Devils Lake inter-ocean and Devils Lake free press. (Devils Lake, Ramsey County, N.D.) 1905-1909, 1906-07-06

Rntsred 40 second class master.
A WORD TO THE KNOCKERS
Some people are strangely con
stituted. They are never happy.
# the weather is cold, they wish to
be in q country where there is no
frost. If the weather is warm,
they dread the heat for time. and
eternity,and long fora cooler place.
When il, rains, they prophesy a
food, When there is nothing but
the blue dome above them, they
look for signs of droughth. When
in health, they anticipate sickness.
When sick, they think the Devil
will get them when they die,
These unfortunately constituted
people are very good specimens
for psychological study. That is,
if you are not afraid of the blues.
They are mentally sick. They
carry their abnormalities beyond
the realm Of the purely personal,
and apply their gruesome stand
ards to the world outside of them
selves. Nothing is exactly right.
Every one is somewhat wrong. It
can never occur to them that they
themselvesare out Of joint. They
do not know it, but they are so
sordidly selfish themselves, that
they can not comprehend gener-
GUS act or an unselfsh motive.
And when they are compelled to
admit the nobility of their fellows
and the progress of the world, they
charge Almighty God with having
neglected to visit dire and
deserved destruction upon Gus
miserable sinners"
You can get away from those
fellows. They are on the farm.
The business martsa are their favor
tie resorts, They are in the schools
and the professions. Even the
churches have them, and the haunts
of sin are full of them. They were
born with a torpid liver. Their
digestive track is a cotinuous down
grade, and, long before middle life
is reached, they are afflicted with
sorosis of the brain.
They are sufficiently numerous
to be classified. They constitute
the cranks or knockers, of modern
society. While they are, as we
say, to be found every where, they
are more conspicuous in politics
than anywhere else. They have a
little cunning with which to grace
their mentaland spiritualdeformit-
les. They sometimes call them
selves 'reformers," and by the way,
that word "reformer" should always
be hyphenated-thus "re-former''
for every effort of their lives is
directed towards reforming the
lines OF human activity. And the
reforming of the lines, il they
should succeed, always lands them
selves in the other fellows places.
They have peculiar antagonist
for the Office holding class. They
insist, that they do not want the
offices. They admit, however, that
if the interestsof the state demand
it they would be willing to sacrifice
themselves upon the altar Of tier
country. Ii someone in Office
should do well for the community
they never give him any credit.
They underestimate his ability,
discredit his motives and minimize
the good he has done. Morning
noon and night they inveigh again.
st those who do things. They
are knockers knocking at the
door that opens into the realm of
official recognition, and knockers
at the heads of those whom the
fortunes of political war have give
en- position. They are men usually
without much experince in public
affairs. They measure men Of
large affairs by the standards
which their own limited experience
gives them. Being able to manage
their own little affairs fairly well,
they think they are equal to the
occasions Of state craft, They are
SO self-centered that they have
never discovered that theyare only
units Of g great whole, and they
would undertake to life the world
by their own boot straps.
They are past masters in
denunciation They mistake de-
nuneiation for aggressive states
rnanship, and their case is hopeless