The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1907-01-11
LET WELL ENOUGH ALONE. I"
Zone Man Muy Do Too Well for the
Good Of 0 Million Men"


printing a series OF articles entitled
Letters to Unsuccessful Men. "
These articles are written by the
editor. George Horace Lorimer.
From one of these letters, which is
supposed to have been written by
II western man TO his brother, u
Wall street magnate, these extracts
are taken by The Commoner:
Il don't overlook the necessity
of testing a new idea before accept
ing it, but You have only one
answer for everything: Let well
enough alone. That attitude
simply means that you are doing
well enough, not necessarily that
others are; but we believe that one
man may do too well for the good of
million men. We have no objec.
tion to anyone making as much
money us he honestly can, but we'd
like to have a few of these hundred.
million dollar fortunes prove their
pedigree
The fact of the matter is that
the time has come when lot OF
You big fellows who profess to
hold your commissions as captains
direct from the Almighty have got
to show us. For we little fellows
are beginning to believe that your
claims to divine inspiration III the
coal business and the steel business
aud the railroad business are hum
bug. OF course all of this is what
you call socialistic talk, calculated
to stir up class hatred And you
are quite sincere in this attitude,
for once man has lost the ability
to deal honestly with others, he
quickly loses the power to think
honestly for himself.
Il am simply an average Amerl-
can, aud, like him, am trying to
raise my own average. Now, we
want a little less scripture, and a
| little more coll for our money.
We want not only the hope of a
good time in the hereafter, but the
certainty of a good time on earth.
We want the opportunity to sue.
coed in any honest way we can, or
to fail in any honest way that we
please. We don't envy man his
Legitimate winnings, but we don t
want any holding on to ours. We
want our chance, according to our
abilities, as they are great Or small
without arbitrary restrictions i'm
posed by any little group of cap
tains;" we want our dues, much
or little, without paying these
tithes to any self-appointed stew
ards of the country's resources.
We don't want any isms, but we
want some I's-honesty, decency
and opportunity.
Yet so long as you fellows go
through the country like the gypsy
moth, stripping everything clean
as you fly, people will continue to
look for the bug that will fight
you, and naturally there are many
who will advocate remedies that
are worse than the pest. The aver
age American still believes in
wealth and in property rights, and
wants to conserve them. He has,
or hopes to have. n bank account !;
he wants to have larger one. But
we are against stealing and homi-
eide. whether by the methods of
| the sneak thief, the second story
man or the footpad; or by those of
the railroad that gives rebates, the
trust that puts out poisonous pro.
duets, or the individual that robs
little children of their health in
the mills. This is the gospel of
our discomfort as | see it, and
believe that it is Il healthy discon.
tent. 1t does nor demand confis-
cation of the millions of the rich,
but guarantee against further
confscatiOn of the pennies of the
poor; not discrimination against
wealth, but stoppage of discrimi-
nation against poverty; not II cnr-
tailment of the legitimeut opportu.
mites of capital, but an enlarge
ment of the opportunities of labor;
not great charities for the next
generation. but n little more jus
tice for this. 1t demands that the
captains purify themselves from
within under pain of being purified
without.
Nor will the country accept as
satisfactory answer to its de-
mands a grandiloquent affirmation
of the persistence of hot air, as i
am democrat or "A passionate
appeal to all that is best and fub.
dubbiest in onr nature. as Re true
to the grand old party of Lincoln.
Our protest is wholly against the
man with a cold deck, and all We
want to know is, do we get a
| Al .