The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1890-07-11
CURRENT COMMENT.

word "Dennis."
CURRENT COMMENT.
INDEPENDENCE.
Well, the glorious Fourth has come and
gone and we feel devoutly thankful that a
whole year must elapse before it comes
again. The bells and guns deprived us of
our morning nap, the fire crackers made
our ears ring, the sky rockets II pin
wheels dazzled our eyes, the torpedoes
made US jump and scream. But all this
was born with patience and amibility, for
all the day long we were congratulating
ourselves on having been spared the in
Fiction of listening to some poor deluded
woman read the Declaration or Indepen-
dence (man's independence while her
heart swelled with that patriotism which is
as much a part of woman's nature as of
mans.
1t is always a pathetic sight to me to see
a woman arrayed rs the Goddess of Lib
erty, with a crown upon her poor unrecog-
nized head, nj the constitution which
ignores her existence, in her hand, as she
rides in a car of liberty or stands on the
stage before an admiring audience. 1t
creates in my breast feelings of pity and
indignation-pity for her blindness and
indignation at the thought that in that
audience there is someone who is tickling in
his sleeve at the ~incongruity of her true
position and the one she represents. Full
we'll he knows that this much Wanted in
dependence is his, and not hers. She eau
not control her own earnings, or the means
her parents bequeath to her, unless he so
desires. She has no right to say what
manner of man makes the laws by which
she is governed, and in some of the states
of this land of liberty, even the children,
for which she has paid the price of mater
nifty, are at the mercy of his will. He can
give them away or bind them out as ap-
prentlces or servants. And if it has been
her misfortune in her youth to give her
heart to one of these lords of creation,
who has proven himself recreant, who is
indolent, profgate, and utterly worthless,
she cannot avail herself of the privilege
given to the most ignorant foreigner, or
degraded pauper, and come west and take
up a homestead, but must remain homeless
while he revels in independence. Or if
death has robbed her of Il good husband
and she is left with children to provide for,
she cannot sell a COW, calf or hog to raise
the money to pay for food, unless the
court gives her permission. She cannot
even be the guardian of her own children
without giving bonds. If she had died
instead of him, he might have squandered
the property at his own sweet will, and
those children sent to the aims house with
out any protestations from the court or
%bondsmen. Oh!ye Goddess of Liberty.
dof those snowy robes, unwind that starry
girdle from you form, lift that crown from
your fair brow and put them on your hus-
band, for he has gained his independence
while you must struggle for yours.
At the risk of being considered sacre-
ligious, I must say I never have felt. for
the Declaration of, independence, that rev.
erence which is considered becoming to
an American citizen, Cor whatever I am
that l do not endorse the sentiment
expressed therein for l consider it next to
holy writ and truthfulness, but Until the
actions of this government are in unision
with that sentiment, it is promulgating an
untruth every time it is published as the
creed or confession of the faith of the
government. If you had said to some of
the sigEers of that article, or to their de-
cendents, that YOU considered their coach
man or valet their equals, they would have
considered themselves justified in sending
you a challenge. Less than thirty years
ago, if some men had attempted to exercise
their insalenable right and have pursued
liberty and happiness, what would have
been the result? When I was a little girl
at school and my school mates sang of
"The Land of the Free and the Home Of the
Brave" much to their amusement 1 would
, always sing "Ihe Land of the Free and the
Home of the Slave" for then as now,
: saw the inconsistency of a nation of people
owning three million slaves, Boosting OF
their Land of Liberty" If the men OF
E the present day beleave as our forefathers
did, "that taxation without representation
is tyranny" what do they think the con.
dition is, of the 10000 women in South
Dakota who pay taxes? I sincerely trust
| that before another decade has passed owe,
, it the government-will have derived its
power from the consent of the governed
Z Then we will form a Declaration of indie.
pendence and hang it in our homes
Grandma in Deadwood Pioneer.
The independent convention held in this
city on Tuesday, July l, was not one Of
: those momentary effervescences which
merely ruffle the surface of the publ feel
r ing, but more resembled the s'stiIl waters
q which run deep" n strong. As was the
case with the people a long time ago, wher
= an old patriarch was building a pretty goot
sized boat for the safety of himself, his
family and stock, they laughed and pointed
= the finger of scoru at the old man because
his prophetic vision foresaw the destruc.
ton that was nigh upon them and was
, making timely preparation for the change
; SO will it be with those who have SO long
Z held to party ruts that it is like pulling
. their eye teeth to sever the connection and
step boldly out from their past affiliations
and in The name of justice and right de-
, mand a radical change in government of
: county and state affairs. With some s:the
J spirit is willing but the flesh is weak
With some others, their attachment to
party will prove Il bar to any action. while
many others who have felt the burden of
, unequal distribution of taxation, who have
poured their hard earned dollars into the
county treasury, there to be used to swell
the already plethoric Golfers of county
officials who have grown suddenly rich by
means which demand investigation, to say
the least. A few will plainly see the hand
writing on the wall and will flee to an ark
OF safety, while Others will ridicule the
idea that the independent movement DOS
sesses any element of strength or vitality
whatever. But let such now be warned
that the leaven is in the loaf and fermenta-
ton is permeating every society, town and
county drought the entire state, and
though it may not BIZ entirely successful
at the next fall election, the time is close at
hand when it will sweep South Dakota to
it's utter most borders. Then woe to tho
leeches and corrupt politicians of the
present political organizations who have
bartered their all for political place and
power, and when eliminated from politics
would find themselves without any legiti-
mate occupation. None are so blind as
the willfully blind. Fools learn only in
the school of experience, and hence,
knowledge comes too late to he of any &C.
count. But the wise man %foresees the
evil and seeks a place of refuge before it is
everlastingly too late.-Queen City Mail.
The evidence of the liquor men is rather
destructive of their former contention that
prohibition doesn't prohibit. Says the
senior member of the largest, wholesale
liquor house in Kansas City, speaking of