The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1895-06-20
- uo hnilds his nalace and the bricks

ease. he builds MS palace anu Lne Drlchs
are pressed from the bricks of the deat
whom he has pillaged and moistened witt
the tears of the living whom he has op
messed. He invites his friends to feast
costing thousands of dollars, and hurls O
sheer at poverty crOuching at his door
step feeding upon n meager crust. Inere
is something cruelty wrong. Five hundred
thousand people in Texas, the prattilng
child fresh from the cradle, the aged
father ready for the grave, the tender
maid, Gods fairest blossom, are tolllng
each wear in Texas through summers
heat and winters cold to produce hbre
with which to clothe the world. Ihey
receive a scanty pittance for their labor;
few men gather up the product and the
spindles of the world are stopped until
tribute is paid to them. There is some
thing wrong. The plains of Texas last
wear waved with the fields OF wheat. liz
was gathered in. The granaries were
filed with bursting plenty. The eyes of
the hungry world were molstened WIN
glances as they looked upon the scene.
There was no market for it; the farmer
sold it at ruinous prices. Consolidated
capital. through the agencies OF trusts.
gathered it in; held it with the greed OF
the miser holding his gold until the mills
were stopped and the world was crying Tor
bread and then it gathered in the tribute
from every hearthstone, tribute eXacted
with the spirit of the highwayman, but
without the highwayman's courage from
the millions of earth's weary ones. There
is something wrong. And so the millions
are piled up. Is it any wonder that NUT
terings of discomfort are heard! is II any
wonder that hunger CRASHES its teeth !!
Is it any wonder that there is wicked
CLEAN in the eye of poverty that speaks
of dangers to come? And these are the
results of but few years. What will be
the condition when the seed OF today rlpen
to a harvest, when to the momentum OF
the present there is added the growth and
development of another quarter of cen
fury? And this evil has been wrought
under conditions most favorable for resist
ance. Our people have been busy in the
development of a new land with all the
feedom that this condition bings, but our
prairies and forests will soon all be settled.
The great throng of homeseekers will soon
seek in vain for place to set up their
goods-whereon to build a home
-liberty's truest altar. Back into the
cities already teeming with want and mis-
cry will be thrown the great homeless
and houseless horde, and then the roar
will deepen until the very pillars of our
government culver with the violence of
the shock. Tramp, tramp, tramp-don't
you hear the sound of many feet marshal
ing for the conflict? God grant that the
riNht may triumph and our republic sur
yiye. 1t may be that this is a pessimistic
view. 1t may be that l read the times
amiss. 1t may be that what seems to me
The smoke of a mighty conflict is but the
smoke of a sacrifice burned upon free
!, thnE hot 10 ~
sounds as the angry footsteps of restless
lscontent is but the steady march of a
,ontented and happy people to the goal
If a higher national existence. 1t may
De that the light cleaning across the
leavens that to me seems portentous of
Evil to our teeming cities is but the break
ng dawn opening to view the glories I'M
lreamed Of before. God grant that it
nay be so.
But you ask what is the special mission
" the student, the educated man, in such
| crisis, and answer that it is his duty
o shake off the lethargy that has too
ong possessed him and bend his energies
% the correction of existing and patent
wills. He is a member of that great mid
lie class, joining neither the ranks of cap
tai to Cypress nor of the commune to pill
axe anu utSJlUy3 W ulCu llluSL uClCIhlu
he issue of the conflict: He must become
.urred to you that in many of the great
eformations of the past the universities
# the world have been laggards, often
ines opposing the reforms that have done
lost for the world; that they have been
imid and ultra conservative; that they
ave been negative factors resisting
hange; that they have stood theorizing
bout the minutiae of details, arguing
bout nOn-essenti1ls, while the great
lass of mankind, less gifted by nature
nd education. have won or lost the battle.
gees ago some one, when asked as to
is opinion as to the way affairs was con-
ucted in Athens, replied, perhaps with
10 much severity, that "wise men argued
uestions and fools decided them" The
isposition is too much that way. The
is too great among college-bred |
len to leave the adjustment of perplex- |
e problems to the unthinking mass, who, |
nder the control and leadership of dema-
ogues, that accursed product of every
tempt at free government, but kindle |
lie fires to a fiercer heat You must |
ROW off the mummy's shroud of inactivi- |
and assert yourself in the affairs of |
tate and Nation. You must aid to eXalt |
~ AiiuI luuuly " lis
Ice. You must strive to Undue him with
ftier aims and holier purposes. You
ust help to stay the tide of centraliza-
On. You must solve the problem of eff
ctlng a more equal distribution of |
ealth, not by force nor the strength of |
e commune, but by peaceful modes and
ethods, by equalizing the laws, by sup
wing their omissions, by aiding in their
and enforcement. CONSOLIDATE
capital must be brought to acknowl-
ge the strength and sovereignty of the
W. The continual dwarfing of the in
vidual in business affairs by the extern
On of corporate franchises must be
ecked. In word, you must renew your
'ws of higher devotion to your country,
and wearing closer to your
art the words engraved upon the tomb
Benjamin H. Hill of Georgia, that pure
tristan statesman who has put on thel
hes of Immortality: "Who let's his
untry die, lets all things die, and all
ings, dying, curse him; who saves his
untry, saves all things, and all things
we'd will bless him." We should be
ore patriotic; we of the South have been
ing too much in the dead and buried
st, forgetting the duties of the present;
nave been twining the wreath and
acInig the tender forget-me-nots upon
e bier of the South that has gone, for
tting that the rolling vars have brought
face to face with glory greater than
y of the past. We should cultivate a
oader spirit; we should find room enough
the picture gallery Of our hearts for the
ages of Lee and Grant, OF Jackson and
Hancock, forgetting that they were
I'm either the North or the South, but
only that they were Ameri-