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diff --git a/old/64972-0.txt b/old/64972-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 463a6c0..0000000 --- a/old/64972-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,2081 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of A lecture by Victoria Claflin Woodhull, by -Victoria Claflin Woodhull - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: A lecture by Victoria Claflin Woodhull - In the Boston Theater, Boston, U.S.A. October 22, 1876, before - 3,000 people. The review of a century; or, the fruit of five - thousand years - -Author: Victoria Claflin Woodhull - -Release Date: March 31, 2021 [eBook #64972] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: Richard Tonsing and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team - at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images - generously made available by The Internet Archive) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A LECTURE BY VICTORIA CLAFLIN -WOODHULL *** - - - - - A LECTURE - - - BY - - VICTORIA CLAFLIN WOODHULL, - (MRS. JOHN BIDDULPH MARTIN.) - - IN - - THE BOSTON THEATRE, BOSTON, U.S.A. - - _October 22nd, 1876_, - - BEFORE 3,000 PEOPLE. - - - THE REVIEW OF A CENTURY; - - OR, - - THE FRUIT OF FIVE THOUSAND YEARS. - - - _Reprinted from the “Boston Times” of October 22nd, 1876._ - - - WOMEN’S CO-OPERATIVE PRINTING UNION, - LONDON, ENGLAND. - - 1893. - - - - - THE REVIEW OF A CENTURY; - OR, - THE FRUIT OF FIVE THOUSAND YEARS. - -Victoria C. Woodhull leaves this country shortly for Europe, and has -prepared a lecture, which will be her farewell utterance. Those who -heard Mrs. Woodhull recently at Paine Hall bear unanimous testimony to -the humanitarian character of her address; she is the advocate of -peculiar, because novel and original, views. A _Times_ reporter has -obtained a full report of her farewell address, and it is so full of -instruction, and presents new social ideas in so fresh and thoroughly -effective a manner, that no apology is needed for submitting it, _in -extenso_, to the public. It is entitled “The Review of a Century; or, -The Fruit of Five Thousand Years,” and is as follows:— - - -A hundred years ago, in an upper room in Philadelphia, five men were -gathered—men of noble bearing, of brilliant intellects, of undoubted -character. Their faces wore a look of stern determination, as if the -theme of their consideration was of matters of grave import; was of -matters destined to be the beginning of the most important era that had -ever dawned upon the earth. A century and eighty years before, a single -ship-load of men, women and children, had landed on this virgin soil at -Jamestown in Virginia; and a few years later, another one at -Plymouth-Rock in Massachusetts. To these, additions had been made until -the thirteen States then numbered fully three million souls, upon whom -“the king” had imposed onerous taxation, and over whom he had placed -obnoxious rulers. The tea had been destroyed in Boston harbour, and the -people were wrought up to the intensest pitch by their oppressions. They -had come from their native lands to escape from tyranny, and were not -disposed to brook it here. In this wild, free land, they had become -pregnant of liberty, and were even then struggling in the throes of -travail. These five men had met to find a way in which the delivery -might be safely made, so that both the mother and the child should live -to bless the world. - - - THE EARLY FATHERS. - -Washington, Adams, Franklin, Rush, Paine—every one of them immortal -names—struggled with the task with which God had entrusted them. They -felt the great responsibility, and their faces, as they looked into each -other’s eyes, spoke their anxiety. Each knew that every other as well as -self had something in his heart that he dared not utter. They looked -inquiringly again and again for some yielding in some face. But they -hesitated all. And well they might; for it was not the fate of three -million people merely that was in their hands, but the future destinies -of the world. One of these men had said but little; but the set features -of his face showed a stern resolve; showed that he was waiting for the -proper time in which to speak. He knew that it would fall to him to -break the way; to say the words which each one felt but dared not speak; -and speak at last he did; and they were the words of mighty import that -came forth from him; words that were to deliver the people who had come -to their full time—a birth that should herald a new race of people to -the world; and they came forth from him as if all his powers were -concentrated in the effort; as if that effort were the last struggle of -the mother to bring forth her child; and the “four” caught up the child -and became god-father to it, and they bore it to the people. The people -recognised it as their own; took it to their hearts, and at once adopted -it. Its name was—Revolution—Independence; and the words rang up and down -the wave-washed shores, and fired the people with their -inspiration—revolution as the means, independence as the end. - -One hundred years have come and gone since that eventful day, great with -the future’s destinies. Its hundredth anniversary has passed, and forty -million people have commemorated the work of those five men, of those -three million people:—commemorated it by reaffirming the truths that -then were uttered for the first time in the new world; commemorated them -by brilliant flights of oratory, by firing cannons and profuse displays -of “stars and stripes” harmoniously blended with the flags of almost -every other nation of the globe, whose sons and daughters were -participating in the glory of the day; with feasting, fireworks; with -general rejoicing everywhere. As if with a universal assent, these -swarming millions re-echoed with a will the words that that stern man -had uttered on that never-to-be-forgotten day a hundred years ago. - - - OUR COMMERCIAL GREATNESS. - -But those three million people have expanded into forty-four million; -and the thirteen States to thirty-eight, besides ten territories and one -district. The country now, excepting the stretch from the west shore of -Lake Superior, and from the south-west point of Texas westward to the -ocean, has available for commercial purposes, a continuous water-front -of not less than fifteen thousand miles, equal to that of the whole of -Europe. It is five thousand miles from east to west, and four thousand -from north to south. It contains vast ranges of mountains, the longest -river in the world, and the most fertile plains. Its climate is so -varied and extensive that it produces almost everything that is grown -anywhere in the world—the fruits of the tropics as well as of the -latitudes north and south; and it will be the granary from which the -world must ultimately draw its bread. It has all the different forms of -mineral wealth—gold, silver, copper, iron, lead, besides coal, oil and -salt. No other country on the globe can begin to compare with it in the -variety of its products; it combines the utility of them all. It is as -if all others had contributed their choicest seeds, as they have their -peoples, to fill up the variety with which this should be blessed. In -whatever sense it may be regarded, it is the great country of the world. -No other can for a moment enter into comparison with it save in some -single sense—while this combines the greatnesses of them all. Blessed -with such a country—with a land such as God promised to His chosen -people—“a land flowing with milk and honey,” how ought the people to -have returned their gratitude to Him Who gave it? Or rather, how have -they done so? - -Having already entered upon a second century, there can be no more -appropriate a time in which to see what use there has been made of the -“ten talents” with which the Great Husbandman has entrusted us; to see -how we have shown our love for Him by that which we have given to our -brethren; to see whether from His bounteous gifts to all, a part has -stolen the inheritance from others, and when His servants have been sent -whether they have been beaten away empty; whether some, having an -abundance, have “shut up their bowels of compassion” though seeing their -brothers had need; whether they have “fought the good fight,” whether -they have “kept the faith” and whether they are entitled to the crown -which St. Paul bespoke for them that love God. - - - WHAT ARE OUR CENTENNIAL FRUITS? - -In other words, what is the condition politically, industrially, -socially, religiously? Is it such as will make us rejoice in its review? -Are our centennial fruits such as He would pronounce good, so that we -may rest upon the seventh day from all our labours? - -In the first place, what have we done politically? It is to government -that people largely owe their prosperity or adversity—a good government -meaning continuous prosperity; a bad one continuous adversity, or else -alternate seasons of each, in which the latter consume the fruits of the -former; in which the people see-saw, up and down each decade; in which, -like the Israelites, the people journey in the wilderness “forty years” -in search of the promised land, to which God would bring them suddenly, -if they would keep all His commandments, and neither worship nor -sacrifice to the “Golden Calf.” - -The last estimates are, that there are forty-four million people now in -the United States. It is by no means, however, to be inferred that these -are all citizens who constitute the “sovereignty;” from whom the -Government has its source, and upon whom it sheds its benignant rays. -For, although the constitution declares that “all persons born or -naturalised in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction -thereof, are citizens;” and although there are unreversed decisions of -the Supreme Court, which declare that every person in the country -“constitutes a part of the political sovereignty,” and that every such -person is entitled to every right, civil and political, enjoyed by -anyone in the State,—notwithstanding all this authority and law upon the -subject, only a minority of the 44,000,000 are really citizens. For, in -the Dred Scott decision, the law of citizenship was declared to be this: -“To be a citizen is to have the actual possession and enjoyment, or the -perfect right to the acquisition and enjoyment, of an entire equality of -privileges, civil and political.” Dred Scott did not possess or enjoy -these rights; therefore the court held that he was not a citizen. As -this is the law of citizenship now, we must conclude that only those are -citizens who have “the actual possession and enjoyment, or the perfect -right of acquisition and enjoyment, of an entire equality of privileges, -civil and political,” the Constitution to the contrary notwithstanding. -The Constitution in the hands of “the few” is a mere toy with the plain -language of which they play, making it to mean anything or nothing as it -suits them now and then. Later we shall see that this was what it was -intended to be; that it was a fraud, a cheat, from the beginning, into -which neither the letter nor spirit of the Declaration of Independence -ever entered. - - - WHO ARE