Main Lib. m 1 THE ROBERT E COWAN COLLECTION UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA P. HUNTINGTON -JHNK, .S'-7 Accession No, /^^y^J'^ Class No, 3^3 ~.^IW The Nicaragua Canal and other es5ays RICHARD H. McDonald, Ji UNIVERSITY THE CAI.IFOKNIAX i^LBLISHI TilNlVERSITY IxlCJlAKU 11. .MtlJO.VAI.U, Js THE NICARAGUA CANAL OTHER ESSAYS POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC TOPICS BY RICHARD H. McDonald, Ji UNIVERSITY THE CALIFORNIAN PUBLISHING COMPANY SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. 1893 % San Fkamcisco Printing Comp PRBKACK ^,eRA^ OF THB aNIVERSITY The following papers written tor the CalifORNIAN ILLUS- TRATED Magazine are reprinted at the request of many interested in the great questions of the day, who belie\-e that the principles they represent should l^e circulated broad- cast over the land. If they aid in establishing better stand- ards in political, commercial and social usage, in influencing any citizen to take a firpier. stand for all that is good and right in public life, then the purpose of the writer will have been served. R. H. McD., Jr San Francisco, Cal. April, 1893. CONTENTS I. ThK NlCAKAGl-A CAXAI, . . - _ - II. Is Labor Ix Daxc.kk !■ .... III. RK(;ri..\Ti(ix oi- R.Mi.wAv Cii.\Kt;Es I\'. How TO .Skcure Good Mrxicip.vL Govkrxmkxt \'. Poi.rric.vL Duty of C.\i.iforxiax.s \'I. Our Comjikrcial Growth axd thk T-VRiia' \'II. Rkpi.y by I'. vS. vSkxator, Stkphkx M. W'iiitk VIII. The Lessoxs of the Late ( 1892) Election IX. B.\Li.oT Reform ---_.. X. The Daxc.er to the Refi'ki.ic - THE NICARAGUA CANAL AND OTHER naaA^a CHAPTER I. THE NICARAGUA CANAL. r is not my purpose to discuss the eugi- neering prol)lem involved in the construction of the Nicaragua Canal. The route has been investigated for quite a half century by the ablest and most experienced of the engineers' profession, and not alone by those whose work has been under private employment, but by engineers de- tailed at different times by the gov- ernment. Several routes have been examined, and the Nicaragua has been pronounced the best of all. The route is feasible, and in every point of view the enterprise appears to be prac- ticable. It .seems to me that this point has pa.ssed out of the arena of debate. The cost of the work has been vari- ously estimated ; the latest I have .seen, and I believe it to be the high- est, is $87,000,000. The company engaged in its construction proposes to rai.se in some way $100,000,000 — an excess of $13,000,000 above the estimated cost — to pay interest till the canal is in operation, and to provide for contingencies that ma}' arise. The sum is not large if the patronage the canal shall receive proves to be anj-- thing like what is predicted and seems probable. There are differences of views as to how the canal shall be constructed and controlled when in operation. As it will prove most advantageous to our own commerce, and as under public control excessive profits will not be made on the money invested, there is a prevailing senti- ment that the Government should build it, and manage it after it is built ; that it .should be free to Ameri- can shipping, and a tax imposed on foreign patrons only to an extent that is necessary to pay the expense of management and repair and a reason- able income on the cost of construction. The Government has built the Des Moines Canal, improved the channels connecting the great lakes, blasted the rocks at Hell Gate in the harbor of New York in order to facilitate navigation through Long Island Sound, jetteed the mouth of the Mi.ss- THE NICARAGUA CANAL. issippi River, narrowed the cliamiel and revetted the banks of tliat river at many points from Cairo to the mouth, and has expended immense sums during the last seventy years in improvement of rivers and harbors in every part of the nation. To build the Nicaragua Canal out of the public moneys would be in accord with the ]iolicy that has so long prevailed, and is clearly within conceded constitu- tional authority. In some quarters, however, it is held that this cannot l)e done on account of existin,u treaties with other powers; or lliat eimsent to this cannot now be obtained from the State of Nicaragua, as the Govern- ment of that State has granted the necessary privilege to build the canal to a corporation chartered by Congress. The proposition pending is for the general Government to indorse its bonds to the extent of $100,000,000, on such terms and restrictions as will give the Government control of the ninnagement of the canal, and secure it against loss. If this is the best that can now be done, the aid of the Government in the way and to the extent proposed had better be granted, as control of .such a channel across the Continent cannot be permitted to a foreign nation or a foreign corpora- tion. Such a channel in time of war — a possibilitj' that should not be lost sight of even in these "piping times of peace" — will be of the greatest importance to this country. Hence, assistance by the Government seems to be defensible on the grounds of good policy, if not of absolute neces- sity. The people of this country will insist, however, that gi)\'ernment con- trnl sli;ill -n {,, the extent (if prevent- in.L; mire,i-.MH:iMc I.. lis la-ing levied lipiiii the ((ininKree that shall pass lliroiigh the canal. The value of such a channel of commerce to the people of the United States will lieconie greater as time advances. Our country is very large territori- ally ; productions are varied, and the wants created by civilization are so extensive that an interchange of com- modities has become enlarged, and a necessity to the highest human hap- piness. There are comparatively few nece.ssaries or luxuries that this coun- trj^ does not produce, and our people are so accu.stomed to their consump- tion, that not to be able to obtain them in the widest range would be a great deprivation. General wealth is so nnich greater in this than in any other iiatimi that what would be re- garded a^ luxuries elsewhere, are here deemed necessaries of life. Our people consume more per capita than an}- other, and our rapidly increasing numliers and wealth render e.s.sential certain requirements which in former times wotild have been regarded as artificial. Demand for consumption stimulates production, and where pro- duction is mo.st abundant consumption is greatest. We are the greatest pro- ducing nation in the world. Our domestic commerce has reached such gigantic proportions that it is now more than six times greater than the foreign commerce of Great Britain — its mo.st important channels being from east to west, between the .sections adjacent to the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts. No .section of the nation is so rapidly increasing in population and wealth development as that which comprises the Pacific States. The trade between the people of the East and West has already grown to im- mense proportions, and the increase in future will be in arithmetical pro- gression. The products of California are of such character that they will l>e in the future, as they are now, de- manded largely in the Ea.st, and if they cannot be obtained here in suf- ficient quantities to .suppl>' that demand they will be sought lor in foreign countries. It is mo.st essential to the general welfixre that cost of tran.sportation .should be reduced to the utmost prac- ticable extent, otherwi.se interchange of commodities between the various sections of our country will be re- stricted and production discouraged. Cost of transportation is the crying THE NICARAGUA CANAL evil in California ; the people feel embarrassed and cramped in their energies, and are struggling for relief The railroads across the continent were constructed at great cost, and their maintenance and operation are and always will be expensive. Com- l)laints of the excessive rates of trans- portation are universal ; our grain, and especially our fruits and ' wines are cut off from the markets of our own country by competition of for- eigners, who can produce more cheaply and are subject to less cost for trans- portation. The tran.sportation problem is among the greatest wliich now confronts the American people. That by water should be and is cheaper than that by rail, and for the very good rea.son that the railwa\' track is built with money, and its maintenance is expensive. The track of the ship at .sea is provided and maintained by nature. It is true the Nicaragua Canal will be built with money, and its care and management will be attended with some expense, but it is an inconsideral)le part in point of dis- tance of the route over which ships must travel from one side of the con- tinent to the other. Its con.struction, therefore, ought to materially lessen the charges for trans-continental trans- portation. It will inevitably produce that result uiile.ss there is a combina- tion between rail and water lines to maintain high rates. This, however, will not likely take place, as such an arrangement would have the effect to divert traffic from the ships, and would not add to tlie profits of .ship owners. Land and water lines are usualh- persistent in their rivalries, and there is such a feeling in the cciuntry against railroads on account of their excessive charges, as they are Ix'Iieved to be, that it might be peril- ous for the roads to combine with and suljsidi/c ^Icanislii]! lines in order to perpetuaU- ., xm l>ilant charges. Such coml)inaUiiu is a remote possibility. That not \-ery high tolls would pay expenses of repairs and management of the canal, and a sum sufficient to pay interest and principal of the' bonds, can hardly be doubted, for traffic from the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts and from Europe — destined northward as far as there is any appre- ciable trade, and southward as far as Chili on the Pacific Coast — would find it advantageous to patronize the canal on account of the great distance that would be saved ; and the same would be true as to return traffic. It would .seem that the patronage must become so great that with extremely moderate tolls, the revenues would speedily become large. Inter-continental com- merce would also be diverted to that route, and from the trans-continental railroads. It would not only take from that which is now carried by way of the Horn and the Isthmus, but by the Canadian Pacific, which has become so serious a rival of our own tran.s-continental rail lines. Freights from China, Japan and other Asiatic countries destined to the eastern part of liritish America ought to be cheaper than bv the Canadian Pacific. To les.sen the cost of transportation would enhance values of California productions and give stimulant to the development of the State's resources. Our products are alread}' of large variety and immense in quantity, and are destined to reach almost incom- prehensible proportions. We now need all the markets we can get in the East, and in future the need will be greater ; but it will be impossible for us to command them in competi- tion with foreign producers, if they have any sub.stantial advantage in the cost of transportation. No part of the nation will be more benefited by the Nicaragua Canal than California. The canal will enhance the importance of San Francisco as a commercial cen- ter ; as a distributing point its terri- tory has been invaded on the north and on the south bj- rail lines leading from the East to the principal cities of Washington and Oregon, and to Los Angeles. It will be the termimis of all steam.ship lines to this coast. THE NICARAGUA CANAL. Their ships may call al ports south- ward, but they will hardly extend their voyages northward, and their cargoes will largely be distributed from this city. So also will exports concenter here. Carrying upon the .sea is now most largely done by regular steamship line.s whose termini are the larger cities, from which merchan- dise is di.stribiited to points of con- sumption. There has been a tendency to this for more than a third of a century, ever .since iron ships liave come into use, and it has been demonstrated that building those of large tonnage is economical and safer. Regularity in departure and arrival is a feature that has become regarded as essential to success. Concentration will be greater than it now is, for the great cities are better supplied with facilities for reaching trade di.stricts than the smaller ones. In my hum- ble judgment, the trade of San Fran- cisco will he immeasurably increased by the construction of the canal ; and .since trade causes active demand for money, it gives impetus to industrial development. The disclosure in Paris'of the cor- ruption in connection with the Panama Canal is unfortunate, and especially at this time. It may have the effect to deter Senators and Representatives from giving support to any measure of assistance for the Nicaragua enterprise. There are suspicious people the world over, and there are also men who shrink from doing what their better judgment commands tlirt)ugh tear of as.sault or criticism. Because the sup- port of de]nities and other French officials was purcha.sed, it ought not to be presumed that American Con- gressmen were purcha.sed, should they support a reasonable measure of aid to this great American project. The plan has been frankly laid before the public and has received the fullest consideration, both through the news- papers and in public meetings. Sen- timent seems to be quite unanimous in favor of doing what may be neces- .san- to secure the construction of this great national highway ; it is a matter in which all parts of the country are interested to a greater or less extent. In my opinion, support of it by Sena- tors and Representatives will not be criticised, but approved. The Panama Canal was a scheme of Louis Napo- leon when he meditated conquests of the countries in the .southern part of North America. Without this the Panama Canal would be of no more consequence to France than to other commercial nations of Europe, as it would not connect her possessions, or con.stitute a nece.s.sary channel of com- merce between her and her depend- encies. There are those who doubt the practicability of the Panama scheme, and it is certain, if the opin- ions of engineers are to control, that the Nicaragua enterpri.se is by far the most feasible. The canal under dis- cussion affords facilities, e.specially to the American people, for intercourse between the extremes of the country. It is a .scheme to promote our be.st in- terests, and to .support any rea.sonable measure would not be regarded as pro- ceeding from C()rrn])t influences, but from tile hi-liest i)aUiotic motives. ^ w^. ^ CHAPTER II. IS LABOR IN DANGER? IT could not be otherwise than that the immense fortunes acquired in the last thirty }'ears by a few men in this country, should be the subject of serious reflection as to the future effect upon the mass of the people and upon the character of our institutions. There are those who express alarm at the immen.se chasm which separates the very opulent from the va.st major- ity of the population, and a fear that as a nation we shall drift into a gov- ernment, aristocratic in form and which will be controlled by the monetary power. In tlie old world, both mon- archy and aristocracy are based upon wealth. A poor duke, lord or count in Europe may nominally have a social status corresponding to his rank, but among the wealthy the impecun- ious duke, lord or count is regardea by his class very much as the poor whites of the South were looked upon Ijy the slaves. There can be no cloul>t that the immense disparity which exists in this country in the posses- sion of wealth is unfavorable to the future welfare and happiness of the mass of the people, and that under favorable conditions there might be danger that popular liberty would be overthrown. The pes,simist is liable to take a lugubrious view of the sub- ject, while the optimist discovers only the roseate side of the picture. Neither is likel}' to take a rational and just view of the situation. It is well to inquire how the disparity in the po.s- sessiou of wealth came about, and whether it is probable that it will con- tinue to the extent that it new exists. It is well to inquire also whether there are not influences at work which will cau.se a redi.stribution and produce a more general equality of conditions. The laws of this countrv a.ssure the IS LABOR IN danger; greatest liberty in the exertion of the ])o\vers with which men are endowed by nature to acquire dominion over the things of earth, consistent with tlie common welfare. The opportuni- ties for acquiring wealth have been without parallel, more especially within the last third (if a cc-iitury. The countrj' ])lls^c■-^L•ll \,ist natural resources, and the freL-duni and energy of the people contributed to the devel- opment of wealth more rapidly than ever before known in the history of mankind. Increa.se of population nat- urally appreciates values. Before the passage of the homestead law, the pub- lic domain could he ac<|uired at merely nominal oust, and lai^e budies were pnrclia>ed by indi\idual,s who only had to hold on and wait to become wealthy. Through this method the l)asis of consideralde fortunes was at fir.^t laid, the greatest of which were acquired by those who were fortunate enough to locate on what became city and town sites. Railwa\s were in- vented, and their construction not only was profitable to the builders, but eidianced values immensely, especially at terminal points. The war of the Rebellion ensued, creating high prices fir llie ]>nidncts of the farm and f ictoi\ . and the inevitable inflation of l!ie circtilaling medium engendered the spirit of speculation ; and though the war was immensely- deslrucli\e of men and materials, it stinuilated enter- prise, andourtremendousilevel.ipnient ga\-e iiii]ielus 1(1 hnvi-u immigration. Tile mania for railway building after the war iiecame greater than ever bef ire, because not only the needs of the country, but the liberality of the people superinduced it. Large for- tunes were made in construction, and tile vast quantities of .securities of the nation, states, nuuiicipalities and cor- ])orations, which were on the market, afforded opportunity for the most gigantic .speculation. In this .specu- lation large numbers of people partici- ])ated and lost through the manipula- tion of inside o])erators, who amassed immense wealth. In various ways land monopoly, to an exLciit, became fastened upon the country. Large bodies were acquired before the homestead law was enacted, and are jet held to a considerable extent. The great plantations in the South have survived slavery. The public lands of Texas were .sold off in considerable bodies under the laws of that State, and in the acquisition from Mexico under the treaty of Guadaloupe Hidalgo, our Government .stipulated to respect the rights of property in the territory acquired as they existed under Mexican law, and hence became bound to recognize the iramen.se grants of land that liad been made by the Spanish and ,Mrxi(/an governments. These are Uie cliaf ways in which ponderous Rirtunes have been acquired. Those of lesser magnitude have been achieved in manufacturing and traffic, and to .some extent, bj- the exercise of the stronger powers with which some have been favored by nature, and the greater thrift and prudence with which earnings and acquisitions have been husbanded. The same or similar op- portunities can never again present themselves. There are comparatively little new resources to be discovered or new regions to be developed. Rail- road building in future will be trifling compared with what has been done in the pa.st. Appreciation of land values will be gradual, and comparativelj^ few more cities and towns are to be founded and built tip. We are not likely to have another gigantic war, internecine or foreign, to inflate prices and promote .speculation. The course of business in all probability will be natural, and results not excessively profitable. Cai)ital is comparatively so abund- ant that if competition is permitted to have sway it will not expect nor .seek such inordinate remuneration in the fu- ture as it has exacted in the past. It is true that it has adopted the plan of forming trusts and combinations to control production and distribution, but congress and legislatures have taken action in main- cases to thwart IS LABOR IN DANGER: such schemes, and the courts in many parts of the country have declared them contra bonos mores and unhiwful. Popular sentiment is so aroused that capital finds it much more difficult to be exacting and oppressive than it has been. Capital will only disregard popular interests when the people are supine. It seems in the natural course of events that there will not be extra- ordinary opportunities for the few to amass fortunes in future. The .serious question is, will those which now exist be continued or grow larger thiough mere accretion ? The iierpetuatiou of the great estates in the old world has been through the instrumentality of law — the law of primogeniture. It has not been in force in this covintry for more than a century, and was superceded by a law governing the descent and distribu- tion of property, which has had the effect to break estates into fragments on the decea.se of their po.sses.sors. When the life of each generation ter- minates, the property of the country passes into new and more numerous hands. None of the inimen.se con- cessions made by the kings of Eng- land and Holland to the colonists within the limits of what constitute the United States, have been main- tained ; they have been subdivided into small jiarcels and are now owned anil occupied by large numbers of people. In the same way the existing great landed estates will be subdivided on the decea.se of the present pos.se.ss- ors. Very few of the e.states of this country, whether consisting of realty or personalty, have passed unimpaired to the second generation from the acquisitors. More than eighty per cent, of the wealthy men of the nation have acquired what they po.s.sess, and only ten per cent, have inherited it. The