The broad ax. [volume], February 22, 1896, Image 1

About The broad ax. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1895-19??

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Vol. I.
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, FEBRUARY 22, 1896.
No. 26.
AMERICAN ARISTOCRACY.
As long as the Constitution of the
United States remains unchanged
no title of nobility can be conferred
upon any citizen of this country.
Our forefathers evidently had a de
cided antipathy to aristocracy, and
i sought to prevent its establishment
upon our shores as a part of our
nolicv. But while it is true that
the law of the United States
does not recognize among Ameri
cans any lords, auKes, earis or
counts, vet there is a growing
species of snobbery abroad in the
land, sanctioned by the wealthy and
patronized by the press, which is, in
fact, the very essence of a titled
nobility, lacking only the form of
being precisely what the Constitu
tion was designed to displant.
This imitation of European cus
toms and manners is un-American,
and is a sad commentary on the de
cline of our democratic spirit. Let
any foreign dignitary visit this
country and people will tumble
over each other to get a glimpse of
his person; fetes, banquets and re
ceptions are given in his honor, and
the press teems with dulations,
illustrations and flattery. Shields,
coats of arms, and hieroglyphic
characters are painted upon car
riages, private cars and even adorn
the drawing-rooms of a number of
so-called Americans.
The ambition of many parents
and the dream of their daughters is
to secure a marriage to some titled
scion of nobility in a foreign land.
In many other ways too numer
ous to name, the Americans show a
decided tendency to ape the nabobs
of Europe.
The explanation of this spirit of
bob-tailed aristocracy, is the rapid
accumulation of private fortunes,
which, by reason of ourclass legis
lation, these people have been en
abled to acquire; and at the same
time, where one of these parvcnues
become a multi-millionaire, thou
sands of his fellow citizens were
correspondingly reduced to penury.
Thus the gulf between the wealthy
and the poor widens and. deepens,
making an aristocratic caste an easy
and natural result.
Under oar laws of descents and
distributions, these vast estates are
kept intact, and the family riches
continue .to increase aa generations
pass. It will soon be a cosmos
expression, to bear of the "House
of Goald," o "Vanderbilt," or of
"Rockefeller;" la this untitled
American nobility, naught k re
quested kntimsMBse wealth. Edu
cation, daring deeds, or intellectual
strength connt J&t Hoiking. The
is the standard by which they
judge of greatness.
"What will be the culmination in
another thirty years? "Will history
again repeat itself as it did iu
France, in 1793? "We hope not;
but, if the horrors of a revolution
are to be avoided, it is the duty of
every liberty-loving American, to
set his face for a return to 'more
simplicity and equality in -our
laws. Under the speculative spirit
and class legislation, engendered by
the Republican party in this coun
try, for the past tairty years, niJ
condition of society is uy&h, us.
By virtue of the law of 'environ
ment, wc must admit that a few
Democrats of prominence, have be
come infected with the same dis
ease, but thev are exceptional. The
party who created over thirty thou
sand millionaires in thirty years,
is the principal of the crime; and
an accessory, though not without
fault, should not be prosecuted and
the chief criminal allowed to es
cape. "Wc are not communistic in our
sentiments, but wc see danger to
our liberties in che tendency of the
times. "We do not- advocate vio
lence or revolution; but we do urge
that now is the time to consider the
gravity of the situation, Mid now is
the time that patriotism should rise
above party, and by the means of
the ballot, a reformation should be
started, which will not cease until
If he is dressed plainly he at
once is put down as a fugitive
from justice, or a thief looking for
a chance to steal; or if he is seek
ing honest employment, he is soon
given to understand that the white
employees in the factories will not
work side by side with a "nigger."
The work of hundreds of great
men who for many years have"
taught these people through their
speeches, writings and sermons that
the negro was a man and a brother,
seems to be accepted by the
northern mind in theory only, not
in practice, in the abstract not in
the concrete.
They send their money and their
sympathy South to educate the
colored people, and weep over their
down-trodden and oppressed con
dition, and just as soon as a negro
appears in their midst, they guy
and'ostracize him as though he was
a 'barbarian, or an alien to the
commonwealth. There may be
Bome of our race who feel flattered
by undue attention, and if a Prince
'Albert coatand a silk hat introduces
them as a prize fighter or a sport,
they feel happy; but we do not like
such attentions.