CITIZENS? - -But who are citizens? Why, those who possess and enjoy, or who have the -right to acquire and enjoy, an equality of political and civil -privileges. Only certain classes of men possess these rights. These -certain classes having possessed themselves of the machinery of the -Government, tread upon the Constitution and spit upon the declarations -of the Supreme Court. They have stolen the birthright of the “many,” -and, putting their thumbs to their noses, say “Help yourselves if you -can.” The despoiled people are not able to help themselves now, but let -these usurpers be warned that the judgments of God are upon this nation, -and that He will come to help those who cannot help themselves against -such tyranny; come to deliver His people out of the hands of the -“Egyptians,” who have imposed tasks upon them grievous to be borne; come -to send them some “Moses,” who shall cause “Pharaoh” to let the people -go, and who shall bring down from “Sinai’s Mount” a new and better code -of laws. - -But who are not citizens, who neither possess or enjoy, nor have the -right to acquire or enjoy, an equality of privileges, civil and -political? There are three classes of these people: Indians, Chinese, -and women, and these constitute by a million more than one-half of all -the people. The political lords have selected nice company for the women -to keep politically, and yet they put on such monstrous airs if they are -told that in this matter they show no respect for their mothers, wives -and daughters. Here is a subject for some Raphael, who should have -reduced it to canvas and exhibited it at the Centennial, in honour of -the mothers and daughters of the land. Upon the one hand there should -have been grouped the women of the country, flanked upon the right and -left by Indians and Chinese, and the subject named—Political Slaves; -while upon the other the citizens should have been grouped, and labelled -Political Sovereigns. - - - THE PRINCIPLES OF OUR GOVERNMENT. - -The principles under the inspiration of which this government had its -birth, are set forth in the Declaration of Independence. They were when -realized by the people, when incorporated into the organic law, to give -them independence; and they were thought to be of so much importance -that the people fought a long and bloody war to acquire a right to their -possession and enjoyment. Who can think of Bunker Hill, of Brandy-wine, -of Princeton, of Valley Forge, of Yorktown, think of those long eight -years of alternate hope and despair, and not feel that the price paid -for independence was too great to have it limited to a mere minority of -the people, when it was purchased for the whole; was too great a price -to pay for principles that were to be restricted to fewer than half of -the descendants of those who paid it. Our fathers would have never -fought for the liberty to have a King or an aristocratic ruler of their -own. They endured the hardships and privations of that war for -independence for themselves and their posterity. Nothing less than this -was the inspiration of those years of suffering, nothing less than this -could have given them inspiration to gain their independence. - -But this was scarcely more than won, before those from whom this -inspiration came were doomed to see their work robbed of half its value. -At the convention that met to frame a government, there were men whose -minds were too narrow to grasp the significance of the truths which had -been the inspiration of the people; and which had sustained them through -the war. They were men bred and born in English customs. They were not -willing to make a complete departure from the established legal forms of -the mother country, and make the Declaration, the inspiration of the -Constitution, as it had been of the revolution. That inspiration came -from these truths, and they were declared to be self-evident, “that all -men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with -certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the -pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights, governments are -instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the -governed.” No trace of any single one of these truths is to be found in -the Constitution as then adopted; nor in any of the Amendments that have -since been added, save in Sec. I., Art. XIV., which the self-constituted -citizens have rendered nugatory. - - - OUR COPYING OF ENGLAND. - -Our constitution and laws have nothing specifically American about them. -They are copies from the English, modified in some particulars, which -have been the inducement “to gather the spoils while we may.” The -President is an English king under another name, selected by the -“caucus,” the worst element in politics, and elected by the people, -because, under the vicious methods that are in vogue they have no way to -vote save for one of the two at whom ten thousand papers vie with each -other in throwing mud during the campaign. Many who have come to know -how Presidents are made have abandoned the polls in disgust. The Senate -is a badly abridged edition of the House of Lords, while the House of -Representatives is the same of the House of Commons. In the law of -primogeniture only do our laws differ materially from those of England, -this good feature having been borrowed from another source. Nor have we -any political literature save the Declaration of Independence which has -a distinct national character about it that is purely American, and it -is this that we celebrate year after year; it is this and this only that -calls out the patriotism of the people. - -As far as the Constitution is concerned it is Dead Sea fruit. It is an -old and musty English sermon to which we have prefixed a new and vital -text, the text and sermon having no common ground or meaning. The -condition of the people and the country could scarcely have been worse -had we had Kings and Parliaments, instead of Presidents and Congresses. -A tree, let it be called by whatever name, is known by the fruit it -bears. If we are to judge the political tree in this country in this -way, shall we not be forced to say that we have gathered thorns from -grapes and thistles from figs? In purity in the administration of -justice, our Government can stand no comparison with that of England. -Money here is king, and judge and jury also. Then must there not be -something radically wrong somewhere, and what can this be, except the -engrafting of a new political idea into an old political system? This is -what is the matter, and cringe as we may, there can never be a change -greatly for the better until the institutions of the country are -remodelled by the inspiration of that which led to their establishment. - - - OUR LACK OF GREAT STATESMEN. - -Had there been any really great men among our statesmen they would have -discovered the cause of the alternate “ups and downs” in the prosperity -of the country, and, at least, have attempted some remedy. But we may -look in vain through the whole list of those who have, one after -another, prominently occupied public attention, for a great mind in the -sense of instituting reforms in government; in replacing vicious by -beneficent legislation. Washington, who will always be deservedly -revered, was in no sense a great man save in goodness. As a general or -statesman he has been excelled by dozens since his time, not one of whom -has left anything behind him that will make his name immortal. To be -immortal in history requires that there shall be some basis for it -living in the Government, or in the industrial habits of the people, or -in their religious faiths or rites. Buddha in India, Confucius in China, -Zoroaster in Persia, Mahomet among Mahomedans, and Jesus amongst -Christians, have immortality. But the religious element, _per se_, never -would have civilized the world. Indeed the nations most under the -influence of religious sentiments have done the least to spread -civilization into unknown countries. It is the warlike and intellectual, -in contradistinction to the religious and æsthetic, nations to whom we -owe the almost world-wide enlightenment of the present, while the latter -have remained shut up within themselves, and are nothing but what their -religion makes them. The contrast between Egypt and India or China is, -in this respect, most striking. Egypt, becoming great at home, pushed -out into the surrounding world. With its immense armies under Sesostris -and its no less potent power emanating from the wise men who made the -Alexandrian library a possibility, it left its impress so fixed upon the -world that, even to this day, there are many things in the habits and -customs of the nations, especially in their literature and philosophies, -that are Egyptian. It was an Egyptian colony which laid the foundation -in Greece at Athens for the splendid civilization that was there -developed; for the glory, the military renown and the arts and sciences -that afterwards made Greece at once the admiration and wonder of the -world. - - - GREAT MINDS THE FOUNTAIN OF ALL GOOD. - -The Egyptians were also a maritime people who made voyages for -discovery. It was under the instructions of one of its kings—Nechos—that -some skilful Phœnician sailors first sailed round the coast of Africa. -Six hundred years B.C. an attempt was also made to do what the French -engineer Lesseps has since done—to cut a canal across the Isthmus of -Suez. I mention these facts to show how all the really great things that -have done the world most good have had their origin in some one great -mind, who still lives in the immortality of his creations, having -impressed himself inexpungibly upon the descent of the race and on -civilization; and by this showing to call attention to the further fact -that the number of the great who live in the present is extremely small, -and finally to show that this country has not produced even one such -mind outside the purely intellectual plane. The names of Fulton and -Field will live until steam, as a motor power, shall be superseded by -some more potent agent, and until the telegraphic wires shall be no -longer required to transmit the thoughts of one to another at the -antipodes of the earth; but in government the list is blank. - -Our basis must, however, be made still broader. Greece was founded upon -principles brought from Egypt; but in that small country a new era was -born. Egyptian achievements were the culmination of an era of -civilization of which Greece was fruit, and became the seed for the -next. Not only did Greece dim the splendour of Egyptian warfare, but she -also surpassed her in intellectual attainment. The names of Plato, -Socrates, Aristotle, Archimedes, Xenophon, will live in philosophy as -long as there is a literature; while Marathon, Thermopylae, Salamis, -Platea and Mycale will stand for ever unapproachable in military and -naval glory, conclusive evidence of the power of order and organization -over mere numbers and brute force. - - - THE POWER OF ELOQUENCE. - -There was, however, another power behind this one of order which made it -invulnerable, irresistible. Philip of Macedon, the father of Alexander -the Great, testified of this power in these words: “The eloquence of -Demosthenes did me more harm than all the armies and fleets of the -Athenians. His harangues are like machines of war, and batteries raised -at a long distance, by which all my projects and enterprises are ruined. -Had I been present and heard that vehement orator declaim, I should have -been the first to conclude that it was necessary to declare war against -me. Nor could I reach him with gold, for in this respect, by which I had -gained so many cities, I found him invulnerable.” Antipater also said of -the same power: “I value not the galleys nor armies of the Athenians. -Demosthenes alone I fear. Without him the Athenians are no better than -the meanest Greeks. It is he who rouses them from their lethargy and -puts arms into their hands almost against their wills. Incessantly -representing the battles of Marathon and Salamis, he transforms them -into new men. Nothing escapes his penetrating eye, nor his consummate -prudence. He foresees all our designs; he countermines all our projects -and disconcerts us in everything. Did the Athenians confide in him and -follow his advice we should be irredeemably undone.” - -’Tis true that this was in the days of the declining Grecian glory; but -it is none the less true that it was the same power in others previously -that lifted a whole people to sublime achievements and into grand and -noble character. It was here, also, that patriotism had birth; here that -men devoted their lives to their country for the country’s sake rather -than for private gain or glory. In this respect the character of Grecian -generals and statesmen has never been approached by any other nation. It -was this character that gave the Greeks as a nation, and to the world as -an example, the first code of laws; gave a Constitution as a -conservatory of the people’s rights, and made a Lycurgus possible, the -principles of whose Spartan code are only now beginning to be -appreciated. It is to this code that we must look as the prime source of -political economy, and it has been the inspiration of all the -modifications of laws ever made in the interests of the people. In this -respect, Lycurgus will be known in the future ages as the Spartan -law-giver of the world. - - - LESSONS FROM ROMAN HISTORY. - -Roman history is a second edition of Grecian, enlarged in its sphere of -operations, and in its influence over the world. Rome, however, would -never have been possible, had Greece not first been a fact. But Rome was -vitiated in the character of her public men, as compared with those of -Greece, in about the same ratio that she was greater in other respects. -Greece was the admiration of the world, but Rome was its astonishment. -All that she was, sank with her as she went down into the dark ages. The -best of what made Greece, still lives in the people of the world. Greece -was the garden of modern civilization and will remain its inspiration -until three elements of character—the religious, the intellectual and -the social—shall join their powers to construct the future government of -the world. - -Charlemagne was the basis of the first great national character that -evolved after the dark ages, and Otho the Great laid the foundation for -the present dominance of Bismarck and Von Moltke in Central Europe. -Cromwell, more than any other, is the inspiration of English character, -modified by its respect for the political rights of women by the -influence of Queen Elizabeth, under whom England reached the acme of its -power and glory. But in French history is to be found the most distinct -evidence of a communication to a whole people of the character of a -single individual that there is to be found anywhere. The French -character, both as a nation and as an individual, may be summed up in -one word—Bonaparte. With the advent of this giant mind came a crisis -over all modern Europe. Under his influence not only did the national -character of the French people change, but the individual character also -underwent many modifications. Nor was this confined to France, for this -man’s genius was felt in every capital in the world. He conquered the -nations and compelled them to change their laws, while to France he gave -an entire new code, to which, more than to anything else, France owes -her position among nations. It was the result of these laws that gave to -France the capacity to rise from the disaster inflicted upon her by -Prussia. Her immense loans came in small sums from the peasantry, and -when paid will remain in France, which will not suffer the double -impoverishment that most nations suffer from a public debt. The -possibility of this was due to the far-reaching statesmanship of -Napoleon Bonaparte, when he changed the laws regarding the inheritance -of property, taking the estate from the deceased and dividing it equally -among all the children—the greatest innovation that had ever been made -upon the old feudal system, and together with other reforms, fixing -France in a position to become more prosperous internally than any other -European nation. Bonaparte also broke down the barriers that divided the -nations and races of Europe, and opened up the way for closer commercial -and literary relations, and performed, during the twenty years that he -was in France, a greater service for the advancement of civilization -than was ever performed by any other person who ever lived. In a sense, -and in a good sense, too, it may be said that he dictated to the world, -because the changes that he instituted and compelled have produced a -modifying influence over the whole world. Taken as a whole, Bonaparte -was the greatest man who ever lived. Certainly he equalled the greatest -generals, and his campaigns, with those of Hannibal and -Scipio-Africanus, will be the textbooks for military students as long as -the art of war remains a study; while as a statesman he stands at the -head of the greatest. He was Lycurgus, Alexander, Hannibal, Talleyrand, -Bismarck combined. He represented, if he did not excel, the greatest of -all ages, save Confucius and Jesus, save Demosthenes and Cicero. He -never taught morality, _per se_, but he believed that a well-governed -and industrially-thrifty people would necessarily be also moral, and he -never made a speech except to point out the enemy to his soldiers. The -treachery of a single man—Grouchy—who permitted Blucher to hurl the -Prussian army unopposed upon his wearied troops after they had defeated -Wellington at Waterloo, changed the whole future destiny of Europe, and -prevented Bonaparte from becoming the beneficent law-giver of the world -as he had been of France. For behind all his ambition in which only he -is known to the world, and, therefore, not known at all, he had an -unalterably fixed purpose to raise the common people of Europe to their -proper position; but this he could do only by first conquering the -rulers who stood in his way. - - - LYCURGUS AND BONAPARTE. - -It is, therefore, to Lycurgus and to Bonaparte, more than to any others, -to whom we must look as the master-minds in government; as those who -instituted sweeping changes in the political institutions of the world, -and in this sense they are the greatest of all the great who live in -profane history. Many slight reforms have been effected; but they alone -conceived and reduced to a system the changes that revolutionized and -replaced the old beneficently to the people. - -Bonaparte himself recognized that his greatness consisted in this, for, -when he asked his friends to which of his achievements he would owe his -life in history, and they replied, naming some campaign or battle, he -corrected them and said; “I shall go down in history with my _Code -Napoleon_ in my hands.” So it was not Marengo, not Wagram, not -Austerlitz, not Dresden, not any nor all his great victories to which he -looked as his best achievement; but it was the code of laws by which he -made France the happiest country in Europe. It is not to be wondered at -that his name lives in the hearts of the French and moves them as no -other name ever moved a people. - -Great as Bismarck may be, he is not great in the true sense of -greatness, for he is building up a power that the next fifty years will -have to overthrow. True greatness works in the direction of and not -against progress, and its works live. Compared with him, Disraeli may -after all, should his intentions toward India have a humanitarian -tendency, turn out to be the greater man. - -In this view of greatness, to whom shall we look among our statesmen for -any of its evidences? Beyond the legislation that the abolition of -slavery forced upon us, the homestead act and one recently introduced by -Gen. Banks, enlarging its scope in the interests of the settler, and -some concessions to the people, like the eight hour law, we may search -the legislation of the country through in vain for any evidence of -humanitarian tendencies in our legislators. On the contrary, the -inspiration of the privileged classes, the power and use of wealth will -be found everywhere; ’tis true that we have a Republican Government in -name and form, but it is also true that money rules, that it elects the -officers and controls the legislation. The people who are outside of the -privileged classes, outside of the offices and the press, are powerless -to help themselves. The machinery of the government is in the hands of -those who want things to continue as they are, while the few in power -who are devoted to the public welfare, beat the air in vain attempts to -strike either the causes of, or the remedy for existing evils. - - - NEED OF A NEW CODE OF LAWS. - -But they may be summed up in a few words. The causes lie in the -fruitless attempt to run a Republican Government upon an aristocratic -code of laws, and the remedy is to remodel the code by the principles of -the declaration, which should be made the inspiration of every -provision, as well as the key to its construction. I might enumerate the -special evils that have grown out of the error made in the -Constitution—the vicious legislation for which this error laid the -foundation—that the rule of the majority is not a Republican idea; that -“the majority” is another name for the despot; that minorities are -entitled to, and can be represented; I might show that the United States -is, after all, nothing but a confederation of equal and antagonistic -powers, and not a Federal Union; that Washington is more a place in -which representatives from the several States assemble to quarrel over -the spoils of office and to lay the ropes for the succession, than it is -the capital of a free and mighty people; that there is such a -contrariety of laws in the several States upon any given subject, that -it puzzles a Philadelphia lawyer to tell whether a given act is a crime, -a misdemeanour, or whether actionable at all in the different States; if -people be married in one State, whether they are so legally in any -other, or if divorced the same. I might show that taxation is unequal -and oppressive, and the revenue unjust; and if there were need of it, -which there is not, that official patronage is a polite name for public -plunder, and that the public service is a vast system of organized -corruption. Had the original error not been made, had