rule is general that the sons of rich men end life as poor as their fath- ers began it. Great achievements in science, art, the professions, war, .statismanship and business pursuits have generally Vjeen by the sons of men in indifferent or moderate cir- cumstances. Results in this countr\- are not to be judged by those in the old world. There are tho.se who nia\ regard the present situation as gloomw but when we consider the freedom enjoyed under our institutions, and the causes at work which revolutionize conditions quickly, there is no rea.son for that forlorn feeling which fills the mind of the pessimi.st. Those who survive for a quarter of a century will, in all probability see the bulk of the present ponderous estates broken uj) — especially the landed estate.s — for time, popular sentiment, and the laws of de.scent and distribution will inevi- tably soon destroy land monopoly. Inequality in the po.sse,ssion of mo\- able propertj-, especially of money or securities, is not a serious danger, for they are like the .stolen pur.se men- tioned by lago, as having been mine, yours and the slave of thousands. There is very little permanency in the possession of personalty. It is argued that as no man has ever been, or ever will be strong enough to earn a million dollars above his living, however prolonged his life, every millionaire and multo-mil- lionaire has taken largely from the earnings of others. To an extent this has been done, .sometimes through fortuitous circumstances in which there has been no moral guilt, and sometimes through oppressive prac- tices. It is probably true that labor has not received its proper share of produced wealth. High .statistical authorities differ .somewhat as to the percentage which labor in this coun- try contributes to wealth production, the lowest estimate being seventy-two per cent, and the highest ninety. Upon either estimate it is certain that labor has not had its fair share. Cap- ital has managed to pos.sess the pro- porcion which nature has created, which is estimated from ten to twenty- eight per cent. Capital is more organ- izible than labor, and, in fact, may be said to be always organized, and it is more exacting than labor has been. The modern practice being for capital LABOR IN danger; to organize llirough corporation, com- pany or association, it seems more formidable than in reality it is, because the fact that stocks and bonds or shares are widely distributed and are held by numerous persons, is not duly considered. The tendency has been and is strongly to combination in many branches of business. This is true in transportation, manufacturing, banking and in all lines of produc- tion and distribution of commodities. It is a recognized fact that competi- tion has been very largely displaced by combination. Comprehending this and seeing that there is a vast dispar- ity in the po.s.se.ssion of wealth, the working people of the country have adopted the plan of meeting combina- tion with combination, or in other words by forming labor organizations. As transportation by rail and manu- facturing as now carried on, require the services of large numbers of men, organization is practicable. The same is true, only to a less extent, in the building and some other trades. The object of the.se organizations is to com- pel capital to concede to labor what it deserves. Such an object is proper and praiseworthy if the measures resorted to are defensible. To arouse labor .so that it will assert its rights, demagogues and mountebanks are in the haliit of .so assailing capital as to create a feeling of intense hostility. Labor and cnpital are natural antagon- isms liitausc their interests collide. Tile rehitions of the employer and employe are like those of the .seller and the buyer. Low wages are be.st for one and high wages are best for the other. To produce .successfully requires l)oth lalior and capital, and each should tie fairly rewarded. If cajiital is exacting and oppressive labor organizations some times make mistakes, some of which are of the most grievous character. One of them is in supposing inihlic sympathy is not strongly on tlie side of wage workers. Many ameliora- tions have been voluntarily granted. Xol very far in the past men were imprisoned for debt. That barbarous law has been displaced by one that exempts the homestead, certain house- hold goods, and implements necessary to the earning of a livelihood from seizure and .sale to satisfy a private debt. Schools are established sup- ported by a public tax at which all children are educated free of charge. Infirmaries and ho.spitals are provided for the poor and the sick. A senti- ment IS growing which favors the exemption of homesteads of limited value, and some other property from taxation, and in favor of graduated income and inheritance taxes, which will lighten the burdens of those who live by toil, and impose them in accordance with ability to bear them. Another and most grievous mistake has been made in the matter of strikes. They have often been attended with mob violence and incendiarism. De- .struction of property and interruption of business do no one any good, and result in calamity to the public. Strikes are defensible only to the extent of a cessation of work when terms are unsatisfactory; but to inter- fere with others, who wish to work on the terms offered, by violence or intim- idation is a crime, for there is no dif- ference in principle in destroying a man's property than in preventing him from earning property. To ignore contracts as to term or other condition of .service is both unlawful and di.shonorable whether by employer or employe. Still another error is in making an unchangeable scale of wages, one that is non-reducible. Conditions are not always the .same. This year the volume and character of the traffic or the prices of products may be such that the railroad or the manufacturer is able to make a fair profit, but next year conditions may lie reversed, and at the same .scale of wages there will be no profit, or per- haps a I0.SS. Labor organizations should have men whose business is to gain a knowledge of all the facts am^ IS LABOR IN UANGBR: circumstances astlie\ arise, that wages may be so rt,milatL(l that labor and capital will each recLi\-e its fair share of the results of the business. One fact especially, is not always duly con- sidered, and this is that capital under the laws as they now are, takes all the hazards of loss, and the laborer takes none. The law gives him a fir.st lien on the property of his employer. It is unfortunate that in many enter- prises classification of labor is a neces- -sity, growing out of the employment of large numbers who have clas.sified services to perform. Men are unequally endowed by nature, and it is presum- able that it is the intention of the Cre- ator that each should receive the full benefit of his legitimate efforts. The time was when the working man had a status, and received wages accord- ing to his merits. As it now is, in many kinds of work where classifica- tion is necessarj' the weakling, the dull and the shirk receive as much as the strong, bright and faithful. The employer is bound to take the lot at the same wages, which takes from the deserving for the benefit of the unde- .serving. Probaljly for this there is no remedy. It is one of the evils that result from associated labor. It would be well if there could be competition in labor and in everything else. To a.ssure to all the full benefits of their efforts is a tremendous stimulant to exertion. There .should be no animosit\- be- tween capital and labor, and tliere need be none if their relations and interests are intelligently and justly considered on both sides. Capital .should not be exorbitant, and labor should exact only what is its due. The principle must be recognized that all are free to join labor organizations or not, as they choose. There should be no compulsion. The mass of the American people are in sympathy with the wage workers. Their sympathies have sometimes hi.cn rstianged by the excesses which ha\c aii> iidtd strikes, and the destrudix c lcachni,i;s and con- duct of some of the laljor leaders. There is no country in the world where economic policies have been based so completely upon the idea of promoting the welfare of the laboring cla.sses as in the United States, for the last thirty years, and no laboring pop- ulation in the world receives wages so compensatory or are possessed of such advantages and comfortable surround- ings. This is a republic in which all men are free and protected in their rights, and are rewarded as their efforts deserve. The principles under which this country has existed for more than a century have .secured the general prosperity and happiness of the peo- ple. It is but nece.ssani- to look at conditions as they have been and are, to see that no one is forlorn and desper- ate except through fault of his own. This free country promises commensu- rate rewards to natural endowments when properly exercised and when re- sults are providently husbanded. It is a prevalent principle that merit is just- 1}' recognized, and though a republic, the people are not ungrateful except in the opinion of the demagogue and worthless. Organizations and a.sso- ciations are u.seful when the)- operate upon just and common-sense princi- ples. It behooves the wage workers to take care not to establish an abso- lution over them.selves, for "it maj' become a contagion and end in found- ing a despotic government. ' ' Free institutions can only be maintained by preserving individual independ- ence. It nuist not be forgotten that the first and highest duty of go\erii- ment is to preserve the public peace and protect life and property. And because this is done it should not be assumed that government is inimical to the working people. CHAPTER III. REGULATION OF RAILWAY CHARGES. THli claiiiDr for lower charges tor transportations Ijy rail is quite universal west of the Mississippi River, and in fact they are demanded in the south and east, only with less vehemence and jiL-rsiskiicw It is not a question of i)olitii^, Imi ' out the views expressed in that resolution. The proposition, if carried into effect, will have an important bearing upon the interests of every class of our people. The question of freights and fares, as has been said, is exciting public atten- tion, and the best thought of the country is being given to its solution. A change toiiching so grave a matter should not be made without the most careful and the fullest consideration. The proposition that the Government in .some way should regulate transpor- tation rates is not combatted in any quarter. The question is, what is the best way ? California has a mode pro- vided and defined in the Constitution, and that it may clearly appear what the Dt'inocralic resolution cunteni- ]>lates supplanting, it is necessar> to REGULATION OH RAIl.VVAV CHARGES. quote the provisions MULX--s()r -shall have been elected ami (iualified." It is the theorj- in all civilized countries that the common carrier, to a certain extent, is a servant of the public, and that the manner of con- ducting his business and the compen- sation he shall receive shall be regulated by law. The common law declares that the compensation shall be reasonable and just, and that a controversy over the amount shall be decided by the court and jury. Rail- ways are constructed as a rule 1)\- corporations, in whose behalf gov- ernments exercise the right of emi- nent domain. These corporations are granted exclusive franchise to control and run over their own tracks. It is necessary that it .should be so, for reg- ularity and exactness aie essential to the safety of life and ])rnpei-t\-, and to dispatch and econom.\- in condueliiig the business. In .some ways the Go\- eruraent assumes larger control over corporative transportation than over those of i^rivate parties. The right, if not expressed, is iiiil)liedly reserved to chan-e and modilv charters, and to forfeit li-aiieliise-., aiiaiid and one implements. The items to be considered in deter- mining the necessary operating ex- p(,-iisi s, are siill more voluminous, and inrhide sal.iiies of officers, princi- pal and suliordinate, attornej-s, con- ductors, engineers, station agents, telegraph operators, brakemen, fire- men, switchmen, trackmen and many others. Also, the damages, through inevitable wear and tear, and by accident, and the cost of material and labor in repairing. And further the freight and pa.s.sengers carried, and the revenue received from all sources. All tliese matters must be gone into lor the purpo.se of seeing whether the business is honestly and economically conducted, and whether the net earn- ings under existing rates afford more than a reasonable remuneration to the capital necessarily invested. If a jury were thoroughly competent to inquire into and properly adjudge all the.se facts, the investigation would be pro- longed beyond the ordinary terms of courts. These suits, as has been .said, neeessarih- involve the share that a particular .shipment .should contribute towards operating expenses and fair reward to capital. The ablest and most experienced traffic officer never attempts to determine that question ; it is impossible to determine the ainonnl even approximately. Rates REGULATION Ol- RAILWAY CHARCiKS. ^ T., are based upon the general results of the business, and are designed to be made so, that after deducting operat- ing expenses from earnings, there will be a balance sufficient to properly remunerate capital. The net balances (luctuate because business is not always the same, and the losses from accidents and providential causes vary from year to year. Efforts to settle the question of compensation by suit have wholly cea.sed, at least, such cases are among the rarest in the cal- endars of courts. The proposition in the resolution which has been quoted, is for the Leg- islature to pass upon this complicated question, and to enact a general law prescribing a rate which the railways in no case shall exceed. It goes fui'- tlier and proposes that the Legislature shall classify freights by statute. Our legislators are not all men who are well informed upon the.se subjects : many of them are no more competent to pass upon them than the ordinary juror. The session lasts but sixty days and is crowded with a vast amount of other business, and then one branch and one-half of the other become practically defunct unless the Governor should call an extraordinary session. The Legislature would not have time to properh- consider the grave question of rates. Classification is ba.sed upon bulk weight, \-alue and quantity carried of each cla.ss. There would be a field for extended investi- gation which would exhaust no small part of the .ses.sion. If the Legisla- ture should do a wrong, it would be grievous, for it would continue for two years, or until the Governor should convene it in extra se.s.sion. If the ma- jority were controlled by an unjust public sentiment, the rates would be fixed .so low as to destroy capital, and if under railroad influence, they would be made so high as to be oppressive to the people. A general law cannot be made so as to do justice to all roads or communities. California is a State of various physical characteristics; there are mountains and plains, ugly canons to cross, or to follow, in construct- ing and operating railroads. No two roads cost the same to build or oper- ate. In some localities, population is den.se, in others, sparse, and all are interested in having the means of transportation. Some .sections are highly productive and supply a large volume of traffic, and others le.ss productive furnish but little busi- ness, while it costs as much or more to build and operate roads through them as in the best sections. It is important to the whole common- wealth that all parts of the State should be accommodated. The plan of enacting maxinnun rates was among the fir.st, if not the ver)' first, adopted after the impracti- cability of determining the reason- ableness of railwaj- compensation bj' the court and jury, became apparent. In many of the vStates it has fallen into disu.se becau.se its universality renders it inelastic, and its operation in many cases results in injustice. If it is right that capital invested in such i.ntcri irises is entitled to the same reward in all eases, some roads in the same State should be permitted to charge higher rates than others, from the fact that they cost more to construct and are more expensive to operate. The larger number of the vStates have created commissions to deal with the question of railroad tran,s- portation with different powers. In some States they are advisory and in others regulative. The powers of the commi.ssion in California are more extensive than in anj' of the States except Texas. The efforts of our commission need not be inadequate to guard the interests of the people for want of authority- The theory of a commi.ssion is that there may be offi- cials whose term of office is sufficiently long to enable them to make a study and come to a complete understanding of the railroad question. They have time to investigate all the facts and features to the fullest extent, that they may regulate the business in such manner and prescribe rates as REGULATION OF RAILWAY CHARGES. will do substantial justice to all con- cerned. They act in the capacitj- of traffic officers for the public, and from their position should be governed by a purpose to protect the people with- out doing injustice to the railroads. Having plenary power and consider- able official permanenc}', they can make changes, from time to time, intelligently and as exigencies de- mand. In theory, at least, a commis- sion is the best agency of government thus far devised for managing railwaj- tran.sportation. It has not been abol- ished in aiiy State where it has been adopted, except in Massachu-setts, where the powers were merely advis- ory. Reports of the executives of all the States show 'that it has worked well everywhere, causin;^ ^rcat sav- ings to the people withuut eniljairass- ing the legitimate operation of the railroads. The tendency is to enlarge rather than to further restrict the powers of commissions. Congress has adopted the idea as to inter-state traffic. It may be apprehended that the time will come when there will be unifonnity among the States as to the powers conferred upon railway com- missinns. Tn change the cnnunission for a geiR-ral sUiUUl- i)r(_-srriliin.i;- rates and cla-.--irRatiiiii WMiilil Ik- damaging if not calaniilnns I.) IIk- imprests of California, It is n.a and >li: .itl.l not be made a party (iiiL>li(in. To inter- fere with Inisiness for party purposes is ahva\ s hurtful. So far as philosophy and experience show, there can be no objection to the plan of a coraniis.sion. It is urged that it may be corrupted, and is, therefore, objectionable. It has been alleged that the California ComniLs- .sion, since its creation, has been under the influence and control of the rail- roads. Such charges are easily made, and will be made whenever the com- plaint of any one is not granted. It has got to be a habit of mind of some people to think they .see corruption wlienever a ruling is in favor of a railroad. It requires more courage to decide for a railroad in a case where it is plainly right, than adversely. There is official corruption, but not to the extent as seen by the pessimist. If a commis.sioner is incompetent, derelict or dishonest, he can be re- moved by a two-third vote of the nKinl>ers elected to each branch of the lA-.