Conneaut High School - Tattler Yearbook (Conneaut, OH)

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the lure of the bribe, just enough to give as well as to demand fair play. Then shall History record the patriot’s name in the Great Book of Life as one who loved his fellow-men. and helped to solve the throbbing problems of his generation. Never in history did the cause of true civilization and progress call more urgently to men and women of conscience and conviction, resolutely to oppose the further seduction of the nation from the path of righteousness thru the lust of gold and power, and never did the solemn words of warning uttered two thousand years ago in far away Palestine, ring forth more impressively in the ear of a nation, than today. “To whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be required.” HAZEL ASHLEY. 9

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too often does corporate greed refuse a fair quittance to labor; too often does justice smile upon Dives and frown upon Lazarus. The fine idealism of earlier days is lost in materialistic egotism, gross, sordid and voluptuous in spirit and character. In recent years this new commercialism has become strong enough even so to corrupt politics, so that America’s degraded political system is one of the problems of the day. When the people’s representatives become so seduced by the lure of gold that public franchises, worth hundreds of millions of dollars are systematically given away to unscrupulous bands; when this materialistic spirit has become so firmly entrenched as to render practically impossible any radical or effective legislation for the safeguarding of the interests and rights of the people, from the insatiable greed of corporate interests: is it not high time to shake off this parasitic growth which thrusting its gilded tendrils deep into the vitals of the nation, and sapping her life-blood, threatens her very existence? The enormous and ever increasing river of gold, which has thus been made to flow into the coffers of an ever-narrowing privileged class has given to a few scores of men, the wealth and power necessary to drive into retirement the incorruptable statesmen who seriously menace their criminal aggressions; to elevate their own attorneys and tools to vital places in the government; and to gain complete control of great party machines, through ownership of corrupt bosses and by liberal campaign donations. In this manner have they become the absolute arbiters in municipal, state and national government. Is this land America—this land of plutocrats, of “Moloch worshippers”? Lost are the boldness and independence that characterized our fathers! sickened are the champioiis of liberty, in this fetid atmosphere of avarice and greed! To this fountain head may he traced all the moral degradation of the age. America's child-laborers owe their stunted and dwarfed bodies, their meagre sustenance to this greed for gain—this worship of the dollar. Gold! Gold! Gold! What crimes arc not committed in thy name? The slaughter of thousands of America’s young men in the isles of the Orient, the killing of tens of thousands of Filipinos, the ruthless deeds, the debaucheries and the degradation that always mark the trial of an army of conquest, cry out to the sober reason and sleeping conscience of Christian America. America has been loved and honored by the whole world. Shall she descend from the glorious mission to which she has been divinely called to assume the role of a great military power? Shall the true g'ory of the Republic be sacrificed? No, a thousand time' no! For then her .loom is sealed. No war-loving, war-practicing nation can ever continue to live. “They that take the sword shall perish with the sword” No lapse of time ca» avert this inexorable law. Macbeth saw it in his terrible imaginings when he said: “But in these cases. wre still have judgment here—that we can but teach bloody instructions, which being taught return to plague the inventor. But shall we Cassandra like, draw a picture of a future of decadence, a time when constructive effort has fought its fight and failed? When the inevitable segregations of an individualistic system have worked themselves out. and all the hope and vigor of humanity have gone forever? When the descendants of the workers have become sinister monsters and the property owners have degenerated into a hectic and feebly indulgent race, living faithfully amid the ruins of the present time? No! Never! But with renewed courage, let each citizen devote himself to the cause of justice and humanity. Let his be a patriotism, brave enough to face without flinching the threat of the lobbyist, noble enough to scorn

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CLASS ROLL “ Yc no doubt are the people, and wisdom shall die with us.” Hazel Ashley “My mind to me a kingdom is Such present joys therein 1 find. That it excels all other bliss. That earth affords.” Local Oratorical contest 1906-1907. County Oratorical contest. 1908-190'). Glee Club. 1906. Literary Editor of Annual. Salutaiorian. Mildred Andrews “And Mildred Still shines from her pedestial. frigid and fair. As yon German moon, o'er the linden tops there.” Girls' Basket Ball team, 1906-1907. Glee Club. 1906. Girls' Octette. 1908-1909. Mixed Chorus, 1908. Senior Flay, 1909. Ruth Andrews. Like Sunshine, dart Into many a sunless heart; For a smile of God thou art.” Junior Farce, 1908. Valedictorian. IO