the fountain been -kept pure, none of these baneful things could have been engrafted into -the system. But they have now obtained a root so deep that they can -never be exterminated save by uprooting the system. They are the Canada -thistles in the fertile meadow, that spread themselves until they absorb -the whole vitality of the soil and thrust out the useful harvest. These -thistles have spread and seeded in the government until they have thrust -out every honest servant of the people, and until one who has any care -for his reputation cannot afford to meddle with the government. - - - MUST WE HAVE A REVOLUTION? - -How can such a state of things be remedied save by a revolution? The -people may listen to the “outs” who pretend to tell them that it may; -but should they come to the “ins” they would follow in the footsteps of -their predecessors. The machine is running down hill too fast to be now -stopped; the tide of power has set too strongly toward corruption to be -reversed; the political body is too thoroughly impregnated with the -poison to make its purging possible by any change of medicine. The -disease is incurable because it is in the system more than in the -individual men who run it. It has had its youth, its manhood, and is now -in its old and decaying age. No power can save it; and those who think -they can, who think that they can patch it up with tonics for a time, -are only preparing for a worse ruin when the crash shall come. - -But the people would not care so much about the government; they would -be willing to let the politicians run it as they please, and enjoy its -spoils as they have for a century; they would even endure, as they have, -uncomplainingly, any extortion that their earnings would permit without -reducing them to the starvation point; but when in addition to the -absorption of all their earnings to pay the debts of official -extravagance and vicious legislation it is threatened to foreclose the -mortgages on the industries and sell them out, and thus take away their -means of livelihood, they have a right, indeed it is their duty, to -object, and they are beginning to do it in real earnest. - - - A WORD TO NON-PRODUCERS. - -I do not say this in the interest of the workmen, but speak in appeal to -the non-productive classes, those who live without labour, to show them -that through their servants, the Congress and the administrators of the -laws, they are repeating the folly of the Southern slave-holders, who -could not have found a more effectual way to rid themselves of slavery -than that which they adopted. Looking upon it now, it seems that they -could not have been satisfied with the progress of abolitionism in the -North, under the lead of Garrison, Phillips and Douglass, and therefore -they stirred up the war at home to precipitate the end, and succeeded -admirably. The heartiness with which the Southern members of the St. -Louis Convention recently accepted “the results” is evidence that this -is a proper view to take of it. It is only a wonder that, going so far -as they did, they did not fall into the arms of the Cincinnati -Convention and thank its party for the services rendered them. But this -aside. Had they been content to keep the power they had, they might have -retained their slaves for years to come; but they wanted more! more! -more! Nothing less than the whole country as slave territory would -satisfy their morbidness upon the subject. Perhaps they did not know -what they were doing; but they must have been blind indeed if there were -not among them one sagacious mind who understood it. - -But when, through promises from northern doughfaces, they had brought on -the war, then those who had been gradually getting rich, quietly -extending their mortgages, through railroad and other speculative -schemes and exorbitant rates of interest, saw an opportunity to extend, -at a single effort, their grasp over the whole property of the country, -and reduce the masses to servitude for all time to come, as they are -reduced in England. The classes to whom I speak knew that the government -would have to have money; and that it would have to come to them to get -it; and they also knew that the longer the war continued the more money -would be required. So, while the copper-headed bankers of the North gave -the rebels all the encouragement they dared, their English brethren -furnished them with arms and ammunition, and thus the war was prolonged -and made a costly one. The plan was well conceived and nicely executed; -the productive classes were saddled with a debt of $3,000,000,000, for -which the government received little more than half that sum. - - - SOME TELLING FIGURES. - -But they who were engaged in this scheme over-reached themselves as the -South had done before them. They over-estimated the vitality and -endurance of the industries, already carrying a debt of $4,000,000,000 -in railroad, State, county and municipal bonds, besides paying interest -on individual loans to a still larger amount. They could not bear the -added burden. With gold at par with which the interest was paid on this -enormous debt before the war, they managed to get along; but when the -war had raised the price of gold and had added $3,000,000,000 to the -debt, it was more than they could stand. On this $11,000,000,000 debt, -with the interest on some parts of it at 8, 9, 10 and even 12 and 15 per -cent. per annum, and allowing for the large discounts that were -frequently extorted, and adding to this the premiums paid for gold and -including the dividends on stocks, the industries of the country were, -and still are, taxed $1,300,000,000 every year to pay interest! Think of -it, you who take this interest! Think of the toiling millions who, -beneath the broiling sun, or in the murky mines, or dismal shops, or in -the frozen forests, give up their lives to toil! Think of it! Taxed -$1,300,000,000 annually for interest, part of which goes to enrich -European bankers, and the remainder to those who, in luxurious ease, -idle their lives away at home. Think of it, I repeat again, and then -wonder, if you can, that industry is prostrate beneath the heel of -capital! Say, if you can, whether the wonder is not rather, that there -is a wheel in motion in the country, or that there is a plough moving in -the soil. - -The total products amount to but $5,000,000,000 annually. Out of this, -there is first to come the subsistence of the 44,000,000 population. On -an average it cannot be said that it costs less than $100 a year per -capita to support this mass. Some people spend more than that for cigars -in a single month, and others double for wines and other liquors, to say -nothing about establishments costing thousands upon thousands to -maintain; and yet there are so many who live upon less than $100 a year, -that the average cost of subsistence may be placed at that sum. This -would consume $4,400,000,000 of the $5,000,000,000 products, and leave -but $600,000,000 with which to pay the $1,300,000,000 interest. Hence it -is plainly to be seen that the productive interests of the country are -running into debt to the capitalists at the rate of $700,000,000 every -year; that their mortgages on the property of the country are increasing -yearly by that amount. This is a frightful showing, but it is a true -one; it is one that the labouring classes are beginning to understand; -it is one that you who are oppressing them should also understand, for, -by ignoring it, you are challenging swift destruction. The only question -is, how long can these things go on, with the wealth of the country -increasing at the rate of two and a half per cent. per annum; it is a -simple thing to calculate how long it will require for money, increasing -at the rate of 6, 8, 10, and even 15 and 20 per cent. per annum, to -consume the wealth. - - - THE ROOT OF THE TROUBLE. - -We come now in logical order to the grand and fundamental error that has -been made which lies at the back of all political fallacies, and to -which are to be primarily attributed all industrial and financial ills -from which we suffer, both as a nation and as individuals, since, let -the Government be as good as it may, with this error lying between it -and the industries, it were impossible that evil should not come upon -the people. Hence, let the Government and the public service be as bad -as they may; let the people suffer from bad legislation as much as they -have; the fault is, after all, more to be charged against the system -than against the individuals who, for the time, are its administrators. -No matter how skilful the engineer may be, nor how watchful the fireman; -if the engine itself be faulty in construction, it will explode; or if -the engine be perfect in itself, but connected with other machinery that -is not fitted to run at the same speed as the engine, then the machinery -will fly in pieces. The same is true of the relations between the -Government—the political organisations of the people—and the wealth -producers—the industrial organisation of the people, as we shall see, -for the Government is a machine constructed after the highest known -principles of political mechanism, while intimately connected with it is -the industrial organisation, running upon the very lowest—the -rudimental—industrial mechanism. Consequently, when the political -machinery runs at a high rate of speed, requiring an extra amount of -fuel and water, the industrial machinery, in its efforts to supply this -demand, and urged on by its connection to keep pace with the rapid -motion, flies in pieces; becomes prostrated and useless, as we see it -everywhere in the country now, when to keep the political machinery -running at the present high rate of speed, it has to draw upon its -accumulated stock of fuel, as it is doing now to the amount of -$700,000,000 annually. - -If we go back and examine the evolution of government and industry, all -this will be made clear; so clear that all may understand it. Certain -fixed laws direct and regulate the growth of everything, and they are -the same for all departments in the universe. The statement of the laws -by which the sidereal and solar systems have evolved, will also describe -those which the earth has obeyed, and are the laws of all material, -governmental, industrial, intellectual, social, moral and religious -change. This law as applied to government and industry may be stated in -philosophic terms, thus: The progress of government and industry is a -continuous establishment of physical relations within the community, in -conformity with physical relations arising within the environment, -during which the government, industry and the environment pass from a -state of incoherent homogeneity to a state of coherent heterogeneity; -and, during which, the constitutional units of the government and -industry become ever more distinctly individualized. - -If we examine the growth of industry and government, and the relations -that exist between them now, in this country, we shall discover how far -they have advanced from incoherent homogeneity toward coherent -heterogeneity. Looking through the dim vistas of the past into the -pre-historic time, we find a time when there were no aggregations of -individuals larger than