New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1907-06-14
THE END OF THE REPUBLIC"

1t is dark picture that Mr.. James J. Hill
draws Of our future. He limns it thus:
The government will ultimately be forced to
lend its credit to finance the needs Of the rail-
roads The public in its evaporation Will de-
mand that the railroads shall lay certain rails
and add more cars. The railroads Will answer
that they cannot. that their credit has peen
ruined. The government Will be obliged TO step
in and lend its credit to supply this deficiency
The situation might lead to government owner
ship of railroads. That would be the emu OF
republican government.
That is a rather large conclusion to erect on
so small premise as that Just now railroads
are having hard time to borrow money Short
term notes of Eastern roads are being peddled
around in 5000 lots at 612 and ~ per cent
interest. Therefore the railroads will never
again be able to borrow money at anything but
runous rates Therefore they will ultimately
have to appeal to the government for aid. This
is likely TO lead to government ownership.
Therefore the end of the Republic. That last Is
a pretty big therefore"
Still. 1t is the privilege of every man to reach
1.-The end of the Republic" by his own route A
railroad president would naturally prefer the
railroad route. He would have the prejudice of
his business in favor of it. Bimetalists and
silver mine owners a few years ago could see
1.-THE end Of the Republic" in the single gold
standard: our democratic institutions would be
subverted by the autOcratic metal. The man
afflicted with the nOn-partsanship craze of few
years ago could readily foresee "the end of the
Republic" in political machines; the bosses
would be Mariuses and Sullas and Caesars and
Pompeys until we had re-enacted upon this con
tinent the tragedy of old Rome. We should have
q Decline and Falloff' equal to the best of
them The demagogical agitator Of the present
day shivers visibly as he contemplates the
trusts and monopolies" Thlnly yelled behind
them he sees plain as day 1.-THE end of the
Republic" The Socialist sees 1.-The end Of the
Republic" in his own soclalistic way. The labor
unionist fights capitalism to ward off the i'm
pending lend Of the Republic" The capitalist
starts from his sleep at night In a cold sweat
at vision of labor unionism, behind which
turks "the end of the Republic" The learned
professor discourses with sOmbre eruditOn of
the weaknesses of Democracy. In the decay Of
the middle class he perceives the long delayed
perhaps but inevitable lend of the Republic"
The legislator, seeking TO divert from himself
the "unmanicured finger of public scorn," points
to executive usurpatiOn"; there there" he
excaims, Lies the end Of the Republic.
Everybody has his own lend of the Republic"
which in his gloomier moods he Tugs forth into
contemplation and consoles himself with. The
minister has his; ii may be the decay of Bible
reading. The doctor has his; it probably has
Latin name and denotes something with respect
TO the national nerves. The schoolmaster has
his; II is likely to be the rreverence Of the pres
ent generation Of children. To many an absti-
nent mind the Demon Rum symbOlizeS the end
OF the Republic" Our profession, sure,
feels guiltless of any such enormity, yet how
many times a year is the solemn finger Of ad-
mOntion directed at the newspapers as the
end Of the Republic? Everybody has his IA
vorite end; it is part of the comfortable and
general belief in inevitable punishment If you
disapprove some tendency and the world goes
on in perfect Indifference TO your disapproval
you sOothe your wounded self esteem with the
thought: Some day it will rue this This
leads TO the end of the Republic" so why
should not the railroad man have a cheering
vision of the Republic rushing along the tracks
at express speed into unbrldged chasm? That
lend Of the Republic" is his shop" end Just as
much as the mOralst's end, or the mugwump's
or the temperance lecturers, or the professors
or the legislators Is his end.
But we do not believe that things which have
always been mutable have now put on immuta-
blity. We do not believe that the present has
the fXity of final phase. Some day the money
market will loosen up, The railroads and all
other enterprises will be able to borrow again
without hawking about high rate notes The
railroad man Will then he happy and so busy
that he Will lay away in his mental closet his
comfortable punitive vision of the express train
rushing TO a sudden scrap heap. But when that
time comes though the railroad man is com
forted, there will still remain available thou
sands Of lends Of the Republic for the sombre
philosophy Of all sorts and conditions Of men
each with an end according to his trade. taste
and temperament.