The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-03-05
THE PARTY Of JEFFERSON
NEY GENERAL HARMON AT
CHICAGO BANQUET
PRINCIPLES OF DEMOCRACY
Distribution of Wealth and the
Needless Taxation of a MOnOp-
OIy-Breedfng Protec-
tive Tariff.

CHICAGO. March 4-The centennial of
the inauguration OF Thomas Jefferson
as president Of the United States vas
celebrated by the Iroquois club tonight
with a banquet The speakers were
Judge Harmon. attorney general in
Cleveland's second cabinet; James G..
Murray and former Judge Thomas Moran
All three speakers made earnest appeals
TO Democrats to ignore factional differ
ences and go back to JeffersonIan prin-
eiples- Judge Murray and Mr. Harmon
did not name the differences, but Mr.
Mir. Moran called them financial here
sizes Mr.. Harmon spoke in part as fol-
lows:
JUDGE HARMONS ADDRESS.
Democracy does not consider whether a
man IS rich or poor; but IL does not pro-
pose that any one shall become either
through government favor or disfavor,
and favor to some is necessarily disfavor
10 others See the present Squa bible
among manufacturers because, in help
ing Keep up the price OF sugar, the gov
eminent has brought on retaliation by
russia We cannot enjoy this scene as
We should. because We are all taxed for
the benefit Of the actors. and they sell
cheaper abroad than they do at nome,
There Is no public or private peril IN
either wealth or poverty in themselves.
one or the natural rights of man is to
get as rich as he pleases, provided he do
II honestly, and one OF the natural duties
OF man is patiently TO endure honest
poverty. But neither wealth nor poverty
can be honest which is due wholly or
partly to the interference of the govern
ment. Nobody would get rich enough to
hurt II the aid of tax laws were with
held and the use Of corporate rights reg
Ulated
And it follows that nobody, without
his own fault or misfortune, would be-
come poor enough to hurt
1t IS not the aggregate of a nations
wealth which measures its prosperity,
but the way il is distributed; and there
are ways of getting wealth which make
it come too dear
Are frugality and thrift to be swept
aside IN a mad rush for speculation and
sudden wealth, along paths crowded with
temptations to private or public wrongs?
Is business to be so centralized that We
must buy from men we can never look In
the face, and be put, if We are business
men ourselves, to choose between COM
merciaI seFfdom and exile?
Large fortunes have been made in this
country by enterprise and Industry alone
None Of these have ever u1eddled. or been
tempted to NEEDLE in politics. But when
any one proposes a return to sound prIn-
cipIes the artificial outgrowth of pater-
nal government cryS out that prosperity
and wealth are attacked, when it is only
a special privilege and they pour out
their funds to maintain the favors which
produce them and to secure others. The
proposal of measures which go beyond
such reform only helps the offspring of
privilege by enabling them to brighten
into allies the holders of honest wealth.
1t is not democracy to fill the treasury
by needless taxation and then empty it
for inpTov which do not improve.
pensions which do not reward loss or
sacrifice, but breed idIeness and intrigue
and a large army and navy with Incl
dental contracts, when we have no just
cause of war with anybody.
The IA rfV Jefferson has CliSa greed TO
the point OF rupture and defeat about
some things. Surely it is agreed this
can unite on this. And it is well that on
this anniversary of its entrance into pow
er on the day when the successor of JEFF
fersen is installed who represents, in the
worst form, almost every bad thing in
government that jefferson opposed and
who lets runs unchecked if he does not
encourage, a congress of almost billion
dollar sessions-it is well that those who
believe in the government which JeIer-
son did so much to found should meet
together, strike hands and swear that
nothing shall divide them until they have
again made. dominant in public affairs,
the simplicity, fairness, equality and lib
erty for all others as well as for them
selves, the love of which still lives in
the breasts of the people.