^islature. If one ischo.sen who is inc()ni]>etent or corrupt, it is the fault of tiie people. If a commission cannot be trusted, how can a L,egislature ? The Cali- fornia commission is no worse in rep- utation than the ordinary run of California Legislatures. Nor are the people able to .select better men for the one position than for the other. It may cost more to bribe a Legislature than a commission, because member- ship is more numerous, but the work of llie Legislature is more valuable for it will endure longer. The greatest woes of this country do not proceed from the doings of courts, commissions, and executives, but from legislation. If the people cannot correct abu.ses in one case they cannot in the other. Though courts are .sometimes incom- petent and dishonest, their abolition is not ad\ocated by anybodj'. The wis- dom of the plans proposed are to be passed upon as the main issue, and defects in their execution must be corrected by the people as experience discloses the necessity. All are inter- ested in reducing the cost of transpor- tation to the lowest x'ossible figure, consistent with efficient service and the just rights of capital. To render it unreniunerative is to destroy capital, and its destruction brings calamity to all. A better way to regulate rates maj' be discovered than by a commission, but it is the best that has yet been devi.sed. If new commissioners from any cause fail in the di.scharge of their duties, the time is not distant when those can be chosen who will not fail. The railroad problem is difficult to .solve, but evolution is taking place, and the wisest plan will, ere long, be discov ered if that now in force in California is not that plan. CIIAl'TI'.R I\'. HOW TO SECURE GOOD MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. THE country during the past few 3'ears has been aroused to the importance of honest elections, and of securing honest, efficient and economical government. The agita- tion embraces all elections and gov- ernments, but more especially those which are local and municipal. Cities have been denominated ' ' blotches upon the body politic. ' ' It is more difficult to govern cities than the country. The bucolic popu- lation are generally peaceable, orderly and law-abiding, while in cities there are frequent disorders, and crimes are daily committed. In the country the people are more inclined to give attention to public questions, as those who resort to urban life for business or pleasure are more intent on their own affairs or are indisposed to give thought and work to matters of gen- eral concern. There is a larger percentage of idle and vicious men in cities, and they resort thither because there is greater seclusion and less danger of detection. Such are also active in politics for the reason that there is greater scope for action and less resistance from the responsible classes. Municipal government is closer to the people than any other ; it inter- feres more in the business and social relations, and for the reason that it has more to do, it is more ex- pensive. Wealth is greater in cities, and the vicious find more ways to get money than in the countr>', and espe- cially through the expenditures of government. Municipal government is the most extravagant and corrupt in the world, and experience in this countrj', where the tax-payers can control it if they will, shows that there are few exceptions to the general rule. This is well understood, and it is a curious fact that a large class of the people are guilty of the grossest neglect of duty in regard to gov^ern- ment so close to them, while the}- are more alert as to those more remote, and whose influence they scarcely feel. The business men groan under the burden of taxation, and suffer from abuses j-ear after year, and beyond complaining, do little or nothing to obtain relief. In all countries munici- pal government is worse than any other, because through indifference and inaction the responsible classes have little or no control or influence. The city is the home of the boss, because he finds there in greatest strength the very element which best subserves his purposes, and through it he easilj' achieves power. The boss is a boodler, and through the dispensation of boodle, he gains ascendancy over and controls the class, which has no conception or regard for good government. He is also a patronage broker, a cincher, and con- trols his minions by getting them offices, or by the direct payment of monej', which he wrings from those whose interests he can promote or im- pair. The boss is a thrifty individual, for his own account, and as he must have monej' and it seems less heinous and more practicable than stealing, he imposes upon the public an extrava- gant if not a corrupt government. He easily succeeds, because tlio.se who pay taxes and suffer from other abuses place no formidable obstacle in his wa}-. He cares nothing for clamor and curses, so long as the responsible citizens abstain from politics and absent themselves from the polls on election day. People who manifest no interest in governing themselves ought to have learned long ago that there are plenty of men standing 22 HOW TO SECURE GOOD MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. around, who like the business of governing, and that they will do for others what others should do for themselves. There would be no bad government in this country if, through inattention to public dut}r, it were not impliedlj' assented to by those who could make it good if they would. The demagogue and rascal have dis- covered that in cities at least they can impose bad laws and do wicked acts without much danger of receiving retribution at the hands of the people, yet in every city the responsible class largely outnumbers the irresponsible. And why is this indifference ? Too much business or pleasure is oue excuse. Another is the disagreeable associations that must be encountered in combating those who make politics a profession. It is a mistake to think that in politics good men must "fight the devil with fire." The work to be done is to put out the fire which the devil lias lighted ; to substitute just and defensible practices for those which are evil. It is to do good instead of bad work. No man is required to lower his standard of morality in doing his political duty. Henry Ward Beecher said : ' ' While we are on the ground, we must do ground woi'k." The squeamish man is uot the very best citizen. It is not enough that his personal conduct is unexceptionable ; he must do some- thing worth}^ of a man in promoting the public welfare. The business man will apply himself to his private pursuit, year in and 3'ear out, with unflagging industry, courageously en- countering the disagreeable ; but when he is called upon to give a day to the public, he will fallcr and retire at the mere shadow of what is not quite in accord with his taste. The highest aim of a free American citizen should be to secure the greatest possible excellence of government for the public good, and because in it his pecuniary interests are involved. It is a lamentable fact, so well stated by Macaulaj', "that bad men will assail, with far more vigor and per- sistency than good men will defend, good principles." The eflforts of good men have sometimes been ren- dered unavailing through fraudu- lent voting and ballot-box stuffing, and because this has been done, those who have been thus robbed of their suffrages abandon the contest and surrender. If respon.sible citizens had always been as faithful and persistent in performing political duties as the irresponsible, there would have been no such outrages perpetrated. There is not a political crime that cannot be justly charged to the indifference and neglect of those who have most at stake, and who suffer most from bad government. What class furnishes the greater number of office seekers ? Not the business, patriotic, nor the mo.st in- telligent class. These having given up politics to the professionals, the lat- ter naturally suj^ply the officials. It is rare that the business man can be induced to accept an office, and still rarer that he will stand for reuomina- tion, and for the very good reason that his class will uot take the trouble to sustain him, and he must run the gauntlet of being bled by those who follow politics for a livelihood. The time was when the office sought the man, and when defeat was almost certain, if a candidate solicited votes for himself. It was when the better element gave thought and work to public affairs and political manage- ment. There has been a change, and candidates are expected to exert them- selves for their own election. It may be as well so, as it affords a better op- portunity for the people to judge of the men they are called upon to support. That a man must exert himself in his own behalf constitutes no good reason why he should not accept or seek an office of which he is worthy. The present method simply involves a question of modesty, and the good and capable citizen will waive that for the public interest. The fact is, an office should be sought for the honor it confers, and not for the pay attached HOW TO SECURE GOOD MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. to it. The emoluments are the same in all cases, but honor can only be derived through the excellence of the service rendered. The country has been disgraced in many localities by a variety of election crimes, and the genius of legislators has been heavily drawn upon to provide means for their prevention. Penalties have been imposed b)- law for every act that tends to prevent honest political methods and honest elections, yet the evils have not been removed. We have the Australian law for conducting elections in many of the states. Our experience has not been sufficient to determine whether or not it is a universal panacea for election frauds and crimes. Other laws have been disregarded and offenses have continued. Ways may yet be devised to thwart the effect of that law. Legislators may deter the bad from committing crimes, but it will not make men honest. There is one infallible remedy, one assurance of honest elections and good govern- ment, and it is, that every man who has the best interests of the public at heart shall faithfully and determinedly perform his political duties at all times and under all circumstances. The law can aid by prescribing honest methods, but it should not be solely relied on. The good people must see that it is observed, and when violated, that its penalties are inflicted. It is not enough that an honest citizen shall cast his vote on election day ; he should begin further back, and see to it that the proper men are put forward as candidates. To scratch the names of improper men may have some effect in the direction of reform, but only in case there are better men on the ticket of the other party. The ax must be laid at the root of the tree by begin- ning work at the primaries. Party or- ganization is useful and necessary, and hence as a rule should be .sustained. Bad nominations often weaken but never destroy political parties. Men will not, and ought not to abandon a great principle because the best names are not on the ticket of their party. It is here that in municipal and local elections, great national or .state issues are not involved, but men are loath to vote the opposition ticket. Scratching has not produced such reformatory results as are desirable. It is not rad- ical enough and has a beneficial effect but for a day. It is often the case that candidates on one ticket are no better than IhtiMuii Uic other. Bosses on both si-ce, in his "American Common- wealth," states that New Orleans in politics is the worst place in the United States, and that New York and San Francisco are next to it. The two cities should not be placed in the same class, for San Francisco has not, on the whole, been so badly gov- erned as New York. That city has for half a century been dominated by an organized conspiracy against good government. It has controlled through distribution of patronage and official corruption, and is so strong and dis- ciplined that it is next to impossible to subvert its authority. In a few instances when its methods have been extraordinarily audacious and a plun- dered and outraged people have temporarily deprived it of power, and a few times its rascals have been visited with condign punishment, the better element has appeared to triumph; but the people have immediately relapsed into indifference and Tammany has returned to power without resistance. No people in America have so long been bound hand and foot by a machine and a boss, and none have been taxed so heavily and uniformlj- misgoverned as those of our greatest commercial metropolis. There art men enough in that great city who desire good government to control it, but apathy on their part, which is the crj'ing evil in all our cities, is the obstacle to reformator}' action. San Francisco has suffered from bad poli- tics and indifferent government, but this has not been an almost perpetual condition. Probably no people were ever more enchained by crime and criminals than those of San Francisco years ago, but thej^ were not slow in finding a means of relief. The remedy, though radical, and nomin- ally revolutionary, was heroic and effective. It was charged that the steps taken were in defiance of law and the regularly constituted author- ities, but in reality it was the resump- tion of power by a people for their own protection. The mettle dis- played by the business men in the days of Vigilantes, and their just conception of public duty made a profound impression throughout the civilized world, and the influence of their heroic action is felt in the city to this da)'. The machine and bosses were dethroned and the government restored to rightful hands. The reigns of our bosses have since been short, for they have disappeared upon a warning that the tax-paying and responsible classes are aroused. No city in the country has a class of business men stronger and more de- termined than those of San Francisco. Though they want good government, they are not always sufficiently atten- tive to their political duties, and as a consequence public offices fall to the control of a class who have other than the public interests to suKserve. Unless the policy of self-disfranchise- ment, by the protracted and inexcus- able failure to perform duty to the public, be abandoned, and that volun- tarily, there is no legal way in which reform can be secured. The destinies of San Franci.sco and of all other cities, and of the whole country as well, are in the hands of the intelli- gent and responsible citizens. CHAI'TI'R \' POLITICAL DUTY OF CALIFOHNIANS. CALIFORNIA became a state forty-two years ago. Her ad- mission was not in conformity to the usual methods. Congress never gave her an organic Act and terri- torial government. Her tutelage and preparation were practically under military rule, nor was her admission preceded by an ennobling Act. The people proceeded in their sovereign capacity to elect a convention, which framed a constitution, and to which they gave their as.sent. The original thirteen states entered the Union by mutual consent, Texas was admitted by joint resolution, Maine was de- tached from Massachusetts, and West Virginia was carved out of the Old Dominion bj' the consent of Congress. In all other cases, admission was pre- ceded by some preliminar}- action of Congress. The mannerof her admission was not the only exceptional feature. Califor- nia had been acquired little more than two years before she became a state. The so-called native Californians, or Mexicans as they are better known, numbered about thirteen thousand, and the other clas.ses of citizens in the main were new-comers from every part of the nation. Thej^ were brought hither by the gold excitement and a spirit of adventure. The area of Cali- fornia was large, climatic conditions were varied, resources were extraordi- nary' as productions of the soil were abundant and rich, and covered a wide range. It was supposed that her wealth in the precious metals rivaled that of Ormus and of Ind. Enter- prise was unbounded, wages were high, and the miner, banker, mer- chant, laborer and professional classes were generally prosperous. It was a land of large ideas, and living was extravagant. Many who aided in framing the first fundamental law expected to remain in the country' only long enough to acquire fortunes, and the same was true of a considerable percentage of their constituents. The first constitution may almo.st be said to have been made by non-residents. It is a well-known fact that nothing is so well done in a new as in an old country. Pioneers are always too busy with their private affairs, too intent on gaining a livelihood, and in preparation for comfortable life, to give their best thought to public ques- tions, as is more common among people who possess competency and leisure. The first settlers are content to live in cabins for a time and until they are able to erect better residences, and provide ampler conveniences of life. It is quite natural that there should be a similar feeling in regard to matters of government. Compared with a majority of the states, Califor- nia is young, but with a large minority she is old. Since her admis- sion there have been many changes in the constitution and laws of the older states. The newer states in preparing their constitutions had the benefit of the experiences of others and the improvements made by them. Cali- fornia came in before there was the progress that has characterized the last quarter of a century. At the time she acquired .statehood, there was the mo,st intense political feeling, and more thought was given to the disturbing questions then in issue than to providing the best machinery of government. The idea also prevailed throughout the nation that party success was best assured through the creation of a multiplicity of offices to which liberal compensation was attached that profitable employ- ment migrht be given to those who POLITICAL DUTY OF CALIFORNIANS. made politics a profession and per- formed political work. Those were days when spoil was the most power- ful incentive to political effort. Under all these circumstances it could hardly have been otherwise than that a constitution should have been framed that did not reilect the most advanced ideas, or recognize the prin- ciples of the most rigid economy. It was natural, too, that laws early enacted thereunder should have been of the same character. A superfluity of oiSces was created, and salaries and fees were in accord with the ex- travagant ideas then prevalent. Gov- ernments in California, state, county, and municipal, are among the most expensive in the nation. At the out- set they were more so than at the present time, as to .some extent salaries have been reduced and expenses other- wise curtailed. There is still ample room for improvement. Our courts are excessively expensive from the large number of clerks, bailiffs and hangers-on employed, and paid out of the public treasury. The practice, as administered is productive of delays as well as of needless expense. Our County Boards of Supervisors are clothed with extraordinary powers, and they have not been exercised as a rule iu the interest of the greatest economy. The Supreme Court has recently made a decision which cir- cumscribes their power to expend money. As the courts do not make laws, they can only limit expenditures by applying the rule of strict con- struction. The chief remedies must be sought from the law-making power. We have county and municipal assessors, and ri>nsL(|iKnlly duplicate assessments, wlii. h iinii.'^c an unnec- essary and lar-c expunge. In other states, one assessment answers for all purposes. It is true that the Legisla- ture, during the last session passed an Act which permits City Councils to adopt the county assessments as a basis of municipal taxation. The law is not imperative, as it should be, for wherever a ring is in control or the idea prevails that the more officers there are the better it is for party, Councils will disregard the option and retain the city assessors. We have county and city tax collectors, which are unnecessary officers. In many of the states county treasurers collect all the taxes, and pay over to the state, municipal, school and other treasurers the sums belonging to them respec- tively. To abolish these oifices and impose their duties upon the county treasurers will s.ave a large expense. Beyond this it is a great convenience to the people to have one place where all taxes are paid and a clean receipt given. To point out all the cases where the pruning knife should be applied and expenses lopped off would make an article too long to suit the taste of most magazine readers. The Constitution of 1879 was in- tended to be an improvement on its predecessor, and it undoubtedly is in some respects. In one feature, experi- ence has demonstrated that it works an injury to a class it was intended to benefit, and that is the provision which requires a lender of money to pay the tax upon land on which he takes a mortgage. If the conventional rate of interest were sufiicientlj^ limited, it might be otherwise. But as it is un- limited, the lender is sure to exact a rate high enough to cover the taxes, and generally a little more. The re- sult is the borrower pays more interest than he would in the absence of any .such con.stitutional provision. More- over it complicates the assessment of lands find the collection of taxes. Those who fathered the provision ought to be satisfied that it should be expunged from the Constitution. To reduce expen.ses is not the only work to be doue. Simplification and adjustment of the laws so as to create a harmonious system easily operative is necessary to facilitate the public business and reduce the cost of gov- enunent. Every people, when they have be- come accustomed to them, are apt to regard their system and methods of POLITICAL DUTY OF CALIFORNIANS. government as the best, or at least with toleration, and hence there is an indisposition to make changes or to inquire whether improvements are necessary. It is true that change may not be reform, but it is also true that methods in California are not as simple and practical as are those in some of the states. It is not unnatural that it should be so, because they have had the advantages of longer existence and greater exiierience, and have not been environed by those tre- mendous and absorbing enterprises and efforts to develop the country, which have existed in this .state. The time has come when there should be earnest and intelligent inquiry into conditions with a view to discovering where changes will be beneficial, and when discovered to see that they are promptly made. It is quite different now from what it has been. Formerly there were better opportunities for acquiring large wealth by the few, in railway build- ing, in mining, agriculture, in the appreciation of land values and in speculation. L,ands have been cheap, and capital in the past could be more profitably invested than at the present time. The great ranches to an extent have been subdivided and sold to small farmers. Wealth per capita is less because population has increased through the immigration of mechanics and those who gain livelihoods from labor on the farms. When the bulk of taxes was paid by those whose in- comes were large there was not a marked disposition to enforce economy . Taxation more seriously affects the farmers and mechanics, as their in- comes are comparatively small. These changes of circumstances have pro- duced a revolution in public sentiment, and it is increasing in its hostility to imnecessary public expenditures. It is best for the country that it should be so. The political party that is blind to or ignores the tendency of the times is destined to be engulfed in the mael- strom of popular disapproval. The two great political parties of this state in 1 890 comprehended this, and sought to satisfy public sentiment by passing resolutions limiting the rate of taxation for stale purposes. The Republicans said it should not exceed fifty cents on the hundred dollars, and the Democrats reduced it to forty-five cents. The principle is wrong, but the motive may have been good. Resolutions have no binding ellect, and though faith may apparently be kept, yet actually it may be broken tlirough an arbitrary increase of valuations by the Board of Equalization. There can be no cast-iron rvile applicable to all circumstances. Fifty or twentj"- five cents on the hundred dollars may be too much or too little. All and no more than is necessary should be ap- propriated. If they receive an equiva- lent in benefits the people are willing to pay any necessary rate of taxation. The only safe and just rule is to elect men to office who will keep expenses as low as possible, whatever may be the circumstances. Then it will be unnecessary to throw around them the restraining influence of resolutions adopted bj^ party conventions. Of our legislatures it has become a trite saying that the last is the worst. It is, probably, unjust to thus charac- terize all of them. Such opinions, however, prove that the people have little confidence in oursolons, and al.