The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1881-11-03
THE FETTERs or THE RACE.
From the Chicago Express. i

s'u1Viy Hc-tue mere pObseRkion Oh
existcnce--ought to be 4 blessing. And
30 il would be but for the tyranny Of
our financial and industrial systems,
and other tyrnnnics Of the social sys.
TENS that will be amcliorntcd nj least
with the de,hronement OF the mammon
king. Life in the present ago il huge
grab game without order and without
any satisfactory results. 1t IN not even
satisfactory to those who are SO fortn-
nate rs to grab tho most; for perhaps
none more than our so-callcd successful
men. realize the uncertain tenure liz
which they hold their possessions: n,nl
certainly none IRE 10 consummatcly In
need as they arc. Where the Poor man
wants dollars, the demands Of the ich
mans business operations claim tho,i-
sands. The richer man is III what
constitutes riches, the poorer he IN
and this feeling begins to he universal.
~ acknowledged. Many noble
nature, having spent his souls wealth i'll
accumulation, looks abroad nron his
vast possessions with sickcning heart,
nsking himself !: rs this all - Feel
ing the utter hopelessness born Of the
ir''ition Of base pursuit. aud cxclaim-
ing: In disappointment there is hope;
only qualification brings despair Not
the laborcr alone is victimized by tha
crazy financial grab game that hid its
origin in the ignorant childhood Of the
race, that has walked with the race {,
manhood unchanged in its balba,ic
nature, and that now Mt the dawn oi
more spiritual and nobler err seeks i,
throttle the spirit of evolution TINT
awaits upon the thresholi-our savior
and redeemer.
All men in these times begin to feel
that what We call wealth IS not wealth
in any true aensc; hcing unnusritiye
alimcnt for the souls hunger; producing
that diseased and insatiabl, craving that
knows no appeasing. The result Of ,he
system is, that the whole race is lisin.
tegrated and proving upon each other III
consequence Of slow starvation. The
time has passed when men and women
can be content with the short Iis,l
qualification, bcgetting Unsuitable desire
for more, that money brings. In the
gradual refinement of the race from the
crude beginning Of the financial grab
system, men and women have grown
into knowledge Of deeper need than
money can supply. Deeper than the
need Of bread and meat is the need oil
AL outlet for the pent-up genius Of hu.
mainly; the love instinct that would
bless others with its creativencss. But
this outlet can only come through per-
feet adjustment Of the distribntiye sss-
tem-such M adjustment MS will ef.
fectually lift the nightmare of money
from off the breasts of the people. Ii
asked what is the greatest cause Of nm
happiness in the world, what il is that
holds the minds of men and women most
deeply enslaved, demanding their con-
tinual and anxious thought, nine per-
sons out Of ten will answer "money.
And again, If the cause most potent in
the prompting Of suicide be ferreted out,
it will he found that trouble about money
matters is responsible for it. And SO
with murder. Indeed, Of the thousands
Of persons walking the streets, how few
are capable Of abstracting their thoughts
from their secret money pcrplexitics to
look abroad with eyes Of kindly appre-
citation npon the other faces and forms
swarming past; faces and forms SO sus-
ceptible of loving influences, but alb
sorbed, distracted, too, by the
Same wretched tyranny. Who that
reflects upon this thing can fail
to see its utterly demoralizing tendency
lis binding influence to everything
beautiful and holy in nature and hn-
mainly? When one reflects upon this
it grows and grows until it becomes Il
monstrous consideration. The sky is
blue and the earth is green, but not to
him who walks in the disqnietude OF
that ever-pressing incubus "Where
will the next dollar come FROM" For
him the sky and earth are prison walls
and he longs to escape their influence.
The happy faces Of children bring tears
to his eyes. He forecasts for them no
future over which his own gloom does
not preside: and he thinks, bitterly,
lit were better they had not been horn"
The shadow Of the money curse blights
every object ON which his eyes may rest
mars every sound Of nature that seeks
to soothe and harmonize his soul. And
thus is he defran,led Of theoutsile world. |
But even more is he robbed Of the |
inner world Of his own latent genius |
and its results, that If free would con.
tribute their share Of blessing to hui
mainly. The most ignorant Of men
and women have half-dormant sense |
of this iniquity, and it fills them with
dumb, uniutelligible resentment. Some
1t makes morosc, others brutal, Others.
the timid, are pushed down and out Of
sight, and the crowd ,ramples heart
lessly over them. These gentle natures.
nearly all, are they whose names figure
in the papers under the head Of suicides
Others. holder and more defiant, net up
on the idea that the world owes them Il
living. For these our States prisons and
houses Of correction are built. Women
swa m the dens Of prostitution-forced
there by absolute necessity. And So the
goes on day by day and year
hy year; and the strangest, the wonder
[ul part Of the matter is that SO few stop
IN the desperate struggle to analvzc the
ransc Of their own misery or to attempt
The application Of any remedy. Rich
men who have the grip on the money
hags dare not relax their hold moment
to look the thing sqnarely in the face
lest some turn in the tide of affairs
IL onld reduce them to poverty. From
this fear, and the intense seliiShness il
begets. they have learned the secret Of
for mutual protection.
And thus We have money corporate,
untitled against labor disintegrated and
helpless, and state of things as the re-
suit that has converted this world into
\ hell So potent that the crax,est hisot
need look for no other.
Who can blame unhappy man il,
haunted by the saddest s,,rmiscs, he
sometimes in the bitterness OF insane
despair asks if this wor Il really lie the
one chaotic pandemonium q. the UNI
penal settlement in the sea of
stars a gladiatorial arena where higher
keep us for their am,,se.
ment, as Of old the Roman Emperors
kept wild beasts to tear and desour each
other? And il this were 81, what plan
conld ever have been devised SD perfect
III its action to work out this result as
the dreadful money system now binding