New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-02-25
P1ETY NOT COMPETENT.

| Mr. Ucvitt's remarkable speech. ana Inc out
| hurst of Mr.. Bland in the House. are two parts
| Of the same great fact. That fact is That the
Marty now in power is utterly incompetent 10
| govern the country. As often happens. two
| parts of the same fact appear antaGonlstic
| Mr.. Hewitt shows the Incompetence of the
! Southcrn majority which controls the party III
| mower Mr. Bland shows the desperate ana
| almost revolutionary methods to which the MI
noyity of that party resort in order To prevent
| nolitical extinction in commercial States. That
| these mcthoIs have been made the rule ana
| sanctified as naienablc rights of minority
nv Democratic theories and practices In times
mast cy-Spcakcr Reed made clear. But 1t i
none the less true. as Mr.. Bland insists that
they constitute an overthrow of the legitimate
authority with which the lawmhking body Is
invested by the Constitution and by the VOTES
of the people And the resort to these extreme
methods displays the conviction OF the minority
that government by the majority of It's own
party would be fatal To the party.
II is not a quarrel of factions or sections with
which these speeches deal Indeed. Mr.. Hewitt
WAS somewhat in error when he described the
ignorance and S0cialistic tendencies of the ma
iortv as distinctiycly Southern. for there can
be found in the same party in Western States
ouitc as much of the same evil and dangerous
tendencies and in large portions Of the same
p1rtv in Eastern cities. II is the mob spirit.
Hatred of property and of laws which make
propcr1v possible hatred Of restraints which
protect it, hatred of institutions nnder which
nropcrty has been accumulated and saved, ana
cmplovcd in reproductive industries. may be
fnund in the ignorant mObs of Boston Chicago
and Ncw-York rs well in Populist assem-
blagcs on Western prairics and in Democratic
gatherings ut the South. Larger information.
bctter intelligence more knowledge OF modern
industries and civilization. would indeed teach
Southerp legislators and Northern mobS that
there can be no general prosperity without
institutions and laws which stimulate the ac-
emulation and saving of property. and give It's
owners protection in its use and enjoyment.
The ignorance and prejudice are not confined 10
any one section. They are the distinctive char
actcristics of the great party 10 which McSsrS.
Hewitt and Bland both belong, and make that
party what it is.
Incapacty 10 govern necessarily results from
incapacity TO comprehend the institutions Of
the age and the principles upon which modern
civilization depends. Because it cannot com
prchcnd these the party in power is constantly
forcing portion of its members. who repre-
sent one section or another, into desperate ana
almost revolutionary resistance in order to save
that section from the destructive measures upon
which the incapacity Of the majority insists.
Now ii is the representatives Of commerce and
banking who resist destructive silver imitation.
Next, the representatives Of manufacturing and
mining resist destructive legislation for the
advantage of foreign competitors. Here multi
udcs of unemployed wOrkingncn lift in vain
their protest. In Louisiana the sugar planters
cry out against the party in power; in Wiscon-
| sin the lumbermen in Alabama the ron-mincrs;
| in Maryland the coal-mincrS, and in the Far
West the wool growers protest Destruction or
| the prosperity of any State or section, no mat
ter by what mistaken legislation 1t IS threat
ened, the men from that State or section have
| TO resist by all means and at any hazard, be-
cause their political existence is at stake. SO a
party which cannot comprehend the principles
| by which the prosperity Of all sections alike
| Is promoted, AMI which Is driven forward by
| its own ignorance and prejudice to attack the
| prosperity Of all in turn, finds itself continually
| resisted by desperate minority OF its own
| members, whose very existence depends upon
| It's defeat.