Arizona republican., 1899-06-11

ened into superior intelligence, be- cause of the slow evolution of the so- cal conditions by which they were surrounded; yet they could feel in q 1 comparative degree the joys and sor- rows of life. Were the peasants who, 1 in devout and humble attitude, with bowed heads, stood redeptive and in- spired by the divine music of "The Angelus," dead to rapture and de- spair? And from this same peasantry came the president of France.
 President Loubet of the French re- public was born peasant farmer: he studied and worked hard, graduated in the law. was mayor of the city In which he lived for many years, and now he occupies the highest official station in his country. Truly through difficulties he attained the stars. Pres- ident Faure who preceded Loubet, was q working man; he was a tanner by trade in his early life, and worked for wages.
 The artist did not think Of moral obligations as though he were pre- sentng a pitiable object of accumulat- ed wrongs. Art was his only iqspira- ton; yet the imagination of the poet. sees in the picture a hideous victim of mans cruelty to man.
 Down all the stretch of hell to it's
 last gulf
 There is no shape more terrible than
 this
 More tongued, with censure of tha
 worlds blind greed
 More filled with signs and portents for
 the soul,
 More fraught with menace to the unI~
 verse.
 What gulfs between him and the
 seraphim;
 Slave of the wheel of labor, Through this dread shape the suffering
 ages look,
 Times tragedy is in that aching
 stoop.
 "Oh, masters, lords and rulers n al.
 lands,
 Is this the handiwork you give to God, This monstrous thing, distorted and
 soul quenched, When whirlwinds of rebellion shake
 the world,
 How will it be with kingdoms and
 with kings?"
 The artist did not intend to paint Slave of the wheel of labor" a mon strous thing, distorted and soul quenched;" and his innocent victim was all unconscious of the stony stare of the. suffering ages" The poets license is unrestrafned and he invests his poisoned sentiment in setting of mischievous and de. captive metaphor His lurid fancy pictufes horrible menace to the happiness of man, and his work is ap- pIaUded by the vicious and weak There Is no slave of the wheel of ! labor" in civilized countries now. and IA T. world has labor been so honorable and l Independent; in this country labor is l never slave, but often master. The | tendency Of the age is to elevate the | Worhng man; to ameliorate his con- dltlon in every way; to provide him | with a contented home, comfort and even luxury. Education is free to h:s children, and wealth and exalted sta. ton within his reach. This is espec- lally true of this country Our great est president was splitter of rails. | While there will be plodding laborers | always, The Man With the Hoe," as interpreted by Markham, is thing | impossible in the present day-it is a | creation of evil and seditious imag.na- ion. There is no Man With the | Hoe such as he describes: and if there were such a person. he is him. selt most responsible for his fallen | state, and not the Masters. lords and | rulers in all lands" He is the arbi | ter of his own fate, the shaper of his destiny. The poet assumes a condf- | ton which does not exist. and places | responsibility where it does not be- ! long. It is true that the selfish greed of wealth and power, envy and the | jealOusies of station too often make | men cruel and inhuman. Thus thought | Burns when he wrote: Many and sharp the numrous ills |
 inwoven in our frame, More pointed still we make ourseiv s !
 regret, remOrse and shame. But man whose heaven-erected face
 the smiles of love adorn, Mans inhunanity to man makes
 countless thousands mourn
 l would not lessen the responsibility | of the wealthy and powerful l. is their duty to strengthen the weak, aid 1 the unfortunate and restrain the vic .ous; and the measure of their re- spOnsibility to God and man is their power to do good without injury to individual rights.
 The concentration of either wealth 1 Or political power offers dangerous | temptations to the selfshness of man, and encourages indifference to the rights of others. Wholesome Isgisla- ton, without Invading the sacred pre- cincts of personal liberty, higher edu- cation, and a deepened sense of moral obligations, should adjust all the diff ferences of men. The Man With the Hoe who stands before us today as the assassin of moral life, who repre- sents retrOgreSsion, crime and the deg of man, is he of idle and vic