University of Wisconsin Superior - Gitche Gumee Yearbook (Superior, WI)

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who stands for the highest ideals in government. The destinies of this nation arc guided by one, who, though an aristocrat by birth, dares to champion the people’s cause in their struggle with the forces of unprincipled wealth. GIT CHE Under these fearless leaders, let us hope that the day will soon come that will GUMEE decide whether we arc to live under the republic planned for us by our ancestors, or submit, with the tame spirit of underlings, to an oligarchy fastened upon us by industrial Caesars. The corporate hosts are marshalling their forces; the people must prepare to give them battle. Let the watchword be, “Equal rights to all; special privileges to none.” Let all men who prize dearly their heritage of liberty and peaceful fraternity, and who are in favor of the basic principles of the brotherhood of man, unite, and with that potent weapon, the ballot, sound the funeral knell of the reign of corporate monopoly. In a legal, constitutional manner, these corporations, rings, and combinations can be routed, their paid agents and lobbyists can be driven from the halls of legislation, and the standard of equal rights can again be raised aloft, and this time without the use of bullets or the shedding of blood. In the prerogative of the ballot, the American people have in their hands the most powerful weapon of modern times. Let us use this weapon, stand shoulder to shoulder, and rescue our country from the hands of corporate monopoly, rescue popular government from the grave opening to receive it, and guide this republic onward, ever onward, in its mission of giving to all men an equal opportunity in the battle of life. O Normal Bell, O Normal Bell! How many a tale thy music tells. How joyous then, in the assembly room, When we as seniors heard thy tunc. Those joyful hours arc passing by, And many a sorrowing heart beats high To think that within another school we’ll dwell And hear no more that Normal bell. And so ’twill be when we are gone; Thy joyful peal will still ring on, When other seniors walk these dells, And sing thy praise, O Normal Bell. THE NORMAL BELL —Sorrowing Senior. PAGE SIXTEEN

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conic to be their slaves in all else; that all liberty is lost when one liberty is lost; that a people half democratic and half plutocratic cannot permanently endure. As we cast our eyes over the history of nations, we behold the fate of that little group of Italian states, whose political institutions were wrecked by commercial greed, and whose republican freedom vanished before the breath of commercial ambition. Their glittering fragments strewed the shores of the Mediterranean like shattered baubles, as soon as their commerce became mightier than their constitution and more potent than their statesmanship. History bears out the truth that: 111 fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, Where wealth accumulates and men decay. That these same dangers would menace this republic, was clearly seen by our greatest statesmen. Out of the past we hear the voice of Washington warning his countrymen against the corrupting influence of consuming wealth, and with his last breath bidding them beware of the encroaching tyranny of ambitious greed. And how true were the prophetic words of the immortal Lincoln when he said, I sec in the future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. As a result of the war, corporations have been enthroned, and an era of corruption in high places will follow; the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign upon the people, until all the wealth is aggregated in few hands.” A wise people will listen to these voices of the past and order their actions in conformity with the great lessons that they teach. It is for us to say whether the public spirit that threw the tea into Boston harbor, that removed the yoke of bondage from four million slaves, will slumber while commercial and industrial chains arc being riveted on the toil and talents of millions of American people by the mighty forces of corporate wealth. The great corporations and consolidated monopolies arc fast seizing the reins of power that lead to the control of public affairs. It is an open secret that they have ruled states thru controlling legislatures and corrupting courts; that they are strong in Congress, and that they are unscrupulous in the use of means to conquer prejudice and acquire influence. This condition is truly alarming; for, unless it be changed quickly and thoroughly, free institutions arc doomed to be subverted by an oligarchy upon the basis of money and corporate power. The question is not whether monopoly is to continue; for the sun sets every night on a greater majority against it; but whether we are to pass thru revolution or reform. Industry and monopoly cannot live together; for our modern perfection of exchange and division of labor cannot last without equal perfection of morals and sympathy, based on terms of love and justice. Neither can liberty and monopoly live together; for the common people have little chance against the persistent and easy coalescence of the confederated cliques who aspire to say of all business, 'This belongs to us,’ and whose members, though moving among us as brothers, arc using against us, thru the corporate form we have given them, power of invisibility, because impersonal and unmoral, and most peculiar of all, powers to act as persons, as in the commission of crimes, with exemption from punishment as persons. The signs of the times are hopeful. Not in vain has advancing civilization challenged the virtue of American manhood or the resourcefulness of American statesmen. Champions of public welfare, political virtue, and the people’s rights, arc moving men to action. In the Badger state there has arisen from the ranks of the people a leader PACE FIFTEEN

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WHITE WA TEF+. GIT CHE GUM EE EGOISM VS. ALTRUISM EASTON JOHNSON ISTORY tells of a long stride in the progress made by man. As the ages have passed, his ideals and aspirations have been wonderfully elevated and perfected. A worthy ambition has ceaselessly sought to establish the proper interdependence of man. Co-operation, the subordination of self to the good of society, is now recognized as an important goal of human endeavor. In harmony with this supreme conception, the greatest achievement that has been effected to insure human progress is the relation established between man and man, individual and society, citizen and nation. Before the Christian era, egoism wielded its despotic sway unchecked, and nations maintained their supremacy thru sheer physical force. Power was sought by the use of the sword, and the earth was repeatedly drenched with human blood. Conquest was the watchword of the strong; subjugation and misery, the fate awaiting the weak; while, too often, deceit and treachery permeated the lives of the leaders of men. What cruelties were inflicted upon the pagan world that history might claim the names of Alexander, Hannibal, and Caesar 1 Was the world always to bestow imperishable fame upon men for their deeds of violence and for their insatiable love of domination? Was the gratification of a selfish ambition always to defy the cardinal virtues of love, mercy, and justice? Ah! no. Behold in the East, the incarnation of a new faith, proclaiming the birth of a new world—a world where the conscience and not the sword was destined to rule mankind. Since that day, nineteen centuries have witnessed the growth of a power that in sublimity of purpose surpasses all others, a power that aims at the complete emancipation of man from the shackles of ingratitude, ignorance, malice, and superstition. This power is the spirit of altruism. Many have been the contributions made by different peoples and by different nations to the civilization of their age. Bitter and severe have been the persecutions suffered by sincere and devout men of every time in the vindication of great principles. In our survey of the world’s great benefactors, we must ever hold in high veneration the founders of our own republic. Our forefathers endured hardships and untold suffering in securing our political and religious freedom. Often and justly have we heard them praised for their physical courage; but were our tribute to end here, we should do injustice to their memories. Our indebtedness is rather for their unswerving loyalty to principle, for their zealous desire to found free institutions, and for their establishment of a government that acknowledges the equality of man under the law and before his Creator. These invaluable contributions are beyond human comprehension ! These chosen leaders, moreover, recognized the purity of the home, the sacrcdncss of free institutions, and the moral perfection of man as supreme. Without PACE SEVENTEEN