-o that there is general dereliction ot dutj', if nothing worse. Reputation has been bad so long that mi.sconduct is practically tolerated in so far that effective measures are not adopted to guard against it in future. There has been plenty of rotation in electing legislators without improvement, in fact — or, at least so far as public opin- ion goes, whether there shall be a change for the better is a matter that rests entirely with the people. They are all-powerful, and unless they can be aroused to healthful and effective action there never will be reform. So long as the people are apathetic, in- competency, indifierence and boodle- ism will rule. To elect Senators is not the chief object for which Icgisla- POLITICAL DUTY OF CALIFORNIANS. tors are chosen, nor is it their mission to promote class interests, or to engage in jobs. Their duty is to make a study of the situation, to revise and improve at all points, and do their utmost to promote economy and effect- iveness in government. It is not enough to merely elect new men, but the utmost care must be taken to secure those who are honest, capable and faithful. The official who is de- linquent in the discharge of duty, and the rascal, must be visited with con- dign punishment — the former as a political, and the latter as a social, outcast. A proper bestowal of rewards and the infliction of deserved punish- ment will have a most salutary effect. We have had many good legislators, but the trouble has been that there has not been enough of them. An obstacle to a more rapid approach to perfection in our in.stitutions and laws is the proneness to allow political considerations to subordinate the pub- lic interests. Governors and legisla- tors look too much after party or personal success to admit of that care- ful and comprehensive consideration of measures which is dictated by a paramount desire to promote the public welfare. The best party strategy is to give the people the best govern- ment. No public officer should be influenced by selfish considerations beyond the desire to deserve the good opinion and gratitude of the people by a wise and faithful discharge of duties. Government is a progressive science, and the people, as well as legislators and officials, should ever hold the improving hand in readiness to be applied whenever or wherever defects are discovered. As the first settlers of a country are not apt to do their work with system and thoroughness, so the pioneers in instituting a govern- ment do not, as a rule, make the best constitution and laws. They should be changed to meet the exigencies of changed conditions. Experience is the greatest of schools. We have before us the results of experiments that have been made by all the states of the nation. Experiments have been so numerous that there is little danger of mistake if there is proper research, and changes are thoughtfully made. Errors in legislation may be in doing too much as well as not enough, while wisdom may be gained from the study of the institutions and laws of other states. Conditions are varied and changes .should be made adaptable to our own. Defects in legislation are not the only evils. Details in admin- istration demand faithful, intelligent and patriotic attention. There are extravagances and blunders to be guarded against in every branch of the public service. If the highest officials set the proper example, delin- quency in subordinate places will be less likely to occur. The true principles of popular gov- ernment have become well defined and established after a centurj' of experi- ment. They are no longer a subject of contention. The questions before us are material and social. A state has little to do with foreign commerce and relations. Its authority is mainly confined to its own internal affairs. The social feature involves questions of intellectual and moral development, as well as material; protection against crime and wrong, and fostering educa- tional and charitable institutions. It is incumbent on the state to so regu- late the relations of labor and capital that each .shall receive its just rewards. These questions will not be wisely dealt with if partizan success is the controlling motive, nor if any consid- erable percentage of the citizens are neglectful in the discharge of their public duties. The best solution of all political, material and social prob- lems will be wrought when the aggre- gate judgment of the whole is brought to bear upon them. If politics are left to rings and bosses, the wisest results cannot be expected. Since California became a state there have been before the country national questions of the gravest character. Happily many of them have been permanently settled. !'OLITICAL DUTY Ol- CALIFORNIANS. 20 National issues of importance, how- ever, will always exist, and there is a tendency on the part of the people to permit them to overshadow those which are local to the state. Our political duties are dual to the nation and state. Neither should be disregarded. State goverinnent is closer to us than the national. It has most to do with business and social affairs, and it im- poses the heaviest burden in the way of taxation. In natural resources, in the intelligence and- energy of her people, California is equal to the great- est states, and in population and wealth she is destined ere long to rival the foremost. It should be the ambition of every class of our people to make her the peer of the best in the excel- lence of her government. \ cr ^&^^' CHAPTER VI. OUR COMMERCIAL GROWTH AND THE TARIFF. FROM A REPUBLICAN STANDPOINT. PRODUCTIONS ill this country are of wide range and abundant, through favorable climatic condi- tions, exceeding fertility of soil, and the energy and intelligence of the people. The United States is the greatest producing nation in the world, especially of articles of food, and of materials which enter into manufactures. America more per capita than ain i yet we produce .surpluses the necessaries of life a luxuries. If her bleak possessions are taken into account, Russia alone is larger in contiguous territory ; but in number of enlight- ened i)(i]nil:iti()n the I'niled States s cnnsnme Asi; inie is true as to seacdasts and number of capacious liarbors. In domestic com- merce we stand first, but in inter- national trade we are third. Great Britain being first and Gennanj' second. Our natural advantages entitle us to leader.shi]) in foreign as well as in internal trade. The foreign commerce of Crrcat Britain, through duplication of ac- counts, is undoubtedly consideral)ly exaggerated. Aside from iron and tin ores, the British Isles are not great producers of raw materials for man- ufacturing. The)- are largely procured from their dependencies and other countries, and when wrought into forms for con.sumption, are exported. This is especially the ca.se as to cotton, w(Kil, hides, jute, and many other raw matei ials. Great Britain also imports tea, toffee, .spices, breadstuffs and pro- visions for exportation. They are taken up on the import side of accounts, in the one ca.se, and entered on the export side, in the other. The same is true in Germany, only to a less extent. There is very little exported from this country that is not wholly jiro- duced here. If dujilication were eliminated from British and German accounts, our position in international trade would be relatively higher and possil)ly highest ; but our foreign tr.-ide is far less than it ought to be, or wtnild be, if proper elTorts were made OUR COAWM£RClAL GROWTH AND THE TARIFF. ■\\ to develop it. To find markets for their surplus products, is of the high- est importance to any people, and especially to us, since we have passed the colonizing period, and have gained a position in which we are able to produce almost without limit. Our industries have already reached im- mense proportion, and are destined to the greatest development in the future, if proper efforts are made. On the whole, our productions are not likely to be reduced but increased, and there will be greater necessity for larger markets. Ever since the Phoenicians gained great wealth from commerce, the magnitude of foreign trade has been deemed a measure of a nation's material prosperity ; whether such traflBc is beneficial or not, depends upon its character. A nation which imports more for consumption than it exports caimot prosper any more than the individual who consumes more than he produces. Great Britain rapidly gained wealth for two hundred and fifty years, for the reason, mainly, that generally she was able to secure balances of trade in her favor. As commonly understood, a balance of trade is the difference arising from an exchange of commodities which is met with cash. An individual who buys what he should produce, grows poorer ; and so it is with the people. Nations, like individuals, are at times obliged to purchase more than they sell. The farmer must do this while he is erecting necessary buildings and preparing his new farm for culti- vation; and this countr>' was similarly situated in its young and colonizing days. That necessity no longer exists, for the preparatory period has passed away. In the early days, there were .statesmen who forcca.sted the future and urged policies that would avoid depletion through adverse balances of trade. The policy pur- sued from Washington to Polk was measurably successful in preventing diminution of our money resources. There were adverse balances of trade, which resulted in no grievous harm, because virgin wealth was so great ; but commendable efforts were put forth to build up manufacturing to supply home wants, and a merchant marine capable of doing our own transportation on the high seas. In 1846, a new policy was inaugu- rated which checked industrial growth, and the War of the Rebellion swept our shipping from the .sea. For thirty years from and after 1846, balances of trade were uniformly against us, and the country would have been greatly distressed for money, had it not been for the phenomenal production of gold in California. For fifteen years, which was a period of peace, there was a continual outflow of gold from this countr>% caused in large part by depression of manufacturing indus- tries, through the influence of the Tariff Act of that year ; and from 1861 to 1865, balances resulted from the necessity to purchase war materials in Europe. In 1862, the policy which was advocated by Washington, and all the Presidents down to Polk, was restored, but time was required to put our industries on a footing that would enable them to produce sufiicient to supply domestic demands. Conditions were extraordinary, as a large labor force was employed in war, and con- sumption was unusual, for war is destruction. For years after the con- flict closed, the energies of the people were devoted to colonizing and devel- oping new regions, to building railroads, and making other internal improve- ments. Ten years after the war were required to place ourselves in a condition to overcome adverse balances, and turn the tide in our favor. This result would not have been achieved so soon, but for the remarkable increase of agricultural productions and excep- tional demand for them in Europe. Had the principle of the tariff of 1846 been restored at the clo,se of the war, and contiimously adhered to, there would not now be large and diversified manufacturing industries in this country ; and however immense our Ry- y O NIVERSITT 32 OUR COMMERCIAL GROWTH AND THE TARIFF. agricultural productions, there could scarcely have been an}' foreign demand for them which would have paid for imported manufactures. The protec- tive principle having been preserved, our industries have thrived. For the first time in thirty years, at the end of the fiscal year of 1877, a handsome balance appeared in our favor, and the tide has flowed our way ever since, except in 1888, and 1889 ; but from June 30, 1876, to June 30, 1892, the net aggregate of balances in our favor was $1,762,000,000. Our gold re- sources have been increased $500, 000,- 000 ; some of our securities held abroad have been paid off, and others have been purchased, and brought home ; so that interest on them is paid here, instead of to holders on the other side of the Atlantic. After years of suspension of specie pay- ment, the Government has been able to enter upon and maintain a gold paymg basis, and to make treasury and' national bank notes circulable everywhere at par with gold. Our policy has had the effect, also, to place foreign countries in financial straits. The Bank of England, a little more than a year ago, was ob- liged to obtain $70,000,000 in gold from this country and for which a premium was paid. There is to-day a gold stringency in several of the leading nations of Europe, and if favorable balances of trade continue, the result will be to compel mono- metalist nations of Europe to resort to some international standard of value additional to that of gold. Silver's hope rests upon the maintenance of the protective principle in tariif legis- lation. It contributes materially to an increase of our domestic circulating medium, which is so much needed, and by a kind of money which all nations regard as the best. Results so beneficial have been achieved with- out the aid of an adequate merchant marine; in fact we have been so dependent ou foreigners and rivals for transportation, that in the last fiscal year six - sevenths of our foreign commerce were carried in foreign bot- toms. There has been in this country over-production of cotton, breadstufis and provisions, but under-production in some lines of manufacture. For fifteen years anterior to the enactment of the McKinley law, we annually imported, on the average, merchan- dise to the value of $300,000,000 or $400,000,000 consisting chiefly of man- ufactures which we should have pro- duced for ourselves. Nearly three- fourths of our exports are products of agriculture, and if mineral illuminat- ing oils are included, tliey constitute a larger percentage. We import more manufactures than we export, which shows that we do not on the whole man- ufacture sufficient to supply domestic consumption. It is therefore wise that we should develop those indus- tries in which we are deficient, to supply home wants to the utmost practicable extent. This will lessen importation and consequentlj' enlarge balances of trade in our favor. The time has come when this policy also should be pursued with a view to larger exportation of manirfactures. We have relied too much on export- ing products of agriculture. Indeed, our people have not displayed their wonted energy in building up export trade. Because we produce some things that other countries do not or cannot, they have been quite content to let others come to us. The most efiective work could not have been done in developing export trade, for the want of transportation of our own. A fallacious idea has prevailed as to the best markets for our surplus agri- cultural products. Because Great Britain has hitherto been the largest buyer of our food articles and raw materials, there are those who believe our best interest lies in promoting trade with that country ; but she need not come to us for articles of food or for raw materials, except cotton. The United Kingdom and Ireland pro- duce wheat enough to supply their people to the extent of 2j^ bvishels OUR COMMERCIAL GROWTH AND THE TARIFF. to the person. Per capita consump- tion in the United States, where nearlj' all the population daily eat wheat bread, is but 5 bushels, while in tho.se countries it is a rarity to more than a moiety of the people. India and Australia export from 45,- 000,000 to 60,000,000 bushels of wheat per annum, and they are depend- encies of Great Britain. British America exports wheat, and there are such railway and steamship facili- ties that the mother country can obtain it there at less cost than from us. The Argentine Republic ex- ports 12,000,000 bushels, which are taken largely in exchange for Brit- ish manufactures. Austria-Hungary, France, Italy and Spain are exporters of wheat, and Russia, on the aver- age, exports 25,000,000 bushels more than we do. Ordinarily, Germany raises breadstuffs enough for her own people. Europe, on the average, produces 1,250,000,000 bushels of wheat, which is sufficient for the people of that continent. It is not to any great extent that Great Britain buys of us to feed her own people, but she does purchase largely to supply countries to which we should export directly. She is a dealer, and finding out what all countries want, she arranges to supply them. She can do this, because she has the means of transportation, her tonnage being equal to that of all other nations com- bined. European people must have our cotton, because nothing yet pro- duced in the world can take its place. If we manufacture it, all other nations would be compelled to accept it in fabric, as they now do in the bale. What a vast field for employment would be opened to our people, and what immense wealth would come to the country, if all our cotton were manufactured at home and then sold abroad ! The best trade is that between nations whose productions are differ- ent. It would not be sensible for one farmer to seek to sell to another whose products are the same as his own. There is not much of importance pro- duced in Europe, wliicli we do not or cannot produce, and therefore the people over there need not buy of us, barring cotton, nor we of them, to any great extent, except there is an unusual condition, such as poor crops or a state of war. There is an adverse balance of trade with France because we buy her wines and silks ; with Germany, because we buy her sugar ; and with Italy, because we import her fruits — all of which we are able to produce for ourselves. These are only some of the commodities imported from those countries, and with which we should supply ourselves. If our industries, manufacturing and agri- cultural, were properly diversified and enlarged, there would be little that we should need of European prod- uct. We have been expending, annually, $15,000,000 for oranges, lemons, raisins, olives, figs, preserved fruits and nuts, which California alone can produce in sufficient quantities to supply the whole country. The protec- tion afforded by the McKinley law will shortly enable us to avoid this outlay, and cause the fifteen million dollars to be paid to Califomians and Floridians, instead of foreigners. Generally, in trade with Great Britain, there is a large balance of trade in our favor; in 1891, it amounted to $250,000,000, yet in that year we shipped her $60,000,000 in gold which were used to square our trade accounts with other countries. We send more gold there than to all other nations, because trade balances of the world are paid in London. Through English banks we pay balances to Germany, France and other European States, and also to Brazil, Cuba, the East and West Indies, Mexico, the northern States of South America, Central America, China, Japan and many other countries. The gold of the world concenters in lyOndon, and is there distributed, because Great Britain through her ubiquitous mer- chant marine has control of the chan- nels of commerce. The gold standard OUR COA^MERCIAL GROWTH AND THE TARU^f. of value originated in that country, and it will be maintained so long as she remains the commercial clearing house of the world. Adverse balances of trade do not arise in Europe as a whole, but in countries elsewhere. In 1891, we bought of Brazil (I use round iium- bens) $83,000,000, and sold her $14,- 000,000 : of Cuba $64,000,000, and sold her $12,000,000 ; of Mexico $41,- 000,000 and sold her $14,000,000 ; of the Central American States $9,500,- -000, and sold them $6,000,000 ; of the Hawaiian Islands $14,000,000, and sold them $5,000,000. The balance against us in China was $10,500,000 and in Japan $14,000,000. Outside of Europe the aggregate of balances against us was about $200,000,000. In 1892, the aggregate was considerably less, because, through reciprocity in large part, our exports were increased $145,000,000. Brazil, Cuba, Mexico, Central America, China, Japan, the East and West Indies, Hawaiian and Phillipine Islands, Oceanica, and the northern States of South America pro- duce many things that we cannot, and which we consume ; and we produce much that they cannot. None of them raise largely of breadstuffs and provisions, nor do the}' manufacture except in a comparatively small way and to supply a few wants. Condi- tions in those countries forbid, or are unfavorable to manufacturing on an extensive scale. Trade with them consists almost wholly of an exchange of commodities. It is in enlargement of direct trade with them that all danger of adverse balances will be removed. Considering these facts, one cannot be otherwise than im- pressed with the importance of mak- ing vigorous efforts to manufacture in larger quantity and in greater variety, in order to be able to supply those countries. It was but natural that in the past the greatest efforts should have been made to find markets abroad for the products of agriculture, because the -'untry had little else to sell. The farmers did not for a long time seem to understand that domestic markets are better for them than foreign, or that it is best for both that producer and consumer should live near each other in order to save the cost of transportation. A thousand artisans or laborers in this country will con- .sume more than the same number in Europe, because they receive more wages and can afford to live better. Therefore, producers of breadstuffs, provisions, fruits and vegetables, and raw materials should favor the policy that will increase the number of consumers at home and transfer the surplus labor from the field to the shop and mill. If this policy is pur- sued, the day is not distant when the country' will not be over-burdened with agricultural products. Con- sumption is rapidly approaching equality with production. When it has reached that point, it will be important that we should be able to pay for the necessaries of life, which must be procured in other lands, with manufactures. Because there were large surpluses of farm products, the Mckinley law was framed and adopted by the Republican party so as to give better protection to agriculture than any previous tariff measure. While nearly three-fourths of our exports are agricultural products, nearly one- half in value is cotton. All our surpluses of food articles, which will stand transportation for a considerable distance, can be disposed of to coun- tries south and west to better advan- tage than to other parts of the world. Reciprocity is based upon the idea of developing such a trade. In many lines our ability to produce raw materials is practically limitless, and agriculturists will find it immensely to their interest to produce sugar, wool, hides and fruits, which we now largely import. The legislation of the fifty-first Con- gress is admirably adapted to tat- growth of industry and commerce without the imposition of unnecessary burdens upon the people. The Tariff OUR COMMERCIAL GROWTH AND THE TARIFF. Act places iu the non-duliable sched- ules all necessaries of life impracti- cable of production at home. High duties are put upon luxuries, because they are mainly consumed by those who are able to bear the expen.se. Upon such commodities as we can reasonably produce, the duties are just high enough to make up the difference in the co.st of production in this and foreign countries, which difference is chiefly, if not wholly, one of wages. Such duties simply equal- ize conditions and render monopoly in production impossible either at home or abroad. The only departure from this principle is in imposing higher duties to protect new and infantile industries until thej^ are able to com- pete with foreign producers. Benefits are bestowed upon agriculturists and manufacturers with impartiality. If, as General Hancock said, the tariff is a local question, California is more interested in it than almost any part of the nation. There are numerous industries which are benefited by pro- tection ; and in looking through the McKinlej' law, one cannot avoid being impre.sscd with the idea that the Republican Congress which enacted it legislated liberal!