The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1915-05-14
Greed of Cold Heart
Chase For The Money
From Mondays usiiy.

"Europe's mighty struggle Is the
capitalization of the greed OF the
human heart for what somebody else
has" declared Congressman James
A. Manahan of st. Paul at the dedica-
ton banquet. held by Nicollet Council
No. 901, Knights of Columbus, last
evening, I'm observance OF the opening
OF the new hall of the order on South
Front street. The banquet took place
lat the Loyola club house. The entire
floor space OF the main auditorium
was filed with the tables, which were
beautifully and appropriately decor
ated. There were about hundred and
fifty visiting knights from other cities.
The gallery was occupied by an addi-
tional audience. The speakers were
grouped on the stage.
Rev Father Rohert' Hughes of st.
Johns Catholic church, the toast
master of the evening. on introduce
ing Mr.. Mammalian. first spoke OF the
great development OF Minnesota as
On agricultural state and its grow
ing Importance. He said many people
OF the state had persisted i'm declaring
that the east would continue to dom
mate the policies of the country but
IL was deemed best 10 send a red
headed freshman TO Washington to
get demand what Minnesota wanted.
So Mr. Manahan was chosen.
Climax Of the Evening.
Mr.. Manahan's address was the
climax of the evening. What" he
asked. What do these nations want?
One wants an outlet TO the sea for
trade and commerce. Another wants
to retain control OF the waters of the
earth for the money there Is In Il.
Another wants colonies in different
parts of the world. Another wants TO
annex neighboring provinces. II is all
for money. II is to have more OF the
material things OF the world.
Il do not disclaim that my human
sympathy Is on one side. Why? Be-
cause my ancestors were kept poor.
when they lived on the most fertile
little isle on the face of the earth. by
the greed of others. But I can see
that all of the great nations. OF Europe
are at fault i'm fostering the idea of
hurry. hurry, hurry-hurry for money.
II Is the insanity of greed to take
somebody else's commerce. trade or
land" rra
Critic OF Americans.
The speaker went on to declare
that the American people were
stricken with the same sort of insan-
lty. thought ID had not resulted In
war. But Il had resulted In the accu-
mutation of property OF the nation In
to few hands. He declared that ninety
per cent of the wealth of the nation
was now owned by ten per cent of its
citizens. II was not acquired by war.
There were many men I'm this coun-
try who were trying to do just what
the European people were seeking to
accomplish for themselves, but I'm
this country IL was not being done
with battleship but with the weapon
OF law. ..
Mr.. Manahan went on to say that
what the world needed was more
compassion on ones fellow man.
There was too much OF the spirit of
each for what he could grab and "the
devil take the hindmost."
The speaker also said there were
some men who had raised false is
sues to divert attention from the real
issue, which was human greed. The
false issue of religious bigotry had
been raised with this end in view.
The Literaey Question.
Incidentally the speaker dwelt for
a time on the question of a literacy
test for immigrants. He was opposed
to that. He declared II was not a
fair test of the deslrability of immi
grants. He said many parents who
could not read or write, because In
their own country they had not had a
chance to learn. we're all the more
eager TO give their children the ad-
vantage of the educational opportu-
mites that this country Afforded. He
told OF some OF his crossing OF
swords with southern congressman on
that issue. He told congressman
from Alabama that there was Just as
much reason for Minnesota To object
toireceiving illiterate, whites from AL