The Hocking sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1871-1906, 1902-09-11
The Portion of Labor.


vaunt their power and giut their pride
decorated their caves with the emptied
skulls and cleanly gnawed bones oi
their victims, just so our own niouopo'
listic giants with the crushing clubs oi
combination beat down and reduce Ia
bare bones the labor of to-day, gluttins
their greed upon its flesh. its blood, Its
marrow and its brain.
True. their caves are gilded now and
we call them not cannibals. but mill
ionaires.
But the primal instinct Of man. civil
lied but unregsnerated. remains the
same: the cruelty is but refined; the
greed Is but further-reaching.
So the problem is not new one N
our time or in our age. The self de
fense of labor against the cruel power
created in the accumulation of its own
product, is as old as organized greed.
Only the American mind has been
slow to learn the worldwide truth that
social misery comes more from inelial-
ity OF privileges regarding properly
than from inequality of political rights.
At last We are being forced TO recog-
nize the fact that with our long-boa 81
ed security of political equality. the
same misery that wearies life under the
despotisms of Europe is being fastened
upon us.
The long blindness originated in the
teachings and training of past genera
tions. Our fathers. having braVed the
perils of unknown seas AMI lived
through the privations Of bowling viii
derness. that they might believe in and
utter aloud. without fear or restraint.
certain religious maXims. came in time
To believe that there was a political
gospel. somewhat akin 10 their theoloy-
zeal creed. in which national salvation
could be assured by simply uitering
from time 10 time. certain glittering
generalities or political distractions.
SO we came 10 be Il race of political
phrase-eaters.
Epigrams that have been passed
down to US canned and labelled. we
bolt down without inspection or test
To maxims and proverbs-such. for
instance. as Government of the peo-
pie. by the people and for the people.
''All men are created equal" ad infin-
ituR-we look for our sole political and
social suStenance.
To this fools paradise we have been
greatly helped by the happy circum-
stances attending the early conquest of
our continent. The deep rich soil Of
our wide domain. which offered free
homes TO the industrious. saved us for a
time. from the fierce competition that
crowds the hungry masses down and
gives to organized greed its great ad-
vantage.
Failing TO comprehend from wlSt
we gained our prosperity. we attribut-
ed all thesgood we enjoyed 10 our free
institutions" as we proudly called
them, and blindly proceeded TO cut
from under our good fortune the very
foundation of our advantage.
We donated whole territories of our
precious domain to corporations until
the surplus land is practically exhaust
ed. and now, with the same conditions
that have So long afflicted Europe, we
begin to wonder that our free institu-
tions" seem to have lost their charm.
They talk of prosperity" but even
that is made by trust and its pro-
duction may be curtailed at will
The ballot fails to bring just remun-
Grafton for toll.
While hundreds hoard, millions work
and want.
Starvation presses its skinny face
against the pane where plenty waste
fully feasts.
1t asks for crumbs and gets laugh
of scorn.
And we say the reason these things
are. is that organized wealth buys from
our lawmakers their manhood
Let us not be too sure that is the real
reason.
First, let us be sure that wealth has
not bought our own manhood, without
paying the price.
Labor is sovereign. not in theory
alone. but in very truth. and all the ills
it bears are borne through tolerance
Could Labor feel its wrongs and
know its rights and act in wisdom and
force, it could weave a rope of ballots
that would bind its giant tyrant hand
and foot-Des Moines News