Marble Hill press. (Marbel [sic] Hill, Mo.) 1881-1923, 1900-05-03
Contempt For The People.

payment to different henchmen of
sums Of money or appointments to
office. If it were not so the Porto
Rican bill would not have been
passed, neither would the admins
tration stand as the defender of
trusts and Congress have upon Its
calendar only measures to take from
the people their substance, to be
given IN the form Of subsidies to
corporations, or for the still worse
purpose of fighting wars ofconquest
and spoiation.
They pirate loudly about the ex-
tension Of trade and Of trade follow
ing the flag, while we have just
planted the flag in Porto Rico, eX-
tended our navigation and coasting
laws to that island and put up Il
tariff against trade to enable the
trust burons to add to their profits.
The government maintains tariff
upon iron and steel products and
allows a trust to fleece the men who
would fence the prairies and add to
the wealth of the nation and multi
ply American homes. 1t maintains
tariff against paper, and wood
pulp, ana permits the paper trust to
raise the price of paper 30 per cent
as they have during the past four
months which must result soon In
increasing the price Of every news
paper in the land and shut out the
light upon public questions from
the homes Of the poor. 1t maintains
Il tariff against lumber in order that
the lumber barons may decimate
and destroy the American forests
while they pIuuder the American
people and prevent the poo" home
steader from building u roof over
his head or providing a shelter for
his cattle.
This government is peoples
government, and the people still
possess the power to correct every
abuse and remove every obstacle to
their progress, development and
prosperity, Heretofore in the name
Of building up infant industries,
under the plea that it was
necessary that we should become q
self,supporting nation tho people
have granted these eXtortionate
tariffs, and freely and willingly bore
the burdens to develop these indus
tries. Now that these industries
have become so great that they are
looking into the Orient among the
cheapest people in the world for a
market, and are undertaking to
defy the competition Of Europe in
that quarter Of the globe, they still
ask the American people to main
tain this high tariff to enable them
to continue their eXtortion in
America while they undersell the
world Asia. Is not the contempt
in which these men hold the great
rank and file ofthe people supreme?
Does it not surpass understanding
Our people are. partisans. This is
not to be disparaged, if they are in
tolligent and their partlsanship does
not blind them to their own inter.
ests. ltis impossible that the in
terests Of a majority Of our people
can be served without the interests
of the whole being served, because
ajority embraces every interest
that is represented in a minority.
The difficulty with our people is,
that we are not only partisans, but
that we have deep prejudlces that
grow out of party antagonisms that
stulhfy our reasoning powers. The
men who expect to receive the votes
of the people to empower them to
plunder society at large, and over,
turn the government of the fathers,
have contempt for the intelligence
Of the people and believe that when
their intelligence is weighed in the
scale against their prejudice that
their intelligence will kick the beam
and that they can depend upon the
people voting for the party that is
labeled with the label that thev have
been accustomed to using.