The semi-weekly messenger., 1904-08-19

a. d HsinS money pronC to
nimsetf, but that It Is to learn to MAN.
age himself well. We know now tl.at
combinations Of corporations seeking
with the power OF monopoly the resi-
tant Power Of robbing consumers by
raising prices to an extortionate figure,
under the shelter OF tariff laws, snu,
ting out foreign competitors: and seek
ing the further resultant power To
beat down the price to be paid to the
farmer raising the raw material and
seeking the yet further resultant pow-
er TO regulate wages, by. reason of the
fact that The workingman has no
where else to go to get work except
to the concerns in the combination
are, on the whole, beneficial institu-
tions to a free republic Of self govern
ing men. They may appear to be do
ing some harm, may appear at first
blush indeed TO be blocking that
broad opportunity for individual effort
which you enjoyed, sir. when you a l.
vanced in a life time from the position
OF brakeman on a train TO that OF
leader OF men as a railroad and In
dustriaI captain and which many
country merchant. become now a n:er-
chant prince, also once enjoyed. These
are only phenominal, however-mere
outwaTd-seemings. Great combine
tions of industrial CORPORATIONS. seek
ing to monopolistic control. we now
: know to be industrial evolutions', rec
essary to modern development and it
IS blasphemy against Almighty God
himself to contend against this. his
Law of evolution. There are those.
who urge that federal statutes need
not aid the evolution, but they are
plainly mistaken. because. it being
once granted that it is Gods law. as
: all evolutionary must be granted TO be.
then the conclusion seems clear that IL
would be both sacrehgious and ire
ligious not to aid by legislation. the
evolutionary process so wisely and so
recently discovered.
''Sir, there is hope for the republic ar
| long as it continues to move forward
in the tried ways Of the Old World.
True, there are those who say with
blind fatHity, that the Dingley taIlf
law did not exist always, that every
one OF it's schedules is not Interchangeable
to De worshipped that the Republican
party itself was not born until a corI-
paratively recent date and that yet the
country on the whole has always pros
pered. They say that its prosperity
was owing to new and cheap lands, in
viting the Drawn and muscle of the
white men of the world to their culti-
walton, skimIning from the surface OF
, the human ocean it's wave-creStS Of
courage and enterprise. They say that
it was owing to a magnificent area CT
free trade, frs. between the colonies
! that has grown, by Democratic-Ameri-
can expansion of homes, institutions
and industry, and not by Republican,
British Crown ColonvS Conquest until
it early became larger than any area
Of untramelled free trade which exists,
. or has ever existed, on the earth. They
i say that it was due also to our freedom
from the tax-burdlenS of militiarism
and the consequent ability to devote
i our resources, thus saved to the edu-
cation of the people and to their better
ment in home and industrial life. They
! point to the fact that, even during the
period of our existence as Colonies, That
; constant movement of laboring men
from the Old World to our shores, which
still continues, was going ON; that this
movement was accelerated after we
became a separate sovereignty on the
earth and that it was still more accel-
Grated after the nlooted question of the
possibility of a dissolution of the
union had been finally settled. They
say that this very movement to Amer1-
ca of workingnfen, under both high
tariffs and low tariffs after We became
a Federal Republic, and under no tar
ifs at all, as IN colonial days, was
proof Of the fact that higher wages
! have been paid, at every stage of our
! history, to white men working in fields
and factories and mines and forests
! in the United States. than were being
paid to the same white men working IN
similar pursuits in the old country.
/ They say, that the currents of Tabor
: flow, unlike the currents in our rivers,
toward the highest level-towartls the
! place where the rate of wages and the
standard of living are highest. They
say-these Abolish people-nearly all
Democra ts-that taxes are necessary
evils and never in themselves a bless
ing to be sought for; that there is
some element of common sense in the
old aphorism Of having as little gov
ernmental interference with the affairs
Of men as is possible conSonantly
with the protection of life and liberty
and property. All of which illustrates
to what heights of palpable absurdity
So-called intelligence can climb.
Another error of our grandfathers
in connection with our foreign affairs
! has come over me lately with weigh
ing down emphasis. George Washing
ton-who, however, was nothing but a
plain Virginia planter, a sort of high
class farmer and, therefore, one of the
'basest SET not to be thought of in
the same breath with such platform
| makers as the Senator from MaSsachu-
setts, or such virile history makers as
our fellow citizen in the White House
-thought-and possibly his Secretary
of State Thomas Jefferson, had a great
deal to do with inspiring him to think
that our wiSeSt and best and most
patriotic foreign policy consisted in
amicable relations with ali the other
nations of the world and entangling al
dances with none Of them; in other
words, that our chief duty was to keel.
our own houses in order, with the no
tfon in our stupid minds, that the sum
total Of the rightful purpose of all
just government is the freedom and
happiness of man. How wonderful it
is that we prospered with that sort Of
a foreign policy and main tanned, withal.
the respect and good will of the world
Wonderful indeed when we consider
what we now know to be accepted
sound axioms of international policy.
We know now, from our fellow citizen
in the White House, that the people,
who may expect Dur tolerance and