The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. FRIDAY, MAY 1, 1903. AN UNGRATEFUL PEOPLE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2179, 1 May 1908, Page 2

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. FRIDAY, MAY 1, 1903. AN UNGRATEFUL PEOPLE.

In view ,of tlio ardent manner in which the free and independent electors of Gisborne have recently been wooed for their support, it may be' instructive to .reflect for « moment upon the value of the privilege thatis conferred by the votes of the people. If one were to judge merely by the energy of time and money that is expended on behalf of aspirants for public positions, .and tho extraordinary solicitude displayed for the wishes of the .public, one could only assume that tlio reward of devoted servico by flic successful candidate iwouP.d be the heartfelt gratitude of an admiring populace. Unfortunately, this is not always the case, and one of tho latest to realise the fact is Air. Thomas Lawson, the .Boston millionaire, who created a great sensation in the United States by the fearful onslaught lie made upon .the financial magnates of that great commercial nation. It .was .Mr. Lawson’s article under the heading of “Frenzied Finance” which, running through “Everybody’s Magazine,” first “let daylight” into the inner workings of the system by -which, the Yankee Trusts attract to themselves an immense proportion of the hard-earned savings of tho American people. The campaign which Lawson started has been taken up by the Press throughout the country, and it is an undoubted fact that; although .the “system” still rules supreme, the people have .a knowledge of the manner in which they are (being robbed that they certainly did not possess before. Lawsoil’s enemies 'attributed his action in disclosing tlio devious ways of the multi-millionaires to personal jealousy on his part, but, whatever the cause, there can be no gainsaying the fact that his 'articles performed a very useful mission in throwing the searchlight of public opinion upon n system that is working incalculable harm to the American people. Now comes (word that, disgusted wit’ll tho .apathy of tho public who failed to support him in his fight with the Trusts, Lawson has given up tho struggle, and has himself returned to Wall-street; as a private speculator working for his own financial .advancement. His .announcement on this head is as follows: I ha ve devoted . three and a half years of mv lifetime wild some millions of my fortune to reform work in •tlio interests of the public. Beginning on January Ist, I shall allow th.e public toxlo their own .reformwig, ami 'I shall devotji t niy time and capital exclusively to my own business of stock “gambling” in Wall and (State Streets, particularly "Wall Street, (for the purpose of 'recouping the /millions I havo_donated to my public work. P.'S.—*Ono of the oldest of human laws and as immutable is—“ The devil take the hindmost.” Needless to add, this step has caused dismay amongst the large numbers of people who supported Lawson in his campaign and the publishers of “Everybody’s,’in a letter to him, urged upon him the rights of the peoplo to expect him to continue the great work he had begun. This is how tho American financier in answer sums up his experience after three years of fighting fo.r the people against the biggest financial interests in the country; The .people 1 The very name lias so scaled itself into ' my being, that, heeling its every appearance, of late, are myriads of fantastically appareled marionettes whose solemn graphophoning of “Our rights, our privileges,” whose bold fronting of mirror shields .and savage circling of candy swords, make me almost die a-laughing. Forgive .me, my dear R id gw ay, but the people, particularly the American people, are a joke—a System joke. When in all history, ancient, modem, or budding, have the people done aught but rail or stand shivering by, like the fearsome Gobb'os they' are, while their enemies crucified those who battled for their benefit? Where in all history, 1 ask. does it appear that the people aided those who battled disinterestedly for them? IMy dear Ridgway, don’t, I pray of you, add to my already too Jong reckoning the additional'debit of having sent you on a wild-goose chase for an answer to that question. I have wasted,months of each year of my later life ferreting through history for a favorable answer. It, is not there. • The people of Christ's day petitioned his enemies: “.Please do not use rusty holts when you spike him.’* Caesar suffered ten years while conquering all .tho world for his people’s benefit, and when ho .returned to .receive tlie.ir gratitude, they stood by like jaundiced maids wringing their bands and sending heavenward their stuck-pig lamentations ns tlio people's enemies drove, their daggers into, his heart. Now, two thousand years after .Brutus ami his pals let daylight through bis imperial rite, Caesar must, whether in heaven or in hell, suffer chronic apoplexy from laughing at tho /scramble to render him 'homage. In .my day I have seen the great Grant kicked and cuffed about Wall Street as though he .were a Rockfeller cuspidor swabber, and when iu his hour of trouble he appealed for the Joan of sufficient dirty dollars to keep him from the .poor debtor's court, tlio .great American people coldly demanded. “What collateral, what rate?” When Dewey homeward came, double bent with victories, .so eager were the people to rain upon him their huzzas "that .they paid great .prices for balcony windows a long the triumphal route. They presented him. .with .a mansion as a mark of their unrestrainable gratitude, only to yell “iingr.ate” a few weeks later when they learned that he had given the latchkey to his wife ■without their by-your-leaves. To-day the people are preparing to hustle to the town pump the man who has done more for them, and more to their enemies, than any other since. Lincoln paid for his efforts for the people .with liis life, and all because the System’s slime-brained press had told the yellow-flushed spaniels that tho temporary absence of pie and eherbert from the people’s dinner pail is dno to Roosevelt’s pursuit of the scabbiest pack of.hewolres’that ever harried a. civilised

people. The people 1 the /people I “Their .rights and .privilegesl" Again forgive me, my dear Kiclgway, while I laugh.

There is no question hut. itha.fc Laweon could have easily multiplied these examples of public ingratitude without making a very exhaustive search into history, modern or ancient. At the same timo, had he chosen to ho thoroughly impartial, ho could lliavo discovered many instances in which tlio adoration of a grateful people lias boon the toward of public service, hut for ail that we are inclined to go thus far with Lawson and say that for tho average public man. there nro “far more kicks than ha’pence.” It is fortunate, therefore, for tho progress of the would that the instincts which impel men to seek positions where they can servo their fellows will usually survive oven tho bitterest hostility of those whom tlieir efforts aro intended ito benefit. It is hard, indeed, to fathom these motives which probably consist of a mixture in varied proportions of nobility, umselfisb-iio-s, love of notoriety, ambition, desiro for personal gain, and a /natural desire to complete a work once it is begun. W'hatover tho cause, the fact remains that from past and present experience there always wiiil be a section of tho peoplo ready to entrust themselves to the tender mercies of a fickle public, and who will fight for the privilege of .being treated as Julius Caesar was by tho llomans and Thomas Lawson by tho Americans.