The Wichita daily eagle., 1896-11-15

| Pass on; We have not that which you
1 are seeking" This distinguished critic
1 points out the evidence OF European
disconteniment, complaint and restiye-
ness. The manifesto lions were Social
ism, Nihilism and contempt for life
among the cultivated and hatred of
property owners and privileged classes
by the ignorant and poor which operat-
ed to drive thousands upon thousands
| away from their homes to cross the
ocean"
| That picture was then, in the main,
true though pessimistic. Man would not
| live his life<over again. has his moods
| when the question, Is life worth living,
has apeculiar significance 10 him, some
times feels that whatever is, Is right;
and at other times he ''rends his mantle
| and falls down upon the ground and
walls" Not only Europe, but the Unit
ed States are affected by similar con-
| ditions. Progress and Poverty wasth
significant title of Henry Georges book
written about twenty years ago. Have
twenty years for the better? Twenty
years is too short a time to not decide
changes in the line Of general progress.
Civilization is a growth, the result or
ages, the product of heredity through
generation upon generation.
Why these complaints? Are they
reasonable? Is there wrong in existing
social institutions-radical wrongs that
may be remedied by law? Whatever
may be the answer to these questions
complaint stalks abroad-sometimes
openly, sometimes like a spectre in the
dark. He takes a very shallow view
of the situation who thinks that the
present discomfort can be healed by
some party program. some coinage or
tariff proposition. The cause lies deep
er than this and the mutterings will
continue. Is human nature-fallen. i'm
perfect human nature at falt? What
are the evils and what are the RENE
dies? Aristocracy the evil, democracy
the cure! Monarchy the evil, elective
government the remedy! However
democratic the rule while the individu-
al owns the wealth, there is plutocracy!
Thus in all the range Of history the un-
desirable is always present and the de-
sirable largely matter of relation
truth eternally crushed to earth, eternal
ly rises again.
What shall the future be? See what
the past has been. The future will bear
close relation to the past. Take all
the social remedies from paternalism to
anarchy, 'sift them, classify them under
visionary, impractical and hideous and
there is not much left. Most Of these
reforms have been tried in some form
or other There is progress. Man
scars. The flight upward is with freight
ed wings. There is something in man
that makes for righteousness. Yet from
the dizzy heights he may fall with ten
fold the speed he ascended.
Man is never satisfied with the pres
ent. He looks forward to the glory of
the future or to Paradise after this life,
saying:
"On JOrdon's stormy banks l stand
And cast wishful eye,
To Canaan's fair and hapy land
Where my possessions lie"
On he looks to the Mythical Golden
age of the past, whose very existence Is
fabric of imagination. Hence there
is an ever present element of discord
and dissatisfaction. These mutterings
are worse at times than others and the
atmosphere is never entirely clear or
pure Dip'into the past you will find:
~Cne dieth In his full strength beinS
wholly at ease and quiet. And another
dieth in the bitterness of his soul and
never easeth with pleasure"
So ii has been and will be. Where
civilization has risen highest we had If
possible the sharpest complaint. This
age is full of it. Our literature is filled
with pictures-hideous realism. All
sides recognize that there is something
wrong-better expressed something I'M
desirable. The undesirable for which
there is no remedy is not wrong. And
parties OutuO tEeli>ciNcS ~ pioPN'e
euack nostrums, for the most part, to
cure things for which there is no rene
dy. but to be understood and let alone.
The present currency agitation is one of
those connections, based mostly upon
msapprehension, born of desire to lay
the blame somewhere.
These agitarions will not entirely
cease. But with a better understand
ing of possible and practicable reforms
and moderated good business, the great
majorityof the people will cease to take
them seriously-the storm will be over
but the rumbling thunder will still be
heard in the distance.
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