The White Pine news. [volume] (Treasure City, Nev.) 1868-1906, 1899-06-15
THE GOOD OLD TIMES.
\ MUCH TALKED OF EPOCH
THAT NEVER WAS
German statistieian Surveys History
from Its Dawn 10 the Present Time,
and Tails To Find a Period When
Every One Vas Happy and Content.


Every One Was Happy and Content.
When were the good old times"
What was the exact date OF that much
talked-of and much-sighed-after epoch
one of these terrible German inyesti-
gators has been asked some such ques
lions, and in the vain effort To find the
exact time and place Of the good oil
days lie has gone back in vain Ia the
dawn of history and the era of hero
glyphies. Theodor kundhauscu Is his
name. and in ueber Land und Nicer,
Leipsie he shows that strange to say
the time of perfect peace aud content
ment never was We summarize his
article as follows:
The good old times We're not a
quarter of a century ago, that's pain,
for the editor of the Eyangelische
kirchen Zeltung then wrote: Every
one is anxious 10 get rich quickly and
without working in our times. This
craving after wealth rapidly acquired
lemoralizes society more than anything
else" Nor was II fifteen years earlier,
when the kreuz Zeitung said: Nov At
last, when immortality is increasing ut
such II frlghtful rate, Il reform move
ment Is begun to reduce the evil. IL IS
terrible. Carnnl pleasures are follow
ed by every one. aud they all want to
make money. no matter how
Let us 90 back a little further. In
1916 Lashmann complains of tie ma
tcrialistie tendency Of our times In
ls22 Frelherr Won Stein summarized his
observations as follows: The country
Is oyerpopulated. our Industries are TOO
rapidly progressing, there Is much
oyerproduction. and we live too well
Stein must have been mistaken II he
thought that this Illustrated the att
iude of the prussian people vuiy IN his
avn time, for in 1907 Niettrammer, the
phllologist, wrote that the feverish
.hase after money and profit rules our
times" Perhaps the good old times
are 10 - found in the eighteenth cen
fury. But. alas, Frederick the Great
complains bitterly; he says he is tired
If ruling people with the minds Of
slaves Again. in 1873. Albrecht Halter
wrote that tile hearts OF our citizens
iheYery marrow of the state are hollow
aud rotten. History will record how
soon the downfall Of the country fol-
lowed the decline OF morals" During
The thirty years war nobody VIII look
for the good old times" and. indeed
- L. In "a
adiet wrote rs follows: The people
lead vile lives; murder highway rob
berries blood feuds and arson are dclil-
ing the country" So we travel back TO
the times of the reformation, aud read
IN letter of Johann Won Nassau 10
William of Orange, in 1883, that ''the
people are blind to what is good; the
lust for gain on the one hand, suspicion
aud pessimism on the other, are In.
creaslngn No wonder, then, that the
social reformer found plenty OF work to
do among the wealthy burghers of the
times. In Ito the Hamburg Senate
passed laws against luxury and immor.
nlty; aud in 150J the sumptuary ordi-
nance of The city of Magdeburg began
with the words, In consideration Of
the fact that the manners and the APP
pearanee of the people have. of YER
lty. changed much" and the citizens
are accused of filthy habits. want Of
order desire to make IA show IRE
liglousness. violation OF the Sunday
laws, disregard of the sacredness of an
oath, and dlsobedlenee generally TO the
authorities.
We stand on the threshold Of the
middle ages. We hear the agonlzed
cry of peasant carried 10 barbarous
execution: Woe Is me; already must !
lie. vet have ! never In my HE been
allie 10 eat my ILL., The Frankfort
diet in 1I42 reports much robbery,
murder exc arson," and Walter Won
lor yogelwelde, the trouhadour, sings
of "tha golden spring of good old
tmes" when love and freedom, manly
dienity and truth and holiness were
found How pitlful is the conduct Of
young men nowadays he exclalms.
A confessional manual by Burkard Won
Worms. In the year 1000, shows what
searching questions were thought nee
essary by the priest, and in SSi Ratpert
the Monk regards an invasion of the
Mortimer as just punishment for the
wickedness of his contemporaries. In
1870 Salyian writes: How the wealthy
Of our times rob the poor and ruin the
country is best known TO the Spanish
provinces, of whom the name alone re-
mains, and TO the African provinces.
which are ruined, and Gallia, which
has been devastated"
The writer closes his article with the
following remarks
at is plain that every age has its
aches and pains, but also Its comforts
and pleasures, and, though 1t is quite
Just TO mention the faults of our own
times, we should not forget its material
and intellectual advantages. Many
who complain of our times would. il
the 'goloshes of fortune could place
them in n former generation, wish
themselves back again, Literary hi.
gest