The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1896-08-21
BEGIN WITH THE PEOPLE
The Democratic Idea Is to Ele'
vate the Masses.
THEN ALL ARE PROSPEROUS.

The Republican Theory Is to Legisiat'
For Wealth, with the Working Glasses
Looking to Their Employers For Wha
Bounty Thoy May Choose TO Bestow
There arc two ideas Of government
There arc those who believe that if yor
Just legislate to make the well to dc
prosperous their prosperity will leak
through on those below. The Democrat
ic idea has been that if you legislato tC
make the masses prosperous their pros
perity will find its way up and through
every class and rest upon it. William
j. Bryan i'll the Chicago Convention.
In this telling contrast Mr.. Bryan has
uttered not only an epigram, but sci
entific formula. The Republican theory
of the relations of the government with
tho national prosperity is and has been
literally as he states it. The influence
of this theory has been especially marked
in the tariff policy with which the name
of William Mckinley has been conspic-
uously identified. Nobody prctends that
there is anything i'll any tariff law that
gives anything directly to % workman,
shoplieeper or clerk, and it cannot be
seriously maintained that such laws
contain any direct benefits for farmers
Tho benefits of high tariff, recording
to its advocates, descend upon the
masses by way of the large employers
of labor. The tariff enables the manu-
facturers and mine owners to tax the
community, and then, by the hypothesis,
they impulsively divide their gains with
their worlmen i'll the form of higher
wages, and the workmen, i'll turn, shed
prosperity among the tradesmen and
farmers.
From the foundation Of our govern
ment the two ideas to which Mr.. Bryan
refers have striven for the mastery. The
old Fedoralists, of whom the Republic
ans of today are the legitimate descend
ants, believed in an ordered hierarchy
of society, with the gentleman of prop
erty at the top and the working masses
looking to him for guidance, employ
ment and protection. Take care of tho
gentlemen, was their motto, and the
gentlemen will take caro- Of the people.
Their ideal was the benevolent squire,
living on his landed estates and sur
rounded by happy, loyal and reveront
tenantry, to whom the gracious lady OF
tho hall would take delicacics when
they were sick, and who would con-
tentedly take up their abode in the
workhouso when they were old.
Opposed to the Federalist idea was
that of tho untamed Democracy, which
held that every man was tho best guard
ian Of his own fortunes, and which
asked nothing of its "bettors" but
"plain. ordinary civility and-little of
that" The clerical, editorial and ora
torical fishwivcs of today could have
taught the alarmed respectability of
that time nothing in the way of abuse
of the demagogues whose revolutionary
doctrines were subverting tho order of
society. But tho Democratic idea won
and became the basis of our system OF
government. Up to the time when the
Republican party was captured by the
plutocracy it had created tho people
were recognized as the source Of nation
al power and wealth. Nor have they
given up that idea yet. 1t is hard to
make dependent peasantry and prole'
tariat of race bred for generations 10
carve its own way in government and
industry.
Even if the average millionaire were
bursting with philanthropic impulses
and never would consent to rise without
pulling up everybody below him, it
would still be ropugnant to American
instincts to have a crowbar inserted in
the social fabric TO lift the top, in tho
expectation that the rest would follow.
The more natural way is, to lift every
thing at once by raising tho base. But
cases have been known in which men Of
wealth have risen without exerting
themselves to pull anybody else with
them. This fact intcnsifies the popular
distastc for the Republican plan of rails
ing society by the top. There is prev
alent fear that the advantages bestowed
upon the upper classes" may not get
themselves evenly distributed, after MI.
The masses prefer to make sure by lay-
ing the process begin with them. New
York Journal.