Virginian-pilot. (Norfolk, Va.) 1898-1911, 1899-01-17
LET ALL HAVE A FAIR CHANCE.

1t is no recent discovery that the
world is out of joint. Many attempts
have been made to reset it; but none
have succeeded, so far; and most ex-
perments have done more harm than
good. 1t is now in d very dangerous
condition. Inflammation has set in; and
though opiates and other sedatives have
been largely used, causing temporary
quiet and 4 dclusive relief, the re-ac-
ton, as usual in the use of such pal
liatives. has been worse and worse ar
ter every empirical treatment OF that
kind. What are we to do about 1t? All
medicine and surgery have failed. and
Solomon himself confessed that the
case was beyond him.
Nevertheless. while there is life there
is hope, and we must keep on trying
to cure or remedy the evil The effort
itself at least distracts attention in
some degree from the suffering: and
Hope springs eternal in the human
breast:
Man never is, but always to be blest."
Yet there are some obvious wrongs
| and injustices that should be repaired,
although it must be confessed that.
with full knowledge of all the facts,
little has been accomplished In that
| direction, except in n formal way that
fails to reach the root of the matter.
The feudalism of the middlc-ages has
gone; French servitude has been
broken; the Russian serfs have been
| emancipated; and actual slavery has
been abolished here and elsewhere. Yet
| the painful inequalities Of the condi-
| lions of men remain substantially the
| same Reform has accomplished little.
save in form. The many still eat their
bread in the sweat of their faces; some
| beg In vain for work, or bread; and
| others fare surreptitiously every day,
though they work not, neither do they
| spin. The latter have got from under
the curse, some how, ana laid it. in
double burden upon others. Nay, more:
they have continued to keep the
world in slavery to them. despite all
revolutions, all emanciapations and all
the republics and devices of liberty,
equality and fraternity.
The difficulty lies below mere forms
and phrases: forms of government
forms of religion. forms OF law, forms
| Of business, forms of society and
forms of speech;-all OF which are mere
simulacrums, as empty as the shells
shed by last years locusts. II the
slave be the servant OF his master,
feeding. clothing and enrichng him in
| idleness. while the hard working slave
himself goes poor and suffering. what
good does it do, even If they should eN-
| change names. without any real alter
alton in their relations? We shall be
tod that these relations are fixed by
| circumstances, events. personal capac-
tiles ancestral traits and acts, oppor-
tunities. and other factors. which de-
cided before A. and Il. were born whe-
Their a. should black BIS boots, or Il.
! black AS.
There is much truth in that: but II
we examine the common and statute
laws of every nation we shall find this
striking fact in regard to material wei
fare: that while these laws. and the
| governments behind them with all
their civil and military force. are
hardly at all concerned in the lives.
large, books can hardly contain the
provisions that enable the few TO
make" gather and control property,
| money. labor and all the interests there