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 Politics 
 
 By 
 John Rankin Rogers 
 
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 POLITICS 
 
 An Argument in FAvor of the Inalienable 
 Rights of Man. 
 
 — BY — 
 
 John R. Rogers 
 
 With an introduction hy 
 SHLMON 7UV. K L L © N 
 
 Seattle, Wash 
 
 THE AM.7-.N PRINTING CO. 
 
 1894.
 
 I!\ Ji'HN K 1< 
 
 Puyallup Wa»hington
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 THE effort to substitute reason for force in human government 
 has not been many times seriously attempted in the history of 
 the race, and has been successful in very few instances. Man's 
 development began with his physical or animal nature, and it was 
 but natural therefore, that the attempt at government should have 
 assumed at first the character of force. With the development of 
 the intellect has come a rebellion against a government of force, and 
 a longing for one based upon reason. But the development of the 
 reason, though making immense strides in the 5000 years of the 
 world's history, has had to struggle hard against the mere animal 
 in man ; and looking back from the heights of this closing scene of 
 & the 50th century it still looks as if the mere animal was yet in the 
 *"! ascendency, and that the race had not yet secured for itself the 
 = domination of its reason in matters governmental, much less the 
 co domination of its spiritual nature. The race is thinking hard, but 
 ~~ ' it thinks largely along the lines of its animal parts, and we have as 
 S a result, government based on force with the selfishness of the 
 £? animal in the ascendancy. 
 
 In our own land, for a century and a fraction we have been 
 groping around to find some method of getting our reason on top, 
 and holding the animal in subjection. Instinctive justice and our 
 partly educated spiritual nature have made an effort to substitute 
 reason in the government of our people. It has been however, but 
 a halting, lame attempt, and the century is about to close with the 
 experiment only a half success and the dread of a total failure 
 impending like a gloomy cloud over us, while over the larger part 
 of the world the race is still subservient to a government of force. 
 Reason alone seems wholly inadequate to the struggle; and even 
 assisted by the "spark of divinity" within us for 2000 years, reaches 
 this ,50th cycle of time far from triumphant. But man in his full 
 nature is persistent, progressive, determined and hopeful. The 
 contest is one for the supremacy of the reason, but the reason kept 
 in contact with the animal nature alone, if this were possible, 
 
 370690
 
 tNTKODl CTION. 
 
 than instinct, and will accomplish little beyond 
 ivernment. But reason, under the influence of the 
 Divine nature, ma> develope a power adequate to be 
 ituted in all the relationships ol life for brute force. 
 
 M.i\ it not be that what we call instinctive- justice is the 
 
 at power oi the Divinity within us, slumbering, in a sort of 
 mal lethargy . and occasionally aroused to rebuke the selfishness 
 animal. 
 
 it not be that when this slumbering spark of Divinity 
 
 into a blaze, that reason may be dazzled by its brilliancy, 
 
 tivated by its cheei . and yield to its full control. If so, the reason 
 
 may gain powei over the animal, and give us a government in 
 
 which selfish individualism may cease and a loving co-operation 
 
 substituted. When this becomes possible we may look for 
 
 permanency in a government of the people by the people and for 
 
 the people. 
 
 While- this struggle for the- supremacy of the Divinity 
 
 within us is in progress it is cheering to find, even rarely, such a 
 broad and logical argument, as that from the pen of my esteemed 
 friend embraced in the following pages. 1 have read it with deep 
 interest. Its tendency is to strengthen the hope that it may yet be 
 for the- race- to reach some fundamental, basic principles, 
 which, enacted into constitutional law. may give us a government 
 in which there may he- at least better opportunity for the further 
 development of the reason under the guide of our better nature. It 
 would be- well if we could have more such literature in politics, 
 olitical literature- that appeals to the- partisan as a partisan, 
 tends rather down than build up, is debasing not uplifting. 
 
 Brother Rogers has been able to dig dee]). He will stir the slumb- 
 ering embers of the fires which God has kindled within us. which, 
 I will never be quenched. His appeal is to the 
 her nature, not from the- standpoint of a partisan, but from the- 
 standpoint of .1 brother man, with a heart overflowing with a 
 e the raee emancipated from the thralldom of 
 :■] it- inalienable rights and liberties intrenched behind 
 v. The realization of his theories will go far to 
 ten tin day when man shall peacefully submit himself to the 
 ernment of his reason. That this day may not be in the dim 
 I that America may have the honor of initiating reason's 
 t triumph in government is the sincere wish of 
 Yours truly, 
 
 Sm.mon M. Ai.i.kn.
 
 POLITICS. 
 
 An argument in behalf of the inalienable rights of man. 
 
 -BY- 
 JOHN R. ROGERS 
 
 My father was a Democrat, and in his 
 way, something of a politician. As a 
 boy I heard the arguments of the Demo- 
 crats, read Democratic newspapers and 
 very naturally imbibed their notions re- 
 garding slavery and the tariff. I heard 
 with much inward satisfaction the story 
 of the disagreement of my paternal and 
 maternal grandfathers, long before my 
 birth in Jackson's time, upon the time- 
 honored tariff question. More than sixty 
 years ago one of these men pulled off 
 his coat and announced his intention of 
 ■'licking" the other because he did not 
 believein "free trade and sailors' rights." 
 Descended from a Revolutionary "priva- 
 teersman," I naturally took sides — in 
 my mind — with the first, and during all 
 my boyhood days regretted the fact that 
 he did not carry out his threat. In this 
 boyish frame of mind I imagined that if 
 he had done so, at least one step would 
 have been taken toward the proper set- 
 tlement of a momentous question. The 
 The opportunity passed unimproved and 
 men still continue to quarrel. 
 
 Poor grandfather, he was ready to do 
 battle in defence of the honor of his 
 sailor father, old "Captain Jonny," but 
 he couldn't settle the tariff matter. And 
 
 now after sixty years of dispute, of which 
 I know something, I begin to fear that 
 the pecuniary interests of those who 
 wish to impose tariff taxes and those 
 who do not wish to pay them may be 
 mipossible of settlement. In all ages of 
 the world I find that men have ever de- 
 sired to impose upon other men the bur- 
 den of their support, and that so far, in 
 one way or another, a class of men have 
 always been able, not only to do this but 
 to make the vast majority think it right 
 that it should be so. 
 
 It is true that there have always been 
 a few who did not agree to this, who 
 held with the Gallilean Teacher the es- 
 sential brotherhood of man, with its 
 necessary consequence — absence of 
 special privilege — but the world has gen- 
 erally voted them "cranks" or "pesti- 
 lent fellows," and usually gotten rid of 
 them and the awkward questions they 
 have asked, with scant ceremony. 
 
 In the spring of 1856 I started alone, a 
 mere boy, to visit my relatives in the 
 states of Mississippi and Louisiana. Ar- 
 riving at Louisville I took passage on the 
 palatial Mississippi river steamer 
 Niagara, Capt. Harry Leathers, for 
 Vicksburg. The Niagara was too large
 
 rouT< s 
 
 Louisville 
 
 d, about three 
 
 •\£ « hack I 
 
 w itli .1 lai ge crew 
 
 ■ii loading foi the v 
 
 as. Cnpt Leathers and 
 
 lite and ex- 
 
 nu- tint although it might be 
 
 • the I'D. a \v;i- ready 
 
 still, I was perfectly welcome 
 
 ! and remain until Vicks- 
 burg was reached. 
 
 rraveling m those days w;is more 
 rely done than at present. The 
 
 met in due time proceeded down the 
 
 but long ^tops wen- made at va- 
 rious places to take on freight and pas- 
 rs, and it thus happened that some 
 01 eight very pleasant days had 
 Vicksburg came in sight. 
 Shut up together the passengers hecame 
 in a short time quite well acquainted, 
 me landing in northern Mississippi 
 there during the ni^ht a 
 
 plain, kindly looking old ut ntleman who 
 the next morning at hreakfast hap] 
 
 next to me. We fell into conver- 
 and strange to say became in the 
 three or four flays which followed, quite 
 intimate. lb iraa Bome sixty years of 
 plainly dressed, a planter, living on 
 his plantation near Vicksburg. and ap- 
 D of strict integrity and 
 mora 1 , uprightness. How this old gen- 
 tleman came to take me as a '(hum" it 
 ■ I to determine except that 
 neither of u* drank, cursed, played cards 
 imbled. "'.nd as these seemed to be 
 ttions of the gentle- 
 men aboard it may have been sufficient 
 •'. Anyhow. I v. as much imp • 
 the obi man; he seemed above the 
 id meanness of life. 
 
 and ^ave me much information regard- 
 
 b I was bound, 
 
 ! with v;«> nul much gen- 
 
 r< uni- 
 stam ■ will believe that I 
 
 ■vhat shocked on our arrival to see 
 . out from the 
 
 freight de< i- a horse and saddle and a 
 mullatto boy of about tin own age. He 
 had said nothing to me about this 
 "property' and as he had came aboard 
 in the night 1 had seen nothing of it. I 
 sat on the passenger deck of the steamer, 
 twelve or fifteen feet above them, and 
 watched their preparations for depar- 
 ture. The boy was a "bright mullatto." 
 clean looking and decent, but his face 
 showed such misery that I instantly took 
 his part — in my mind again. He was 
 hand cuffed and I found had been 
 chained up near his master's horse on 
 the lower deck while the aforesaid mas- 
 tei was giving me good advice in the 
 grand saloon above. The master rather 
 awkwardly explained to me that the boy- 
 had run away, that he had followed him 
 many weary miles on horseback to the 
 Tennessee line, had finally captured him 
 and was now nearing home with his 
 "property." After he had saddled his 
 horse he unlocked and took off the hand 
 cuffs, that the boy might have more 
 freedom in walking, produced from his 
 saddlebags a small rope, tied one end 
 securely round this half grown boy's 
 neck, got on his horse, tied the other 
 end <>f the rope around the pummel of 
 his saddle and with a chirrup to his 
 horse they were off up that steep hill 
 side. 
 
 I don't think the slave opened his 
 mouth during all this time, but he 
 "looked!" so broken hearted and dis- 
 couraged. His whole story was in his 
 eyes. This was my first introduction to 
 "the peculiar institution" and for a mo- 
 ment I began to doubt its entire wisdom 
 and justice, but other things distracted 
 my attention and for the time the inci- 
 dent passed out of my mind. Afterward 
 I wondered how so good an old man as 
 the planter evidently was could be so 
 cruel to one who likely enough might 
 have been his own son, but I have since 
 come to see that custom and pecuniary 
 interest are sufficient to warp the minds 
 of most men completely. Now-a-days
 
 POLITICS. 
 
 our manner of doing business separates 
 the cause from the effect by such a dis- 
 tance that most fail to note the relation 
 between them. The money dealers by 
 their inauagement cause misery, failure, 
 disease, crime and death with far greater 
 certainty and more culpability than the 
 slaveholders of the past, but most of 
 them refuse to acknowledge it even to 
 themselves. The distance between the 
 cause and effect is a little greater, that is 
 all. This slaveholder was a kind hearted 
 man, naturally just, where "business" 
 was not concerned, and so are large 
 numbers of men chiefly responsible for 
 the enormous misery of our cities today. 
 In i860 I was a resident of Hinds 
 county Mississippi. The war between 
 the states was just then coming on. 
 Preparations for its advent were to be 
 seen on every hand. Leaders of seces- 
 sion were industriously engaged in fan- 
 ning into flame the fires of sectional 
 hatred. "Firing the southern heart," 
 was the business of the time with them. 
 Newspapers were filled, speeches made, 
 all with one end in view. "We are not 
 responsible for slavery," the}' said. "Our 
 forefathers brought the negroshere. The 
 responsibility of caring for them is upon 
 us. We shall feed and clothe them and 
 they shall have religious instruction and 
 want for nothing of which they really 
 stand in need. Slavery is upheld by the 
 Bible and the churches; but even if it 
 were not, even if it is a sin, we will ans- 
 wer to God for that. We are not re- 
 sponsible to the consciences of our 
 northern brothers. Local self-govern- 
 ment is one of the distinctive features of 
 our republic. We have a constitutional 
 right to conduct our own affairs in our 
 own way. The rights not expressly 
 delegated to the general government re- 
 main with the states; this being ex- 
 pressly state dand understood at the 
 time of the organization of our govern- 
 ment and the ratification of the consti- 
 tution, our only bond of union. We 
 shall not go to the North to interfere 
 
 with their forms of government or with 
 their domestic institutions. We want 
 to be let alone; to be allowed to manage 
 our affairs in our own way and if in the 
 wrong we will render account at least 
 to the Judge of All. But if the north 
 sends its armies to invade our states we 
 will meet them as Tom Corwin said the 
 Mexicans ought to receive the Ameri- 
 cans in 1S46, "We will welcome them 
 with bloody hands to hospitable graves." 
 They will then be invaders; we shall 
 fight for our firesides and our homes; for 
 all men hold dear. We do not invite 
 the contest, but it forced upon us let it 
 come; the responsibility be upon the 
 heads of those who instigate war." 
 
 This is the way they talked in 1S69 in 
 the South. Their orators made the wel- 
 kin fairly ring with their denunciations, 
 one of their ablest men saying in sub- 
 stance: "Twelve millions of brave and 
 determined people fighting in defence 
 of their homes were never yet conquered 
 by invading armies." And this was 
 true — up to that time. Southern sym- 
 pathizer as I was then, and for years af- 
 terward, I felt the force of this. I was 
 inclined to think them wrong on the 
 slavery question but absolutely right in 
 their determination to secede from those 
 states which persisted in the attempt to 
 interfere with their right to local self- 
 government. 
 
 Today I can see the weakness of their 
 argument and the cause of their failure. 
 It is easy now. True, they did fight 
 for local self-government. They were 
 brave and determined. They were 
 united. But their weakness was this: 
 The foundation for which they fought was their 
 ability to absorb the profits of other men's tabor. 
 That was all they wanted. But it was 
 too much. It was unjust, and the time 
 had come for that particular form of 
 slavery to die. 
 
 Today Mr. Pullman says to his men: 
 "These works are mine, they belong to 
 myself and mv associates; the) 7 are rny 
 property. You do not even claim to own 
 a single share of the stock. You can 
 then have no rightful claim |to interfere
 
 POLITICS. 
 
 with tm management o( this pro] 
 I *hall tTM urlv snd shall psy 
 
 aptly. If w >u don't like m 
 
 n '.. But I 
 must be fire to manage my bnaineM In 
 the \\ All 1 want is to be 
 
 let alone in the management of what 
 yon concede is my property. [f inter- 
 fered with I shall let loose the dogs of 
 .on. l have a right guaran- 
 teed t>\ the laws of the land to do as. I 
 •ui doing and if yon force me to fight I 
 
 do SO in ilffer.ee of the dearest 
 right si every citizen; to-wit: the right 
 
 l}uire and hold property, a right 
 without which civilization could not 
 
 So far Mr. Pullman. Mr. Carnegie 
 he same and so say all the monop- 
 In real truth, the thing that they 
 will hire poor devils to kill other poor 
 devils for, is. thai a system wtay live which 
 enable, t/utn to absorb the profits of labor. It 
 is the old story over again. Slave-man- 
 - and slave-owners ate one in senti- 
 ment and intent. Upon the robbery of 
 labor they have grown great and mag- 
 nificent. They have sworn that it shall 
 continue. That is all they want. To be 
 let alone — in the robbery of labor. But 
 it is too much. It is unjust and the 
 time is rapidly drawing near when this 
 form of slavery, too, will die. Advanc- 
 rUeiligence and the ballot will 
 make it impossible. 
 
 The United States census has some 
 wonderful facts laid up for the inquirer. 
 If the total production of wealth be di- 
 vided by the number of days of labor 
 done it will be seen that the production 
 aggregates more than fin for each day's 
 work. But the average wage in the 1 nit- 
 ed States :-- only about <i 
 
 All wealth is created by labor. Yet 
 while labor creates fio in wealth n 
 oly has announced its <:• bring 
 
 on the army ai -on K er govern- 
 
 ment" unless $9 out of each %\o be ob- 
 sequiously banded ov c r. The difference 
 between this condition of affairs and 
 chattel slavery I leave my readers to 
 determine. 
 
 Professor Kmile de Laveleye, an em- 
 inent student of historical politics, says: 
 
 No'democrwy can exist permanently if its peo- 
 ple are in u *tate of marked material itiojual- 
 ,l ^ Voteil who Ret from their I.tIkm a scanty 
 living while others about them arc rich wii: 
 probably in the end seek to alter the laws that 
 in inequality. The rich will support the 
 U in the ai<l of a dicta- 
 tor. So democracy terminates in either an- 
 archyoi despotism, and usually Is one as the 
 result of the other Under such conditions in- 
 equality ifl thr cause ot its downfall. The social 
 problem involved in this phenomenon troubles 
 all nations. 
 
 Degradation the Inevitable Re- 
 sult of Privation. 
 
 In 1856 the only completed railroad. 
 I think, in the state of Mississippi, was 
 one of some fifty miles in length extend- 
 ing from Vicksburg east to Jackson, 
 Hinds county, then, as sow, the capital 
 of the state. My uncle's plantation was 
 some sixteen miles from Jackson, near 
 the Copiah count)- line. Those who re- 
 member the political sensations of the 
 "reconstructioi." period will not soon 
 forget Copiah and its bloody record. The 
 cars upon this primitive railroad were 
 very accommodating, stopping almost 
 anywhere that a gentleman desired 
 either to get on or off. and so after what 
 seemed a long, long time I finally ar- 
 rived at my destination. My uncle and 
 his family received me warmly and wel< 
 corned me to the state. Although quite 
 young I had had some years of previous 
 experience as a clerk in the city of Bos- 
 ton and it so happened that after some 
 time spent iii visiting I secured a posi- 
 tion in a store at Jackson. Jackson was 
 only a country village in fact, though a 
 city in name. It bad some three or four 
 thousand white inhabitants, and about 
 the same number of blacks. Uife passed 
 very leisurely with these people then. 
 Money was plenty, cotton brought a fair 
 price and "niggers" were high. 
 
