The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-10-24


people.
| 1t may be said that the story Of Esau
and Jacob does not apply to the present
situation. that the Republican party is
| not Offering to the workingmen of the
country mess of pottage in exchange for
votes. Let us see. II the analogy does
not hold, OF course the moral is Of no
! use. But it is worth while to take dis
passionate survey of the situation.
The birthright in this case is the fran
chise. There is good deal implied in that
term 1t means all that men have strug-
gled for in all the centuries of evolution
from the tribe to the republic. When a
free people can exist. every man having
voice in the shaping of the course Of
the State, no man silent through fear, no
man oppressed without chance OF jus
tice. an immense gulf has been bridged on
the road from despotism to altruism. I'm
der despotism every man must be for
himself. under the true socialism every
man is for the good of the State. and that.
| ultimately. involves and furthers his own
mon benefit, each man will get on much
faster than in disunion. Obviously. how
ever, this cooperation must be free. Each
voters conscience must act without him
drance and he must favor the measure
which he believes best for himself and for
the community. II he thinks at all, he
must see that certain principles of gov
,o,t To, he ind ipnp n
and well-being, and he must be left free
| to vote for these as he sees them. and en-
Outraged to think. and to search for truth,
in every possible way. There is always
more or less dissension in a Republic. and
that is good thing. since there can be no
thought without disturbance, no indepen-
dence without differences. and absolute
concord for any great length Of time means
stagnation. Anything, therefore. which
abridges a mans right to exercise his vot-
ing privilege. which binders his seeing
the political situation as 1t is, or dscour-
ages his thinking and discussing political
matters. cannot fail to be an infringement
Of his birthright. Is the Republican party
taking advantage of the voters necessity
to offer him an alleged immediate good in
exchange for the free exercise of right
long striven for by our ancestors and by
the people Of civilized countries?
The orators Of the Republican party have
often taken as their text the full dinner
pail The futility of this argument has
been demonstrated few times, but 1t
continues to be heard. The workngman
means four years more of the full dinner
pail He is not informed as to what is In
the dinner pail. 1t may be food bought at
the company store at an advance of TWEEN
ty-ive PEI cent over the market price: It
may be the kind of canned beef which
Eagan furnished to the army. The capt.
talists of Chicago are still running the fac
tories from which that beef came, and
nothing has been done about the beef. nor
is there any way 10 pass food law which
will affect men with money enough to pay
heavy political assessments. But let us
admit that the dinner pail is full Of food
which viii sustain life and is not infected
with trichinosis. The assumption then is
that all the average man wants is enough
ington held up to the people of the colo
mics? Was that Jefferson's notion OF the
ideal Republic? Was Lincoln in the ter
rible four years when he bore upon his
gaunt. bowed shoulders the burden of
nations destiny, sustained and encouraged
by the thought that when the war was
over everybody would have extra rations?
~, z I III,
his beautiful Arlington home, and gave his
heart and his sword to cause whose sue
cess he greatly doubted, was he. or were
any Of the men under him, thinking of
food, or of any other material considera-
ton? Not unless Mr.. Hanna and his as
sociates have materials for a new United
States history with facts in it which have
hitherto been undisclosed
The absurdity, the foolshness, the
crudeness Of this conception of the char
acter of the average American. has per-
haps never been equaIed. II marks, more
than anything else could. the degeneracy
of certain ideals of the present day
Critics and pessimists have accused this
people of being drunk with material pros
self-satisfaction, and patriotic Americans
have Indignantly contradicted the state
ment. But Hanna and those other Re-
publican orators who are holding up be-
fore the people the prospect Of four years
more of 1.-The full dinner pail" have
proved that in some Americans this in
| toxication exists, and that it has reached
the silly stage.
But there is another side to this argu-
| ment, which has in it a deeper pathos, I
| more tragic meaning, than mere ignorant
misconception of conditions. There is no
denying that under the trust system the
workingman has not always had the
| chance to earn dinner,-or when he has
fully earned it, has not been able to buy
it, The Sugar Trust has closed one re-
fnery after another, throwing men out OF
work; the Coal Trust prefers weeks of
inactivity to the granting of reasonable
demands on the part of its employees; and
there is no redress because there is no
opposing interest to hold in check giant
monopoly, and no way of reaching its ac-
ton through the law. Many political
economists in this country feel that some
such system as that of New Zealand, by
which both strikes and lockolts could be
prevented and all grievances adjusted by
arbitration, would be of great and last
ing benefit here; but what chance is there
Of passing such a law with President
who is mortgaged TO the trusts, and with
dictator who offers as the panacea for
all evils, Trust Mckinley" He might
approve OF arbitration if the President