SIMPLY A SIGN OF THE TIMES.
THE mayor of a large city, in publicly lauding his administration, gives the following in course of an appeal for re-election: They say we must have reform. Reform came here four years ago, when the wage-earners rose up and cast off their shackles and voted for a man who was of their kind, and who did not allow the police to use clubs on his own kind. Thus this man poses as a patriot, because he protects his own kind. And it has come to be regarded in politics generally that only the winners have any special claim to protection of their interests. The theory of confederation, of classism, of partyism, of unionism, of allianceism, of leagueism, or any species of cliquism, is to protect their kind. The great political “bosses” and the great trust “magnates” not only act, but exist, on this theory. But in no way does the system appear so vicious as when espoused by the executive head of a great state or a great municipality who is sworn to maintain the interests of all the people impartially. But the vicious partiality of the boast that he protects his own kind is emphasized when he speaks of those not of his kind as scabs. Now the men who use that term concerning their fellow-men usually maintain, in effect, that a “scab” has no legitimate right to live. But this candidate, who seeks to rule a city—“scabs” and all—boasts that he specially protects the “kind” who regard their fellow citizens as no better than “scabs,” unless they join the “kind” or otherwise support its claims to special privilege. How can such an executive be expected to deal justly and to work reform? This, however, is only a sample of present-day “reform.” The instance to which we allude is only more conspicuous because of the boldness and boastfulness of the expression of the principle involved. The great so-called National Reform movement is but a strenuous effort of a like character. It is a movement designed to place a certain political-religious element in control of the government. When that class shall have succeeded, then, according to boasts that have been publicly announced for years, all not of their “kind” will be reckoned as outlaws, entitled to nothing more than toleration—and that only on conditions more or less variable. The word “reform,” in these days of hypocrisy and deception, is a word of questionable and variant significance. The only true reform is on the basis of “the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” This basis calls for the Golden Rule in all human association.