 I boarded with the Rev. Mr. , the 
 
 pastor of the Presbyterian church and 
 also the editor of the "Witness," the or- 
 gan of the Presbyterians in the South- 
 west. Mr. was a tall, dark com-
 
 POLITICS 
 
 plexioned man, a native Mississippian 
 and I believe a thoroughly good man. 
 He had all the angularity and the quaint- 
 ness of Abraham Lincoln, in fact he 
 looked something like him. Among 
 other property he owned a mulatto 
 "boy," or man, named Tom, who used 
 to pull the lever at the printing office. 
 My store lay between the printing office 
 and the house, so that it often happened 
 that Tom came into my place of business 
 on his way back and forth from the of- 
 fice to his meals. I was naturally cur- 
 ious regarding the relation of master and 
 slave and it thus came about that Tom 
 soon confided to me his troubles. 
 
 Tom was a young man and he had 
 a young wife to whom he was very much 
 attached. Indeed, so far as I could 
 judge he thought as much of her as if he 
 had not been black. She was a house 
 servant belonging to another master and 
 was principally engaged in caring for 
 the small wh ite children belonging to her 
 master, who was then talking of moving 
 fiom Jackson to one of his plantations 
 on the Yazoo, some sixty miles away. 
 The mere thought of this put poor Tom 
 in agony. If thus separated it was re- 
 garded as final; such a separation being 
 like death, it had no cure. Several 
 times when his wife passed the store in 
 charge of her master's little ones Torn 
 hurried me to the door to see her, appar- 
 ently for the purpose of proving that 
 his description of her perfections was 
 not overdrawn. Poor Tom, although a 
 man of twenty-five, bright and intelli- 
 gent, his complete helplessness made 
 him, in some respects, a mere child. 
 
 Tom's wife was a peculiarly fine look- 
 ing girl. Although quite dark, indeed 
 almost black, there was evidently white 
 blood in her veins, for her hair was long, 
 exceedingly abundant and only slightly 
 'wavy." Her features were of the Cau 
 casian type and she carried herself in 
 the proud, self-confidant, self-contained 
 manner never seen among blacks of pure 
 breed. Seemingly, she should have 
 been white, or nearly so, but through 
 
 some strange reversion in breeding she 
 was born with a black skin. Such cases 
 were rare in the South, but all familiar 
 with life there have met with similar in- 
 stances. To say that Tom was proud of 
 her would be putting it mildly indeed; 
 he fairly doted on her; and all the time 
 he feared he was about to lose her. 
 
 Put yourself in his place my friend. 
 Do you say he was only a mulatto, ig- 
 norant and incapable of feeling? Ah, 
 but he had more of this than most cold- 
 blooded sons of the north, and what he 
 had, what he was, came from nature, 
 from God, was his by right divine. Have 
 a care dear sir in this, for if you by vir- 
 tue of superior attainments can limit 
 the right of those below you in the social 
 or mental scale what shall prevent your 
 limitation by those above you? 
 
 One day Tom came to me in tears. 
 His eyes were bloodshot and he sunk 
 down on a box in the store limp and 
 disconsolate. "Da done taken her 
 away," was all he could say. I tried to 
 encourage him all I could, but to no pur- 
 pose. He soon took himself off, a woe 
 begone specimen surely. 
 
 After that, for a time. Tom did not 
 come in but shuffled by, his eyes on the 
 ground. I soon began to hear, from Mc- 
 Gill, a yonng white man who worked in 
 the office, of Tom's general worthless- 
 ness. He was: "Just no count at all." 
 You couldn't put the least dependence 
 upon him, and if reproved he became 
 sullen and even "disrespectful." Evi- 
 dently he needed a whipping, my infor- 
 mant thought; that would straigten him 
 out. 'Twas the only way to handle nig- 
 gers. But it wouldn't be worth while 
 to hope for that, for Tom was one of the 
 
 slaves left to Mr. by his father and 
 
 he wouldn't have him whipped. But 
 his master was going to give him "a 
 talking to and threaten him good," for 
 he had said he would. Some days after- 
 ward I called Tom in as he went by and 
 the whole story came out, as I knew it 
 would. His master had given him the 
 "good talking to" promised, and told
 
 POLITICS 
 
 Idle ioi iiim to 
 
 "go on" m about that girl, 
 
 good .is <!<.'. nl to him 
 
 .mil that as he was a likely looking nigger 
 
 he would have no trouble in getting an- 
 
 week .niil month aftei month, Pot a 
 year past the Eathei had had work, never 
 at more than a dollar a day, and now 
 even that was gone. With nerves and 
 muscles weakened and strained by toil 
 
 other wifi 1, and that it he and lack ol proper food he was almost 
 
 didn't quit his foolishness that he, the 
 
 master, would be obliged, mucb 
 
 it his wishes to. send him around 
 
 '. have him whipped 
 
 "Pat man.' said Tom, "he married 
 me hisself to my wife, and (passion- 
 ately she is my wife, I hear him 
 preach bout de ordinances of God, and 
 he tell us God love all, bof black and 
 white, jus de same. He mus tiuk I'm a 
 fool. Hut my God, Marse John what 
 kin 1 do? I jes wish I's diad, dat's 
 what I do." 
 
 Poor Tom? There was little to be 
 said, and I said it. Hope and the pur- 
 suit of happiness make up our lives, the 
 live> of all the children of men. Take 
 away this and what wonder that men 
 become sullen and even "disrespectful." 
 The other day I heard a comfortable 
 citizen bemeaning a poor man with a 
 large family, who, he said, wouldn't 
 work. He was asked if he, the com- 
 fortable citizen, could furnish him work, 
 and he acknowledged that he could not. 
 Did he know of any one who could or 
 would? And again he was obliged to 
 confess that he did not. And I hap- 
 pened to know that this poor man, who 
 was really fit for better things, was anx- 
 irching, without success, for an 
 opportunity to toil in the most menial 
 capacity, that thereby he might buy 
 hread for his children. That the mortal 
 ! - of fear of coming want had taken 
 hold of his very life, he had confided to 
 me. The family I knew. The children 
 were bright and intelligent, and the 
 parents were intensely anxious regard- 
 ing their future. The mother struggled 
 and pinched and worked at unwomanly 
 tasks outside the home, that she mi^ht 
 send them to school. And all seemingly 
 to little purpose, for they were getting 
 further and further behind, week after 
 
 desperate. lie was certainly despairing. 
 What could be do? Why should he 
 worki Life to him was a treadmill. 
 Hope in the future was gone, even if the 
 much sought for "work" was given him. 
 Why should he struggle on, only to fail 
 in life's purpose at last? With him the 
 question was raised, so well stated by 
 the poet: 
 To be, or not to be; that in the question: 
 Whether Us nobler In the mind to suffer 
 The slinks and arrows of outrageous tor tune, 
 Or to take up arms against a sea of troubles, 
 And by opposing end them? 
 The laws governing the science of 
 mathematics are no surer in their oper- 
 ation than the laws controlling poor hu- 
 man nature. They are absolute and can 
 not be infringed without suffering and 
 consequent degradation; and who so as- 
 sists, even in the remotest degree, in the 
 degradation of "the image of God" let 
 him tremble, for all the powers of earth 
 and air are pledged to his punishment. 
 Men and women must be able to hope. 
 Some small gain must be theirs. "The 
 pursuit of happiness," that inalienable 
 right of man, must not be made impos- 
 sible. 
 
 But who is to blame for the unchris- 
 tian system under which increasing mil- 
 lions are perishing in the finer aspira- 
 tions and hopes of life? Tom's master 
 was not to blame for the creation 
 of the institution of slavery. It 
 came before his day. But if his eyes 
 had been opened — as yours, my friend, 
 are to the evils of the present time — he 
 could not have been blameless did he 
 not raise his voice against it. He could 
 have borne testimony, he could have 
 protested in the name of a just God and 
 an outraged humanity, and so can you 
 today. Why sympathize with Tom and 
 deny the claims of your white brother 
 and his children in the next street?
 
 POLITICS 
 
 ii 
 
 My store in Jackson was on the mam 
 street and nearly opposite the capitol, 
 a somewhat pretentious building, built 
 or a yellowish native stone, "adorned" 
 in front with massive "Grecian" col- 
 umns, built of brick and plaster covered 
 with a composition, supposed to imitate 
 stone. It was surrounded by an iron 
 fence, but the gates were always open 
 and the grounds generally were not only 
 open to the public but were somewhat 
 ill-kept and wore an air of dilapidation. 
 One day I noticed a small crowd of men 
 standing about the capitol steps and on 
 enquiring the occasion of the gathering 
 was told that the sheriff was going to 
 sell, on execution, a negro woman. I 
 had never seen a sale of this character 
 and hurried over and mingled with the 
 crowd. Seated on the capitol steps was 
 a rather small dark brown woman — pure 
 blacks were the exception in all south- 
 ern towns — apparently about thirty-five 
 years of age. Her face was a study. 
 Evidently she was rather more intelli- 
 gent than theaverage "corn-field hand," 
 but it was impossible to make out her 
 feelings. Plainly, she had schooled 
 herself in the matter of hiding her 
 thoughts. Her face told nothing and 
 was as impassive as that of a beast. She 
 was not bad looking by anymeans and 
 yet no gleam of the intelligence within 
 shone upon her countenance. While 
 still studying her looks a big strong 
 armed negro man came through the 
 gates, close by, bearing upon his head 
 a dry goods box, brought from a store 
 at hand. The box was placed upon the 
 ground near the steps and the sheriff 
 placing his hand upon the woman's 
 shoulder, said: ''Come girl, be lively 
 now; look pleasant and may be you'll 
 get a good master." His manner was 
 not unkind and the "girl" rose and 
 stepped upon the box; it was not more 
 than two feet in height and the crowd, 
 composed entirely of men and boys, 
 gathered about it. '-Gentlemen." said 
 the sheriff, "I am about to offer at pub- 
 lic sale the girl Ann, taken as the prop- 
 
 erty of to satisfy a judgment 
 
 held by . She is supposed to be 
 
 about thirty years of age and is warrant- 
 ed free from disease or blemish. Now, 
 gentlemen, how much am I bid?" The 
 sheriff was here interrogated regarding 
 the breeding qualities of the "property" 
 offered for sale and replied: "O, she'll 
 breed fast enough, only give her a 
 chance." This caused a rude guffaw to 
 go around, but the subject of the remark 
 made no sign, her face was as impassive 
 as ever. It was further elicited in this 
 way that she had borne children, but 
 nothing <rnore. Nothing was said of 
 them, of their age or where they were. 
 The mother heard but she heeded not. 
 In the usual attempt at talk made by 
 the auctioneer he several times told her 
 to "brighten up now a bit; show your 
 ivories for the gentlemen," and the like, 
 but she seemed not to hear and looked 
 straight ahead. A man in the crowd 
 asked to see her teeth and she opened 
 her mouth disclosing a good set. An- 
 other with his cane poked her in the 
 breast, "to see if there was anything 
 there," he explained, and afterward 
 with the same instrument partly lifted 
 her dress to see what kind of legs she 
 stood on. Other than this nothing very 
 offensive was said or done. The crowd 
 was not ill disposed; no harm was in- 
 tended and the man who took the most 
 liberties was only taking ordinary and 
 proper precautions in the purchase of 
 expensive property, for he intended to, 
 and finally did buy her, at eight hun- 
 dred and fifty dollars. This was the 
 first time I had seen a human being put 
 upon the auction block and the occur- 
 ence made upon me a deep and lasting 
 impression. Now, I can see that depriva- 
 tion, come from what source and cause 
 it may, necessitates degradation. Who- 
 ever deprives humanity degrades it as 
 certainly as effect follows cause. Slav- 
 ery deprived men and women and im- 
 mediately degraded them to the level of 
 brutes. 
 So today, by the cunning machinery of
 
 
 POLITICS 
 
 the God given 
 11 human 
 
 Done, too, 
 
 mil women who 
 
 d have we nol 
 
 done man] wonderful 
 
 Verily, they knownotwhat 
 
 do. 
 
 Thoi Ij le, Unit great Brglish 
 
 this in his COOl 
 
 BriUi 
 
 of recking peatil 
 ilgotha 
 
 of soul- av ' 
 
 tiir lemon— -.in! and i couldn't k 1 '' M 
 
 • i u ouldn'l ii.i\( 
 i. n i saw hi- dear dead face in the 
 coffin tfl hadn't thought how he wanted that 
 drink and and [couldn't get it. [wake up 
 in the night and think ■ >! u until ii Beema ;is ii 
 it w ill ill n r me wild." 
 
 The woman lived in a tenement and 
 made pants at 85 cents a d< 
 
 The other day I received a letter from 
 a kind old huh who said that when she 
 ol the misery of the poor people in 
 the cities that it made her feel wonder- 
 fully thankful to God who had placed 
 her in so comfortable a position. She 
 
 > men work- ought to have been ashamed to utter 
 
 nig th to death, and three mil 
 
 lion paupers rotting in [diced Idlei 
 
 the needle women to die. 
 
 m column after column of similar 
 :r public prints the fol- 
 lowing is clipped from the New York 
 Sun: 
 
 I)or;. i invalid huab&Jld 
 
 and two children in sucl kl there may 
 
 nee rooms in a il- :i a di- 
 
 lapidated row. it; ted part ol 
 
 Nineteenth - by making \e-t-. 
 
 Carhartwh-- mei8centa 
 
 such a thought. Desire to seek out and 
 Bave the poor victims of man's inhuman- 
 ity should have swallowed up every 
 other emotion. If God placed her in a 
 comfortable position did he also place 
 the poor girls of the cities in such an 
 one as to insure their temptation, and 
 their fall? What blasphemy! 
 
 The Robbery of Labor. 
 
 That deprivation does mean, and ne- 
 ■ .1 it took me a whole day to do fvo cessitate, degradation all careful ob- 
 and I had to pay for the butt 
 Its worse than death to the young women that's 
 what!' They try this sewing 
 
 - ion see that there is no hope 
 fot them at hone-' I hey just go to the 
 
 bad. I it happen over and over again 
 
 and a Bven it they 
 
 see what they rn 
 if th>- 
 
 ir of the Think of it!! 
 
 servers are agreed. Well fed dogs are 
 not apt to quarrel. But let them feel 
 the pangs of hunger, then throw them 
 together and the weakest soon will suf- 
 fer. Gentlemen of wealth associate with 
 mutual expressions of regard. Throw 
 these same men together, in an open 
 boat from foundered ship, and when the 
 11 me that chattel slav- bread and water are gone wolfish eyes 
 
 ■moral compared to th< 
 
 . here merely hinted at, 
 
 ill know exi-ts in appal- 
 
 rtions? 
 
 No, no, it my judge 
 
 : l>etter s; d much to 
 
 • d. 
 1 this from the C hronule. 
 
 will be cast from one to another in the 
 search for the easiest taken life. They 
 then suffer deprivation. Degradation 
 has begun. Take the best and most af- 
 fectionate family you know; deprive 
 them of their property; take from them 
 the means of living honestly, decently 
 and comfortably, confine them in a 
 
 newly made widow with four small loathsome tenement house in some great 
 
 city and when hope is gone they are 
 ready for crime. Or, if, by chance, the 
 elders ''die and make no sign" their 
 children will suffer in their stead — "even 
 unto the third and fourth generation." 
 And what of the almost countless thous- 
 
 rhildr- king: 
 
 'lay I wanted a bushel of coal hut I onlv 
 
 , cents. The mat 
 
 he would wait until I could pay the rest Then 
 
 ■sband wanted a sour drink: he had a 
 
 ng lever, poor fellow, and wanted a lemon 
 
 • ; didn't have the two
 
 POLITICS 
 
 i3 
 
 ands of the deprived and degraded chil- 
 dren of poverty? Do not the "slums" 
 bring forth thieves and prostitutes? And 
 you knew it would be so. "Do men 
 gather grapes of thorns, or figs of this- 
 tles?" But who are, and have b^en, re- 
 sponsible for the conditions which de- 
 prive? These are questions political, 
 and politics in future must chiefl}' deal 
 with the economic issue. 
 
 In the year 1S60 I was engaged in 
 keeping a store and running a postoffice 
 at Terry's Station, sixteen miles south 
 of Jackson, on the then newly built 
 New Orleans, Jackson and Great North- 
 ern Railroad, now a part of the Illinois 
 Central's Chicago and New Orleans 
 line. The owner of the store and the 
 holder of the commission was a practic- 
 ing physician busily engaged in his pro- 
 fession. I was only a deputy p. m., but 
 I did the work. Three lines of stages 
 ran out from Terry's and all carried 
 mail. Opposite the store stood the stage 
 stable, belonging to Mr. Terry, who was 
 also the mail contractor. Terry was a 
 fat, jolly man about forty years of age, 
 living upon his plantation about a mile 
 away. He had a fine plantation, a most 
 estimable family and about sixty negroes. 
 His business of carrying mails and pass- 
 engers gave him opportunity and ex- 
 cuse for a good deal of traveling about, 
 which I am ir.clined to think he liked 
 very much better than staying at home; 
 not at all remarkable for most men with 
 his opportunities would have done as 
 he did. He often made trips to Cincin- 
 nati to buy horses and supplies and once 
 a year, at least, went to Washington, so 
 that he was pretty well informed regard- 
 ing the North, Northern affairs and 
 opinions. He had a pass on the rail- 
 road and made frequent trips to New 
 Orleans. As he often went away and re- 
 turned on trains passing Terry's during 
 the night he had a room fitted up for his 
 occupancy at the stable, and as I slept 
 in the store it so happened that he was 
 a frequent visitor at all hours of the day, 
 and night. As I have stated he was a 
 
 most companionable man, a great 
 talker and also a particular friend of 
 my uncle's, whose plantation lay some 
 three miles away in another direction. 
 It thus came about that he often freely 
 and frankly gave me his opinions re- 
 garding slavery. I remember well his 
 saying: "O, I suppose 'tis all right for 
 I don't know what the negroes would do 
 without masters to direct them, unless, 
 as is quite probable, they fell back into 
 barbarism. That's what took 
 
 place in San Domingo. But it is 
 all a great humbug for us; there is no 
 pleasure in it, and what is worse there 
 is no money in it, or but little. Fact is, 
 it is not profitable to us, here on the hill 
 lands. No one of us can make more 
 than two per cent per annum on his cap- 
 ital. Some on the rich bottom lands 
 may make more, but they are liable to 
 overflow and to lose everything. Then, 
 too, just think of it, I sleep with a re- 
 volver under my pillow and a double 
 barreled shot gun right within reach at 
 the head of my bed. And the women 
 are always afraid of the niggers rising, 
 so that they are frightened half out of 
 their wits, if there happen to be a little 
 more noise than usual at the 'quarters' 
 of a night." 
 
