The Oroville weekly gazette. [volume] (Oroville, Wash.) 1905-19??, 1919-01-10

shall we look for an authoritative
statement Of the position of the op.
position? Here is an educator ol
wide experience, national reputation
and supposedly broad learning. The
product Of these admirable qualities
Is this Property, which is funda-
mentally attacked by bolshevism and
other forms Of socialism, was not
made by any government or class. 1t
grew up and was not made" In the
first place, even bolshevism, with all
its foolish wickedness, cannot be just
| ly charged with attacking property
Obviously it is attacking the holders
Of property, whom they claim have
stolen it from its rightful owners, the
producers. That is a very different
thing from attacking property The
whole matter here hinges on the ques-
ton of right. We shall not go into
1t. The bolsheviki attacks property
|rights. not property. Perhaps that is
what the doctor intended saying, but
he didn't say it. In the second place,
can Doctor Bryan, or any other man
explain how property grows without
being made? Property Is the tangi-
BILE wealth OF the state or nation. The
buildings. railroads. ships, everything.
In short, that men value. Whence
came 1t? A silent process Of nature,
IA growth, like a tree? When I left
Seattle 1t was struggling village of
three thousand people. the houses
were shacks. the streets ungraded
and unpaved. l came back to city
of three hundred thousand with mag
nificent buildings, miles Of splendid
homes, on graded and paved streets,
car lines extending in every direction,
great railway stations, and all the
evidences of an advanced civilization
l ask: How has this Transformation
been brought about? Doctor Bryan
speaks up with. all the authority Of
the schools. 1T grew" Is that be-
lievable? Amazed, ask. Did no one
plan these streets. run these grades,
plan the structures. build these walls I?
He still replies. "No. I've told you.
they grew" What is the verdict,
gentlemen Of the world jury? Is this
witness competent witness? If this
gentleman were before a commission
to inquire into his mental condition,
what judgment would 1t render? II
were to ask the first casual lad
encounter on the street, il the rough
shack across the way had been made
or had grown and he replied that he
did not know, should know he was
congenitally feeble minded. Yet here
is the chosen champion of capitalism
who protests that all the glorious
material achievements OF earth were
not made, but grew! II this educated
educator, this college man. and COL
lege president, Is foolish enough to
send broadcast this statement. that
would shame a three-year-old baby,
what shall We expect from the rank
and file, who take their cue from him,
and others like him? Am l justified
in using some strong expressions
about the ignorance that parades
itself so shamelessly? Who would
attach any value to the thoughts of
such thinker" Can it be possible
that he ever had single thought
worth a moments attention? l must
stop. or / may say some unkind thing
the feeble minded should not be too
harshly dealt with. The time will
come when these pretenders will be
merely subjects for laughter.
Their words to scorn be scattered,
Their mouths be stopt with dust"
B. J. SHARP.
Brewster, Wash, Dec. 81. 1918.