The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1892-05-14

ana Destroy eacn IOOtprlnL anC
memory of the past? To the en-.
lightened mind the answer to these
questions is isimple enough. Oul
social fabric is relic of barbarism
Its foundations were laid before
civilization began. Its superstruct
ure is deformed from base to attic
by wrong, injustice and brutisf
selfshness. A growing intelligence
is disclosing its unfitness to bind
the social or political state of 8
civilized people. The spirit that
breathed over the thirteen Colonies
in 1915 is permeating the world
Education is reaching down into
the bottom stratum Of humanity
Statecraft and churchcraft are los
ing their power to bestialize the
bodies and souls of men. The mind
less vassals of power and the galley
slaves of injustice on whose hard
existence the light of right or g
privilege never shone, who knew
only duty and unpaid service, who
were denied even personal honor oil
purity, or the right to protect the
chastity of their wives, mothers and
daughters are approaching extinc.
ton, and there will never again be
perfect safety for the masters and
despoilers of men until education
is blotted out or justice is done.
But this is only half Of the pic
ture. War, destruction, desolation
and slaughter are and have been
from time immemorial the univer-
sally accepted means of righting
all wrongs or pretended wrongs, by
all of the nations that have ever
been. Both church and state have
always taught all of their ancestry
and still teach the anarchists that
war and murder are right, and Gus
tom has and still does enforce the
hideous lesson. Are the anarchists
then of all people to ignore this
universally accepted truth, to con-
tradict the authority of church and
state, to despise the customs of all
other men and dispute the right
eousness of war? To expect such a
thing would be preposterous, since
the human mind is limited in its
by it's environment and
the uninstructed mind is fixed in its
habits of thought as are the planets
in their orbits. If the fruit is Bit
ter so is the tree; for these anarch-
lists act but as society acts and has
always acted. They are trying to
destroy their enemies and oppress-
ors, and with much more of justifi-
cation than attended the destruction
Of the Albigenses or the American
Indians.
But it may be asked: "Where-
'ore having felled the poisoned tree
should they endeavor to wipe out
he records Of its growth, as well?"
Surely there is much that is worth
preserving. So there is. Our sci
ences, our public schools, our fine
arts, our knowledge of music, our
musical Observation-Disclosures should
1ot go down with the wreck. If
here is anything else worthy of
it is not our laws, for
hey have been framed to rob the
Million to surfeit the Ten, and have
made whole generations homeless
,utcasts that useless and unpro-
luctive few might luxuriate in un-
earned superauity and grandeur.
Not our lawyers, for they are skilled
o distort the statutes in the interest
If the class of crowned and gilded
criminals, "the hired braves who
defend the tyrant's throne" They
atten on the general corruption,
md their hands fasten the yoke of
ervitude upon the CALLED neck of
abor. Not our churches, for in the
of Mr.. Morrison l. Swift
The Church, the aristocracy and the
money power of the world, are too COM
'letely intertwined to separate and work
gainst one another. They have lived for
enturies in the closest union. The. Church
7ould have to change its character so rad
:allv as to become another thlng if II get
tself to oppose these others. The social
eform intended by the modern Spirit
equires the annihilation Of the Money
'ower, Royalty and Aristocracy, and the
pirit of the Church being OF the same
esh and blood as these, being born, made
nd fed by them, would have to destroy
self if it attacked these root evils of the
ocial fabric.
For the Church itself is one of the root
wis of the social fabric, An extreme
Illustration will show. When Frederika,
he mother of the individual who ls called
,mperor Of Germany, enters the English
hurch in Berlin, the worshippers rise to
heir feet. She has a kind of throne in
Ills Church where she sits and conde-
praises God while the com
arative rabble who occupy the pews
base themselves and worship her.
Their teachings have never tended
oward popular enlightenment, nor
be liberation Of the masses. Not
ur philanthropists, for they are
yer ready to share the spoils that
ow from public robbery, and which
hey uphold even when it deprives
1others and their babes OF bread.
Whether anarchy or reason prevail
IL of this will fall, and that soon
hat may be accounted as certain.
sA-N-se.. ~ - 4fI