 Mr. Terry told the truth straight as a 
 string. For it a was fact that even with 
 large capital it was almost impossible 
 for men in his position, with cotton at 
 9 to 11 cents, the price then, to make 
 both ends meet, if they happened upon 
 a poor crop year or lost a "nigger" or 
 two; their profits, where any were made, 
 came from the monopoly of land, of 
 which they held large areas. The 
 small planters, the men with four or 
 five negroes, who worked in the field 
 with their slaves, and worked harder 
 than they did — and there were manv 
 such — these, were the main stays and 
 props of slavery. They all believed in 
 it — religiously. Commonly they were 
 men of little education, narrow in their 
 views and full of prejudice. But the 
 larger and wealthier planters had more
 
 
 POLITICS 
 
 I rod thi:ik; generally they "Not I," said he, "i bad do arms, and 
 
 I then they are both big strong fellows and I 
 
 rth or hail traveled in know my man has a gun somewhere for 
 
 rerry 1 found specially be has bees seen several times with it. 
 
 well informed and wonderfully frank in The niggers all feed and harbor these 
 
 g himself. His experience in 'layouters' and I suppose they have 
 
 , where he had some friends or re- been having a regular picnic for a long 
 
 his eyes. He knew time- past." 
 
 well that be was farming his "But didn't you try to capture the 
 
 land and working his negroes "to get a runaways?" said I. 
 
 the business," as he ex- "Well," said he, "I rode by them quite 
 Md it. or. as I can now see, stated carelessly and as though I wasn't think- 
 more accurately, that he might obtain ing much of them, and I so continued, 
 the fruits of labor. He took everything ""til ] « ot out of sight and then I P ut m y 
 the negro had in the world and yet horse down into a dead run for Andy 
 
 somehow the '•business" was not as c ' s - And > and his dogs are after 
 
 profitable as at the North. There, some them now. I put them on the trail be- 
 friend of his had "invested" in land, fore l came in bere." 
 was renting it out to a lot of poor white The ne * 1 <1av l was standing in front 
 people, was furnishing them supplies of the store when the cavalcade of man 
 from a store he kept, and charging inter- stealers came in; they stopped at the 
 est on every advance, and at every crook stable. Three or four men on horse- 
 and turn, and on much less capital he, back ' a P ack of ei S ht or ten hounds and 
 the northern robber of labor, was beat- a stalwart man of color, with a rope 
 
 ing the southern slave holder two to 
 one. 
 
 In those days I knew nothing of eco- 
 nomics, and I think Capt. Terry had 
 made no special study of political or so- 
 cial economy, but he had "got right 
 down to business" in his thinking, as I 
 can now see, though I did not then. In 
 short, Terry had discovered that in the 
 robbery of labor the cunning modern 
 machinery of rent, interest and profit is 
 far more effective in depriving men, in 
 robbing them, than was the outworn 
 system of chattel slavery. 
 
 One day Terry came into the store 
 saying: "I had quite an adventure a 
 little while ago. As I was riding on 
 
 around his neck and hand cuffs upon 
 his wrists, made up the party. The end. 
 of the rope about the man's neck was 
 fastened to the pommel of one of the 
 saddles. Captured and bound the poor 
 fellow's holiday was over. He was a 
 fine specimen of physical manhood, 
 strong and muscular. Dark brown in 
 color he was what was then called a 
 "griffe," that is, three quarters black. 
 Hatless and shoeless he stood erect and 
 with head thrown well back, a strip 
 of what had been a shirt over one shoul- 
 der, one leg of his trousers completely 
 gone, of the other a shred or two re- 
 mained. Tom by the dogs, who stood 
 whining and yelping by, his naked 
 arms and legs were bleeding freely; but 
 
 horseback through the woods, I came the spirit of the man was grand He 
 . two negro men that have been hid- knew he had been brought to the stable 
 ing out for a year past. They were in to be whipped, but he stood erect and 
 a little open place seattd on the ground, threw defiance at all around. He bit- 
 cooking something. They looked up; I terly cursed and defied his captors in 
 knew them both, one belongs to me, the the must insulting and rebellious man- 
 other to B . ner> They merely laughed and looked 
 And what did you do?" 6aid I, "did sheepishly at one another as he went on 
 you speak to them?" in the loudest and most excited manner-
 
 to upbraid them. They had caught him 
 for pay and were now to deliver him up, 
 caring little what became of him. They 
 could not beat him, it was Capt. Terry's 
 nigger, and he had already been severely 
 hurt, so they "stood it." I think this 
 was the only time in all my life at the 
 South in which white men were thus 
 treated by a negro in my presence. I 
 could but admire the man — and pity 
 him. Capt. Terry was not at hand when 
 the "boy" was brought in and he was 
 taken into the stable and secured. 
 
 Terry did not whip him, or have it 
 done, thinking, likely enough, that he 
 had already been well punished. 
 
 Chattel slavery could treat men like 
 this, could deprive them and degrade 
 them, but it could not compare as a rob- 
 bing machine with the modern smooth 
 and insinuating methods. Now men 
 are just beginning to wonder how it is 
 that the holder of a mortgage can make 
 more clear gain from a farm than the 
 owner after he has added thereto his 
 own labor and that of his poor tired 
 wife and all his children. You see the 
 devil hasn't lived all these years for 
 nothing. He is getting "sharper" every 
 day. 
 
 All wealth is created by labor applied 
 to what are called "natural opportuni- 
 ties." That is, the soil, the mine, or 
 the sea, etc., etc., and their natural pro- 
 ducts. In economic discussion these 
 are usually grouped under the term, 
 "land." It is impossible to conceive 
 of the production of anything of value 
 to man which is not thus created by the 
 application of human exertion to land, 
 or its natural products. Even the bread 
 fruit must be obtained by labor. But 
 ever since men have had an existence 
 upon this round ball the supreme effort 
 of most men, of the ambitious, the 
 proud, the selfish and the covetous 
 among them, has been to obtain wealth, 
 or the fruits of labor, without them- 
 selves paying the penalty of toil. And 
 this is the case today without dimuni- 
 tion of desire, though veiled and hid 
 
 POLITICS p£ 
 
 under craftier and more subtle methods, 
 which to those under their spell appear 
 legitimate and useful and capable of 
 complete defence. But the devil is 
 never dangerous save when he appears 
 as an angel of light. Men talk of keep- 
 ing the commandments! The first one 
 is: "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou 
 eat bread." Here reason, science and 
 revelation agree. For whoever obtains 
 anything from a fellow mortal 
 without returning a full equivalent 
 has robbed \ him to that extent. 
 "We must all work or steal 
 howsoe'er we name our stealing." If 
 something less than a full equivalent is 
 returned, a ''profit" is said to have been 
 made. But all profits are simply so 
 much unpaid labor. Every man is en- 
 titled to the full value of all he has cre- 
 ated. If you can not rightfully take all, 
 as in chattel slavery, neither can you 
 take a part, as in our modern thievery. 
 But let me not be misunderstood. The 
 merchant, who brings us coffee from 
 Brazil, is entitled to reasonable pay for 
 his service, but no more; if he obtains 
 more, by artifice, by combination or by 
 mere weight of money, as in the case of 
 Arbuck'e et al, he is a thief; no matter 
 how many churches he bribes or preach- 
 ers he pays, or colleges he endows, as in 
 the cases of Rockafeller, Stanford and 
 Gould. And the little thieves are just 
 as much breakers of moral and ethical 
 laws as the larger ones. True Chris- 
 tianity is forever opposed to all this, for 
 the words of Jesus prove it, and our mod- 
 ern "Churchianity" is in as great need 
 of a "reformation" as in the days of 
 Luther, and every clear minded man 
 with a grain of sense in his head knows 
 it. 
 
 Rent, interest and profit, simply rep- 
 resent so much unpaid labor. 
 
 Lincoln's second message to congress- 
 contains the following. Was not Lin- 
 coln a prophet? 
 
 Monarchy itself is sometimes hinted at as a 
 possible refuge from the power of the people' 
 In my present position I cou'd scarcely be jus-
 
 
 ■ 
 
 injj here f 
 
 illc In- 
 
 nevtlo- -t Other* t" 
 
 it i- the effort 
 ■ 
 •! the gove rn ment 11 
 
 rued that ! liable otilv I 
 
 unlesi 
 •our' I ■omefcov bj Ibe 
 
 • 
 living I • be trusted than Iboae 
 
 who toil up irotn one leas Inclined to 
 
 take or touch aught which they have oothon- 
 
 icndcr 
 ing a political power which they el read] poa 
 ad which if surrendered will surely he 
 -■• the door of advancement 
 
 . ICS 
 
 custom lie* concealed behind, "good so- 
 ciety," public institutions and the 
 
 church, all of which it" he be attacked 
 Immediately man their breastworks in 
 bii defence. 
 in the year 1S62 British bankers, 
 Ing the prey from afar, sent to this 
 country one Hazzacd, a London banker 
 to teach our "financiers" how to coin 
 gold from the blood of their country 
 men, hoping incidentally to share in the 
 spoil. He issued a confidental circular 
 to ' 'investors, ' one paragraph of which 
 is here printed. Our people were then 
 new to this business and although 
 widely circulated its full import was not 
 
 1 they and to fix new disabilities and bar- at that time comprehended. Note care- 
 
 dens upon them until all of liberty shall be 
 
 That so-called free labor is more prof- 
 itable than slave labor all are now 
 1. But many do not analyze this 
 statement, do not really know what is 
 conceded by it. If it is more profitable, 
 then more got from the labor. 
 
 That is, more is obtained from him for 
 which no equivalent is returned. Think- 
 ing himself free hope still beguiles him; 
 mere ambitious and produces more, 
 and thus the modern manager is al 
 lake vastly more from each "hand" than 
 ilid the slave holder who took all. Half 
 
 fully the ideas conveyed: 
 
 Slavery is likely to be abolished by the war 
 power and chattel slavery destroyed. This, I 
 and my European friends are in favor of, for 
 slavery is but the owning of labor and carries 
 with it the care of the laborer; while the Eu- 
 ropean plan led on by England is capital con- 
 trol of labor by controlling wages. This can 
 be done by controlling the money. 
 
 Thirty-two vears ago was this pub- 
 ished, and yet it is probable that a ma- 
 jority of our American voters cannot yet 
 see that its every prediction has been 
 fulfilled, and that the condition desired 
 by "I and my European friends," to wit, 
 the complete dependence of the pro- 
 
 ■ •r tWO-thirds of a large sum may greatly ducer upon the controllers of money, has 
 
 exceed the whole of a small one. And 
 it is found highly profitable by the mod- 
 ern "captains of industry" to foster in 
 the minds of those upon whom they 
 have fastened the burden of their sup- 
 port the idea of a personal freedom 
 which in real truth does not exist. Men 
 who pay tribute are not free. But men 
 will delude themselves, even though the 
 tribute they pay to a hundred coni 
 
 been absolutely secured. "Wages" in 
 this connection meaning not only the 
 per diem of the laborer but also the pay 
 or wages of the farmer and producer — 
 for the price of the commodity produced 
 is also completely controlled by the 
 same means. 
 
 Ours is the "commercial age." 
 "Formerly," says Carlyle," war was a 
 business; now business is war." For- 
 
 and smiling robbers exhausts all their merly war and the plunder of a foreign 
 
 means and powers of payment. All is 
 gone, but in so many directions and to 
 so many masters that they fancy they 
 have none. lives have they, yet seeing 
 they see not; ears have they, yet hearing 
 they hear not, neither will they under- 
 
 nation were regarded as most commend- 
 able, and God was implored to bless and 
 prosper it. Of course a convenient 
 I)eity was upon the side of "our" nation. 
 Outside barbarians had no right to a 
 God — they were not true believers. 
 
 stand. And the greatest robber of all is Then, they took all, and put the former 
 Shylock, who, intrenched in law and owners to the sword. Now, we make
 
 POLITICS 
 
 '/ 
 
 "war" upon our neighbors, taking only 
 a part of their substance, and plume 
 ourselves upon our "honesty." Now, 
 we slowly deprive our victims and lin- 
 geringly degrade them, congratulating 
 ourselves, meanwhile upon the spread 
 of "Christianity." Many methods we 
 have, but the end sought is always the 
 same — the robbery of labor. And God 
 is asked to bless this, too. 
 
 About the year 1880 a large fortune, re- 
 puted at a million dollars, was left a 
 young man, who at that time had just 
 completed his studies in an eastern col- 
 lege. He was described as a young man 
 of good habits and generous impulses 
 who wished to leave the world at least 
 a little better for his having lived in it. 
 The fortune came to him unexpectedly 
 and of course found him totally unpre- 
 pared to undertake the weighty respon- 
 sibilities incident to its management. 
 Wishing to be of some service in the 
 world he did not fancy the life of a drone 
 living upon society without returning 
 anything in the nature of an equivalent. 
 Casting about in his mind as to the 
 course he should pursue, his mind was 
 drawn loward a plan of action involving 
 the manufacture of a certain product. 
 Thus, he thought, he would be enabled 
 to help in the work of the world and in- 
 cidentally to aid large numbers of peo- 
 ple whom he might employ. But he 
 was well aware that he possessed no par- 
 ticular knowledge of the business that 
 had attracted his attention, nor had he 
 the least business experience. Under 
 these circumstances he knew perfectly 
 well that he ran great risk of losing his 
 capital if he engaged in business, and 
 resolved to avail himself, so far as he 
 should be able, of the advice and expe- 
 rience of the shrewd and hard-headed 
 men of affairs. With this idea in his 
 head he sought out among others a cer- 
 tain "Napoleon of the mart" — I think 
 Phil Armour. Of this, however, I am 
 not at this time positive, the newspaper 
 slip giving the account having been 
 mislaid. It was printed in a Chicago daily 
 
 and at the time attracted no attention, 
 Armour's answer, upon which the inter- 
 est of this anecdote hinges, being taken 
 as a mere matter of "business," the at- 
 tention of the general public not having 
 at that time been directed to economic 
 questions. 
 
 As a wealthy man and being armed 
 with the necessary letters of introduc- 
 tion our young friend found no difficulty 
 in approaching Mr. Armour and engag- 
 ing him in conversation. Stating at 
 length his business and his desire for 
 advice Armour replied substantially as 
 follows: 
 
 "Of course," he said, "you will under- 
 stand that I can not give you special ad- 
 vice upon the particular line of manu- 
 facture to which you refer, having had 
 no experience in that direction, nor can 
 I give you special directions which will 
 apply to your individual case. Every 
 thing of that sort must be left to the 
 time and the man. But there are a few 
 general principles which I have found 
 reliable and upon which, doubtless, you 
 may also rely. You will need to em- 
 ploy a good many people; here, likely 
 enough, will be found your greatest 
 stumbling biock, but if you keep one idea 
 clearly in your mind you will be able to 
 surmount all difficulties. It is this: You 
 must employ no one who does not make 
 you more money than you pay him. In 
 short, your employes must make money 
 for you. If you can manage that you 
 will be able to accumulate money. For 
 instance, suppose you engage in man- 
 ufacturing. You must be shrewd in 
 figures and know how to figure out the 
 average value of a day's work. Get 
 right down to business in this; find out 
 what you depend on. If your hands 
 are worth $1.50 to you, as a permanent 
 proposition, you pay them 90 cents and 
 you will be all right; that's the main 
 point." 
 
