Page:Speeches, correspondence and political papers of Carl Schurz, Volume 5.djvu/100

76 ideal of youth and the subject of attention, envy and emulation. There never was a time when great wealth, as such, played so important a part, not only in business, but in society and in politics. Never has its influence been so general and so potent. Never has the rapid acquisition of riches been so largely the aim of endeavor, and at no time has that endeavor to such an extent sought to make, and succeeded in making, the Government serve its ends. Yes, without exaggeration, it may be said that it has at last become the principal business of our National Government to enable one class to take money out of the pockets of others and to put it into its own. I need scarcely add that of this our high tariff is one of the main incentives and the most systematic instrumentality. I might be asked, May not the same be said of all our tariffs in the past? It cannot, or to only a very slight extent; for the industries affected by the tariff are now an immeasurably larger part of our national activity than ever before. Nor have the favors obtained from the Government ever been so enormous.

There was a time when the American stood before the world as the finest type of self-relying manhood. He was the representative “help yourself” man. It was his pride. What do we behold now? From day to day grows the number of American citizens who look to the Government to set them up in business, to insure their profits, to protect them against losses. Even the farmers, once the sturdiest and most self-reliant of all our people, now, when they feel themselves in trouble, instead of simply demanding the removal of the burdens the Government has put upon them, cast about for all sorts of contrivances by which the Government is to take them into its paternal arms and to charge itself with their welfare. And, indeed, they reason, why should they not be as well taken care of as the owner of a copper mine or a woolen mill? If one,