Omaha daily bee., 1885-07-06

pedirg OUT nstior al progress, and sight
landmark in the worlds history to some
note our progress.
1t Is said the aggregate of wealth in
creased; unfortunately the apgregstions
are principal in the hands Ct the few,
The number of toilers rlaing to the
ownership Of au humble cottage in the
city or q quart,r of section Of lsnd which
gradually Increases In value by labor OF
husband, wife and children, is i%ncreas'
Ing; but the addition of wealth to each
or the entire elasa is slow.
The large portion Of tho results Of the
toll of the multitude beyond SEXUAL sub
sistence finds Its way into and enlargea
the fortunes of the fow.
Strong men jostle each other in the
ranks of toll begging the privilege to
work for wSges, barely sufficient to sub.
sist wife and children. Miners, dragging
out ex'stepce by delving under the
gsound. Educated women, in free
Christian America, wearing their lives
away
STITCHING A THRoBs INT SHIRTS,
receiving tho plttauce of two or three
cents each for making. How much I'm
proved Is the condition of these from
those who raised corn In Egypt, or tended
flocks for the patriarchs four thousand
years ago, over the plebians on the banks
Of the Tiber, or the fishermen whom
Christ found on tho banks of the Gallilee2
The word evolutes slowly. Take an
early land msrk-the JowIsh
wealth; note the four thousand years be-
tween; and wo wonder that they enjoyed
80 much or we 30 little, and when Abrs-
ham left hIs home In Babylonla and
journeyed to the then west, to the wilds
Of Pslasttne, where he could enjoy DO.
litIcal and religious freedom. When, as
did the pilgrims from the May flower, In
the "congregatlon of Israeli selected
rulers by suffrage Of the people with
schools like our common and parochial
schools With laws to prevent oppression
and usury and to protect the poor and
weak, with q homestead law giving to
each family twenty and one. half acres of
land, which could not be a~llensted and If
sold by creditors would at the fftieth
year, the jubilee year, be restored to the
original owner or his heirs-cer5a!nly an
early exhibition of communism. Evolu-
ton, from the time of the Iaraslite, has
Deeu SLOW lDueeus
Centuries later Greece deposed her
kings, assumed an obligarchy afterwards
q republic. Five hundred years before
Christ, she was great In refinement, in
literature In srt,-ths founder of Euro
pean civilization. Gseece territory no
longer than Nebraska, with bril!iancy
and grandeur never excelltd, evoluted
blck into anarchy.
So Carthage, whose founders, driven
from Tyre, were the Puritans, the pill
grims of the east, the peer of Greece,
whose great names still sdorn the world,
from her dizzy height,
EvoLUTED INTO DECAY AND DEATH,
Rome, so long the mistress of the
world, dethroned her kings, destroyed
her oligsrchy, and became q colossal re-
public, distinguished In arms, arts and
civilization; following others, she auf.
fered the few to obtain the wealth and
the poor to be dependent. Tho newt
able result followed, and she persisted In
the same gulf where othsr republics were
buried, and again evolution went back
wards.
Do you say that nations like indivld-
uals must decay and perIsh2 Certainly;
but the world has evoluted only a short
distance beyond the Israelitish common
wealth, Carthage, Greece and Rome.
This day msnifests the pride and thank
felness for all we enjoy; but standing
now near the mountain top of our great.
ness, shall we not learn from the Lessons
of the ages2
Rome had no homestead law like the
Jews; but In her early days a decree that
no man should own to excesd five hun
dred acres; though never repealed, this
became q dead letter; because the oil
garchy despised and ignored It., and
''bought up the estates of small landed
proprietors, placing them under %cultlva-
ton by slaves or using them for parks
and ornamental grounds" Even then,
some patriotic Romans sought to STAY
the deadly tide, but the Gracchl had few
influential symputhizars and the people
had become powerless. True, her clti-
zens were cultured in Greek philosophy,
In history, poetry and tho axis; but the
spark of independence had persisted In
the hearts of her people and
THE SPIRIT OF FREEDOM HAD FLED
before Caesar had crossed the Rubicon.
The worlds map AMI history Is I'M
rolled before us, The natural good and
bad OF the human family Is practically
the same as among the jews, the Greeks,
tho C~arthagenians aud the Romans. The
same ambitions, the same patriotism, the
same greed, the same desire to oppreas
and exalt; the aVsrice of the rich as
great, the sutferlngs of the poor IS IN
tense.
We are now face to face with grave
problems; shall we learn the lesson of
four thousand years to our benefit or
bandage our eyes and rush madly into
the abyss where republics are entombed?
True the teachings of Christ have come
between the past and now; but the en-
ctoachments of power and the aggr es-
sions OF wealth are the same as then.
Besides VIC must contend with the ele-
ment of corporate, exscting, law-defyinq
power which never vexed the soul of the
Israelite or the republics of ancient
times. This octopus must be grapled by
our time. To secure and continue ilIimi-
table wealth, corporations must exercise
uncontrolled power, which they do by
directing state legislatures and congress-,
the executive departments, and too fire..
quently the courts. They are already
entrenched and unless driven out by tho
intelligence and firmness of the people
the property of the nation, and In time