The Harrison times. (Harrison, Boone Co., Ark) 1876-1938, 1904-03-12
Balancing the Books.

rank anarchy, and reading it may
send a good wife to early weeds.
Where shall | begin? Iwould like
to begin where politicians should
but don't leave off There is only
too apparent a crisis just a little
ways down the political race course,
to meet which as an intelligent peo-
pie we must move with caution, but
not eowardice. Not only crisis,
but will go further, and say that
America is trembling on the verge of
an industrial revolution-a revolu-
tion that is inevitable, that will come
peaceably if it can, forcibly lift must
So ripe are. the American Morking-
men for revolt against the existing
order of things; so CALLED are they by
the heavy yoke laid upon them; so
desperate have they become that it
needs but a strong man to organize
and lead them, and our present in
dustrial systern-perhaps our polit-
ical, also-would crumble like an egg
shell in the grip of an angry Titan,
What is wrong, or, rather. What
is right Here we have the .ipost
fertile land upon the globe, supplied
with the best ofall things needfulto
prosperous people. Our resources
are not half developed; our working
people are the most intelligent, ener-
getic and capable upon which the
sun ever shone. Man for man, the
whole round earth never produced
their equal. Their productive capa-
bilty is the marvel of the world, and
yet with all this marvellous capacity
for good they are sinking year by
year, deeper, deeper, deeper, into the
poverty of hell and want
Nor is this ALL While those who
toll are but fighting a losing battle,
wearing out hand and heart for a
crust that becomes ever more scanty,
ever more bitter-there are hundreds
and thousands and tens of thous-
ands who cannot even obtain the
right, poor as it is, of treading in
this slavish tread mill, but stand
with folded arms and starve. else
beg or steal
All this might be borne, would be
endured with fortitude if such were
the lot of all; but while the oppor-
tunity to wear out ones life for a
bare existence is becoming ever more
a privilege to be grateful for, weAre
making millionaires by the hundreds.
The employer is becoming ever more
a master, the employee ever more a
slave and forced to apologize for his
existence upon the earth.
To say that the stupidity of the
American workingman will seuse
4
him to patiently endure all this is to
brand him a slave aud a coward, |
tell you he will not endure much
longer, and when his patience reach
es the limit and he lays down those.
tools of construction, whose perfect
ed products have made America the
idol of all nations,-I say when he
lays down those tools and filings de-
hance in the face of greed, the very
world will rock beneath his martial
tread.
This, dear reader, is only the COM
mencement of this story of toll, and
its tendency toward the danger line;
and what are we doing to avert the
coming storm? Distributing polit-
zeal pudding and preaching patience
to starving people; quarreling about
the ACCESSIBILITY of extra sessions;
penitentiarying paupers and white
washing political criminals; spend
ing thousands of dollars construct
ing tariff bill that will put fiddle
strings on the free list and raise the
tariff on tooth picks; wrangling ov-
er job lot of half naked negroes in
mid-Paci6c and forcing them to ac-
cept the shot gun route to civiliza-
ton, who would under no consider
alton abandon a missionary made
soup for Anglo society.
This is not all we are doing; we
are bowling down before pie eating
politicians who don't know the con-
stitution of the United States from
eampmeeting confession. We are
sending street corner country savers
to both state and national conven-
tons to evolve from their innate ig-
norance political platforms which
we are pledged beforehand to accept
as the essence of all worldly wisdom.
| Too many of our son-fed officials are