Conservative *
Recently , in
I- . . , , ,
CAN SULTAN. speaking of the
oriental polygamist -
mist with whom the McKinley folks
have been making a treaty , in which
that multi-married sultan and ruler of
two millions of dual-wived , triple-wived
and quadruple-wived Mohammedans is
guaranteed the protection and perpetu
ation of the harem business , the New
York Evening Post says :
"How completely 'wo have changed
all that' appears in the news from the
island of Sulu. General Bates is nego
tiating a-'treaty' with the sultan. This
is a new business for the United States
to make a 'treaty1 with one of its own
subjects. But the fact of the treaty is
not as startling as its contents. It pro
poses to leave a Mohammedan despot in
absolute control of territory belonging
to the United States. Not oven moral
or religious interference is to be allowed ,
as one article of the treaty specifically
bars out missionaries. Slave-holding is
to be continued , though the sultan
agrees , as a concession to silly American
prejudices , to allow slaves , when able ,
to buy their freedom. The only hitch is
over the question what flag the sultan
shall fly when on his journeys. He
wants his own ; at last accounts , General
Bates was still urging him to adopt the
American. We hope there will be no
yielding oil this point. The idea of hav
ing any other flag than the star-spangled
banner floating over the sultan's harem
and slaves must surely be quite intoler
able to McKiuley. "
THE SOCIAL UANGKKS.
1. Ignorance ( not limited to the
wage-earning and unfortunate classes
by any means , but most dangerous in
the leaders of industry. The acme of
ignorance is to be found in the clergy ,
teaching bodies , politicians , reformers
and walking delegates. The best intel
ligence of the country is to be found on
the press , though often perverted be
cause owned and tyrannized by the bus
iness end of the institution. )
2. The first fruit of ignorance is that
pestiferous altruism which proclaims
"equality , fraternity , liberty , " as infal
libly founded in natural law and the
constitution.
y. Immigration , and the unchecked
multiplication of the irresponsible , fos
tered by altruism , the clergy , reformers
and unscrupulous politicians.
4. Machine politics and boss despot
ism.
5. The general political indifference
and patriotic depravity of the self-sup
porting classes.
6. The saloon.
7. Universal suffrage.
8. The protective policy.
9. The utter defiance of the consti
tution by the party in power.
10. The ever augmenting severity of
the struggle for existence through the
multiplication of the loss-fits and unfits
which finds its support in and supports
the previous dangerous conditions.
In an intelligent and strictly ethical
self-protective sense no man is the friend
of another unless he finds in that other
some kind of support to his power of
self-maintenance and preservation.
Tlio intelligent man will continually
study the balance of the community
and interest himself in its welfare that
bis own may be increased thereby , and
not in any self-assumed duty to anybody
or anything but himself. The only
"Golden Rule" is to make others as use
ful as possible by making one's self of
all possible use to them. There is a gen
erally accepted truism that he who is
true to himself must be equally true to
others. He who is "true to his rational
higher self" is true to the law or force
of self-preservation to the most intelli
gent degree. There is nothing "higher"
than self to him who really knows him
self. Ho who knows himself is a man
"in the image of God" and recognizes
no higher power than himself. Only
the ignorant indulge in self-worship ,
or bow , or cringe to a higher power.
There is no "higher power , " no greater
force than the force or ability to self-
preservation when intelligently applied.
The altruistic madness which holds up
the self-supporting , or millionaire , abil
ity of the nation to the hatred of lesser
ability is done in abject ignorance of
the profundity of the force of individ
ual preservation.
The so-called self-made millionaire is
born with the desire to Dursue wealth
and the ability to obtain and maintain
possession of it. No such men are
"saints. " Earth has no place for such.
Ignorance asserts that such men are
"abusing their trusts. " What trusts ?
Who or what gave them any such re
sponsibility ? Nothing but vanity or
superstition ! It is a very dangerous
thing to assert that the millionaire has
not a just right to the fruits of his abil
ity. Fortunes made in wind-stock
gambling are to be condemned , but it
takes ability to win even then. Who is
to blame , the stock gambler , or the people
ple who permit it ? Stock-gambling ,
and every other vice , is the sign of a
weak people that allow strong men to
profit by their weakness. The same is
true of a weak or corrupt government.
No government was ever usurped except
when the people were weak. Indiffer
ence is a fatal form of weakness. No
tyrant ever prospered ; treason never
reared its serpentine head in a nation of
strong and actively intelligent people
Justice places the blame where it be
longs. He who leaves the stable door
open should not blame the thief. The
door of the public stable is wide open to
the suffrage of the ignorant , while the
key is in the hands of the unscrupulous
politician and traitor. Where is the
immorality in the self-maintaining abil
ity of the strong ? Where is the crimin-
ality in the nou-self-maiutaiuiug ability
of the weak ? The real conflict of the
strong is not ngaiust the weak as re
formers assert but between themselves.
Trusts , labor unions , have been inaug
urated by the strong to mitigate the
conflict between themselves. This must
result to the benefit of the community ,
if intelligently conducted. The trouble
is it is not always so conducted. Active
business is as much a "dog oat dog" com
bat as it is between the wage-earners for
bread. Trusts and labor unions are en
deavors of the dogs to muzzle themselves
to their bettor preservation. In the
more complex business organizations the
dogs are bigger and stronger and the
battle fiercer. Unfortunately , the wage-
earners and the public are often caught
in the maelstrom of the conflict and
sometimes submerged thereby. Are the
captains of industry and capital entirely
to blame therefor ? They , alone , are not
to blame for our uneasy and turbulent
social seas. They did not make them.
They found themselves cast on the
stormy waters at birth as the rest of us.
Why blame them if borii capable of
navigating their own ships ? The uiiin-
telligence of lesser ability , the rabid
deinagogism of unreflecting reformers ,
unscrupulous politicians , and parasitic
socialistic agitators , are a thousand
times more to blame than the conserva
tive self-maintaining ability of the cap
tains of industry , whose greatest fault
is that they mind their own business too
much , and are indifferent to the public
welfare to their personal injury. Why
not blame the poor and unfortunate for
being born with a minus of self-niaiu-
taining ability , and not seek to make
the ricli responsible for that over which
they have no control ?
Admitted that men born with a sur
plus of self-maintaining ability ore sel
dom saints ; admitted that they carry
their aggressiveness to a degree danger
ous to themselves , and often shutting off
othera from opportunities which in most
cases it is doubtful if they could apply
to their own use ; admitted that in their
mutual struggles they adopt methods
which often lead to mutual injury and
destruction , and thereby injure others ;
still that is no reason for holding the
captains of industry up to those less
gifted as "thieves and robbers ; as men
who will not hesitate to maintain them
selves with force and murder if neces
sary" as is too often done by those who
know not the truth. Where is there
one case where an intelligent man has
attempted such business suicide ? A
little honesty and common sense is a
most valuable property oven in human
itarian reformers and social agitators.
FRANK S. BILLINGS.
"It is the money
NOT nONOK. in the office and
not the honor which I seek" said Col.
William Jennings Bryan when ho first
began making a fortune out of politics.
" " "
