Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1892-09-08
.Popular Crazes." I"

popular Crazes." ;"
The editor of The Century has
an article on popular Crazes"
that deserves attention because it
aptly applies to the Third Party
craze that now afficts this district
and this State. The article in
question was called forth by Prof.
"James Bryce's American Com
mon wealth, certain chapters OF
hwhic strikingly reveal the authors
remarkable insight into American
methods and character.
Prof. Bryce holds that "in no
country ispub]ic opinion SO power
full as in the United State" Remar-
king that one of the chief problems
of free nations is 'to devise means
whereby the national will shall be
most fully expressed, ostquickly
known and most INCREASINGLY and
chesrfully obeyed,: be says:
Towards this goal the Ameri-
cans have marched with steady
steps, unconsciously as well as
consciously. Towering over Pres
idents and State Governors; over
Congress and State Legislatures,
over conventions and the vast
machinery Of party, public opin-
ion stands out in the United States
as the great source of power, the
master IF servants who tremble
beforeit.
"There is no class or set of men
whose special functions it is to
form and lead public opinion. The
politicians certainly do not. Pub
lie opinion leads them.
ga sovereign is not less a sover-
eign because his commands are
sometimes misheard or mis-
reported. In America every one
listens for them. Those who man.
age the affairs of this country
obey to the best of their hearing.
The people must not be hurried.
A statesman is not expected to
move ahead of them; he must
rather seem to follow, though. if
he has the courage to tell the peo-
pie that they were wrong and
refuse to be the instrument, he
will be all the more respected"
The people have great faith in
their destiny. because they have
confidence in themselves to find
out what is right and to stand by
1T. They can be trusted to see
through the sophistries of dema-
gogues and false teachers who for
their own selfish ends seek to ride
into public favor and to office up
on some passing craze that seems
to be popular sor that promises
relief in general distress. But
perils in the shape of new politi-
cal parties or financial or economic
heresies are in the end discarded
by the sober-second thought of the
American people.
We can recall several of these
new political fads since the close
of the war which passed away al
most as suddenly as they rose.
They were not near as strong as
they appeared to be with the peo.
pie. They were in reality what
Professor Bryce calls ss'the mishear-
ing of public opinion" The
Granger movement made q great
noise in 1873. 1t seemed to be
powerful in few Western States
but it was dead in a few years. In
1873 the eGreenback, party carried
Maine. and elected members Of
Congress from several Western
States. This was the party that
insisted the government should
put its printing presses to work
and issue money to the people, OF
the States, but it disappeared IN a
few years. Then came the Labor
party in 1885, after the great
strikes in some of the States, but
it went down with Henry Georges
candidacy for the mayoralty in
New York that year when he
polled $4,000.
Judging of the future of parties
that have come into being under
so-called popular crazes the Third