The Irish standard., 1897-03-20
HAVE HARDY GURDY HEADS.
That is the Kind of Head-Pieces
nany of Our Politicians
Possess.
Turn a Populist Loose and He
Will Chase Democrats and
Republicans.

Henry George Not the Originator
Of the Single Tax but its
Best Advocate.
The advocates of the Single Tax assure
us that they have discovered the true
cotholicon, says Brann's Iconoclast.
Until quite recently they were commonly
alluded to as "cranks;" but now that
they are becoming numerous they COM
mand no little respect. 10 be reviled
empty gabsters and hissed at by intel
lectual geese is the penalty which men
must pay for pioneership in any move
ment, whether scientific, religious OR po-
litical. Mahomet made but nine converts
during the first four years of his apostle
ship, and was caile. a crank by his neigh
bors as matter of course. Nay, he was
even expelled from his native city as a.
Salvation Army nuisance. Now his fol-
lowers number nearly 200000,000 and
princes and philosophers are proud to
call themselves MCslems. Every dog In
Rome could defile the Christian religion
when in it's swaddling clothes; now Jove
and his wantons have gone glimmerine,
while the imperial pillars of Trajan and
Aurelius are surmounted by the statues
of SITS. Peter and Paul. Right here 1t
may not be amiss to say word about
the mental ensemble of the various Eo-
litical parties. Wise men are frequently
afflicted with fallacious ideas, for none
are infalible; still we may conclude with
reasonable certainty whether a political
theorem be worth analysis by observing
what manner of men are engaged In its
exploitation I confess with sorrow not
unmixed with shame that there Is just
one partisan more densely ignorant than
the average Democrat, and that is the
average Republican. Each absorbs his
economic ideas from the empty eructa-
tions of flapdoodle orators and the impu-
dent prevarications OF partisan press.
AS rule they are born Democrats or
Republicans, just as they are born Bap-
fists or esbyterians-blindly follow the
faith of their fathers. Their so-called
argument consists in the parrot1ng OF
stale platitudes damning each other,
sneering at Matriarch Leases male ap-
pendage and the storm-riven whiskers
of Senator PETER. If, by any accident,
an adult idea should be injected into the
head of the average old-party serf, his
cerebum would pop like a bladder giving
birth to a thunderbolt. Such people ra-
tiocinate by machinery. Their heads are
+, mere hurdy-gurdies and emit only nerve
destroying dissonances. When they I'M
agine that they are reasoning they are
only remembering. When they think
they are thinking they imagine vain
thing. The Populists are much better
informed than those who call them an
archists and cranks. Seldom is the Pop
/; rlist deeply read in economic lore; but
he is invariably familiar with the plat
form of his own party as we'll as those OF
his opponents, and can give something
a,lpproaching a reason for the faith that
| infects him. Turn a Popuist loose in the
logical arena with dozen Democrats
and Republicans, and in fifteen minutes
he'll have em all on the roof. His
/: theory may not be so sound as that OF
! the Democrats; but he knows what he's
j talking about, while they are cropping IN
f! the dark. But by fai the most studlous,
! the best read of all those engaged IN the
1audable task of saving the country, are
the Single Takers. They were not BORN
with their present politico-
brand entagliated on their bodies. They
have thought their way to their present
/ position-and the fact that they can
| think is a point in their favor.
| There be people in this world who will
not read a book or paper which does not
reflect their preconceived ideas, or ld1-
ocies-lest they learn something. Their
inordinate egctism, or rather their ter
geminous gall, their three-pfy impotence,
leads them to assume that they have
corner on tho wisdom OF the world Hail
the people who denounce Henry George
haven't the faintest conception Of his
doctrine They've "heern tell as how"
he proposes this Or the other govern
mental policy, and they are "agin" It,
Why? Because they have thought 1t
over, analyzed 1t, and found 1t faulty?
Nit! Because it is not in their party
platform. George is frequently referred
: to as a lunatic, crank, anarchist and
crack Drained enthusiast who Is trying g
to play Samson to the temple OF human
society. sincerely trust that these
charges are not true. Il they should be
substan4iated it would place we orthodox
Democrats In q very embarrassing posi-: resi-;