The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-08-10
.sREAPING THE wHlRLwIND..


.'REAPING THE WHIRLWIND."
Four years ago, Gov. William E.
Russell, whose recent death is a nation
al calamity, addressing, during his can
vass for the governorship of Massa.
chuSetts, meeting in one of the larg
est manufacturing cities of his state,
said to the manufacturers who were OPP
posing him because he opposed protec-
ton:
You are asking government by law to add
to your wealth and prosperity; to tax the
people tc give you profit; to burden them
to make you rich. If she can do this for
you, she can and must for any class who, by
influence or corruption, can control her leg
islation- Take care. You are sowing the
wind; you will reap the whirlwind. What will
you say to the silver mine owner who de-
mands that government by force shall add
value to his product? What to the farmer
who demands that government shall take
under its fostering care his grain and his
cotton, and bank upon his crop? There is
no answer to this question If Republican pro-
lection is sound and safe principle.
Wiser words than these that came
from that young man never fell from
the lips of sage. The warning he spoke
is the reality of today. The wind the
protectionists have sown for thirty
years has augmented into the whir1-
wind that threatens the sewers Of
wind. The spirit Of selfishness they
eVinced finds its counterpart in the
campaign now on. The indifference they
showed to the public welfare so long
as their own personal ends were gained
is met now by an equal indifference to
their interests. The wealth they have
accumulated during their long reign of
governmental partnership is being
threatened with curtailment by men
who compulsorily contributed it.
The silver mine owner, oppressed by
the decline in the value of his pro-
duct, demands protection with as much
reason, as much conclusiveness Of ar
gument, with precisely as much right,
as do the wooden and cotton weavers
of Massachusetts, Sinking, for the mo-
ment, their demand for governmental
loans on their lands and produce. the
farmers, who have for years borne the
bulk of the drain on the earnings of the
people that made New England manu-
facturers millionaires, have joined
hands with the silver miners, deluded
by their sophistical claim that protec
ton to their silver will enhance the
prices of farm products, Just as they
were deluded for years by the assertion
of the protected manufacturers that. in
some occult way, the price Of their
produce was raised by the protection
aiTorded the men of the mills and shops.
This is the whirlwind Alone, neither
miners nor farmers were more than a
wind; united, gathering to them the
dfEcontented and depressed of other yo
cations, they form the whirlwind
whose sure coming the dead statesman
pfeolcted 1t was inevitable. AS lone
lamp lights another, nor grows less"
so selfishness augments itself. There
is an Irresistible logic in the demand
for the extension of governmental aid
in wealth accumulation from one class
or producers tc another. From manu-
featuring it spread byscontact and con-
tagion to railways. They could no
longer be built as ordinary enterprises
are, by means of private energy and
capital. They must have the guaranty
OF the government, to. their bonds, the
grant of lands Of the people, subsidies
from states, counties and municipal
tiles. Our merchant marine caught the
disease. 1t reached it's apex and crowd
ed every harbor of the globe with its
vessels, without asdollar Of aid from
the treasury or enforced contributions
from the people. It began it's decline.
when, Joining the hungry pack, 1t fell
back on the government for help. It
extended to the planters who grew
sugar cane and the farmers who raised
sugar beets. Finally, the contagion
permeated the mass Labor wanted its
hours decreased without diminution Of
wage, and the agriculturists demanded
that they might pawn their lands and
produce to the treasury. The logic of
all these extensions is Irresistible.
granting the premise of protection to
anything. The currents Of air have
finally all merged into one; the wind
the manufacturers of the East have
been sowing so long Is become the
whirlwind sweeping down upon them
from the South and West They, at
least, have no just cause for COM
plant. 1t is just retrfbution. But the
pity is the punishment falls on the just
as well as the unjust.
THE ssHONEY OF THE CONsTITU-
TOM