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Show BOSS RULE. In a current magazine, in a scoffing statement, that "Washington was not so great as is Morgan or Rockefeller, because the first only created the country, while the latter two own it." That sentence is not entirely sarcastic, for as this same magazine, copied from above, says, a very few men practically control the leading industries of the country, and it might have added, make all the people pay tribute. The country is pretty well under the rule of bosses. Boosism is everywhere, in business, ln politics, in the State, in the city, in the county; for that matter, in society. Behind the boss, there is generally money, and this is weapon enough, for a little money can purchase effective service, and a little more can corrupt more of the human family than most men imagine. Quite as many women as men, are controlled by the different degrees de-grees of bosses. Half a dozen very wealthy ladies la-dies can, if they please, by a lavish display of their wealth, not only boss local society, but can spread discontent in five hundred homes, because be-cause the inmates cannot emulate the lavish expenditure ex-penditure of the more wealthy. Again, as soon as a lady becomes very rich, she, if we are to believe all that we see and hear, becomes beautiful beau-tiful and accomplished, and when a man becomes ' wealthy, it becomes dangerous to doubt his em-minent em-minent respectability. When public opinion gets into such grooves, it is easy for the boss to ply his trade, because he holds out the surest promise prom-ise of rewarding his followers. The bosses are having a good time now. They are manipulating affairs to make times seem hard, though the statisticans declare that there Is close upon two thousand millions of dollars in general circulation circula-tion in the country. The smaller bosses are making mak-ing their combinations on the basis laid down by the big ones. It is only five months before a candidate can-didate for President is to be nominated. Every Republican boss is squaring himself, to be able to say to the fortunato candidate; "of course, it was not much, but really, I think it right to say, that I shaped my state, my city or my school district, (as may be), to insure your success." Good men deplore wars, and they are terrible, but not altogether evil. Especially, not for a Republic like ours. When some great principle is at stake, or when the integrity of the Republic is placed in jeopardy, and the people are once thoroughly aroused, then, the natural boss-pipes low. The majesty of the spectacle before him cows him, and when he thinks of offering advice' he recognizes that the people are, for the time' thinking for themselves, and that it is a good time to be quiet. Still, in the great civil war, the financial bosses got in their work. Had Secretary Chase met the war's expenses by putting out three per cent bonds to pass as current money, bonds redeemable in specie, after ten years and to draw interest until called in; the people would have accepted them gladly, and quite 2,000 million dollars dol-lars of interest that was paid on the Government bonds, would have been saved, and the demonetization demone-tization of silver would never have been thought of, which would have been a saving of quite 2,000 millions more to the people, and the very rich men would have been less numerous, and the masses would have been better off. The masses could do much more to protect themselves and the country if they only would. When the Maine was blown up in Havana harbor, the bosses suddenly sud-denly grew quiet, and the masses asserted themselves. them-selves. O, but was that not a spectacle? The cries were the same from every state, and they sounded over the world like the tolling of the bells of destiny; the manhood of the Nation asserted as-serted itself, and the petty manipulators who are so noisy as a rule, were hushed. The lesson It should have taught was, that manhood and womanhood, wo-manhood, the individual manhood and womanhood woman-hood of the units that make up the people, are the most necessary things to cultivate, and when they are cultivated and kept alert, boss rule with its slavery and corruption will forever cease. |