 Now, tnere is not a particle of doubt 
 in the mind of any business man that 
 this was "good" advice; that is, advice
 
 i8 
 
 POU . 
 
 the iiihii construction. H was bnilt around 
 I yet it an inner court after the oriental fesh« 
 taltng from men and women ion. This innei court, or arcade, was 
 laven roofedovei with glass and made quite a 
 in such a depi dependent us and satisfactory place for tht 
 
 • iorf help them- hotel loungers and for the transaction 
 tan conldthe negroes in chattel of business, <>ne end, or side, was some- 
 D and the power of times occupied by slaves there exhibited 
 money have destroyed the ability of the for sale. One side had a long counter 
 • to employ himself. He 0! bai with polite attendants behind it 
 r; he becomes a who sold fancy drinks and "red liquor." 
 mere machine, a cog in a wheel, which The slaves ixposed for sale attracted 
 iny tune be replaced by idle from me a good deal of attention. In 
 lly take the nearly every case they were arrayed in 
 vacated place. And these idle men are their best and whatever ornament each 
 a ne. rtofthe modern machine possessed was displayed with more or 
 
 for the robbery of labor. For if only a less taste and effect. I remember par- 
 part can find work, humility, cheapness ticularly a lot of about twenty-five or 
 and "thankfulness" on the part of the thirty, of all ages and sizes, and these 
 laborers are very much increased. They were it then seemed to me, the health- 
 are easier For if there are no iest, heartiest and most open-faced lot of 
 unemployed the laborer soon becomes too slaves I had ever seen. The}' were all 
 independent lor the master. He par- brown and light colored people, some of 
 his freedom. But the the girls being quite pretty. The man 
 great employers of labor are too "wise" w:o had them in charge told me that 
 to allow this. Their plan will not they were the best lot of servants he had 
 ithout a reservoir of idle men. ever handled, being the entire lot be- 
 are held as a club over the heads longing to a planter recently deceased 
 of men at work. Knmity between the and now, on this account, offered for 
 two is encouraged. If union men fight sale. A very fine opportunity, he said, 
 'scabs ' the attention of both is taken for obtaining servants that had been 
 from the sources of robbery. And as well raised bv a man who took good 
 there must necessarily be large numbers care of them and brought them up right, 
 of unemployed, in order that industrial He assured me that there was not a 
 thievery may have free course, men are blemish on any one in the lot. After 
 daily deprived of the opportunity to toil this I watched them with more interest 
 and degraded into tramps. Not ex- than ever. I bad, before this, read 
 actly "butchered to make a Roman hoi- "Uncle Tom's Cabin" — t appeared in 
 " but really degraded and beastial- 1S52 — and could not help thinking of 
 tzed, that our false and perjured "civ 1- the sale cf St. Clair's slaves after his 
 ization ' may live; that fashionable tragic death, whenever I locked at them, 
 "dudes' may ruin the daughters of the I do not remember that I spoke to any of 
 poor and their fathers occupy the bald them but whenever a gentleman ap- 
 headed row at the ballet. Great Jove, peared who talked of buying, or exam- 
 where sleep thy thunders; and thy light- ined the lot, if I happened to be near, I 
 will they never strike:' eagerly watched the demeanor of the 
 During my stay iu the South I spent a captives and was quick to notice every 
 month, one winter, in the city of New look and tell tale glance of the eyes. 
 Orleans. I made the old Arcade hotel, Being told, probably, that it would be 
 on Poydras street, my stoppi g place, best for them to look pleasant and jollv 
 The Arcade took its name rom its pe the poor creatures did their best in this
 
 POLITICS 
 
 19 
 
 direction, but it was always a sorry effort. 
 Having been raised together I presume 
 they were mostly related, in one way or 
 another, and so, of course, they we e ex- 
 tremely anxious regarding the disposi- 
 tion to be made of "the lot." Were 
 they o be kept together or should they 
 be separated? This was the constant ter- 
 ro r before their eyes. And one could 
 eas'ly read it in their demeanor and in 
 the replies made to questions asked 
 lhem by prospective purchasers. They 
 were treated with a good deal of c nsid- 
 •eration, and in the conversations be- 
 tween would-be purchasers and the 
 salesman he general y s id, we 1 esire to 
 sell such and fuch strvants together, in 
 fact, we prefer 1 sell all together, or 
 something of that sort. When anything 
 of t :is kind was said t was wonderfully 
 interest ng t)no ethe appealing glances 
 of the slaves. Their heart were in their 
 eyes. O he dep hs of human misery! 
 One day t ey failed to a:pe ir and I saw 
 them no more. What fate befei them I 
 never knew. 
 
 I remember seeing h rd losing, dis 
 j-ipated me 1 examining nd prici g the 
 young women, not only at this time, bu 
 at others B it t en men were forced 
 to pay heavily for th s descripti 1 of 
 i roperty. Now, youn white women, 
 tenderly and affectionately reared, are 
 obtaine 1 very much cheaper. Colored 
 women, in those days had little idea of 
 what we call virtue. They were never 
 disgraced by what we call immorality, 
 they were never bando ed, knew noth- 
 in i of the shame of betrayal and in 
 many instances, no doubt, their condi- 
 tion w s somewhat bett red b ■■ liisons 
 of this cha acter. I do not wish to be 
 u derstood as saying one word in favor 
 of immorality a: any time; I am now 
 co i paring on e il with another and 
 a greater one. Then, young quadroons 
 and ctaroon-; were kept in concubinage, 
 a c n iiti' n whic 1 brough: them n ■ 
 shame or trouble, a condition which wa , 
 an 1 s yet, countenance 1 iy the Oil 
 Testament scriptures. The <, slavery 
 
 carried with i care for the laborer — and 
 the bond-woman. Now, our system de- 
 bau .lies young white women and casts 
 the n forth to suffer tad oi . And our 
 system is chiefly to blame in this mat- 
 ter. The chiefs of police of most of the 
 gr at ities having united in a statement 
 — published a few years ago — that the 
 great and over shadowing cause of pros- 
 titution is the poverty of young women. 
 It is caused by deprivation, nd depri- 
 vation is the necessary and absolutely 
 certain result of h :-ystem built upon the 
 robbery of labor, which we call "civi - 
 zation;" and this systenr'good society," 
 the chnrch and most of t ose who call 
 themselves respectable people, approve 
 and defend. But the deprivation which 
 is defended — the right t j steal by law — 
 is exactly and precisely the "rig t" 
 cliime i by the slave ho der. In his 
 day h • was supported by t'^e lav, by 
 the church and all the preachers, in the 
 South, and— they said — by the Bible. 
 He who refused to belie e was an "in- 
 fidel." An . yet thelegal right to a part 
 of the labor of others, claimed by re- 
 spectable people today who call them- 
 selves Christain is bitter y opposed by 
 the Christianity of Jesus in every word 
 and line of his teaching. And yet men 
 who pretend to represent Him are found 
 to defend the doings against which He 
 launched the b tterest maledic'ions. 
 The scribes and phari-ee* of His day ap- 
 pear again as the wealthy and sancti- 
 monious worshipers of our time. 
 "Whited sepulchers" they are and the 
 " ead men's bon sand all uncle -mness" 
 with vvhic they are filled come from 
 the robbery of "these little ones" whom 
 the Go 1 of Nature and of Justice will 
 surely avenge. 
 
 Capital Versus Labor. 
 
 That eminent thinker John Ruskin 
 says somewhere substantially: "Where- 
 as, it has long beenkn wn and approved 
 that the poor have no r.ght to the prop- 
 erty of the rich; now, therefore, I desire 
 it also to be known and admitted that
 
 POLITICS 
 
 the rich 1-. n bt to the earni 
 
 the p» 
 
 Kuskin here Stated the m .irrow of the 
 
 I the times, the question 
 
 of capital vs. labor, with which the pol- 
 
 of the future must chief! v deal. 
 
 efforta have been, tad will 
 
 •ne to be made, to conceal this 
 
 from tbe minds of the public. Bat t 
 
 will be labor toft, it cannot be longe 
 done. For even the tariff discussion, 
 which it is sought to blind the eyes 
 !" men, is made to hinge upon the in- 
 terests of capitalists upon the one side 
 and the supposed benefits resulting to 
 abor on the o'.her. The time for 'lecep- 
 
 s given, nm .is indicating the 
 reeling! Ol opinion of the writer, for he 
 
 la ill talk "t an appeal to force in 
 this matter as not only unwise and 
 wrong in principle but also as tending 
 to establish a miliary despotism in this 
 
 ry, but simply as a fact indicating 
 the drift of public opinion. And public 
 Opinion in all modern countries is today 
 the real ruling power. Sooner or later 
 the government, even though this be a 
 monarchy, must heed this power behind 
 the throne. And it is curious to note 
 that this general feeling that modern 
 civilization, so called, is shortly to be 
 tried as never before, has taken possess- 
 
 ion of thinking minds everywhere 
 
 ' throughout the earth in direct opp si- 
 
 tion to the urgent efforts of the great 
 
 tion in this country has passed. But 
 men who are perfectly well aware of 
 ive not vet taken the places they 
 will eventually occupy. Business in- 
 terests, the hope of accumulating 
 money, desire to "hold a job," society 
 interests, and the like, prevent men 
 wheie from openly declaring what 
 they know in tneir hearts to be true 
 
 A friend, not long since, engaged a 
 squad of regular army soldiers, at 
 Walla Walla, in conversation desiring to 
 find out how they lo ked at political 
 quest ons and was surprised to find them 
 fully awake to the issues confronting the 
 countr> . "We know perfectly well," 
 said the soldier spokesman, "that the 
 next xreat racket in this country will be 
 between capital and labor, between the 
 rich and t e poor, and we know, too, 
 that the rich are counting on us to fight 
 and kill po,r men for them, but we are 
 all poor men ourselves and they will 
 find themselves mistaken. Of course, 
 at first, when only a mob here and there 
 opposes us we shall have to shoot as di- 
 rected, but there won't be many killed 
 in that way and when the real conflict 
 comes on you will see how it will be." 
 ■ mrades agreed with him, saying 
 that this was the general feeing among 
 the common soldiers, which they took 
 extreme good care to keep from their 
 officers. 
 
 daily presses, the prominent pulpits and 
 the constant teaching of tho-e in offi- 
 cial place and possessed of power and 
 patronage. For all the e and many 
 more, have hooted at the idea of the 
 possibility of any conflict between c ipi- 
 tal and labor, constantly itera'ing and 
 reiterating the statement that the inter- 
 ests of the two are identical. But every- 
 body capable of thought knows that this 
 is not a c >rrect statement, and th mak- 
 ers of it simply destroy their own credi- 
 bility with the intelligent. That is all, 
 'or nobody believes it. Everybody 
 knows that however it may oe with cap- 
 ital and abor, taken abstractly and freed 
 from human relations, that the pecuni- 
 ary interests of t e capitalist and the 
 abor r are as wide apart as the poles. 
 The "interest" of the one is to obtain 
 t e fruits of the laborer's labor without 
 returning him a full equivalent, that is, 
 to obtain somewhat which the laborer 
 has created without paying him for it, 
 or, practically, to hold him in slavery — 
 to a certain extent. This same ' yarn" 
 was constantly dinned into the negro's 
 ears in the days of chattel slavery. He 
 was told every day of the year that he 
 ought to "dig in" and raise as much cot- 
 ton for his master as possible, o that 
 th- master might be able to care for him 
 better, to do more for his comfort, to
 
 POLITICS 
 
 give him more holidays, etc., etc. But 
 although the preachers sang this song to 
 the darkey every Sunday , and his master 
 filled in the rest of the week with the 
 same story, he didn't believe a word of 
 it. Now-a-days white men are found who 
 believe in "protection" — to masters. 
 But the negro knew better. He knew 
 he would only get the usual two suits of 
 cotton stuff, one wool hat, one pair ol 
 shoes in the winter, with the short 
 Christmas holiday and the usual dole of 
 corn meal and bacon. That was all he 
 would get anyhow, and he knew it. The 
 richer a planter got the harder his field 
 hands fared. The negro saw that, and 
 he was smart enough to "catch on." 
 Northern white laborers may suffer in 
 this comparison, but for that I am not 
 to blame. Facts are stubborn things. 
 
 All students now admit Ricardo's 
 "Iron law of wages,;" which is: "Wages 
 constantly tend to the lowest point at 
 which the laborer will consent to labor 
 and propagate his kind." "Wages," in 
 this connection including, of course, the 
 price of agricultural produce. The 
 negro "consented" to labor and propa- 
 gate his kind for the "wages" above 
 enumerated. Of course that prevented 
 white men from getting more for the 
 same kind of labor. Resu t: the mil- 
 lions of "poor white trash," and the de- 
 privation and consequent degradation 
 of humanity. The Chinaman consents 
 to labor for a series of years, without 
 propagating his kind, at a very low rate, 
 and wherever he comes in contact with 
 white labor the result is the same as was 
 the case with chattel slavery. Now, the 
 pressure caused by combination among 
 capitalist, competition among laborers 
 induced by the increase of population, 
 and the enormous weight of money and 
 the constant greed of the capitalist seek- 
 ing to obtain* more and more of the fruits 
 of labor, "for my money" induces men 
 to consent to labor for so small a wage 
 that they and their children are unable 
 to avail themselves of the privileges 
 
 resulting from the enormous advances 
 made by invention, machinery, science 
 and art in the manners and customs of 
 society. Capitalists, bo h large and 
 small, unite in saying that these ad- 
 vances are not for the laborer; that he 
 and his children and his children's chil- 
 dren, must content them elves on the 
 meagre possibilities of the past; that he 
 and his kind must not think of these 
 things, must give them up to the capi- 
 talist and be content to labor for him, 
 even though it be kno.vn that all this 
 advance, all this invention, all thh ma- 
 chinery, and nearly all the science and 
 art come from the toil, both manual and 
 mental, of men harrassed and weighted 
 down by poverty. These are the fruits 
 of labor — of hand or brain. The capi- 
 talist has create 1 none of these things, 
 and yet he not onlv claims them but 
 assumes "the right" to prevent other 
 men from enjoying the fruits of their 
 own labor, and proposes by means of 
 the collection of rent, interest and profit 
 to continually and forever absorb the 
 fruits of labor. 
 
 . He thus denies and rejects the founda- 
 tion stones of Christianity. The broth- 
 erhood of man he theoretically admits, 
 but denies in practice. Doing unto 
 others as he would have them do to him 
 he utterly repudiates, for he says, prac- 
 tically, that the laborer must not con- 
 sider himself in the same class with the 
 capitalist. He creates two classes, in his 
 mind, and denies the Christian obliga- 
 tion of the golden rule as existing be- 
 tween the two. This was exactly and 
 precisely what the southern slaveholder 
 did. 
 
 During my stay at the Arcade hotel, 
 spoken of in the preceding chapter, I 
 made the acquaintance of a nice old man 
 of color who acted as waiter in the din- 
 ing room. The hotel was run upon 
 "the Europe m plan," I think, and' 
 guests strolled into the refectory at any 
 time that suited their convenience 
 There never was a crowd at any time
 
 POLITICS 
 
 and t-.ii.-h was enabled to le:-urel\ while 
 
 hour if hi It mi hap 
 
 : th.it it fell t > the lot of the old 
 
 man referred to to wait upon me; a small 
 
 gratoitj made him my friend and when- 
 
 i axed he made i eery effort to 
 
 >et\e me, Standing very respectfully at 
 the hack of my chair while 1 was en- 
 
 I at tlu ta< le. A certain peculiarity 
 in my diet made tl e old man think that 
 possibly I " ight be a Virginian, and so 
 one day after seeing that all my wants 
 
 were supplied I esaid, speaking in a very 
 low tone so that no one in the room 
 might hear: "Young marster is you turn 
 ole Virginny?" 
 
 'No, ancle, Baid 1; what made you 
 think foV 
 
 "Wy."' sai>l he, you alius wants de 
 
 bread wiv you coffee, and dat de 
 way (ley <lid in Virginny, and I fought 
 vou might be ram dar, in mebbe you 
 cum fum near de place whar I was 
 bohn." 
 
 the old man proc.eded in the most 
 respectful and beseeching manner to 
 relate his experience I became greatly 
 interested. He told me that be had been 
 sold away from Virginia mor • than 
 thirty years before. He was a young 
 man then He was parted from his wife 
 and children, and though long years 
 had | ■ r had he heard one word 
 
 from them, nor had he met any one who 
 could tell him anything of them, and 
 so in the hope o heari g of them he 
 
 :uestioned me. Poor old in n. Hi-, 
 heart was in his voice. Lonely, old, far 
 from the scenes of his yootb, he was 
 withont h pe - r j >y in life. II 
 speaking to me from the back of my 
 chair, bnt becoming inlereste I in hi-. 
 patbetic story I turned partly around to 
 look at him. Hifl lip quivered ami the 
 tears chased one another down his c leek. 
 What help was there lor him? None, 
 none; nothing could be done for him. 
 Abandoned of man and bereft, as he 
 e^i^of^^GocL__his sorrows 
 
 And yet thi- man's physical wants 
 were well supplied, he was neatly 
 dressed, he was a good waiter, his w rk 
 omparatively light and he was cer- 
 tain of a support through life and a de- 
 cent burial at the close. What more, 
 thought the master, could he askr 
 
 Is the case not the same today with 
 the capitalist and the laborei ' It is 
 written that "man lives not by bread 
 alone but by every word that proceedeth 
 ou'. of the mouth of God;" that is, the 
 life 01 man comes rom those ennobling 
 influences which proceed from the 
 Spirit of Good. The pursuit of happi- 
 ness is the occupation of ^11 men and 
 women. It is true that cue seeks it in 
 one way amd another in another, but 
 this is the business of every man's life, 
 ;orce I upon him by the constitution of 
 his mind from which he cannot escape. 
 That a man be a man it is absolutely 
 necessary that he be able to hope in the 
 future, for when hope is gone man is 
 degraded into a devil. Some small gain 
 in one direction or another must be his. 
 The true interest of the laborer — as is 
 the case with al! — in pels him to secure, 
 if he can, an advance in the mental, 
 social and material affairs of life; to 
 make of himself the most possible. 
 Every intelligent man, every religious 
 man, knows perfectly well that the voice 
 of Gcd is heard, at some time during a 
 man's life within his heart urging him 
 to "come up higher"; he knows that 
 this God-given desire is the foundation 
 of all social and moral improvement 
 among men, and he knows, too, that it 
 will be impossible for the laborer to heed 
 this call unless he is first able to make 
 gain above his constantly recurring 
 physical wants. The first step in mental 
 advance is some degree at least of mate- 
 rial comfort. Jesus fed the multitude 
 first, afterward he preached to it. The 
 capitalist, through the modern plan of 
 combination among masters and compe- 
 tition among laborers, proposes by 
 practical deprivation, in the manner 
 heretofore described, to prevent the la-
 
 POLITICS 
 
 23 
 
 fellows, from obtaining just and proper 
 control over his own labor. Having 
 done this he reduces the wages of labor, 
 which by means of the advance of in- 
 vention and the presence of the unem- 
 ployed he is enabled to do, thus pre- 
 venting the reasonable and proper aspi- 
 rations of the laborer for himself and his 
 children from ever being realized. The 
 question at issue between the capitalist 
 and the laborer is not only a p litical 
 one but it is in a most eminent degree a 
 moral and a religious one It is the 
 question of the ages; the devilish power 
 of greed against the rising claims of 
 humanity; an irrepressible conflict, upon 
 which wait the hopes and aspirations of 
 men; for until it is settled, and settled 
 as it should be, moral development in 
 the world is at an end. The multitude 
 must first be fed. But the capitalist will 
 claim to the end that he has "aright" 
 to some portion of the laborer's product, 
 for if he could not possess himself of it 
 he himself would be obliged to labor, 
 and to this he is opposed. 
 
