The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-10-15
Those Who Are Deluded.

4AuSe W hO <4Te Oe1uueus
 Those of our citizens who are deluded by these notions and who allow them selves to be brought to such a frame of mind, may we'll be reminded of the good old lady who was wont to impress sively declare that she had always mo- ticed if she lived until the first of March. she lived all the rest of the year. It is quite likely she built a theory upon this experience which induced her with the passing of each of these fateful days, to defy coughs, colds and consumption. and the attacks of germs and microbes in a million forms. However, this may be so. we know that with no design or inten- tion on her part, there came a first day of March which passed without her earthly notice.
 The withdrawal of wholesome sentiment and patriotic activity from political action on the part of those who are indifferent timism open the way for a ruthless and unrelenting enemy of our free institu- tions Their abandonment of our coun- try's watch-towers by those who should be on guard and the slumber of the senti- nels who should never sleep, directly in- vite the stealthy approach and the pill laRe and loot of the forces of selfishness and greed. These baleful enemies of pat riotic effort will turk everywhere as long as human nature remains unregenerate, but nowhere In the world can they create such desolations as in free America, and nowhere can they so cruelty destroy mans highest and best aspirations for self-government It is useless for us to blink the fact that our scheme of gov ernment Is based upon a close intsrde- pendence of interest and purpose among those who make up the body of our peo- pie. Let us be honest with ourselves If our nation was built too much upon sen- timent, and If the rules of patriotism and benignity that were followed in its con- struction have proved too impractical let us frankly admit 1t. But if love of coun- try, equal opportunity and genuine broth- erhood in citizenship, were worth the pains and trials that gave them birth. and if we still believe them to be worth preservation and that they have the in- herent vigor and benefcence to make our republic lasting and our people happy, let us strongly hold them in love and devo- tion. Then 1t shall be given us to plain ly see that nothing is more 'unfriendly to the motives that underlie our national edifice, than the selfishness and cupidity that look upon freedom, and law, and order, only as so many agencies in aid of their designs. Our government was made by patriotic unselfsh. sober-minded men, for the control of protection of a patri- otic, unselfsh and sober-minded people It is suited to such a people; but for those who are selfish, corrupt and unpatriotic, 1t is the worst government on earth. It Is so constructed that it needs, for its successful operation, the constant care and guiding hand of the peoples abiding faith and love; and not only in this un- remitting guidance necessary to keep our national mechanism true to its work, but Aanhs awNA AraA the best safeguards against selfish citi- yenship. Give to our people something that will concentrate their common af- lection and solicitous care-and let that be their country's good give them a pur- pose that stimulates them to unite in lofty endeavor, and let that purpose be demonstration of the sufflciency and be- neficence of our popular rule-and we shall find that in their political thought there will be no place for the sugges- tions of sordidness and pelf.
 Detestible Evils.
 Who will say that this Is now our hap py condition? Is not our public life sat urated with the indecent demands of sell fshness? More than this. can any of us doubt the existence of still more odious and detestible evils which, with steady cankering growth, are more directly than all others threatening our safety and national life? I speak of the corruption of our suffrage open and notorious. of the buying and selling of political places for money the purchase of political fa- vors and privileges, and the traffic in off, ficial duty for personal gain. These things are confessedly' common. Every intelligent man knows that they have grown from small beginnings until they have reached frightful proportions of malevolence; and yet respectable citizens by the thousands and hundreds of thou sands have looked on with perfect calm ness, and with hypocritical cant have de- clared that they are not politicians, or with silly pretentions of faith in our strength and luck. have languidly claimed that the country was prosperous equal to any emergency and proof against all dan- gers.
 Resulting from these conditions in a manner not difficult to trace, wholesome national sentiment is threatened with ut ter perversion. All sorts of misconcep- tions pervade the public thought. and jealousies rapidly taking on the appear ance of class hatred, are found in every corner of the land A new meaning has been given to national prosperity. With a hardihood that savers of insolence, an old pretext. which has preceded the doom of ancient experiments in popular rule. Is daily and hourly dinned In our ears We are told that the national splendor we have built upon the showy ventures of speculative wealth, Is badge of our success. ITnsharing contentment Is enjoined upon the masses of our peo- pie. and they are invited, in the bare sub sistence of their scanty homes, to patrl- otically reioce in their country's pros perity. This is too unsuhstantial an en- joyment of benefits to satisfy those Wno have been taught American equality; ana thus has arisen. by perfectly natural process. a dissatisfied insistence upon better distribution of the results of our vaunted prosperity,
 Labor and Capital.
 We now see it's worst manifestation in the apparently incorrigible dislocation of the proper relations between labor and capital This of itself. is sufficiently dis tressing; but thoughtful men are not without dread of sadder developments yet to come There has also grown up among our people a disregard for the restraints of law. and a disposition to evade Its limi tot,ons-while to uuerulous strictures con earning the action of our courts tend to ,,ndermine popular faith in the source of i,stice. and last. but by no means least. coronIaints of imaginary or exaggerated sbortcomings in our financial policies, fur ,,ish an excuse for the fiippant exploita- t,o, of all sorts of monetary nostrums.
 hosten to give assurance that have
 -. t,-,ol,an in A spirit of gloomy pessim- i T ehau be the last of all our people .o believe that the saving grace of pa- tu,o.isr,, among my countrymen Is dead ,I, oI,,avs slOop I know that it's