The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1894-05-03

other day laborcrf, living from n"u" ~
mouth and dependent for ther or'""
and butter en- tho constant mnlnleu-
nnco by tho government 81 art'n'''
means ~ support. Agriculture has 10
tins way been destroyed DO some oi the
eastern states, and. what ia worse' so
has commerce.
Had individuals in America been leit
To their own devices iu the matter OF
building up manufacturer % De- pofsiole
that the gross production II the coun-
try in many branches would have been
less than % is now; but 1t 10 very Ger
tain that American society would have
been In a healthier condition and Amer
loan industry would have reen taken
out OF politics" or, rather, would have
never got into IT, An agricultural pop
ulation, such az that of the northern
states sixty years ago, was sure not TO
contine itself % one field OF industry OK
clusivoly Enterprise and activity, love
Of work and love Of trying all kinds OF
work. we're as marked features OF the
national character then as they are
now The American population could
boast ~ much greater superiority over
the European population than II can
now. There WAS sure. therefore, TO
have been constant overflow from the
farms Of the most quick-witted, sharp
sighted and enierprislng men OF the
community for the creation OF new man
ufactures. They would have toiled'
contrived. invented. copied, until they
had brought into requisition and turned
To account as. in fact, they did 70
considerable extent IN colonial days
one by one all the resources OF the
country. al its advantages over other
countries in climate, soil. water power
M minerals n mental and moral force.
Whatever manufactures were thus
built up, too, would have been built up
forever They would have needed no
dollhouse legislation 20 save thom. They
would have hourished as naturally and I
could have been counted on with as .
much certainty as the wheat crop or 4
the corn crop. Instead Of beng con- +
slant source Of uncertainty and anxiety
and legislative corruption they would .
have been one Of the mainstays Of our
social and political system. American
would then, IN short, have
been the legitimate outgrowth OF Am
,rioan agriculture. They would have
grown as it grew, in Just and true rela-
lions TO IT, They would have absorbed
steadily and comfortably it's surplus
population, and the American ideas Of
mans capacity, vslue and needs would .
ave reigned in the regulation OF the .
Few industry.
The present state OF things is one /
which no thinking man can contem-
plate without concern. II the protec-
ZIONIST policy is persisted in, the process
u assimilating American society to that
q Europe must 60 on. The accumula-
ion OF capital in the hands Of compare
lively few individuals and corporations
must continue and increase. Larger
and larger masses OF the population
must every year be reduced to the con
liton Of day laborers, living from hand
10 mouth on fixed wages, contracting
more and more the habit Of looking on
their votes simply as O mode Of raising
Or lowering their wages, and, what is
worse than all, learning to consider
a class apart, with rights
and interests opposed to, or different
rom. those OF the rest Of the COM
nunity. f. l.. G0DRIN.