The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1896-08-18
CALLED DEMAGOGUE
WHO SPEAKS FOR EQUAL RIGHTS
THUS NAMED.

toCrRcy Is n Statesman-Obloquy Always
Hcaped on Those Who Value Humanity
Higher Than Wealth.
They call that man statesman whose
ear is tuned to catch the slightest pull
sations of pocketbook and denounce as
n demagogue any enc who dares to lis
ten to tho heartbeat of humanity
William J. Bryan in House of Repre-
sentativcs.
Eternal truth gives to this epigram
its telling force = truth that shines
brightly from the records of men at all
times since the people were given q
share in government. truth which may
be discovered today in the columns Of
rabid newspapers that denounco as an
archists and demagogues the men now
| enlisted with Democracy i'll the battle
against plutocracy. Always in the his
! tory of the world the men who have at
tackled the possessors of special privi-
| leges, the leaders who have ranked hu-
manity higher than wealth. have met
the charge of demagogy Cromwell and
his followers were derAagogues i'll the
estimation of the lords and gentlemen
Of England, and tho cavalier of that
time ridiculed the closely cropped head
| of the Puritan much as the brilliant
| journalist of today entertains himself,
if not his readers, with shafts of wit
aimed at the flowing hair and whiskers
of what lie is pleased to describe as the
typical free s1lverite. Hirsute fashions
change, but the style Of argument en-
plOycd to defend an indefensible cause
is the same in all ages. jefferson met
bravely the rcproach of demagogy when
as member of the Virginia house Of
burgesses lie checked, as lie believed
for all time, the development Of an
American aristocracy by prohibiting
laws in recognition Of entail and pri
mogeniture. The world has never har-
bored more conspicuous demagogues
than William Lloyd Garrison and Wen
dell Phillips, ror in the crisis of today
are the prosperous Tory merchants Of
Boston more harmoniously united in
antagonism to the mon who are fighting
for the freedom Cf all labor than were
they in 1853 to those who preached
from dingy printing offices and on street
corners the revolutionary doctrine that
black men should not be enslaved.
How many of our politicians have en-
joyed sudden apotheosis and become
statesmen by virtue Of their quick at
tention to the pulsations Of pocket
book! Is it worth while to enumerate
them? Have the masses of the people Of
New York yet forgotten how suddenly
the wealthy classes who had for years
vituperated and denounced David b.
Hill, became his fervent adulators and |
hailed him as the greatest exponent Of |
true Democracy when he rose in the |
United States senate as the chief oppo- |
nent of the income tax? The present high |
esteem of Thomas Q. Platt is typical. 1t
covers the whole case. He is spoils |
politician, the builder and the operator
of corrupt political machine. By his |
control of country Legislators he mis-
governs New York city at his pleasure.
He invades the rights and liberties Of
the citizens enrichcs his own son by
shrewdly devised scheme of legislation
and for years has stood as the type Of
all that the citizen who believes i'll hon
est politics and good government holds
abhorront. Suddenly Platt is put upon
a pedestal. He is no longer described as
the "boss, but as statesman. By q
few days work in behalf of the gold
standard at the ST. Louis convention he
has blinded the eyes Of all the possessors
of special privileges to his record and to
his political character His sins are
forgotten. He has done penance to tho
pocketbooli and is absolved.
The men who are enlisted this year
on the side of the great uncounted mil
lions striving for justice and for wider
measure of freedom may well bear with
indifference the reproaches of their adj
versaries. They stand in good company,
for the most shining names of history
became immortal in the face of just such
obloquy as they have now to bear. The
statesmen responsive to the pulsations
of the pocketbook have raised for us an
issue greater and moro stimulating than
any reform of the currency system.
They have welded together in solid pha-
lanx the forces of capitalism and the
agents of monopoly. They have raised
the question whether men or money
shall govern this nation. They have Of
fered to the people OF q self governing
naticn, nation founded upon the prin-
ciplo that every man shall be protected
in his right to vote al he will, the spec
tacle Of employers nniving to control
the votes Of their employees, of credit.
DIS seeking to cocrce their debtors in the
exercise of the rights Of citizenship.
Tho vulgar and ovorbcaring Hanna is
no exaggerated symbol of tho issue
which today divides .the people Pre-
,isely as he has denioG TO his workmen
the right to combine for mutual protec-
lion against his exactions, so the party
If which he is the ruler--a party which
ias ceased TO le Republican and has
jecome plutocratic - strives to make
norey usurp the powers of men and
leny to the people tho right to protect
themselves by their votes. As he made
presidential candidate with money. so
ecks ho now TO make him president ly
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