}' with reference to the interest of California, the empire Pacific State. This will appear more clearly and forcibly by contrasting the law with the Act of 18S3 and the Mills bill. The duties are raised on wool, brandy, sparkling wines, grapes, raisins, figs, nuts, and gener- ally on green and preser\-ed fruits ; particularly is this true iu contrast with the Mills bill. There is hardly a California industry that is not pro- tected. The spirit of the law is to assure compensator}' wages to the laborer, and to capital reasonable renunieration. The legislation of that Congress would have been incomplete if the Tariff Act had not been supplemented by one that encourages the creation of an American merchant marine. The benefits of industrial legislation would not be realized in full measure, unless something were done to give impetus to commercial development. It is not far from the exact truth to say, that we arc paying to foreign .ship- owners $100,000,000 per annum for transportation of our pa.ssengcrs and freight upon the high seas. It is an outlay that should be avoided ; a de- pletion that .should not be endured. No nation can .succeed in competitive traffic which must depend upon rivals for the means of transportation. Ships are handmaids to foreign commerce. The carr}-ing trade upon the .seas is controlled by European nations. To them the cost of transportation is less than to Americans, because the wages of their .seamen are less ; and added to this is the fact that the principal mari- time powers afford pecuniarj- aid to their steamship lines engaged in trade between the great distributing centers of the world. Great Britain does this through postal estimates, France by tonnage bounties, and Germany, Italy and Spain, by direct subsidies. These are the conditions under which our people must compete for a status in the carr}-ing trade upon the seas. It has been proposed to admit foreign built ships to an American registr}-. Such a measure would be but slightly beneficial, as the difference in the cost of construction is now but eight per cent, according to the statement of Senator Gorman of Marjdand recently made in the Senate ; and it would be unwise, because to purchase foreign ships, instead of building them at home, would give employment to foreign instead of American mechanics, involving the payment of money to other people when it should be expended at home. We now have yards, established under difficulty and great expense, which are capable of turning out the best quality of ships, and we are able to produce ship- building materials in the greatest abundance. The fifty-first Congress authorized the Postmaster-General to contract for carrying the mail for a seriesof years, and to pay liberally for the ser%'ice, in order to induce Amer- OL'R COMMKRCIAL GROWTH AND THE TARIFF. leans to put competitive lines upon the ocean ; and one of the conditions is, that the Government may take the ships for naval uses, in case of war. It is a measure which is necessary-, because other nations grant pecuniary assistance to their steamship lines. If the law is permitted to stand, and is faithfully executed, it will tend strongly to the creation of a merchant marine worthy a nation of our great- ness and power. Its value can hardly be overestimated. All the ship-owners and officers will be interested solicitors of trade for their countrymen. Our exportations will be direct and we cannot be embarrassed by rivals. The policy thus inaugurated, if adhered to, will give larger employ- ment to our people, strengthen our finances, assure an honorable and influential position in the world's commerce, a power in diplomacy, and a position in the politics of nations, to which we are entitled from our unequaled wealth, from the intelligence of the people and the freedom of our institutions. CIIAPTKR VII. OUR COMMERCIAL GROWTH AND THE TARIFF/'^ t FROM A DEMOCRATIC STANDPOINT. THE Editor of The Califorxi.vn Illustrated Magazine has re- que.stecl me to give an abstract of my views relative to the very inter- esting article by Mr. R. H. McDonald Jr., entitled: " Commercial Growth the resnlt of a Republican Tariff" Mr. McDonald says much which cannot be succe.s.sfully disputed, and which, I conceive, points to a conclu- sion differing radically from that which he has reached. I quote : " Ev^er since the Phrenicians gained great wealth from commerce, the mag- nitude of foreign trade has been deemed the mea.sure of a nation's material prosperity." Again, "Results so beneficial liave been achieved with- out the aid of an adequate merchant marine. In fact, we have been .so dependent upon foreigners and rivals for transportation, that in the last fiscal year six-i5evenths of our foreign commerce were carried in foreign bottoms." Again: " We have relied *la the preparation consulted Mr. Rfotfet' aiso the vahiable .statistical lished in the " Examine of Hon. David A. Wells. t Reply by U. S. Senator Step! irticle, I have freely able tariff articles, brmatiou lately pub- too much on exporting products of agriculture. Indeed, our jieople have not displayed their wonted energy in building up export trade. Because we produce some things that other countries do not or cannot, they have been quite content to let others come to us. The most effective w'ork could not have been done for the want of transportation. ' ' The summary given of our trade balances with Brazil, Cuba, Mexico, the Central American States, the Hawaiian Islands, China and Japan, is not encouraging, and does not indicate "commercial growth." I will endeavor to follow Mr. McDonald's argument, and ascer- tain whether he is justified in sounding the prai.ses of the McKinlej' bill, and other kindred Republican fiscal legis- lation. He states: "The policy pur- sued from Wa.shington to Polk was measurably successful in preventing diminution of our money resources. ' ' Also: "In 1S46, a new policy was inaugurated which checked industrial growth, and the War of the Rebellion swept our shipping from the .sea. * ■^' * In 1862, the policy which was advo- 38 OUR COMMERCIAL GROWTH AND THE TARIFF. cated by Washington and all the other Presidents down to Polk, was restored. ' ' Much has been written during this campaigu with reference to the policy alleged to have been advocated by Washington and other Presidents. Every student knows, or ought to know, that no such tariff as the present was thought of in our earlier history. No one then dreamed that in hours of tranquillity the power of the Federal Government would be deliberately used to make rich men richer and poor men poorer. Republican leaders direct our attention to the preamble of the Tariff Act of 1789; viz: ' ' Whereas, it is necessary for the sup- port of this Government, for the discharge of the debts of the United States and the encouragement and protection of manufactures, that duties be laid, etc." This preamble must be interpreted by the Act which accom- panied it. The duties there pre- scribed ranged from 5 to 15 per cent. It is therefore patent that it was the idea of ' ' the fathers ' ' that manufac- turers might receive such protection as incidentally followed a tariff for rev- enue only. The Democracy proposes no such moderate tariff as that to which Washington gave his indorse- ment. The schedule there approved would now be called rank free trade. The tariff of 1 790 averaged 1 1 per cent ; that of 1791, 13/^ percent. In 1809, the severest duty was 24 J^ per cent. An investigation of all of our revenue acts will prove that it was not until the year 18 16, immediately after the close of the war of 1812, that a sub- stantial effort was made in the protec- tion line ; and yet the enactments there adopted, with possibly one or two exceptions, were less protective than the Mills Bill. Formerly, whenever protection was spoken of reference was had to real " infant industries." The bogus infantile creations of protective Republicanism had not been developed. But the policy of President Washing- ton, mikl as it was, did not meet the unqualified acquiescence of the states- men of his time. Mr. Jefferson with- drew from the Cabinet, in 1793, upon the distinct ground that he would not be held even indirectly responsible for the doctrine of Alexander Ham- ilton, as announced in that statesman's report on manufactures. But even Hamilton did not believe in never- ending protection. His idea, as ex- pressed in his report, was that while the payment of bounties for the encouragement of new industrial undertakings was advisable, their "continuance on manufactures long established was most questionable." When this Republic was younger, and it was impossible to know, and not very easy to surmise the best policy to be adopted, especially upon tariff subjects, views were sometimes ex- pressed the inaccurate character of which experience has made apparent. I challenge the correctness of Mr. McDonald's statement that the policy inaugurated in 1846 checked indus- trial growth, or had any other effect than to promote national progress. In the ten years which elapsed between 1850 and i860, our national wealth doubled. It has required thirty years of Republican rule to reach a similar result. In 1850, the per capita estimate of wealth was $261; in i860, $384; while at the end of thirty years from 1850, there was an advance of only $3.00 — $387. During the ten-year period above mentioned, the appre- ciation in farms was ioj4 per cent. During the succeeding twenty years it was but 2}4 per cent. But possibly Mr. McDonald refers specially to man- ufactures, in his attack upon the Democratic tariff. If so, the facts do not bear him out. In 1 850, the capital employed in manufactures was 5533,000,000 (round figures). In i860, the amount had increased to $1,009,000,000. Thus it will be observed that the capital invested in manufactures during that low-tariff decade almost doubled ; and the same may be said regarding the wages paid and the number of employes engaged. In the succeeding twenty years of high tariff the capital in maimfactures OUR COMMERCIAL GROWTH AND THE TARIFF. but little more than doubled ; while the commerce of our country, which, as Mr. McDonald says, since the days of the Phoenicians "has been deemed the measure of a nation's material prosperity," really prospered from 1S50 to i860, and has been, as he admits, in a sadly depressed state ever since. It is true that in 1857 there was a financial panic, but this was due to causes disconnected with tariff legislation. That very year Charles Sumner, Hamilton Fish and Henrj' Wilson voted for a reduced tariff. In the decade of 1 850-1 860 our exports increased 135 per cent. In the thirty succeeding years, or to 1890, the increa.se has been only 167 per cent. From 1850 to i860 the amount exported much more than doubled, and this achievement was not repeated until 1879. The tonnage of United States vessels, in 1850, was 3.535.454 ; i'l i860, 5,353,868. Ton- nage in foreign trade, in 1850, 1,439,694; in i860, 2,379,396. In 1890, the tonnage of United States vessels had fallen to 4,424,496, and the foreign trade tonnage to 928,062. This certainly is an appalling condi- tion of affairs from a business stand- point. Our Republican friends blame the war for these consequences. But the war is over. It was concluded many years ago. Prominent business men of the present day were born after the scene at Appomattox. There never was a countrj' better situated to recup- erate from the effects of a conflict than the United States ; and yet we find, as Mr. McDonald very truly tells us, that now "six-sevenths of our foreign commerce are carried in foreign bot- toms." We are promised that the McKinley bill will cure all this, but the evil exists, and it exists not only in spite of Republican legislation, but because of it. The Republican party was in power w^hen the Rebellion ter- minated, and with the exception of Mr. Cleveland's incumbency it has held the government ever since. Why has it not done something for com- merce for lyO ! these many years ? There is nothing backward or bashful about the ordinary McKinleyitc. He is prepared to claim everj-thing. The United States has progressed in defi- ance of Republican legislatioti. The corner-stone of the edifice may be placed upon the oak's expanding roots, the tree will grow, and will even shat- ter the unnatural superstructure ; but the imposition of the burden will not facilitate healthy development. The forces of nature will in time prevail, without, however, accomplishing per- fect or natural results. No one will deny that our countrv is beneficially located. Great rivers, grand lakes, numerous and splendid harbors, rich soil, minerals of all kinds in abundance; iu short, all things suggestive of com- mercial greatness are ours. There is no inaptitude upon the part of our people. It is the fault of the Repub- lican party that "they have not dis- played their wonted energy in building up export trade." It has been possi- ble for other countries to outstrip us and levy tribute upon us, to capture our carrying trade, simply because of pernicious legislation. Just before each session of Congress a number of wealthy Republican manufacturers meet and arrange for a new infant industry', whose continuous growth will bring about individual aggran- dizement as the re.?ult of general taxa- tion. These infants are to remain forever unweaned. They are not destined for death or even maturity. Take the condition of affairs in San Francisco. There are at this time in her bay and at Port Costa a number of vessels preparing to remove our grain crop. It is estimated that the fleet of 1891-2 will carry nearly $22,- 000,000 worth of wheat, and about $1,700,000,000 worth of flour ; the total aggregating a freight capacity of over 438,000 tons, of the value of about $23,500,000. The cost of trans- porting this crop will be about $5,226,- 000, or nearly 25 per cent, of the total worth. The bulk of this transporta- tion money goes into the pockets of OUR COMMERCIAL GROWTH AND THE TARIFF. Englishmen, whose tariff system our Republican friends are daily criticising, but whose ability to earn money by means of that tariff system is recognized the world over. Mr. McDonald refers to the immense productive capacity of our country, and to the difficulty which England experiences in con- ducting her affairs, because the bulk of her exports consist of manufactures made to a large extent from imported articles. That we have immense nat- ural advantages no one can dispute. But it is novel to claim that our pro- lific crops are the result of the McKin- ley bill. Our adv^ersaries will maintain that favorable seasons (good winters, as we call them), are produced by Republican legislation, and that a drouth is sure to result from fear of Democratic supremacy. Our tariff legislation is behind the age. The Protectionist insists that Democracy is seekiug to bring the country down to the level of England; that we are imitators of the British free-traders, etc. In the first place, free trade is not advocated by the Democratic party. A tariff for revenue only, and that means a very large col- lection, is the insistence of Grover Cleveland. England, which is usually called a free trade country, raises one- fourth of her revenue from her custom houses. The actual receipts from taxes for the year ending March 31st, 1S91, were $367,890,000, of which $97,400,000 were derived from customs duties, excise or internal revenue yielding $123,940,000. The United States, on the other hand, throws the burden of taxation upon imports as follows : Customs receipts, fiscal year 1891, $219,522,205 ; internal revenue, $145,686,250. For many years prior to 1842 the fiscal system of Great Britain was rigidly protective. The number of articles on the tariff list as late as 1840 exceeded 1,500, of which more than 400 were the raw materials of British manufactures. There were likewise export duties and prohibition of exports. Smuggling penalties were high, and there was no mercy dis- played in enforcing the revenue laws. England then had a system of naviga- tion laws upon which our present suicidal scheme was modeled. What was the issue ? From 18 15, when all the great wars in which she had been engaged were over, when she had as much influence over the affairs of the world as .she has ever enjoyed, England proceeded under a protective tariff pol- icy until 1842, and during the twenty- seven intervening years of comparative peace, her business affairs experienced such stagnation that bankruptcy was threatened. In 1815, her exports of manufactures and produce were ^'5 1 , - 610,480 ; and in 1841 the increase was scarcely worth taking into account, the amount being ^24,143 ($120,715). According to Mr. Noble, whose work upon English fiscal legislation is rec- ognized authority, the effect of this condition of affairs, the legitimate re- sult of the policy now imitated by the Republican party, was to close mills and workshops, depreciate property values, paralyze .shipping and drive starving laborers to the poorhouse. In 1841, Sir Robert Peel took the first step toward reducing import duties, and by the Act of 1S42 there was an abatement of the imposition upon seven hundred and fifty articles. The result was at once apparent. A de- ficiency in the national revenue of $12,105,000 in 1S41 was converted into a surplus of $17,045,000 in 1845. The duties on wool, particularly, which had been maintained for more than two hundred years, were wholly repealed in 1844, and in 1845 more than four hundred articles, mostly raw materials, were added to the free list. British navigation laws of a restrictive character were abrogated in 1849, with the exception of several relating entirely to the coasting trade, and these were eliminated from the statute book in 1854. Mr. Disraeli bitterly opposed the repeal of the nav- igation laws, and declared with the high protectionists who had preceded him, and who prognosticated innumer- able evils as the result of the acts of OUR COMMERCIAL GROWTH AND THE TARIFF. the Peel Cabinet, that the nation was in danger. There was great opposi- tion to any reduction of import duties. But the protest did not come from the poorer or middle classes, or from the body of the people. Mr. Justin Mc- Carthy, the present leader of the Irish Home Rule Party, in his well-known work, " History of our own Times," says : ' ' The corn laws, as all the world now admits, were a cruel burden on the poor and the working classes of England. They who were the un- compromising opponents of free trade at that time are proud to be its uncom- promising zealots now. Indeed, there is no more chance for a reaction against free trade than there is against the rule of three." Says Mr. Gladstone: " When the free trade reform began, trade increased to a degree unexampled in the history of the world. Periods of distress have been due to special causes which were beyond human agency to deal with. Such times of hardship have become almost, if not absolutely, unknown, owing' to the blessed effects of free trade. The country' has made a great step forward and will not go back." The expression ' ' free trade ' ' is used by these statesmen in a relative sense, since England has never ceased to col- lect a large custom revenue. Charles Sumner, the great Republican leader, wrote to Cobden congratulating him upon his fiscal victories. He said : "I am happy