Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1899-04-14

who weep. lherc are times when iileH-
dicants become OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES a
rag becomes banner, under which the
noblcst and brayest battle for the right.
How are we to settle the unequal diff
erencc between man and machine? Will
the machine finally go into partnership
with the laborcr? Can these forces of
nature be controlled for the benefit of her
children Will extravaganza keep pace
with ingenuity? Win the workmen be
come intelligent and strong enough to
become the owners of machines: VIII
these giants, these titans, shorten and
lengthen the hours of labor? Will they
give leisure for the Industrious, or will
they make the rich richer and the poor
poorer? Is man involved in the general
scheme" of things? Is there no pity, no
mercy? Can man become intelligent
enough to be generous, to be just, or does
the same law or fact control him as con
trolls the animal or vegetable world!
The great oak steals the sunlight from
the smaller trees. The strong animal de
yours the wcak-evcrything at the mercy
of the bcak, and claw, and hooi, and
tooth-of hand, and club, and BRAIN and
greed inequalty, injustice, everywhere.
| The poor horse standing in the street
with his dray, overworked, ovcrwhipped
| ,-,Io,, ba hnrcpc
cd to mirror, gistening with gold and
silver, scorning with proud feet the very
earth, probably INDUCES in the usual
social reflections; and this same horse,
worn out and old, deserted by his master,
turned into the dusty road, leans his
head on the topmost rail and looks at
donkeys in the field of clover and feels
like amhiIist.
In the da.,s of cannibalism the strong
devourcd the intellectually ate their
flesh. In spite of all laws that man has
made, in spite of all advances i'll science,
the strong, the heartless still live on the
unfortunate, the foolish True, they do
not drink their blood or eat their flesh,
but they live on their labor, on their self
denial, WEAKNESS and want. The poor
man who dcforms himself by toll, who
labors for his wife and children thro all
his anxious, barren, wasted liie-who
goes to the grave without ever having a
luxurv-has been the food of others. He
has been devoured by his fellow men.
The poor woman living in the bare and
lonely room, cherries and iireless, night
and day, to keep starvation from her
child, is slowly being eaten by her fellow
men. When | take into consideration
the agony of civilized life--thc failures,
the anxiety, the tears, the withered hopes
the bitter realities, the hunger, the crime,
the humiliation the shame-I am almsst
forced to say that cannibalsm. after ALL
is the most merciiul form in which man
has lived on his fclowman.
1t is impossible for a man with a good
heart to be satisfied with this world rs
it is now. No man can truly enjoy what
he really earns-what he knows to be his
own-knowing that millions of his tcl
lowmen are in misery and want. Wher
we think OF the furnished we feel that'i
is the most heartless to eat. Tomeet thu
> ragged and shivering makes one almos
: ashamed to be wcl-drcsscd and warm
one feels as if his heart were as cold a.
their bodies
In world filled with millions anC
millions of acres OF land waiting to b
titled, when one man can raise the toct
for hundreds, yet millions are on the edgt
of famine, who can comprehend the
stupidity at the bottom of this truth?
Is there to be no change?
y Are the laws of supply and demand,
G invention and science, monopoly AM
c competition, capital and legislation al
? ways to be enemies of those who toll
j Will the workers always beignorant ant
: stupid enough to give their earnings tt
!, the useless? Will they support million
|, of soldiers to kill sons of other working
n men? viii they always build temple