The Boise citizen. (Boise, Idaho) 1906-1910, 1909-04-30
POOR AGAINST RICH
THE CHARGE AGAINST "DEMAGOGUES'
WELL ANSWERED

Edward Howell Putnam contribute
to the Public the following able articl,
under the title @Arraying Poor Agains
Rich" :"
If opportunity were equally open tc
all in this country and every one hac
his rights fully safeguarded, ther,
would be no occasion for any protesr
such as this which recently appeared ii
Leslie's Weekly, and has been approv-
ingly quoted in newspapers:
Cruel wrong is done by those who
constantly seek to array the poor a
gainst the rich and to misrepresent the
latter as void of sympathy and all the
kindly instincts of humanity When we
stop to think that most of our rich men
OF today were the poor men of a few
years ago, we realize the injustice of
the accusation. In this great country,
where opportunities for advancement
are open to all and where every one
has his rights fully safeguarded, no
class distinction should be permitted to
prevail. Demagogues who endeavor to
create such distinctions, should be re-
garded as a menace to the public well
fare and be treated accordingly
No "demagogues" can create class
distinctions in any country where op-
rortunities are open to all and rights
are safeguarded 1t is because oppor-
tunity in this great country has been
monopolized to an enormous extent by
the few, and the rights of the many
have been insolently and wickedly ig-
nored, that men of kindly instincts"
protest, in the name of justice, against
the class distinctions which have result
ed.
Demagogues do not create class dis
merely take advantage
of any class distinction that manifest1y
exists. The ignorant demagogue mis-
takenly draws the line of class dis
tinction between Rich and Poor, instead
Of between the promoters and bene-
iciaries of Special Privilege on one
hand, and the victims thereof on the
other And the ignorant press COM
nentator does the same. But the
'demagogue" rightly denounces the ex-
isting evil, while the ignorant press
seeks to defend it by
,razenly denying its existance
There is never any menace to the pub
ic welfare from the "demagogue" who
ries to create a class distinction; but |
here is emminent menace to the gener
ting cause of class distinction in the
of special privilege by the
lrophet and the seer. And always
jerusalem stones the prophets
Ignorant speakers and writers have
% persistently misapplied the epithet
demagogue" that well-informed read
RS have come to regard its use as sig
lifying a strong probability of excep-
ionally high virtue in the person
ssailed. And this because individuals
hus stigmatised are in the great majori-
y of cases found to be men of sterling
haracter and high ideals, fred with a
passion for justice, who re-
use to keep silence while powerful and
thieves ply their vocation
f public plunder.
The assumption that in this, great
ountry opportunities for advancement
re open to all, and every one has his
ights fully safeguarded,' is a moss
ack philosophy, an echo of long past
and plump contradiction
the glaring facts of current economic
nd political history.
A cruel injustice it is indeed to seek
, array the poor against the rich; but
the editors of great newspapers and
opular magazines lack the capacity to
iscriminate between the rich, as such,
=. 1 A. ,.-o-,,otare and hepefCiarieS of