Los Angeles herald., 1892-04-30
DEPgW lNDULGRs IN NONSENSE.

| MI. CuauuCey VI. DepeW says sO uiuCl
in the oratorical line that he must neces-
sarily fall far below his best standard at
times. But whilst his rhetoric may often
be subject to criticism, his reasoning
should never be open to the charge Of
absurdity. In his Grafton at the laying
of the cornerstone OF General Grants
monument, he is reported to have burst
out into this blaze of words:
The phenomenon of our times and one
of the chief dangers to law and order is
the growth of the school of despair. The
concentrated contemplation of accumu-
lated wealth and the hopelessness of ac-
quiring it paralvze industrial energies
and true ambitions and plant the seeds
OF socialism and anarchy. But Lincoln,
from the poverty Of a Kentucky cabin,
and Grant, from the narrow limits OF a
log house in the Ohio wilderness, be-
came central figures and representative
heroes of our age. They are types of
| the glory of American citizenship.
We would be glad for anyone to show
us the connection between the "school
of despair" caused by the contempla-
tion of accumulated wealth and the ele-
walton of Lincoln and Grant to the high
positions they attained. If Mr.. Depew
means that the concentration of wealth
in few hands by means OF the trusts and
combines" that have invaded every
field of business and industry, has given
the youth of our country the same op-
portunities to make their way to "giddy
heights" that were afforded by the con-
dition of the United States when both
those heroes were boys, every observing
man will take issue with him. The
road to greatness-thaS is to wealth and
high position-is much more difficult
now than it was before aggregated
capital seized upon ali the avenues to
success. 1t goes without saying that
man of great powers can reach the
top just as we'll now as at
any time. But the youth of ordinary
capacity stands much less chance of ad-
vancing to wealth and position than
when the country was new, and when
individual effort counted for much more
than it does now. Mr.. Huntington is
credited with having advised our young
men to take $4,000 and settle in Africa,
which he considered the future field
for enterprise. But the young man who
can raise SIC, 900 could perhaps do better
at home than in Africa, and the men
who can raise that amount are so few
that the advice becomes ridiculous.
To. draw parallel between the oppor-
tunities for young men to rise at the
present time with those that
existed three score and ten
years ago is equally absurd. Combina-
tions of capital have assumed to them
selves all the benefits that have arisen
from the genius of invention, and the
increased capacity of production has car
ried With it the increased power of the
capitalist. to exclude labor from its
benefits. III the early days of the Re-
public individual effort and energy
counted for something in the scale OF
advancement. But now the man who is
without capital and without capitalistic
influence has very little chance to climb
the ladder Of success. Some one has
said that the man who is not in some
combine or corporation is like the pro-
verbal cat in avernus without claws,
and he was not far from the mark. A
few men have millions, and the millions
have little or nothing. Money is power,
and as the power is with the million
aires, the masses have been weakened to
make the rich strong. This strength
will not be lightly shared with the
weak, go that every day the oppor-
tunities of American youths to success
fully climb the ladder of success are de-
creasing, and the honors Of the country
are going to the pets or tools of the men
who have seized upon the wealth of the
nation by methods that were unknown
to our fathers. As long as "Uncle Sam
had land enough to give us all farm"it
was the poor boy from the country who
blazed into phenomenal success; but we
shall never again hear OF rail-splitters or
backwoodsmen rising to the highest
posts in the nation unless they are men
who would rise at any time or in any
condition of society.