The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1892-05-07
The Sources Of It.

ltis said that ThomAs JefeTsoa once
after the new Government Of our cOun.
try was fairly launched was asked hil
opinion ~ toits probable lifetime. His an
sWer was that there was bat one danger
aud then added, II wish there could be I
sea of fire between our country and Eu,
rope" In his far-sighted vision, he may
have seen the danger which would come
of the mighty Influx Of people from
across the -, bringing with them in the
mighty host their lunatics and their Grim.
inals. But we do not believe that wa1
what was In his mind. We believe he
fea:e European influence and that he
looked forward to time when the rich
people of our country would begin tc
ape European ways; when q vulgar xris.
tocracy of wealth would spring up; when
Americans would cease to have pride in
their own country and bewsil the fact
that they were not born across the sea
and, further the power of Europe would
be exercised upon the trade aud finance
Of this country to put Us forever in lead.
ing strings with the Old World. Whether
he saw it or not, all these things have
come.-Salt Lake Tribune.
It. was upquestionably the wish
of Mr.. jefferson and his coworkers
to cut loose entirely from the old
world and establish in the new q
new government based upon new
principles and ideas, and being i'm.
bued with this thought both he and
they must have seen and feared the
apishness of Hamilton and his fol.
lowers. Like our statesmen ~ o1
the present day, they looked to En-.
gland for precedents and examples,
and did not believe anything could
be devised that would be an i'm.
provement on, or even so good, in
customs, habits, laws or form oi
government, as that offered us ready
made by England, and they lived
in constant dread lest, in moment
of rashness the colonies should pre-
sumo to adopt some new or un-
tried experiment. Moreover, they
the Hamiltonian crowd-were
positively certain that men born
without titles and riches were not
fit to be partakers in the conduct
of governmental affairs-were fit
only for hewers cf wood and drawers
Of water to the upper classes, and
as wealth accumulated and men
decayed" in this country the idea
Of the superiority of the wealthy
over their fellows grew and grew,
and spread, until even the poor
have become tainted by it, partly
through that degeneracy of spirit
that seems to be inseparable from
servitude and want, but partly,
as we think, from a too free admis-
sion of immigrants into this coun-
try from abroad. "As the twig is
bent the trees Inclined" and these
people having been raised and re-
ceived what education they had in
the cramped up social and political
conditions that prevail under their
moribunds governments did not
and could not understand the be-
fore unheard-of institutions Of this !;
and though they loved liberty as
we'll as We who were born to the
enjoyment of its. blessings, and
would and did lay their lives down
freely in it's defence, their educa-
tional and social predictions were
such that their very participancy in
the conduct of our government was
necessarily a contamination simply
because it is impossible for q man
to change his modes and habits of
thought by crossing the sea.