Page:Hine (1912) Letters from an old railway official.djvu/14

 the railways, we the most scattered and, ergo, the most exposed of property rights, are the first of the outposts to receive and to repel the assaults of anarchy and its smaller sister, socialism. Subtle, sinister, and specious is the reasoning which supports the claims of those who single out the arteries of inland commerce as a thing apart, as something immune to the irresistible laws of cause and effect. Shall we sit idly by, because we have had our part? No, my son. In that inspiring painting, “The Spirit of ’76,” the old man and the boy, equals in enthusiasm, typify the soul love of liberty of an aroused people. Let you and I, therefore, do our little part to call to arms our brethren of a nation-long village street. Perhaps we are only hired hands of imaginary “interests.” Perhaps, nevertheless, we are liberty-loving, God-fearing, right-thinking American citizens. Perhaps we do not need to be backed into the last corner before we turn and stand for the God-given rights for which men of all ages have been willing to fight and die. Perhaps the muck-rakers have not procured all the patents pertaining to perfection, potential or pronounced. But be that as it may, you and I can at least be heard, can have our day in the