Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1896-11-19

the seeticcs Of TIE Cn:cn ths money
OF the people. the credit OF the IA.
ton ana every other good and perfect
thing supposed to enmanate from cur
republican system"
What do you regard as the most
radical change OF the century,"
In 1900 we were q few millions Of
people and we loved liberty. In 1900
we are nearly q hundred millions of
people and we love money.
From a handful of individuals We have
become a nation of institutions. The
Individual counts for less and less. or
ganization for more and more. We may
tear down the house. but cannot at
one and the same time both destroy
It and occupy II. That Is what Mr.. Bry-
an and his followers are pretending
that they can do. Meanwhile must n
man lose his individual rights OF prop
erty because he has invested his ac-
cretions in a bank. or a railway. or
even a trust company? That is the
question we have to meet and settle
as against the clamor Of the mob
before we can feel entirely sure about
anything"
DANGER OF A SECTIONAL SPIRIT.
The Editor Recognizes lt, and Reads the
Eastern Wealthy Men . Lesson.
What OF the sectional spirit and
tendency"
Among a people so great In numbers
and occupying such a vast territorial
extent sectional distinctions, growing
out Of conflicting local interests are
inevitable. We had a north and a
south. Now we are beingning to hear
Of an east and a west" watterson
however, declared that no country in
the world was SO homogeneous as the
United States or bound together so well
by all sortso Of ties. Still the demogague
was around and few resolute leaders
could frequently plunge whole COM
munities into rebellion. Il do not be-
lieve that in 1Ss0-61 more than two Of
the southern states actually voted
themselves out of the Union; certain
ly the states of Virginia, North Caro-
lima and Tennessee did not: and yet
such is the pressure and infection
the immense union majority Of Feb
ruary and March of the latter year were
found in July fighting the battles of
the Confederacy."
Il fear that organized wealth and
power have not yet grown wise enough
to scent danger before il Is upon them
The eastern section of our country is
already in danger. / have an i'm
preston that il does not see this. Yet
it might. with profit to itself and to
us all. read a chapter out of our own
history and take n hint in time from
the experience of the south. The insti.
tuition of African slavery was thought
to confer great benefits upon it's possess
sors. and at last its supporters
went to war to defend IL. To
cling with tenacity to so untenable and
as time has since revealed. to so profit
less a system of labor-to say nothing
about morals-was singularly short
sighted. But the south did it
and dearly paid the consequences.
Let the east take to Itself the lesson Of
the south. In Its concentration of the
wealth of the country and its ostenta-
tious display of this wealth. in the
gradual cultivation OF caste. I'm the ten
dency to hug its vast riches and in the
finding OF means to keep its millions at
home. let II behold a danger IL will do
well to consider in the light Of both an
cient and modern history; and IL IL has
any real statesmen they cannot put
their genius and resources to better
uses than by the construction Of poll
cies which will bring them alliances
and make them friends-poliicies wide
and broad. iustifying in some measure
| the unlimited accumulations they have
been able to pile up in such q relative
| ly short compass of time.
Those accretions not only serve to
| breed corruption among themselves.
but they unite against the simple
| rights of property all the forces Of Gu
pidity and rapihe operating on agrar-
ian and sectional lines. States have
been saved before now by timely fore
cast. Only pride. and a very foolish
pride at that. has led Spain TO defy the
laws alike of God and nature in Cuba.
Only pride. the pride of wealth and
| caste, will keep the east from seeing
the truth that IL must make a partne.
i of the rest OF the country. not alone by
| generous and expanding policies. but
| above all by just policies. harder per-
haps to realize than any other policies
| We can clways he generous. but II Is
not always easy to be just. wisc,y Just
| even to ourselves"
What would you advise the Dem.
| ocratic party to do. Mr.. watterson?'
What / would advise IL to do. and
| what IL Is likely to do. are differen,
matters. Perhaps II could not do any.
thing better by way of a starter thar
to appoint the next sth Of January q.
a day Of fasting and prayer"
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