Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1898-08-19

lation the paper tries to be, editor
tally, as vague and non-committal as
possible.
But in a recent issue one of the Re-
publics underpaid editorial scribblers
made himself absurd by trying to say
something. as follows:
The dominating tendency Of mon
arches is to use the common people
upon whom they subsist as beasts Of
burden which must be fed and housed
out Of their own productiveness, but
never permitted to realize that, after
all, they are the whole thing. If they
become at once too numerous and Ill
provided for, they can be plunged into
war without their consent. This decl-
mates the herd and prevents a STAN
pede which might have trampled into
the clay the faces of their drivers. War
in Europe adds luster to the crown jew
els by washing them in the tears OF
widowed Betsy Jane. 1t relieves the
apoplexy Of royal misrule by letting
the hearts blood of the canaille.
Therefore is it good. With us the one
perpetual prejudice against war is that
we have not and never will have one
drop of blood to squander from the
veins of the American citizen. There
is not a man among the quarter OF
million now under arms for whom
there is not place of honor and indie
pendence in the office and factories,
the fields and mountains of his home.
We begrudge them even to the noble
cause into which they rushed voluntar-
lily and unselfishly.
The Republics editor is probably &C.
tually ignorant of the fact that the st.
Louis millionaire and trust magnates
with whom the papers owners as
sociate use the common people upon
whom they subsist as beasts OF burden
which must be fed and housed out
Of their own productiveness. but never
permitted to realize that after all they
are the whole thing" just as the same
class does in Europe The royal fam
lilies are merely ornamental appen-
dages Of the aristocracy and the whole
burden of royalty, aristocracy and
plutocracy could be thrown off at any
time by the principal European
nations, but the people allow them
selves to be exploited by monopolists,
money changers and tax eaters, just
as they do here. The people have
self-government and universal suffrage
in Great Britain, Germany, France,
Italy, Austria, Belgium, Holland, Den
mark and Scandinavia. Moreover, In
most of those countries there Is less
illiteracy than in the United States.
OF course the people there are used
as servile beasts of burden, but they
deserve no sympathy, because a ma
jority of them vote for continuance
of present conditions. The United
States, also, recently gave a vote of
confidence in government by monopo-
lies, trusts and moneylenders, but this
will soon be reversed. The people OF
Europe, too, show signs of waking up.
According to the Republic it is such
a snap to be citizen Of the United
States that one wonders why immi-
grafton from Europe is falling on SO
fast. Read: There is not a man
among the quarter of million now
under arms for whom there is not
place of honor and independence In
the offices and factories, the fields and
mountains of his home" Certainly
that is the way 1t was before monopoly
got this country in its grip.
In these days of the single gold stan
dard, land monopoly and trust control
of industry, how is it? Perhaps when
mustered out the Republic expects the
volunteers to gain places of honor and
profit by taking the places OF striking
coal miners in Pennsylvania or Illinois.
While the war progressed the trusts
have all been reducing wages, and ex-
soldiers will find no more honor and
less profit in working for them than
heretofore.
Perhaps the volunteer worked for
merly in the Duchess print works at
Wappinger's Falls, New York. If so,
when he comes home he will find them
shut down for the first time in twenty
years. Strikes, shut-downs and wage
reductions are general today, and when
the supply of workers is increased by
the return of the soldiers and Klon-
dikers industrial conditions will natur-
ally be worse. There is much work
now in the northwestern harvest fields,
but that is about over. The coming
winter will be hard one and the re-
turning volunteer who relies on his
labor to iced his family may have to
live chiefly on honor and independence
this winter, as he will not see much
money.
A mechanic of Washington, d. c.,
named A. E. Wild, in writing to New
York trades paper as to the prospects
for work there, describes conditions in