St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1891-07-30
MISCELLANY.
NATIONALIST.

was almost universal. People said,
How nice that would bei'' why
is it not desirable and possible?"
'Where is the flaw in his reasoning?"
Very soon, in all the larger centers
of population, clubs and societies
were formed with the avowed OBJ
ject of prom ting the realization of
Bellamy's prophecy. Then whispers
of a Nationalist party were heard.
Probably, if Nationalism had con-
tented itself with writing novels, it
would still have met with universal
appreciation. But a new political
and a matter which the bosses of all
existing political parties prepared to
sit down upon.
Hitherto, they had said :-"Ah !!
clever fellow, that Bellamy! Gorgeous
imagination Great Poet!" Now
they said, why the fool is really in
earnest, and all the cranks are likely
to help him. We must spend money
by the hogshead, instead of the bar
rel at the next election''
The dark chiefs yelled alarm, and
swore.
At present the Nationalistic idea is
passing through the stage of misrep
resentation. ridicule and vitupera-
ton. Although Bellamy's paper,
the New Nation, bristles every week
with hard facts and keen logic, the
partisan press does not assist in
spreading the new doctrine by quot
ing his logic. Instead, the partisan
press belittles the strength of the
new idea, and sets an early date for
its funeral.
Misrepresentation is the favorite
weapon. If there is a socialistic mob
in Paris, or nihilist bomb exploded
in St. Petersburg, the Nationalistic
idea is held responsible We are
told that NatiOnalism proposes to
divide all the wealth of the country
equally among the inhabitants; and
doubtless a majority Of newspaper
readers to-day have the notion that
Nationalism, Socialism and Nihilism
are practically identical. Editors
and orators talk as if full realiza-
ton of Looking Backward is expect
ed at once, when, in fact, the advo-
Gates of Nationalism have, as yet,
attempted hardly anything more
than primary instruction in its prin-
ciples, and they expect it may take
century to reach anything like Bel
lamy's ideal state.
The brilliant ingalls,, -po1itician
out of a iob,-not Statesman out
of job" as he calls himself, recent
ly paid his respects to the new move
ment. He spoke before the CHATEAU
qua Assembly, at Glen Echo. His
Grafton was light and airy as foam,
and every bursting bubble of his wit
won rounds of applause. But when
we came to read this brilliant speech
in the morning Post, there was a
feeling that it was all foam, with no
food nor drink for humanity at the
bottom of the bowl,
After admitting all the premises
that Nationalism asserts, especially
the the one great premise of danger
the enormous accumulation of wealth
in the hands of few by means as
bad as stealing, what had he to sug-
gest as to the way out of danger?
Simply this that if he had known
enough, he would have stolen as
much as Jay Gould!
He was well posted on the argu-
ments of the peoples party, for they
have been dinned into his ears in his
own state until he can think of moth
ing else. But he could frame no
plausible counter argument. Ac-
cordingly, he was driven to the
pleader's last resort, ridiculel He
did not believe it right that one man
should be worth O,OOO,OOO; but
if any one had succeeded in grabbing
that amount, he didn't see what
could be done about it.
The most substantial objection
that he raised was that Nationalism
would destroy individuality. But
where is individuality now? Almost
every road to profit is already closed
to the individual. The laborer's
hand and brain must work for a cor
poration or a syndicate. You, as an
individual, cannot found a news
paper, nor build factory, rail-
road, telegraph or telephone line,
nor indeed inaugurate any important