in your true success. You are the great volunteer with something in your hand better than a nmsket. This commercial treaty seems like a har- binger of glad tidings. Let that go into full operation and the war system must be discontinued." Does anyone believe that Charles Sumner, holding these views, would have supported the McKinley bill ? He favored a war tariff in war ; he would not have favored a war tariff in peace. Mr. Garfield did not hesitate to publicly declare that he favored that sort of a tariff which would ultimately lead to free trade. But what was the con- sequence of the repeal of the McKin- ley legislation of Great Britain ? The effect was not only remarkable and favorable, but almost instantaneous. The aggregate exports and imports of Great Britain which were ^123,312,- 000 in 1840 ro.se to ^268,210,000 in 1854; ^489.903.000 in 1865; /697,- 000,000 in 1880; and ^748,000,000 ($3,744,715,000) in 1890. This must be admitted to be a pretty good show- ing. The population of the United Kingdom, on April 5th, 1891, was 37,888,153. The total area in square miles is 121,481, more than 36,000 square miles less than the State of California. And with this population Great Britain has a commerce equal to that of Austria, France, Germany and Italy combined, although the aggre- gate population of those countries is about 160,000,000. Prior to the re- moval of the restrictions on her com- merce in 1842 the merchant marine tonnage of England had been long almost stationary. While it did not present, perhaps, such a woeful condi- tion as that afforded by the United States, -Still no progress was observed. Between 1842 and 1849 there was a gain of nearly 450,000 tons. There was a rise from 3,485,000 tons in 1849 to 4,284,000 tons in 1S54 ; 4,806,000 in 1861 ; 5,694,000 in 1871 ; 6,574,000 in 1880; and 7, 759,000 in 1890. It is estimated that the total toiniage of the British merchant marine is now in excess of 10,000,000. Before the re- peal of her ridiculous navigation laws from which ours have been practically copied. Great Britain was the propri- etor of one-third of the shipping of the world. To-day she ovras about two- thirds, and of the steam tonnage about 75 per cent. We are often re- ferred to the extent of the deposits in our savings-banks ; and Mr. McDon- ald alludes to our seemingly favorable balance of trade. He does not men- tion the trade balance in gold and silver for the last fifteen years. It may be well in this coiniection to consider the relative condition of our savings-deposits. The natural advan- tages of the United States are, as we OUR COMAIERCIAL GROWTH AND THE TARIFF. all admit, remarkable and unrivaled. Hence, we ought to make an unequaled financial showing. The tax returns of England prove that the recipients of incomes of $5,000 and upwards are decreasing, while the increase in the number of those whose incomes are small is far greater than the percentage increase of population. This, of course, means more equality in distribution. The tendency of the United States appears to be the other way. It has been shown that between 25,000 and 30,000 persons out of a population of more than 60,000 own half the wealth of this Republic. The gold to which Mr. McDonald refers must have been and must be flowing into the pockets of this exclusive class. In 1S90, the deposits in our savings- banks were $1,438,000,000, or in the ratioof $22.82 per head. The deposits, in 1888, in the .savings-banks and provident institutions of England, were estimated at $1,075,000,000, or in the ratio of $28.28 per head. One among the many effects of the repeal in 1S42, of the English McKinley measure, is found in the fact that there was then one able-bodied pauper to every 38 of the population of England and Wales. In 1S90, the ratio was one in 300. Hence, there has evidently been a marked decrease in pauperism in England and Scotland. But if we are to believe the Census return for 1890, pauperism has increased in the United States ; and I have the author- ity of Hon. David A. Wells for the statement that " there is not a city or town in England in which the per- centage of returned pau]ierism is as large as the City of Hartford in New England." It is somewhat remark- able that, in 1885 one person in every 4,100 of the population of the British Isles was a convict. In i8go, the proportion in Massachusetts was one to every 461 ; and we are told that in this country many of our criminals escape. While it is true that numbers of our laborers receive excellent wages, this is not because of protective legis- lation. They are paid whatever their labor is worth in the market. Labor is not protected. The man who is running the so-called protected indus- try takes the benefits of legislation. He pays his employe whatever the market rate may be. Indeed, if it were not for labor organizations, sup- plemented by the skill required in manufacturing institutions, those who constitute the actual bone and sinew of the land would indeed be poorly com- pensated. The fact is that the best-paid laborers in the United States are not in any way connected with protection, unless it be as tax contributors. But if the reward of toil has advanced in tb.is country, it must be remembered that jn England, since 1842, wages of all classes have gone forward 100 per cent ; and some of our best statisticians claim that of recent j^ears the advance has been more rapid there than in the United States. It might also be noted, as a circumstance tending to show general prosperity, that the amount of life insurance in Great Britain is greater than in any other couutrs-. It is no answer to all this to say : ' ' Then if you are such an admirer of England, why do you not go there?" Ours is the greatest of nations, notwithstand- ing Congressional blunders. The foregoing figures are not the result of any admiration for Great Britain. I am merely stating facts. It is aggra- vating to a patriotic American to see his Government adopting a policy which must retard the country's growth. It is exasperating to find that a foreign land, possessing no nat- ural advantages over us, and whose people are neither as skillful or per- severing as those of the United States, can make such a favorable showing. When we reflect that England proper has a population of more than 540 to the square mile, and that our people number only 18 to the square mile; when we look about us and compre- hend all that nature has done for us, and .sec how little we are doing for ourselves in economic matters ; when wc remember that with all our freedom and .'ill our intelligence, we are OUR COAIMERCIAL GROWTH AND THE TARIFF. 43 diverting vast wealth from the pockets of the masses into the coffers of selected millionaires, our sense of duty — our common sense — must bid us pause. That \vc are happier and better off than any other people is proof of our great endurance and our limitless resources. Says Mr. McDonald: "The legis- lation of the fifty-first Congress is admirably adapted to the growth of industries and commerce. It does not impose unnecessary burdens on the people. * * * Upon such commodi- ties as we can produce, the duties are only sufiBciently high to make up the difference in the cost of production in this and foreign countries, which difference is mostly, if not wholly, one of wages." The McKinley bill, as I think I have shown, is admirably adapted to interfere with the growth of our commerce. The assertion that the tariff upon such commodities as we can reasonably produce is sufficiently high to make up the dif- ference in the cost of production here and in foreign countries, which differ- ence consists principally in wages, is a mistake. The IMinneapolis platform announces this doctrine ; but as there are many people who fail to practice what they preach, so the Republican party announces a rule in its platform which it has never carried out. Thus the duty on steel rails is fixed by the McKinley bill at $13.44 P^r ton. Mr. Carroll D. Wright, U.S. Commissioner of Labor, reported to the Senate on August 13, 1890, (See Senate Miscel- laneous Documents, No. 212,) that the entire labor cost in this country of the production of a ton of steel rails is $11.59; so that if the British manu- facturer gets all his labor for nothing, the McKinley bill gives Mr. Carnegie and his associates $1.85 per ton, besides the cost of freight, insurance, commissions, etc. But the cost to the British manufacturer to make the same material, as far as the labor is concerned, is $7.81 ; therefore, the labor cost of a ton of steel rails in the United States is $3.78 more than it is in Hnglaud. So, if we accept the Republican platform theory, which seems to be adopted in the article which I am considering, the tariff ought to be $3.78 in.stead of $i3-44- But taking into account not only labor cost, but all other differences, Com- missioner Wright declares that the net cost in this country is $24.66 per ton, and in England $iS.6i per ton — difference, $6.05 ; leaving a net tariff excess, over this aggregate difference, of $7-39- This is a mere sample of the insincerity of the tariff lords, and of the inaccuracy of those who advo- cate their interests. Woolen clothing must be considered a necessary of life ; yet, with the ex- ception of spirituous liquors, it is made the principal source of revenue. One dollar out of every five in our tariff tax is exacted from this essential. Of all our revenue from taxation, more than one-ninth is drawn from taxes upon wool and woolen goods. It is estimated that $4 1, 000, 000 of taxes are gathered upon an importation of $60,000,000 worth of wool and woolens. In 1891, there were some $338,000,000 worth of woolen goods made in this country, which were protected by a duty under the McKinley bill exceeding $80.00 on the $100.00 w-orth ; and yet wool- growing is not profitable. We have not sufficient raw material in this country to supply our wants. We cannot get what we need without paying extravagant duties. We must buy foreign-made articles, or purchase them from those who have secured the enactmeutof the McKinley bill. And somehow it happens that the legisla- tion of the fifty-first Congress has not made the wool-growers happy. As to the assertion that raisins, oranges, etc. , can be raised at a profit, because of Republican legislation, it may well be doubted whether much benefit is derived from the tariff thus imposed. But in any event, as the Democratic platform demands a tariff for revenue only, and as these articles must be considered luxuries, a high duty will be imposed upon imports of that class. OUR COMMERCIAL GROWTH AND THE TARIFF. Although Mr. McKinley placed au additional half cent on imported rai- .sins, yet the market price of the article has actually fallen. Probably this may be cited as au instauce of the beneficial effect of protection. When a protected article becomes cheaper, our Republican brethren declare that its cheapness is due to protection. When it is high, they declare, on the other hand, that protection causes the high price. It will not be claimed, I imagine, that the object of the tariff on raisins is to reduce their value. As illustrating the McKinley method of establishing industries. Republicans are fond of declaring that all our tin- ware will soon be manufactured in the United States on account of the enormous duty imposed upon tinplate, and that the pearl-button business will rapidljf attain large proportions. What is meant bj' establishing or creating an industrj^ ? It is certain that the industry has not heretofore existed, because the market price of its product would not justify its main- tenance. But why do such industries exist now? Manifestly for the reason that the law has increased the market price of their product by taxing the consumer. This may be beneficial to the handful engaged in the enterprise, but it is onerous to the people at large who are involuntarily supporting a class of persons who have no more claim upon the nation than those who raise wheat or corn or potatoes. The tin iniquity is familiar to all. Every man who has constructed the smallest tin roof, since the McKinley bill went into effect, can see the point. He knows that he pays more for his roof, and he knows that as a consumer he pays the tax. A verj' prominent merchant in New York, whose estab- lishment is at 476 Broadway, made the following statement to the Com- mittee on Ways and Means of the present House, regarding the differ- ence in rates between the McKinley bill and the Act of March 3, 1S83, as re- gards imported pearl-buttons : The foreign value of a given package in 1883 was $322.00 ; duty 25 per cent — $80.50. In 1890 the dutj' amounted to $1009.25. Another imported pack- age of the same article in value amounted to $2,871, and the duty in 1883 was $717.75. The duty alone on the same package in 1S90 was $5,020.89. Now, when the store- keeper on Broad waj^ sells these buttons to the public, he does not sell them at a loss. Hence his patrons con- tribute this enormous sum for the benefit of a few gentlemen who have started a pearl-button establishment in Detroit. And still it is said that the McKinley bill ' ' does not impo.se un- necessary burdens upon the people." I might multiply instances by the page and by the hour, but limited space forbids. Republican protectionists assume to be very friendly to the American farmer, and declare that an additional tariff has been laid upon wheat for his benefit. But what advantage does the farmer derive from this additional tariff? Are not the wheat fleet and the flour fleet to which I have directed attention, preparing to sail to Liver- pool ? And does not the American farmer there meet the almost slave labor of India, and the miserably paid Russian ? And are not the prices which he there receives, regulated by the English demand and supply? The farmer pays tariff on everything he uses, but he makes no profit by the legislation. There is nothing in it for him. If a San Diego rancher goes into Mexico and buys a mustang worth $30.00 there, he must pa>- $30.00 in order to bring his horse home. Thus he finds himself possessed of a $60.00 animal, which across the line is worth $30.00. The farmers through the countrj' have been sold so often by the Republican party that they are pro- testing vigorously. If the wheat fleet already adverted to might go to Liver- pool bearing the product of our soil (which grows not because of the McKinley bill,) there to receive in exchange the commodities which are needed at home, the materials which OUR COMMERCIAL GROWTH AND THE TARIFF. 45 farmers consume and require, and which are now practically barred out bj' law, would not the agriculturalist be benefited thereby ? Here may be illustrated the delu- sive character of the balance of trade argument iu which protectionists in- dulge. Let us assume that Califoniia's wheat crop is worth $23,000,000 in Liverpool, and that its owners instead of getting gold for it make a wise bar- gain with their English customers and take and bring home in exchange English goods worth $25,000,000. Here, evidently, the balance of trade appearing against us is $2,000,000, and yet that sum represents gain resulting from barter in excess of the gold value of the article sold. The assertion made by Mr. McDon- ald to the effect that reciprocity is reducing our trade losses with South America is strongly coufirmatorj' of the position which I have taken. The Republican party never thought of reciprocity until Mr. Blaine stamped it on the McKinley bill and declared that the time had come when the American producer must get some benefit. Reciprocity merely gives us a taste of the benefits of freer trade. We oppose the reciprocity features of the McKinley bill, among the reasons, because it is there sought to vest in the President dangerous powers, and because the retaliator>' spirit of the enactment is unworthy of the age. If some of the unfortunate Republics south of us are compelled, in conse- quence of their requirements or iu- providence, to make bread higher and scarcer to their people, then we will make leather and sugar higher to our people. Against such conduct Wash- ington warned us in his farewell ad- dress. He said : ' ' Harmony and a liberal intercourse with all nations are recommended by policy, humanity and interest. But even our commercial policy should hold an equal and impar- tial hand ; neither seeking nor grant- ing exclusive favors or preferences ; consulting the natural course of things; diffusing and diversifying by gentle means the streams of commerce, but forcing nothing." Reciprocity, however, is valuable as demonstracing the benefits which would follow more generous legisla- tion. Belgium, containing about the population of the Empire State, and smaller in area, shows imports and exports amounting annually to $582,- 000,000. It is true that Au.stria, Bulgaria, Italy, Portugal, Rouniania and Servia do not surpass the United States in the proportion of commerce to population. But we must not, be- cause we are doing better than Servia, become vain or boastful. The Repub- lican idea seems to be to avoid trading with populous and rich nations. In 1891, the United Kingdom imported 4,838,991 quarters of wheat from the United States ; verj' nearly 2,000,000 quarters in excess of that derived from Russia, and more than 2,000,000 quarters above the importation from India. One of the most iniquitous results of the Republican protective policy is found iu the circumstance that our manufacturers sell many of the articles made by them in this country' to foreigners far cheaper than thej' do to the tax-ridden American. IMr. Farquhar, who is one of the wealthiest and most successful manu- facturers of agricultural implements in the United States, frankly admits this, but nevertheless declares that he pre- fers a modification of the tariff", as the free importation of raw materials would enable him to compete with British manufacturers anywhere. He says that he sells manufactured articles to consumers in South America and Mex- ico from ten to twenty-five per cent, cheaper than to his United States patrons. The Ann Arbor Agricultural Im- plement Company, through its adver- tisements in the Spanish edition of the American Jllail, offers standard agri- cultural implements at enormously reduced rates to Spanish consumers. A few of the relative prices are here given. 4b OUR COMMERCIAL GROWTH AND THE TARIFF. 1 rice. Price. Advance Plow, $9.co :S.oo Advance Plow, 4.C0 S.oo Hay Tt.Kl. r, SO.oo 45.00 Mow'. 1 .... 40.00 65.00 Cinn:v \.,. 3 60.00 90.00 Ann .\: .. 2S.00 40.00 Clipper Cutler, 9,50 18.00 I,ever Cutter, 4.25 S.oo Cultivator 22.00 30.00 S\s eep, 60.00 90.00 Nearlj' all the large coiiceru.s iu the countrjr pre.sent .similar record.s. And Mr. Gcori^e Drajjcr, a prominent Massachusetts iiianufacturer, so con- cedes in a pamphlet recentl_v issued liy the ' ' American Protective Tariff League." California Republicans have not always held the views which many of them now profess. In 1891, the Legislature of this State, which was largeh' Republican, pas.sed a joint resolution requesting the removal of the tariff (truly called in the resolution a tax) upon grain-bags, burlaps, gunneys and gunney-cloth. (Statutes of 1891, page 525). But the Republi- cans in Congress heeded not the appeal. The Democrats made an effort in the last Congress to procure the removal of the duty upon binding twine, l)ut failed by rea.son of Repub- lican ojiiHisition. President Jackson tnil\- said laud he never did anything at tlie battle of New Orleans, or else- where, to indicate that he was very fond pf England ) : ' ' The corporations and wealthy individuals, who are engaged in large manufacturing estal)li.shments, desire a high tariff tt) increa.se their gains. Designing pol- iticians will support it to conciliate their favor, and to obtain the means of a profuse expenditure for the purpo.se of purcha.sing influence in other quarters. * * * Do not allow yourselves, my fellow-citizens, to be misled on this subject. The Federal (iovernment cannot collect a .surplus fcir such jnirpo.ses without violating Iheiirincipks of the Con.stitution. and assuiiiiiig ])nwers which have not been granted. It is, moreover, a .sy.stem of injustice, and if persisted in, will, inevitably, lead to corruption, and must end in ruin." Republican protection is a fraud. CHAPTKR VIII. LESSONS OF THE LATE ELECTION. SHOWN in the elections of 1.SS4 and 1SS8, the strength of the two great parties in the electoral college was more nearl}' equal than since i860, ex- cept in 1876. Hence both parties entered into the late contest with hope and expectation of success. As the country was fairly prosper- ous, new industries had sprung up, and our foreign commerce disclosed a larger balance of trade in our favor than ever before in our history, {nW of which was due in no small measure to the policies inaugurated and pursued by the incumbent admin- istration) the Republicans at first were more sanguine of victory than their opponents. It is not unusual for adherents to a defeated party, especially when chances were so favorable, and the reasons why it should be sustained were ,so cogent, to inquire how the result came about. Since the election the Republicans all over the country have been seeking information as to the causes of de- feat, and as is not unusual a variety of conclusions have been reached. We are now so far removed from the contest, and the smoke and mists of 48 LESSONS OF THE LATE ELECTION. battle have so fully (li-appLaiviI that we can examine di^lla--'^l(lIlat^_l\ ami decide iutelligenth-. An Lxainniaticin would be without benefit except to satisfy curiosity, unless we seek to profit from the lessons taught by the election and its results. One fact .stands out proniincntly and agreeably. It is that the cam- paign was exceptionally free from scandal, personality, and ungracious criticism of methods and details of administration. Both candidates had served the country in the Presidential office, and had given the people honest government. It was eminently a decent campaign, reflecting credit upon popular institutions, and one that has contributed to improvement of political morals. It is to be hoped that it is a precedent that will be followed in all future time. It was somewhat peculiar, too, that no commanding strategic point was presented witli reference tn -wiiieli the t\V" ,;;rr:il ]«.lilieal armies were manenveieil, allhoii;_;li nominally iheie was falivicated sharp issues upon economic, financial and commercial policies. The armies actually fought in detachments and without any gen- eral plan. During the campaign several prominent leaders on both sides gave their views in magazine articles as to the controlling or most important issue. vSome said it was the monev unestion ; others that it ■sti IS t. was tile lai that it was , itation of federal power or of economy in expenditures. In each section of the country the leaders directed their efforts to the point which seemed to them to be the most salient, or on which the public mind could be most easily swayed. In their speeches on the stiuiip. Senator Hill and others laid most stre.ss upon the Force Bill. It was an issue manufactured out of the declaration in the Republican plat- form in favor of free and fair elec- tions, and coupling with it the bill passed by the House oi Represcnta- ti\-es in the Fifty-first Congress, the deelaralion was distorted into a pur- jiose to enact a law that would give the general government control of electoral and congressional elections in the South. This charge probably had no influence in the North, but it tended strongly to perpetuate Demo- cratic solidity in the South. It was done to prevent the People's Party making inroads in that .section, and it was effecti^•e in achieving that end. Negro domination is a " raw-head and bloody-bones ' ' to the Southern people, and it is not easy to make them be- lieve that any other than the Demo- cratic ixirty would not introduce it. Deniuiciatiou of silver coinage by Senator Sherman and Governor McKinley alienated those Republicans from their party who entertained free- silver coinage views. There is a feeling in the country that there is not money enough to accommodate the wants of business, and that silver eoinai;e is a way to supply the defi- ciene\-, and one that should be adopted. The Republicans in the East attacked the plank in the Demo- cratic platform which declared for a repeal of the ten per cent, internal revenue tax on state bank issues, and portrayed the horrors of a return to a "wildcat" currency, but it had little effect, being looked upon as a mere spook ; the business men of the country did not believe Mr. Cleveland or any other Democratic President would dare assent to such a measure in the face of the satisfaction that pre- vails with the existing sound, uniform, and everywhere circulable currencv. That plank was evidently put into the platform as a gimcrack to .satisfy the States' rights .sentiments of the South, and as a sop to the clamorous for more money in the South and West. On the silver question there was no appreciable difference in the platforms ofthe two parties, and it was understood that the candidates for the presidencv entertained the same or similar views. Tl'.e hardest fight against free-silver coinage in the first LESSONS OF THE LATE ELECTION. 