The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1892-08-31
BE geral4 a,all Neus.
popular CraZes.'
tAueusta Chronicle. |

Prof. Bryce holds that ''in no coun-
try is public opinion so powerful as in
tile United States" Remarking that
sone of the chief problems OF free ma
tiens is "to devise means whereby the
national will shall be most fully ex'
pressed, most quickly known and most
unresistingly and cheerfully obeyed
he says:
.sTowards this goal the Americans
have marched with steady steps, un'
consciously as well as consciously
Towering over Presidents and State
Governors, over Congress and State
Legislatures, over conventions and the
vast machinery Of party, public opln'
ion stands out in the United States az
the great source of power, the master
Of servants who tremble before it.
"There is 30 class or set OF mer
whose special functions it is to form
and lead public opinion. The .politi
clans certainly DO not. Public opinion
leads them.
ga sovereign is not less a sovereign
because his commands are sometime:
naisheard or misreported. III Ameries
eyery one listens fos them. Those wht
manage the affairs Of this country
obey to the best of their hearing. TE'
people must not be hurried. A states
man is not expected TO move ahead g
them; he must rather SEEM to follow
though if he has the courage to tel
the people that they were wrong ane
refuse to be the instrument, he will OF
all the more respected" ("
The people have great faith in the'l
destiny, because they have confidence
in themselves to find out what is righ
and to stand by it. They can be.srustec
to see through the sophistries OF dema
sogues and false teachers who for thel!
own selfish ends seek TO ride into pub
lie favor and to Office upon some pass
ing craze that seems to be popular o'
that promises relief in general distress
But perils in the shape Of new politica
parties or financial or economic mere
sizes are in the end discarded oy tn'
sober-second thought of the American
people.
We can recall several of these new
political fads since the close OF the wa
which passed away almost as suddenly
as they rose. They were not near a!
strong as they appeared to te with tn
people. They were in reality VIVA
Professor Bryce calls "the mishearint
of public opinion" The Granger move
ment made great noise in 1878. 1
seemed to be powerful in a few West
ern States, but it was dead in few
wears. In 1878 the Greenback part.
carried Maine, and elected members 0
Congress from several Western States
This was the party that insisted tn'
government should put its printing
presses to work and issue money to to-
people or the States, but it disappears
in a few years. Then came the Laoo
party in 1856, after the great strikes i
some of the States, but it went dow
with Henry Georges candidacy TO
the mayoralty in New York that yea
when he polled $4,000.
Then came the Farmers Allianc
with its sub-treasury plan to borrow
money upon farm products from tn
United States Treasury. The Farmers
Alliance carried two Western State
and threatened Democratic supremac.
in the South. In the elections of'ls9
E the Farmers Alliance carried seTera
districts in the South and few wer
elected from Western States. But II
the Fifty-frst Congress. the Thirt
party could only muster twelve mem
bers, two in the Senate, ten in tn
House.
Judging of the future of parties tha
have come into being under so-callet
popular crazes the Third party vii
soon follow in the inglorious wake o
its predecessors. In all respects it i
s one of the most pernicious Of the craze
that has afflicted the South. But i
viii not remain long to cumber ane
affiict the people with its baneful pres
ence.
The editor of The Century says tina
in every instance public opinion wa
the sovereign under whose command
the 'crazen was abandoned by tht
politicians. When they discover tha
the people are not ready for what i!
taken for a popular movement they
are the first to abandon it. "It is i'm
possible to say whether or not the peo
pie had ever been SO strongly in favor
of one of these crazes as the politicians
supposed. More were in favor Of then
at their birth than at the moment ot
-~their abandonment, for in the inter
vening period the work of education
had been in progress, and the Ameri'
can people are quick to discover an
error and equally quick in correcting
it.n
The demagogues and Office seeking
politicians, in the words of Prof. Bryce,
had mistaken eddies and cross cur
rents for the main stream Of opinion"
The statesman who has the courage to
tell the people that they are wrong
''will be all the more respected"
- -iTnifnG States of the Pacific