The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1894-07-21
PrOphets of Evil,

Prophets of Evil.
1t is interesting to compare the pes
simistic forecast of Americas destiny
made only last May by that eminent
philosopher and dyspeptic, Herbert
Spencer, with similar prediction ut
tered in the same month thirty-seven
years earlier, 10y Thomas Babington
Macaulay, the famous English histo-
rian and bon vivaut. Mr.. SpeuceTs
opinion is brief, almost, if it can be
said without protane significance,
damnably brief Says he: "In the
United States, Us here and elsewhere,
the movement toward dissolution Of
existing social forms and reorganiza-
ton on Il socialistic basis believe to
be irresistible. We have bad times be-
fore us and you have still more dread
full times before you-civil war, i'm
mense bloodshed and eventually mill
tary despotism Of the severest type"
Lord Macaulay lacked MIR. Spencer's
gloOminess in most things; yet even
his view, with almost two score years
priority, is anything but reassuring.
Writing to an American correspond
ent II. ). Randall, he said:
The time wil come when New England
will he as thickly peopled as OId Ell gland.
Wages will be as low aud will tluctuaJe as
much with you rs with US. You will have
your ManchesterS and your Birmiughams,
and in those ManchesIers aud Birming-
hams hundreds OF thousands of artisans
Will assuredly be out of work. Then your
Institutions will be fairly brought to the
test. Distress everywhere makes the
labOrer mutinous and dlscuntented and in
cliGes him to listen with eagerness to aci.
tators, who tell him that it Is a monstrous
iniQulty that one man should have u mil
lion while another cannot ct a full meal.
In bad years there Is plenty of grumbliug
here, and sometimes little rioting. But
it matters little; for the sufferers here are
not the rulers. The supreme power is in
| the hands OF a class, numerous indeed, but
| select; Of an educated class; of class
| interested iu the security Of property and
the maintenance Of order. Accordingly,
| the malcoutsnts are firmly yet gently re-.
strained. The bad time is got over without
robbing the wealthy to relieve the iud.
| gent. The springs OF national prosperity
soon begin to flow again; work is plentiful:
wages rise, and all ig tranquility and
cheeriulness. | have seen Il gland pass
| three or four times through such critical
seasons as l have described.
Through such seasons the United States
will have to pass in the course Of the next
century, il not of this. How will you pass
through them? l heartily wish you good
dellveranCe. But my reason and my
wishes are at war, aud | cannot help fore
boding the worst. 1t is quite plain that
your government will never be able to re-
strain distressed and dsCOntented major
lty For with you the majority is the gov
ernment, and has the rich, who are always
a minority, absolutely ut its mercy. The
day will come when in tho state Of New
York multitude Of people, noue of whom
has had more than half II breakfast, or eX.
| poets to have more than half dinner, will
| choose q legislature. Is it possible to
doubt what sort Of a Legislature will be
chosen? On one side Is a statesman preach
| =,
strict observance Of public faith. Ga the
other is u demagogue, ranting about the
| tyranny Of capitalists and usurers, and
asking why any body should be permitted
| to drink champagne and to ride in n car
| rage while thousands OF honest folks are
| in want OF neCessaries. Which of the two
candidates is likely TO be preferred by Il
workingman who hears his children cry
| tor more bread!
seriously apprehend that you will, in
| some such season OF adversity as | have de-
scribGd, do things which will prevent pros
perity from returning that you viii act
| like people VINO should in year OF scar.
city devour all the seed corn, and thus
make the next year not OF scarcity, but of
absolute famine. There will be- / fear,
spoliation. The spoliation will increase
the distress The distress will produce
| fresh spoiatiOn. There is nothing to stop
you. Your constitution Is all sail and no
anchor. As | said before, when society
has entered on this downward progress,
either civilization or liberty must perish.
Either some cesar or Napoleon will seize
the relns Of the government with strong
hand, or your republic will De as fenrfuly Y
plundered and laid waste by barbarians IN
The twentieth century az the Roman EN-.
pire was in the fifth, with this difference:
that the Huns and Vandals who ravishei
the Roman empire came from without,
and that your Huns and Vandals will have
been engondered within your country by
your own institutions
1t would be idle to deny that there
is an element of truth in both these
evil prophecies. But the American
people will be SLOW 10 believe that, in
their land Of liberty and opportunity,
the social destroyers will ever get into
u permanent control of things. 1t is
only too true already that they have
been able to deceive the people for a
time; and at this minute are deceiving
them in the arena Of national politics
not less perniciously than Debs has
been deceiving portion of them at
Chicago or Sovereign at Des Moines.
But they have never shown any pre-
| \.