49 session of the present Congress was made bj^ Democrats in the House of Representatives. There were local issues, notably in Illinois and Wisconsin, which had a material influence upon the general election. Activities aroused by liope of securing crumbs of patronage are always greater in the party out of power than in that in possession of the government. This contributed to no small extent to Democratic suc- cess. The Republican party being in power was held responsible for the want of a sufficient volume of money, and for every ill, real or imaginary ; and it is easier to produce defection from the ranks of the party in power than from that which is out. Again there is an inexplicable feeling that a change of administration will produce changes for the better. It is inexpli- cable, becau.se it has been .so often tried without resulting in improve- ment. In the campaign the tariff issue was not presented as sharpl}- as in the platform of the parties. The ex- treme free-trade j)Osition taken in the Democratic platform was verj' little defended; in fact, it was substantially ignored by the party leaders in the North. Many newspapers and .stump- ers made efforts to razee the sharp edge. Editorials and speeches were filled with modificatory explanation. The interpretations given by Senator Hill of New York, Mr. White of this State, and numerous others made the Damocratic position tolerably good protective doctrine, or, .sp2aking more accurately, the positions assumed in manj- instances were outside of and inconsistent with the Democratic platform, if its language is given a literal meaning. Mr. Cleveland .spat upon the tariff plank of his party's platform with a boldness almost equal to that of Horace Greely in .spitting upon the Whig platform of 1848. In his letter of acceptance he expre.s.sed views clearly inconsistent with those amiunciated in his message to Con- gress in December 1887, and with his .iltilnik- lluoughout the campaign of i.sss. Ill the late election the coun- try did not express it.self distinctly upon the tariff issue as raised by the two platforms, while the Democratic new.spapers and orators, modified, explained away, and befogged as to their party's position, misrepresented that held by the Republicans. The Republican platform declared fur a principle, and not for a particular measure ; the principle was clearly stated when the McKinley Bill was pending in Congress, and notably by Mr. Sherman, who, while he indorsed the principle, said that .some of the duties might be too high or too low. In adjusting duties when there are multifarious and conflicting interests as in this country, no man or .set of men can satisfy all classes, or do ab.so- lute ju.stice to all interests. The issue of protection or no protection to American industries and labor was artfully evaded by the Democratic new.spapers and orators; and in addi- tion thej- treated the McKinley law as if it were indorsed in whole and in detail bj' the Republican party, and as if it were to remain as unchange- able as the laws of the Medes and Persians, when it was openly an- nounced that there might be excres- cences and inequalities that should l)e removed. It was not advocacy of the protective principle that brought about defeat to the Republican Party. The Democrats did not accept the issue pure and simple at the hustings, and the boldness of Mr. Cleveland in tak- ing position not in conformity to party platform tended immensely to satisfy the business men of the country. No public man of this day in the nation is freer from machine politics or bossism than President Harrison, and we have had no administration since that of Monroe which manifested less partisan .spirit, or more thor- oughly ignored political bo.s.ses than his. Nearly all the men in his party known as manipulators and bos.ses were opposed to his renomination. Unfortunately there were federal 50 LESSONS OF THE LATE ELECTION. officiaLs, notably in the South, who exerted themselves for it. In that section it is impossible for the Repub- licans to gain a single electoral vote. It was repeatedly alleged before the country, and was openly charged in the Minneapolis Convention that a large number of federal officials were delegates, and that the Convention had been packed and was being manip- ulated by the "federal brigade." There was just enough truth in these charges to create an effect upon the country, and Mr. Harrison entered the campaign handicapped by them. For many 3'ears the .sentiment has been growing that no President, how- ever excellent his administration, should be re-elected to succeed him- self. It sprang from the abusive use of patronage in the past to achieve party or pensonal success, and this .sentiment has become no incniisic'xr- able factor in our ]>ijlilics. The American peojile have hccoine jealmi^ of official ink-iirrencc in pdlilical man- agement, si) much sn that a trnthl'ul charge that nnmiiiatinn> ha\u Ijeen made tlin.u-h .iflicial intlutauv is most Iruslful ti. pait\- or candidates' success. The nomination of Mr. Harrison under the circumstances rendered it distaste- ful to a class of con.siderable numeri- cal .strength. On the other hand, circumstances placed Mr. Cleveland's position in a conspicuous light. He was nominated by the Chicago Convention in .spite of the machine and bosses in his vState. Hill's machine and the Tamman>- tiger were assaulted and overwhelmed. The heroism of the act challenged the admiration of the country. It showed a reliance upon the masses whicli demanded fitting recognition on their part. Tammany had no alternative but to .support him ; it had been beaten in the open field and outside its citadel, and if it became recalcitrant, it was in danger of being assailed and throttled within. Nothing contributed so much to Democratic success as the attitude in which Mr. Cleveland was placed by the circumstances of his nomina- tion. He was aided besides by the boldness with which he ignored the extreme free-trade doctrines of the South. The Democrats of that section were in no better position to be recal- citrant than was Tammany. There can be no doubt that the Homestead .strike had a damaging infli.-ence upon the fortunes of the Republican party. That it was .so is illogical. Mr. Carnegie is a Repub- lican and has made an immense for- tune in manufacturing. Though the McKinle>- law reduced the duties upon such articles as the Homestead Mills fabricate, still the employees felt that Carnegie's capital was increasing too rapidly and they were recei\'ing too little for their labor. The Democi-atic charge that protective duties did not protect labor had some appearance of truth when Carnegie's wealth and the comparative poverty of the employees were contrasted. They did not stop to consider that the law cannot pre- sc'ihe the wages that .shall be paid, or the prices at which raw materials shall be purcha.sed, or manufactures .sold, and that they are matters that must be arranged between employee and employer and between buyer and .seller. The employees evidently be- lieved that the "robber tariff" — the ' ' infamous McKinley law ' ' — I'obbed consumers and laborers for the sole benefit of capital. There was an aggra- vating element that entered into the affair which had an exasperating effect, and that was the employment of a body of Pinkertons to aid in enforcing the lockout. It had been the practice to employ them as a .sort of private standing army to overawe and to do the fighting for capitalists. vSuch an insliinlion as the Pinkertons operate is offensive to the American people and obnoxious to the genius of our institutions. It is the general idea that the local authorities and people should be relied on to preserve the peace and enforce the laws. It is net mercenary to respond to a call of a sheriff or other executive officer to aid him in protecting the comnuinily LESSONS OF THE LATE ELECTION. against violence and disorckr. While the Republicans were not in the least responsible for what was dune, the afF.-.ir was irritating, and some- body had to sufier for it. That the Republican Party was selected as the object upon which vengeance was to be wreaked is shown by the fact that while in the rural districts it held its own, it lost heavily in the large man- ufacturing centers. It cannot fairlj- be said that any material question was distinctly passed upon, but it is pretty clear that the people have set the seal of their condemnation on machine and boss supremacy. This is evident, for turn whichever waj' we may in this State and elsewhere, in general and local politicsthe machine has been nier- cilesslj- disregarded and sat down upon . It is a lesson of great value to those who aspire to public favor and to leaders who desire party .success. There is a growing determination on the part of the masses to have their own way and it is best they should, for it will give us better laws and purer administration. To get rid of the machine and self-constituted bosses is to be relieved from corrupting in- fluences and every phase of bad poli- tics. The a.spirants to public positions had better take cognizance of the fact that the people want good govern- ment and mean to have it. I-et us hope that in future the only mad to political success will be tht- highway of honesty, intelligence and faithful service to the country. Another conspicuous fact is that no party, whatever may be its attitude on material questions can pre\-ail against the Democratic Party in the South. The Republican Party tried coercion and conciliation to secure to the negroes the e.xercise of the politi- cal rights conferred and guaranteed b\- the Con.stitutiou with the same result. The Democratic politicians there and in the North understand the strength of vSouthem unity and the weakness of that .section when divided. In 1890, .several Farmers' Alliance men were chosen to Congress and numer- ous Democrats were comiKdled to concede the demands of the Alliance to gain their .seats. In the late elec- tion, no People's Part}' candidate has been elected to Congress, and the fond hopes of the leaders of that party have been dashed to the ground so far as that section is concerned. It carried Northern States, but there was no reciprocation in the South. The Ocala platform which declared for loaning money bj- government on cotton and other agricultural products was a Southern conception and was supposed to be a popular mea.sure in that section, but it was subordinated to the negro question. The People's Party took high ground on that sub- ject and hence failed signally to break into the ranks of the Democracy. A lesson taught by the election is that the People's Party, .so long as it favors manhood suffrage and equality before the law will be regarded in the South as essentially a sectional party as the Republican. Another lesson taught is that the progressive spirit of the country should not escape observation, and that there .should be no failure in rec- ognizing it. New conditions and new wants are constantly arising, and a political party that does not make a study of them and put forth efforts to employ adaptable measures cannot be successful. The want for a larger volume of money should be .supplied by the Government through measures well considered and generous, giving to it the elements of soundness and. sufficienc}-. The people are aroused to the prevalence of monopoh", and a party that wishes both to XH-omote the common welfare and to gain .success, will hereafter be compelled to inquire how far government .should go to remove special privileges, and to exer- cise power to that end to the fullest legitimate extent. It is an important lesson of the late election that party trammels are not as binding as for- merly, as the people are more inclined to follow the dictates of conviction 52 LESSONS OF THE LATE ELECTION. than to obey the compulsion of llie party whip. Advocacy of just and practicable measures, clean methods in politics, honest and vigorous admin- istration are the only agencies through which popular attachment to partj^ organization can be secured and maintained. The best and .smartest politics is to give the people the wisest and most efficient government. Any other theory is beneath the respect of the true patriot. CIIAl'TUR IX, BALLOT REFORM. AGITATION of this question lias reached almost overshadowin.i;- proportious. The evils of a great variety of election frauds ha\e existed in many parts of this country for a long series of j-ears, and as is natural, they have grown in propor- tion to their toleration. As a rule, they have more lart;\l\- ]iv(.\aik-cl in the large cities, but lrr(|iKiitl\' tliL->- have appeared in smaller towns and occasionally in the rural districts. The first fraud that attracted national attention was committed in Loui.siana in 1844. To be a voter in that State at that time, it was neces- sary that a man should be the owner of real estate. A political manager purchased a tract of land near the Gulf, called swamp land, which was totally uninhabitable. He laid out a town, divided the tract into .small lots and conveyed them to hundreds of men in New Orleans, who, after they had voted in that cit}', were sent to the Parish of Plaquemine where they again voted, showing their deeds to prove they were real estate owners. In this way that State which was Whig, was carried for James K. Polk. The Plaquemine fraud became his- torical. The next fraud which attained national notoriety was committed in the city of New York in 1868. In some of the wards of that chy the votes cast outnumbered the whole population. Through this fraud Hoffman became Governor of the State, and its electoral vote was cast for Seymour for President. These successful frauds gave impetus to sim- ilar practices in many parts of the nation. They became numerous all over the South, and alarmingly prev- alent in several of the large cities. Not only were voters bribed, repeaters employed, ballots miscounted, ballot- boxes stuffed, and returns forged cr falsified, but intimidation and violence Ix-canie common, especially in the South. The fact that all the.se acts were committed is not the worst of it. The perpetrators were rewarded by the beneficiaries of these crimes, and not infrecinently lionized. There were those \\'lioas])ired to notoriety through these proceedings, and thought them- selves heroes if they could be spoken of and pointed out as those who had carried elections. We have heard of men who held the votes of a cit>-, and even of a State in their pockets. Such men prided tliem.selves upon being bosses. It is a very apt and suggestive designation. A boss is not one who persuades, but one who coerces — one who drives a gang whose bidding is obeyed. The boss is never potential where elections are honest, but he achieves his greatest power where corruption and crime are least ob- .structed by popular antagonism. Efforts in behalf of ballot reform at the present time are mainly directed to so surrounding the ballot-bo.x that there can be no bribery, no stuffing of boxes or mi.scounting of ballots, no forgery or falsification of returns. The brains of the reformers are racked to devi.se ways for protecting the voters again.st the influence of the perpetrators of election crimes. Such efforts are well enough, indeed they are useful and produce good results, because they tend to make the com- mission of crime more difficult and detection more certain. It is interest- ing and instructive to study the evo- lution that has taken place in legis- lation for the government of elections. At first the laws were very simple, and few acts were denounced as crimes or misdemeanors against the ballot, 54 BALLOT REFORM. aud the penalties imposed were of a comparatively mild character. Our grandfathers were unable to conceive that anj' free American citizen, en- dowed with the power of the ballot to preserve his liberty aud promote the common welfare in which his own was involved, would think of destroying or impairing the potency of suffrage bj' any crime or irregularity. They sup- posed the right of suffrage would jje regarded as the mo.st precious of all rights and would be treated as a holy thing, and for a time they were not mistaken. The election defrauder in tho.se daj'S was quite unknown, and when a Judas did apin--ar, he had no escape frompuMic (ip]ir(il)rium excej)t in going out and liaii^^iuL; hini^L-lf It was not necessary llial llic la\\s .shuuld be complicated, coinpixliLiisivc and .severe. As mi.sconduct made its ajtpear- ance, inhibitorj' and penal laws were enacted, statutes were enlarged to meet contingenciLsthal were pnibalile, aud their pnil.alnlily .