Arizona weekly journal-miner., 1899-06-14

ne etuuleu anu WOTkeO 0dFu, ktfu- uated in the law, was mayor ,of the city in which he lived for many years, and now he occupies the high est official station in hIs country. Truly through difficulties he at talned the stars. President Faure, who preceded Loubet, was working man; he was a tanner by trade ID bis early life, and worked for wages.
 The artist did not think of moral obligations as though be were pre- senting a pitiable object of sccum- lated wrongs. Art was his only in- spiration; yet the imagination Of the poet, sees n the picture a hldeous victim of mans cruelty to man. "Down" all the stretch of hell to its
 last gulf
 There Is no shape more terrible
 than this
 "More tongued with censure of the
 worlds blind greed
 "More filled with signs and Portents
 for the soul,
 "More frsught with menace to the
 universe.
 "What gulfs between him and the
 seraphim;
 "SlaYe of the wheel of labor.
 Through this dread shape the sui
 fering ages look,
 Times uagedy is in that aching
 stoop.
 "Oh, masters, lords, and rulers in all
 lands,
 "Is this the handiwork you give to
 God.
 This monstrous thing, distorted
 and soul quenchedf
 When whirlwinds of rebellion shake
 the world,
 How will it be with kingdoms and
 with kings1"
 The artist did not intend to paint . slave of the wheel of labor a "monstrous thing, distorted and soul quenched;H and his innocent victim was all unconscious of the stony stare of the suffering ages"
 The poets license is unrestrained, aud he invests his poisoned senti ment in a setting of mischievous and deceptive metaphor. His lurid fancy pictures a horrible menace to the happiness of man, and his work is spplauded by the vicious and weak.
 There Is no slave of the wheel of labor" in civilized countries now, aud never before in the history of the world has labor been so hono:- able and independent; in this country labor is never slave but often master. The tendency of the age Is to elevate the working man; to ameliocate his condition in every way; to provide him with a content ed home, comfort and even luxury. Education is free to his children ana wealth and exalted station within his reach. This is especially true of this country. Our great est president was a 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 aud sedi- tious imagination. There is no man with the hoe" such as he describes; and if there were such a person, he is himself most responsible for his fallen state, and not the masters, lords and rulers in all lands" He is the srbi,er of his own fate, the shaper of his destiny. The poet assumes condition which does not exist, and places responsibility where 1t does not belong. It is true that the self Ish greed of wealth and power, envy and the jeslousies of station too often make nen cruel and inhumsn. Thus thought Burns when he wrote, Many and sharp the numrous ills
 inwOven in our frame, More pointed still We make our
 selves regret, remorse and shame, But man whose heaven-erected face,
 the smiles of love adorn, Mans inhuIL anity to man makes
 countless thousands mourn"
 Iwould not lessen the responsi- bility of the wealthy and powerful. 1t is their duty to strengthen the weak, aid the unfortunate and re- straih the vicious; and the measure of their responsibility to God and !. man IS their power to do good with ! out injury 10 individual rights.
 The concentration of either wealth ] or political power offers dangerous temptations tc the selishLess of man ! and encourages indifference 10 the l rights of others. Wholesome legis- [ lation, without invading the sacred . precincts of personal liberty, higher education, and a deeper sense of | moral obligations, should adjust all l the differences of men. The Man 1 with the Hoe" who stands before us today as the assassin of moral life, 1 who represents retrogression, crime . and the degradation of man, is he of I idle and vicious habits, immoral and . who is a failure at what l ever he undertakes; who considers l himself a victim of mans ingrati- 1 tude, because the upright and thrifty decline to share with him the I fruits of their honest labor. "He | tolls not, neither does he spin;" be assails the rich because they are rich, and holds them responsible for ! all the ills winch his faults have brought upon him. He breaches from the street corners upon the {. selfshness of man; he is "tongued with censure of the worlds bind greed" his remedy is riot, his policy revolution. He is the willing tool of unprincipled political intriguers whose object Is to unsettle govern ment and obstruct progress; he leers with exaultant approval at Mark hams "Man with the Hoe" because others are held wholly responsible for the degradation painted. Such men are the real menace to enlight- enment and happiness. 'Tis they and not the simple peasant of Millet who would shake the world with of rebellion," if they Jared; and Markham's phantom of degraded labor, and the false theory of responsibility he teaches, make the linen with the hoes" who threaten the welfare of mankind and the peace of the world.
 You who are just starting out in ,he morning of life, strong in the Tigor of youth, fired with ambition md lofty purpose, need fear no man with the hoe," unless he be a of vice. neglected opportnn-