The Monmouth inquirer. [volume] (Freehold, N.J.) 1865-1933, 1906-09-06

say, do you mean to affirm that or
rich men, as class. are thieves and
robbersT No. ! win not go as far as
that. will not say that as pickpock
cts they will grab your purse and run.
But will say this: II a man will allow
the evil worm CT creed to Gpaw 1T his
heart long enough he may be willing.
and he often is willing, to 90 that
which in the sight of man as well as Of
God is morally wrong, although by
mans law 1t may be legally right Let
me illustrate this by a practical Incl
dent of everyday life
Surprising l have a little butcher
shop upon one of the street corners Of
Los Angeles. Surprising l am having
houlishing trade there and you hear
Of it and you decide to open a little
butcher shop upon the next corner
Then, supposing l go to you and say
Mr.. So-and-so you must quit. | was
here upon this street first | want all
the butcher business of this neighbor-
hood for myself" What would you
say? 'Nyhy," you would answer, you
are a fool. This is the land of liberty
One Of the great cardinal principles Of
our country is - live and to let live
There is a good butcher business here
for you, and a good butcher business
here for me. and we will work on op-
posite corners and support both our
families" OF course that answer Is
fair, honest and right But, on the
other hand, supposing / come to you
and say: Mr. So-and-so. / want you
to close out your business. / want to
make all the profits of this butcher
trade in this neighborhood.v Then sup
posing you say, Il won't" Then | go
to you and as a capitalist say: IF
you do not close out | will drive you
out. Then for one year upon this street
| viii sell meat by your side for less
than cost Then, after | have ruined
you. ! will put the prices of my meat
away up and reap all the profits for
my own Golfers" What would you
say? Is that fair composition? Would
you call me honest? Would you call
me a fair and square business rival?
In the sight of God would / not be a
robber and a thief? And yet that I'M
fair system of freezing out your busl-
ness rivals is going on all over this
land. Greed is so gnawing at the vitals
of our rich men that it is not with them
a doctrine of Live and let live" but
of XIII at any cost and then gather In
all the spoils of the dead. Kill, kill,
kiln Now. my friends, as you are
growing richer and richer, are you
destroying your neighbors' rights? Be
cause your business rivals are helpless,
are you remorselessly driving in the
financial knife up to the hilt and draw
ing their life's blood and then feasting
upon the carcasses of the slain?
Upton SincIair's Exposure.
Are you one of the wholesale rob
bers whom Upton Sinclair excoriates
in that terrible philippe lately pub
lished called The Jungle?' / do not
know enough of the facts to say wheth-
er he is right in his denunciation Of
the stockyards and their proprietors,
but this / will say, that this principle
of selfish monopoly is practiced in
many trades and professions. The rich
operator cannot bear to see poor OPP
orator making a humble competence in
his little store. He grudges him his
little income and freezes him out and
adds his connection to his own big
business. Are you, o man, building
up your fortune out of coffin lids and
destroyed homes and wrecked lives?
Some of you rich men are doing thus.
You will never be able to atone for
your murderous tyrannies by a few
donations to colleges and hospitals and
libraries. Never, never, never! What
you have won from man by dishonest
methods you must, like Eaccha.l5, re-
turn to man fourfold Are you one
whose commanding greed is teach
ing you to take unfair advantages of
your fellow men?
But after all, the most tragic and
pathetic part of that Sinclair book
called 1.-THE Jungle"-and the reason
quote from this book is because / be-
lieve 1t is an epoch making books
the tragic chapter where the once no.
Die anu uOutsI y uSiSb AON lAlci
and a robber, is led into the palace of
the great stockyard packer, Jones by
name, by the drunken son of the killer
of over quarter of a billion of cattle.
The millionaire Jones as a financial
prince could pile up his stolen riches
for his children. And, mark you, am
not attacking OF -insinuating against
any personality In Chicago, but only al
luding to the characters of the book as
Upton Sinclair portrayed them. Jones
could pile up his millions. But when
he gave his money to his son, like a
satanic adder's bite, 1t spiritually and
morally wrecked his boys life And
stolen money will always spiritually
wreck the lives of our children. if we,
as dishonest parents, give to them Ill
gotten gains. o man, o rich man.
why wilt thou live for gold? Why wilt
thou strive to win money for thy
children and with that money give TO
them the parental example of spiritu-
ally wasted life? Knowest thou not
that the history of Jones, the million
aire packer of The Jungle Is to be
repeated In thy history and In the his
tory of thy children, If thou lowest
silver for silver's sake and gold for