the family; that the family was the only -government and the only organization for industry; that its head ruled -with arbitrary sway, having no one to whom he was accountable, each -family having to depend wholly upon itself for subsistence. The people -then were in the same state politically and industrially, and this was -the homogeneous or original state. Afterwards we find that, for -protection or for conquest, two or more families combined in a political -sense and formed tribes, having an absolute head, but remaining in the -rudimentary state industrially; next, tribes came together and built -cities, and cities then coalesced and constituted nations (the rulers of -which still using arbitrary power), until single rulers aspired to the -dominion of the world; and in a sense succeeded. But all this time, -industrially, the people remained in the original state. There had been -no coalescing for the purpose of subsistence as there had been for -government. While politically the people had evolved through several -stages of progression, industrially they were still in the rudimentary -state. - -Having arrived at the culmination of growth in the line of absolute -power, one man having controlled the destinies of the world (thus -typifying the future yet to be when the world shall be united under a -humanitarian, in place of a despotic government; under the rule of all -instead of that of one), a new departure was set up in the direction of -this future condition, and the power to which one man aspired began to -redistribute itself in limited and constitutional monarchies, down -through kings and queens, nobility and republics, to the people -generally, in this country advancing so far as to be divided practically -among nearly one-half of the people, and theoretically among the whole. -Evolution on this line will go on till every person in the world shall -form a part of the government. Then the great human family will be a -possibility. - - - SOCIAL EXPERIMENTS. - -But up to the present time, what have the people done industrially? -Almost nothing, save to subsist themselves on the rudimental plane! -Nothing, save to make a few experiments at coalescing. There are a few -illustrations of the first step in progress in this respect, which -correspond to the coming together of families politically. But there are -no industrial cities, to say nothing about nations. There were Brook -Farm, New Harmony, and several other attempts at industrial tribes, and -there are Oneida and a dozen lesser attempts still in existence, besides -numerous cooperative movements. There are the railroad, the telegraph, -insurance companies, banks and other corporations, all evidences that a -real departure is about to be made in industrial organization; that is, -that the people are preparing to depart from the homogeneous state -industrially. The grange movement is the most positive evidence of the -moving of the people generally in this direction, in which to protect -themselves against the rapacity of merchants and railroads, they combine -to purchase from first hands and realize a saving of from twenty to -fifty per cent. This is an illustration of coalescing for protection. -Most of the other illustrations, such as railroads, banks, etc., are for -aggressive purposes; are means by which the people, while being -seemingly accommodated, are really being robbed. Nevertheless, they are -all evidences of progress in the industrial sense, those for aggression -in the end compelling others for protection. That there are so many -forms of coalescings for aggressive purposes, is conclusive evidence -that the time is near when the people will be driven into organizing -themselves into industrial communities, cities and nations, and -eventually into one nation for the whole world. The first departure -having been made, nothing can prevent industry from passing through the -same stages of progress through which government has passed, and -eventually becoming “at one” with government. - -Has the evolution of government proved a blessing to the people? Are we, -as a people, in a better condition politically? Are we nearer the -ultimate condition than they were of ancient time, when the family was -the highest form of government? If we are, then we should be equally -improved, industrially, if we were upon the same plane in this respect. -There are no contradictions in natural growth. Like degrees of evolution -bring equal good in all; the same to government, to industry, to -intellect, to morals, to religion. But this development does not mean -for the rich what it is inferred by them to mean, unless, indeed, they -attempt to resist its progress, which if they do, the same fate will -overtake them that came upon those who attempted to stay the tide of -political growth. It means for them just what the development of -government meant for those who held and exercised its power. The -political relations of the monarch and nobility are repeated in the -industrial relations of the capitalists and working men. The “levelling” -politically has not been down but up. Instead of the rulers having been -degraded into serfdom, the serfs have been elevated to the plane of -rulers in this country. In the place of one man ruling over others, all -men rule themselves, at least in theory. In this transformation no one -has been deprived of anything that of right belonged to him; but the -masses have received their natural rights from those who held them from -them by the right of might. When the industries shall rise to the stage -of growth which the government occupies, a like “levelling up” will take -place; a like relinquishment of industrial power will be made in favour -of the toiling masses. None who are independent now will be made -dependent then; but the dependent will rise to independence. Hence the -alarm of the rich is wholly without foundation. Such a move does not -mean the slightest harm for them; it means equal good for all. It does -not mean the taking away of any comfort or luxury from anybody; but the -extension of every comfort and luxury that any have to all—to those who -suffer, be it from hunger, from nakedness, from want of shelter, or -other cause. - - - OUR NATIONAL DEBT. - -If this analysis be applied to the present situation we shall see what -is the matter with the industries. When the South rebelled, the North -was compelled to resist, or else permit the national unity to be -destroyed. Let it be borne in mind what stress was put upon the -necessity of preserving the oneness of the people politically. To do -this an army was required. When volunteers ceased to offer in sufficient -numbers to keep the army to its necessary strength, the government, -acting upon the right of a representative of a politically united -people, resorted to drafting to determine which of the members of this -unity should go into the army and jeopardize their lives for its -preservation. This was in perfect harmony with the principles of -government upon which this order rests, and was fully endorsed by the -people. But what did the government do to subsist these men, and to -provide the munitions of war? Did it proceed the same way that it did to -secure the men? Not at all! It borrowed the money from the bankers of -New York, Hamburg and London, and agreed to pay them a rate of interest -double that demanded of any other first class nation, parting with its -bonds to them at “60.” In other words, it borrowed $1,800,000,000, at 10 -per cent., and gave $1,200,000,000 in bonds as bonus for making the -loan. - -Now this was the error that was committed, for, although the people were -industrially upon a lower order of development than they were -politically, nevertheless, since necessity knows no law save that of its -own conditions, the government should have proceeded as if we were upon -the same plane in both respects. When it called for volunteers to raise -an army, and the ranks of industry responded liberally, it should at the -same time have also called for volunteer assistance from the ranks of -wealth, to subsist that army; and as it resorted to drafting to maintain -the necessary number of fighting men when volunteering failed to do it, -so should it have resorted to drafting the means with which to pay their -expenses when volunteer assistance should have failed to do it. Had the -people been one industrially as they were politically; had the -industrial organization of the people been upon the same plane as their -political organization, this would have been done naturally, and there -would have been no bonded debt incurred. - -What does this show? This clearly; that, while the government can -command the lives of the working men and put them in jeopardy, even -sacrifice them without stint to maintain itself, it has no power over -the property of the rich to compel them to assist in that maintenance. -Had it been so that the government could not have borrowed any money, it -would have fallen from this disparity between the political and -industrial development. Is not this clear? And if it is, does it not -show a very great and grave defect in the wisdom of our institutions? - -But what has been the effect of this error in this instance? The present -prostration of industry, necessarily: and it has come about in this way: -The armies were made up from the ranks of industry; the “rank and file” -were so many men taken away from producing, and, therefore, from adding -to the accumulated wealth; but the maintenance of the army was borrowed -at an exorbitant rate of interest from the accumulated wealth, which was -wholly in the hands of those who never fired a shot in defence of the -country, nor added a dollar to its aggregate wealth by labour. While the -war continued, the men who were left in the ranks of industry were -called upon to pay this interest; and when it was over, those who had -survived the war and returned to productive toil were included with -them. And it is expected that the industrial classes will continue to -pay this interest until the bonds mature, and then the bonds themselves, -as I shall show you that they do hereafter; or what is more to the -point, for the $1,800,000,000 that the government borrowed from the -money-lenders it would compel the people to return them as bonus, -interest and principal, the enormous sum of $5,000,000,000. - - - INDUSTRY OVER-BURDENED. - -Hence by this error, made possible by the false relations of government -and industry, the government has not only compelled industry to furnish -the men to fight its battles, win its victories, and maintain its -integrity, but it also compels it to pay all the expenses of the war, -besides to continue adding to the wealth of the rich. The gentlemen in -whose interests it was principally fought, who have sat quietly at home -in luxury, and drawn the life-blood from the poor, now go out of all the -effects of the war with their fortunes trebled by having merely loaned -the government the money it needed to maintain itself in the struggle. - -This is a true picture, moderately drawn, of the real facts. While I do -not desire to stir up the wrongs that industry has suffered in this -matter, and drive the weary toilers to seek redress, it is nevertheless -time, when thousands