 But for the laborer no hope appears — 
 while he remains a laborer. The capi- 
 talist, and the apologists for capitalism, 
 tell him that They say: "Work, save, 
 collect interest from some other laborer. 
 Get some form of legal advantage over 
 men poorer and more dependent than 
 yourself; do as we have done, do any- 
 thing to get out o 1 the position of a la- 
 borer; then you may hope, but not oth- 
 erwise." 
 
 And this too, was often told the ne- 
 gro. Trusty negroes, in the towns, were 
 often allowed to hire their own time, 
 and if by book or crook they were able 
 to earn more it was their own. Some, 
 in this way bought themselves, but 
 many tried to do this where few suc- 
 ceeded, Now, the pressure of capitalism 
 upon white labor is already so great that 
 the opportunity of the white to free him- 
 self is little better, if any, than was that 
 of the black bondman in the past. 
 
 hope, are looking to the future with fear 
 and dread. Despair is taking hold upon 
 the masses as never before in this coun- 
 try. They see that if things are to 
 remain as they are that they have no 
 hope in the world. To assist, to uphold, 
 to encourage men, to help, in some 
 small measure, at least, in removing the 
 evils of the time is surely the noblest 
 work which can engage the human 
 mind. And yet if a mau engage in an 
 inquiry into the causes of the monumen- 
 tal injustice of the present, and make 
 known the result, immediately most 
 receivers of the stolen goods of the 
 laborer spew upon him their envenomed 
 slime. 
 
 Jesus, the first great labor reformer, 
 said: "Ye cannot serve God and mam- 
 mon." But most of those who profess to 
 follow him are, practically and in fact, 
 engaged in an attempt to prove him a 
 liar. 
 
 The Labor Question. 
 
 Thus far the argument stated in these 
 chapters is to the effect that wealth, the 
 power of money, or mammonism, which 
 is the controlling force of the present 
 day and time, is engaged in the effort 
 and attempt to secure power over labor 
 by deprivation, which necessarily re- 
 sults in the degradation of humanity. 
 Many, no doubt, who have followed 
 thus far will refuse to assent to this 
 rather plain statement of the case. They 
 will say that it is not the desire, or in- 
 tent, of the accumulators of money to 
 decrease the opportunities, enjoyed by 
 the common herd. But that this is the 
 result and the absolutely necessary and 
 certain result, of all their actions admits 
 of no dispute. For if we look carefully 
 at the matter we see that the power of 
 money depends entirely for its force 
 upon the absence of monej'in the pocket 
 of him it is desired to influence. If all 
 were possessed of an abundance none 
 would be found to perform menial ser- 
 vice. The necesities of the poor form
 
 
 POLITICS 
 
 money mej h.ivc power, It is essential 
 
 that Ktme be without it and desire it. 
 [J we rapp e* •> condition <>| -ooietv in 
 
 which ever] member thereof ii possessed 
 
 of houses .unl lends, Bocks and herds 
 end all the attribute* endbelongingi 
 vast estate, we shall at once see that 
 
 r of one man over another [fl ab- 
 -ent. It no longer exists. If the holder 
 of all this wealth desires work to In- 
 done he must himself perform the labor; 
 for those to whom he might apply 
 would also desire him to lahor for them. 
 If each possessed, under these circum- 
 stances, an equal amount of gold it 
 would then be discovered that its pur- 
 chasing power had largely disappeared 
 
 The final results of an equality of 
 riches is to force all to labor in some 
 useful capacity. Rather than starve the 
 holder of the vast estate we have spoken 
 of would plough his own field and dig 
 his own garden. But if we suppose, 
 still farther, some great convnlsion of 
 nature by means of which large numbers 
 of these same wealthy landed proprie- 
 tors lose their possessions and are re- 
 duced to poverty, they are then forced 
 to apply to those who have not so lost 
 their wealth for employment. Imme- 
 diately, wealth in the hands of the few, 
 which when possessed by all had lost its 
 force, reg.ins its power. It has now 
 power over labor. Before it had not. 
 And its power in this instance, as in all 
 others, depends upon the necessities and 
 the poverty of the many. Without this 
 poverty, without these necessitief, it 
 1 lose its power to oppress. Hence 
 the prevailing desire on the part of mam- 
 
 Still, in spite of all that has been, or 
 can be said, it is probable that most of 
 mj capitalistic readers will refuse to be- 
 lieve themselves engaged in the work of 
 depriving and degrading their brothers 
 and sisters of the human family, or, if 
 compelled to see that this is the certain 
 result of their actions and their lives,, 
 they will, it is likely, shield themselves, 
 in their own minds, behind the laws and 
 permissions of society. But for these 
 laws and permissions it still remains 
 th it each is personally responsible. 
 Whoever assists in upholding these laws 
 and these conditions is responsible, so 
 far as his individuality is concerned, for 
 the known and certain results. Many a 
 high born and well bred lady dares not 
 think of the horrors of the slaughter 
 house. In fact, most people look with 
 honor upon the brutalities there en- 
 acted, and yet but for the patronage of 
 the wealthy and the cultivated and the 
 generous by far the larger share of this 
 carnage wou'd cease. Wealth pays for 
 "the best cuts." It makes the business 
 profitable. It furnishes the incentive. 
 The high born dame, during the course 
 of her life, destroys many lives. Her 
 riot causes the lamb to bleed and die. 
 In like manner the demands of her sen- 
 sitive and perverted nature, in many 
 ways, which it is not necessary here to 
 specify, cause the deprivation, the deg- 
 radation, the sorrow and the misery of 
 many members of the human family. 
 Indeed she will not be content unless 
 they are deprived. They must not as- 
 pire to equal "their betters." Now these 
 conditions, this deprivation, this degra- 
 dation, this vast misery into which hu- 
 
 monism, capitalism, the money power 
 
 or whatever name be used to express the ™ anit y in the ma ss is plunged are the 
 
 prevailing power of wealth, to deprive 
 
 others of wealth, to deprive others of 
 the good things of life. (For the illus- 
 tration of the estates I am indebted to 
 that eminent thinker John Ruskin and 
 I am glad in this connection to com- 
 
 plain and certain results of the laws and 
 regulations of society. These laws and 
 regulations are made and enforced or 
 repealed and modified by political com- 
 binations, and in no other way. Hence 
 the consideration of all efforts to per- 
 mamently improve the condition of so- 
 
 mend to all lovers of truth the works of ciety is the legitimately subject and ob- 
 to great a man. ) ject of politcal combination. This is po-
 
 POLITICS 
 
 25 
 
 itics — "the science of government." 
 
 Once upon a time during the earlier 
 part of my life at the South I received 
 an invitation from the young ladies of a 
 certain family to attend a merry-making 
 at their house. I was told that the oc- 
 casion was the marriage of a young qua- 
 droon house servant, the favorite wait- 
 ing maid of one of the white ladies. On 
 account of the fact that she was a favor- 
 ite her marriage was to take place in 
 "ole misstis" best room and was to be 
 preceeded by a general jolification, eat- 
 ing of sweet meats, ice cream, and the 
 like by the "white folks," the house 
 servants and a few invited guests, both 
 white and colored. The invited colored 
 people coming only from the specially 
 favored ranks of the house servants of 
 the near vicinity. I suppose I can say 
 that upon this occasion I was a favored 
 guest. I went early and in company 
 with the young white ladies of the house 
 watched with great interest the pecu- 
 liar actions of the colored people. For 
 the time they were the honored guests. 
 The occasion was theirs. And it 
 was just such a time as the apologists 
 for slavery would have chosen to pre- 
 sent the beauties of "the peculiar institu- 
 tion." Although the white people kept 
 a little to themselves there was a con- 
 stant mingling of white and black in the 
 festivities. All the slaves were quite 
 tastefully dressed in the scarcely worn 
 cast-off finery cf their masters and mis- 
 tresses and the greatest good nature pre- 
 vailed. Indeed, it used to be said in 
 Jackson that on Sunday the black peo- 
 ple out-dressed the whites, and if bright 
 colors be taken into the account I pre- 
 sume this was true. I remember that I 
 carried there from Boston a pair of, 
 then, fashionable $12 pants, very large 
 plaid, black and dark green. Our older 
 people will remember that a short time 
 previous to the late war large plaids 
 and fancy colors were "the proper 
 thing." It was even said tha* plaids so 
 large were used that two men must 
 
 stand side by side to show the pattern. 
 In those days of slower communication 
 fashions also were somewhat slow in 
 making their way to the West and 
 South. So, it happened that when I 
 arrived in Jackson with those black and 
 green plaids they just took the eye — of 
 the niggers. "Boys will be boys," you 
 know. However, I hadn't been in the 
 Southern capital a week before I had at 
 least a dozen applications for "dose pants, 
 wen you gets done wiv em." I. can't re- 
 member what I did with them but I 
 don't think I kept them long. They 
 were too conspicuous there. 
 
 But to the marriage: After an hour 
 or two of innocent rollicking fun the 
 bride and groom "stood up" in the best 
 room, the white folks were given seats 
 of honor upon one side and the colored 
 people crowded the other sides and ev- 
 er}' door and window with smiling and 
 expectant faces. I th n, for the first 
 time, bethought me of the preacher and 
 asked one of the ladies of the house who 
 was to officiate. "Oh," she said, ''Jim 
 can do that; this is a negro wed ling you 
 know." I had not been long in the 
 South at the time and was immensely 
 taken back, for Jim was a slave and the 
 plantation clown and maker of jokes 
 and songs. I was amazed that the la- 
 dies of the house, ladies of the highest 
 "quality," church members and perfect 
 patterns of propriety in all matters re- 
 lating to white society should thus make 
 a mock of the marriage relation. But 
 they did, all the same. Jim was called 
 in and went through a rigmarole in- 
 tended only to "make fun.' The ne. 
 groes laughed but I could see little to 
 amuse in his gyrations. After the "mar- 
 riage" the negroes adjourned to "the 
 quarters" and, it was said, danced all 
 night. 
 
 These ladies assisted in the degrada- 
 tion of their sisters and their sex with- 
 out, I suppose, the slightest compunc- 
 tion of conscience, and so do ladies 
 today as clearly and as openly as then.
 
 POLITICS 
 
 itly iterated and ought to be -ii>U- to combine in ordei I i 
 "advanl is control it; but do, this will not be al- 
 ,. t. lowed and the courts are set in uio- 
 thatit saved the white women from tion to deprive, in order that humanity 
 ••;,„• Colored women wen- may be degraded and the relative posi- 
 re, white women wen- tion and power of the capitalist be en- 
 tile degradation of larged and increased. 
 
 ul tiling. This Lt has been well said that one maybe 
 
 the argument Unchristian, im- placed bo near to a cathedral that he is 
 
 moral ami ridiculous one might truth- not able to behold it. His eyes see only 
 
 tullv • is the sole and only a block of stone. So today we are so 
 
 lay in support of close to the labor question that without 
 
 • we euphoniously call our "clvili- divesting our minds of the powerful 
 
 sation." Pn om toil ami his- claims of self-interest it is impossible 
 
 ure to think an said to he the first steps for many to heboid the immense impor- 
 
 ment, therefore, tanee of this question and its answer, 
 
 must hd>or more, that others be that greatest socialistic utterance ever 
 
 "saved" from toil. This is the ar_;u- promulgated "Do unto others as ye 
 
 ment. get it from whom you will, would that they should do unto you," 
 
 whether it be the chancellor of a uiii- for if this were put into practice an end 
 
 ignorant millionaire. They woud be made to the chief and princi- 
 
 know perfectly well that the imperative pal endeavor of mammonism, now the 
 
 command of nature, addressed to all ruling religion of the day, to deprive 
 
 mankind, to labor — "In the sweat of and degrade humanity. 
 
 face shalt thou eat bread"— is man- Organized labor, too, has its motto.'"An 
 
 datory upon all and that no man ever injury to one is the concern of all." In 
 
 rer will escape it without, in sentiment, intent, and meaning it is 
 
 some way. throwing upon others the identical with the saying of Jesus, and 
 
 burden of his snpport. Thus, the effort vet witness , he hitterness with which 
 
 Of life being to secure advantage over IIis pro f e ssed followers in the ranks of 
 
 <— "> lhls feloilio « s capitalism, or mammonism, assail the 
 
 attempt is possible without our own in- , , , , . .,. .« . . . ,, , 
 
 ' • , , , . , men who hold to it, as anarchists and 
 
 crease, provided others be deprived. If . ,. . - L . ., 
 
 raz .. , . socialists; for so ignorant are thev that 
 
 it be made twice as difficult for others to . , . . . , 
 
 in our dollars the value of our »' their eyes one term is as applicable 
 monev has been doubled. That this is aud as opprobrious as the other. Scarcely 
 the effort of men all careful students are less bltter is the °PP°sition of the mam- 
 forced to admit, for conceal it as we moists to the motto of the People's 
 
 from Other*— and from ourselves— party, "Kqual rights to all and special 
 
 theei :n of all "riches" is power privileges to none"— substantially the 
 
 over men, power to control them for our same in meaning. For, instinctively, 
 
 advantage. At bottom this is what is though ignorantly, it is recognized that 
 
 sought, and this object is more readily somebody, some men, some class, must 
 
 gained by the decrease of the opportun- be deprived and degraded that the im- 
 
 of others than by the increase of portance and illicit gains of mammon- 
 
 our own. Hence this is the direction ism be not decreased, 
 
 generally taken by men who would be And this deprivation is the immediate 
 
 rich. As an instance take the recent cause and Darent of most of tQe eyil 
 
 attempt to destroy organized labor. One now crying for remedy in the wodd Jn 
 
 would think that as his labor was the England it has been proved by carefully 
 
 sole capital of the poor man that he collected statistics that crime steadily
 
 POLITICS 
 
 27 
 
 increases with the price of bread. Stu- lowed, the usual wreck, the usual ruin, 
 
 dents of penology all know that poverty the usual despair. Society will vent 
 
 is the greatest single cause of crime, its impotent spleen upon the poor vic- 
 
 Deprive a boy at home of innocent en- tim. Already the principal sufferer, it 
 
 joyment and if given an opportunity he will add its heartless reproacbes to her 
 
 "paints the town red." Deprive a girl sorrow. Churchianity will speak of the 
 
 in like manner and you have taken the guilt of the seducer — and receive him 
 
 first steps in tbe manufacture of a harlot, with open arms to its levees. The evo- 
 
 The horrors of the French revolution lutionist will sigh, tell us of the survival 
 
 came as the necessary result of the aw- of the fittest, but offer no hope, no so- 
 
 fnl subjection and deprivation of ''the lution. For us it is left to declare that 
 
 third estate - ' endured for years in sil- the creators of the conditions surround- 
 
 ence. Human nature is like the pen- ing humanity, the High Priests of Mam- 
 
 dulum; if swung to one side it will rush mon, ae chiefly to blame. Comrades 
 
 'toward the other. let us pursue them to the end. Their 
 
 The other day a friend told me the methods shall be exposed. 
 
 sad history of a young girl in Seattle. 
 
 Her father was a farmer, forced by the The Rights of Man. 
 hardness of the times to deny his fam- The competitive system, or the war of 
 ily. Hard work, long hours and poor business, is slowly dying. The trusts 
 fare tell the story. Debt and the pay- have shown us the way of deliverance, 
 ment of interest money swallowed all. Combination and mutual agreement 
 Home under these circumstances had will finally take the place of the present 
 little charm for her. Her parents were predatory warfare. But in place of the 
 not unkind but the necessities of their P reseUt syndicates and combines con- 
 situation were so exacting that little trolling the vital energies of the nation, 
 room was left for sentiment or a display 
 
 of affection. 
 
 But knowledge to their eyes her ample page 
 
 Rich with the spoils of time did ne'er unroll. 
 Chill penury repressed their noble rage 
 
 And froze the genial current of the soul. 
 
 and sapping its life, must stand the 
 whole body of the people. Then peace 
 and contentment will prevail and the 
 pursuit of rational happiness be possi- 
 ble to all. A new order, a new 
 age, a new world, will have been 
 
 To Seattle she came, hoping for that born and the Christ that is yet to reign 
 
 'chance in life," that ability to pursue in the hearts of men will become a pres- 
 
 happiness which is the birthright of ent realit y- Back - then > to the owls and 
 
 bats with the night of the wretched 
 
 every child of humanity. Great God 
 why is it denied to any? Half starved 
 mentally and supplied by nature with 
 that fatal embellishment, beauty, small 
 space of time had passed until she met 
 a man who seemed to her immature and 
 unfurnished mind the personification of 
 every noble quality. He promised ev- 
 
 past, the age of competition and 
 hate and war. All hail! the coming day 
 of peace on earth and good will to man! 
 Speed the time of deliverance and of 
 hope! Help! for the hard-pressed and 
 the sorrowing. "These little ones" de- 
 mand our aid. For in this work of as- 
 sistance he who hesitates is lost and he 
 
 erything, loaded her with presents and w i 10 doubts is damned. 
 
 awoke within her heart the divine pass- 
 ion. Her life should no longer be the 
 dull and cheerless tbing it had been. 
 New visions came and hope, that day- 
 star of the heart, arose and flooded all 
 with mellow light. 
 
 Alas, poor child, the usual result fol- 
 
 Behold this was the iniquity of thy sister 
 Sodom: pride, fulness of bread and prosperous 
 ease was in her and in her daughter: neither 
 did she strengthen the hands of the poor and 
 needy.— Ezekiel 16:49. 
 
 Let us once more very briefly examine 
 the foundations upon which we as hu- 
 man beings stand in this world of ours.
 
 POM L'ICS 
 
 thei men have from nature, 
 
 d inherent, <>r nat- 
 ■ make, in pa 
 . the nature of man; they are in- 
 ible from him. To circurm 
 or deny them, in whole or in part, de- 
 • partially the man. And 
 inscribed or denied 
 tible and justice an idle 
 The Aniri na Chart.i 
 
 clear'. 
 
 ideal that 
 I 
 
 n Inalienable 
 llbei i> and 
 the pa 
 
 men. 
 
