The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1894-11-28
OILS, MINI, WEDNESDAY, NOV. 2s, 1894.

violent conflicts between local and
state authorities and political fac
lions with the remark that a foreigner
landing in this country would find
much to disturb his faith in our insti-
tutlonS. Events, it adds, crowd so
fast upon each other as to dull the
senses, and the Tribune thinks that
few men realize how much there is in
these disturbances to cause dis
couragement and alarm as to our sys-
tenn of government. Perhaps the fol-
lowing passages, from a recent Boston
Herald editorial, best reflect the atti-
tude Of many editors, who for the frs
time, have felt moved to put into
words their deepest fears
s'It cannot be too frequently insist
ed upon that there is nothing in the
Democratic form of control that of
itself makes toward order and honest
government. Where the average of
intelligence, public spirit, and dsin-
terestedness is not tolerably high
among the people, a democracy is the
worst form Of government that can be
adopted. Where it is high it
is the best. y We have in
this country relatively high average
of intelligence; but with us the prob
lem OF Democratic government is still
On trial-with the Scylla of anarchy on
one side and The Charybdis of despot-
ism on the other. Success can only be
attained by keeping the privilege Of
voting within restricted bounds, until
by degrees the entire mass of the peo-
pie have been brought up to the point
needed to wisely employ this privi-
lege. " 1t re1e possible, 1t ,ro,ld an
hO n of1 10 Il.
great many of the franchise aoho n0,r enjoy
1t; but in matters of this kind steps
backward cannot be taken"
Thus has the alien sentiment of
Ioryism dulled even the Judgment of
American professors and editors. In
sorrow and alarm we hear these reve-
lations. and feel like saying with
Thomas Jefferson upon his death bed:
Call the committees!' those groups
OF stanch men in the towns and VII
lagos, the country over, who, in 1776.
formulated the will of the majority,
and,in spite of prophets of i'll, fought
for freedom, broad based upon the will
OF the sovereign people The theory
that the ballot is privilege bestowed
and not right of birth is fiction of
the schools.
Mighty is the power of public opin-
ion" thundered Webster in Faneuil
Hall. 1t was public opinion that de-
creed our federal constitution, al
though men like Richard Henry Lee,
Patrick Henry, Elbridge Gerry, James
Monroe, Albert Gallatin and George
Clinton opposed the ratification of the
famous contribution to the science of
government The will of the major
ity has back of it that principle which
Jefferson declared to be "the natural
law of every society and the only sure
guardian Of the rights of man. x
x Perhaps even this may sometimes
err: but it's errors are honest, solitary,
and short-lived. Let us then forever
bow down to the general reason of So
ciety."
No man who is not willfully blind
can fail to see that this Republic is ad-
vaucing rapidly towards a catas-
trophe. The Republic was made pos
slble because the people of 1776 were
in a simple and primitive condition.
All this is changed, and this genera
tion will witness desperate attempt
to wrest from the people the right of
suffrage, and alter the form of our
government, in reality if not in name
The recent great political campag gn
shows how powerless the people arc, in
the grasp Of an aristocracy which fur
nishes them with their ideas, their
passions, their prejudices, and their
leaders; and which stands ready to
corrupt them when it cannot convince
them. In the eastern states the
masses have already fallen into con-
dition of mental serfdom and incapac-
ity for independent thought: and the
West and South are rapidly being
brought to the same condition.
wonder Justice Jamuel f. Miller
of the United States Supreme Court,
said a few years since:
"A terrible storm is about to burst
over this country. Thank God l shall
be in my grave before it comes
Brethren, the Peoples Party is
fighting for the Republic and for the
preservation of liberty over all the
earth. Let every man constitute him
self missionary, in his neighborhood,
to rouse up his neighbors to sense of
the dangers that confront them. We
have two years more before we again
lock horns with Plutocracy. Let each
man do his utmost. "Every little
makes a mickle." I'D.