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Show KWM o B MONEY MADNESS. B Our social and industrial troubles need .not be a sur- B prise to anyone. Our preachers and editors and sensible B men generally have long been predicting them. When the m labor organizations and railroad heads threaten to plunge I B the country into chaos, there are more underlying causes B than a mere dispute over hours of labor and the value of H a wage. B The almighty dollar has long been called the God of B the Americans. It is of course a partly unjust character- B ization. Our people are generous, benevolent, and sympa- B thetic. Public charity has advanced further here than any- B where else in the world. But love of money was never B so developed as among our people, and we are getting tho H fruitage of it. B Most of us are affected by the hustle of the age. We H see our neighbors driving automobiles, living in handsome H houses, buying costly furniture, taking expensive outing B trips. We all want the same thing, and we grab for it any- B where we sec it. E The spirit of ruthlessness seemed to descend on the B commercial world during the expansion following tho B Civil war. Bribery became common. In order to secure K valuable franchise rights, clever lawyers were employed H) to defy the spirit of the laws. High 'finance wrecked f railroads for the benefit of the inside gang. . K With this spirit abroad, it is no wonder that working B people are affected by it. The arbitrary demand of the fl railroad brotherhoods, coming at a time when we are on B the very verge of war, simply reflects the money getting B spirit of the age. It is all of a piece with food speculation, B railroad manipulation, stock watering, legislative jobbery. B Many of the people who denounce it most bitterly have H in the past played essentially the same game themselves. B Meanwhile the country at heart is sound. It is up to H every right thinking citizen to do justice and love mercy B and condemn in his heart and publicity, the money get- H ting spirit, in so far as it drives kindness out of the heart, H and tramples on the rights and opportunities of others. |