The Louisiana populist., 1895-06-07
HISTORY REPEATING.
SOME CONTRASTS WORTHY OF
SERIOUS THOUGHT.
Rome and the Romans, and How They
Became Corrupt-Their Faults and
Mistakes, and the Final Result, and
Our Future.

The first step toward the overthrow
OF a free government is accomplished
by impoverishing the people. In
Rome this was done by gathering the
money, the lands, and in fact all the
means OF wealth into the hands of the
few. Having all these means in their
hands, 1t was an easy matter to so
arrange affairs that at any time the
money classes desired pressure could
be brought in such a way
that property values were run
down, prices were precipitated. and
then these money holders would go
into the market and purchase proper
ty at their own figures. 1t took but
a few years to bring the people al
most to the very verg of despair, and
then there arose threatning de-
mand for an equal division of all the
good things of life.
Tiberius Gracchie, about 1873 b. G.,
returning from Spain to Rome, saw in
full operation the large estate system,
carried on by the wealthy senators
and their favorites-the lands
of the republic, which should
have been homes for the
people cultivated by slave gangs.
the free citizens of the republic
thrust away into the towns, aliens and
outcasts, in their own country, with
out foot of soil they could call their
own" He tried first to restore these
lands to the people by securing laws
providing for their purchase from
their autocratic owners. The aris-
tocrats resisted the law and finally
precipitated a riot, in which Tiberius
and three hundred of his friends were
killed.
Gradually the lines were drawn
closer and closer. Every effort made
by trade society, or combination OF
the common people, to redress the
wrongs pressed upon them, both by
the government and its favorites, was
met with a counter effort on the part
OF those in power to perpetuate the
chains woven around the people.
The ballot ceased to have any effect,
because the courts took just such
views of laws passed in response
to these ballots as suited the
convenience OF those who could
afford to pay for the judgment rem
dered by the courts. Money became
scarce, either by legislation or by
Withholding it from circulation. Then
the people were in despair, and find
ing no avenue open to them where
they could secure even a semblance
of justice, attempted to assert their
rights by force of arms. And this
brought the standing army of Rome
into use, and, losing confidence in the
senate, and having no respect for the
people, the army was used by ambi-
tious men like Cesar, Pompey ard
Crossus to foster the empire
upon the people, and so vanished the
republic forever.
We have made no suggestion of
parallel between the history of Rome |
and the United States, in these hastily |
written lines, but have left the intel |
ligent reader to read between the |
lines and make the application him
self. III they have been tho means of |
inducing some investigation into these
the object is accomplished.
No man who has taken any notice of
the legislation of the last |
thirty years can fail to see
the tendency toward the plutocracy
OF this country. The courts are fall
ing into line. Attempts upon the |
part of the laboring elements of the
country to right wrongs in an organ
lied way have been met with bullets
and the sabre's flash. and the. ballot |
has lost its power to assert itself.
The constitution is overridden, and |
all the precedents OF tho past are for
gotten in the onward rushing tide of |
The church stands |
ready to lend its aid in the overthrow,
as it did in Rome, and above all is the |
plutocratic face OF Cesar Grover, the |
whilom idol of the Democratic party,
as his great prototype Caesar was the
idol OF the Roman people, ready to
put the finishing touch to the ruin of
our government as Caesar did to
Rome. r. w. ROBERTSON.