The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1900-09-13

upon the fretful porcupine."

upon the fretful porcupine."
Situated about the great yards, they
and their teeming families live amid
the stencil of noxious effiuvia, exhal-
ing from the putrescent animal matter
that collects in the yards. Words nor
colors though cannot portray nor line
the picture of CRIME and filth in all it's
hideous nakedness to the mind. A
personal inspection is absolutely neces-
sary for one to comprehend the awful
hotbeds of disease and crime that are
fostered in those districts.
Are these the kind of men who form
Intelligent opinions OF their govern
ment and vote for those men who will
do all in their power to have laws
legislated for bettering the conditions
of the workingman? Not much. 1t
is said that Studebaker, the celebrated
Wagon manufacturer whose great fac
tory is located in South Bend, Indiana,
where he employs hundreds of these
toilers, assembled his hirelings in 1896
few days before election day and
harangued them, telling them in curt,
plain terms that if Bryan was elected
president, that he would Immediately
close his factory throwing them out of
work, but that if Mckinley was elect.
ed, all we'll and good, they should con-
tinue to operate. "Now," he said in
ending up his remarks, "go home to
your wives and children and consult
with them and consider what you think
it best for you to do" Depend upon it
every last one of them voted to hold
their jobs, regardless of whether it was
for the benefit Of the country at large,
or not. We cannot blame these labor
ers, as in their ignorance they know
no better, and you know the proverb,
''fools build houses for wise men to
dwell in." Rather must we censure the
shrewd selfshly wise men who know
ingly use their strong minds to domi-
neer over and degrade their weaker
minded fellowmen.
Every country, no matter how low
in the scale of civilization it may be,
has its nucleus of strong-minded men
who enjoy extreme prosperity, accord
ing to the means of the country, at the
expense of the labor OF their weaker
minded fellowmen; and no one need
expect for moment that they will
voluntarily divide their superfluous
luxury among those who earn it for
them. Of course there are notable and
praiseworthy exceptions as there are
to all rules. Even when they cannot
use their superfuous wealth them
selves, this prosperous class would
rather keep it inactive, so as to dis
tinguish themselves from other men,
even as in England the servants are
restricted by law to wear certain styles
of dress to give more distinction to
their employers. What better off would
they be than any one else, if those who
labored for them could enjoy good
homes and luxurious homes and luxur-
ious food? This class of men who
take unfair advantage of their brother
men are not really wise, but only
shrewd, because those who willfully
and unscrupulously wiring big dishon-
est profits from the labor of weaker
minded men will inevitably suffer
themselves from the seeds of unpatri-
otic feelings they engender in the
breasts of those they wrong and trans
NIT to their posterity the blighting
conditions those feelings will give rise
to. This thought is truthfully en-
bodied in the mastery address of our
peerless orator William Jennings Bry-
an at Indianapolis.
"Would we tread in the paths of tyranny,
Nor reckon the tyrant's cost;
Who taketh another's liberty
His freedom is also lost
Would we win as the strong have ever won,
Then make ready to pay the debt
For the God that reigned over Babylon
Is the God that is reigning yet.'
Such then are some of the stagnating
conditions that our land of free thinkers
have confronting them. Are we going
to continue, as other nations before us
did, to allow the dollar to depreciate