WE ARE ALL RESPONSIBLE 



EDWARD HYATT. 



When expressing our indignation at the wicked waste of the people's 

 heritages it is well to remember that it is the people who are to blame 

 for it. You and I and all of us are the criminals, not merely the men 

 and the corporations who have so largely profited by the wasted re- 

 sources. It is easy to work up wrath and blow off steam about them; 

 but we must remember that they have played the game according to 

 the rules, and that we, the people, make or consent to the rules of the 

 game the laws. The big boys often try to change the rules and use 

 them unfairly, doubtless, as in smaller games ; but if all the other 

 children attend to it, take an interest in it, stick together, they can 

 make the rules right and keep the big fellows within bounds. 



It is well to remember this : most of us, if we could, would do just 

 what the "predatory rich" have done. 



One of the worst things that has been done, probably the very 

 worst, has been the taking away of the timber lands from the people. 

 But how has this been done? By buying out small owners for small 

 prices. Our careless and reckless law gave to any one 160 acres of tim- 

 J3er land if he or she would make oath that it was for his own use, not 

 to be used for the benefit of some one else. In my travels I found many 

 people, nice people, school teachers, ministers, ladies and gentlemen, 

 locating timber claims and selling them as soon as title was complete, 

 for a few hundred dollars three hundrd, five hundred, perhaps; yet 

 the timber itself was really worth many thousands of dollars, to say 

 nothing of the land on which it stood. 



Thus, for an insignificant sum for our own selfish immediate use do 

 we nice people sell the birthrights of our children's children. Thus 

 the great timber corporations acquire empires of land and princely 

 fortunes in timber. Thus does our country lose its heritage for all 

 time. Wherefore remember that we, the people, have our share of 

 responsibility in this thing. We accept these laws and help make 

 them. We take a small share of the swag ourselves when we can get it. 



The reason for the wasting and plundering and going to smash of 

 this vast and splendid estate of ours is not hard to find. It is from a 

 simple and natural cause, a universal law because we, the oivners, 

 have neglected it. Any property, any enterprise, goes to wreck and 

 ruin if it is not attended to, guarded, w r atched over, by its owners. 

 What would happen to a great store or a mill or a mine if it were 

 abandoned to whomever happened along ? How would a farm prosper 

 if none of its owners took the trouble to look after it ? Why, even a 

 $500 house in a little village will soon be damaged beyond repair, 

 broken, run down, carried away, when it is not cared for by its 

 owners! And who get the blame in such case? Not the boys who 

 throw stones through the windows nor the petty thieves who carry 

 off the fence for kindling wood but the people who own it and are 

 responsible for it. WE ARE ALL RESPONSIBLE. 



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