The daily Nome industrial worker., 1916-01-12

class they have beyond any doubt retained power for themselves, not the least subtle manner of doing so being by peddling the idea that they were men of superior brain of superior organizing capacity, of superior mental skill, of superior ability to cope with situations in an emergency which could not be ex. pected from those snecring referred to as the great unwashed. But this war is wiping cut this political superstition as it is wip- ing out so many othcrc. It is re- vealing that this dominant class is the same inert stupid blundcring class that had control of the govern ment during the Napoleonic wars. and all that may save the nation is not their directing ability, but their national characteristic, above ali valuable in this emergency, but of which trey have no monopoly, tena city of purpose.
 And Great Britain is not alone in this view as to the superiority, superior position in life endows men supposedly with.
 One can easily overhaul the roll of legislature and within the list ascertain that but few if any work ingmen are there. This is because l the workingmen themselves harbor a similar suporstitition to that which prevails elsewhere, that the workers as a class are an 'in- ferior" class, and that they can only be ruled by those who have superior wealth, superior positions, or supe- J rjor opportunities.
 ,That this should be condition prevailing in a democracy is not at all extraordinary, for it is a demo- cracy built upon property rights as against personal rights, and natur- lally enough property holders in a country where individualism is the keynote of existence, will assume all the privileges which are possible to them under the laws that property has enacted, and under the prece- dents along the same line which the courts have established to sustain them.
 | In Great Britain the rule of posi- tion and wealth has been sedulously maintained in the most wonderful manner by system of perverted education that was manifested on all sides. Even the poetry that was popular was ruling class poetry that rejected with scorn the radical ism of the masses.
 Established Churches preached contentment in oncs station in life, and while the newspapers emitted articles, sound in tory principles. the laureates hired by the Crown. threw a glamor of romance upon the most reactionary and tyranni- cal of principles.
 In vain one of them mourned upon the defection of the noblcst:
 Just for a handful of silver he
 left us
 Just for ribbon to stick in his | coat
 there were many to follow in the steps of the loyalict seceders, who sacrificed liberalism to get a pen- sion.
 Thus, too, when genius did ap- pear upon the scene to magnify the achievements of Toryism, that was hailed as the greatest of intellects. and there was really time when the people of Great Britain left un- read the poetry of Browning and ot Swinburne to gloat in ecstasy upon the reactionary imperialism Of Tennyson the Tory
 And when Tennyson died and they sought around for successor to the laureatesh.p, they selected him from amid crowd of minor poets in the person of Alfred Austin, who wrote perhaps finer bathos than any of his contemporaries.
 How a man like Swinburne was passed over-one of the really great poets of the age, is to be explained only by the mans radicalism and his organism.
 How could people with non conformist conscience, or an Estab- llished Church with hell fire et cetera as one of it's most important accessories in maintaining tithes. tolerate a man as laureate who foro-