The St. Johns herald., 1896-09-19
LIFTING UP THE MASSES.
1t Cannot Be Done by Putting
 the Lever Under Riches.
New York world.l

New York worldl
 i There are two tdess oi government There are those who believe that If you just legislate to make the well to-do prosperous their pros- perity will leak through on those below. The Democratic idea has been that if you legislats to make the masses prosperous their prosperity will find its way up and through every class and rest upon 1t William J Bryan, in the Chicago Convention.
 In this telling contrast Mir. Bryan has uttered not only an epigram. but sci- entific formula. The Republican theory of the Government with the national prosperity is and has been literally as be states it. The influence of this the- ory has been especially marked in the tariff policy with which the name of William Mckinley has been conspicu- ously identified. Nobody pretends that there is anything in any tariff law that glves anything directly to 8 workman, shopkeeper or clerk, and it cannot be seriously maintained that such laws contain any direct benefit to farmers. The benefit of a high tariff. according to it's advocates, descend upon the masses by way of the large employers of labor. The tariff enables the manu- lecturers and mine owners to tax the community, and then, by the hypothe- sis, they lmpulsively divide their gains with their workmen in the form of higher wages, and the workmen, in turn, shed prosperity among the trades men and farmers,
 From the foundation of our Govern ment the two ideas 10 which MT. Bryan refers have striven for the mastery. The old Federalists, of whom the Re- publicans of to-day are the legitimate desc endants, believed in an ordered hi- erarchy of society. with the gentleman of property at the top, with the work ing masses looking to him for guidance, employment and protection. Take care of the gentlemen, was their motto, and the gentlemen will take care of the peo- pie. The ideal was the benevolent squire, living on his landed estates, and surrounded by happy, loyal and rev. erent tenantry, to whom the gracious lady of the hall would take deIicacies when they were sick. and who would contentedly take up their abode in the workhouse when they were cid.
 Opposed to the Federalist idea was that of the untamed Democracy, which held that every man was the best guar. dian of his own fortunes, and which asked nothing of it's "betters" but "plain, ordinary civility. and-little of that. The Democratic idea won and became the basis Of our system of gov- ernment. Up to the time when the Republican party was captured by the plutccracy it had created, the people were recognized as the source of nation- al power and wealth. Nor have they given up that idea yet. It is hard to m ike adependent peasantry and pro- letariat of race bred for generations to carve its own way Tn 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, 1t would still be repugnant to American instincts to have & crowbar inserted in the social fabric to lift the top, Tn the expects ton that the rest would follow. The more natural way IS to lift every thing at once by raising the base. But Cases have been known in which men of wealth have risen without exerting themselves to pull anybody else with them. This fact inten sifies the popular distaste for the Republican plan of raising society by the top The masses prefer to make sure by having the pro- cess begin with them.