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About The Hesperian / (Lincoln, Neb.) 1885-1899 | View Entire Issue (March 15, 1892)
t THE HESPERIAN humble and subservient. This is the beginning of the caste system, Hie curse of foreign monarchies. Corporations, too, demand special favors. Syndicates destroy competition. Are we not then diifting upon the locky shoals of despotism? In threading the narrows of our political history let us be guided by the beacons, which reason lights bcfoie us and history has set behind us. Governments near destruction as they approach man's ideal; perfection, as they approach God's plan. Until 'hey imbibe the principles ol the omnipo tent king, plowshares will be moulded into swords and rivers of blood will continue to flow. Where governments (ail to respect God, right sounds the tocsin of war. This is our icvo lution. The Creator is mightier than the creature. Capital is the creature of labor, llcfore Wall street hoarded a single dollar the laborer washed it Horn the mountain sands. He polished the gems that deck the crowns of kings. His hands raised the columns that form their gorgeous palaces. But the servant controls the master. In a republic every citizen is a king. Where is the poor man's sceptre? No one, endowed with the light o! reason, would surrender his rights ol citizenship. No one, whose heart Is lull of purity, would wrest them from him. Ignorance has blinded the eyes of the many while avarice has opened the way lor the crafty. Ignor ance is the bane of free institutions. Special favors announce its presence. Alacrity to duty maintains its existence. Cen tralization crowns efforts. The wail of the miner, the strikes of the laborer, and the want of the people tell us that such is our condition. Political reformation, it is argued, vould right thccc wrongs, and give labor equality with capital. PcrliRps it would, how long would this last? Capitalists have arisen because of their ample opportunity. The people have surrendered to them their blessings and their privileges. If they would regain and maintain them they must be able to compete in the business world. This they cannot do. The penniless hands ol the lalwrcr can never compete with the gold lined palms ot the wealthy. The solution is not to be found in legislatures. The light of intelligence must reveal the hidden mystery. The intellectual world must be changed. Its horizon must be extended. Its cloudy sky must be cleared. The people must perceive, through the vista ol ages, the effect of a ballot on posterity. They must know when they cast their vote they do not rob themselves. Hut intelligence alone would make a nation of "cultured devils." The ignorant would become cralty. The crafty would become avaricious. It then, we would clevite and equalize the people, the standard ol ambition must be changed. Extensive bank accounts and railroad stocks must no longer give rank in soci ety. Men arc now blinded to every color save the glittering of the yellow. They are deaf to every sound save the clink ingofcoin. Women pride themselves on rustling silks and sparkling diamonds. The whole race worships and reveres that which betrayed the lowly Nazarenc. So long as culprits disgrace society and pave their way back into social favor with their gold, maidens will weep. So long as legislators sell their voles, humanity will suffer. Hut when love of virtue shall suipass love of money, and os tracism from society shall be the penally of the transgressor, villains will disappear. When political death shall be the penalty of the demagogue, political purity will not be an "irridesccnt dream." When Shylock shall realize that lo take a pound of flesh is a crime, and to draw blood is death, Wall street will disband. Such a statute will be written in every heart, and proclaimed from eveiy legislature when hon esty, integrity, virtue and godliness shall be the ambition of the race. The millions that arc now spent for sell-gtatiiica-tioa will then be used to lift up the people. The pride of the individual will be his service to the race and not a high seat in the synagogue. O! coming man, quicken thy footsteps! Poet, tunc thy haip and inspire the dormant to action. Philanthropist, pro claim the immortal principles of right. Reformer, hurl thy lingual darts into the iron hearts ol despots. Humanity will then bridge the chasm that separates capital from labor. The two opponents will enter from either end. With the flag of freedom floating over them, and with the abyss of dissension beneath them, they will shake a reunited nation. A ballot in the hand of a righteous and intelligent voter is the sharpest bayonet that ever pierced a nation's foe. Capital will surren der its sceptre and bdicale its tyrranical throne. The politi cal sea will begin to surge. From the north and from the south, from the cast and from the west will arise waves of social ami political purity. When their crests kiss each other in the sunlight of a hope renewed, the turbulent elements will subside. The ship of state once more on a serene and placid ocean will sail into other harbors of prosperity and peace. He was very loudly applauded by the audience. He was followed by another number by the Adclphian club: "The Village Blacksmith," by Uatton. They had to respond to encores twice, and their efforts evidently amused the audi ence by the large amount ol unanimous applause they received. The next orator Was Mr. C. E. Winter, of the Weslcyan university. Mr. Winter appeared at good advantage. His deliverable was forcible, smooth and attractive, and better tha'i that of last year. Mr. Winter's oration was upon the subject, WAR AND KKASON. Ill the harmony of man's character we find a strange dis cordance. As in the instrument of music the full stroke sounds the presence of an untuned string, so in man there is revealed a quality that in the gradual chortling of his nature has seemingly lccn abandoned. It is the warring instinct of the savage and the Iwast, still playing in barbarous discord within his breast. Pen can but faintly picture the miseries of war. A nation staggering under the weight of contending armies, its mighty resources have been draincJ away, the hum of industry has ceased, the plow clings rusting in the earth and the fields lie black and desolate; over the bloodstained stretch of battle ground the dying and the dead lie strewn, the moans and the cries of the wounded rise as a remonstrance and a curse upon the system that has entailed the awful sacrifice, in their mute agony they cry alond: Woe be to them whose councils fired the passions that made this possible; in the cottage home the mother and the little ones, struggling with poverty, await the return of him who obeyed the call but who shall never sec them more; the widow sits and think with silent tears of the brave son whose grave lies near some battle field, unmarked, unknown; the children cry for bread and the widow sinks with sorrow to the grave. The demon of want and woe has breathed upon the land and shrouded it in misery and despair. These are the inevitable results of war. What do the terrible sacrifices accomplish? Men contend for right and justice, against wrong and injustice; but the suffering of the world cannot make wrong right. The principle of war is wrong. When it attempts to dis tinguish and declare upon questions of reasons, force fails utterly. Victory may say to defeat: I am mastor, but it can not say: 1 am right. As well may one stand and strike the balancing scales and declare the result the true sign of weight. While under the influence of the blow a preponderance for the one side may be registered, but when the force of the blow is 1 rwmnmmn