The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1907-06-20

ture, to "intiuence" a member of Con-
gress to vote against the rights of the
people, when without such Influence"
he would have voted otherwise; to defy
and avoid the laws passed for the pro-
lection of the people; to tear up the
public streets in the night to escape
injunction and thus steal the peoples
highway; to take advantage of ones
necessity and thus get for nothing that
which is worth something; to try to
silence the pulpit; to try to intimidate
the bench; to try to control the press in
the interest of the few against the
many, is just as truly the spirit of an
archy, though 1t may appear in a mllder
form, as it is for a mob to wreck a
street Car, to blow up a mill, or burn a
city. In fact the milder it appears the
more dangerous is this spirit of an
archy. The more open and braZen it is
the quicker the forces of law and order
will put it down. 1t is not the anarchy
in blue jeans SO much as the anarchy in
broadcloth which we need to fear The
fellow with a dynamite bomb in his
| hand is no greater enemy to this coun-
| try than the man with bag of gold, if
the gold has been set apart as bride
to defeat the law of the people. Not
long ago certain great corporation
| in one of the States acknowledged be
fore an investigating committee that
through paid lobbyists it had, the pre-
vious winter, spent 5000, 600 to influence
the legislature" to pass certain laws
favorable to itself and against the inter
ests of the very people whose servants
these law makers were supposed to be.
THE NEW WORD GRAFT"
So rampant has this spirit of dishonor
become in the last few years that we
have had to coin a new word with
which to express it; what Moses called
''covetousness,' what Jesus called
"Mammon," what Paul called the
''root of all evil" is now known as
graft 1t is the same old thing which
has cursed every nation from Assyria
to America, and which has broken forth
in the last days with renewed energy
under new name.
LOOK AT SAN FRANCISCO,
A few years ago set of men with
palatial homes Oh mob Hill" built a
railroad with money borrowed from
this government which they never re-
turned, and which they never intended
to return. For more than generation
these men with their associates in bust
ness ran the affairs of that city, and at
times this entire State, with high
hand. Little did they regard the Will
of the people,; 1t was not long before
this same spirit of class selishness
broke out South of Market Street
and along the "Barbary Coast" and
now the stricken city, is reaping the
harvest from the seeds of anarchy sown
by the upper and the lower tenth. Ten
years ago l saw mounted police riding
beside every team drawing merchandise
through the streets of San Francisco.
The life of the man driving the team
would not have been safe for one block
i'll the heart of that city at that time
without a policeman at his side, and
even with this protection there were
three-score men killed and manned
within few weeks for no other crime
only that they were willing to work.
For the last ten years San Francisco
has hardly had a breathing spell free
from industrial warfare in some quar-
ter, and today all business, except in
ducement for graft, is practically at a
standstill in the metropolis of the coast
"DOwN WITH THE FLAG"
The spirit of anarchy about reached its
limit there few Sundays ago when a
meeting was held representing the diff
ferent labor organizations. This meet
ing was opened with the singing of the
Marseillaise, which on such occasions
has taken the place Of america, Sweet
Land of Liberty" The red flag, which
some claim stands for the universal
brotherhood of all races, on this oc-
casion stood for treason and lawless-
ness. According to report the meeting
had hardly begun when some man
thought it would be a good idea to
have the American flag also wave by
the side of the red flag; no sooner had
he entered the hall bearing this emblem
of American liberty than shout came
from hundreds of lips, Take that flag
out of here" ''take down that flag"
stake it down." 'take it down." And
for the time being, says the report. the
old flag was lowered. At about that
same hour another meeting of similar
nature was held in the town of Gold
field, attended by a thousa n
men. One of the speakers in his ad-
dress referred to the flag and the con
stitution, and in the place of applause
and cheers he was greeted with cries
from hundreds OF Threats. ITO hell
with the flag, to hell with the constitu.
tion."
l refer to these events as illustra