St. Johns review. (Saint Johns, Or.) 1904-current, 1912-11-29
Misplaced Prejudice
(By A. Porter).

We should guard our prejudices
and see they are excited by right
motives, rather than ignorant
envy and directed against the
enemies of our best interests
rather than against our best in
terests. Notice just how that
one word prejudice is used by
Abraham Lincoln in his warning
to the American people Of the
results of enthroned corporation.
Prejudice assumes many phases.
It varies in its results according
to the different conditions and
dispositions in which it is the
motive power. IL lays its corner
stone where ambition failed to
lay hers. So any Industrial peo-
pies ambition is to rise above
their surroundings, and they are
not more interested in actually
rising, as they are in lowering
their surroundings. The author
of corporation conspiracy, in
stead of seeing the rise of hu-
manity to harmony and prosper
ity in the merits of honest CO.
operation discovered by taking a
stone from beneath the feet of
their neighbor and placing it on
top of the one on which they
stood they had lowered their
neighbor one stone and risen
one stone themselves, thereby
gaining a double advantage over
their neighbor, or rather the
American people; for they have
taken every stone of industrial
opportunity from beneath our
feet and forced us TO wallow i'm
the mire of despair, dangling at
the ends of their strings to be
towed about at their will or dance
TO the pain of their hook in our
eye, for the laboring masses,
with little exception, can see
nothing but wages. and to get
them 90 see any of the self reli-
ant principles on the side of hon
est cooperation is impossible.
This inhuman treatment has
naturally prejudiced us against
our tormentors. The armies of
solicitors have been the strings
dangled towards us, offering only.
baited hooks, and we have natur-
ally become prejudiced against
the solicitor. This is misplaced
prejudice. The solicitor, like
the laborer, is only the string in
the hand, or control, of the tor
mentor. Our prejudice should
be entirely against the lack of
proper protection for the small
investor in cooperation laws.
We should aim our prejudice
more against the wrong than the
perpetrators of wrong. The
wrongdoer may sometimes be
excusable. but the wrong never
is. When man eXtinguishes
wrong there is always n right to
be embraced. There is "A right
cooperation system that has
power TO take the stones from
beneath the feet of tyranny and
place them under the feet of the
laboring people. and by the
means of the despised solicitor
we must win the confidence of !
the exceptional few that can dis
tinguish the right from the
wrong. and by. placing a solid
foundation under their feet, |
demonstrate to the general pub
lie the safe, just, prosperous
methods of honest cooperation.
and thus teach the laborer TO EN-,
brace right and force the tyrant |
TO embrace right.
When humanity realizes that |
the unjust triumph over our fell
low man, and the courted honors |
we call laurels from an individ- |
ual's point of view, are our fail
ures, and debases from "A uniyer-
sal point of view; when public |
teaches man that ma
terial gain is not longer consid-
cred a laurel, but that the only |
laurel recognized is mans ear
nest effort 10 see cause and
and oyerrule with an eye
single TO universal justice, then
will we have effort worthy of
human intelligence,
How much better il would
have been for the money mag
mates, as well as for the Amer
lean people had they developed |
the country ON honest distribu-
ting cooperation that would have
indy idually interested the idus-
trial workers. Was il not pre-
ludice ON the part of promoters
against allowing the people the |
control of their aggregated
money that has resulted in our
industrial and political evils?
Surely the results are rebuke
10 misplaced prejudice.
How many people realize that
L was the people S own industrial
against allowing the
of people to control their
Investments by majority vote
hat made it possible for promo
.ers, by taking advantage of that
prejudice. 10 center control i'm
he few, responsible to no one.
L may be necessary TO center