The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-09-20

social conditions of this do not obtain, and
where he may receive some compensation I
for his SufferingS here.
But for these reasons, the fiery scenery
of the pit and the ingenious fortunes OF
the damned, as portrayed in the theolo-
gies of the world and the legends of the
people, would be a relief to the terrible
monotony of the poor mans existence
Under existing conditions are not
fatherhood and motherhood, even under
the holy bonds of matrimony, almost a
crime to large number of people IN this
land?
If the few are to be rich and the mil
lions are TO remain in serfdom, the IDEA
of popular education is wrong and IL
logical. If such must be the condition OF
mankind, let the masses remain IN lgnor-
ance. The less one of these victims OF
poverty knows, the more contented ana
happy he is. Why create in him knoWi-
edge of the world beyond his reach, or
awake in him a longing for better things!
He may have the quick fancy ana vol
canic heart of a poet, and. you thus incur
the danger of making a socialist or an
anarchist. 1t is folly to create a desire
where there cannot possibly be any
corresponding qualification.
Many are great with greatness I'M
measurably more godlike than the great
ness of Dives. Even in the despised hrst
of the four classes into which we have d.
vided mankind Chose who are Incapable
of taking care of themselves), may there
not be found genius which, if cultivated
and sheltered like tender exotic plant,
might sing as Milton sang, paint as
Raphael painted, or pierce with the eye
of Newton into the most profound Sc
cretS of the universe? Many of them are
helpless only under the law of the sur
vival of the fittest as applied in our sys-
tenn to the acquisition of wealth. The
very magnitude and power of their spirit
ual and intellectual gifts may have left
the hedge-hog-ike qualities necessary tor
self-preservatlon in rudimentary state.
nnnCtifnran
conditions, there is no hope in this world.
In the next, their unfettered souls may
rise to vie in song with lsrafeel, but on
earth they are the contempt of men who
measure everything by the sign of the
dollar.
The popular idea that every man has
right to do what he wills with his own, is
largely sentimental. The lion that de-
commits no offense against the laws OF
either God or man. In fact he may be a.
very respectable and well-intentloned lion.
And vet the man who shoots him could
hardly be held to have committed a crime.
Here steps in the law of self-preservation
which is admitted to be above all other
laws. The very magnitude Of the material
possessions with which one has right to
do as he will, may be menace to the
lives and welfare of thousands.
Is it not possible that a Republican form
of government may be so perfected that
under its benefcent influence, like the
suns, free and glorious opportunity Will
be offered for the growth and maturity of
all forms of excellence, and under whose
strong and purifying light the dark and
poisonous recesseS where the rank weeds
Of monopoly flourish, shall become warm
and mellow ground where the flowers
and fruits of health and contentment may
blossom and ripen?
1t may be that in the fullness Of time,
when the common people awake to the
fact that law-abiding robbers may and do
exist, and have learned to believe that
the poor and weak have some rights in
the name of God that wealth is bound to
respect, that the constitution and laws
may be so adjusted that there shall be no
such vast premium placed upon the
qualities of the genius Sus; that those
who are incapable of suitably taking care
of themselves may be assisted to develop
and use, for their own good and the good
of the state, whatever of talent or bodily
strength they may possess and eat and be
clothed without humiliation; that those
who find themselves called upon to bear
unusual burdens without fault of their
own, may be loving and true without
burying every hope that makes life worth
living; that those who have no obligations
resting upon them further than to serve
their own ends, may be asked to assume
somewhat of the burdens of our common
humanity; that that class of men who
now control the great banking houses
curbed and controlled like any other
monstrous force in nature and their alb
normal powers used, like the wild
strength of Niagara, for the good of the
race.
Such government would be an approx
innate realization of the teachings of
Christ on earth. ANON.