The Alaska citizen. (Fairbanks, Alaska) 1910-1917, 1912-03-04
THE MARCH OF MAN.


is not a struggle for the something
better" that always looms just ahead,
there are stagnanCy, decay and death,
We have come far since the wild
days when the survival of the fit
est was distinctly physical prop
osftion. and the man with the big
gest club got the best of it.
The world nov commences TO I'M
derstand that there is more than
one kind of fitness. and that just
because a Jack Johnson could whip
John Keats. it does not follow
that Johnson is of more use to the
world. For the first time since
Christ preached the beauty and ne
cessity of it on the shores of Gal
lice, we are trying to make prac-
teal application of the brotherhood
of man.
Look about you, and not only in
the pulpit, but in the market place.
one may see the insurgency" that
is only another name for altruism
Never before was the heart of the
world so tender-neyer before was
there such general desire to be kind
and just and to do away with in
justices and inequalities
All OF which is the fault of re-
IIlSinn
its own ruin. Here, in a free land
We have seen the rise of an dig
archy OF wealth more terrible than
the old worlds aristocracy of birth
And all those who are decent and
true have sickened of the sight. and
are determined upon reformation
and betterment.
Herbert Spencer said. The citi-
zens OF a large nation indusrriallv
organized, have reached their han
plness when the producing. distrib-
uting and other activities are such
that each citizen finds in them
place for all his energies and ami
tudes, while he obtains the means
OF satisfying all his desires"
Even so late as a decade ago.
when life meant something more
than bitter struggle for a mere
existence by the majority. and
when, in some measure. labor was
rewarded, reform was not seriously
considered by the many, who care
Iessly dismissed it as the fanciful
demand of the idle class.
1t Is not so now. The chains
OF industrial slavery no longer Law
llght as leaves upon the ankle of
the workingman. but press cold and
heavy, and in the great common
heart apprehension has taken the
place OF cheerful belief in the abil.
lily OF the morrow to make up the
lack of the present day.
Ne-meaning all of us who labor
necessarily that our backs NAV he
covered and our stomachs filled
are now ready to listen to anv
scheme of relief from the present
industrial conditions. seriously. hope
fully.
The Socialists, Single Takers. non
partisans, and commission govern
ment men, are to us as Caleb and
Joshua, bearing the grapes gathered
III canaan, We're to the waiting
lsraelites, only with us it remains
to be seen whether the grapes are
sweet or sour.
Surely God did not put men into
the world only to work like galley
slaves, to sleep, TO eat, to work
again. He surely did not intend
that the strong should wax stronger
by preying on the weakness of the
weak
1t is no longer possible to pick
up a paper without reading of some
new trust designed to further en-
rich, further beggar, some polite
swlndle, some offense against pub
lie policy or honest commerce.
IT is an age of brutal avarice-
greed, uncontrolled by law, or regard
Tor right or wrong, morality or JUS
tlce, sweeps over the land with ever
increasing violence.
The law winks complacently. or
else groans impotently, at the crimes
OF those in high places-it does not
punish or prevent the offenses of
those with political power, whose
crimes are against the property of
the people, or of others whose ra-
pacity results in the accumulation
of vast profits
Instead of standing before the
world as triumphal democracy,
in which one man is not favored
before his brother, America is now
regarded as nation of commercial
sharks" willing to devour one an
other if other game is not at hand.
Money is now the standard-no
matter how acquired. whether by
dishonesty or cruelty, or a clever
combination of both Morality is
now of small account. and intellec-
tual endeavor is now SO little a pay
ing proposition that only a fool will
work at II