 Jeffe ntal Con- 
 
 thus built upon the only true foun- 
 
 :. the inherent ami imprescripti- 
 
 >( humanity. Whatever in- 
 
 is wrong, and 
 
 not o hut void, and hence not 
 
 the moral sense of society, 
 
 aid he. For, surely, 
 
 no ar. needed to prove that if 
 
 are denied natural, that is, God 
 
 rder, security ami 
 
 ral happiness, to make no mention 
 
 -sible among intel- 
 
 pecting people. To 
 
 r fortify this important position, 
 
 this foundation of right among men, to 
 
 That man's authority for existence 
 
 dm to happiness rests upon 
 
 : 1 natural law — the hand of 
 
 een by man — and that the de- 
 
 by men of these laws of God is the 
 
 n of all political disturbance, let us 
 
 refer to that grand declaration of the 
 
 men and of citizens, issued by 
 
 the National Assembly of France in 
 
 : the people of France, 
 
 sidering 
 
 cglect or contempt of human 
 
 public misfortunes 
 
 ent, have !■ 
 
 declaration those natural 
 
 lienable rights, and do 
 
 recognize re, in the presence 
 
 of thi Being and with the 
 
 hope -ing and favor the following 
 
 sacTed rights of men and of citizen 1 - ' 
 
 I— Men are born and always con 
 tinue free and equal i: .! their rights. 
 
 Civil distinctions, therefore, can only be 
 founded upon public utility. 
 
 ii The end of all political Basociationa iv the 
 
 Iptible 
 righta .ii liberty property, security and re 
 gUtani 1 Ion, 
 
 fefTerson tells us, in the Declaration, 
 that governments are instituted to se- 
 cure these natural rights. Practically, 
 and truthfully, be says that unless these 
 rights are secured, to the weakest and 
 the humblest, that governments have 
 DO mural right to exist. 
 
 Of these statements of Jefferson that 
 greatest American, Abraham Lincoln, 
 wrote the following whole-hearted and 
 grand endorsement: 
 
 Springfield, Illinois. Api il 
 
 To Messrs. Henry I, Tierce, and others. 
 
 Gentlemen— Your kind note inviting me to 
 attend 8 festival in Boston on the 13th instant. 
 in honor of the birthday of Thomas Jefferson 
 was duly received. My engagements are such 
 that 1 cannot attei.d. 
 
 * * * * 
 
 It is now no childs play to save the princi- 
 Jefferson from total overthrow in this 
 nation. One would state with great confidence 
 that he could convince any sane child that the 
 simpler propositions of Euclid are true: but. 
 nevertheless, he would fail with one who should 
 deny the definitions and axioms. The princi- 
 ples of Jefferson are the definitions of free so- 
 ciety. And yet they are denied or evaded with 
 no small show of success. One dashingly calls 
 them glittering generalities; another styles 
 them self-evident lies, and another insidiously 
 argues that they apply only to superior races. 
 -Mil- differing in form are identi- 
 cal in object and effect — the supplanting the 
 principles of free government— and restoring 
 those of classification, caste and legitimacy. 
 They would delight a convocation of crowned 
 plotting against the people. They are 
 the vanguards, the sappers and miners of re- 
 turning despotism. We must repulse them, or 
 they will subjugate us. This is a world of con- 
 pensations and he who would be no slave must 
 consent to have no slave. Those who deny free- 
 dom to others, deserve it not for themselves, 
 and under a just God they cannot long retain it. 
 
 All honor to Jefferson — to the man who in the 
 concrete pressure of a struggle for national in- 
 dependence by a single people, had the coolness, 
 forecast and capacity to introduce into a merely 
 revolutionary document an abstract truth ap- 
 plicable to all men and all times, and soem- 
 balm it there that to day and in all coming days 
 it shall be a stumbling block to the harbingers 
 of reappearing tyranny and oppression. Your 
 obedient servan*, A. Lincoln. 
 
 But what are these "inalienable 
 rights?" We are told that "among these 
 are life, liberty and the pursuit of hap- 
 piness." They are not fully and explic-
 
 POLITICS 
 
 19 
 
 itly stated. For, it must be manifest to eminent." No student will deny this, 
 all, it was impracticable to include in The pages of history are full of corrob- 
 what Lincoln calls "a merely revolution- oration. In fact, it is the one lesson of 
 ary document" a full statement embrac- the past to which there is no exception, 
 ing the rights of men upon this earth. The downfall of a nation has invaribly 
 But this is plain: If men have certain been preceded by the exactions and un- 
 natural rights they are also by nature's positions of a favored class. The nat- 
 law fully entitled to whatever is given ural rights of men were ignored, neg- 
 by uature essental to the preservation lected or condemned. Then came the 
 of those rights. If men receive from end. And the end was the natural and 
 God the right to life they also have from righteous judgment of God against those 
 Him the full title and patent to such who thus broke the laws of nature; and 
 
 natural opportunities — provisions of na- 
 ture — as are essential to that life while 
 it lasts. Air is essential to life. To deny 
 it is to destroy life. If men are enti- 
 tled to liberty, whatever nature — or God 
 — has given to the race necessary and 
 essential to liberty is also included in 
 the grant. If the right to pursue happi- 
 ness is inherent in man; if it is a gift of 
 
 in this both human and divine nature 
 are included, tor both are equally the 
 will of God. 
 
 Blackstone tells us in his principles of 
 law that all statute laws in contraven- 
 tion of divine or natural law are void. 
 He also tells us that all valid law is 
 based upon that natural and instinctive 
 apprehension of justice which finds uni- 
 
 the Creator, then whatever the Creator versal lodgement in the heart of man. 
 
 has provided for all mankind which is To this let us turn. if we suppose a 
 
 essential to that pursuit belongs also to company of people to be wrecked and 
 
 every child born into the world, by right cast upon a hitherto undiscovered island 
 
 divine. All this needs no proof. For, in the midst of the sea we shall shortly 
 
 every man knows that the right to life arrive in our minds at an understanding 
 
 is denied if air be withheld. And so of of the rights which each one of this corn- 
 
 other essentials not here specified. But 
 these essentials are not in anywise the 
 creation of man. Hence, men can not 
 rightfully claim to "own" them. "All 
 men," said Jefferson, ''are endowed by 
 their Creator" with these rights. They 
 came by the fiat of God from the womb 
 of Nature, the common mother of us all. 
 Wealth belongs to him who creates it; 
 but natural opportunities were not cre- 
 
 pany would have upon the island. And, 
 first, this would appear to be a right not 
 only to life but also to whatever existed 
 upon the island necessary to its preser- 
 vation. Each has a right to 
 apply his labor to existing nat- 
 ural opportunities. He would have 
 a right to fish in the sea, to cultivate the 
 soil for the support of himself and those 
 dependent upon him and to use what- 
 
 ated by man and hence can never light- ever coal . stone or timber the island af- 
 fully be the sole and separate property forded absolutely necessary to warm 
 
 of man. The right to use only is given. 
 Thirteen years after the issuance of 
 our Declaration the wise men of France 
 not only restated the rights of men as 
 "liberty, security, property and resis- 
 tance of oppression," but they also, still 
 further, stated the self evident fact, 
 "that ignorance, neglect or contempt of 
 human rights are the sole causes of pub- 
 
 and shelter them. To this extent his 
 title or natural light would be ample. 
 To all these things no one could have a 
 greater right than any other. And these 
 rights exist only when exercised. No* 
 man could then say, as Henry George 
 has said, that he did not wish to apply 
 his labor to land but the time would 
 never arrive when he should cease to 
 demand his share of the proceeds of the 
 
 lie misfortunes and corruptions of gov- labor of others when applied to land
 
 POLITICS 
 
 Should one undertake to d«> Ihia be tag the size "i their fields and the 
 n bit true light as a amount and number oi their products. 
 mot ind simple, and the After a time, having settled, or built 
 people of the island would make Bhort bouses and cleared fields, in various 
 ons. parts of the island engaged in the pro- 
 there would be, there could he, duction of various crops and products, 
 the colonists. Bach exchange of products, or trade, gradu- 
 among them would ■ ,11 > comes to OCCUpy a constantly in- 
 wd to the erection of such houses, creasing importance. This calls for the 
 shelters as they might I e building of roads and the erection of 
 or willing to construct. Later, bridges, some primitive form of money, 
 lid he made and if DOS' "»' evidence of debt, and filially, per- 
 l plants, cultivation baps, the establishment of a system by 
 or the soil would he begun. Certain lo- means of which information or tness- 
 tgreed upon as the ages may be conveyed from one part of 
 working places or fields of each worker, the island to another. Now when all 
 The right, in Ibis way, to use the soil these are established and in full opera- 
 would be immediately and universally tion, if each is free and secure in the 
 conceded as based upon the "natural possession of what he has created, it 
 instinctive apprehension of justice." will appear, I think, that the inhabitants 
 Hut no claims to individual ownership oft e island are in full possession of 
 would be set up for all would recognize their natural rights. The statement of 
 the fact that their stay upon the island, these natural rights may be still further 
 until rescued, might be very short, simplified by saying that these consist 
 Nothing, however, would hinder the in the right to life, liberty and security 
 peoole from "swapping," trading or, in- in the possession of property, the right 
 deed, giving up altogether locations to apply labor to natural opportnities 
 previously assigned and "improved" or for self support, and the right to ex- 
 labored upon. Some one of the com- change freely the products of labor, 
 pany may have built a boat and estab- whether of hand or brain, subject in 
 lished a fisherv, exchanging with the each instance to the equal rights of 
 land workers the products of toil, and others. These are natural rights, all 
 for this boat one might sell his "claim." others are artificial and conventional. 
 The exchange would be equitable, but In the settlement of the rival claims of 
 for his boat the owner would only re- labor and capital it is imperative that 
 ceive "a claim," not the land itself and these natural rights be preserved 
 he could only hold it by living and labor- a »d maintained unimpaired to 
 ing upon it. Otherwise his title, which a11 - bolh ui 8 h an(i low . rich 
 comes from his necessities, lapses. One and P oor > great and small. For 
 could scarcely claim pay for the excess nothing can be a settlement, nothing 
 of air which the laborer uses because of can be right, which denies or circum- 
 ... e . , , , scribes these natural, or God given, 
 his abor. So, he who refuses to apply ; ... fm .,' ., s 
 
 ri j rights of man upon the earth. 
 
 his labor to land is barre 1 from de- what "the natural and instinctive ap- 
 
 manding from the agricultural labor any prehension of justice" would dictate in 
 
 portion of his produce. "He that will this direction, if given opportunity, 
 
 not work neither shall he eat." forms the subject of the next chapter. 
 
 As time passes, if the peopie of the The Beginning of Evil. 
 
 island are not rescued, they gradually If we suppose time to pass and the 
 
 im; rove their condition by the erection population of our island toincrease.it 
 
 of more commodious houses, by increas- will probably be found that events pro-
 
 POLITICS 
 
 3i 
 
 <ceed much after the following fashion: questionable. The price cf salt is now 
 After a time the inhabitants become high, and the ability of the "propri- 
 measurably satisfied with their condi- etors" to take from the islanders the 
 tion, and most of those born upon the <"ruits of labor is almost unlimited, 
 island regard it as much the best place If any objection is made the objecton 
 to live in all the world, discounting, in is told that he is a disturber of the rights 
 their minds, the stories of the elders in of private property; that the accumula- 
 regard to other lands: Aud even these, tion of property is the incentive to pro- 
 having finally and with much labor sub- gress aud improvement; that without it 
 
 dued the wilderness, cultivated fields, 
 built houses and established industries, 
 cannot bring themselves to leave the 
 property thus created when given an op- 
 
 men would speedily lapse into savagery 
 and degradation. Civilization, they will 
 tell him, like everything else of value, 
 costs something. So, in order to secure 
 
 portunity to do so by the arrival of ships the benefits aud blessings of civilization 
 
 and the establishment of communica- something must be paid. The theory 
 
 tion with the rest of the world, advanced being that on entering upon 
 
 Ouite early in the history of the the establishment of government each 
 
 island it might be discovered by citizen gives up certain rights for the 
 
 one of the company that a certain shal- benefit of society. This is the price he 
 
 low pool near the shore — the only one of pays — the cession to the community of a 
 
 the kind upon the island — filled with sea portion of his natural right. This is the 
 
 water at high tide through a narrow in- theory upon which government is now 
 
 let, might be readily and easily dammed based, but it is the convenient hook up- 
 
 at the inlet so as to prevent the escape on which is hung wrong, injustice and 
 
 of the water. The rays of the sun, he deprivation, with its attendant degrada- 
 
 reasons, will be sufficient to evaporate tion. The results are before us in the 
 
 the water, leaving a deposit of salt, 
 which being removed and the dam 
 opened for the admission of more water. 
 a salt manufactory is established. Ac- 
 
 world. Progress is attended by poverty; 
 and the greater the progress of the few 
 deeper and more bitter becomes the 
 poverty of the many. The larger the 
 
 cordingly he "takes his claim" along city and the greater its advantages, to 
 
 side the pool, dams the inlet and shortly the few, the more hideous the degreda- 
 
 has salt 10 exchange. As this is the pro- tion of the many. 
 
 duct of his own labor no fault is found But that the theory, the principle 
 
 at first to the arrangement, and his title upon which this deprivation of the 
 
 to all the salt upon the island is grad- masses is based, is false ought to be clear 
 
 ually and in process of time perfected, to every well endowed mind. For 
 
 Shortly he himself is not obliged to among all the millions of men none can 
 
 labor, and by raising the price ot salt he be found who have knowingly agreed to 
 
 slowly begins to accumulate the results the cession of any portion of their own 
 
 of other men's labor; for in order to ob- individual rights. The thing is false, 
 
 tain this necessity men must give up And it is seen, too, in modern society, 
 
 some portion of time and effort. Hiring constituted as it now is, that the cessions 
 
 other men to do the work he lives in made, as in the case of the salt manu- 
 
 ease, being able to appropriate the labor facturer, though nominally to the com- 
 
 of others, After his death his descend- munity and for the benefit of society at 
 
 ents occupy in his stead. With them large, are really made to individuals and 
 
 title has become absolute. Their right corporations. They receive all the ben- 
 
 to the natural opportunities embraced in efit. Society gets none. Indeed, in 
 
 he "salt works" is, they suppose, un- this way society, or the general public
 
 • 
 
 POLITICS 
 
 idc to eompua iti own destruction condition oi the islanders subjected to- 
 
 the benefit of the few. Bverybody the impositions of a salt monopoly i& 
 
 who buys salt on the island gives up the abhorrent to this natural nml instinctive 
 
 fruits of his labor to him who labors not. apprehension, and the laws, rules or 
 
 He tims increases the wealth and power regulations by means of which it main- 
 
 of the monopolist by adding to bis own tains its authority are clearly and plainly, 
 
 erty. And all at the command of in this instance in contravention of nat- 
 
 ih.it misinformed, uneducated and uu- ural law. Hence, in real truth, they are 
 
 christian sentiment which deprives men 
 and calls the machinery of deprivation 
 
 ,-oid. 
 If we follow the probable course of 
 
 The word civilization comes from civis, 
 a citizen; the word civi from the same 
 
 ition." But this is a misnomer. eventa amon g thc "landers we shall see 
 
 that monopolies gain their power and 
 exert their swa. by depriving the people, 
 t, plainly co .veying the idea of re- under various alluring and deceptive 
 gard for the rights of others, or altruism. Pretexts of their natural rights. The 
 m manners, our civilization, and all the claim would then be setup, as it is to- 
 good things connected with mannets, and with day, that this is necessary to the general 
 civiii/Hio, have i<> this European world of g00( ] But the claim is always made by 
 
 the interested few, and is intended solely 
 for their benefit. The natural rights of 
 men upon the earth are few in number 
 but it is impossible that a true civiliza- 
 tion, conveying the greatest good to the 
 
 ours depended for ages upon two principles — 
 irit of a gentleman and the spirit ofreli- 
 — Edmund Burke. 
 
 Burke here tells us what civilization 
 properly is — what it should be. Plainly 
 what we now have is not that. The 
 spirit of a gentleman and the spirit of greatest number, can exist unless these 
 religion are absent. What now passes are fully conceded and accorded. It is. 
 under the name is simply the rule of the not necessary, it is not just, it is not in 
 stronger — in these days, the richer — accordance with the precepts of Chris- 
 civilization it is not. tianity nor is it wise, that the natural 
 
 The real truth is that the "saltworks," ri 8 ht of an >' citizen - bounded as it is by 
 being a natural opportunity, a gift of the ec l ual ri S ht of ever y other citizen, 
 the Creator and not the result of any should be "> the slightest degree denied 
 
 man's labor, belong to the whole people 
 of the island, who should take posses- 
 sion of it. remunerating the "owner" 
 for all his expenditures, and operate it 
 for the good of all, disposing of the salt l ° that hfe whlch haS bee thrUSt U P° n 
 
 or abridged, for here is the beginning of 
 evil. 
 
 Probably the most important natural 
 right of man upon the earth is the right 
 
 at the cost of production. This would 
 be true civilization applied in this case. 
 And nothing short of this treatment will 
 
 him by the Creator. This carries with 
 it the right to a foothold upon the earth. 
 The world in which we live is the gift of 
 
 for no other plan will pre- G ° d l ° the raCe ' t0 humailit y. « ot to a 
 
 favored few. All our paper titles run 
 
 serve to the individuals comprising this 
 society their natural rights. That would 
 settle the salt question for the islanders. 
 And it is in entire conformity with 
 Blackstone a dicta that all valid law de- 
 rives its final authority from that natu- 
 ral and instinctive apprehension of jus- 
 tice having a lodgment in the hearts of 
 men, and that statute law overriding or 
 contravening natural law is void, The 
 
 back to some robbery, some bold as- 
 sumption of right proceeding from 
 might. The weak have ever been dis- 
 possessed and disinherited. The natu- 
 ral, or God-given right of man has been 
 denied. The Hebrew scriptures are full 
 of passages showing that the right of 
 the "owner" of land is only that of oc- 
 cupation and use. Read the following 
 with the contet:
 
 POLITICS 
 
 33 
 
 "The land shall not be sold forever, for the 
 land ia mine: lor ye are stangers and sojourn- 
 ers with me. 
 
