New-York tribune., 1896-11-26
THE RECOMPENSE FOR DISASTERS.

Whom orc reno, nbers how the hearts or mill
toms ,verc thrill, ID on the evening Of November
. c,uses nj thankfulEpss almost without num-
hor rise before the mind The sound sense ana
GOOD faith of more than 100000 voters; the SUI
norh service of managers and speakers and
Journals and above all. of the leader hlmseir;
tho advancing. system of public education which
nrenared millions for quick instruction IN an
op,orrency: the combination of events when so
nowerfully helped that instruction-truly, IL
would require n more than mortal vision 10 emu
morale the forces and causes for which the Na-
t;on may well be reverently thankful to-day.
Rut there is a class Of causes which are less
freoueptIy considered. but nevertheless power
fully contributed to the saving OF the Na'loh.
They are to be found in the very same coniDlha-
tion of events which have cast something OF
gloom over the Thanksgivings OF the last three
wears. and it may be not amiss 10 remeihper
that the rod of chastisement Is at times the
greatest Of blessings.
This great National crisis. all now perceive,
must have been faced in any case anu at no
distant day The unrest and dlscon'eht Oh
farmers, which so many are philosophicaNy us
cnssing. are not exclusively an American FORCE
but found the most effective expression III thc
Populist uprising. The communistic ana ahar
chistic passiOn among wage-earners. WHICH
s,vent multitudes of laborers into war against
canital and against law had shown itseir III
flames and bloodshed more than four years ago
II was inevitable that these dangerous forces
should unite and with them that conspiracy
against self government which mas 1or years
made elections In some Southern States farce'
Starting with the many electoral votes when
that conspiracy has controlled, and the many
which Populstic ignorance and comlnunistc
passion could seize, with the aid OF corrupt par
tisan organization in great cities that union OK
s;r,stsr forces threatened the very life OF the
Nation.
II there had not come the irresistible educat-
inc force of unprecedented industrial prostra-
ton. men might have thought and felt IN 1910
much as they thought and felt In ls92. linen
the ablest and best Of the Democrats were neip-
inc on the alliance between Populists, silveritcS
and communists, and meanwhile millions were
able TO think only Of the clothes and tinware
which they hoped to get cheaper. The people
turned over power to the neither forces, repre-
sented then. as now, by the Democratic ana
Populist alliance. and with startling rapidity
becan to get educated even before those forces
could begin to do anything. These four years Of
loss and sacrifice. of suffering and distress and
uttpr uncertainty have saved the Nation from
immeasurably greater calamity. 1t is the plain
truth. which all can now see that the practical
results Of the attack on the tarin held millions
OF workingmen and Of farmers to the cause OF
National honor and loyalty this year. who, hut
for those years Of chastisement, would have
been ripe for monetary aad social revolution.
Among the chief causes Of the blessings for
which reverent thanks will be given to-day
must therefore be reckoned the threats which
closed thousands Of factories and Mines the
greed Of silver monopolists who spurred on the
combined force Of unrest and disorder to attack
the Nations credit, the mistakes and the parti
san blindness which caused National borrowing
to intensity apprehension. the blunders OF the
seneraut and the self-seeking Of the legislators