The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1900-08-05
TWO EVILS THREATEN US
On the One Hald Imperial Tyranny,
on the Other Socialism.
BRYAN DEMOCRACY TIE SAFE SOLUTION
Between The Party Of the Trusts and the Party
Of State Socialism It Stands Offering
Hope and Opportunity
10 AIT.

10 All.
(James Creelman in N. Y. Journal)
On the threshold of another struggle
for control of the Government of the Uni
ted States-a struggle in which the very
life of the Republic seems to be involved
it is we'll to recall a prophecy concern
ing the destruction of American institu-
tions, written in 1857 by Lord Macaulay to
Henry S. Randall, the biographer of
Thomas Jefferson.
No man who loves the form of gov
ernment under which the American peo-
pie have grown great can fail to read
this terrible forecast, in the light of pres
ent events, without thrill l quote only
part of Macaulay's letter:
"You are surprised to learn that l have
not high opinion of Mr.. Jefferson, and
l am surprised at your surprise. l am
certain that l never wrote a line, and
that l never in Parliament, conversation
or even on the hustings-a place where
it is the fashion to court the populace-
uttered a word indicating an opinion that
the supreme q thorite D in state ought
to be intrusted to the majority of citi-
| zens told by the head; in other words,
to the poorest and most ignorant part Of
society / have long been convinced that
institutions purely democratic must,
sooner or later destroy liberty or civiliZa-
| tion or both. You may think
that your country enjoys an exemption
| from these evils. l will frankly own to
you that l am of a very different opinion.
| Your fate believe to be settled, though
| it is deferred by a physical cause. AS
| long as you have a boundless extent OF
| fertile and unoccupied land your labor
| ing population will be far more at ease
| than the laboring population of the Old
World, and while that is the case, the
| Jefferson politics may continue to exist
| without causing any fatal calamity But
| the time Will come when New England
| will be as thickly populated as old Eng
| land. Wages will be as low and viii
| auctuate as much with you as with us
| You will have your Manchesters and Bir-
| minghams, and in those Manchesters and
| Birminghams hundreds of thousands of
| artisans will assuredly be sometimes out
of work Then your institutions will be
| fairly brought TO the test. Distress
! everywhere makes the laborer mutinous
| and discontented, and inclines him to lis
| ten with eagerness to agitatOrs who tell
| him that it is a monstrous iniquity that
| one man should have a million while an
| other cannot get a full meal. In bad
years there is plenty of grumbling here.
| and sometimes a little rioting. But it
matters little. For here the sufferers are
not the rulers. The supreme power is in
| the hands Of class, numerous indeed,
| but select; of an educated class; of g
| oil &c n hp
| deeply interested in the security of prop
erty and maintenance of order Accord
| ingly the malcontents are firmly yet gent
| ly restrained. The bad time is got over
| without robbing the wealthy to relieve
| the INDECENT. The springs of national
| prosperity soon begin to flow again; work
is plentiful, wages rises and all is tran
guilty and checrfulness.
81 have seen England pass three or four
| times through such critical seasons as l
have described. Through such seasons
the United States will have to pass in
the course Of the next century, If not OF
| this. How will you pass through them ?
| I heartily wish you a good deliverance.
| But my reason and my wishes are at
war. and | cannot help foreboding the
worst
at is quite plain that your Government
| will never be able to restrain a distressed
and discontented majority For with you
the majority is the Government, and has
| the rich, who are always minority, abso-
| Iutely at its mercy. The day will come
when, in the State of New York, a multi
tude of people, none of whom has had
more than half a breakfast. or expects
to have more than half a dinner. will
| choose a Legislature. Is it possible tC
doubt what sort of a Legislature will be
| chosen? On one side is a statesman
| teaching patience, respect for vested
| rights, strict observance Of public faith
On the other is demagogue rantine
about the tyranny of capitalists and
usurists. and asking why anybody should
| be permitted to drink champagne and to
| ride in a carriage while thousands OF
| honest folks arc in want of nccessaries.
| Which of the two candidates is likely
TO be preferred by a workingman who
| hears his children cry for more bread
II seriously apprehend that you will in
! some such season of adversely as / have
| described do things which will prevent
| prosperity from returning; that you will
act like people who would in a year
| of scarcity devour all the seed corn, and
thus make the next a year not of scarcity
but of absolute famine. There will be
| ! fear, spoliation. The spoliation will in
| crease the distress. The distress will
produce fresh spoliation. There is nothing
to stop you Your constitution is all sail
and no anchor.