The Glenwood post., 1912-05-04
Saturday, May 4, 1912.
THEN ALL MEN ARE EQUAL
CRaymond A. Eaton. }

men are equal
On the decks of the Titanic in thu
cold gloom of Monday morning mil
lionaire and imm grant were equal
Gold. for which men struggle and
scheme and plan and suffer, was moth
ing at that moment. Men with almost
untold wealth were at the point where
it was nothing and meant nothing.
The poorest immigrant or member Of
the crew was as well off as he-thcn
Immigrant and millionaire stood
aside to let the women and children be
were on an equality in the saving OF
lives.
will the public know by what system,
if any, the few men saved from the
sinking steamer We're saved. This
much is known Money and power
were as naught, for among the names
of those saved are missing great mil
lionaires and men of affairs. so that
we do know that money was as nothing
In the face of God and Death ell
men are equal
Colonel John Jacob Astor was on
the same plane as the poor immigrant.
Colonel Astor. dictator of society, head
of house owning $45O.O0O,00 worth
of rear estate in New York, himself
the possessor of $l50.O00,000. was no
better off on the deck of the doomed
ship than the immigrant with $l5. tn"
cash necessary to assure him a landing
in thisjlarrd of the free.
Benjamin Guggenheim, estimated ia
be worth $95, 100000, the head and
front of the American Smelling & Re.
tning company and score of other
great corporations, was no more THAI
the seaman standing stolidly by to live
gioriously up to the unwritten law o:
the sea- Women and children first.
George d. Widener, son of P A. 3
Widener,' the Philadelphia traction
magnate, worth $5O,OOO,ooO and thu
cabin boy were boon companions
There was no difference between them
at that time.
lsader Strauss. worth $4,000 900
head of two such enormous departmen,
stores as Abraham & Strauss in Brook
lyn and R. II. Macy & Company OF
New York, and the fireman, grimy with
the coal and SCOT of the engine room
were equal partners in this common
fate.
+. d. Millet, the painter of "The
Angelus,' and Jaques Fhtrelle. the
short story writer; William r.. Stead
the great journalist: bankers, merchan.
princes and society leaders-all were
on the same level with the immigrants
coming to this land, where the consti
tuition declares that all men are Great
ed free and equal-and which So few
of MS really believe is true.
Upon the decks of the doomed steam
snip were men who practically elected
presidents of the United States. who
shaped the .destinies of nations with
their wealth, owned or controlled. who
dictated the styles and who regulated
the social status of two continents:
men whose ancestry entitled them to b ,
arlstocrats of this country and of Eu-
rope, and the men whose ancestors had
toiled even as beasts of the field-and
all on common plane.
In the face of God and Death all
men are equal.
One might almost imagine one IF
these great men of fortune gripping
the hand of a sailor with the same feel.
ing IN his heart as the poor little
seamstress wanted to hold the hand of
Sidney Carton as they rolled along 70
the guillotine.
These men were Anglo-Saxons and
Will live in history as the great modern
exponepts of the Crusaders for brav-
cry, striking personalities, every one
OF them, who in that awful moment,
alone upon the doomed ship, looked out
into the night and realized that. after
all, men are the same, sons of CON.
mon Cod
Never in all the history of the world
has there been such tremendous dem
onstration of the truth of the consti.
tuition of the United States that all
men are created equal. Never In
ancient or modern times has there
been written across the page of the
world the fact so forcefully and so
startlihgly that money, power. birth
are no more than the mere existence Of
man! 49,. .s.. .s