The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1906-12-19
CAPITAL AND LABOR.

NAl ! NJ AND l4AbOk.
In dealing with both labor and cap,
ital, with the questions affecting both
corporations and trades unions. there is
one matter more important TO remember
than aught else, and that is the infinite
harm done by preachers of mere dis
content. These are the men who seek to
excite a violent class hatred against all
men of wealth. They seek TO turn wise
and proper movements for the better
control of corporations and for doing
away with the abuses connected with
wealth, into a campaign of hysterical OK
ritement and falsehood in which the aim
is to inflamc TO madness the brutal pas
SiOns OF mankind. The sinister dema-
gogues and foolish Missionaries who are
always eager to undertake such cam
paign of destruction sometimes seek To
associate themselves with those working
for a genuine reform in governmental
ana social methods, and sometimes mas
querade as such reformers. In reality
they are the worst enemies of the cause
they profess to advocate, just as the
purveyors of sensational Islander in news
paper or magazine are the worst enc
mics of all men wlro are engaged in an
honest effort to better what is bad IN
our social and governmental conditions.
To preach hatred of the rich man as such.
to carry on a campaign of SANDER and
invective against him, to seek to mislead
and inflame to madness honest men whose
lives are hard and who have not the
kind Of mental training which will per-
nit them to appreciate tire danger in
the doctrines preached-all this is to com
NIT a crime against the body polite and
to be false to every worthy principle
and tradition of American national life.
Moreover. while such preaching and such
agitation may give a livelihood and a GER
tain notoriety to some of those who
take part in it, and may result in the
temporary political success of others, in
the long run every such movement will
either fail or else will provoke violent
reaction, which will itself result not
merely in undong the mischief wrought
by the demagOgue and agitatOr. but also
in undoing the good that the honest
refarmer the true unholder of popular
rights. lras painfully and laboriously
achieved. Corruption is never so rife as
i'm communities where the demagOgue and
the agitatOr bear full sway, because in
such communities all moral bands be-
come Ioosened, and hysterical and scnsa-
tionalism replace the spirit of sound iudg-
ment and fair dealing as between man
and man. In sheer revolt against the
squalid anarchy thus produced men are
sure in the end to turn toward any lead
err who can restore order, and then their
relief at being free from the intOlcrahlc
burdens of class hatred. violence and de-
magogy is such that they cannot for some
time be aroused to Indignation against
misdeeds by men of wealth: so that they
permit a new growth of the very abuses
which were in part responsible for the
original outbreak The one hope for
success for our people lies in resolute
and fearless, but sane and cool headed.
advance along the path marked out last
year by this very Congress. There must
be stern refusal to be misled into fol-
lowing either that base creature who ap
peals and panders to the lowest instincts
and passions in order to arouse one set
of Americans against their fellows. or
that other creature. equally base but no
baser. who in a spirit of greed or to ac-
emulate or add to an already huge for
tune seeks to exploit his fellow Amcri-
cans with callOus disregard to their wei
fare of soul and body. The Laan who
debauches others in order to obtain n
high Office stands on ar evil equality "l
corruption with the man who debauch"S
others for financial profit; and when ha-
tired is sown the crop which springs up
can only he evil.
The plain folk WHO think-thc me
chanics, farmers, merchants. workers
with head or hand, the men to whom
American traditions are dear, who love
their country and try to act decently by
their neighbors, owe it to themselves to
remember that the most damaging blow
that can be given popular government is
to elect an unworthy and sinister agita-
tor on a platform of violence and hypo-
crisy. Whenever such an issue is raised
in this country nothing can be gained
by linching from it. for in such case de-
mocracy is itself on trial; popular self
government under republican forms is it
self on trial The triumph of the mob
is Just as evil a thing as the triumph
of the plutocracy, and to have escaped
one danger avails nothing what ever If
we succumb to the other. In the end the
honest man. whether rich or poor. who
earns his own living and tries to deal
justly by his fellows, has as much to
fear from the insincere and unwarthy
demagogue, promising much and per-
forming nothing, or else performing moth
ing but even, who would set on the mob
to plumber the rich, as from the crafty
corruptiOnist, who, for his own ends,
would permit the common people to be
exploited by the very wealthy. If we
ever let Government fall into the hands
of men of either of these two classes we
shall show ourselves false to Americas
past. Moreover. the demagogue and the
corruptionist often work hand in hand.
There are at this moment wealthy re-
dictionaries of such obtuse morality th"t
they regard the public servant who pro
secutes them when they violate the law,