I cannot believe I found my dusty journal again; I figured I lost it amidst the panic 3 years back. (Actually, that panic is still ongoing.) Reducing spending was a tad rough, and my family learned how to save some money; we even used candles instead of light bulbs. I remember when I was young and suffered the inconvenience of using candles, it seems like I am too used to a fortunate life.

Thinking back, so much has changed: I remember seven years ago, a literal eleven-story building was constructed from the ground up; buildings will eventually get so high to even scrape against the sky! In the future, we will travel in flying cars from building to building. God, it feels good to be in the GREATEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD! I remember how shocked I was when the US Census released the news that the frontier was closed! Our destiny to go from sea to shining sea was completed! That might be the greatest historical accomplishment I ever see! Then, of course, is Frederick Jackson Turner’s book, which argued that closing the frontier is a bad thing. Well, I say we expand north or south, who is afraid of some Catholic Mexicans or sparsely populated Canada with no one to oppose us?

I spent the previous years of my life studying management, economics, and all that stuff, and last month, I got hired into Standard Oil! I am a legal adult now, age 21, and getting hired right there is an impressive feat, if I say so myself. Managing workers is harder than I thought; thank God there are no Knights of Labor members under my management; I fear something could and will go wrong if those laborers unionize. There is only one person under the American Federation of Labor working, and he only demanded higher wages - a good thing that he is an efficient worker. I timed everyone using a stopwatch, and he performed the fastest. Maybe I should scale my paycheck based on how efficient everyone is. (I should probably read over scientific management again.) If those workers unionize, my career might as well be over. I remember when I read about the homestead lockouts four years ago because of some wage cut; they should be grateful that the captains of industries provided them with opportunities to work for them! Even President Grover Cleveland hates those strikes, like how he ordered the army to stop the Pullman strikers two years ago. This year, I got the God-given right to vote, and I am voting Democrat for William Jennings Bryan; my father approves my decision since he defends Tammany Hall’s way of “persuading” immigrants to vote for Democrats.

One thing I learned is to prioritize those immigrants over normal American workers because, in my experience, they do not unionize as fast. I remember when I was chasing away those Catholics when I was young, how foolish I was. I can give some low wages to Irish Catholics and Italian and other immigrants and women, and there would not be a single complaint! It is because those immigrants have inferior minds and are uneducated. However, it is a shame that the city is getting increasingly rowdy, with people marching to demand various changes from the government. They call themselves the "Progressives"; I call them anti-human-progress supporters; they do not see all the wonderful things the Industrial Revolution has brought us under the free market; they want to restrict our freedom in the land of the free! Bah! And the federal government even agreed with them, regulating interstate commerce with the ICC and establishing the Sherman Antitrust Act. I thought the Supreme Court would uphold freedom in the United States, the land of the free, which it did with the case United States v. E. C. Knight Co, but the decision of Plessy v. Ferguson earlier this year establishing “separate but equal” made me question what they really are supportive of. Now some of my workers are demanding the black boys be separated from them during work.

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Those politicians should heed my mother’s example as she is pushing for human progress as a true Progressivist: she joined the Anti-Saloon League established last year and convinced my father to stop drinking alcohol; she encourages me to preach the doctrine of temperance, and I accept! My workers are going to be a whole lot more productive if they would cease drowning themselves in alcohol and engage in some team-building activities outside of work, such as playing something like baseball, joining the Young Men’s Christian Association, or going to Church on Sunday. Mother also joined up with some settlement house workers and preached for a cleaner city sometimes, which I agree with; that is what human progress is about: abandoning the outdated alcohol and making the city suiting to be part of the domain of the Land of the Free. Mother said that because she is a woman, she has maternal responsibility, and by extension, she should care for the city. I disagree; I think everyone has this responsibility. I do not think physical differences matter at all; women, men, black, Europeans, Mexicans, and all are equal under the eyes of God and the banner of the United States, and we all should care for the environment. I respect my mother, but she strongly disagrees on this point. She thinks all negros are inferior. I think what sets people apart is what is in our minds. Protestantism is set apart from those dirty Catholics, lazy Jews, or deplorable Mormons. The industrial mindset is set apart from the ancient artisan mindset. Naturally, a stronger mind granted by God and education granted by America sets me apart from the weak minds of the immigrant workers, who jump to strikes and protest at a slight cut of their finger because of their own carelessness. My brother was merely yelled at by my mother to help out with some chores, so ran away from home. I lost contact with him, and not even the police could find a clue to his whereabouts. I am unsure if I will ever see him again.

This difference in the constitution of mind is further exemplified by the influential book I read: The Gospel of Wealth by Andrew Carnegie, a respectable captain of industry. Carnegie has a great mindset, trying to help American society move forward and aid people, unlike those vulgar people in the street. They will rob you of money to "buy food". If you need money so much, go to work! Yet Carnegie took sympathy for those at the bottom and donated money to libraries. Ever since that library two blocks over was established, I go there about once or twice a week. Carnegie wants people to improve their minds, while those street muggers simply want people to improve their vigilance. We live in an advanced society with electric lighting, not a dark jungle.