Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1902-09-17
The Portion of Labor.

AS in former cannibalistic age, the
biggest giants with the heaviest clubs
became chiefs Of their tribes, md to
vaunt their power and glut their pride,
decorated their caves with the emptied
skulls and clearly gnawed bones of
their victims. just so our own mouopo-
listic giants with the crushing clubs of
combination beat down and reduce to
bare bones the labor of to-day, Cutting
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 unregenerated, remains the
same; the cruelty is but refined; the
greed is but further-reaching.
So the problem is not new one in
our time or in our age. The self-de-
Tense 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 world wide truth that
social misery comes more from inelual-
ity of privileges regarding property
than from inequality Of political rights.
At last we are being forced to recog-
nlze the fact that with our long boast
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
tons. Our fathers. having brayed the
perils of unknown seas and lived
through the privations Of bowling will
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 to their rheolog-
ical creed, In which national salvation
could be assured by simply uttering
from time to time, certain glittering
generalities or political distractions.
So We came to be 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-
itum-we look for our sole political and
| social sustenance.
To this fools paradise we have been
greatly helped by the happy clrcum-
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 what
We gained our prosperity, we attribute
ed all the good We enjoyed to our free
Institutions" rs we proudly called
than, and bllndly 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
eN. and now, with the same conditions
that fhaye So long afflicted Europe, we
begin to wonder that our free institi..7
tons, seem to have lest their cha NIL
They talk of "prospss1 1,rssya but even
that ls made by trust and It's 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 a 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 leal
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 Ms
1t bears are borne through toleranca.
Could Labor feel its wrongs and
know its rights and act in wisdom and
force, 1t could weave rope of ballots
that would bind its giant tyrant hand
and foot-Des Moines News.