13be Conservative.
Ho tart- . But the sharpest business eye
Jmti > r Sometimes bo blind to the signs of
V3W times.
Another ground for hope , in the con
test between any ring of capitalists nnd
the whole country ,
Horn * . . , , , ,
is based on the
simple fact that capitalists soon die ,
while the country lives. Not often are
the heirs in whoso behalf the trust
magnate labors capable of carrying on
his work. When ho drops out , there
fore , his capital and his skill usually go
in different directions , nnd the people
profit by the change. When the Rocke
fellers and the Havemoyers nnd the iron
kings pass off the stage , will they leave
successors as formidable ? Further
more , there is n disposition on the p'art
of owners to popularize their stocks , of
Jrnafcing friends and connilintiug oppon
ents , which helps to extend ownership
ever a wider circle. Associated with
'this ' is n movement which has already
made some headway and is destined to
make more to admit employees to
ownership. The trial of this plan made
by the Illinois Central railway is said to
be very successful. The establishment
of a common interest between workman
and cnpitalist may easily prove n shrewd
policy on the part of that corporation
which has already suffered from a bad
strike and may thus set an example
which will be widely followed. This
does not exhnust the field of possibilities ,
looking to natural remedies for the
trust evil ; it only tends to show that our
cnso is not hopeless , if our legislative
work against it is directed nt the two
vital points , monopoly and secrecy.
A discussion of the combinations
called trusts must needs show much
that is vicious in them , yet it hardly
seems fair to con
Kvil mid Good.
elude it without
calling attention to things that are more
vicious , more dangerous , and more im
portant to guard our country against.
If our mouetnry perplexities are going
to lead us into paying debts with false
coin , or offering anything less than n
hundred cents on the dollar in the recog
nized money of the world as an equiva
lent for what we have promised , then
we are incurring a far worse peril than
any to which the mightiest trust could
subject us. Better submit to extortion ,
if wo must , than to n general corruption.
Better bo wounded than introduce a
poison into our blood ; for a sound cur
rency is the life-blood of the body
politic.
Again , if the successful war wo have
just finished shall lend us to waste our
strength , our substance
War.
stance and our
national character in further military
preparations ; if the increase in our army
and navy appropriations , from , forty to
two hundred and forty million dollars
in a single year , is something to bo per
severed in and not promptly reversed ;
if we are to make any more such bar
gains as that which bought us the Phil
ippines , and with them a war on which
wo are spending , directly and indirectly ,
about as much every day as wo have
ever gained from their commerce in n
year ; then wo must look on this awak
ening of the military fever among us ,
and not on the trusts , as our more dan
gerous enemy.
Only the blindest of enthusiasts or
wildest of lunatics could overlook
the crushing bur-
Itiirduns. , ,
- i i
dens under which
the countries of Europe are now ground
down by their military establishments ,
nnd rush headlong to thrust their own
necks under the same yoke. A very
few years ago , both this country and
Britain paid their way and steadily re
duced their indebtedness ; neither does
so now. Our sinking fund is neglected ,
and our kin beyond the sea , with ever-
increasing outlays , are in no better
case.
case.All
All continental nations are perpetually
piling up heavier debts ; Germany about
twenty million a
DobtH. , , . . . . .
T
year , Italy a little
more , Austria-Hungary more yet and
RuRsia still more while for twenty
years past the annual deficit of France
boa been about a hundred million del
lars. Spain is bankrupt ; Portugal ,
Greece , and the South American repub
lics are following the sntno sad example ;
and even Japan is signalizing her cov
eted admission to the roll of military
states by accumulating a war debt.
There is no relief in sight unless disarm
ament is possible.
At this very time across the Atlantic
a handful of statesmen , assembled at
the call of the
I'eUCC. .
i L an
mightiest of Eur
ope's war potentates , are writing a new
page in the world's history. That gath
ering , like ours here , seeks to benefit
not only its own narrow circle , but all
men for all time. In a strict business
view , the congress at The Hague
ranks as the most important move
ever made ; for no waste of power
or treasure calls so loudly for remedy
as that of war no reform could
bo more vital than replacing general
havoc and destruction by general ex
change of benefits. Commerce is the
great missionary of today , which , as
Garfield told us , "links all mankind in
one common brotherhood of mutual de
pendence and interest. " Give to it the
wealth now wasted on armaments , put
universal arbitration in place of the
brute's appeal to force , and the most
perplexing economic problem of the
time will be solved. That this solution
is coming every day's cable dispatches
nssuro us. That our own loved country
is talcing an honorably prominent part
in bringing it about , is most welcome
intelligence to the true patriot. And
the hope cannot fail us that the country
will soon escape the dangers , not only of
warlike entanglements , but of agitation
for a clipped coinage and of oppression
by the machinations of organized mon
opoly.
THIS CIVIL SKKVICK OllDKIt.
The administration has been in office
about twenty-seven months , and during
all of that period , until the present , the
president has not seen fit to issue an
order depriving 4,000 employees of the
protection of the civil service law. At
no time was there in operation any
law or rule restraining heads of de
partments from dismissing from
ollice subordinates who proved in
competent , inattentive , or otherwise
unworthy of retention in place. We
may , therefore , confidently assume that
the 4,000 employees affected by the now
order have performed their duties satis
factorily to their superiors and with fi
delity to the government , and that the
protection of the merit system is with
drawn from them solely because their
places are required for purposes of pat
ronage. Philadelphia Lodger ( rep. )
The order is a compromise for the
sake of expediency , and , like most such
compromises , will offend far more than
it will placate. It will stir up the crit
icism of the friends of civil service re
form , and while it will auger the spoils
men because it is not up to the measure
of their greed , will encourage them to
organize for another attack on the merit
system. It is a sop to Cerberus ; a
small sop to bo sure , and Cerberus is
very hungry. The way to kill spoilsisui
is not to throw it small sops ; it is to
give it nothing whatever. Boston
Transcript ( rep. )
Some of the positions which are taken
out of the classified service should never
have been included within it , but by far
the greater number of them should have
been permitted to remain where they
were placed , even if we must impugn
both Mr. Cleveland's intelligence and
his good faith in the process by which
they were placed there. Unless civil
service reform is to be and to remain a
farce , a beginning had to be made ; and ,
human nature being just what it is ,
there is little chance or hope of such be
ginning affording a shining example of
either intelligence or good faith. Phila
delphia Telegraph ( rep. )
It is a reversion in the direction of the
spoils system. It constitutes an encour
agement to the spoilsmen in congress to
believe that if they can pass a repeal of
the civil service laws the president
would not interpose his veto. The .ex
planation offered , namely , that the
order was issued to meet the exigencies
of the moment in Ohio politics , is the
worst feature about it. The distribu
tion of patronage for purely political
and partisan purposes is no new thing
in this country , but it is an astounding
development to have the president use
his power to create spoils for such a pur
pose. Pittsburgh Dispatch ( rep. )