The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1917-01-06
SOME THINGS ....
and OTHER THINGS

4 and OTHER THINGS H
Be ye strong therefore, and let
not YOUR hands be weak: for your
work shall be rewarded. Chron
1877.
Morality is about a generation
ahead of legality.
Some do not seem to recognize it,
but the new social conscience is here
and is in deadly earnest.
Because the great common people
are rapidly coming into their own,
the supposedly ruling class is making
a desperate fight for place. The old
slogan, 'honor the king" whether he
be worthy of honor or not, is past,
and the great twentieth century will
close the books on the "divine right
of kings"
When hate, injustice, human greed
and passions dress up in legal garb
believing uniforms justify violence,
then it is time to let it be known that
society has reached such develop
ment that it freely registers pro-
to receive the treatment society re-
ceived in the eighteenth century
from the police forces of our COM
monwealth.
In the ''good old days" if a rival
got in the way of a social climber, a
dinner was given and surreptitiously
poison was slipped into the rivals
drink, and then the host ceased to
worry; but today the poison is insert
ed in a newspaper by the way of an
insinuation which is oft times as
deadly, but even this mode of
''killing Off the other fellow has its
limitations.
While Kansas has strong law
against minors using cigarettes, still
we find some business men whose
hands so itch for gold" that they
are willing to sell to these school
boys. A man who will sell cigar
cites unlawfully, is just as mean and
as low as the "bootlegger."
One of these days the public will
grow more serious, and instead of
giving little admonitions to these
this well known poison to the school
boys, they will be treated as vulgar
prisoners, and will be known by the
right name.
The term conservatism" has lost
! its power. It can no longer be used
| by the select few" as a cloak behind
which the conservative" bunch can
/ hide while it proceeds to rob the gull
| ible public. When you hear a man
who has much wealth-infiuence, when
some worthy enterprise is advanced
criticising the undertaking, it is time
pocket-book. Always watch mer
who are seeking rewards for politica
| jobbery or for legal trickery.
| If there ever was a time when the
people should storm our Senators
Curtis and Thompson, urging then
to "stand pat" on the temperance
question, it is today. If we are
under the aegis of senatorial court
esq, let it now be used for the cause
of temperance.
School teachers tell us that com
mercialism is the curse of the age
yet no one honestly believes the
statement. We are told in the next
breath what we want and need is tc
grow more wheat, mine more coal
build more railroads, consolidate oul
banks, cultivate more acreage, thai
we can have a greater volume OF
commerce that the needs of the PEG
pie may be supplied. But let US con
clude that any man whose only am
bition is money-making, is a very
contemplate person. IF we con
clude success is measured by the
number of dollars person possesses
then of all forms of civilization we
| have. the poorest. But since the
most men of wealth are more thar
DESTROYS of making the community
in general better, we can rest assur
ed it is brain fog that causes some
people to gloat over Commercial
ISM"
Suppose you sit down, stake you
pen in hand" and paint the picture
of graft, gambling, unequal ,distribu
ton, dishonesty-well, "muckrake'
the past-you will be able to make {
case, an awful picture and tell the
whole truth" but at the conclusion
you will if you are honest, have tt
admit that we leave the generation
richer, better educated, more hu
name, and greater opportunities thar
we found in our generation when we
started. One of the duties of ou1
schools should be to teach the new
II generation how to use wealth.
One of the meanest things is tt
hold up every successful bushes.
man to caricature and calumny, anC
try to discredit individual effort
Any man with trained 'tgray matter
well balanced, will not seek to abus.
the business man. Neither will the
business man who honestly thinks
and is not success drunk, belittle the
men who are trying to change thu
rules and thoughts of brutal human
ity. We do not need to be dema
gogues In order to protest and de
spise rogue in any line or profes
sion.
/ have real faith in the goodness
of humanity Public opinion vii
make it hard for the coming genera
ton to grow rich through legal dis
honesty, and I am willing to trus
American parents and teachers Il