Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1895-11-28

~ LIE uanus, uuu 10 ni0uef MIN from
employing this strength and dexterity,
in what manner no thinks proper,
without injury to his neighbor, ia a
plain violation Of the most sacred
property Applause. The great
Irish philosopher and statesman, Ed
mund Burke, bore like testimony
"Men have a right to the fruits OF
their industry aud the means of making
their Industry fruitful. Whatever each
man can do without trespassing upon
others he has a right to do for himself,
and he has right to fair proportion
of all which society, with its combi-
nation and skill and force. can do in
his favor. J" Applause. For the
opportunities Of tho rich there would.
appear less urgency for safe
guarding than for the necessities Of
the poor and the more exigent the
need the more imperative the remedy,
and whether the subject of the demand
is for labor performed or property in
some other form, theirs can be no differ.
ence in principle, for the same law is
essential to all for the humblest indi-
yldual or to the organized association,
all the rights of private property must
be equally sustained, and No organiza-
tion, however powerful, whether OF
numbers or property, should be suffered
to override them, and cannot be per-
mitted to do SO except at the cost of
that individual liberty which lie the
essential basis of free government.
Applause. Justice enthroned ON law
is the only protection of the humble
and defenceless. How shall justice he
enthroned but by united public
opinion demanding it? and the de-
mand must originate in the articulate
individual conscience, which must ba
listened to and respected, or we shall
be ground down by the despotism OF
numbers. or military autocracy, or
aggregated wealth, enacting and COM
polling obedience to laws, not to estab-
fish Justice and ensure domestic tran
guilty, but to secure unjust privileges I,
and unequal advantage. In my own
country | have witnessed the Unsuitable
growth of that form of State Socialism
styled . Protection" which / believe
has done more to foster class legislation
and create inequality of fortune TO cor
rupt public life, to Danish neil of in
dependent mind and character from the
public councils, TO lower the tone Of
national representation, blunt public
conscience, create false standards in
a
with reliance on State aid and
guardianship in private affairs, divorce
ethics from politics, and place politics
upon the low level of mercenary
scramble, than any other single cause.
Applause. Step by step, and largely
owing to the confusion OF civil strife,
it has succeeded in obtaining control
of the sovereign power of taxation,
never hesitating at any alliance. or
the resort TO any combination that
promised TO assist it's purpose of per-
verting public taxation from its only
true justification and function, Of
creating revenue for the support of
the government of the whole people,
into an engine for the selfish and pri-
waite profit of allied beneficiaries and
combinations, called TRUSTS. +" Under
its dictation individual enterprise and
independence have been oppressed, and
the energy Of discovery and invention
deblitated and discouraged. L. has
unhesitatingly allied itself with every
policy which tends to commercial
isolation, dangerously depletes the
treasury, and saps the popular con-
science by schemes Of corrupting favor, Z
and largesse to special classes, whose
support is thereby attracted Zap
plause. Thus it has done so much
to throw legislation into the political
market, where iobbers and chafferers
take the place OF statesmen. The words
of Lowells warning well apply
Rough are the steps. slow-hewn in fiintiest rock,
States climb 30 power by: slippery those with
gold
Down which they stumble to eternal mock;
80 chatierer's hand shall long the scepter hold,
Who, given Fate to shape, would sell the block.
Gradually tho commercial marine of
the United States has disappeared
from the high seas, with the loss OF
the carrying trade, and the dispersion
of the class of trained seamen and
skilled nayigators; the exceptions,
that only prove the rule are tho few
vessels lately built, and only by max
ing breach by special contract in the
general tariff and navigation laws,
and unwisdom Of both. but an object
lesson from which valuable instruction
may be drawn. More than 10 years
ago, when this practice of the substi-
tuition of State interference for free in
dividual enterprise and energy was first
mooted, and before the destructive
policy of protection had struck its
roots in American legislation, my great
countryman, Daniel Webster, had said,
: How, sir, do shipowners and naviga.
tors accomplish this? How is it
they are able to meet and in some
to overcome universal compe-
tition2 Not, sir, by protection and
bounties, but by unwearied exertion,
by extreme economy, by mistaken per-
severance, by that manly and resolute
spirit which relies on itself to protect
itself. need not say the navigation
of the country is essential to its honor
and its defence. +" And at national CON
gress of farmers, just held at Atlanta,
l find full confirmation of all that I
have said in the address Of former
commission of navigation: ITO think,
awhile Of the ocean and it's navigation,
of the ships and seamen carrying ON
the commerce Of the world, should
bring delight and stir our pride; for
many builders of reputation, many
famous ship masters, and some of the
most successful merchants began
careers of honor as farmer boys. Once
our laws encouraged enterprise on land
and sea, and our people succeeded.
The four pillars of our prosperity were
agriculture and manufactures, com
merce and navigation. American ships
and American trade went everywhere;
and the American flag at sea had tho
respect of tho world. So it was, but is
no more. No call to the sea sounds
now for Young America, it has been
swept by rivals so clearly from tho sea
that the proportion of American car
riage, in what is called American com
MERGE, is now but half as large as in
1889. When we had shipping of our
own, and merchants of our own people
to carry on our trade, we had no fears
Of adverse balances and tho nynnrt nf