of families are suffering the pangs of hunger as a -consequence of this wrong, to lay it open before the people who have -been its cause and who have profited by it; it is time that the -government should be shown the errors that it has committed and be told -that the people are coming to an understanding of them; time that the -bond-holders should know that the people are aware of the tenure by -which they hold these mortgages on the industries. Let the one protest -as it may and the other plead innocence under the revelations as they -will, I intend to do everything in my power to rouse them to a sense of -the danger in which they stand from the still sleeping masses, who, when -they shall come to a full realization of the impositions that have been -practised upon them, will not hesitate at any means of redress; -especially will they not hesitate when the modern Shylocks, having -relentlessly demanded not only the last “pound of flesh” but their very -life’s blood also, demand likewise the payment of the bonds! The people -already begin to learn that the government has no sympathy for their -sufferings, and that it declares that it has no power to alleviate them, -which they will think is strange enough since it had the power to bring -these evils upon them. - - - WHAT LABOUR WILL SAY. - -Under these conditions they will soon come to argue like this:—Was it -not enough to demand of industry that it should fight the battles for -the government? Was it not enough that the working-classes should lay -down their lives by thousands upon a hundred fields of battle? Was it -not enough that mothers and wives should give their sons and husbands to -fill the soldier’s grave that the wealth of the country might remain -inviolate? Was it not enough that we did all this without now being -forced to give our toil year after year to return these rich, who did -nothing, these loans? Is it too much to ask of wealth that it pay the -expenses of the war? Should we not rather demand, in tones of thunder if -lesser ones are insufficient to rouse its holders to a sense of their -duty, that it shall bear its part of the burden? We have looked on -quietly and seen the sufferings to which this people are reduced by the -rapacity of the usurers, until we can no longer hold our peace; and if -it be in our power, we intend that wealth and not industry shall yet be -made to pay what it should have been made to pay at first; that it shall -return to the government the bonds which the toiling masses have -redeemed by the rivers of blood that they have shed, and that the -government shall return the $2,000,000,000 of interest that it has -already filched from industry for interest on this most unjust debt. In -other words, since we gave the lives that it was necessary to sacrifice -to conquer the rebellion from our ranks, we intend that the rich shall -give from what they had when the rebellion broke out, to pay all the -expenses of the war, and we will never rest until this be done. - -These, I say, are the arguments to which the suffering labourers will -resort if you permit them to is driven to desperation by hunger from -want of employment. If the rich were wise, they would forestall all -opportunity for such arguments to be used, by coming forward voluntarily -to do them justice. If what I have suggested will be their arguments, is -true, as you know that it is, then wealth should pay the expenses of the -war without any further delay, because it is a gross injustice, not to -say an unwarrantable imposition on good nature, to make the men who did -the fighting also pay this debt, while those for whom it was mostly -fought have done nothing but to speculate out of it. Perhaps you have -never looked at it in this light; but if you have not, then I pray you -look at it so now, before your attention shall be called to it in an -unpleasant way; for, unless relief come soon to those who are suffering -the pangs of hunger, by reason of your blindness, there will be an -imperious demand made of you. - - - THE SILVER QUESTION. - -As if they were not yet satisfied with the oppressions already in -operation, some of those whom you have sent to Washington to conduct -your business, and who have got you into all this difficulty, think that -silver is not good enough money in which to pay interest, because it is -not now worth proportionally quite so much as gold. Where has the wisdom -and prudence of this people fled? Have they no care for what _may_ come -upon their families, that they sit by and see indignity after indignity -piled mountain-high upon the people? The lives, the labour, the all of -the poor may be taken for the public good; but your bonds, your money, -your usury must not be touched. They are considered to be of more -consequence than life and toil and everything else that the poor have -got to be taken!—your revenue must be sacred, and the Shylocks must take -their “pound of flesh” from the daily labourer, let it cost whatever -blood it may in the cutting of it; and no wise Portia comes to stay the -hand already dripping with the life of the toilers, for is not the -interest wrenched from their toil, their life! Look at the poor of the -country; millions of them without work and their families either -starving or else on the verge of starvation. Let me read you extracts -from two articles from the _New York Sun_ of the 20th of July, so that -you may see that I am not overdrawing the picture: “Starvation in New -York. The sufferings among the poor are fearful. The sufferers are -chiefly widows and young children, who, for lack of nourishment, are -unable to withstand the intense heat. Instances of actual starvation are -mentioned. A widow and her young daughter and son, who are unable to -find work, had been for some time living on $2 a week. In a garret, -without any other furniture than an old dry goods box for a table and a -broken chair, live a widow and her five young children. In a closet are -a mattress and a blanket, which at night make a bed for the whole -family. An aged woman, who was once in affluent circumstances, was some -time ago found nearly dead with hunger; it was only by careful nursing -that she was saved. A young man, whose family were gradually starving, -was driven to despair and intent on suicide. The child of another died, -and not only was the father unable to bury it, but he was unable to -provide food for the living.” These are only a few of the cases that -come under the observation of a single church relief society. What shall -we say of the great city? The other was entitled “Widespread Destitution -in Brooklyn. At the meeting of the King’s County Charity Commissioners -yesterday, Mr. Bogan said that there was almost as much destitution in -the city now as at midwinter. The families of unemployed men who up to -this time have never asked for a cent of charity, were daily besieging -his office. The system of outdoor relief had been abandoned, and there -was no way to provide for the needy except out of his private purse. The -heads of families were forced into idleness by the hard times, and, -having exhausted all their means were face to face with starvation.” Is -not this a fearful picture of those who have helped to make the wealth -with which the storehouses of the country are loaded? African slavery -was a blessing compared with the condition of thousands of the poor. Let -its evils have been as great as we know that they were, the negroes -never suffered for food; the women and children never died of -starvation; never suffered from cold or went naked. Oh, that some master -mind, some master spirit, might be sent of God to show you the way out -of this desolation and the necessity of deliverance. But I fear you will -not be wise enough to avoid the penalty for neglecting to keep your -industrial institutions on the same plane with your political -organization, which is the only possible remedy for the present evils. -The people must be made as much one industrially as they are -politically. Then there would be harmony and consequent peace and -prosperity. - - - IS CASTE A NECESSITY? - -But to this the common objection is raised, that it is impossible to -make industrial interests common, on account of the necessary -differences in labour: that there must be caste in industry. This was -the reply that the king made to the people who wanted a political -republic; of course it will be the reply that the privileged classes -will make to those who want an industrial republic. You know how -fallacious the objection has been politically. The king deprived of his -crown has not been compelled to sleep with the scavenger. It will prove -equally as fallacious industrially. The money and railroad kings will -not have to live with the men who do the rough work of the industrial -public, unless they choose to do so, any more than they do now. The -foundation stones of a house always remain at the bottom, covered up in -the dirt; nevertheless, they are even more important to the safety of -the house than any upper part. So it will be in the industrial structure -when it shall be erected. There will always be Vanderbilts, Stewarts, -Fields and Fultons—the agents of the people industrially, as there are -now presidents, governors and mayors—agents of the people politically. -And do you not see how perfectly this corresponds to the teachings of -Jesus when He said: “Let him who would be greatest among you be the -servant of all,” and with this falls the objection of the aristocrat to -the industrial republic, as utterly untenable. - -The real inspiration of this objection, however, springs from quite -another source. Those who make it know that with the coming of -industrial organisation, the power which money has to increase will -fall, and make it impossible for anybody to live without labour. Money -has no rightful power to increase. Its origin and sphere distinctly -forbid the power, as can be clearly shown. The theory that money is -wealth is false. It came to be accepted from the fact that valuable -things have been used as money. - -Wealth is the product of labour; is anything that labour produces or -gathers. But the functions of money are representative wholly. Money -takes the place of wealth for the time—stands for it. Here is the -fallacy of a specie basis for money: specie is wealth, and can be made a -basis for the issue of money, but the error consists in making a -distinction against other kinds of wealth which would be equally as -good. Anything that has value may properly be made a basis for the issue -of a currency. - -If we trace the origin of money, all this will be made plain. At the -basis of all questions relating to wealth and money, lie the -elements—the land, the water, the air—and these are the free gifts of -God to man. None have the right to dispossess others of their natural -inheritance in these elements. The right to life carries along with it -the right to the use of so much of each of these elements as is -necessary to support it. No one has a natural right to more than this. -Hence, men have no more right to seize upon the land and deprive others -of its use, or part with it to others for a consideration, than they -have to bottle the air for the same purpose. There can be no ownership -of the elements; no ownership of the land any more than of the air or -water. Pretended ownership is another name for a usurpation. But the -elements, unused, are valueless. Labour applied to them yields results, -and these are valuable, consequently wealth; the net results after -subsisting the people are the accumulated wealth of the world, and there -is no other wealth. - - - MONEY THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL. - -If every person were to produce all the different things he needs or -wants, there would be no use for money, and the people would escape the -curses that follow in its trail, but experience taught labourers that it -was an economy for each to labour in some special way, and to exchange -his surplus products for those of others labouring in different ways. -Besides, the different climates produce different commodities, of each -of which all other climates require a share. Out of these facts came -agencies for effecting exchanges—money, the merchant and commerce. In -their origin and normal functions they are the agents, the servants of -labour; but when from exchanging the products of labour they grew into -speculating in these products, then they assumed abnormal functions, and -became the masters of labour. It must be seen, therefore, that the only -legitimate method by which wealth can increase, is by adding to itself -the net results of labour; indeed that is the only way in which it can -increase. It must also be clear that these results belong _in toto_ to -their producers, since, if nothing were exchanged save equivalents, -these results could never pass from the hands of their producers. But by -permitting the representatives of wealth—money—to have the power to -increase, the makers of money have been able to filch all the net -earnings from labour, and as a result of this, most of the accumulated -wealth of the world is in the hands of the makers of money instead of in -those of the makers of wealth. This may be legal, but can never be made -just. Had the labourers been let alone they would have continued to -produce and exchange their commodities among themselves without any -trouble, and they could have always maintained themselves comfortably. -But the “middlemen”—their agents—conceived, constructed and thrust upon -them a vicious system of money, by which they are forced to pay tribute -on everything that passes from, or is received by them, which tribute -amounts to the total net products of all the industries. - - - THE PRIVATE BANKING SYSTEM. - -The system of private or corporate banking is an example in point. Why -do individuals want a gold basis upon which to issue currency? To get -the privilege to levy interest on many times as much currency as they -have capital invested. A bank with an actual capital of $100,000 in gold -could issue $300,000 in currency, all which it could loan out together -with nearly all the deposits that it could secure, which, in some -instances, have been known to amount to ten times the capital. Why -should not a class of men, if the people are blind enough to let them do -it, speculate upon the credulity of the public through the idea that -they are rendering a public service? Why should they not desire to -“bank,” when by banking they can receive interest on $1,000,000, when -otherwise they could collect it upon $100,000 only? The same idea is the -inspiration of national banking, and of those who oppose a national -currency. The banks bought, say $100,000 of United States bonds from the -Government for $60,000. These bonds they deposited with the treasurer, -and the people were required to pay $6000 a year interest on them, while -the banks received from the Government $100,000 in national bank -currency with which they were set afloat. These notes were loaned to the -people, who again paid an interest on the same capital of $6000, or 20 -per cent. per annum—$12,000 on $60,000; and yet the bank men have made -the people think that they are offering them great accommodations. “Oh,” -says the National Bank legislator, “we must get rid of these abominable, -depreciated, irredeemable greenbacks, and make room for more national -banknotes.” Do you know for what that legislation is bidding? He wants, -if he has not already got it,—from some national bank man in his -district, or else he has an interest in some bank. What is the security -of national bank notes? United States bonds deposited in the Treasury. -What is the security of the bonds? The public faith of the United -States. What is the security of the greenbacks? The public faith of the -United States. What difference in this respect, then, is there between -national bank notes and greenbacks? None. Then as a currency there is -this difference between the bank notes and greenbacks: If greenbacks -were to take the place of the bank notes, the bank men would not get 20 -per cent. interest on their capital, and the privilege of receiving and -loaning the deposits of the people. - -But look at it in another light. Suppose the security of the national -bank notes were their own capital instead of the bonds, who would not -prefer to trust the faith of the United States, rather than that of any -individual in these times of Credit Mobilers, Tweed and whiskey rings? -Then, again, why should individuals furnish the circulating medium of -the people, when the people can furnish it themselves and save the -expense? $1,000,000,000 is as small an amount of currency of all kinds -as will transact the business of the country properly. Why should not -the $60,000,000, which the people would have to pay the banks for -interest on this, be paid to the Government for greenbacks? And more! -Why should not all the interest that is now paid to individuals and -banks for private loans, be paid to the Government? It is estimated that -the average amount of private loans for the whole country is not less -than $5,000,000,000 upon which, at even 6 per cent. interest, the people -are taxed $300,000,000. Is there any valid reason why the Government -should not loan this money and receive this interest? Yes, for if it -did, the rich could not live in luxurious idleness, while the poor are -obliged to labour twice the natural time to subsist the world. - - - WHY DO THE PEOPLE PAY INTEREST? - -Or still again: why should the people pay any interest at all on loans -from themselves? Why should not their agent—the Government—when amply -secured, freely loan the people all the money that they want for use? -Suppose that the farmers and the manufacturers did not have to pay -interest on the money that they are compelled to have to produce their -crops and goods? Don’t you see that they could compete successfully with -the people of any country in the world, in the production of anything? -Institute free money and there would be no necessity for a tariff for -protection to keep out the cheaper goods of other nations. But on the -contrary, this country would shortly be supplying other nations with the -very things with which they are now supplying us and thereby crippling -our manufactures and productions. Besides, all the people would be -constantly employed, prices would be low, every comfort and even luxury -abundant and in the reach of all, and thrift would replace stagnation -everywhere. Plenty of money, plenty of work and plenty of everything -that the ingenuity and strength of man can make, are the most favourable -conditions for the masses; while just the reverse is true for the -privileged classes. But why, since the former class outnumbers the -latter, as five to one, do not the former have all things their own way -in this country where the majority rule? Ask the masses this, and they -can make no reply. But it is because the superior intelligence and tact -of the minority enable them to concoct schemes by which, without seeming -to do so, they reduce the majority to actual, though mostly unconscious -servitude; making them pay, first, all the interest on the public and -private debts; next, all the expenses of the national, state, county and -municipal governments; and next, obtain their own support and the -increase of their wealth from them. Do you think that I overstate this? -I think I can make it so clear that you cannot doubt it; and if I do, -will you not think differently of the toiling masses than you have -thought of them heretofore? At the beginning of any year take the amount -of real wealth in the hands of the non-producers. During the year the -governments continue, the taxes are gathered and the expenses are paid: -your debts, your expenses and all; the producers have continued to -labour as usual, and at the end of the year find themselves just where -they were at its beginning; but the property of the wealthy classes has -increased about three per cent. for the whole country. And while the -latter class has become fewer in numbers and richer individually, the -former has increased in numbers and become poorer individually. Now -these are the facts, and with them before them who will pretend to say -that the class who have not produced anything have added to the -aggregate wealth? Whence has come this increase of wealth? From the -wealth producers, from the labouring classes and from no other source. -Industry being the sole source of wealth, it could have come from no -other source. Hence let the non-producer get his increase by whatever -strategy, it comes in some channel directly from the producer. This may -be done by interest, by speculation, by sharp trades, by profits; but -let it be by which it may, the producer has to pay the bill. In other -words, every addition that is made to the wealth of non-producers is so -made at the expense of the producers, the former having so much more -than they had which they did not produce, and the latter having so much -less than they did produce. This is self-evident, and all the -sophistical argumentation that can ever be made cannot make it -otherwise. The minority may attempt to explain it away; to show that -this and that are so and so; but here are the facts staring them in the -face, and they will no more down than would Banquo’s ghost for the -guilty Thane. There they stand, an everlasting condemnation of the rule -of the minority and the servitude of the majority. Nothing can be -clearer; nothing truer. And is it not a shame that it is true? - - - A PLEA FOR JUSTICE. - -You must not mistake me. I would not take a single comfort; nay, not a -single luxury from those who have the most. I would not deprive anybody -of anything they have or want; but I would so distribute the proceeds of -labour that those who produce the comforts and luxuries should have -their share of them; that they should have everything that the most -favoured now enjoy. In this land of fruitfulness and plenty, if all the -labour there is were constantly employed every man’s home might be a -palace, and want and sorrow be banished from the country. Am I asking -too much for those who have endured long years of toil and suffering to -bring this beautiful country to its present condition? Am I asking what -you are not willing that they shall have? Am I asking anything more than -justice? If you grant them less than justice God Almighty will come some -day, visit you