The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1919-01-17
THE NEW ERA AND REFORM

In the old cra-the era before the
war thrust our souls before our eyes
great reforms always started from the
Bottom.
The crowds rose from the cutters
to storm the Bastile.
Ignorant peasants and serfs tore
the banners of Feudalism and blazed
the path for Democracy.
In the new era in America we look
for reforms to start from the Top.
The Bottom knows only ne argu-
ment, Frce-guillotines, rifles and
torches.
The Top has the greatest weapon of
all if it will but use it-Intellect.
Will the Top use that weapon or
will it wait complacenusy as it waited
in the Middle Ages and in time oe the
Louises until the lessons Of Humanity
t1oat TO them on a sea o. blood?
The world today is in fermeIt Of
unrest.
Look at Observation-Disclosures rides a
high horse. The Allies are preparing
to withdraw their troops.
Look at Germany-Leibknecht talks
to Ebert with voice Of the machine
guns and Ebert perforce listens.
Look at England-the greatest of
all the Old World Demoeracies- the
party of the big muscles talks to the
party of the big brains and the Big
Brains must listen.
America is not an isolated island.
1t is part of the great world, and
psychological emotions that sweep
the old hemisphere cannot be kept
from the United States by legal en-
bargoes and disdainful laughs.
We must be prepared to meet the
unrest by quelling it before it gets
Roadway on our shores.
You cannot stop a psychological
movement fed by an empty stomach
and hopeless lives by jests and jails.
Let the Top provide the defense
The Top has the brains.
The Top can kill Bolshevism in
America-and keep America free
from a devastating unrest.
The Top need but preach the les
son of the Greater Humanity and
PRACTICE it.
1t must preach the lesson of unset
tishness; it must preach the lesson of
My Brothers keeper.
The Top can preach, the Bottom
cannot. The Top has intellect, the
Bottom shoulders only.
The Bottom must share in the pro-
fits of the products it produces. The
Top must be content with less in or
der that the Bottom may have more.
In other words, the Top must lend
Il hand to lift the Bottom to near
level with the Top.
The Top has the brains-it must
use its brains not altogether for its
selfish purposes, but to improve the
conditions of those around it.
The Top must give the Bottom an
opportunity to develop its own think
ing endowment-for it is only by sane
and lucid thought that the problems
Of the world can be solved.
Tho mill owner who keeps children
away from school in order that his mil
lions may grow into tens of millions
= Toaving Red Flags as well as tex
tiles.
The manufacturer who sucks big
profits from underpaid labor is not on
ly making articles of commerce, but
10 pllHtllB IIdCIS OIl DOIoHcNlSHi.
On the other hand, the big bust
ness man who is giving his labor a
fair share of the profits of their pro-
ducts is manufacturing Bolsheviki
anti-toxins as well as articles of gen.
eral utility.
We want to see Bolshevism wiped
off the face Of the world. 1t is not
a form by which mankind can live; it
merely breaches the lessons of repris-
al and vengeance.
We want to see competitive effort
continued in the world, we want to see
effort and diligence get the rewards
that are denied to sloth and ineffi-
cheney, and it Is to perpetuate these
things that we put forth the slogan
of the New Era
81 Am My Brothers Keeper."-St.
Louis Republic.