The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1902-09-21


serves as an excellent recourse. where
either there IS no belief at al. OF the
incapacity TO express il in good round
terms Of robust English. lmperturbabil-
ity takes the place OF honest hate and
scorn. To be ia earnest IS 10 be excited;
TO be piain-spoken is 10 be inspired os
personal motives. and, 10 be personal is
to be damned Is il not soe
Back Of al this stands not alone a
great moral problem. but great national
and economic problem. The pretense
that we have malisned anybody, %
spoken outside the record. is a device Of
the guilty and their newspaper apologists
10 hide behind the selfrespecting and the
vlrtuous II is OF the essence Of caste
distinction whore the rule is, touch one.
touch ALI rule which during the reign
OF terror brought thousands OF the inno-
cent and the goou along with the had TO
the guillotine.
.Ilcentiousness. Ike revolution, never
goes backward. The assumption Of TO-
day becomes the claim of tomorrow.
In d land where there are no patents Of
nobility and where in some sort, money
must set the standards. the rich them
selves, before all others. should look 10
it that their colleagues in good fortune
do not disgrace the orGer-shan We say
of the Golden Fleece?-by their disregard
OF common rights and their indifference
10 public opinion.
we do not need 10 institute any his
toric parallels: 10 take 10 ourselves any
lessons from ancient Greece and Rome,
or modern France. suggestive as these
may he He is but a poor observer Of
contemporary life. and no prophet at all,
who does not see that the whole trend
OF public affairs is set toward an ultimate
conflict between the forces Of perogative
on the one hand, and the forces of what
The exclusive Few delight TO call the great
unwashed on the other hand. between
capital. too often avariciOus and grasp
ing and labor, grim and passionate,
and. left riderless, u monster without
head
1T is beside the purpose to say that
there are rich men humane. generous,
charitable. SO are there poor men pa
tient. wise. conservative. 1t is with the
forces, not individuals. we shall have TO
deal; and. though temporizing may post
pone the day. the day is surely coming
when it Is 10 be decided who owns the
country, who controls the government,
The aggregations Of wealth mainly piled
up in a single section, or the hewers Of
wood and the drawers of water who do
the work and fight the battles and pay
the taxes. the great commouallty. Of what
Abraham Lincoln called the plain
people Enlightened men would moder-
ate that conflict.
The scandulous behavior of the con-
'spicuous rich plays directly 10 the lead
of the extremist and the agitator with
unclean hands preparing the pickax of the
leveler and the brand of the incendiary.
The Indifference of the guild of luxury
and wealth-not to mention the com
mon cause which too many of the worthy
rich from mistaken sense Of association.
make with these-is replete with evil au-
guries
Human nature has not much changed
since man became acquainted with it,
That we are yet upon the ascending scale
OF national development. need not be
denied. But We live in an accelerated age
electricity having annihilatel time and
space and the Latin races doomed
Spain dead. Italy dying. France down
with an incurable disease-the causes be
fore our very eyes-shan we not seek to
escape what seems to have been the des-
tiny not so much of luxury and wealth
as the vicious assumption of class super
iority and the injustice OF organized
for pleasure, corrupting the fountains of
the national credit and honor for profit.
If such ofenses as we have set forth
are endured and condoned. how long
hefore that which embraces but a set
becomes the distinguishing mark Of
section? If the press is so easily se6uced
or misled what must it become when
it is bought outright? Look at the lobby
at Washington. Does it not exist? Yet
are there those who viii swear that il
already costs a million dollars TO set
presidential ticket in the field; already a
hundred thousand dollars to sustain a
contest for "a seat in the Senate Of the
United States: how long shall it be-the
press already defending the Four Hun
dl ed-before our public men shah become
but a race of Medicean princes. without
the learning or the arts Of Florence. and
the presidential chair itself a simple COM
modify to he knocked down to the high
est bidder
The writer Of these lines has always
stood for the decent the stable and the
orderly government in life lie has
grown gray fighting to defend the affairs
of public credit and public honor. He
would no more cast stone into the
stagnant pool OF a corrupt fabric Just to
see the scum rise 70 the surface than he
would do any other perilous and unclean
thing lie has drawn into this present
contention not IF his own choice. Yet.
if he had to make his case before his
Maker he would humhly represent that
the time has come when some voice loud
enough 10 be heard should be raised
against an increasing evil, having its
center in the thing called by most
equivocal courtesy the -Four Hundred
and hope To be forgiven. in the event
that his voice provoked a single echo
in response.
Quaker Reflections.
philadelphia Record)
ont OF the mouths OF babes-squalls.
Musical crank hurdy-surdy handles
LOFTY manners are never above re-