/ * '
8 The Conservative.
THE LIVING OF LIFE.
If when the Spring hath kissed the Earth so
warmly
That , Pinning , it breaks forth in blushing
flower ,
Thou dost not feel , each year , Life's deepest
yearning ,
And Love's ecstatic , magic-wielding power ,
Thou hast not lived.
If when each season comes in turn so strangely.
Unfolding Nature's laws in beauty shrined ,
Thou art not thrilled with full , profound con
viction
That these are thoughts of an Eternal Mind ,
Thou hast not lived.
If Music never spolce to thee so sweetly
A poet's thought , some dream of painter's
eyes
But thou hast found thy soul in rapture trem
bling
And taking wing , as 'twere , to Paradise ,
Thou hast not lived.
If Friendship whispered not to thee so fondly
But that tium wast a brother to thy friend ,
Uplifting and enshielding him in trouble ,
So far thy power and fortune might extend ,
Thou hast not lived.
fcn,1 ! If thou hast never loved a soul so deeply ,
That for its peace thou would'st not glad
have died.
If thought or mem'ry of that loved one's vision
Hath not o'er since theo blest and purified ,
Thou hast not lived.
Vv- If Duty no'er hath called to thee so strongly
That thou would'st not have battled on its
side ,
And , standing bravely all alone if need bo ,
y8
Defied what fortune might for theo betide ,
Thou hast not lived.
If joy or grief of man hath loft theo coldly ,
The pain of beast , the song of bird above.
If thou hast not the tender , pitying , heart
throb ,
Proclaiming kinship of a deep world love ,
Thou hast not lived.
If thou hast schooled and trained thy soul so
nobly ,
Exalting it with each refining grace ,
That thou might'st yield each thought and
each emotion
In consecration to the human race
If thou hast grasped the truth of God so clearly
That thou dost see Him in each atom's
strife
If thou hast ear for what all Nature's speaking :
That Lifo is Love and Love is quivering Life ,
Then hast thou lived.
Then hast thou lived.
Louis R. Emticii.
Colorado Springs , Col.
INDUSTRIAL HARMONIKS.
During the middle ages all Europe
was in a seething state of constant war
fare between petty feudal rulers. The
country had become sufficiently settled
for one baron's interests to impinge on
another's , and the result was fierce and
chaotic competition. Men's lives were
mostly spent in protecting their own
territory or trying to snatch that of
their neighbors. Finally , out of this
chaos of unscrupulous individual strug
gle , cities wore evolved , and out of the
cities principalities , and out of the prin
cipalities kingdoms. Thus was syste
matic and civilized government evolved ,
though with a terrific waste of life , time
and wealth.
Our own country hns escaped this
savage process as far as government is
concerned , but its industries have been
going through the same evolution. As
long as our industrial beginnings were
still small and isolated , there was com
parative peace. As soon as they began
; o bo organized sufficiently to interfere
with each other's territory , there began
: o bo attacks and reprisals. The feudal
era Imd begun. The last quarter of a
century has constituted the middle ages
of American industry. There has been
a constant and bitter struggle between
factory owners , mill owners , and foun
dry owners for the ricli trade territory
close to the producers. There has been
a jangling chaos of cut-throat competi
tion. The industrial waste of this con
dition of things has been almost beyond
computation.
Our industrial development has also
been retarded by strikes , lockouts , and
labor wars. There has been friction and
irritation between capital and labor.
Overproduction has been another source
of weakness and another cause of mis
understanding between employers and
workers. Thirty or forty factories in
; he same line of production , scattered
over the country and running in blind
independence of each other , naturally
often overproduced their commodities.
Their products had to be unloaded at a
serious loss to the producer. Then the
crippled manufacturer or foundry owner
naturally , though unwisely , tried to
recoup himself by cutting the wage
scale of his workmen. Of course , this
resulted in more strikes , lockouts and
labor wars. The tinio will come when
this era will be looked upon as the dark
ages of American industry.
Today our vast productive forces seem
to be rapidly organizing into something
like industrial civilization. They seem
to be reaching a position where we may
reasonably hope for less friction , less
overproduction , and less trouble be
tween labor and capital. Labor unions
and federations are being strengthened
and are wielding an increasing in
fluence. They are becoming more re
sponsible , are getting 'more intelligent
men and ideas , and are choosing
more conservative leaders. On the
other hand , the employers are also
passing out of their feudal stage , and
are about to find a better way of living
than by cutting each other's throats.
This is the real significance of the pres-
seut momentous movement in the in
dustrial world.
Men of large responsibilities are cau
tious about going into any great enter
prise that is likely to cause loss to them
selves or hardship to those whose des
tinies they control. The combines now
forming , if honestly capitalized and leg
itimately conducted , will be in the inter
ests of peace and harmony. Our pro
ducing industries , organized into great
trading companies , combines , trusts
call them what you will will be in a
position to avoid overproduction and
the terrific waste of murderous compe
tition. If they try to raise prices ille
gitimately on the consumer , there are
natural laws that will quickly intervene
to punish the evil. Meanwhile , if the
labor leader will meet the industrial
leader intelligently and fairly there is
reason to believe that wage wars , with
all the miseries they entail , are uearing
an end.
Seen from an economic view point ,
the combining of companies into com
pact and well-officered bodies should
place us in a position to enjoy industrial
harmony and ultimately to command
the industrial markets of the world.
The conquests of the future are to be
won by industrial armies. We lead the
world in our knowledge of labor-saving
machinery and in the intelligence of the
workmen who operate them. The pres
ent swift evolution may be destined to
place us as far ahead of the rest of the
world as civilization is ahead of feudal
ism. The so-called trust movement has
its evils , but so had the evolution of
European kingdoms. It is not a thing
to be condemned offhand , but to be
regarded as a product of natural forces ,
as a thing to be studied closely , candidly ,
fearlessly , with the realization that we
may be building wiser than we know ,
for consumers and wage-earners as well
as for capitalists.
during a
A PLUTOCRATIC
IMPORT. snort sojourn in
London THE CON
SERVATIVE became acquainted with the
efficient general agent , in the United
Kingdom of Great Britain , for The
Standard Oil Company of the United
States. It was in the month of Septem
ber and during the course of a most in
teresting and instructive discourse upon
oils , their markets throughout the
world and the intensity of competition
between American and Russian oils , the
agent said that with "the field" against
oils from the United States he had , by
close attention to business , strict eco
nomy and an alert vigilance , managed
to sell enough oil , during the previous
ninety days , so as to remit an average
of one hundred thousand dollars a day
to the New York office of The Standard
Oil Company !
Will Bryauarchists submit to this con
tinued influx of pauper money from
Europe ?
Shall the "plain people" of the United
States permit this flood of plutocratic
import to inundate the toiling , sweating
laborers of North America ?
Where are the leaders of populism ?
Why do they sleep while foreign gold
thus invades our beloved country ?
It is said that there are 1,400 persons
in New York city worth a million dollars
lars and upwards , and 820 in Chicago.
0
Nail biting in children is said to be a
sign of degeneracy.
