The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1893-09-28

have decided them In favor Of the pu bic
character of these functions.
The United States supreme court de.
cided in the New York grain elevator
cases that the state has the right TO reo
ulate the conduct and fix the price OF
any interest affected by the public inter.
est. A state judge instructs grand
jury that the rioting of strikers is treason
against the state Of Pennsylvania. 4
federal judge ordered recently the arrest
of locomotive engineers for leaving their
work. He declared that it is unlawful
for employees to abandon their wor.t
when such acts interrupt the course Of
national business. If this work is q
public function. it should be assumed
by the public and run in their interests,
not in the II terest of private corpora.
tions.
ONLY $40 TO CHICAGO.
Prussia, poor country nationally,
without great resources, has made the
successful experiment of owning her
own railroads. Their railroads paid in
1SS9-90 the interest on their cost, on the
state debt and laid mp a surplus Of S35,-
100000. Some young men in Borden
town, N. j., recently hired freight car.
furnished it with hunks and cooking
stove and freighted themselves to Chica.
go for $40 each. Had they lived in Hun
gary, far behind America in intelligence
and in the science of government, they
could have been transported that dis
tance in palace car for $5 at regular
fare simply because the state in Hun
gary owns the railroads.
l appeal for soul to society. As q
social organism we need to be conscious
of our being. We are acting as though
we were in dream. We are merely
drifting toward these great transforrna-
tions. Could we but gain consciousness
of our organic life we could move for
ward with gigantic strides. Let no man
be f-iC@',I"@"2 with the cry of paternal-
ism. Whether paternalism be good or
evil depends entirely upon who the pater
is. We need o more thoughtful citizen
ship. We need to study our relations
and our obligations to one another. Let
the man who believes in individualism
take note of his present inconsistent and
untenable position.
The present crisis is the wreck of an
overdone individualism. The present
system, so far from maintaining indiviL.
uality, is crushing out from the life o.
men whatever individuality they had
The ancient cobbler at shoes was q man
Of character and individuality. The
modern manager of joint stock corpo-
ration for the manufacture of shoes is 7
machine; he is an automaton. So tie
course of all the industries that have
been absorbed into the 20 great trusts
which dominate our commercial world
could be traced. In each case the indi-
viduality has dwindled until it is repre-
sented by trust certificates thing Of
bloodless mechanics. As Hyndman SO
graphically says
"Their anxiety for the welfare Of the in |
dividual is so great that they crush indi-
viduality by competition. They so love
order that they foster industrial anarchy.
They so dread the state that they for
ward the growth of practically irrespon-
sible and uncontrolled monopolies. The
present social regime is founded upon
the supposition that selfshness is the SUI |
preme motive power Of humanity. and
that man will not work save for a selfish
motive. Ruskin has well denominated
such a political economy dismal sci
ence. 1t is not a science. 1t is the ne
cation Of science. 1t is the most colos-
sal lie that the devil ever attempted to
impose upon humanity. Men have
worked for nobler ends than self, and
the noblest work man has ever done has
been the work not for self.
"The magnificent ntachievementina in archi-
lecture witnessed at the Worlds fair is
the product of national committee of
patriotic citizens who served without
pay. Man will work for works sake.
A convict in the penitentiary will clamor
for work if it is denied him. Thomas
A. Edison declares that when he has fin.
ished a work he has no further use for
1t. He declares that he despises the tele-
phone; that he will go out Of his way to
avoid one. His spirit is eager for new
conquest. His home is palace. Every
want is gratihed. He works from high.
er motives than mere selfish desire for
gain. 1t is slander upon humanity to
assert that the only motive of life that
will move the world is the baser motive"