In the South a well dressed
negro is thought to be a minister
or a business man, and no more
regard is paid him than would be to
a white man. The lesson to be
drawn from this state of affairs, is
that the Northern people are not
the condition of the American -peo- sincere in their professions of regard
pie is such that the existence of a
feudal aristocracy will he impossi
ble, even in form, under the stars
and stripes.
May the spirit of "Washington,
of Jefferson, and o- Jackson, be
again infused into the people of the
United States.
THE NEGRO IN THE NORTH.
Any colored man who has ever
traveled much in the northern and
eastern states, has observed a vast
difference in the manner by which
he is received in this land of
Yaakeedom as compared to the
Southern States. In the average
small New England town the
presence of a strange negro excites
unusual curiosity and varied com
ment. If he is dressed in a regula
tion black with a silk hat, he is
either taken for a traveling min
strel or a pugilist, and is lionized
and stared at, or he is mortified to
hear some Sunday school urchin, or
some factory churchman cry oat,
"there'-s a nigger," "a new coon in
town," "where did -you get that
at?" or some other impudent re
mark. ,. ' , -
for the negro. They still look upon
him as vastly inferior to themselves,
and disdain to equalize themselves
with their bro'thern in black. Thus
while they have been instrumental
in breaking one chain, they have
been busy in forging another. "We
deprecate that cold charity which
degrades and humiliates the re
ceiver iu the sight of those who
give it.
The negro, it treated as any other
person, will be able to hold on to
what he has, and get his share of
whatever is destined for mankind.
His progressysince his liberation is
phenomenal. He has already shown
that in the "struggle for existence"
the law of the "survival of the
fittest" will not permit his extinc
tion. In the South, which is his
natural home, he is receiving eveij
help and encouragement to advance.
The New England and Northern
people .have yet to learn, a great
lesion-in dealing Tvith this question;
that is to practice what they preach.
Let them learn that
"Fleecy locks aad black complexion,
Cannot forfeit nature's claim;
Skins xbt differ, bat affeeiioH :.
DweUsin white and black tie same."
BONDS AND GREENBACKS.
"WnAT is the difference between
a government bond and a green
back? They are each issued and
used by the government to pay off
its obligations, directly or indirect
ly. The one draws interest to the
holder, the other does not. One is
put up as a sort of collateral secur
ity for a debt, the other is used to
pay the debt direct. They are both
founded upon the nation's credit,
and both have the entire strength
power and honor of the United
States to guarantee their final re
demption in coin. Both are nothing
but a promise of the government to
pay, either on demand or at a
future dav. But one is issued to
J a favored class of men, by which
they are enabled to made a large
profit by the transaction, while the
other is issued to the commoner
without profit or interest to the
holder. This, it seems to us is an
unjusfdiscrimination between two
citizens of the same republic. This
iniquitous system has grown up
and has been fostered under the
former Republican administrations,
and now finds its worshipers among
many of the leaders of the Eastern
Democrats. But still we believe it
is all wrong. "We believe it is time
the government should go out of
the bond and hanking business, and
that the bankers and bondholders
should go out of the governing
business. It has got so now, that
the money power is the governing
power of this country. The people
are but mere chessmen, to be
moved and removed at the pleasure
of the players. Let us try gold
and silver with as much non-interest
bearing paper money as may be
needed based on the former. "We
have prospered under such a plan,
and we see no reason why it cannot
be repeated again.
The war scare with England, and
the flying squadron, have about
subsided. It all seems to have
been a rank "fake" on the part of
someone, probably for the purpose
of directing the public -mind from
the study of our financial situation.
In order to maintain the single
gold standard, it is necessary to
keep the people thinking and talk
ing about something else. The
scheme of the pickpocket is not
more rascally; he tells you of
marvelous things while he or his
pal gently takes your valuables.
Look out for the Rroad Ax next .,
week, for we shall turn the electric'!
light on the Little Dictator. Hi
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