The Irish standard., 1897-01-30

pride tempt the other to defy the laws of
man and mock the will OF God. Halt the
burden of human misery will disappear
like miasmic mist before the beams of
morning. the waters of Bimini renew the
youth of those aged and broken before
their time, and smiles shine with a celes-
tial radiance on faces now, wet. with tears
Why should it not be- SO? Are we, the
wisest of Gods creatures, too dull to uti-
lie to the utmost his gracious gifts?
Must the fertile fields lie fallow, the fe-
cund mines untouched beneath our feet,
the tall timber stand, the cattle remain
unsold, the sheep unshorn and the fish
uncaught, while millions Of men with
hearts of cak and muscles Of iron remain
idle and see Want and Wretchedness
stalk like grisly phantoIns thtto' the
world-laughing perhaps at ponderous
lectures on "the evils of -, oyenproduc-
tiono" Have we not wisdom and homes
ty enough to work together and fairly
divide the joint product at the end of
the day? Does God create only fools and
knaves? Come, let us reason together"
No. I shall not presume to take the
initiative--to tell the world exactly what
it must do to be saved. Il am Davus, not
OEdipus." I suggest, however, that we
leave all our pet panaceas with the JAM
tor for safe-keeping, or hang them on tho
hat rack before entering the hail. We
have had all kinds OF tariffs and all
manner Of moneys, but the. sphinx re-
mains minatory. We have heard con-
siderable from the gentleman who would
abolish interest; but while the govern
ment may accord me the free use it's
rascal counters, my neighbor will not
allow me the use of his property without
hope of reward, and that is really what
l want. The man who is going to re-
deem the world Industrial by a power
full Christian awakening" universal
altruisn-has long been abroad in. the
land; but have not yet noted that Chris
tianity, howsoever much awake, induces
a man to tenoer me the big end in a horse
trade. Cooperation, socalled, has proven
a chateau en- espagne, while commun-
ism places the industrial giant and the
something may be accomplished by wise
tariff and monetary legislation, warfare
on monopolies of this or the other article,
and regulation of common carriers, while
a religious revival that will give us a
clearer conception of meum ct teun were
not to be despised; yet these do
-'fbut skin and film the ulcerOus place,
Whilst rank corruption, mining all
within,
1nfects unseen.
They do not reach the root of the trou-
BILE, which is simply this: Labor, broad
]y speaking, can no longer produce with
out the cooperation of large capital,
and to secure such cooperation it must
yield whatsoever proportion of the pro-
duct capital has the impudence to ask.
The natural order is reversed in our
industrial world today-the creature hath
become: lord Of it's creator 1t may be
the inevitable penalty of that differentia-
ton of effort and consequent increase in
productive power which we call progress;
but if so, we must .sorroWfully admit to
the sphinx our inability to answer. The
temptation to launch forth into long
and perhaps rofitab1e-lecture at
this point is nipped i the bud by the in
elasticity of our column rules; but at the
risk of creating a stampede~-if not in
deed a riot suggest that we all procure
the complete works of Henry George and
give them not only q careful but an I'M
prejudiced perusal 1 do not premise
that he has discovered the alkahest of the
ancient alchemists, or has the philosoph-
er's stone concealed about his person;
but a man who has devoted score of
years to the patient study of this prob
lem should be accorded patient hearing
especially by those wiseacres who, to
save their immortal souls, could not so
much as name half dozen standard au-
thors. He is entitled to hearing if on
no other ground that he is the only man
of superior mind who has had the moral
courage to really face the problem.
Whatever may be said of his economic
theorem, the fact remains that he is the
most powerful logician in the world to-
day. He is to polemics what Ingersoll is
to oratory. He has unhcarded all his
critics and trampled them in the subsoil
despite the axiom that thrice armed is
he who hath his quarrel just" His pa
ramount position is alarming to people
bred to cur way of thinking: but no more
so than was that of the supreme court
of Vermont, which, at the beginning Of
this century, refused to surrender flu
gitive slave unless the master could show
bill of sale from the almighty. At that
time the people o. every section denounc
ed the decision as anarchial and infa-
nous: today the ex-slaveholders them
selves admit the justice Of the decree.
Every proposition that is new is neces~