St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-11-15
hidden moral, which few will have diff

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Guilty in comprehending:
To the Editor of the Globe:
''This is the moral Of all human tales,
'Tis but the same rehearsal of the past,
First freedom, and then glory-when that
fails
Wealth, vice, corruption, barbarism at last.
Man. in his general nature, is not radi-
cally different from what he was 2, 0oo years
ago. The progress of what we call clviliZa-
ton has whitfield off some of the rough
corners of his character and given a certain
conventional polish to his manners, but this
change from the savage state Is nearly all
in external appearances and affects to
slight degree only the internal workings of
the heart The railroad manager who con-
trolls and directs 5000 men, not one of
whom obeys him through anything but the
fear of dleness and want in case they do
not-what is he but the representation in
another form of the savage chief whose
vassals obey him through fear of losing
their heads. The railroad king merely OBJ
tains the same result in more subtle and
ingenious way.
Given million people, deposited as it
were upon the surface of the earth, and
each endowed with the privilege of scratch
ing for living as best he may. Tom sees
an hour ahead and 'gobbieS' the nearest
fruit tree. Dick sees the possibility of the
fruit becoming exhausted and plants an
other tree But Harry is long headed
genius and he quietly apprOpriateS the land
ALI OF 1t, proceeds to charge Tom and
Dick for the use of it, and. would you be-
lieve it, Tom and Dick are fools enough to
pay the rent? The next year Tom and
DICK pick the fruit as usual, but Harry eats
1t, and, would you believe it, Tom and
Dick are fools enough to let him do it? But
how can this be? Are not Tom and Dick
stronger than Harry? Oh, yes! Physically
speaking they are, but Harry showed Tom
and Dick some laws which he said were
handed down as truth and justice from the
remotest ages, and had come originally
from the decree of the Infinite. These laws
give the land to Harry, thereby making
Tom and Dick his slaves and although this
monstrOus regulation outrages the natural
perception of right in man, yet, would you
believe it, Tom and Dick are just fools
enough to obey it? But how can you blame
them when Harry hires man of great
learning whose Office is filled with craven
tablets. innumerable decaying scrolls and
pOnderous tones, hoary with the dust of
antiquity Oh. yes! Tom and Dick are
strong enough to kick Harry and the man
over a forty acre lot, but their fathers never
did it. and their grandfathers never did it,
and so on back to the monkeys, and if they
should attempt it God alone knows what
might happen for how can a present gen
Grafton be wiser than a past.
And then Tom and Dick quarrel among
themselves, and so fierce is their wrath lest
either should get an extra grain of wheat
that they find no fault with Harry for tax
ing bushel. Besides this they have very
expensive recreation in the shape of hair
splitting. Rather than fail to split the hair
precisely at the center they will let Harry
cut off the whole head.
Finally they die, and Harry charges them
500 for the space to lay their ashes, and ten
years later he grades railroad through the
graveyard. scatterS their bones to the winds
and. would you believe it, they are
foolish enough to let him.
By the power of faith in treason knayes have
lived and lied,
By the force of fear and folly fools have fed
their pride,
By the strength of sloth and custom reason
stands de1ed.
JOHN LAMB.
Kearney, Neb., Nov. II, 1885.