The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-11-17


A great part of the people of great
state VIII yet make their homes there
FATE.RNALIsTIC and PAUPERIzING
MAKE it the anxiety of the govern
ment to keep the men Of this country
at work and TO enable them to obtain
a fair reward for their labor, especially
the producing classes. and then the
people will respond to that with a vote
OF confidence as often as they are called
upon
That is from the local Republican
paper which is mot Republican
organ" 1t is as Populistic as any
paternal heresy embodied in the Popu-
lism which that paper derides. 1t is
! the kind Of political doctrine which pro-
vokes and promotes Coxeyism. The
idea that it is the duty of the govern
ment TO put men to work, or to keep
! them at work, or 70 support the citizen,
instead of citizens supporting the gov
eminent is utterly failacious and
foreign 10 the political system estab-
lished in this free land
The Government of the United States
is not power holding inherent right
10 confer anything upon the people or
provide them with 4 means of liveli-
hood. 1t has nothing but that. which
the people have given it for specific
purposes. Those purposes are to pre-
serve the liberties of the whole people,
TO maintain order. to provide. for the
common defense and promote the gen
eral welfare by making such regulations
as will protect the persons and property
of all the citizens. 1t is not u feeding
institution for paupers, nor a business
establishment to provide labor for the
unemployed.
The notion that the government.
either Of the state or Of the nation. is
in duty bound, in some way, to give
every man in the country who needs it
some work to do or to feed him if
idle. is one that ought to be banishad
from the public mind, no. implanted ana
encouraged there. If when men fail in
the ordinary walks and ways of life
they are 10 fail back on the govern
ment, we Shall soon have millions of
.paupers demanding means of living
from the nation.
1t is rot the province Of the govern
rent 10 fix The wages of the worknen
any more than it is to supply, them
with work. That is an arrangement to
be left wholly with the employers and
the employed. For all government
work that is labor of any kind neces-
sary for the purposes of government,
the national authority may prescribe
both the rates and the hours of labor.
Each should be regulated according to
Justice and equity. in the interest of
the people who make and support the
government and Of those who work
under its direction. But the private
industries of the country are individual
concerns and must be left to personal
regula tons.
OF course il the people are trained
to the belief that the government is in
duty bound to provide them with work
AT good wages, they will strike with
their ballots at the party in power
which does not come up to their de-
mands o. expectations in those re-
spects. And there will be no stability
or permanepce 10 the government under
either party, because the people will be
always expecting something that can
not be accomplished in their behalf.
and will therefore be filled with dis
content and anger against the party in
control of national affairs.
The doctrine is paternalistic and
wrong. It is a pernicious theory to
advocate. 1t is out of place in a popu-
lar government like ours Individual
and concerted effort among The masses
for self sustsnance, and for the MAIN
tenaHce of the government as means
Of preserving public order, peace and
the protection of rights, is the proper
thing TO incuicate. Independence oil
character and equality before the law
are essential to the perpetuity of |
American institutions. Pauperism. de
pendence, serfdom, would prove the ruin
of the people and the subversioa OF
democratic liberty
Republicanism tends in the direction
of Capitalization Of power in the gov
and that must necessarily be |
at the expense of ;be liberties of Inc I
people. Therefore Coxeyism was con-
sistently encouraged by Republicans. !
For it comprehended the doctrine ad- |
vanced in the quotation at the head OF
this article. 1t is dangerous to the
system Of government provided for and
limited in the national Constitution, !
and is one of the relics of monarchisni /
which linger in the Republican mind |
and render necessary the adherence of
the Democracy, sseadfastly and vigi-
antly to the principles that are essen
-ial to preserve the rights which, are
to the states respectively or to
ne nfannle