The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-01-01

Watchful care that we can accomplish
this; only by devotion TO this idea that
we can succeed.
Let us stand, in the incoming year.
by this grand idea of universal justice.
Let us away with the crumbs of char
ity, that mere fig-leaf that hides the
nudity of a deformed social system, and
let justice. only justice, flow like
mighty stream.
Ring out the grief that saps the
mind,
For those that here we see no more.
Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind.
Let us usher in the year 1898 with a
resolution to shake off and Danish for
ever the feelings that the distinctions
men have created in the past are di-
Vinely given. Rather are they the re-
mains of the barbarism of the past.
that savage feeling that regards every
man as a foe. The glory of the latter
day civilization is that il bursts the
shackles of the slave: that il uplfts the
downtrodden: that it elevates the de-
pressed, that it puts a staff in the hand
of him who is lame and supports the
feeble and weak. In doing this il car
ries out the command of the prophets
of old who laid down these glorious
maXims of justice and mercy. maXims
that after 1000 years the world has
hardly risen to accept.
The entire effort of all great reform
ers of the past has been to escape from
the spirit Of selfishness and to rescue
the people. 1t was this that aroused the
spirit of Moses, the greatest lawgiver
and induced him to champion the cause
of Israel and rescue them from Egyp-
tian slavery and leading them to the
border of the land of promise. il was
that that inspired Isaiah. who dashed
the rich men Of his day for their rapac-
ity and wickednesS. This that spoke in
the warning words 0f Amos that ghpn-
herd prophet, whose soul glowed within
him in hot Indignation at the sins of
the dominant class. II rebuked the ar
istocracy by the lips of jeremiah and
broke cut in indignant denunciation in
Hosea. How ii famed in the awful
presence of Elijah as he looked the
wrath of Jehovah against wicked Ahab
and still more wicked Jezebel. And last
of all. how it evoked denunciation and
warning from that gentle personality
the rabbi of Nazareth who rebuked the
hellish spirit of avarice who felt for
the poor and mingled with the lowly
These prophets and teachers show us
that whenever a cry has gone up for
humanity there, in the path. resolutely
withstanding their work and hindering
it. has been the form of some man
whose heart afiame with ayarice and
distorted by greed, has striven to OBJ
struct and bar the way.
I'm the presence of this spirit, which
threatens us now as much as il did in
the past, every honest man must exert
himself This is the platform upon
which every true soul must stand, Jew
and Gentle orthodox and reformer
Methodist and Episcopalian. Presbyte-
rian and UniVersaliSt Catholic and dis
senter, for it is not in religious dstinc-
tions that our danger lies. 1t is not in
keeping the Bible i'm or out Of the
schools that the race is to be saved
We shall not fight this spirit by seeing
the flag float from the school house. 1t
is when we forget that the brotherhood
of man implies the fatherhood of God,
ii is when we forget that he who denies
his brother denieth God. 1t is when
corporations and governments chuclSle
to think that having no souls they es-
cape responsibility for their work, that
the future of this country is imperiled.
We may build schools and colleges, but
they have been built before. We may
erect lofty monuments, but these have
been erected before. We may multiply
means of communication. but to get
over the ground in an hour when 1t
used to take our forefathers days, does
not solve these moral questions. The
world is anxious and is asking If it
must tread the same road that others
have gone. Is there to be no end to all
this weary work and weary waiting?
Can We catch no echo from the future.
but is our civilization to blossom and
to decay just as all our former ones
have done? Must we go down into the
dustbin of the ages and acknowledge
that we have done no better than those
who have preceded us? Is there then
only the word failure all across our
work in this world, and is our boosted
scheme OF human liberty only an Incl
dental circumstance, to be dissipated
as soon as we near the possible goal9
These are the problems that confront
us on the threshold of a new year.
These are the burning questions which
we will be called upon to solve. Let us
attune our hearts To the divine melody
that sings to us of a hopeful future.
Let us resolutely determine to meet the
incoming year with the assurance that
it will be harbinger of good tidings. n
messenger of universal peace, and a
united brotherhood. Thus
Ring out the old. ring in the new,
Ring happy bells acros the SNOW;
The year is going. let him go.
Ring out the false. ring in the true :"