Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1882-12-14
Monkeying With a Buzz.Saw.

a.
"Don't munkey with the buzz-saw
while in moshun'' was the legend on a
rough board nailed to tree Just in
front of modest saw-mill near the
Presidents birthplace. in Vermont. L
denat~believe he ever saw it. If he did
he was not satistie |. He wanted to 90
a step further. He wanted to see wheth-
er he could not ''munkey' without get
ting hurt He probably realizes now
that he can not. How they went down,
these bosses, one after another. before
the despised masses who have hereto
fore worn their collars meekly and even
contentedly, as though in 1.-The bond of
peace ltmeans SO much. that rout,
that we can not grasp it all in a mo-
mont. Democratic Assemblymen; Dem
Ocratie Mayors; Democratic Governors;
Democratic Representatives. Democratic
Senators; q Democratic President in
1881 more Democratic Presidents in
the years to come; Ciyil-service Reform;
revenue reform these results crowd
fast one upon the heels of the other I'M
til we can not contain them. But il can
all be summed up in word. The
slaves revolted; they rebelled against
their masters; they were successful;
therefore it was a revolution. That is
what it means. The people got tired of
the bosses. The great National buzz
saw Of popular Indignation began to re-
vOlvc. The bosses did not understand
it. 1t had been so quiet for a, time.
They began TO think that it would only
revoive when they pleased that it
should. Now it is actually going round
and round. Still they do not appreci-
ate the situation. 1t goes faster and
faster, and keen ears detect the first
"buzz But the bosses have fat ears,
dulled by rich living, and they, do not
hear. Their eyes stand out with fat
faster goes the saw, and the buzz sounds
louder and louder, but still these fatu-
Gus fools tlife with it. Why. they can
stop II in an instantif they will! They
have but to put out their hands. Let
them do so. All! how swiftly, silently,
certainly the cleaning circle cuts
through these hands. Fingers and blood.
BLOOD and fingers. and the floor is
drenched with the thick red gore. Per-
haps it will teach them a lesson Per-
kaps not, Who cares? 1t will teach
the people, at any rate, what their
power is. That's the main thing.
Bosses can be dispensed with. Perhaps
Iitrwould be better for-the people if they
were. Some years ago Western boss
a corduroy trousers-tucked-in
hide boots boss mot so dangerous as
your perfrmed-Prince Albert frock-coat
boss of the East, with primrose in his
buttonhole). threw the boots aforesaid
upon the stove in the village groggery
and remarked to his followers in his
own sweet way, with many soul-stirring
oaths: IF | should put upa yaller dorg
with stump tail you'd vote for him.
That was true then, in the days when
some partisan or other volunteered to
vote for the devil himself if the ''party'
nominated him. 1t is not So generally
true now. 1t is not so true, tor exam
pie, to-day rs it was the day before cleo
ton. After a few more revolutions of
the bllzZ-saw in politics it will be true
nowhere, and Of no MIN or body of
men. The American people. with char
acteristic charity, patience, forbearance.
good nature, and what not. have stood
more from the picayune politicians who
have undertaken to boss politics than
would have been borne without revo-
luton by any otaef Nation They have
allowed the bosses to have their own
way. They have unselfshly -sgiven up
every time: they have cried aover the
bloody shirt; they.hav shiyeret under
the tariff scare; they have danced
when the bosses piped.. wept when they
wept, and whenever Simon (who NAV
stand for the generic boss) has said
s'wig- WAC" their supple fingers have
obediently wiggled. That is all over.
Of course the millennium hasn' arrived,
and of course the bosses AREN'T dead.
Perfect peace will only come when all
factions are sitting quietly side by side
On the coffins of the bosses There will
be- struggles, bitter contests, sharp
fights; sometimes the bosses will be on
top; sometimes the people. But the
significant fact is that the buzz saw is
rim moshun.. y Washington Cor. iPHita-
dolphin Record. 49,