The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1884-04-10
History Repeats Itself.

Tho railroad and commercial bnrofs,
who have obtained as complete control
of thia nation, In this era Of financial
desputsm, M ever the barons of feud-
alism had Of the political lives Of our
forefathers, arc showing themselves
quite ~ incompetent to comprcl end the
functions of the agencies they have
usnrpcd ns their predecessors showed
themselves ignorant of the political
value Of tho nations they dispossessed
in the development Of modern ciyiliza-
ton.
In his poem of Goliva, Tcnnyson, nj
most with unconscious truth, gives u
picture OF the insolent contempt for
the peoples rights with which the
barons OF feudalism taxed the workers
to support their own selfish indulgence.
Ii we ray, we ssaryc.
Fruitlcsslv protest Il the mothers,
with their babes in their arms. Blinded
by greed, aud separated from human
sympathy, striding
About the hai, among his dogs, alon,,
tho grim Earl sneeringly rebuked
his wife who sought him to plead i'll bc-
half Of her fellow human beings:
q, ny. ny. you Talk,
and gave terms for its acceptance
which, In her own person, insulted the
decent rcticcnce Of MI womankind.
1t seems astounding that the common
sense of the barons did not show them
what fools they were in hampering tho
workers and insulting the producers Of
the materials that supported their own
lives. ..
And IL il astounding; only the deyo-
ton to Mummon il ab!c to so corrupt
the natural goodness of human nature
rs TO make man prefer to serve the
devil and hasten To 10 evil, knowingly.
than to serve the instructive sympathy
for thnr fellow man with which Gods
economy has endowed us all.
There has been in tho history Of the
race frequent recurrence Of such Pc
RODS of the Worship of Mammon, and
the overthrow Of seemingly flourishing
states has been, in almost every case,
brought about by just such devotion to
Mammon rs characteiizes this period.
THE people he damned" is the an
cry but truthful expression Of the mod
,rn baron, and fifty expresses the APP
meciation he has OF the function Of the
railroad which gives him his support.
This appliance for their own closer
association, and the more rapid and
easier distribution of the products of
their labor, the people have invented
and constructed, only to find it stolen
from them, aad turned into an agency
Tor their further isolation and oppres-
son. lnsteaa of being bencfcent in
crease of the common wealth by which
the security, case and comfort Of each
mans life is enhanced, it becomes a
new and unexpected agent for a des.
potism So far-reaching and cunning
that no man can escape its grasp upon
his thro e.
At the same time, too, tho money
which the people have, through the
efforts of generations, invented for the
distribution IF their products, has be-
come an agency for their monopoliza'
ton, and developed n set Of commercial
harons to whom any increase in produc'
ton i made only new means for
swelling their private fortunes, instead
Of being an addition to the comfort oil
the producers lives.
The need exists to-day for new
declaration 81 independence, and the
formation by the workers of more
perfect uaioa for the establishment oil
justice, the iasua ance Of domestic tran.
iuillity, the promotion of the general
welfare, and the securing of the bless
ings Of liberty to ourselves and our
posterity. --Chteago Sentinel.