The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1895-01-10

|
mortals! To him is given the power,
different only in degree to that OF his
Maker, of feeding the hungry, of succor-
ing the oppressed and of healing the
afflicted. His gold can make all this
not only possible but easy to him. With
stroke of the pen his Golfers are
opened, the yellow stream pours out,
bearing upon it's tide food to the fam
ished mouths, hope to the heart OPP
pressed and health to the wasted mort
bund. He can create happiness. ASK
the artist, the poet, the musician what
he most desires, and if he be great IN
his calling, he will answer: The Power
TO Create. All else is comparatively
worthless, because all else is acquired:
this alone is god-given, and the artist
feels it as truly when he originates, as
did the Almighty when He breathed
upon the inanimate clay. This power
belongs essentially to wealth--lt can
create happiness. If it be powerful for
good, it is, unfortunately, as powerful
for evil, and, great as are its posslblll-
ties in producing happiness, proportion
ally as manifold are it's powers to beget
sorrow. The pOssessOr of unlimited
wealth, if his bent lie thither, may
revolutionize the country he inhablts;
not a mere revolution OF blood and
carnage, but greater though blood
less overturning of social law and
order During and after the great rail
road strike, which occurred last year,
much was said and written upon CAPT
tai and labor and their relations to
each other; the great reading public
| looked anXiOuSly for the outcome OF
this gigantic struggle, and the SYM
pathiZers were most enrolled upon the
side Of the oppressed. The resultant
victory, while comparatively barren
one as regarded spoils, was a great sur
prise to nine out of every ten of the
dsinterested onloOkers; it was no sur
prise to the victOrs Never once had
these latter faltered; even when the
horizon was darkest, they were as con-
fident of victorious dawn as it the
fact had been predestined. Their OPP
ponents, the strikers, were most I'M
familiar with the laws governing such
untoward work as they were engaged
in: they had never judged the contin-
gency remotely probable, and had never
given the matter thought. The CAPT
talists. on the other hand, had legislation
at their finger ends; they knew the exact
tenor and wording of the laws-because
they themselves had made them-and
in view of just such contingency
Statutary law is beneficial in it's nature
but it can become curse through the
conditions it makes possible. Put al
!, honest man in the legislature and he
cannot be cOrrupted; but what is t(
o prevent the placing there Of dishones
= man? There is nothing visible Or pal
pable about mans real character
= the veriest scOundrel may wear an at
. tractive exterior, and true virtue is of
- ten harbored in the most repulsive indi
, yidual; how, then, is one to know
!, whether it be VirtuOuS man or ras
= cal who helps make the country's laws
p and if the latter how easily can he no
- be purchased? Herein hes potenc
! for evil so vast that its limits cannot b
:, measured. Gold can ensure the elet
i ton of corruptible man, and the flu
Their use of gold can command his sui
Il frage upon any question: There is al
= other phase, a minor one certainly
-, contrast. in which wealth may prove
80 curse in the loadstone power it po
sesses of accretion. Give to one ma
~ an Unfortunately large fortune, and
~ ninety nine others moderate wealth,
-, sufficient income to make life not on
10 worth the living but pleasant, prospe
,io Gus and happy-in comparative
~ brief period of time, for so is humanl1
10 constituted, the one man OF fOrtul
~ will own mortgages upon the ninety al
90 nine, through the attracting power
of the millions he possesses. In the a
or gregate their fortunes, at the Outst
-, may have reached a greater figure thu
~ his, but because they were not col
bined, they could offer but vain resis
ance to the power which forced the
lat individually towards the greater ma
, a 1t is this expansive property in veal
w which has forced great living econ
lat mist to declare fatty that 'no lifetlr
or. is sufficiently long for man to nc
ne- estly earn million.
re- Is wealth then blessing Or is II
lid curse? Should we wish it to friend
SITS should we not rather consider It's pr
be session as something too baneful ev
civ for our worst enemy? The great NOR
ne. lists will tell you that in itself it is MOI
,ws ing; it is powerless; that only the 60
for or evil bent of its owner can give 1t