The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1891-12-17
A Ratified Organ.

A Ratified Organ.
The Exchange Reporter is the name of
new paper published in Richmond, the
second number of which we have re.
ceived. 1t purports to be the organ Of
the Farmers Alliance, but we doubt
very much whether it represents any
considerable part of the intelligent far
mers of the State. AS an illustration of
its style of argument and assumption,
we give the following from an editorial
article headed. Bombs for Millionaires."
Referring to the recent effort to kill Rus
sell Sage, q New York millionaire, by
means of bottle of dynamite, that pa
per says:
What is the meaning of it? The New York
papers say that 1t was the madness of crankS.
But how are cranks made? In our opinion the
maddening inequalities in the distribution
of wealth, made these crankS, and we may look
for good many more of the same kind unless
something is speedily done to restore our gov
eminent to its constitutional foundation of af-
fording to all en- equal right to the enjoyment
of wealth, and the pursuit of happiness. Bombs
Of the same fact-that both countries are living
under despotism, tho one plutocratic and the
other autocratic. Which is the worse is ques
ton.
The ''maddening inequalities in the
distribution of wealth. is an agrarian
sentiment that the farmers of Virginia
will not be slow to condemn. There is
no method or law for the distribution Of
wealth unequally or unjustly. 1t is the
result of mental endowments, which no
law can confer and no law can inhibit.
1t is an endowment from nature, i'm
proved and cultivated by application
and opportunity. to the degree that
it is commanding, until it controls lesser
qualifications and lesser mental forces
If there were an equal distribution of
the wealth of the country, how long
would it remain equal? Like the waters
of the rivers it would return to the chan
nels whence it was taken, and the por-
go back to the possession of the "oppress-
ors.n In this free country, every man is
the architect of his own fortune. One of
the richest and best business men in Lou
isville, KY, went there score of years
ago with photographers little kit, and
started his business career in shed.
Jay Gould himself peddled wares, and
G. P. Huntington made his first start by
making a corner on nails during the ear
ly days of San Francisco. They inner
tied no special privileges or adventitious
advantages. They had natural genius
| for money making, and made it within
the limits of the law and in a fair COM
petition with the world. What sane
man can raise an objection, in reason, to
the success that has attended them? If
| their wealth were distributed among
many thousands of such men as penned
the paragraph we have above quoted,
they would not hold it in a business tussel,
for the simple reason that they have not
the natural endowments to do it. Would
they attempt to change the order of mas
ture by legislative enactments? If they
did it would be dead failure. Veal h
can no more be apportioned out than
brains can be, and the one goes with the
other. 1t was never intended that some
people should have more than bare
living, for they would not know what to
do with it. If it was so intended they
would have it.
The comparison of the conditions of
America with those of Russia, and nsti-
tuting parallel between them, is so su
premely ridiculous, and at the same time
insulting to the intelligence of the coun
try, that the wonder is any sane person
could ever have made it. Bombs in
Russia and bombs in America are indi-
cations of the same fact-that both
countries are living under a despo tism
the one plutocratic and the other autos
cratic" is such gross and incendiary
SANDER upon the free institutions of this
country, that it ought to be rebuked
everywhere and by every prtriotic citi-
zen. The farmers could serve themselves
and their State no better than to frown
down and repudiate the sentiment and
the medium through which it found ut
| terance.