The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1896-09-30
rHE MASSES AGAINST THE
CLASSES

term it, and charge candidate Bryan
with attempting to create an auiaeonls-
; tic division between the rich and the
poor. by this sumption they evade
their responsibility for bringing about
conditions by which action has been
rendered necessary for :he protection Of
the people against the eucroachmsn's Of
wealth.
The position taken by the Democratic
party, and represented by the candidacy
of Mr. Bryan. has been nscessitated by
the graspiog attitude of plutocrocy. 1t
is not aggressive, but defensive. 1t
does not design to deprive any class of
its rights. but it proposes to prevent the
mass from falling a victim to the greed
of class.
Consider the situation that has forced
the Democratic party to its present a't-
tude, falsely represented as arraying the
masses against the classes By a long
continued series of acts 90 the part Of
Legislatures and courts under Republi-
can iohueuce, wealth has been favored
at the expense Of the general mass Of
our population. By the aid Of discrim-
mating fiscal laws, and other methods
of favoritism, the few have been CO.
abIed to accumulate vast fortunes while
the many have suffered from the mo-
opoies which have been the means Of
those colossal accumulatons. The
growing plutocracy of the country is
the off spring of the trusts and other
mouopolstic combinations called iato
existence and maintained by policies
deliberately intended to produce such a
result
Who can deny that this IS the fact!
For the proof Of it, look around aud see
every braoch Of production being
brought under the control of q moropo-
ly; observe how the necessarles of life
are cornered by combinations whose
members increase their wealth by max
iug it more expensive and difficult for
the general mass to subsist.
TIE situation has been steadily pro-
crossing to this condition for the past
twenty years. It has been accelerated
by legislation and court decisions which
have been habitually iu the interest of a
class and against the mass Of our popu-
lasiop. it has been helped along by
processes which have gradually re-
moved the burden Of taza'ion frctn
wealth. and imposed i: upon the con-
u 90 people All the taxes required oy
the expenses Of the w4r that affected
the rich vere dropped as speedily as
possible, including the tax upon their
Incomes, and the hard task of maio-
tanning the expenses Of government was
rcq.ircd ef the masses through the
agency of tariffs upon ;de aecessa'es of
life Ia addition TO these unequal and
unfair exactiops by which wealth profit
ted anG the common class were cppress-
cd, the currency was so tamperod With
as to put it III shape to be more easily
and pro6tably controlled in the ioserest
of the monied class
This is not an overdrawn picture
The truth of it is attes;ed BY the steady
decline in the pecuniary condition Of
the general population, 10 the increas-
ing difficulty of the working people TO
make living; 10 in the gradual lmpov-
erlsbmeut of middle class that were
once able to do profitable business in
small operations; in the idebe'edness
and embarrassment of the great agricul.
tural population; but most conspicuous
ly in the growth Of those immense for
tunes, limited to small class, that
have been the natural fruit of these
conditions.
Who can deny that this is the situa-
ton. aud, it being SO, who is response
BILE for conditions that have arrayed the
mass against the class for the recovery
of their share of advantages, and for
the protection Of rights that have been
encroached upon
Wiliau j. Bryan is the leader 10
this movement of the masses Cor the
viudlcatiou of their rights. as against a
dangerously Increasing plutocracy, aud
it is better that it should be successful
at this time than that delay should re-
quire remedy Of less peaceful char
ac:er In the future.