 And in all the land of your possession ye shall 
 grant a redemption for the land. '"Lev. xx, 23 — 
 24. 
 
 were to be built, and a place of safety to 
 be provided for the provisions saved 
 from the wreck. In this all perforce 
 took part. No one could hire another 
 to perform his part of the work, for the 
 
 Blackstone thus sums up the legal and i abo r of all was imperatively demanded, 
 
 religious view of the matter: Indeed, some time elapsed before any 
 
 in the beginning of the world, we are told by CQuld be d frQm tfae labor ked 
 
 Holv Writ, the all-bountiful Creator gave to * 
 
 man dominion over all the earth and over the for the Commonweal. After a time, 
 
 fish of the sea and over the fowls of the air and however, that portion of the cargo which 
 
 over every living thing that moveth upon the drifted ashore having been duly housed 
 
 earth/' This is tbe only true and solid founda- and protected and cabins more or less 
 tion tor mans domain over external things, 
 
 whatever airy, metaphysical notions may have comfortable provided for all, the settlers 
 
 beeu started by fanciful writers upon the sub- began to look about them and take 
 
 ject. The earth therefore and all things there- thought for the future, 
 
 in are the general property of all mankind, ex- , , 
 
 elusive of all other beings, from the immediate As the ho P e of immediate rescue grad- 
 
 giftofthe Creator." -Blackstones Cominenta- ually faded away it was seen that as the 
 
 ries ' n 2 - provisions left could not last forever 
 
 The national Free Soil convention of something must be done to provide 
 
 1852, really the first Republican conven- more for the future. So, each one began 
 
 tion, has this to say: to say: "There is fertile land, we have 
 
 "All men have a natural right to a portion of see ds and plants, why then should we 
 the soil, and as the soil is indispensible to life, 
 
 the right of all men to the soil is as sacred ss not P roceed to P^nt and cultivate?" 
 
 the right to life itself." And this, after much" discussion, it was 
 
 But men "have been usually "civilized ' decided to undertake. As in all compa- 
 out of these footholds upon the earth by nies of men and women some are active 
 the machinations of the money chang- and energetic and others slothful and 
 ers. Anciently men lost their lands dilatory, so among our settlers these 
 precisely as they are losing them today; varying qualities had place. Thinking 
 they pledged them to the usurer. Read this over the wise anions; them strongly 
 the fifth chapter of Nehemiah for a full advocated the plan of separate action in 
 description of the methods in use today, the every day work and duties of life, 
 also for proof of the fact that one per agreeing to combine in all matters con- 
 cent per annum, or the hundredth part, cerning the general and public welfare, 
 is usury — or use money — the meaning of In this way, it was argued, each one 
 the word as used by Shakspeare, Bacon would be free to manage his private con- 
 and the translators of the Bible. cerns in such way and manner as should 
 
 Let us suppose that upon tht* arrival be pleasing to him, thus securing that 
 of the shipwrecked people at the island freedom and harmony without which it 
 it is found that one has been able to would be impossible to live quiet and 
 bring to land his bag of gold and silver peaceable lives. It thus came about that 
 coins. The other passengers, in the without inharmony or strife it was 
 hurry and confusion of shipwreck agreed that each should select "a claim"' 
 thought little of money. Not so with and devote himself t<> the work of home- 
 one, who braving all in his attachment building. 
 
 to gold brought his coin safely to shore. The work of each man soon took 
 
 At first little was thought of this. All shape from the character of the person 
 
 the energies of each were at once de- engaged in the effort. Some of the 
 
 voted to the task of self-preservation, "improvements" were carefully and 
 
 thac first impulse ef nature. Shelters thoroughly made. Other; were make-
 
 POLITIC S 
 
 lling awaj from his coffers without tbis "string 1 
 mud time. In nil this being attached to it. with this he 
 the 'l k 11-0 '^ nature of the pulled it back. The chain was endless, 
 man who in the last extremity had clung It revolved for him. But the simple 
 to b joou was manifest. He colonists chose to remain in ignorance 
 worked as will and faithfully as the rest, of this, the cause of their undoing. 
 Indeed, no one did more, but in order to ..\s a matter of course large numbers 
 out hi- plans he occasionally se- f the islanders having pledged their 
 cured help in clearing his land and homes to the money dealer lost them. 
 planting his field from some of the indo- Communication with the rest of the 
 lent ones, paving them small sums from world having been established these 
 his store. Tin- monev was of little homes were sold "on payments" to new 
 worth, at the time, it being generally comers by Mr. Greedyman, the new- 
 understood that only upon the rescue of owner, who made preparatione to "turn 
 the company coald it have value. And an honest penny" by playing with the 
 ,s upon this supposition only that it ne vv crop of home seekers the same 
 taken. Still, it was found then as game— that of the cat with the mouse, 
 it is today, that many men who would When complaint was made of his doings 
 not work for themselves made very tol- he promptly proceeded to denounce the 
 erable and useful servants when under complainers as "anarchists," complain- 
 the eye and management of a master, ing himself in turn that these people 
 Our "moneyed man," however, paid out spoke evil of "law and order" and the 
 but little of his coin, the major portion privileges of that "civilization" which 
 he k pt intact. The little thus placed had been so hardly obtained by the 
 in circulation being "traded" about from labors and privations of the early set- 
 hand to hand much as bovs do tiers. He often took occasion to remind 
 their balls and tops. It served, how- those who would listen to him there was 
 ever, to keep the minds of the colonists "just as much money as ever," and that 
 familiar with the idea of money, and to any one could always get money if he 
 induce them to rate, in their barters and would only "work and produce some- 
 agieements, all their products and ser- thing for sale." Still, many of the isl- 
 vices as of so many dollars in value. anders contrasted, in their minds, the 
 Finally, as we have heretofore seen, condition of the people before "civiliza- 
 the hope, and even the desire, of leav- tion " had made its advent with that 
 ing the island having largely disap- which Prevailed under its sway. And 
 peared, improvements multiplied and they often wondered in a childish sort 
 commerce being established, the use of of a way how it was that Mr. Greedy- 
 money took on greater force and ob " laD - who had actually produced no 
 tained further power. The desire to ac- more of the wealth of the island than 
 cumulate money now seemed to take many of the poorer residents, could now 
 complete possession of most active and be the possessor of a large part of all 
 energetic men. Everything that they u P on U > simply from the fact that he 
 had they gave to obtain it. In this mad had brought a bag of coin to shore, 
 rush for power our greedy friend of the which in the early days all had seen was 
 moneybags played a prominent part. of liltle use and less value. But that 
 He now became the great man of the was all— thay only wondered. Mean- 
 island. Possessing gold he soon per- time the islanders became known in for- 
 fected a plan, by means of the exaction eign parts as Mr. Greedyman's island. 
 
 .v*a_*_**-» £. a \. ■ u .. j He was often spoken of as the wonderful 
 
 of interest for its use, which necessitated „ ■, .. i * r i 
 
 man; and the real creator of values 
 
 its return to him. No dollar went out there. Wealth.it is said, had largely
 
 POLITICS 
 
 35 
 
 increased; true, most of it was held by posing the company. Land and its nat- 
 
 him, but then, it had increased and that ural products, then, form the provision 
 
 was something to be thankful for. made by nature— or the Creator— ^or the 
 
 "Civilization" was now in full blast use and sustenance of men, of all men, 
 
 upon this island, Mr. Greedyman built during life. When life is done need 
 
 railroads, erected gas and water works, cea ses, and title, natural title, comes 10 
 
 and made various improvements, not 
 forgetting to collect in oue way and an- 
 other vast sums in rents, profits and 
 interest, which in cunning ways were 
 fastened upon the foolish people who 
 looked up to him in the precise way in 
 which a certain eminent mammonist de- 
 
 an end. Natural title, right title, comes 
 simply irom the nature of man — from 
 his necessities. His need is his warrant. 
 "Natural opportunities," or the earth in 
 a btate of nature, is the answer of God 
 to the need of man. (Right here is the 
 origin and foundation of the now fully 
 received doctrine of the Fatherhood o 
 
 sired Jesus to fall down and worship God and the brotherhood of man.) "All 
 him. But the people forgot the precepts men"— not all governments— "are en- 
 of truth and said among themselves: dowed by their Creator with certain in- 
 "Money has always controlled and it alienable rights." That is, rights which 
 always will;" and they made haste cannot be alienated or taken away. But 
 among themselves to do him honor. suppose this company of people, previ- 
 We can now see that the islanders ous to its advent upon the island, had 
 have arrived at the condition in which been reading the book "Progress and 
 we find ourselves today. And we got Poverty," by Henry George, and had 
 there just as they did. 'i he islanders undertaken to deprive the different indi- 
 under the plea of "progress" and "ad- vidnfls composing the company of this 
 vancing civilization" were gradually de- most im P ortan t »g h t with which the 
 prived of the natural rights which they Creator has endowed " a11 m eu," by put- 
 originally and rightfully possessed as a tmg his theories-or the theories of Pat- 
 .,° ,. ., „ ., c ,, rick Edward Dove — into practice. Ihen, 
 
 they would say: "This island belongs 
 
 gift from the common Father of all. 
 
 to this company by right of discovery." 
 "All the land belongs to all the people." 
 
 And this is the case with the great body 
 of the American people today. 
 
 The French National Assembly was Whoe , 
 right in its solemn declaration made one representing the company "the full 
 ''in the presence of the Supreme Being rental value" of the same for the privi- 
 and with the hope of his blessing and i eg e of its use. And he must pay the 
 favor"-Ignorance, neglect or contempt full rental val otherwise he secures a 
 of human rights are the sole causes of . ., , ... ,, x . 
 public misfortunes and corruptions of P"vileged position." It is then a mat- 
 government." ter of entire indifference to the settler 
 \ whether he cultivates land or not. If he 
 free noil. produces food the company fines him 
 
 If we go back, in our minds, to the for doing so. If he does nothing the 
 
 time when the shipwrecked company authority representing the company is 
 
 first landed upon the unknown and un- supposed to distribute to him some of 
 
 inhabited island we shall be able to see the "full rental value' obtained from 
 
 clearly that each one of the company the foolish fellows who do cultivate, 
 
 had an undoubted right to use so much This system is thus seen to fine the 
 
 of the island and its products as may workers for working! 
 
 have been necessary to the support of The truth is, the right to land is inal- 
 
 life in comfort. This was — and is — a ienable in the person of the individual, 
 
 natural right. That is, it came from na- under all ordinary circumstances, and 
 
 ture and because of the human nature no authoiity short of that of the Crea- 
 
 and necessities of the individuals com- tor has a right to interfere or tax this
 
 POLITICS 
 
 con ' were, and the planting of ileitis, that anew 
 
 man and the gift I. company of people arrives, precisely as 
 
 Wherever land ed for public use the original company did. The first set- 
 
 the right ol the many to ■ particular lo- tiers have barely scratched the surface 
 
 i eeds that of the one, as a ma1 here and there. There is an abundance 
 
 ter of course. This has been illustrated ofroom for all and the new company is 
 
 in the case ol "the salt works;" and the as destitute as the firs . Plain y, the 
 
 right of the public would be seen in the right of the individuals in the Is cond 
 
 building oi a wharl by the islanders and company is the same as that of those in 
 
 the laying out of a town near by. When the first. To so much of the land as 
 
 Heui first began to advocate may have been necessary to their sup- 
 
 the "sing le exempted from its port the first coiners had a right. That 
 
 operation a homestead, or a sufficient is, they had a right to take it, and labor 
 
 ion of the earth's surface for self- upon it. Having taken it and labored 
 support, thus preserving the natural upon it they have a right to hold it dur- 
 ri^ht of man. To please the comfortable ing life. But they have no right to more 
 classes he afterward dropped this: thus than is absolutely essential to the sup- 
 neglecting the cause of the poor and the port of life in comfort. They have no 
 homeless. The justice of exempting right, no natural right, no moral right, 
 incomes from taxation below a certain to more thaD they can cultivate properly 
 amount is universally recognized. At- by means of their own labor. To allow 
 ply this principle t" land and we have ■' man with a bag of gold to hire others 
 free soil, free homes, a brave and self- and monopolize land soon destroys the 
 reliant people anil the pursuit of happi- natural right of men without gold, as we 
 ness made possible. The sufficient an- have seen. In a previously unknown 
 swer to the "single tax," as now pre- and uninhabited island the right of the 
 seated, is that it circumscribes and de- second company to choose locations for 
 the inalienable right of man; it themselves on unoccupied land would 
 would alienate by taxation, or fine, that he immediately granted. "The natural 
 which is inalienable. Our Declaration and instinctive apprehension of justice 
 states truly that gov- finding universal lodgment in the heart 
 ernments are instituted lo preserve these of man" — where not clouded and ob- 
 rights, not to alienate or hinder them, scured by cburchianity and so-called civ- 
 And the whole course of history proves ilization — would compel it. The new 
 that "itfnoranee, neglect or contempt of company would be welcomed and made 
 the*' the sole cause of public happy, if of the same nationality. 
 misfortunes and corruptions of govern- Should any one appear inclined to mo- 
 ment." Beware, in this matter, as in nopolize land, as did Mr. Greedyman, 
 all others, of those who would deprive taxation forms a legitimate mode of re- 
 men, lor the absolutely certain result is pression. But the idea of securing man's 
 
 adation and eventual despair, natural right to apply labor to natural 
 M mv men seeing the injustice of the opportunities for the support of life, by 
 present land tenures favor the single tax means of repressive taxation, the pro- 
 becauae, having never fully investigated ceedsofsuch taxation to be distributed 
 the matter, tbey imagine it the only equally among idlers as well as workers, 
 remedy — being advocated as it is by able must have originated with the fellow who 
 men. But so is ' protection" for Came- holds that the world owes him a living, 
 gie an l Pullman, and other humbugs whether he labors for it or not. It is 
 too numerous to mention. Let men only another device for the robbery of 
 think for themeelvi labor, and it proposes to arrive at its 
 But suppose that after our company results in the old fashioned way, by de- 
 had landed upon the island and partially priving men of their natural rights. In 
 
 proved" it by the building of houses this connection it would be well to re-
 
 POLITICS 
 
 37 
 
 member that wrong never by lapse of 
 time becomes right. Having no just 
 title to the earth's surface, past robbers 
 of men could give none. Our case — the 
 care of the present generation of men — 
 is that of the later comers in the island, 
 and our title is as good, to life and the 
 provision for our support made by our 
 mother nature, as that of the earlier 
 arrivals. But we must labor in some 
 useful capacity. If we refuse, our rights 
 lapse and come to an end. The world 
 owes no man a living who will not work. 
 The right to live we have; the right to 
 apply labor to natural opportunities is 
 given us, then we are to work out our 
 own salvation or perish. 
 
 "All that a man hath will he give for 
 his life. ' But he cannot live without 
 land. Hither lie will be a producer 
 of values or a mere dead weight upon 
 the body politic. But even non-pro- 
 ducers and paupers have certain rights 
 among men, and with these what is 
 called the laud question is closely con- 
 nected. The right to apply labor to 
 land without the payment of tribute to 
 any, is the most importaut natural right 
 of man, for the reason that by these 
 means life can always be preserved. By 
 means of it liberty and independence can 
 be maintained and the individual freed 
 from that soul debasing dependence 
 which is so destructive of manhood and 
 character. This is the private and indi- 
 vidual right of man. But, as we have 
 seen in the case of "the saltworks," 
 men have other claims upon the land 
 which can only be preserved by public 
 action. We have, then, the pnblic and 
 private rights of men as related to natu- 
 ral opportunities. How these may both 
 be preserved has seemed to many a most 
 puzzling question; most of the answers 
 returned being, in fact, a complete sur- 
 render of one or the other of these rights. 
 But the question, despite its immense 
 importance", must admit of some plain 
 and simple answer. And this will ap- 
 pear to be the case if we admit fully and 
 freely both the public and private right 
 of men to the soil. Suppose, then, that 
 we adopt as our maxim something like 
 
 this — Public things to the public; pri- 
 vate affairs to the individual — and seek 
 by legislation to make it operative. .To 
 put this in practice, some years ago I 
 proposed and published the following 
 constitutional amendment, not because 
 it is perfect or incapable of amendment, 
 but for the reason that in this wa}' my 
 meaning may be fully explained. Any 
 state may place this in its constitution 
 whenever a majority of its citizens de- 
 sire, and the powers of the state are am- 
 ple for its enforcement. 
 
 Sec. i — Real estate and all usual improve- 
 ments to the value of a sum not exceeding (say 
 three thousand) held, used and occupied in 
 good faith as a home by any usual and private 
 family, is hereby forever exempted from all 
 taxation of every kind and character in this 
 state. 
 
 Sec. 2 — All lauds and natural opportunities 
 needed for public use or business, ascertain 
 limited and restricted areas in towns and cities, 
 all mines, forests, waterfalls, or other natural 
 opportunities not available for cultivation, or 
 as dwelling places, are hereby expressly ex- 
 empted from these provisions. 
 
 Sec. 3 — The right of every family to the ex- 
 clusive possession ot a homestead held, used 
 and occupied as described in section one, valued 
 at a sum not exceeding (say ■?3,ooo) shall not be 
 abridged or denied by any contract, agreement, 
 mortgage or other document, or promise what- 
 soever, made or executed on or after July 4, I895. 
 
 Sec. 4— The legislature shall have power to 
 pass all laws necessary to carrj- into effect the 
 due intent and meaning of these provisions. 
 
 The constitulion of a state or nation is 
 properly a bill of rights. Hence here is 
 the place for the statement of a funda- 
 mental right. 
 
 There is land enough in the world for 
 all and to spare. The total population 
 of the globe, estimated at 1,400,000,000, 
 could stand upon a plot of .ground ten 
 miles square. The single state of Texas 
 with its quarter million square miles 
 could give to every family of five in the 
 whole world, including the millions of 
 India, Africa, China and Japan, a garden 
 spot of more than half an acre in extent. 
 And as not more than half, in any event, 
 would wish to devote their labor to 
 laud, this allotment might be nearly 
 doubled in size. Probably the area of 
 land within the United States is at least 
 a hundred times in excess of the actual 
 necessities of the people. 
 
