THE FARMER LOSING HIS POLITICAL PO WER. 1 8 1 



written over the entrance of the legislative halls these 

 words : ' Whoever acquires any influence here can obtain 

 his share of the legalized pillage.' And what has been 

 the result ? All classes of society have become demora- 

 lized by shouting around the gates of the palace : * Give 

 me a share in the spoils ! ' " 



Yes, many of us know full well that our laws are op- 

 pressive, demoralizing, and expensive. Professor Sum- 

 ner says of the United States : '' Men are put up for the 

 correction of these bad laws who are ' no better than the 

 laws themselves ' " — men whose hearts are not in the 

 interest of reforms, whose very natures prompt them to 

 oppression. Can we expect an extension of justice and 

 liberty at their hands ? " Can you gather grapes from 

 thorns, or figs from thistles ? " Party declares for them ; 

 and the independent voice, the best voice of the country, 

 is not heard in our legislative halls.' 



Our public men are urged to stand by principle, by 

 truth, by the cause of real liberalism, as the only cause 

 worth working for, as the cause which must eventually 

 win. But, in return, they say : " It is no time to philoso- 

 phize, to moralize, to theorize " ; that '' the man who 



' Says New York Tribime editorially : " The governing classes at 

 Ottawa prosper with the adventurous aid of railway contracts and 

 jobbery of every description. . . . The future seems dark and uncer- 

 tain and clouded with difficulty, because the present is a period of 

 disenchantment, during which the people have found out that Confed- 

 eration is enriching a powerful ring of government politicians, office- 

 holders, and corruptionists, without promoting the permanent pros- 

 perity of the people." — October, 1889. The people of Canada may 

 be induced to stand by Confederation, but the greatest cause for dis- 

 satisfaction is in its being held together by the very system which 

 Sir John Macdonald borrowed from the protectionists of the United 

 States, for whom the New York TrUmni; is the chief organ. 



