Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1893-1895, 1894-08-25
THE MEHAMA ENCANPMENT.
rConlInued from first page. J

rCOntinued from ilrst page
paign speeches with quotations tI~m !
keriDture and talked about moral ideas
underlying politics and the great princl-
r,le involved. Aud there were men 10 |
that state lust as Insincere on the other
side. who had talked prohibition ali
their lives as u great principle except |
when they interrupted their political
morals long enough to take dram 10
strengthen the sytem, or on doct"Es
prescription. They were demagogues
lust like the other claes, only OF lower
Q. der. The first class bowed TO the IN
evitable. The latter 10 the demuohn.
Emerson said hitch your wagon TO
star. Don't hitch it to your stomach.
What a man eats or drinks, what he
wears or what mis- religious belief may
be has nothing to do with political prin'
cIples. and we cannot make it have
10 DO with those matters. If we try II
we get into deep waterloo deep to get
ont Of without drowning more than you
will wash. You can't dip people by
droves like scabby sheep and make
them all equally clean by any patent
political processes. Political processes
are evolved out of people, not people
out of processes. MajOrities and mobs
make demagogues, quite as much ~
false leaders make deinagogical nIdjhri-
ties. The demagogue will be deua-
gogue on o given subject only as long
AZ he can mislead the masses. Alter r
while the people get right and he ha'
TO hunt q new "princlple" as dog
would hunt new bone when he hss
knawed one bare. How many gold
ing politicians would become silver
men il by large popular vote the peo-
pIe of this state would express them
selves in favor of silverS Men who
have seen nothing but destruction 10
our country In free coinage would be-
come earnest advocates OF the money
Of the people. A monetary system
must be based on some sound underly-
ing principle that is acknowledged TO
he sound by the experience of the
whole world, of which we are only one
little neighborhood after all. sound
principles are not matter OF one
mans opinion, or one set OF men
opinions, or one party's opinions, or
even one nations opinions. For in
stance, if the people of any one neigh
borhood undertook to believe and carry
into practice some peculiar moral idea,
not in consonance with Anglo-Saxon
customs and civilized Christian society,
they would soon be driven to UNDER
stand that principles were not matter
Of geography or of education or OF
locality or for demagOgues to tri1e
with. The South tried that and II
ended in rebellion. The MormOns tried
1t and it ended in determination OF the
twin evil of polygamy. Peculiar insti
tutlons fostered by demagogery to
please the willing ear of those who
would seemingly profit thereby, are
doomed the moment the people come
to their senses and cast them over the
precipice of oblivion that awaits all
that Is false and expedient and tempor-
izing.
A man stood In front of bulletin
DO rd of q daily newspaper office. The
telegraph had just brought the news OF
the president of the United States
writing letter to the United States
senate denouncirg the senators who
had yielded to the sugar trust and had
imposed tax Of fifty million dollars on
the American people. The man
thought moment and then declared
our government is failure. be was
Union soldier, we'll along toward sixty.
He had struggled long and well to get
a home and rear his children to be
honest men and women. He knew
that sugar was one of the four principal
STAPLES of life. Here was q set of men
in the highest place In the nation
charged with corruptly levying a tax
on him at the behest OF gigantic
monopoly. That tax would cost him
ten dollars year. Half of 1t would go
to the sugar trust. Half of 1t would go
to the government he had helped to
save. In the anguish of his heart he
cried out, "The government Is fall
ure."
That man was unconsciously an en-
envy of our country In declaring In 30
UNQUALIFIED manner that our govern
meiit ia a failure. What he meant was,
that majority is failure and the presi-
dent told them so. He didn't mean to
but he aligned himself with the cranks
and rebels and anarchists who would
destroy the best government in the
world. The only difference is that he
spoke his thought and they not only
speak but act. The three steps that fol-
low each other are to think, to speak,
70 act. A man may do either and be
an enemy Of his country. Ii the
thought is bad, evil speech and criminal
act will follow In natural sequence. II
YOU take the position that free self
government by the people Ii q failure,
where QOee luht tcoNo yOa - w
abandon a constitutional republic, a
limited representative democracy, where
are we atf We cannot go backward.
There we find only monarchy. Ii we
no forward and transcend the safe
guards OF the constitution fixed by the
fathers we take leap into the dark,
we enter the yet unexplored confines
OF socialism, the lawless chaos OF an
archy, Our government is the golden
mean between monarchy aud anarchy.
we cannot go back II we would. We
viii not 20 forward 10 certain destIuc'
ion. We shall stand by the oonstitu-
Ion. [Applause.l
he Union on large scale OF private
interests and the powers OF the govern
nent. Take for Instance the Pacific
ailroads, hopelessly bankrupt aud In
ebt to the United states TO the tune
4 hundreds OF mlllions-its courts ana
overn ment departments and even the
mate and congress tied up hand and
- AnaN al