The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1891-12-12

ISL mas QOuc WOuAu WHO III sACs'
way; but the unfortunate thing
about it all is that such puny mer
set themselves up as teachers and
are listened to by others. Nation
alists do not propose to divide any
body's property, but only to nation
alize such properties as experience
has shown, or shall hereafter show
are sources of public impoverish
ment when operated by private par
ties for individual benefit. To be {
little more explicit, the Nationalist
understand that the people, not tht
officials, are the government of this
country; that the railroads, tele
graphs, telephones, coal mines anc
the like are, and of right ought tt
be, public property; that in private
hands these become the vehicles O
private greed, to the great danger
detrilnent and injury Of the major
ity, and they, therefore, propose tt
give to the rightful owner of these
properties-the public-their con
troll having accomplished this, they
propose to have each and all o,
them operated at cost that no mill
ionaires may DO built up nor trusts
supported to plumber, Cypress and
debauch the people. If the Con
gregationalist knows of better
plan of relief to the multitude il
should propose it; saying "there is
no relief" sit is not probable that
poverty ever will disappear from
human society,"" "the poor We have
with you always" is like saying
when a child is in the river drown
ing: "Never mind, God put i: in
there and it must drown" 1t re-
proaches the goodness and belittles
the God the Congregationalist pre-
tends to worship.
Another effect it is thought this
plan would have. that Christian
writer's do not seem to have thought
of, would be to universalize Chris
tianity by making it possible for
the pauperized millions to escape
from their thraldom and lead more
Christian lives; for if Christianity
is the good thing its friends claim,
it is still impossible and, under our
present system, must forever remain
impossible, for the miserable poor
to live good and true lives, without
which, Christianity being good,
they cannot be Christians. Banished
as they are from all association with
the cultured and the pure; drag
ged by their daily wants from every
eleyating influence and tendency !;
forced by relentless necessity to
dwell in the villainous slums and
perlieus of vice and crime, the in
evitable and unavoidable product
of our so called craftsmanship, the
millions of our great cities must be
just what they are-outcasts and
outlaws from all that is good and
clean and pure. To better their
condition, to help them up out of
their native and compulsory mire
and despair, the system of which
they are the constant and unvary-
ing produc. must be changed, and
Nationalist propose to do this by
substituting public for private own
ership in land and such other prop
critics as make the Ten tax -gatherers
and masters over the Million. Such
is our social condition.
But it need not be, and should
not be true thatif Everybody could
be endowed tomorrow morning
with an amount of property equal
to that possessed by everybody else,
by tomorrow night some
would have become rich again and
many would have become poor"
Under the cruel and remorseless
law of the Survival of the fittest,"
the recognized differences in our
Unborn qualities" will, while per-
mitted unmodified power and sway,
inevitably and invariably produce
this monstrously inhuman condi-
ton; and if society-we will say
Christian society-has one duty
more definitely imposed on it than
another, it is the duty of making
provision for the safety and we'll
being of the very unfortunates
whose Unborn qualities" unfit them
to win in the selfish and heartless
scramble to live compelled by our
competitive system. The same law
that makes man gregarious COM
mands him to live in state of ag-
gregation. Civilization is the soft
ening of the asperities of the prim-
tive social state. To accomplish
this it must be progressive and not
stationary, for no sooner is one evil
remedied than another is brought
into view. The condition with
which the Congregationalist is sat
isfied is the opposite of this. Under
competition every fellow is trying
his best to down his neighbor, and
to accomplish this, no matter By
what means, is called success. To
reach this success peculiar kind
of talent, coupled with very little
human sympathy, is indispensable,
and the lack Of this talent is no
less fatal than the lack of sight,
hearing or speech. Yet the right