New-York tribune., 1906-10-31
CONSIDERATIONS on DEuAGoGT.

The sensation loving section OF humanity
watches pIutocratic ineomings and outgoinss
with emulous admiration. misunderstanding III
difference 10 expenditures, which is based on
seduIous and successful attention TO income,
kfndles the Imagination. The very vices OF the
CANDY rich have an inefable charm for lovers
of q show II newrich nabob gives an actress
diamond tiara the worshpper OF pIutocrac!
is exultantly amazed that his idol can AFFORD
RI treat the Ten Commandments with such su-
perior unconcern.
Our plutocrat IN politics has some knowiedge
of this sensitive spot in the public heart He
touched it delicately but surely when he re-
ferred on Monday night TO the amplitude of his
own resources. He, for himself, could afford
numberess petitions. 1t is by what he can af-
ford as well by what he does afford that he
appeals in a large way to the Imagination OF his
public He could afford to try TO buy the Chief
Magistracy of this Republic and to use the
Presidency 10 paste yellow poster on. He can
afford 10 turn the governOrship OF this state
into a Hearst advertising medium. Nhen his
admirers write of him in the public prints they
represent him as seated in an attitude of states
manlike abandon on 'gilded chair "Gilded
chair Could anything play more surely upon
the popular Imagination: Hasn't gilt succeeded
plush as the apex of human aspiration, the ut
most dream OF luxury? If the Friend of the
Peepul were TO be pictured seated upon chair
whose honey cane seat had long since given
place 10 Of laminated and perforated wood,
the Peepul would cry, Out upon him.. They
would see that he upstart and no better
than themselves They enjoy certain cOnde
scension that is not obtrusivey self-conscious.
They worship greatness when assured by the
"gilded chair" The most costly editor
earth,' advertised extensively, touches the
same note and appeals to the same love Of
gilded chairs and all the appanages of plutoc
racy.
But not only is it easy for a plutocrat be-
cause Of the 'love Of a lord sentiment to
become q demagogue: il is likewise difficult
for man of modest means TO achieve that
condition. Demagogy costs money in these
days. man might attain to be the dema-
gOgue of a town or city ar small outlay: but
this is big country, and if a man would be
the demagogue Of the whole OF il, as Mr.. Hearst
aspires TO be, he must look we'll at his purse
and see TO it that it will stand tremendous
strain. Mr. Hearst has only just begun, and he
has laid out millions on the enterprise 1t costs
money 10 found party Of your own in every
state in the Union. There are professional pa
triOts everywhere ready 10 rally To your call,
10 be sure but professional patriots always
show their devotion 10 their country's cause by
considerable city to press home everywhere
simultaneously a demagogc appeal involve
handsome capital. A man TO go into the enter
prise on such a scale must needs be able TO
afford to sit upon "gded chair" ana hire tho
"costliest editor in the universe" To be a
demagogue in the grand style a man must he
plutOcrat
Moreover il may be doubted if even the rich
est could now successfully compete with Mr..
Hearst. He has filed the field. He has mo-
nopoly Of deInagogy. He had the genius TO see
the possibilities that lay in a great country yet
undemagogued. He has built up. and is still
at work building up, a vast monopoly of dema-
gogic production, and all competition with him
seems 10 be stfed.
IT has always been the boast of the United
States that it is the young mans country.
Youth and ambition might climb to any height
But what chance, we should like to know has
the aspiring young man to-day ever 10 become
4 great demagogue: What ambitious friend Of
the Peepul would have q chance beside Mr.
Hearst? The Demagogue Trust crushes indi-
vidual effort and destroys individual oppor-
tunity. If any one should attempt to compete
with the trust in the production of that popular
staple, the master Demagogue sitting on his
'glded chair would crush that competitor
with all the we'll known ruthessness of eStab-
lished monopoly. Small demagogy has seen its
day. Great demagogv has arrived. But we can
not help regretting the limitation in the oppor-
tunties of the young and ambitious We should
like to ask Mr.. Hearst. when the heat and pas
sion Of the campaign are past. to tell lis in an
editorial what are the chances now of denagogy>
as career for poor young man. If such
one can never hope 10 be more than the hired
man of the Demagogue Trust is that Amer
icanism":