The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-07-15


August issue of Appleton's Magazine.)
~ GRAY mist hung over land and
~ sea, and fine rain shlvered
down upon the somber build
ings of the city and the turbid waters
to one one SIDE of " the steamer. They
looked about silently. and seriously,
with eager eyes in which cleaned hope
and fear, terror and Joy:
"Who is this9' asked Polish girl
in tone Of amazement, pointing to
the statue of Liberty Some one fTSm
American Goddess. .
looked at this goddess with the
feeling of an idolater. Before my mem
DRY flashed the brilliant names of
Thomas Jefferson and Of Grant.
"The land of liberty'' l repeated to
myself, not noticing on on that that, glorious
/ knew even then that "The War
FOR the Abolition of Slavery is now
called in America "The War for the
Preservation Of the Union.' But did
not know that in this change Of words
WAS hadsn de aISp az be that the
democracy had also become covered
with rust, like the bronze statue, eat
ing away the soul with the corrosive
of commercialism. The senseless
craving for money and the shameful
craving for the power that money
gives, is a disease from which people
suffer everywhere. But did not real
lie that this dread disease had as
sumed such proportions in America.
The Treadmin Of Toll
The tempestuous turmoil of life on
the water at the foot of the statue Of
Liberty, and in the city on the shore,
3D. 4l,n
sense Of Impotence. Everywhere, like
antediluvian monsters, huge, heavy
steamers plow the waters of the ocean,
little boats and cutters scurry about
like hungry birds Of prey. The iron
seems endowed with nerves, life and
Consciousness. z--.'-1... =
And it seems as if all the iron, all
the stones, the wood and water, and
even the people themselves are full of.
protest against this life in the fog, this
life devoid Of sun, song and Joy, this
life in the captivity Of hard toll.
Everywhere is toll, everything is
caught up in its whirlwind, everybody
obeys the will of some mysterious
power hostile to man and to nature.
A machine, a cold unseelng, unreason-
ing machine, in which man is but an in
significant screw!
love energy. I adore it. But not
when men expend this creative force
of theirs for their own destruction.
There is too much labor and effort, and
DO life in all this chaos, in all this
hustle for the sake of piece of bread.
Everywhere we see around US the work
of the mind which has made Of human
life a sort of hell, senseless tread
mill of labor, but nowhere do we feel
the beauty Of free creation, the disin-
terested work of the spirit which beau
tifes life with imperishable flowers of
Efe-giving cheer.
Independence Phantom.
Far out On the shore, silent and dark
s'skyscre pers' are outlined against the
fog. Rectangular, with no desire to be
beautiful, these dull. heavy piles rise
up into the sky, stern, cheerless and
morose. In the wiadows of these pris
dren are. anywhere seen. These struc-
lures elevate the price Of land to
heights as lofty as their tops, but de-
base the taste to depths as low as their
foundations: 1t is always so. In great
houses dwell small people. ~
From afar the city looks like q huge
jaw with black, uneven teeth. It belches
forth clouds Of smoke into the sky, and
shifts like a glutton suffering from
overcorpulency. When you enter it you
feel that you have fallen into stom-
ach Of brick and iron which swallows
up millions dt people, and churns,
The PEG people e walk sneH along the pave
ments. They push hurriedly forward,
all hastily driven by the same force
that -enslaves them But their faces
are calm, their hearts do not feel the
misfortune Of being slaves; indeed, by
a tragic self-conceit, they yet feel
themselves its masters. In their eyes
CLEANS consciousness Of independ-
ence, but they do not know it is but
the sorry independence Of the ak in
the hands of the woodman, Of the
smith This liberty is the tool in the
hands of the yell low devil-gold. In
ner freedom, freedom of the heart and
soul, is not seen in their energetic
countenances. This energy without
liberty is like the glitter of a new
knife which has not yet had time to
be dulled, it is like the gloss of new
rope.
Unhappy New York.
It is the first time that I have seen
such huge city monster; nowhere
have the people appeared to me so :un-
fortunate, SO thoroly epslaved to life,
as in New York. And furthermore. no.
where have | seen them 80 tragi-comi-
cally self satisfied as in this huge phan-
product Of the sick and wasted imagin-
alton of Mercury and Pluto. And look
ing upon this, life, I began to think
that in the hand of the statue of Bar
tholdi there blazes not the torch of
liberty, but the dollar.
The large number of monuments in
the city: parks ztestifes to the pride
which its, inhabitants take in their
great men: These statues covered
h. q vai1 soF li1f tor