The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1903-03-05
DOES EQUALITY MEAN
BARBARISM?

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nifty cannot exist without rulers" is an
tagonistic to the principles of true
Democracy. In our own country we
have no rulers; we have public serv-
ants, and whenever we feel dissatisfied
with their services, we dismiss them,
and hire other servants. Whoever al
ludes to our public servants, from the
president down to the constable, as rul-
ers, is wofully lacking in that independ-.
ence which cements together Nation
of Brothers, and which entities each to
call himself freeman. And only those
deserve the glorious appellation,
FREEMEN, who are willing to concede
the same rights and privileges to others
which they themselves enjoy; and the
possession of such rights and privileges
implies equality to all who have the
power OF exercising them. And this
equality is due to sentiments altruistic
in their tendencies.
Only the most enlightened nations
foster the spirit of equality. That is
the most advanced nation in which
civic and religious equality is the most
widely diffused. The barbarous nations
of Asia and eastern Europe have no
true notions of the equality of men.
The emperor of China is the Son of
Heaven, before whom even the wearers
of the yellow jackets PROSTATE them
selves in abject submission; while to
the Chinese peasant the thought of
equality with the Son of Heaven would
appear as an unpardenable presump-
tien, as the most horrible form Of sac
rilige. The Brahman of India is con-
sidered holy parsonage, tho in reality
he may be beast in human form; and
the Pariah Of India is held in less es-
teem than the poisonous cobra, even
tho he rivals Job in patience, and Mo-
ses in meekness.
In Persia, in Turkey, in parts of the
Russian empire, in any country where
soever, where barbarism prevails, we
find the most glaring system of arti-
fical inequality, and as necessary cor
ollary we notice in such countries the
lack of altruistic sentiments. If Mr..
e. entertains the idea that equality
means barbarism" he should take a
few days off, and think it all over-or
guess again.
Mr.. C.'s proposed Utopia for mall
contents is the conception of a master
mind. Let us people this Utopia with
the members of organized labor and
their families and dependents
some 100000: next the co-opera-
tive workers, not to mention the
cooperative schemers- 100000; then
the altruistic writers-ssy half of
all the writer's of this country-(num-
ber unknown); add to these all the NAL
contents and incompetents (incompe-
tents from Mr.. C.'s peculiar point of
view such as thousands of discomfort
ed farmers, and hundreds of thousands
of discontented unorganized laborers;
all the agitators against child labor in
factories, in mines, and in sweat shops
(they are good people, and we want
them), and the thousand and one cler-
gymen who dare lift up their voices
against the spread of materialism, and
the brutal competitive system Of our
time; and Mr.. G. will need the residue
for the maintenance of his proposed
armed guard.
But let us be generous. He may
keep the anarchists and fools-we have
no use for them. Utopia is not the
proper place for fools, and anarchists
can only feel thoroughly at home in
Bedlam.
The most amusing part of Mr.. C.'s
article is that in which he tells us that
"some years ago some millions of acres
of land in Minnesota and the Dakotas
were offered free to all who were will
ing to work, and the same opportunity
is open today farther west and in Can
ada. Why" asks Mr.. c., "wiIl men
strike for q few extra cents wages, while
the west offers free homes and inds-
pendencep As long as society has this
land to offer every man who is willing