The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1896-03-15

Il would seem for these reasons that the
preservation OF all things ia America de-
penis upon the maintenance and welfare
OF the primary Industries II is amazing
that IN 80 plain matter the whole drift
Of the public hfe should have been away
from the region which supoor,sf IL and makes
1t possible 1t Is not only the Industrial
weird that rests on the agricultural Efe
and the simpler industries that are immed.-
atsly associated with IL. The great fact
called The People without which I sup
pose the Nation would be nothing. IL born
out OF TIE bosom OF nature. Unless nature.
the mother OF men. shall be supported and
honored. we shall all likewise perish. The
vast volume OF American Efe proceeds from
the earth II could not arise from any
other fountain. II grows only where the
grass grows. ard the flowers. II does not
spring from marts ard wharfs and bourses
and trade centers and International COM
merce-though all these are essential parts
OF civilization II does bubble up from the
cool and interrupted springs of the coun-
try LIFE simple in its methods. normal in
Its desires and temperature. fecund in its
powers.
The country whose legislation does not
recognize this fact. the art and literature
that do rot recognize it, the social and In
ousfrsai system that does not and will not
recognize IT. are all alike doomed to be
blasted and blown away. The public press
which deyotes Itself merely 10 municipal
tty and capital and patronizes the mighty
people upon whose strength ii feeds is pro-
viding for its own destruction. The states
man who thinks Of nothing but banking
systems and coast defenses of nothing but
river appropriations and reapportionments
Is fool The orator who finds nothing 10
extoi In that great and sweet smelling field
of wholesome endeayor in which more than
10 per cent formerly IS per cent? of the
American people are still engaged, but who
takes for his theme the triumphs of inyen-
ton or the abuses OF the custom house,
is another fool. who fills himself with the
east wind and utters merely articulate
noise The economist who IS all the time
thinking and talking OF the ownership of
water works by cities. the control OF rail-
ways and the benefits OF the weather SER
vice is like the other two in folly.
So long as the Industrial world rests
firmly on the primary pursuits. so long as
the primary industries abound, so long as
population issues in great streams from
the wholesome springs of the natural life
that fiourishes in the countryside. and so
long as the social and the civil life are ac-
cordant with this fundamental scheme. we
shah flourish. When these conditions no
longer exist. We shall not only cease to
flourish. but cease to be. Already the draft
on the original industries and on the great
life by which they are supported has be-
come SO great that those industries and
the people who ply them are strained to
the last measure of their strength. Specu-
lation. vulturelike, circles over them,
alishting here and there to devcur and
waste. tempered currency transfers the
profits of labor to the bank account of the
shark. and the gambling vampire hides in
every wheat shock from the Red River of
the North 10 the French Broad. Devasta-
ton can proceed no further
Now, messierrs the legislators. you pub
licists. you reformers, you thinkers, you
politicians. You miilionaires. you preach
ers. you managers OF society. you rulers
OF the state. what are you going to do
about it? You will do one of two things
either stop or go to the wall
JOHN CLARK RIDPATH.