Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1896-07-22
The PeopIe Can be Trusted.

The following Is from the Springfield
| Mass) Republican. sound lhOneF
| paper, and one of the leading indepen-
dent Depublican journals OF the country
Europe will watch the political battle
| In this country with more than usual IN
| tcrest, and We learn from the Lohuon
| Spectator that IN the result OF our cleo
| tons this fall they expect TO get a peep
| into the real mind and conscience or that
| sovereign which now rules in the last
| resort one-half OF the civilized world-the
Multitude, Bemos, Behemoth, MOD OF
what YOU like to call him. The first acts OF
this sovereign in the impending contest I'M
press the Spectator favorabiy-he - I'M
patient Of lodges and straddles, ne as
likes political lying, he wants square
ISSUE" In a word, he prefers truth ana
plaIn dealing TO deception and sharp
practices, and In that We may say ne
differs decidedly from the nominal sover-
eigns OF the world in which the Spectator
lives.
But having suppressed the straddlers In
arranging the lines of combat, what VIII
this sovereign, this American Demos
prove his moral and intellectual nature
to be in the final result? Ana t1c Specta-
tor shakes It's head dubious'J Two IN
dictments rest against Demos, &C are
told. and the pending election IN Ameri-
ca will decide above all Other recent con-
tests their truth or falsity. Gee charge
Is that Demos Is intellectually defective
that the multitude is liable to crazes, us
collective Judgment Is far below that OF
its own best men, and that, when IL mas
once got an idea into its head II rushes
| forward regardless Of any precipices III
the way.
But the most serious charge resting
| against Demos is that he Is morally de-
fective. To quote from the London paper
"The second charge, If put plainly, Is
that q democracy is never quite honest.
II consists in every country, In America
quite as much as in any other, OF great
number of millions of struggling persons
who are all a little careworn, a little
fearful of the future little tired OF the
monotony of their toll. little jealous
that the few have so much easier hves
than their own. Those millions, the COM
Portable say. would il they could, rcdis-
tribute the good things Of the world
would place all taxation upon property,
would repudiate or partially repudlate all
| debts, would in fact II they could man.
| age. transfer some OF the comfort they
see from the comparatively few above TO
| the comparatively many below. EVERY
continental gentleman, liberal or conser-
vative, holds that this is the permanent
popular instinct, a belief of the same
ish torylsm, and within the States the
whole middle class, as we should call 1t
here Is penetrated with the same dis
! trust The mob, they say, always wants
| to repUdate, and but for that divine
| document. the Constitution Of the United
States, which forbids legislative inter-
| ference with contracts, II would satlsiy
its cravings without any regard whatever
TO the moral law, which, in fact, 1t would
secretly pronounce. so as many states
men do. not applicable TO politics.
And II the United States votes for silver
next November all this. I'm European opln-
ion. will be proved true.
But, In our judgment, the charge VIII
not even then have been proved true.
Where do we find the chief strength OF the
silver demand? Among the farmers OF
the Central West, and this is what
Chicago firm has learned by experience as
to the character Of that class;
eve think there is a mistaken Idea
among a great many people That the
farmers wish to repudiate their ooliga-
lions. An experience Of many years
dealing with the farmers mas led us to
believe that there is nothing more sacred
TO a farmer than his obligations 20 pay
money and we do not think II IS putting
il too strongly to say that there IS no
class Of people In the United States who
have or will make the personal sacrifices
both by themselves and their families IN
order TO meet their obligations, ana they
do not realize that In taking up with the
silver movement they are countenahcinS
anything in the way OF reputation, but
only look upon the matter as likely to
make better times, higher prices FOR farm
products, and live stock, and consequently
enable them to fulfil their obligations"
fl.r he Il
intellectual and not a moral one with
our people, and who is it taat ventures
TO rise up and pronounce the intellect OF
Demos defective from this fact, when the
Doctors of monetary science are them
selves disagreed. and when the march or
events for twenty years has conIounced
every calculation made by the leaders OF
the English monometalic school as TO the
effects of silver demonstration
Does Demos, or the mob, always want
TO repudiate in the United States, and Is
he only held in check by the Constitution?
But who made. who ratified. and who has
upheld that Constitution in all these years,
if not the people, who make and unmake
governments in this country? Who Is II
that has made the United States the most
conservative country in all the world as
respects property rights. IL not the masses
who have shaped its course at the polls?
We think 1t would be difficult to put
finger on a single event In the history
Of the United States which proves the de-
sire of the masses to effect redistribu-
ton of property or an uncontronaDle
craving for what does not belong to
them-which. II it did exist, could be
acted upon at any time.
Democracy's faults are intellectual, and
not moral, and In this democracy Is as
rule not more at fault at any time on any
particular matter than a good part OF
that class which affects monopoly OF
sound judgment and adequate knowledge.
Morally, the people as mass are sound
And when Andrew ID. White and others
like him proclaim their distrust In the
people, and affirm an absence in them OF
moral vision, they practically deny the
existence of a moral sense In men; ana
this, as we see il. is equivalent TO de-
NAL OF faith in God and a moral govern
ment OF the world. That Is what the
Tory sentiment Of the world. whether
voiced by the organs Of hereditary insti-
tutions In Europe or by such men as Mr..
White in America, finally comes to.
The masses in the United States want
justice want what justly belongs TO them,
and we are constrained TO believe that
they want no more. IL they are disposed
to attack the existing Industrial or fnan-
cial order. we must believe they are moved
by sense that that order is operating
unjustly. If they protest against the
amazing accumulations OF wealth in few
hands, we must believe they are moved
by conviction that those accumulations
have been made possible by unjust laws
or by lawless acts. and are not moved
by desire to confiscate or to make any
change which win divert the honest earn
ings OF any man by hairs breadth