The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1900-09-04
What Lincoln Said.

When | say that those who distrust the cap
aCity OF the people for setgOvernmCnt tend
directly toward monarchy ! am only repeating
what Lincoln deliberately declared in his first
annual message. lie said:
monarchy itself is sometimes hintod at as
possible refuge from the power of the people.
In my present position | could scarcely be jus.
tilted were | to omit raising a warning voice
against the approach of returning dcspOtism.
II is not needed nor fitting here that gen
eral argument shou,u be made in favor OF popu-
lar institutions; hu there is one point with
It's connections not 80 hackncycd az most 9TH
ers, to wnlch | a.k brief attention. 1t is the
effort 10 place capital on an equal footing
with IL not above labor, in the structure Of
government. No men living are moro worthy TO
be trusted than those who toll up from por-
erty; none less inclined TO take touch
aught which they have not honestly earned. Let
them beware OF surrendcTing political power
which they already possess and which, ii sur
rendered will surely be used TO close the door
Of advancement against such as they, and TO fix
now disabilities and burdens upon them till
all Of liberty shall he lost"
The warning is even moro needed now than
it was forty ycars ago The army and navy
Journal il already iustiiyiny the colonial idea,
and declaring that fate has decreed for us
destiny in which an imperial executive free
from the restraints OF a written constitution,
will govern subjects according TO his own pleas
ure. The United States Investors Review, pub
lshed at Boston, in its issue of July 2s, says:
The Greatest Evil.
only blind person can fail to see tnat
transformations Of one kind another are in
store or our race hence the folly of asserting
that the policy Of this country which is dcs-
tined TO play such leading part in human
affairs oi the future, shah be governed for
the most part by political maXims uttered more
than a hundred years ago. The greatest evil
which now conirOnts this republic is the clam
or raised by a certain faction for a settlement
OF our problems Of state by just such method
as we have been deprecatng. Considerably
more than a century ago a certain notable dec
laration was made in this country TO the effect
that all men ought to bc free and independent.
1ms is merely generalization OF the French
school of Yoltaire and the encyclopedias. 1t
is a dctum ABSOLUTELY lacking foundation in
history and incapable of syllogstic justification.
II was, however, a handy phrase for us 10
employ when asserting our right TO break away
from the mother country; II suited the eX'
igcncies Of our situation in l7,G admirably,
though in itself but bit Of submated dema,
gogsm. The declaration was a seryiceable
means TO the end that was at that time de-
sired. To bring forward this declaration in this
year 1900, in connection with our treatment
Of the Filipinos and the Cubans, is as gross an
absurdity as ever was praCticed, To do so is
to offer an insult to the intelligence Of the
people who first subscribed TO the declaration
in question
Strength of Labor Vote.
may be done hereafter in the presence Of law