Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1898-02-25

falsehood? So were Annanias and
Sapphira, and both were buried in
dishonor. Are you a lover of mon
ey and grasping for more? So was
Judas Iscariot whose price was
thirty pieces of silver, which price
was set by himself, and who sought
for consolation, not his much loved
money, but the company OF rope
and tree on a lonely hillside.
Achan for wedge of gold and a
secondhand garment, gave his life
and that of his family. Do you
shirk your duty? Jonah did, but
he found time to repent in close
quarters after having been gobbled
up by a whale. Do you believe
that you can run your own affairs
in your own way without being
held to account by the people or
the government, or by Gods lawsa
Zedekiah did and the last scene up
on which his vision rested before
his own eyes were gouged out was
the torture ofhis three sons. Then
beware of misguided zeal; Saul of
Iarsus and Paul the apostle were
really one and the same.
II history repeats is the same
laws which heretofore wrought out
our social conditions are now work.
ing and always will be; given like
couses in the social fabric and these
laws will leave like effect. Ifthis be
then the American government is
upon the threshold of great con-
f1ict, on one side of which is arrayed
the money power of concentrated
wealth, and on the other side the
power of the original wealth Gre
ator, and the problem which this
conflict must settle is, is he who by
his own labor creates wealth be the
owner of that wealth, or is he to be
mere slave doing the bidding of
another. for that others benefit. In
other words, is man created free
and with the right to equal oppor-
tunities, or are some born to be
slaves and others masters?
This is the problem now before
the American people and it must be
quickly settled one way or another,
otherwise the American republic
will be a thing of the past. I am
not in any sense calamity howler,
nevertheless I cannot help seeing
the trend of things. All now
extinct great nations Immediately
preceding their dissolution were
confronted by the same problem
characterized by the same social
conditions. History does not re-
cord one exception. Said Patrick
Henry, 1--WE can only judge the fu-
ture by the past" Look at the
past when Egypt went down two
per cent of her population owned
81 per cent of all her wealth and
the people were starved to death.
When Persia went down one per
cent of her population owned all
the land. When Babylon went
down two per cent of her popula-
ton owned all the wealth, and the
people were starved. When Rome
went down 1900 men owned all
the known world. And in France
before the revolution of 1889 there
was small aristocracy of wealth
and birth on one side and millions
Of half clad starving toilers on the
other.
How much is now lacking in
this fair land of the free and home
of the brave to the completion of
this condition. Let us look at
the figures OF Geo. K. Holmes in a
review of the eleventh census. The
total wealth of the United States is
estimated at sixty billion dollars,
and the total number of families at
I5.6eo,I5a. If this wealth was
equally divided each family would
have $4,728. Statistics however
show that of this total number of
families II,595,SS7 own $I7,356,-
S37,343 of the nations great wealth
the remaining I,oo6,265 families
own $42, ,643, 1862, ,657. And when
further analyzed the larger number
of families average 1896 each,
and the smaller number $38,888.
If we allow five persons to each
family the correct number 57,969,-
436 persons own on an average
$299 each. and 2,48I,325 own ST.
$50. But this does not give ex-
TO the full truth. There