Problems in American Politics.

Evening Star, Issue 7787, 7 December 1888, Page 4

Problems in American Politics.

' Scribner's Magazine' has an exceptionally interesting article by ex-Secretary Hugh M'Culloch on ' Problems in American Politics,' from which we extract tiie following : REPUBLICANISM AND MONOPOLIES. The American Government is stronger (says the writer) than it was a half-century ago ; but has not this increase of strength been at the expense of Republicanism ? We claim that the United States is the freest country in the world the only country, except Switzerland, in which the people have equal rights. Equal rights before the law are, indeed, possessed by everybody here, but are there not combinations of interests which prevent the full play of natural rights, which hold in check, if they do not destroy, individual enterprise ? In what other country can be found such companies as have been organised in the United States for the purpose of controlling the manufacture, the transportation, and the price of goods? Where can be found an organisation like the Standard Oi) Company, which absolutely controls the market of an article for which there is an immense and constant demand, and stamps out competition; or even such companies as have been formed to regulate the production of iron and steel and coal ? In what other country do manufacturers, who are protected by tariffs against foreign competition, combine by trusts and other agencies to advance or sustain prices and prevent domestic competition ? There is no country of which I have any knowledge in which business of all descriptions is so steadily falling into fewer and fewer hands, in which combinations are so powerful and individuals so powerless, as the United States—no country in which the solution of the labor question maybe more difficult. We have yet to learn that there may be as little personal freedom under Republican institutions as under Monarchies, and that the best efforts c" all good citizens should be to prevent the great Republic from being a free country in name only. That thesa efforts will cot be wanting I have an abiding faith. Congress has the power, by opening the way for freer trade with other nations, to destroy most of the existing monopolies, and this power will ere long be exerted. CITY ELECTIONS AND THE FRANCHISE. Though it may now be too late, in the present condition of political parties, to change effectively our naturalisation laws, there might be a limitation upon the franchise in municipal elections, and it is very certain that this must be done if our large cities are to be properly governed, and sufficient safeguards are to be thrown around persons and property. Municipal government should be created and conducted on business principles. No one should be a voter who is not the owner of property. The amount required need not be large, but it should be large enough to indicate that the voter has something at stake. Manhood suffrage in municipal elections is, to say the least, a dangerous

experiment; a law that places upon an equality in voting the lazy vagabond and the enterprising wealth-producing citizen is certainly neither just nor reasonable. FARMING DOES NOT PAY. On the whole, farming is not a profitable business in the United States. It is a healthful employment, productive of strong and vigorous men, but it is not attractive, and it is not attractive because it is not profitable. Seldom do the sons of well-to-do farmers become farmers. As soon as they are old enough to strike out for themselves, they tviH be found in the townß, not upon the farms. Nor are lands in the old States which are not near enough to populous cities to be profitably used for market gardens increasing in value. So far is this from being the case, that very few farms in those States could bo sold to-day for prices which they readily commanded twenty years ago. Investments in lands which are valuable for agriculture only are not now regarded with favor by capitalists. Better use for their money is found elsewhere. THE TARIFF AND MARITIME SUPREMACY. The tariff ought to be carefully considered not only with regard to its burdens upon consumers, but in its bearing upon commerce and navigation. The leading nations of the world have been commercial and shipbuilding and ship-owning nations. Such were they in mediteval ages, and such they will always be. It was by such nations that trade was extended and civilisation was carried into countries that had been degraded by their isolation. By such nations, in search of markets for their pro ductions, the American Continent was discovered, and all other great land discoveries made. What has made Great Britain the nation she is—the nation upon whose domain the sun never sets ? Not her manufactories alone—extensive, varied, and profitable as they have been—but her manufactures, her commerce, and her shipping combined. Why have her merchants been able to take raw materials from all other nations in exchange for their manufactured goods ? Is it not because she has exempted those raw materials from import duties ? Why is her flag seen upon every sea ? By what means lias her supremacy as a commercial and maritime power been secured and maintained ? Is it not mainly because her statesmen have understood the simple fact that trade is barter, and have freed it from all restrictions ?