The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-07-20

quently in tree that for many years may
bear no sign or promise of likeness to the
original seed which has seemingly lost its
| identity and potency in the dust OF the
earth and in the elements of the air. Yet
that same tree-if We work and wait-wil
some time reproduce its seed many fold.
Jesus himself illustrated this truth in
likening the kingdom of heaven to grain
of mustard which though, of itself, the
smallest of all seeds, becomes tree IN
which the fowls of the air build their
nests. And how true this has been, and
now is, of our christian civilization" in
whose shade all manner of four-footed and
two-legaed beasts have been at liberty TO
rest or TO roam at will, carressing or tear
ing and devouring each other according to
their moods and appetites-and always ac-
cordlng to '1aw," OF course-and where
every species of fowls of the air from the
soaring, singing lark to the savage eagle
now standing guard over Jay Gould's safe,
and from the honey-seeking humming bird
TO the vulture and buzzard, have rested.
feasted and built their nests in the branches,
But all this development and activity OF
.'individualism" in the tree is not the end
for which the seed was planted and for
which it died. 1t is only necessary
means between the Kingdom of heaven"
or the perfect brotherhood on earth-as
limited to single seed, and the same con-
ditions, or kingdom, as it surely shall
come, enlarged and multiplied. until it be-
comes the heritage of all humanity, rather
than the property and gift of the original
planter, and until every created soul on
the planet shall be fed somewhere IN the
eternities.
The social and religious reformers--
Bellamy with the rest-are now, as In all
ages-but less now than ever before, be-
cause the common brain is becoming more
and more transferent-both misunder-
stood and hence misrepresented.
We are none of US striving for the aboli-
tion of thrift and of effort, but rather to
stimulate them and to remove Incidence
and lncompetency by logical adjustment
of the social forces, so that energy now
wasting itself and undermining society
through warning and wearing competition
may be distributed where it will do the
most good, until the natural and irresist-
ibie tendency will be to inspire, quicken
and build up industry, which now offers
little or nothing of promise or hope to the
great mass of tollers who cannot all Sc
cure an interest in lumber companies, ma
tional banks, syndicates and factories, any
more than the great mass of private Sold
iers can all become major generals in one
army.
Our present Mammonism, while very
considerate of the individualism of few,
tends TO hold the vast majority down to a
dead level, where all individuality is lost
in single, grinding, merciless machine.
1t is strange that these toiling units are
never considered-but only estimated in
bulk-by the few who do the political and
financial figuring over problems involving
justice and the survival of the tittest.
If one of this class happens through some
magnetic freak or combination of social
elements to graduate out of the great
seething level of wage servitude into
capitalist, he is grimly pointed at by the
4n IS H.
poor man may do If he is only thrifty"
But when the thrifty" and energetic
capitalistic 'waterspout" has assembled to
the commercial heavens, the same dreary
old ocean of drudgery for the many rolls
on as though the translated comrade had
never left hole in its surface.
And now it is proposed by the "princes of
this world" to Danish from their humber
subjects even the sunshine of the Beati-
tudes, leaving them to such 'justice" as
may be melted out by sharks that do not
hesitate to even devour each other when
deprived of the ordinary diet.
This is indeed step forward. / repeat,
the social reformers are not comprehended
by their critics.
Oliver Wendell Holmes writes pointless
satire on Bellamy's Looking Backward"
and all the fools laugh without knowing
why.
We are not aiming to suppress individ-
ualism per Sc, but rather TO help it to
higher plane, and to a nobler differentia-
ton than obtains in this treadmill exist
ence for the many, and the abnormal, ami
NAL rush for unnecessary and Improbable
accumuiatlons among our commercial
classes.
And we hold that this aim is not Utop-
ian, nor visionary and sentimental, unless
1t may be in that creative sense that gives
birth to new inventions and better ideals
which the world always most cheerfully
accepts after it has proved them indi-
spensable, and usually without saying
grace or returning thanks save in post
mortem monuments and cheap praise
which are of no real use to the subjects.
And, furthermore, We propose to realize
our aim through natural and practical
use of forces already in operation, but
which are at present so Incorporated
and managed by the few who have cum
ningly IL not criminally gained control of
them that the rightful inheritors have
been robbed of their benefits.
The chief trouble with our present society
machine is the absence of both honesty
and justice. We need veracity in the Judge
before we can respect judgment or accept
justice.
The preparations for the change We are
seeking is rapidly eliminating through a
variety of means and channels all leading
to common end, so peacefully and stead
~ snN' Oui oP0SulotoiS, poiiticldns ana So
called statesmen do not seem to realize
that the end is near and that the great
democratic ocean, with its unnumbered
individual yet ever intermingling waves
and pillows, and its combined and free
commerce of world, is close at hand.
While our business classes have been
absorbed in their anxiety to steal each
others stocks and to pick each others
pockets, our public free schools, which rec
ogniZe no sect and no upper or lower
classes, our agricultural and labor organi-
cations, improved, soliditied and enlight-
ened by mutual friction and by the coun-
sci OF the wisest and tittest. and by new
and rapidly increasing reform literature,
have been gradually educating the COM
mon people for new order of things which
VIII not-like the old order-stand power
less and remain passive while human.
lty Is being impoverished, robbed
and slaughtered by customs sane
toned by the relic of feudal laws.
To say that this change is not des lraDle is TO
willfully lie in the very face and eyes of
progress. And to say it is not possible is
Ike saying that We cannot change will
derness INTO productive farm and garden
region, that it should be left to the sur
vlval OF the tittest, to weeds, to wild beasts
and 10 those gaunt, half-tamed mountain
hogs whose energy and competitive quail
ties are freely admitted, and whose prom
lnence of nose and jaw, developed in a
long and persistent struggle for existence
IN their native rocks and hills, prove them
the equals OF some dual-legged adventures
who boast themselves possessors of kin
dred qualities and call It Cuisines" So
far as Christian sentimentalism is con-
cerned II Is too late 10 attempt its over
throw or modification. The war against il
grows more hopeless with the flight of
time.
4 L