The Anaconda standard., 1899-01-23

| whose motive is to gain control of the
| cities light, fuel or navigation. Posi-
| bly, it is a mistake to perpetuate large es-
| tates and to enactlegislation which faVors
| one class against another. l do not agree
| with the socialist that the nation should
be a landlord, charging to the occupant
| a land tax, and treat the present posses
| sor of the land as simply owning the i'm
provements actually made by human Ia
| Dor. The Mosaic law endowed each fam
| lily with the right to the land, and vested
| the ownership, not alone in the present
| occupant, nut aimed to keep it intact in
| the family, by the provision of the Year
| of Jubilee. You cannot convert land INTO
a fluid kind of property. / am rather IN
favor of limiting the ownership of land.
Why should some men grab up all the
! land they can possibly lay claim to, and
drive the poor man from his home by
competition, as is being done in many
of the counties in the state of Montana
at the present time?
Another remedy is proposed by the
communist. 1t says that the modern in
dustrial and business world is hell on
earth Competition is bitter to the end
Love one another means hate one an
other. Strike, lest we be struck Com
munism therefore proposes to establish
equality by the equal distribution of the
products of labor. Let us have things in
common. Let capital and labor be Joined
together and become equal sharers in the
profit At present the relation of capital
and labor is out of joint. Communism
wishes to abolish the distinction between
the rich and poor. Let there be no strife
between us, for we are all brethren.
Another proposition comes from the
anarchist What does anarchy propose?
1t says: Truth is five cents copy and
dynamite forty cents a pound Anarchy
proposes to subdue by terror, to establish
its reign by dynamite and to trample ev-
cry right under foot. 1t takes little stock
in the civilization of the past. In the his
tory of France. the reign of terror In the
revolution is a fine illustration of the
workings of anarchy, when liberty was
never so crushed and human rights
trampled underfoot and life and property
SO unsafe. Anarchy will never elevate
the masses. 1t is a destructive force, and
not constructive. 1t is in its very ingre-
dents damning, accursing, blighting
power, without reason, justice or con-
science. 1t says with the Russian nihilist,
Let us blot out the present administra-
tive system. if possible, by peace; if nee
essary by dynamite and assassination
but we must not, we dare not, close
our eyes in the presence of thronging
evils We must not lay too much stress
on that form of optimism which says
never mind, we shall outgrow them ALL
We shall outgrow drunkenness, ignorance.
rottenness in politics. 1t will all come out
all right Time cures all things This is
not the gospel of Christ 1t is the gospel
of laziness. and the world will never be
redeemed by lazy people. l am an opti-
mist. / believe in the future of God S
kingdom, in the future of our country. 1t
is a great privilege to live in the nine
teenth century and rock our cradles and
build our home and schools and factories
and churches beneath the stars and
stripes No country ever had such possi-
bilities for happy homes, for wealth. for
| art and learning, for Christian culture
| and for the grandest political system OF
| the world.
But what we need and must do is to
| grapple with the problems that are con-
| fronting us with honest hearts, with great
| and consecrated minds. We must not
| merely condemn the anarchist and social
| ist and fail to do our duty, believing that
all will be we'll Every citizen should
have his country at heart and prefe,
honorable death rather than to have his
| heart and hands contaminated with
| treachery, dishonesty and bribes.
| at seems to me that the first great in
| fuence for the elevation of the masses