Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1902-09-16

biggest giants with the heaviest clubs
became chiefs Of their tribes, and 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, glutting
their greed upon its flesh, it's blood. its
marrow and its brain.
True their caves are giIded now and
we call them not cannibals, but mill
ionaires.
But the primal instinct Of man, civil
ICED but unregenerated. remains the
same; the cruelty is but refined; the
greed is but further-reaching.
So the problem IS not a new one IN
our time or in our age. The seif-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 Unequal
ity OF privileges regarding property
than from inequality of political rights
At last we are being forced to recog-
nize 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 braved the
perils of unknown seas and lived
through the prlvations OF a bowling will
derness. that they might believe in and
utter alou1. without fear or restraint,
certain religious maxims, came In time
TO believe that there was a political
gospel, somewhat akin to their theolog
zeal creed, In which national salvation
could be assured by simply uttering
from time to time, certain glittering
generalties 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 it's great adj
vantage.
Failing to comprehend from what
We gained our prosperity, we attribut-
cd all the good we enjoyed to our free
institutions" rs 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 a laugh
I OF scorn.
! And we say the reason these things
/ are, is that organized wealth buys from
J our lawmakers their manhood.
Let us not be too sure that is the i,eal
/ 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
it bears are borne through tolerancs.
Could Labor feel its wrongs and
know its rights and act in wisdom aud
force, 1t could weave a rope OF ballots
that would bind its giant tyrant hand
and foot.-Des Moines News.