The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1905-03-29
SIMPLY ANARCHY.

persuade herself TO marry the average
man OF this generation, is beyond my
feeble understanding. You are the
poorest lot Of flesh and bones without
a backbone the world has ever seen,
II you had possessed any sand last fan
you would have taken the hacking
plants instead of running away from
few policemen. or il you had moved
aside to give the women room we
would have taken the plants. on
November you had a chance 10 vote
yourselves into something worth while.
but You did not do II. and you win not
do II this time. show me strike OF
any size In the last three years which
you workers have won. You have lost
every one OF them, and still you go on
fighting In the same old way, while
capital employs modern methods"
So shrieked Mother Jones to a mass
meeting in Chicago, says the Butte
Inter Mountain. She was addressing
meeting Of socialists Her piercing
tones accentuatel by passion, her eyes
lit by fanatical fervor. she was never
better the report says, than when
urging crowd OF laboring men TO sup
port John Collins, the socialist candi-
date for mayor OF the Illinois metropo-
lis.
history, 4 sad figure as well. signih-
cant as well. significant in measure
of what eloQuence without thought
will effect Mother Jones has fol-
lowing; with people who take passion
for logic, she has a certain power.
Yet how pitiable her arguments
and how readily torn to threads, were
they worth serious refutation? How
silly her assertion that the average
American man is today the poorest
specimen of male humanity the world
has seen; how silly her statement that
men to day are less safe" to marry
than ever before; how inconsistent her
plea TO take" the Chicago stockyards,
meaning to destroy them, thus putting
real MISERY upon the millions of meat
eaters dependent upon that industry
in a quarrel In which the packers and
the workers union alone were inter-
ested! What leaders are these, who
would lead their followers to believe
that the American people would toler-
ate anarchy? What conception can
such people as Mother" Jones have
of the power and majesty Of govern
ment, IL they honestly can believe that
violence in strikes could touch one of
the vital interests OF the republic with
out public resentment and defeat.
Here Mother" Jones OUT
Perry Belmont. president OF the
Civic Federation. eats 2s dinners.
drinks 50-cent drinks ami smokes
quarter cigars, while you are lucky
ever to get a 1O-cent drink. One thing
| win say for you. though, II you get
a jag on you pay for your own jag as
well as his. Mrs. Roosevelt can az
ford to order the pattern of ner gown
destroyed for fear some other woman
might enjoy one like It, but the workers
who made the materials Of the gown
are living in squalor in an unpaved
street.
president Roosevelt talks Of pros
perity, but II he would travel with me |
.or about nine months | would defy
aim to find it for me. There can be
10 prosperity in a country while thou
'ands are starving, while hundreds of
thousands Of children are compelled to
irag out their young lives to produce
How silly the argument that lavish
lse Of riches by the rich tends to i'm
'oyerish the poor! Mrs. Roosevelt may
II may not have destroyed her gown
'attern; if she did she is a concelted
woman, foolish in a way as Mother"
ones; but is the republic to change its
orm Of government for that reason?
dr. Roosevelt, nobody doubts, is as
veil Informed Of the condition of the
ountry as Mother" Jones. If he says
Is prosperous, it probably is pros.
'erous. More people believe Roosevelt
hd believe In him than have hitherto
'elieved in any American as the last
election demonstrated.