 >690
 
 
 POLITICS 
 
 The ed would not in- 
 
 terfei mortgages 
 
 but would prevent ill mortgaging of 
 homes after Jul] | 
 
 would probably be mainly as follows: 
 taxation would increase upon land not 
 held bj occupation and used as a home, 
 
 ipon that portion of estates held in 
 
 "i the 5.;. ooo exempted. ln- 
 
 d taxation would gradually de- 
 
 the selling price of land and iu- 
 
 ■ the ability of home seekers to 
 purchase. The rush to the cities would 
 cease. The laborer who could profitably 
 employ himself upon a free home 
 which, when once it was his could 
 not be taken from him, would cease to 
 
 cte with him who might not be 
 able to buy land. Wages would rise. 
 The herding together of vast masses of 
 poverty stricken people in the great 
 cities would be checked and perhaps en- 
 tirely prevented. Once possessed of a 
 free and inalienable home the citizen 
 would become indeed a king who could 
 not be crushed. The exemption would 
 cover the home of the mechanic or the 
 tradesman in the town, the garden of 
 the vegetable or fruit grower near by and 
 the farm of the farmer at a greater dis- 
 tance. All lands held or used for public 
 
 iiness purposes, as the business 
 portions of towns or cities, could not be 
 held as untaxed homes. If land held as 
 a home were needed for public or busi- 
 ness purposes the legislature is emp ,. - 
 ered to provide means for its acquire- 
 ment. 
 
 ;»erty enough dow escapes taxation 
 altogether upon which taxes might be 
 laid sufficient to meet all necessarv pub- 
 lic expenses. Too much is now raised, 
 and the amount should be decreased. 
 
 to land; it is the only defensible title, 
 
 Upon a moral basis. Make it the actual 
 
 and legal title and the problem is solved. 
 
 Let us tease to hold up ;i lie as the foun- 
 dation of our land laws and man will at 
 last be freed liom the consequences of 
 
 the vast robbery perpetrated by the 
 
 "robber barons" of old. 
 
 Hut suppose all this to have beee ac- 
 complished. It is true that the blank 
 despairing poverty of the present would 
 then be impossible; that men would 
 take heart once more and a race of un- 
 conquerable freedom-loving citizens be 
 i rented and encouraged. Bat man lives 
 not by bread alone. Mere sustenance 
 tor the body is, after all, but little of 
 life. The interchange of thought and 
 the products of labor make civilization 
 possible, and by means of these, true 
 companionship and the association of 
 men together for laudible purposes be- 
 come possible. These things distin- 
 guish the civilized man from the barba- 
 rian, and make possible the triumphs of 
 education, art and progress. It is seen 
 that all progress in the past has been 
 secured largely as the result of com- 
 merce and exchange of ideas and the pro- 
 ducts of man's labor. Modern com- 
 merce had its origin, almost a thousand 
 years ago, largely from the formation of 
 the Hanseatic League, an organization 
 entered into by a number of the cities of 
 Northern Europe for the purposes of 
 trade. This really broke the long relig- 
 ious night of the "dark ages" and made 
 possible the triumphs of later years. In- 
 deed, one has but to read the history of 
 the past with an unprejudiced eye in 
 order to be convinced that these have 
 been the means employed resulting in 
 the gradual enlightenment of men and 
 The school system of a state should be the increase of knowledge on the earth. 
 
 under state contro and the state pay all 
 the expenses. The right to occupy and 
 use could be sold precisely a.-, men now 
 sell government "claims." Every facil- 
 ity for making exchanges of this char- 
 acter might be given. Title while in 
 possession shoul t be absolute. Occu- 
 pancy and use is the only natural title 
 
 The second great natural right of man 
 is that of free and untrammeled ex- 
 change. 
 
 Free Trade, Free Speech, Free 
 Men. 
 
 The awful misery of millions of pov- 
 erty-stricken people cries out against 
 the so-called civilization of our time.
 
 POLITICS 
 
 39 
 
 It cries to heaven for relief and justice. 
 Men have forgotten their brothers in 
 the mad scramble for money, and with- 
 out apparent compunction are engaged 
 in oppressing, depriving and degrading 
 them. 
 
 "See yonder poor, o'erlabored wight, 
 
 So abject, mean and vile, 
 "Who begs a brother of the earth 
 
 To give him leave to toil; 
 And see his lordly fellow worm 
 
 The poor petition spurn, 
 Unmindful though a weeping wife 
 And helpless offspring mourn." 
 
 But a mighty revolution in thought 
 and feeling has at last declared itself in 
 the hearts of many. The pendulum of 
 time has reached the farthest limit. The 
 turning point has been past and nothing 
 can now stay its resistless momentum. 
 The petition of brotherhood has been 
 heard. The fluty of man to man is once 
 more discussed. The pendulum of God 
 begins to return. Human sympathy 
 draws it and the power of the Almighty 
 is behind it. Its onward march will be 
 irresistible. A mighty change has al- 
 ready manifested itself in the minds of 
 men. But the immediate outcome may 
 be either joyous or sorrowful. That the 
 result may be happy every true reformer 
 should exert his utmost power to pre- 
 vent the adoption by the wronge 1 and 
 suffering people of unlawful and re- 
 vengeful methods. He who cries out 
 against wrong must do no wrong. Who- 
 ever demauds justice must do no injus- 
 tice. Failing in this the end may be 
 told from the beginning. Past history 
 shows it. A military despotism is the 
 certain end and inevitable result. Pa- 
 tience, then, my brothers; the mills of 
 the gods grind slowly but they grind ex- 
 ceedingly fine. 
 
 In the revolution of 184S, which shook 
 all Europe from center to circumference, 
 the mistake was made which must not 
 be repeated. "At that time we had all 
 Europe at our feet," said a most intelli- 
 gent German to me some years ago, 
 1 'but we did not know how to use our 
 victory; excesses were committed which 
 turned the middle classes against us. 
 •Our leaders were divided in their coun- 
 
 cils. They were successful in tearing 
 down, but they knew not how to build. 
 Upon no plan or principle were they 
 agreed." 
 
 Now, today, the old is passing away. 
 The new will take its place. What shall 
 it be? Unification of thought among 
 reformers is a paramount necessity. We 
 must know what we want and agree up- 
 on it. Upon this all true progress waits. 
 I have endeavored to trace, in an ex- 
 ceedingly hurried manner it is true, the 
 course by which we as a people have lost 
 some of the freedom of the past, and by 
 means of which we stand in deadly peril 
 of losing more. I have shown that the 
 course taken by the controllers of events 
 in this country has led to the depriva- 
 tion of the great masses of the people, 
 and that degredation follows hard after. 
 
 That the wealthy and powerful 
 through political methods have deprived 
 and are depriving men of those natural 
 and God-given rights upon which all 
 true liberty rests and depends. And this 
 matter of natural right no one need take 
 my word as a guide. I but repeat the 
 words of the wise and the true of all 
 ages. 
 
 Think, my brother, for one moment, 
 clearly and candidly for yourself. Do 
 you imagine for an instant that men 
 may be deprived of what the Creator 
 has intended for freemen and that they 
 may stil retain freedom? Was that 
 grand declaration of our fathers mere 
 idle bombast? Have men no natural 
 rights? Were they placed upon this 
 rolling ball to be the mere serfs and 
 tools of their more crafty brothers? And 
 will you be a slave? If so, witness all 
 about you the daily forging of your 
 chains. 
 
 The crisis is upon us! And the foun- 
 dations of the future upon which true 
 and brave men must build is plain. The 
 natural rights of men upon the earth, 
 with which they have been eudowed by 
 a beneficent Creator, must be secured 
 and preserved to all, both high and low, 
 great and small. 
 
 "The principles of Jefferson are the definitions 
 of free society * * * This is a world of coin
 
 
 POLITICS 
 
 md he who would be no slave must be exchanged foi this money orforthe 
 
 ,b0 • l '" s products of the couutry. [fthismonej 
 
 is taken in exchange it must be ex- 
 
 pended here. Thus production Issttm- 
 
 Wberevei mouopolj rears its created ulated and demand for our goods in- 
 
 bead the public must Uke it in charge, ereased. Ever} shipment of goods- 
 
 <■ it doI i"i then 
 ami un.irr G .mu >i loug retain 11 
 
 Public things to the public; private af- 
 lo the individual. Money, rail- 
 ways and the telegraph, must be nation- 
 - is the case with the post- 
 
 brought in makes demand foi an equal 
 
 aiinur.it 'it our productSi The more 
 goods Bent here from abroad the greater 
 the demand upon our labor. Fair and 
 
 Free homes for thepeopleand free exchange is mutually beneficial. 
 
 inge ol products of the toil of But if money redeemable in gold is used 
 
 b hand and brain will bring the rest. '" commeace the people having the 
 
 Protection? True protection for the cheapest labor and the heaviest loanable 
 
 industries of the country can be had in capital soon relieve the other of their 
 one way. National paper money ^ old : take away their money, deprive 
 will serine it- Absolute money, mire- them of the principal tool of trade; i in- 
 definable in gol.!, this is the touchstone poverish them. This is why both Old 
 of industrial freedom; this will protect and - N 'ew England are so strenuously for 
 the manufacturer and protect the la- "a gold basis." By means of this jug- 
 glery millions of people and man)- na- 
 Notgood? Not goo 1 unless exchanged tions have been victimized and impov- 
 for gold? Pull legal tender money is a erished. And ihe money changers did 
 : decree backed by the sovereign it- They will impoverish us in the same 
 the nation. Not good? It is as way unless we, the people, get our eyes- 
 I and of as powerful a nature as the °P en to the gambling game that is being 
 nation that issues it. No less and no played. Our money lords understand 
 
 more. As well say that the decree of a 
 court co veying property Irom one 
 cl litnant to another is not good unless 
 ■. i :d on gold intrinsically as valu- 
 able as the property conveyed! Bosh! 
 Where are the brains and reasoning 
 
 :nen that they are deceived by 
 so transparent a lie? Not good? Your 
 
 he enemies of labor, the ene- 
 mies of humanity, the enemies o I God- 
 
 all this well, and are already preparing 
 to emigrate to "perfidious Albion," 
 where their perfidy is fully known. 
 
 Free trade is not to blame. Gold basis 
 money is. But the crafty dealers in gold 
 make the foolish people think that the 
 result of their deviltry — the present de- 
 pression — comes from a fear of a free 
 exchange of goods. 
 
 They cry 'tariff." But the cry is only- 
 intended to divert attention from the 
 
 the Jew gold brokers of New York and 
 London— know perfectly well that such misdeeds of the money changers. Com- 
 md further, they know ">erce is not to blame. The money 
 
 that such money will liberate the world 
 from their clutches. For this reason 
 they fight and affect to scorn it. Ridi- 
 cule is a powerful weapon. Hence they 
 make use of it in their hired presses and 
 
 changers are. .Money is a common 
 carrier of values. And as a common 
 carrier it should be at the command of 
 whoever has value to carry in trade. 
 Afraid of free trade! Think for a mo- 
 
 y the hired mouths of their lackeys ment what that '"earns. And if not 
 tools. But fear is the controlling afraid of your own freedom in this mat- 
 motive. They fear that men may learn ter wh 3' should you seek to limit the 
 the truth— and practice it. ec 4 ual freedom of others? "He that 
 Suppose only national legal tender would be no slave must consent to have 
 money, receivable for all dues and debts no slave." As a common carrier money 
 e used. Then, if goods are brought should be controlled by the nation for 
 this country from abroad they could the ccmmo.i good. Otherwise trade.
 
 POLITICS 
 
 4i 
 
 commerce, exchange, is subject to the 
 hindrances, ("We can't let you have the 
 money") the charges, ("two per cent a 
 month; money is scarce"), and the im- 
 positions, (''We foreclose tomorrow") 
 of the dealers in money. Trade should 
 be free. If not free then the men who 
 would trade are not free. They are de- 
 prived of a right, and poverty and deg- 
 radation is the sure end and result. 
 Trade and commerce to blame for the 
 scarcity of money? What nonsense. 
 But scarcity of money is to blame for 
 the absence of trade. An issue of legal 
 tender greenbacks paid out for govern- 
 ment expenses and in lieu of taxation, 
 would revive as by magic the drooping 
 industries of the nation and for the time 
 liberate the industrial masses from eco- 
 nomic slavery. And everybody knows 
 it. Hence the opposition of the con- 
 trollers — the "cornerers" — of money. 
 
 "The slightest modification of national laws 
 concerning money affects every branch of trade, 
 every industry, every investment; yet a small 
 number of the whole people, those whose busi- 
 ness it is to deal in money, as lenders or bank- 
 ers, alone keep that clost; watch of legislation 
 which enables them to control it unduly, so as 
 to promote their own interests when laws are 
 changed, or, if laws are likely to affect their 
 interests injuriously they are the first to be 
 aware of the effects of changes, and to guard 
 against them. That prosperity or adversity 
 may result to the majority of an entire people 
 by a simple act of legislation on money with a 
 rapidity that legislation on no other subject can 
 parallel, has become obvious to all intelligent 
 people. — Chambers Encyclopedia, vol. 10, p. 126. 
 
 These are facts. This is the truth. 
 Most intelligent men freely acknowl- 
 edge it, but stand dumb in the presence 
 of overwhelming injustice. What will 
 rouse them? God only knows. But of 
 this be sure: If they look calmly on 
 while their brothers and sisters perish a 
 worse fate awaits them. It is only de- 
 layed for a time. 
 — They are slaves who fear to speak 
 
 For the fallen and the weak; 
 
 They are slaves who will not choose 
 
 Hatred, scoffing and abuse, 
 
 Rather than in silence shrink 
 
 From the truth they needs must think. 
 
 They are slaves who dare not be 
 
 In the right with two or three. 
 
 — James Russell I Y owell. 
 
 Every man lives in his thoughts. "As 
 
 a man thinketh so is he." That he may 
 be a true man he must think truly; he 
 must be able to hear the truth. Truth 
 must be given at least an ecfual chance 
 with error. Now, men are daily fed 
 with lies upon economic subjects in the 
 great newspapers and from prominent 
 platforms. Lies that are known to be 
 lies by the utterer . 
 
 But no man can breathe and ponder a 
 lie and remain unharmed. Speech and 
 the communication of thought must be 
 free from the oppressive hands of the 
 corruptors of our politics. The avenues 
 of information open to the average in- 
 dividual are freighted with lies. The 
 telegraph and the daily press are 
 used chiefly to amuse and deceive. In 
 the latter days of the Roman empire 
 the mob cried out for "Bread and cir- 
 cusses." Our populace, too, is in the 
 process of degradation. Under the 
 baneful influence of the times the 
 masses of the people run hither and 
 thither, "pleased by a rattle and tickled 
 by a straw.' The lies of the daily press 
 they devour. Its hates they absorb. Its 
 toadyings to the rich and the powerful 
 they emulate. Deprived and degraded 
 they lick the hand that smites them. 
 Despised by the men who use them they 
 are to be pitied and helped — liberated. 
 How? By flattery? By telling them of 
 their intelligence and manly virtue? No! 
 But by showing them the truth. 
 
 They are what they are because de- 
 prived of the truth. As of old, "My 
 people perish for lack of knowledge." 
 Already a great railway company has 
 issued its edict that its employes must 
 abstain from politics. They must not 
 think: or thinking must not speak their 
 thoughts. Free speech is circumscribed 
 and will shortly be denied. The main 
 avenues of information, as is well known, 
 are in the hands of those who mean no 
 good to the people's cause, and yet these 
 are the sources of knowledge to which 
 the people vainly look for light. The 
 wealthy and most corrupt owners of the 
 telegraph have become the real school- 
 masters of the nation, and they are edu- 
 cating it aw.iy from the truth and in the
 
 POLITICS 
 
 .: dlshonoi .m>l de- nevei retarn. The new is before us. 
 
 h and all the means Will you join with us in the effort to 
 
 ition should be freed from better the conditions ■urroundiag poor 
 
 il :'• ■ ■ vile in.inipu- humanity? Crude and unfinished, it 
 
 Like the post-office it should be may be, are our efforts, but a mighty 
 
 oil and UOt the master of eai neslness in behalf of the truth, in 
 
 behalf of Buffering men, pervades our 
 
 free trade, and free speech ranks ami inspires our hearts. We are 
 
 men! Let US have them all not perfect. Our knowledge is far from 
 
 tion to ".ill men" of those complete. Hut we desire to know the 
 
 natural rights wherewith the world truth, for the truth shall make us free. 
 
 dowed them. And whoso Come with us. The morning light is 
 
 denies one or all of these rights, let him breaking; a new day is dawning upon 
 
 be known as a depriver and would-be men; a day in which justice shall be 
 
 of his kind, an enemy Of his done and in which no man shall be 
 
 brothers and a delur of God. oppressed. Comrade! give us your hand 
 
 Mv brother, we are at the parting of aud your aid in the fight. 
 the ways. The past is gone. It will (The end.) 
 
 ™"PeOFLeS (ftLL 
 
 Is the most influential weekly paper published in the State of 
 Washington as it is also the most widely circulated. The subscription 
 price is only 
 
 One Dollhr Per Yehr 
 
 ..hie strictly in advance. It is published at Seattle, Wash., the 
 commercial center of the Northwest. 
 
 IN editorial columns are under the management of 
 
 -Sr SALMON M. ALLEN •!<-. 
 
 It is a fearless defender of the rights of the people against the 
 encroachments of concentrated wealth, but yet conservative and 
 patriotic. 
 
 columns will teem with literature from the standpoint of the 
 
 broad minded Christian Citizen. 

 
 i NIVERSm Ol * UJFORNIA, I os wi.iiis 
 
 l ill l \l\ l KM n I [BRARY 
 
 l his Uook is I )U I iii\ the Last date stamped below 
 
 %\&j 
 
 DEC 2 1954 
 
 
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 MAY 
 
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 £ APR 06 
 ftf»« 1 1 1991 
 
 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 
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 LOS ANGELES 
 
 LIBRARY
 
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