Consenative , 5ft
On Arbor Day , April
A BIRTHDAY. 22 , 1901 , the editor of
THE CONSERVATIVE
reached his sixty-ninth birthday , and ,
for numerous kind messages from considerate -
siderate and warm-hearted friends
- , con
gratulating him upon his health , the
success of his sons , and his prospects for
being still further useful to the com
munity and state in which he lives , he
sincerely returns thanks.
The chances for
CHANCES. young men in the
United States were
never better. All the aged men , all the
men in middle life , will soon be marched
to their final and everlasting bivouac ,
nnd their places occupied by the now
young men. Bruins , integrity and
ambitious industry will put the poorest
boy in the land at the head of profession
al , commercial or financial life as
against the intellectual and moral imbe
cile begotten in wealth.
PROTECTIVE TARIFFS AND PUBLIC
VIRTUE.
For forty years , through the enact
ment of protective tariffs , we have been
corrupting our public men. Christ ,
with a profound knowledge of human
nature , taught his disciples to pray that
they should not be led into temptation.
Though professing his teachings , we
have given our legislators the power
of transferring millions of dollars
from the hands of the people to the
pockets of the few hundred "Napoleons
of finance" by a single congressional
enactment. A more stupendous in
strument of corruption was never con
ceived by the perverse ingenuity of
man than this power conferred upon
congress. Place three or four hundred
republicans or democrats of approved
honesty in congress , continue them there
for a few years , and a considerable pro
portion of their number will surely
yield to the temptation to make money
out of tariff legislation. So successful
have combinations of wealth and avarice
been in controlling national legislation
that , today , few men think of attaining
wealth in great business adventures with
out national or state aid in the form o :
special legislation. Young men , in fact
all classes of men , placing less confidence
than in the olden times , in industry am
economy , turn their eyes to legislation
as the sure source of wealth , and there
from springs the feverish , speculative
unscrupulous spirit of the day which is
sapping and destroying our fine young
American manhood.
We might feel more hopeful that there
was a favorable outlook for better con
ditions , were it not for the fact that the
receivers of the immense profits of the
trusts do not hesitate to devote millions
of dollars for -campaign disburse
ments of political parties , and for the
purpose of 'misinforming yes , even
* ' * ; * O
corrupting the citizen through their
> aid official newspaper organs. Lot us
observe for a moment some of the re
sults of these unholy practice ? . The
ast century , in its early and middle
course , witnessed'a glorious young en
thusiasm for the freedom and indepen
dence of the individual man , justly
ascribing to his independence and liberty
the sure foundation of free government.
In those days the leaders of political
parties had convictions about the origin
and province of government over which
; hey fought each other vigorously. All
tluVis changed now. Paternalism , with
its weaklings and moral slaves , is upon
us. Just in proportion as organized
wealth has seized upon government for
its own purposes , so has individual
character and independence fallen away
from its former noble estate. Convic
tions upon public questions , at least
among the politicians , no longer exist.
Go into your republican or democratic
clubs and listen to the talk of the lead
ers , and you will find that they have no
higher thought than to quarrel over
"which set of maggots shall eat the
cheese. " Now , turn to the voters them
selves , and you will find that they are
inoculated with those pernicious doc
trinesthat good times and bad times are
the immediate and sole result of party
action ; that a trust magnate atones for
his unjust enrichment by a liberal dis
bursement of his plunder ; and that
those who profess to believe that public
office is a public trust are necessarily
hypocrites , doctrinaires , or fools.
Public extravagance is one of the
most effectual means of destroying pub
lic virtue ; and public extravagance in
national matters has resulted , in a large
measure , from the fact that the surplus
income must be disposed of by one
means or another , in order to remove its
existence , as an objection to high tariffs
Does any intelligent man believe , for a
moment , that our annual pension list
would ever have oven been as high as
fifty million , instead of a hundred and
sixty million dollars , had it been neces
sary to raise the money devoted to thai
purpose by direct taxation ? Would our
representatives in congress dare to mul
tiply offices , approve hundreds o :
unmeritorious private claims , euac
wasteful river and harbor bills , and
squander the public domain , if the
national expenses had to be defrayed by
an overt , irritating tax , taking the
money directly from the citizen's
pocket ? Every muniment of Englisl
liberty is consecrated by the blood of
men , who fought against the imposition
of an open , unjust tax ; while tyranny
has ever thriven under the secrecy and
mystery of income for government ex
penses , raised by excises and duties.
The fact that a great proportion of
the trusts are a direct outgrowth of
protective tariffs , is too well known
among intelligent men , to require argn
ment ; but I do wish to urge , with all
the earnestness of my being , the danger
to the liberty and the independence of
; ho individual man from "these domes
tic spoilers that make us slaves and toll
us 'tis our charter. " Industrial slavery
is only a stop removed , from political
slavery. There is not a man in any
humble home in all this land , but who
ought to feel aggrieved by the extor
tions of the trusts. "They sip in his
cup , they sit at his fire , " they follow
liim in every step of his life and rob
him. Dick Tnrpin was a "modest high
wayman. He relieved 'the traveller
upon Hounslow Heath of his pocketbook -
book and his watch ; but our modern
highwaymen Dick Turpin to the
blush , for they steal the very highway
itself , put upon it their steam and
electric railways , and , not satisfied with
this , they still follow the wayfarer to
his home , and there , year in and year
out , extort from him tribute upon every
piece of coal , or iron , or steel , or wire
or tin plate that he uses. . Clamoring
for aid at homo , as infant industries ,
and appealing to the people's patriotism
for support , they sell their goods in
every foreign mart of trade at lower prices
than to our own domestic consumers.
Every true American ought to resent"
this. The store-keeper who obeys the
command of the trust , the glass jobber ,
who dares not buy plate-glass abroad ,
because of an intimation that his busi
ness will be ruined , each may trace his
lineage back to a revolutionary sire ,
but it is not of such cowards that liberty
is born and perpetuated. Louis Napol
eon did not strangle the liberties of
Franco in a night time. Ere he came ,
the French people had relinquished
their rights of citizenship. Those who
live under a representative form of gov
ernment , must rise morally , or they
will sink politically. We cannot'
measure justice by expediency , we can
not sell our souls to materialism , wo
cannot fold our arms , to sleep and sur
render to the greed of unscrupulous
wealth , and still preserve free govern
ment in its integrity. We may give
credent ear to the flattery of demago
gues , we may console ourselves with the
hope that things are not as bad as they
really seem , we may deceive ourselves
with the .forms of free government long
after the spirit of liberty has fled , but
if we are to preserve free government ,
and to act worthily of those who laid
its foundations in prayers and in blood ,
we must emulate them in their- hatred
of injustice and extortion.
FHANKLIN PIEUCE.
New York , April 15 , 1901.
THE CONSEUVATIVE has , in course of
preparation , an article on "Some Exist
ing Evils of the Present Systems of
Taxation , " by Judge Orin N. Carter , of .v
Vv
Chicago. Vitt
. .
t t. > -