Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1901-10-12
' less odious attack upon the foltress o.

" less odious attack upon the fol tress Oh
the social order.
The creed of anarchy teaches that popu-
lar government is a fraud and that en-
actments made by the people for them
selveS are no more sacred than arbl-
trary DEGREES promulgated by tyrants and
enforced by bayonets. Anarchy says,
''Vote no more" The example Of VIII
liam Mckinley who in public service or
more than a quarter of century, half or
it in the field of controversial politics,
never once disparaged the motives Of
those who did not agree with him, nor
spoke an unkind word of an opponent,
who allowed neither the cares of business
nor the fatigue of travel to nullify his in
huence as a citizen, and never failed at
any election to stand uncovered before
the ballot box in the precinct where ne
had the right to vote, already mas IA
miliarized his countrymen with the hlgh-
err ideals of civic duty which dedicate the
heart and brain and conscience OF Amer
lea to an intelligent interest IN pubic
affairs.
The creed of anarchy despises the OBJ
legations of the marriage contract, lm-
peaches the integrity of domestic lie,
enters into the homes of the people to pun
down their affairs and subject the famlly
relation, which is the chief bond OF so
ciety, to the caprices Of the loafer aud
the libertine. In all these things 1t has
an alliance, implied if not expressed, with
every variation of that rotten pubnd
opinion which in many American States
has turned the court of equity into
daily scene of perjury and treason against
the hearthstones of the community,
treason so fragrant that a year ago, for
the accommodation of a single man, the
Legislature of Florida was induced to de-
scend below the level of all paganisms
and all barbarisms by so amending the
laws of divorce as to permit a winter
resident to legally desert the wife of his
youth not on account of any fault of
hers. but because of the pathetic burdens
which she bore.
| count it of infinite value to every de-
cent form Of civilization that against this
background of unworthy living, from the
front porch of little cottage covered
with vines, yonder at Canton, the out
line sketch Of two lives has been thrown,
so beautiful in their loyalty to one an
other that good men everywhere stand
in silence before it, while the woman
hood of the world, seeing the knightli-
ness of love which alters not, draw near,
from stations high and low, to salute the
picture with the benediction of their
tears.
Atheism Its keystone.
The fatal word in the creed of anarchy
is atheism" Until that word is spoken,
until all sense of the moral government
of the universe and the spiritual signii-
canoe of human life is lost, it is impossi-
BILE to conceive. much less to execute,
tbs malignant propaganda against the
rights of mankind. 1t is not necessary to
think or speak unkindly of the noted
men, many Of them living life of schol-
arly seclusion, remote from the practical,
everyday problems which confront the
police of all countries. who in the last
generation have made the most influential
contributions to the speculative litera-
ture of atheism. / doubt whether their
influence will be permanent, either for
good or evil.
No man who brings nothing with him
except a blind faith in natural laws,
which nobody made and nobody admin
listers, will ever find permanent disciple
ship in a world like this. It is their mis-
fortune that their works have had the
most influence among those who have
been least able to understand them.
l look upon it at least as a passing
misfortune for us that they have been
translated into the language of common
life by a famous American, now dead and
gone, who in the days of his strength was
the most captivating popular orator who
ever spoke our tongue. On taking the
chair as president of the American Secu-
lar Union he uttered these words: away
with the old nonsense about free moral
agency; man is no more responsible for
his character than for his height; for his
conduct than for his dreams" It re-
quires no very deep investigation to find
in such sentiment the seed of all an
arches, beginning with the bombshelIs
in the streets Of Chicago and ending
with chaos come again.
GOincr n q Retfer C0rutrv