy and unpat-
riotic classes to seize the reinS of gov
eminent and to pervert it to the OPP
preston of the industrial masses.
They have been rebuked, and will now
be compelled to relax their grasp. The
government goes back into the hands
of the people, to whom it belongs. The
danger of Capitalization, that rock of
Shipwreck and disaster to all former re-
puolics, has been avoided. II the pres
ent and future American citizen shall
faithfully adhere to the doctrines en-
forced and agreed upon by the archi-
tects of the American Union, the house
which our fathers built will stand for
ever. May i. be SO. May the broken
column and desecrated temple never
mark the downfall of American free
dom.