New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-10-16
GREIT CONSERVATIVE FORCES.

Al,geld and bis immediate aids who find
Byans case hopeless in Illinois and have
passed the word To sacrifice everything for
Governor" begin To discover the tremendous
power OF the conservative forces in civilized so
ciety. The infamous appeal 10 the destructive
forces was. indeed, full of peril to the country.
because nobody could predict the action of Il
madman and no calculation could be relied
upon If the Anarchists could drive majority
of the people into madness. And thai was pre-
cscly the plan of campaign adopted N Chicago.
The farmers were 10 be made frantic over low
prices and debts payable in sound money. The
city mobs were 10 be made wild with hatred Of
wealth and of restraint, and with hope of a So
ca revolution. TO the greed of dishonest farm
crs was offered the chance of paying in JOccnt
dollars. and to the dangerous elements in cit
les and towns was offered rapine unrestrancd
hy iniuncfiOns or troops IL is not surprising
that peaceful citizens who love their country.
their homes and their families. who know what
madness swept over the South with the spirit
Of secession what blind frenzy for silver
swept the West after the panic of 1919, and
what rioters have done in New-YOrk, Scran-
ton. Pittsburg and Chicago, felt some apprc
hension.
The conservative forces are more quiet. less
cnsily moved and more likely TO be forgotten
or underestimate. But they prevail in the end.
and the Altgeld- Bryan plan was singularly cal
culated TO make sure the triumph of order and
right. The profound dread with which the
former sees the mObs in the city. their torches
and bullets. their rapine and overthrow of all
guarantees of property. cannot readily be meas
ured The farmer owns nearly half the homes
Of the country and a great share of the land.
a kind Of property which rises steadily in
value with order and prosperity. but has no
value at all without maintenance of law and
neacc. When the farmer rushed off to Bryan
meetings. full of the notion that debts could be
paid IN silver. lie was suddenly confronted with
the red spectre of social revolution and An
archy-with Bloody Brides Waite. with Pitch
fosS Tillman and with Altgcld. the pardoncr of
bo1sD- throwers. The recOil OF property -owners
from Government By mObs has been swift. and
10 Bryan will be terrible.
Not less powerful IA the other conservative
force, the love Of the industrious wage-carncr
for his home and family. Riotods outbreaks in
cities never enlist the active support even the
massive approval Of anything like the majority
Of wage-earners in this country. But that ma.
iority cares for home. for family. for the love
~ wife and child. and for their comfort and
education When confronted with the silver "a
natic1srn, the wage-earner considers nj once
what would happen IL prices should De doubled
Could wages he? Could they even be raised
materially in times when war against invest
.tcnts and corporations would make panic In
irritable. without desperate and prolonged
struggles in which starvation would visit many
homes! Would the laboring man willingly ex
nose. wife ind children to all the sacrifices and
struggles and frlghtful uncertainties Of an In
dustrial and financial revolution: Instead, the
wage-earner remembers the sure and rapidly