New-York tribune., 1896-09-30
REFORMS AND CLASSES.

REFORMS AND CLASSES
A great deal is heard in this campaign about
the STRUGGLE of the poor against ,he rich. Inc
fortunes of the Democratic party are staked Oh
the attempt to convince the American people
that mankind is divided into two classes: the
wealthy and educated. who do all that they can
TO hold back the progress OF the race. ana the
poor and Ignorant who are battling to advance
civilization and Introduce Il purer ana NOR" re-
fined society Mr. Bryan Is telling the average
voter that he knows more about the laws OF
trade and finance and the problems OF s'atcS-
manship than men who have given their lives
10 the study of these SUBJECTS and thh'. III
stead of committing the intricate questions
involved TO persons with adequate training
they should rise mp in the pride Of their clti-
zenship and determine these professional points
by their own amateur guessing. 1t is as II he
should tell a farmer with a lawsuit that he
knew as much about law as his attorney, VINO
after all was only his hired man. ana oight
To have the case conducted according 10 thc
dictates of his own ignorance.
Mr.. BRYAN was In Hartford few nights ago
and said: "A reform never springs from among
those who have a large amount of this W0rlds :
..goods That is another statement OF the same
notion that the masses" must grapple for re-
forms with the CLASSES" "A large amount of
this worlds goods Is n relative term. Dut II
means in general those persons whc are III
comfortable financial and social conditions as
distinguished from those who are. in this theory
of society assumed to be driven by Want. Ike
hungry wolves To wrest a livelihood from ON
prs more fortunate than they. This conception
of civilization particularly American civilza-
tomas a struggle of teeth and claws, as "A
battle between upper dog and under dog. Is
worth examining. 1t may he promised that
rich men do wrong as often as poor men, per-
haps more often in view Of their opportunities.
II nav be admitted that ease breeds forgetful-
ness of others troubles But nevertheless,
American history shows 10 such struggle for
reform against the wealthy rs Mr.. Bryan pr"di-
Gates In fact there has been so little OF 1t
that 10 discuss the fallacy IL is necessary vlo-
lently 10 divide our citizenship on lines which.
If drawn by professed champion Of the
Gunner class" would be considered most of
fensiye. and can be hardly less when
drawn by Il politician ostentatiously calling
himself the friend cf the 'lower class But
admitting the distinction, which is not of or
making. what does American history shoW!
w
cock. Robert Morris, these belonged not TO the
"lower classes" Not wealth. but sense Of 10y
atty to King or Constitution. made the Tory
and Whg of the Revolution, just rs loyalty to
Parliament or Court made Cavalier and Round
head The heroes of the Revolution would
have stared if told that they were of the
clover classes" IT. the colonial community.
The Constitution sprang from the recognition
~ off npnt ptfi
institutions and property against riot. Shays,
and his demand Of the masses that the col
lection of debts be suspended, did more than
foreign dangers to set the leaders of the
CLASSES" to overcome the local prejudccs Of
the masses for the formation of the more
perfect Union.
We nave now almost everywhere universal
suffrage. We did not start out with it. How
did we get il? BY the Glasses for reasons Of
public good extending to the masses the bal
lot which they did not possess and had no
means of seizing except by revolution. 1t was
wealthy men and women, people of education.
who sustained the anti-slavery agitation,
while the rabbles stoned printing offices and
mobbed abolition speakers When the Civil
War came on no "class" fought on either side.
The mechanic, the farmer the banker, the
scholar. each did his share for whichever cause
he espoused. More recently two other problems
of reform have been before us. The dcmoral-
izng spoils system hai been done away with
as the result Of Il movement among Mr..
Bryan's "upper classes" Those who initiated
were hooted at as aristocrats who sought to re-
verse the system started by Jackson when the
first great wave of popular democracy swept
John Quincy Adams ont of Office because he
was too much of gentleman and did away
with the remnants OF Revolutionary aristoc
racy. including the dgnfed conduct Of the
public service by the earlier Presidents. Then
there Is the question OF municipal government.
Was IL the MASSES" who suffer most by bad
and dirty pavemcnts and waste of city reve-
nucs. who first rcbeed against those abuses?
No Again. it was people belonging to the
Glasses" called kid glove politicians" by
their opponents. who first preached this re-
form and who as yet have only half aroused
the great body Of citizens 10 It's need. Even
the free silver movement, assuming for the
moment that it is reform first started
by rich silver mineowners and was long car
ricd on by them before 1t had popular back
Ing
These facts do not bear out Mr.. Bryan's
theory Of class warfare Neither do they war
rant the opposite conclusion that an upper
They simply show that men In different situa-
tions have different opportunities for seeing