The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1899-07-14
THE NEW FEUDALISM
HOW IT COMPARES WITH THAT OF
THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.

nv eoHie OF the united States Arr
being Reduced to Vnssmlage-whu,
N. End VIII BE.
The following appeared as the lead
ing article in 81 recent issue Of The
United States Investor and Promoter OF
American Enterprises. 1t bears evi.
dences of careful preparation and the
desire OF the writer to rather understate
than e~Saggerate the situation. The
source of the opinions expressed makes
them peculiarly interesting.
1t requires almost more temerity
than we possess to assert that what is
termed progress is more seeming than
real. The world abandons one method
and adopts another whereby it accom-.
pllshes certain results more expeditions.
~, more economically and in vastly in
creased measure. and we call this prog
ress. But progress, on a final ANALYSIS,
is comparable to the Irishman's sheet,
which was heightened at one end by a
piece cut from the other end. This is
seen to be true wen in the case of a
people that have been Enthusiastically ad-
'e"SS' 49, IO Ou6 MIL
deny that when the Hawaiians were
led to give up their primitive barba-
rlsm there was an instance of progress.
But the change has made the Hawaiiaus
an etfete race, whose fate is soon to
perish from off the face of the earth.
The American Indians are another in
stance of a peCplo who lose more than
they gain by progress.
Where progress has gained the great
est victories it has had to pay heavily
for them-pyrrhic victories they might
almost be called. The labor saving in.
ventions aAI discoveries of the last CEN
fury are a great improvement, but they
have brought with them the factory
system. whereby the souls and bodies
OF a large portion of the race are being
stunted, and they have defaced the fair
face of nature, and they have done
their b~est-though not as yet with en-
tire success-to drive the nine muses.
into retirement. The building of great
cities has added greatly to the comfort
and convenience of life, but it has
given birth to nervous prostration, a
disease Of which our fathers knew moth
ing. The rapid multiplication of books
and the lessening cost of the same en-
ables every Il to possess a library, but
as a consequence the reading habit is
practically dead. Great progress has
been made in the culinary art, but
people cannot eat as much as formerly,
and do not get nearly SO much satisfac-
ton from what they eat.
These are a few random illustrations
of the fact that there is never a gain
without q loss. This appears to be a
law Of nature, and it would of course
be foolish to turn the back to progress
because it has its drawbacks. Never
theless it is always wise before taking
a step in the direction of the so called
progress to weigh the consequences.
Civilization does not tend in a straight
line. Though it would not be correct
to say that its course is that of a circle,
It is nearer that than a continuous on
ward march. The present is one of
those times when it is obvious that it
is turning back en- itself. During the
last half (and especially the last QUAR-
teri of the eighteenth century, great
forces were at work for the u~nloosen-
ing of the shacklea in which a large
portion OF the human race were groan-
Ing. The philosophy and literature of
that period tended to open the eyes of
man to his inalienable right to life,
liberty and the pursuit of happiness,
and the outcome was such outbursts as
the Declaration Of Independence in this
country and the Revolution Of 1889 in
France. Those events marked the down
fall of feudalism and the beginning of
a long period of broadening liberty. It
is singular that just about a century
later should be witnessed the indica-
lions of a gradual return to a state Of
affairs comparable to the old grinding
condition of the eighteenth century.
This may be a startling assertion, but
the fact Is obvious to n who is not
willfully blind.
In the first place, is it not apparent
that political liberty is in danger of be-.
ing lost9 Autocratic power is growing
fast in the United States. however it
may be elsewhere. Two centuries and
a half ago Charles I lost his head be-
cause Of his attempt to rule England
without d parliament. But Charles
tyranny was not more audacious than
that of Platt and Quay. The American
boss possesses a power which no auto
crat since the days of Peter tho Great
ever welded. He does what few tyrants
have actually succeeded in doing-he
makes the people whom he rules bow
down and kiss the hand that Yields the
rod. The people of the United States
go deliberately to the polls and elect
parliaments $50 to speak) whose only
duty it shall be to register the will Of
the boss. And the worst Of the matter
is. that the boss is generally, in his per-
sonal characteristic, a BLACKBOARD. 1t
is an incontrovertible fact that bossism
is an increasing factor in this country,
and this can denote but one thing
namely. that the people are rapidly
forgetting how to safeguard their ,iber.
ties,
Another indication that history is
PASNSSNihS VIZ ACNOiFAAS dAlo 10 tuO
growth of social distinctions. The boast
of American civilization in the past
has been that it tended to equalize
social conditions That was true dur
ing a very considerable part CT our his
tory But it is no longer true. In no
part CT the world are class distinctions
more clearly recognized than they are
l. l.
ly fortunes are rapidly ditferentiating a
portion of the people from the great
bulk of the population. The distinction
between the classes and the masses is
becoming very sharp. Destinations dis