The San Francisco call., 1899-04-30
EDITORIAL VARIATIONS.
BY JOHN McNAUGHT.

pIlQueIIe. Inc NTeIIlIdll avg l..
paTvenu institution OF mushroom
+ growth. and its officers have not yet
learned the rules. Such at any rate Is
the judgment of the British ofhcefs WHO
were in the port during the tllhe OL
the controversy. 1t is stated thal wien
a German cruiser entered Mania Bay
and without paying any attention 10
Dewey's blockading fleet, proceeded 10
pick out an anchorage to suit herseI'
she was brought TO a sense OF the STU
alton by a shot from the olympia
CAPTAIN Chichester of the British navy
observing that things were golhs
wrong. went aboard the Olympia to eX-
plain, and in doing so he is reported TO
have said to Dewey. You see, sir, the
Germans have no sea manners. mat
is probably a correct explanation OF the
seemingly intentional offense. All the
same. it is natural the Americans were
offended. There is nothing more lrfl-
tating to a polite naval officer than
breach of naval etiquette
At the great feast which the lesser
lords of the Southern Pacific spread IN
honor of him who incarnates their mo-
nopoly and provides them with salar-
les; the feast at which the chicken con-
somme was served a la Lucullus in the
dish, and in three languages on the
menu; and at which three preachers OF
three different faiths were set up like
bouquets, to give grace to the revelry,
Mr.. Huntington made a speech. Served
with wine and oil and other palatable
things at the banquet the speech was
IinoctihIo 1oyrt thpCa " hO
heard it, but to the outer world, served
cold next morning without any of the
accessories, it was not altogether pleas
ing.
OF course it was a great speech. The
Southern Pacific Company does not do
little things, nor indulge in minor ora
tory. It's course through the records of
the State cannot be traced by frag-
ments of 25-cent rhetoric. The only
really little thing it ever did was to
perpetrate a Gage on the common
wealth, but that is so diminutive it
doesn't count, and will soon be forgot
ten. The speech was of the kind that
carries with it the conviction that while
the railroad man of our time may be
development by natural evolution from
the highwayman of the days when
there were no railroads, yet he has
philanthropic heart and yearns to
grasp all humanity to his breast and
take the whole world in.
The dominant sentiment, that which
gave the tone of the whole in one clear
sound, is to be found in this sentence:
"In our treatment of others. if we have
fortunately reached the higher plane
ourselves, let US not fail to reCOllect
that we owe a duty TO those tOiling
ones, who are mounting as painfully
and slowly as we did the steps that we
have trod"
The higher plane! The plane on
which was spread that feast at which
American chicken was served under
French form in the name of Roman
Consul-the plane of accumulated
wealth and dinners at abo~4 $50 a plate.
Is it any wonder that Rev. Horatio
Stebbins looking into the higher plane
faces, should haYe said: When Ilook
up and down this board 1 notice the
different vocations represented here
and 1 feel a little conceit of personal
advantage as l think how you would
/ feel if you had to write a sermon
Now that the reVerberatiOnS of the
Man With the Hoe have about died
away it will be we'll for Mr. Markham
to consider whether he might not write
a companion piece to show the other
side of the human animaI-the other
form of degradation wrought by en-
vironment. A picture to serve him as
a theme is ready at his hand. Not long
ago there was exhibited in England a
painting that became the sensation Of
the year. 1t was called The Man With
the Muck Rake and the idea was
taken from the description of the per-
sonage bearing that title in Pilgrims
Progress" 1t was a picture of the
moral ruin wrought in an essentially
noble nature, not by the burden of
labor and poverty, but by devotion to
wealth. To produce a poem on such
theme Mr.. Markham need alter but lit
! tie what he has written of the Man
With the Hoe" Something like this
would serve:
THE MAN WITH THE MUCK RAKE.
Bent with the eagerness of greed, he leans
Upon his rake and gazing at the muck
Where lie the riches and the refuse of the
earth,
He deems that mass or rOttenneSS to be
The highest plane of all felicity.
Who made him dead to rapture and de-
spair,
A thing that grieves not and that never
hopes:
Glutted yet greedy. a brother to the hog?
Who loosened and let down this brutal
jaw?
Who starved this soul, while fattening
this paunch?
this brain?
What CULTS between him and the Ser
aphim!
Slave of the wheel of Mammon, what to
him
Are Plato and the swing of PIeades?
o workers, lords of ballot and of pen.
The makers and the masters of the world,
| Custodians of the gospel and the law:
Is this the handiwork you give to God.
This monstrous thing, distorted and soul
quenched?
How will you ever straighten up this
shape,
Give back the upward looking and the
light?
How will 1t be on that not distant day
When he hath raked the whole globe bare
And hnds no more to feed his nav withal?