St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1896-04-12
PINGREEISM DAN~,os

calls attention to
0oiii'ii'ii al in Garden and Forest
Ting on an editorial in that
" drnal approving the Pingree potato
patch plan Of aiding the poor of our
cities, and asks whether the writer is
in earnest or is darkly yelling his sar-
casm. The writer referred to takes
issue with the journal, and says that
there is danger in the proposal to allow
the poor to have the gratuitous use of
vacant land to raise food He sees
In it the opening wedge for land con-
hscation. Let the masses once realize
that with free access to land. fhev
can make their own living, give them
that free access in the name of charity
and it will net be long before the
phllahthrorrlc feature of. the case will
De Iergotten, and access to land will
De demanded as a matter of right, and
questions Of title between the state
and the individual will be subjected to
the same remorseless scrutiny and re-
view as similar questions between in
dividuals are decided now"
The danger is not fanciful one in
his opinion. The right of the landlord
to ground tent is already being ques-
toned, and the attack will OF rein
forced by this insidious plan of Pin
gree's Suppose tie owner, after a few
years OF rs cultivation by these free
corr1moners, wants to use the land him
self, or sells it to some one who does,
is 1t likely, he asks, that these people
will quit without making trouble? Will
not the very benefits derived by the
landless poor be an education of the
public in the heresy Of free access to
land that will pile fuel on the flame
lit by the rentless tenants? Will not
public opinion be arrayed against the
landowners? So rent, a reasonable
rent, should be exacted as the only
means Of preventing the development
Of "a dangerous spirit Of independence
among the classes whose necessities are
now the subject Of philanthropic So
licitude."
We are inclined to think that Mr..
Gregory Smith, the protestor against
Pingreeism, is not dallying with that
fine-grained satire that lies so close
to the border as to take on the SEM
blance of sincerity. We believe he Is
really in earnest. We are willing to
lay a small wager that Mr.. Smith be-
longs to that division Of the human
race which accepts the paternal as the
true concept Of government. Specific
ally we should class his as Republic
an Of the Mckinley school, with, how
ever, a clearer insight into the deeper
effects Of that policy than the most Of
it's votaries possess. He would accept
readily Hamilton's theory that gov
ernments, to be stable, must interest
the wealthy in their stability, make 1t
profitable for them to sustain 1t, and
that this can best be accomplished by
minimizing, as far as possible in q
republic, the idea Of self-dependence in
the masses. He would have the '1ow-
err" classes taught to think Of the gov
eminent as benign entity, from whose
gracious hand they receive as gifts
their life, liberty and chance to join
in the pursuit of happiness. Nothing
so antagonizes this idea as the convic-
ton among men that they have to and
can depend on themselves. This is that
dangerous spirit Of independence"
which Mr.. Gregory Smith sees sprout-
ing in and being simultaneously cult
patches That this point Of view Is
utterly wrong, our readers know al
ready, without further asseveration.