The examiner., 1886-08-21


There are Whole Glasses and Nations
Who Believe That They Have Been
Robbed of Prenatal and Pre- HisIOP-
ic Privileges so That They and Their
Ancestors Were Born Slaves and
vassals to the Robbers.
(By Rev. George Fatchelor in the Fo. lm.)
A condition of society," absolutely new in
history, has, within the memory of living
men, been evolved from the slowly un-
folding institutions of the past. The
changes have been, not only rapid, and
great they are worldwide and revolution
ary. Changes have often occurred before,
but none were ever SO big with conse-
quences to the human race. The revolu
tionary movements of 1913 shook the con-
science and disturbed the equilibrium of
the civilized world. But these upheavals
were local, and unimportant, compared
with the social forces which are now set
ting a world in motion and which VIII at
the beg ginning of the twentieth century
leave unchanged no institution with which
the nineteenth century began.
The causes of these changes are of mod
ern origin. Other revolutions have had re-
1ation to specific grievances, have had local
centers and organizations, and have trusted
to weapons of external attack and defence.
This one attacks from within, and beneath
the government, the church, the institution
of properly and the estate of civilization
itself Every institution of human society
is on the defensivc-changing or resisting
tendencies to change.
In the history of every institution, we
find change in the direction of less
sideration for those who are strone in the
prosperity and ''intelEgences," and more
self-assertion on the part of those who are
IN +ba Of
physical force. There is less fear of the
church now than ever before. There is
less respect for the government by the
masses. There is less regard for the an
cient tradition of RIGHT in property. So
cialism communism, Nihilism and Anarch-
ism are only specific forms of a new feeling
which has spread throughout the world
profoundly moving that great majority, the
less fortunate, the less cultivated, and al
ways discontented members of society.
Among this great class (the people, the
has become general, that there is
a class, small in numbers, and really poor
in resources, who, from time in,memorial,
have administered the affairs of civilization,
directed it's course, and taken to themselves
its benefits. There is a suspicion that all
forms of rel9i ion, government, and social
are wrongly related to the
universal welfare, under the new conditions
even in democracy, to trust a small class
to rule. A change of tone is now clearly
manifest. Although not openly stated by
all, or even by many clearly preceived, tie
real grievance Of the new democracy is
manifest in the belief that even the ''w ises5
and best" can not be trusted to govern
other men. Give them power, is the idea,
and being human, they will govern, not in
the interest of the multitude, but for the
good of the few.
1t is held by vast number that ignor-
ant, poor, hard working men and women
have needs, which are unknown to their
superiors, and know better than they
where the re;1 pinch of poverty, ignorance,
and hard work comes for themselves and
their children; and they, being greatly in
the majority, propose to take the manage
ment Of the affairs of this world into their
own hands, and for a time, at least, try the
experiment of real democracy.
For twenty years Ruskin has been vaialy
asking the wise men OF Great Britain to
tell I'm the exact nature of his preSent
right to the rents and profits of lis fathers
wine-shop. The multitude is askin% ''what
right the few thousand who represent civ
i'ization have to the accumulated profits of
the long labor of humanity" The pirate
has been restrained from his usual pursuits
by civilization, but he has not been re-
formed and he has gone into business.
The genrine pirate of the olden time was
always an attractive character He was
energetic, bold, unscrupulous, restless; an
animated character, who, driven back
from his natural pursuits on the high seas,
finding privateering an unstable trade, and
the less romantic profession of highway
men, unprofta Die and dangerous, did the
next best thing, hired a lawyer and went
into business. Every greet commercial
center has felt his influence. He has
joined the church, taken hi~h office, man
aged great trusts, is a banker, broker,
railroad manager general custodian OF
public funds and interests, and the ''army
of the discontentcd'' has been increased by
that multitude which no man can number,
who are asking, not ike Euskin what
right they have to the fruits of their
fathers labors, but rather, why, when the
world has grown SO rich the people have
found their hard earned wealth suddenly
transferring itself, as by some juogler's
trick, from their hands to the credit ac-
count of the respectable pirates whom
modern civilization has furnished with am
azing facilities.
They who complain most bitterly, and
feel mos5 keenly of the inequalities of
progress; are not the wage-takers and
manual laborers, but the great class, WHO
appreciate at their full value the finer pos
sibilities of the ''gentle ife," but are con-
stantly crowded back by the strong and
unscrupulous. There is a respect for man
hood, unknown before. There is a con-
tempt for man, which, while not new, was
never before furnished with such argu-
ments. The people never as now realized
their strength or knew the possibilities of
enjoyment, and never before were they SO
conscious of the real obstacles to enjoy
ment. Once men accused nature, fate,
the gods, as the source of their miseries.
Then they tried by aid of philosophy and
religion to become resigned to the newt
able. But it is different now They begin
to know that the struggle for existence is
fight between man and man, and not a
fight with nature, or any other invincible
force The "strong and knowing" the
rich and the "wise'' survive because they
have the advantages, but the advantages
are not foreordained by divine decree, but
won on Iifes battlefield.
There is, therefore, increase of both
wrath end fear spreading among those who
know their weakness, as they read the new
beatitudes of the successful. Submission is
a sublime Virtue when one believes himself
to be accepting hard necessity imposed
by a higher power for wise purpose.
But when the obstacles to success are hu-
man beings, then the duty abruptly loses