St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-09-19
Hon. Carl Schurz Writes a
Ringing Letter on the Po-
litieal Situation.
Shot at Harrison Regarding
the Officeholding Force Of
the Government.
Cleveland's Nomination, in
Spite OF the Machine, a
Good Sign.

OOOO SlS lie
New YORK, Sept. 1S.-The Hon. Carl
Schurz has written lengthy letter adj
dressed to the Cleveland and Stevenson
clubs of Kings county, and Alexander
E. Orr and other citizens of Brooklyn,
giving his views on the present national
political situation. Mr.. SchurZ was in
vited by the clubs and citizens to eX-
press his opinion IN an address, but ill
health prevented him from so doing.
After brief introduction, Mr.. Schurz
said:
I'VE are told that the tariff is the
chief topic of this campaign. certainly
do not underestimate the Importance of
any of its aspects, but l regard it only
as part of a far more comprehensive
question, which is not merely economic,
but political in nature, and concerns the
general working, in fact, the vitality of
our democratic system of government.
There is school Of pessimists grow
ing up among us who, whenever any
thing goes wrong, are ready to declare
democratic government failure and to
despair of the republic. If their dismal
state of mind only led them to more
sharply criticise, it would do no harm.
But when every attempted improve
ment is discouraged as useless, it be-
comes harmful. BY the same methods
every kind of government would fail
and anarchy would remain. 1t must be
a government of public opinion eX-
pressed i'll the form of laws. Such
government will have mistakes, but as
long as the growth of public opinion in
the body polite is free, the good
Sense Of the People
may be trusted to bring about the cor
rection of existing evils. This is a
country in which things may go badly
in detail, but well on the whole. This
will remain true provided certain inf1u-
ences are kept out OF politics. which
pervert the honest expression of public
opinion. The most obvious of these
evils are money and the machine.
'Thtre always has been and always
will be some money used in elections
for perfectly proper purposes. But
sums are spent in presidential and state
campaigns which a generation ago
would have been thought fabulous.
The election of some United States
senators by some legislatures occa-
siOns financial arrangements as large
as those of starting a big bank.
LII some congressional districts
and in some municipalities the cost of
a canvass is enormous. That much of
this money Is used for bribery in not
q few constit uencies, and that the
evil has been growing and spreading
from year TO year, cannot be denied. 1t
has come to be that the raising of big
sums for use in elections is sufficiently
organized as a high political function
deserving of general recognition. Look
at the franknesS and gravity with which
party managers discuss the statistics Of
purchasable voters, and the methods of
watching and buying tioaters."
Party Machines
Referring to party machines, he said:
Public spirited citizens form a party
because they have substantially the
same objects of public interest in view.
They form committees, clubs and what
ever else effective organization requires.
This is healthy, legitimate party Or
ganizatlon. What is a machine? An
organization within party, composed
of officeholderS and officeseekers, who
ostensibIy serve public cause for the
purpose of having that cause serve
them; politicians dubbed together for
mutual benefit and support; well disci-
plined, shreWd and energetic leaders;
seeking IN the first place to rule the
party to which they belong so as to
make its victory their spoil. This
is the machine. Nor is that
spirit very different when the
ot1icehOlding force of the national GOV
ernment is called into political service
to promote personal ends. On the whole,
the DEVELOPMENT of party organization
has of late been in the direction of the
ma chine methods. What will the effect
be Oh our political life? Money wrong
1y used in elections cOrruptS public
opinion. 1t serves to raise up race of
unprincipled, selfish, mercenary poll
ticians, and to repel from public life
men with patriotic ambition. who wish
to serve the public welfare according to
their convictions"
4 Joint Robbery.
Mr.. Schurz continues:
II shall not discuss the economic, but
only the political aspect of the McKin-
ney tariff, which seems to me the most
Important As has been truthfully said
many 4 time, the natural resources of
this country. are SO enormous that it may
prosper for long period in spite of any
economic system ever SO vicious; or, if
1t suffers, 1t may speedily recover. The
American people can endure being plum
dered by favored few, in this or any
other way, a while without danger of
permanent injury. but whether they are
plundered OF, as the protectionsts say,
enriched by this sysrem-what they can
not endure without danger of lasting
detriment is the political decentralization
which this sort of tariff policy inevit-
ably brings with it. This is pollution
of the blood.
Examine the case with care and can
dor Ihe Republican party, as the ad-
vOcate of the protective tariff, is fond of
calling itself the champion of American
labor. The only preteXt for this pre-
tension lies in the fact that the Repub-
llcan party, by its tariff policy, enriches
certain employers of labor, and then
trusts them with being SO philanthropic
as to pay their workmen more than the
market rate of wageS--according to the
well-known
Scheme of RenevoIence
which consists in making the rich rich
er, SO that they can take better care of
the poor. In fact. the Republican party
is the champion Of the capitalists deriv-
ing profit from the tariff duties protect
ing certain Industries. The capital in
vested in these industries constitutes a
gigantic money power, dependent for
the magnitude Of its profits Oh legis-
lative favorS, and therefore interested
In influencing legislation for its own
benefit.
with this moneyed power, compact
ed by common interest, the Repub-
lican patty has a sort of tacit partner
ship agreement, and not quite tacit
either, TO this effect: The party of the
trst part, the moneyed power, is to do