^rew with the loss of regard in Iheniiiulsof individ- uals and the public for the sacredness of the right of suffrage. The legisla- tive reform of the ballot has gone on until our election statutes have Ijecome the most conspicuous of an\- relating to public olfeiises. Xo statute has yet been so in^ieuiously constructed, or .so severe in penalties, that it has not Ijeen .SUCCissfully e\aded or defied, and all have been quite as often boldly defied as cunningly evaded. The race be- tween legislators and rascals, the one to circumvent election crimes and the other to devi.se schemes to avoid the law has been an interesting one. The genius of the legislator has not as yet surpa.ssed the skill of the election ra.scal. Each statute that has been enacted has been deemed amplj- com- prehensive to prevent every possible election crime, but all have proved inadequate. The Australian law is now supposed to be a product of human wi.sdom that will .secure honest elections beyond a ]x-radventure. The ballot reformers are bending their efforts to .secure its adoption in all the states. It is a law of many merits aud may be justly regarded as the best that has ever been devi.sed. It probably will prevent bribery, as the bribers will not dare trust the voters to carry out their bargains, and it prevents intimidation immediately at the polls. The timid is shielded from assault, because it is suppo.sed that no one knows how he votes. There are safeguards against Ijallot-liox stuffing. The law is not stronger than some other laws against fal.se counting and falsifying returns ; nor is it ab.solute proof agaiu.st repeat- ing, though it is more perfect in that respect than any of its predecessors. But as perfect as it is, it affords no protection against intimidation or vio- lence away from the polls, and it must not be assumed that it will not be evaded or defied. Election crimes are more frequently committed, or con- nived at, by election officers. No law can nuike men honest, and it cainiot be salll) presumed that none btit honest men will be chosen to conduct elections. The illiterate can be assisted in stamp- ing their tickets, aud as they cannot read, they must rely on their assistants. It may, and probably will be the case that tho.se dispo.sed to defraud in elec- tions, will fasten upon these aids to the illiterate to have their foul work done. It need not be surprising if it should transpire that this law will be evaded or defied. The question will be asked, can any law be made that will put a stop to election crimes ? Every criminal stat- ute that has ever been enacted has been violated : none has ever totally suppressed crime at which it was aimed. Then is there no complete remedy ? There is none that the law alone can supply. The efficiency of a statute is not in its language or in its .saiiction.s — all depends upon its admin- istration. It is a great gain to have public .sentiment .so developed as to •secure the enactment of comprehensive aud stringent laws, but efforts should not stop there. They uuist extend to their faithful enforcement. The duties BALLOT Ri:PORM. of the good citizen never end. It is not enough that the political rascal is punished ; he must be boycotted so- cially, and regarded and treated as a social outcast. The really good citi- zen will not be disgusted and not go to the polls, or otherwise refuse or neglect to perform his political duties, because crimes and frauds are com- mitted by bad men. In such cases there is the greater necessit}' for vigi- lant and vigorous action. The mere theorist reformer will never revolution- ize conditions ; that can only be accom- plished by putting theory into practical and successful operation. To tie the hands of ra.scals by legislation is good so far as it goes, but no law is auto- matically executory. There are and alwa3-s have been classes who advocate limitation of the right of suffrage as a ])anacea for election crimes. One class would have a property, and another an educational qualification. These lim- itations are inconsistent with the fundamental idea of popular govern- ment, and the tendency is to enlarge rather than to restrict — to enfranchise- ment rather than disfranchisement. Limitation of suffrage is the very es.sence of class government. It is the rule in monarchies and aristocracies and the results have never been bene- ficial to the masses. If popular gov- ernment ever advances beyond the experimental period, it will be under ths influence of the broadest suffrage. If it fails as the best means of promot- ing the general welfare, or proves less beneficial than some other form, the institution of a class government will not only be tolerated but cheerfully accepted. The property qualification existed in this country for a consider- able period after the constitution was adopted, but it had to give way to the conviction of its impropriety under our sj-stem. Dr. Franklin put the cases of two men, one of whom could vote because he was the possessor of a jackass, while the other was deprived of the right C(f suffrage because he did not own such an animal. "The ques- tion," he said, "was whether the right of voting belonged to the man or the jackass." Men with or without property must obey the laws relating to business or regulation of the .social relations ; the onlj- difference between them is that one pays taxes and the other does not — one is interested in having a good government as much as the other. The non-possessor of property should have the right of ballot to protect him.self against the power of the property owner. To restrict the right of ballot ou this basis is not ballot reform. There is more reason, however, for imposing the educational qualifi- cation, as participation in public affairs i.s intellectual rather than physical. The theory .seems rea.son- able, but the difficulty in prescribing the line of demarcation renders the application of the theory impracti- cable. Scholarship is no proof of good judgment or honest purpose. Election frauds and crimes are not committed by the luilettered, but by the intelligent rascals. The ignorant are not more easily bribed than the learned. They may be deceived. It would be qtiite as well to base suffrage limitation upon moral qualification if it could be done! but it cannot be, nor can any just rule be inscribed on the .subject of intelligence. Tiie way is to let suffrage be as little restricted as po.ssible, and tru.st to time, toler- ance and education, for they are forces that will ultimately remove the evils that result from errors of judgment or defects of understanding. The advice of honest, intelligent men will be taken by the ignorant sooner than that of the tmprincipled and unintelli- gent. If the former class will be as active and earnest as the latter there will be immensely less e\il resulting from the illiteracy that pre\ails in this covnitry. Ballot reform is agitated more es- pecially to prevent frauds in manipu- lating ballot Ijoxes and returns. There is comparatively little .said of the wholesale deprivation of the right of BALLOT REFORM. sutirage by force or iulimidation. The man whose vote is not counted, is cheated out of the exercise of his rightful power in shaping the policies of governnicnt : if it is counted for the opposite side he is doubly wronged. The same is true in ca.se of forgery or falsification of returns. All these are no worse, or not as bad even as the use of violence, or intimidation to deter men from voting. Force and intimidation have frequently been resorted to to prevent large classes from voting on the ground of preju- dice against race, religion or nation- ality, and sometimes to promote partizan or per.sonal success. The con.sequeuces of preventing the exer- cise of the right of ballot b}- any unlawful means may be of a most fearful character. If one class is thus deprived, it constitutes a pre- cedent for dejiriving another. True ballot reform includes not alone the prevention of too much voting or counting, but also enforcement of the exerci.se of the right in behalf of all who are entitled. CIIAl'TKR X. THE DANGER TO THE RETUBLIC. ">R()M tlK- L-arlicst \K-yun\ of .'h \vu lia\'(.' ;ui_\' kiiow- dge, men have indulged in philosophizing on the ■iuhject of government. The L-ITort has been to discover a s\ stem that would produce the highest degree of public hap- piness. Plato, Aristotle, and others gave their thoughts to devising such a system, and Sir Thomas Moore, in his " Utopia," developed one, as he thought, of the most perfect character. Theoretical government is one thing, but practical government is quite an- other. Theory, however, is necessarily antecedent to experiment. In this field evolution has in reality been con- stantly taking place, though at times there have been appearances of retro- gression. History demonstrates that in government there can be no stand- still ; that there must be advancement or retrogression, in accordance with a law of nature. There are elements which prevent carrying theory into perfect practice. No machinery is more subject to accidents, and unseen and fluctuating influences than that of government. When a people pos.sess the necessary degree of intelligence and virtue, it is not difficult to render theory and practice completely har- monious. Philosophers have been the fathers of the ideal popular govern- ments, and their conceptions have pre- ceded every attempt to overturn mon- archy and found popular institution. The French revolution of a century ago was brought about more by writ- ings of philosophers, encyclopedists and litterateurs than by the abuses of the PVench Monarchy, though for two centuries there had been no States General, and the government had been a practical absolution. Xo French- man did more to develop new and Ijetter ideas of governmenl in the minds of his countrymen than Mon- tesquieu. Up to that time there never had been a Republican governmenl of a high order, according to the Ameri- can idea, but there had been sufficient experience to di.sclose what a republic might become when a high order of gen- eral intelligence and virtue prevailed. When Montesquieu wrote, he had not the example of the American Republic before him, but only the light that ancient, and a few small spasmodic re- publics in modern times supplied him. The experiences of republics had, however, demonstrated the correctness of the principle I have stated, that in government there is inevitably ad- vancement or retrogression, audit has been further demonstrated in .subse- quent history. It is certain that gov- ernments become bad through vicious activity. The first French Republic failed from the latter cau.se, and the .same has been true of many other governments, but a greater number of nations have decayed through inertia. People have often lost their liberties and their manhood through contiiuied supineness. The perpetuity of a re- public depends upon avoidance of both extremes. The time will never come when there cannot be change for the better. The founders of our govern- ment thought they had devised a per- fect system, but within about eighty years from the time the Constitution was adopted, it was amended in fifteen important particulars, and many other amendments have been suggested and urged by intelligent people. The American mind is active, and it is not improbable that changes may be pro- ]iosed that would, if adojited, prove imiMaclicable or vicious, but we are 58 THE DANGER TO THE REPURLIC. less liable to injury from change that is not reform, than from evil practices that grow up through general indiffer- ence and inattention. Corruption is the bane of republics. The friends of popular government throughout the world have been more alarmed al .out the (.fleet of the Panama scandal upon Uic fortunes of the pres- ent French Republic, than about the plots of legitimists, imperialists, and Boulangists to overturn it. The French people have, for twenty years, been able to withstand the efforts of these enemies, but the question has been anxiou.sly put: can the govern- ment survive the demoralization and disgust that will ensue from the dis- closure of the corruption of numerous high Republican officials ? Montesquieu held that a despotic monarchy is not so bad as a corrupt republic. This opinion does not rest upon theory merely : it is sustained by the world's experience in every n,c;-e of wliieh we hn\e antheiuie ln\tor\ , Cor- ruption isllieworvtronii Mr,,,,|,re.sii,n, for it l^ not only inipoveri>hin,L; to a people Init it lead's to -eneial demoral- ization and criminality, to the sidjver- sion of all authority and to anarchism. Despotism maj- crush, but corruption debases the spirits of a people. If long tolerated, corruption of officials and leaders will extend to and involve the body of the people, and there is no relief from its malign infltience<, except in revolution and 1.1h„1^]k.1, .M..iiarchy has .succeeded re] 'uM le.s 1 ,eea u^e tlie lat- ter have become eorriipi, and the former has been accepted as the Ics.ser evil. The same author thought that ex- pen.ses in a republic should be less than under any other form of government, and for the reason that the people who pay the taxes can control expenditures if they will. A corrupt government is never economical ; it is an impo.ssi- bility that it should he so. An honest government may, in certain respects, indulge in profu.se expenditures, but this tendency is easily checked. The burdens which bear most heavily upon any people, as a rule, are tho.se which are imposed through corruption. It is not alone that people may have freedom of action that makes popular institutions desirable ; but also that life and property shall be protected, and the public interests promoted at the lea.st cost consistent with efficiency. Montesquieu again says that " the tyranny of a prince does not bring him nearer to ruin than indifference to the public good brings a republic." The government of a monarchy or aristoc- racy reflects the character of the king or ruling class, but that of a republic is the mirror which reflects the char- acter of a people. A popular govern- ment is precisely what the people make it, and no such government will be good, to which the people are indiffer- ent. It cannot be said that any people are capable of successful .self-govern- ment, until they have been tried. Americans believe they have the best government on earth, and they are correct in this belief; but if they are .so satisfied with it that they see no need for reform or improvement, there isdanger. Because we have a better government than other nations, it does not prove that it is as good as it might be made. In a republic, officials recognize their responsibility to the people, while their conduct in office is indicative of what they believe the people will tol- erate, or what the people demand of them. This may be taken as a gen- eral rule, though there are exceptions, for it has occurred that men have been cho.sen to office who have disregarded the wi.shes and interests of their Con- stituents. The same thing will occur in future, but the frequency of such instances depends upon what the peopleexact, and the punishment they inflict for dereliction. One thing is certain, that a rascal will neglect duty, and become corrupt, if he believes the public will not thereby be .seriou.sly offended. As has been .said, the char- acter of a government reflects the character of the people for intelligence and virtue, and where corruption pre- vails for any length of lime there nuist be .some defect in the people — tliere THE DANGER TO THE Ri;iH'HI.I(; must be a lack of iiitellij;ence or virtue, or an indifference to the public welfare, which of itself indicates a want of virtue. In Spanish American coun- tries there are governments popular in form, but they are defective, more especially in manner of execution. There is lawlessness, profligacy and cor- ruption becau.se the governments have no regard for the people, and, on the other hand the people have no respect for the officials. There are repeated revolutionsintho.se countries without being productive of improve- ment. Unstable conditions there are but reflexes of the popular character. The few only are intelligent, and the corruption of officials has demoralized the ma.sses. In this country there is greater in- telligence, and the people are more generally virtuous than in any other. Thus far there has been general pro- gress in regard to institutions of gov- ernment. The nation has at all times been full of reforms ; there is a con- stant clamor for reform, and measures are often urged which are impracticable or without value. While we have men of extreme views, tho.se that are erratic, still there is a conservation in the masses that preserves the coinitry from engaging in extravagant movements. There is not the radicali.sm that would overturn all because a part is bad. Ac- tion has generally been .so discriminat- ing as to remove the evil and l)uild upon that which is good. The American people mo\e no fa.ster than is required to gain the light that assures to them a tolerably safe footing. As they the- orize and rea.son carefully and accur- atel.\- they .seldom resort to experiment to test the virtues of measures, and consequently it is not often necessary to retrace steps that have been taken. With all their intelligence and vir- tue, there is a defect that has been productive of every evil in government from which the country has suffered, and that is the proneness to be inatten- tive to public affairs, to public duty. There always will be persons who seek to promote private interests at the expense of the pul)lic. and Constitu- tions and laws will be framed for that purpose ; there are trea.sury vampires who.seek toliveon publicexpenditnres, and corporations or individuals who want special privileges. Every success they have met with in the past has been through inattention on the part of the masses, and those officials who have disregarded or sacrificed the public welfare have relied on the inattention of the people. " When the wicked rule, the people mourn." But there need be no occasion for popular mourn- ing in this country except from the con.sequences of sins of omi.s.sion on the part of the people themselves. The greatest pre.sent grievance is the burden of taxation. It is greater in some localities than in others, and where the burden is least, the people have been mo.st attentive to public affairs, and where it is greatest, they have been most neglectful. Where the most expensive governments are found, investigation will show alarm- ing corruption. It is enigmatical that men will neglect public matters when their own personal interests are in- volved. The man most luilettered cannot but l)e aware that there are those who devote themselves to making gain at the public expense. Extraordinary expenses grow out of the very machin- ery of government. This is the ca.se in California. The .system is complex and cumbrous, and needssimplification. Corruption in the State, county and municipal governments may be exag- gerated, but if it prevails to the extent that is charged, it cannot be more depletorj' of the public trea.sures than the official superfluity, or the compli- cated machinery of government that exists. The people have themselves to blame for all the tinnece.s.sar)' burdens they bear, whether impo.sed by corrupt practices or an expensi\e system. Montesquieu wrote a half a century* before our system of government had been founded, and upon the theory that a republican form of government would be as direct and simple as that of monarchy. Upon this theory he was THE DANGER TO THE REPUBLIC. correct in his idea that in a republic, government should be less expensive than in monarch}-. Leaving out the expenditures to maintain a great stand- ing army, our government is the most expensive in the world, because it is most extensive in all its phases. We have the national, the State, the count3^ the municipal, and in some of the States, the town.ship government, and which act in diiferent spheres and to an extent independently of each other. The idea is that concentration is a danger, and to avoid it there must be checks and balances ; otherwise despotism will follow. To carry out this American theory, it is necessary that the system sliould be complex, that officials should be immerous, and taxation comparatively oner- ous. With all these loads upon them, it is the more essential that the people should be watchful of the conduct of officials, that expendi- tures may be kei^t within due bounds, and especially that cnnii]iti()n should be made odious. riiiKC(.»ar>- expendi- tures mu.st be avoided in every prac- tical)le way, not alone to lighten burdens, but because extravagance begets corruption. To curtail the public expenses is but to simplify and improve the machinery of government. Public officials should be amply compensated for their ser- vices, and appropriations for public improvements, for education and char- ities sliduld not be niggardly ; but not a cent shmilil he appropriated for which the public do not get an equivalent in benefits. If the people will but give the same intelligent attention to public as thej- do to their private business, the government will speedily become as perfect as human j udgment can make it. If they are neglectful they may expect that the ruin which is often visited upon a despotic prince will fall upon the Republic. The early philo.sophers reasoned upon the theory that a .self-gov^erning people would not 1)e dishonest, and would not permit di.shonesty in matters of government. They knew that men are often guilty of practices that do not square with morals in dealing with each other, but that they would act perfidiously against their own individ- ual interests, they seem not to have conceived. It was known by the later philoso- phers that the Roman people were hoodwinked and debauched by aspir- ants to consular, tribunitial, and other important offices through the exhibi- tion of games, gladiatorial .shows, and the distribution of large.s.ses, but gen- eral intelligence of a high order did not then prevail. If they could have conceived a people like those of this country, where there are schools and churches in which the principles of morality and responsibility to a single and perfect Deity are taught, they would have .supposed that inattention to pul)lic affairs and the prevalence of official profligacy and corruption could not exist. Montesquieu knew there had been vile practices and corruption in repub- lics, liut he could not have imagined how free and independent citizens could become .so deba.sed as to buy or sell votes, or commit any other act that would prevent a fair expression of the popular will. Traffic in votes and all frauds in elections are the legitimate out-growths of official corruption. No honest man will pay money for an office simply for the honor it confers, for an office thus acquired is not an honor. Whoever does it thinks he can make the office profitable through some illegitimate practice, and to get his money back, he must do that which is robbery of the public. The men who .sell their votes and are paid to stuff ballot-boxes and falsify returns, conjure up a .sort of defense for them- -selves on the ground that the benefici- aries in the end will receive a quid pro quo for the money they expend. If an end can be put to official cor- ruption, profligacy and irregularity, criminal and all improper election methods will cease at once. Whether this consununation shall be realized in a free government depends upon the IHE DANGliR TO THi; U\l action of the people themselves. To bring it about they need but give uii- reiuitting attention to their public duties. F'ailure in this on Ihcir pari has produced the dehasL-nieiU and overthrow of every republic that lias disappeared from the map of the world. Inattention and indifference to public affiiirs are the dangers to which all popular governments are most exposed. THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW AN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN THIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE. THE PENALTY WILL INCREASE TO 50 CENTS ON THE FOURTH DAY AND TO $1.00 ON THE SEVENTH DAY OVERDUE. J IC L F ( N) 11 Apr 5 21 UBRARV USE w LMj,^:^^5Q :^ ^^McElVED AUG 2 3 '66 -5 PM LOAN DEPT. «f LD 21-100m-8,'34 UNIVERSITY OF ^ ORNIA UBRARY \ r'-t^ r^ "^^^l"^?^ ^ m