The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-02-14

prepared there to recall to the eyes of the
victor the exploits OF that battle. 1t has
often been forced upon me that the more
people had cause to vow vengeance against
the emperor the more they smiled at his
good fortune, and applauded that high
destiny which they said was the gift OF
heaven"
Of course Bishop Newman and the servile
Russians were--in the abstract-right in
in the claim that the acquisition of empire
by force, and the acquisition Of property"
by legal cunning and moral fraud are alike
due to 'divine gift, or--as Napoleon's
Russian fatterers expressed it, in sub
stantially identical language-''the gift of
heaven" Napoleon was a divine gift. So
was the devil himself. But the allied pow
ers found way to dispose of Napoleon.
and even Bishop Newman and his follow
ers are not supposed to feel any particular
friendship and admiration for Satan be-
cause of his celestial origin and birth.
The spirit of conquest, no matter how
widely its methods and incidents may
vary, is the same in essence in all ages and
the world over. 1t is born of ambition for
gain, dominion and power. The same de-
mon-or "gift of heaven'-that first in
spired and then abandoned Napoleon to
his fate has been reincarnated in ROths-
childs, Jay Gould, Vanderbilt, Rockefeller
and other commercial kings who possess
the "divine gift' for focalizing and WELD
ing temporal power in wealth.
This power, no matter whether 1T
inheres in rulers of principalities or OF
private corporations, is always dangerous.
and almost inevitably inimical to the WELL
fare and happiness of the people. 1t is
foreign to the spirit of democracy now
permeating the moral atmosphere of the
world and it is especially alien to re-
public like ours which has repudiated the
'.divins right of kings" y
II ,a,u sxo nv1t
form than it could in its previous one. 1t
must go. The relentless pressure of evolu-
ton is behind it, and to persistently defy
that pressure means revolution.
The time of its final departure and its
ultimate diffusion and utilization in the
form of general cooperation must be
gagged by the intelligence, courage and
character of the people.
1t is certain that a power which Chaun-
cey M. Depew-the oracle of the corpora
tions--admits to have been transferred
from kings and governments to bankers
and merchants, cannot much longer rule"
in America 1t must ere long cease to be
masses. So much for the sdivine gift"
All human gifts and faculties are, in their
original sense and purpose, divine. 1t re-
mains for us to use them divinely.
Those of us who have heard Bishop New
man at his best, and when true to his
noblest ideal, believe him to be endowed
with divine gift for preaching the pure
gospel of Jesus. But when he perverts
that gift and employs it for the upbuild-
ing of Mammonism which, in a popula-
ton of 65, 000, 900, converts a million men
into tramps, compels two or three million
more to work for half pay and "store
truck" drives multitudes of women into
prostitution, and thousands of both sexes
to suicide and crime, that few thousand
individuals may become millionaires and
be called "almoners of the Almighty"
he is working not for Christ, but Satan.
The bishop, in his endeavor to please the
rich-to work them for all they will "give
down"-and, at the same time, placate the
poor, gets somewhat confused in his state
ments.
First be describes the growing discon-
tent of the masses as "wild. Irrational
cry of labor against capital, between
which, in the economy of nature and in
political economy there should be no COM
mon antagonisIf." Farther along in the
same article he declares that ''the envy of
the poor and the jealousy of the laboring
possess great fortunes, but against the SUI
preme ease and supreme indifference of the
rich, that there is no prejudice against
honorable and benevolent wealth. The
war OF today is against the aristocracy of
riches and where wealth is boarded and
grandeur, or held for the love of the power
that issues therefrom. 1t is this selfish
ness of the aff1uent that awakens the wrath
of the poor and of the laboring classes"
etc. 1t is difficult for the reader to decide
which of these conflicting statements en-
bodies the bishops honest view Of the un-
DERIVING cause of discomfort that has be-
come universal throughout christendom.
Those Of US who know and love him for
his natural goodness. of heart will be i'm
clined to give him the benefit of the doubt
and fix upon the last view as the one most
in accord with the mans mind and char
acter.
man sadly miscOnceives the purpose and
greatly underestimate the intelligence
and sense of the people.
They are neither anxious to tear down
selfish rich men nor to excuse and bolster
up benevolent ones-as individuals-but
are at war with system. They demand
equity-nOt charity.
They are not praying the Almighty to
appoint for them ''almoners" and ''dis-
bursting agents"-who hold office for life
in defiance of the appointing power. and of
the wishes of those whom they were dele
gated to serve-any more than they are
praying Him to appoint kings to rule over
them.
They prefer to elect their "disburing
agents, and in case of incompetency or
dishonesty to retire them to private life.
Neither do the poor ask the rich to .sim-
prove the homes OF the poor, but to simply
execute justice and give the poor chance
to take care of themselves and improve
and beautify their homes out Of the wealth
they themselves create, but which the rich
manage, through the control of the circu-
lating medium, to appropriate, pile up and
protect" for personal and purely selfish
ends.
The accomplishment of this social re-
form, demanded by the united voice of the
people. involves neither the destruction of
the ''atf1uent" nor the repeal of human
nature" but an exchange of systems.
The people of France, in their revolution
to remedy a condition that now threatens
US, destroyed the men, but preserved the
system in which the condition was born.
We propose to Danish the system but
save the men, if they will be saved, and to
accomplish it not through bloody revolu-
ton, but peaceful evolution.
The bishop seems to admire the specu-
Iator who knows when to buy and when
to sell and when to hold fast, to anticipate
the flow of population and its effects upon
real ESTATE" Yes, We all know whom the
bishop means. He refers to the man who
seldom builds up or helps town, but
who makes of society sort of combina-
ton incubator to hatch out his financial
eggs; and who, when the eggs have turned
to chickens, and the chickens have been
fed on community corn till they have
grown up into fat fowls that are by every
rule OF equity community property, comes
back and takes them to market without
even saying Thank YOU" This species
OF 'seers are common everywhere.
They toll not neither do they spin. They
get all the advantages of the Glow of nom