The representative., 1901-06-20

Andy himself. Does the king of finan-
ciers thus account for his millions? And
Rockefeller, Stillman, and the rest OF
the gamesters? A mighty organizer!
Cunning not prowess in these days.
The olden chiefs risked their lives
every time they entered the marauding
game. Physical courage at least they
displayed. Imagine Russell Sage In
chain armor, sword in hand, going forth
to do battle for his millions!
Nevertheless it is force that wins to-
day as Of yore. And the late steel king
Is right, it is organization that renders
possible the present form of the robbery
OF labor. The government constitutes
the organization, the army, navy, mill
tia, police, the physical force upon
which the whole system Of industrial
exploitation is passed.
Who doubts that government is but
tool of the privileged class? Who
denies that it is the organization of the
state backed by law which gives the
opportunity to accumulate the gigantic
features that we see today.
The steel trust is the offspring Of
protective tariffs; the financial trust ex-
lists by reason of special LEGISLATION
creating and maintaining money mo-
nopoly, and every industrial combina-
tion through which labor is robbed of
its fruits, is the creature of class laws.
of privilege.
Not yet have the people found out
that representative government is a
sham and fraud. Man is an experi-
mental animal, and it is a sad but
solemn truth that he invariably tries
almost every conceivable way to. gain
and end before adopting the most ad-
vantageous method for himself So the
mass OF men have still to learn that they
could get along much better without
political authority. legislators. and
government The capitalists have be.
come the master class, because they
nave seized the whole machinery and
organization of government. The bar
ons OF old had to support at their own
cost their fighting retainers. But the
capitalist has improved on those times:
ne throws upon the state the burden or
defending his property, gets it to pro-
tect him in the use and endowment of
MS stolen gains. and prevent the re-
voting toilers from coming into their
own.
The government, national or local as
the case may be, does the work gladly.
indeed feels that such activity is it's
main reason for existence. Examples
are not far to seek. Witness the an
plause of the capitalist press the off.
clal caste, and the military authori-
ties that greeted the act of the mur-
derer, Lieut.. Wilson, recently at AL
bany, who wantonly ordered his myr.
m1dons to fire on peaceable. Innocent
citizens, killing two, not workers in re-
volt as is claimed, at 20 feet distance
Yet the same element that makes a hero
OF this assassin in uniform shrieks for
NoSo oA q Ii 0oCA WHO, Out OF pity
for his suffering fellowmen, with hon.
est, unselfish, if ill-judged, intention.
strikes down tyrant. But who is the
most heroic, he who sacrifices his own
life for the supposed good of others. or
he who, in safety, with the state at his
back, deliberately orders his subordi-
mates to fire at unarmed, inoffensiye
citizens few yards away?
Speaking of Bresci, his treatment in
prison and pitiful end, remind us. that
the lowest savage instincts of fiendish
delight in human torture survive only
in the official acts of civilized, Christian
governments, when an anarchist hap.
pens to be their prisoner.
Italy. like America, is a country of
political liberty. Representative gov
ernment is in full bloom. But milftar-
ism grinds the face of the people. And
the joke is that both here and there It
is the poor, shorn, Deguiled, ';sover-
eign" voter-the appropriated producer
against whom all this machinery of
force is directed, who pays for all, and
whose kith and kin recruit the legions
that shoot him down when he rebels.
Oh, We sovereigns, citizens Of free.
republic, how long will ye endure-
Wat Tvlor in Eroo 0ooio<~r