Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1898-09-02
|SCAPEGOAT FOB ILLS.
POLITICAL oEMAooouEse BLAME
GOLD STANDARD.
Those Who Would Foment D~i.coutent
Attribute Every Moral and Material
Ill to the Gold etandard-Bimetall.
lists Routed In Their Own Field.
Appeal to Di.content.

-
Not all the unfortunate are shiftless,
but the hiftless are all unfortunate. The
shiftless man does not recognize his
shortcomings. If he did he would cease
to be shiftless. In one respect the
shtftless man is the incarnation Of
stiffness. He shifts the responsibility
for his failures from his shoulders as
readily as the rain rolls from a ducks
back. Fate or circumstance or the
Vaccinations Of personal enemies have
comprised his discontinue. Sometimes
he is devout, and then providence has
tripped him for some occult purpose.
The political delnagogue is still going
about seeking what he may devour. He
is pretty shifty himself. In the dearth
of other convenient points of political
attack he Is driven to seize upon this
widespread trait Of poor human nature
in the hope of making 1t minister to his
selfish ambition. By rallying the forces
of discomfort and shiftlessness he
thinks he sees a prospect of spoils. And
there is the gold standard for an al
sufficient scapegoat. 1t is to take the
place Of circumstance and providence
in bearing the faults and burdens of
the faithful who march under the DEM
ngogue's banner. In return for mis-
placed sympathy his hand is out for
votes. Has a man neglected his oppor-
tunities or bungled his chances and
failed to get on in the world, the gold
standard is to blame. Have the weeds
choked the farmers corn. or sloth de-
s!royed the bridesmaids business, or
dissipation. ruined the laborer's pros
poets, cast the burden on the gold
standard. Every moral and material i'll
Is the direct outgrowth of the gold
standard. Nobody and nothing else is
responsible for failure. 1t is all the
fault of the gold standard. With that
Infamous mischief-maker wiped out
and cheap money ushered in, the sun of
prosperity will shine for all, and even
the rains drop from cloudless skies.
How easy and pleasant 1t is to cast off
all responsibility for miscarriage of
effort not conceived in wisdom or for
lack of effort! Such a shifting of moral
responsibility for failure from what
ever cause may not be conducive to the
growth of strong manhood. But what
If 1t does detone public sentiment and
organize disaster for individuals and
communities. Does 1t not hold out
some sort of a promise of getting office?
The gold standard or any other stand
ard will lot fret the demagogue much
when he shall land himself in a soft
berth.
1t isn't q creditable basis for a party's
hope-the appeal to failure and discon-
tent. But it is the best that offers itself
to the politicians who find themselves
on the wrong side of the fence, barred
away from the spoils. 1t is not the
existence Of the gold standard that wor-
ries them so much as their absence
from the precincts Of the golden calf
which they worship-ofice. They must
cajole the people into giving them a lift.
They will doubtless dclude many Of
them. But as this is America, and not
9bain. their army will not be large
Enough to win the victory they covet.-
S..oux CITY Journal.