and set the matter right, as he visited the South and -liberated the downtrodden blacks. So if you do not heed my warning, -remember that there is One whom you cannot ignore. - -But there is still another way by which the industries are taxed in -favour of the non-producers. The railroads, which ought to be, and -which, managed properly, would be, a great advantage to the industries, -are now at once their blessing and their curse. There are now 75,000 -miles of railways in the country, built at a cost of $4,658,208,630: -their earnings are $404,000,000 annually. But here is where the people -are hoodwinked. This sum does not begin to represent the actual amount -paid by the people for fare and freights. Almost the whole of the -freighting is done by “lines”—the Red Line, the Blue Line, the White -Star Line, and a hundred others, all which have special contracts with -the railroads to carry freights at just a living rate, while the lines -charge the people all that they can stand to pay, the difference in -these two sums going into the pockets of the owners of the lines. And -who are they? The owners, managers and officers of the railroads who -resort to this to blind the people’s eyes about the profits of -railroading, which they could not otherwise conceal, because they are -obliged to make annual exhibits. But the lines carry off the profits, -while the operating expenses of the roads, their interests and dividends -are left for the exhibits. If the companies made 20, 30 or 50 per cent. -dividends, the people would not stand it: but the managers play upon -them with their lines and blind their eyes while they pocket the -profits. - - - THE RAILROAD SYSTEM. - -Then again, there is the system by which the railroads are built, which -is little less than a gigantic swindle. Shrewd persons discover places -where railroads may be built. They obtain charters and the rights of -way, and get the towns along the lines either to issue or endorse bonds -and give them stock in the roads for this. They sell the bonds to -themselves at tremendous discounts and build the roads, themselves -taking the contracts at extravagant prices, and when done begin to -operate them. Of course the earnings are not sufficient to pay the -operating expenses and the interest, to say nothing about dividends to -the stockholders. They were never intended to be. So after a few -defalcations of the interest on the bonds, they come in and foreclose -under the mortgages and sell out the stockholders and buy in the roads -and thus come into their possession built free of cost to themselves. -Can such processes be rightly called anything less than swindles? They -may be called by some other name, but they still have the odour of a -swindle about them. And yet our best men engage in such schemes and call -them honourable. To speak vulgarly, this is one of Uncle Sammy Tilden’s -best holds. Is it any wonder that there is so much knavery and trickery -among the common classes upon a small scale, when they have such -examples set them by the upper classes on gigantic scales? or is it any -wonder that the public morals are at so low an ebb? So, examine where we -may into the schemes for the accommodation of the public, we find them -to be vampires sucking its life. - -How long do the railroad men imagine that the people will endure their -exactions? Should they not know that their scheming will have to come to -an end soon? Then why do they not act the part of wise men, and -anticipate its coming in time to save themselves? If they do not, the -people will sooner or later take the roads from them. It may be said -that there is no constitutional or legal way in which this can be done, -and they may rest upon this as secure protection. But I would recall the -words of Charles Sumner, “Anything that is for the public good is -constitutional,” and warn them not to rely upon so slim protection. This -was the argument of King George and of slavery; but it failed them both, -as it will fail every wrong that relies upon it. The people and the -public welfare always triumph in the end; and the longer the triumph is -delayed, the more fearful is the recompense for those who stand in its -way. - - - THE FEAR OF COMMUNISM. - -But it may be objected that all this tends towards communism. Only -bigots and the unthinking are frightened by a name or a shadow from an -examination into anything. Perhaps at first it will create surprise when -I tell you that the only really good institutions that we have are -purely communistic. The public highways are a perfect illustration of -communism. They are constructed and maintained at the public expense for -the public benefit. All grades of people meet upon them on an equality, -and yet no one either loses his identity in the mass or is deprived of -any of his private rights, or of any of his personalities. But the -principles upon which the industries are conducted and that govern their -relations to wealth, the poor man who owns no property, would have no -right to use the highways. The same is true of the public schools. The -children of the rich, who, it is falsely pretended, pay the taxes to -support the schools, and the children of the poor there meet upon an -equality. The schools are not a public necessity, they are only a public -good. Who will pretend to say that they are not an improvement on the -old system, of every family conducting its own education, or of a few -families combining to do so? Everybody recognises the public advantage -of a communal basis for the education of all the children; recognises -that the public good demands that the community shall not only provide -school privileges, but shall insist on every child having the benefit of -them, not for the good of the child so much, as for the community’s own -good. Now this is communism. Why are you not frightened at the -communistic tendencies of the public schools? Because, without thinking -them to be communistic, you have adopted them and found them to be good. - -Next is the post-office—a still better illustration in an industrial -sense. Here the Government conducts the business of the people. If the -system were maintained wholly instead of partially from the public -treasury, it would be purely communistic. Is there anyone who is -prepared to say that the postal system is not an improvement on the -transmission of letters by private enterprise? And yet nobody is -affrighted at the communistic character of the modern post-office. -Suppose that this system were extended to the transportation of -everything that is interchanged among the people, have we not a right to -assume that the same beneficent results that have followed the -development of the public mails would also follow there? We have not -only the right to assume, but we have the reason to know that it would, -and that the railroad question and railroad wars would be for ever -settled by such an advance towards communism, and an immense stride be -made towards the organization of the industries as a whole; and this is -what we have done industrially. - - - THE ELEMENTS OF OUR POPULATION. - -It is an instructive lesson to analyse the population of the country, to -resolve it into the several classes. First, from the 44,000,000, there -are to be taken the classes that count for nothing—the Indians, the -Chinese, and the women, for though they are permitted to live in the -country, they form no part of the sovereignty. “They are,” as Justice -Carter asserted when endeavouring to prove that women are not entitled -to the ballot, “citizens in whom citizenship is dormant.” In round -numbers these classes are 23,000,000. Of the remaining 21,000,000, -11,000,000 are adults, who are the sovereignty, and who conduct the -Government. Of these 3,000,000 are farmers; 2,000,000 are manufacturers, -mechanics, miners, and lumbermen; 1,000,000 are unskilled labourers; -1,000,000 are merchants of all kinds, including dispensers of leaf and -liquid damnation; 1,000,000 are gentlemen of ease who live by their -wits—their sharpness and shrewdness—bond-holders, money-lenders, -landlords, gamblers, confidence men, etc., etc.; 500,000 are clerks; -250,000 are permanent invalids; 200,000, criminals; 100,000, paupers; -100,000, insane; 100,000, weakminded; 100,000, professional teachers; -100,000, employes of the national Government; 100,000, of the State, -county and municipal Governments; 90,000, physicians; 60,000, ministers; -50,000, lawyers, and 50,000, editors and professional writers and -actors. A large part of the property of the farmers is mortgaged to the -money-lenders, and the same is true of the manufacturers, while the -liabilities of the merchants exceed their assets. So, really, the 5th -class—the gentlemen of ease—either own or else hold mortgages on the -whole property of the country. It is said that the curse of England is -that 3 4ths of its property is owned by forty families. How much less is -true of this country? Can such a state of injustice as this continue? -And if it cannot, what shall take its place? It is time that those who -hold the wealth, should, for their own sake, be asking this question -seriously, unless they would incur the risk of having it answered for -them, as the same was answered in France in ’93. Public injustice, -unless remedied peaceably, always has terminated in revolution; and it -will continue so to terminate as long as it is not remedied in a wiser -way by those who have the power to do it. - - - WHAT SHOULD BE DONE? - -If it were to be asked what should be done at once to remedy the present -exigencies of suffering labour, I will answer what I would do had I the -power. I would first abolish legal interest and make it a crime as the -Bible does to take usury in any form. I would stop the payment of -interest of the public debt and use the money to set the unemployed and -starving labourers at work on internal improvements, and should be -justified by the people for doing so; because it would be right to -prevent widespread suffering and revolution at the expense of such a -step; I would build the Pacific railroads north and south for the people -and not give them to individuals, as was the case with those already -built; I would construct immense workshops in every State in which the -skilled labour of both sexes might be utilised when otherwise -unemployed, because every day that any labourer is idle is a loss to the -prospective wealth of the country; which fact is the condemnation of the -policy of throwing men out of employment whenever business is depressed. -Every labourer thus made idle adds to the general distress, because from -being a producer he becomes a consumer; I would abolish pauperism and -crime by giving everybody a chance to work at his chosen occupation; but -if he preferred to starve rather than to work I would let him starve; I -would purge the country of rascals by removing the inducements to -rascality; I would make it impossible for a dishonourable person to live -in a community, by placing everybody upon his honour, and in this way -abolish jails and penitentiaries, criminals and courts and lawyers; I -would remove the protection of the law from debts, and leave them to -stand or fall upon the honour or want of it in the contracting parties, -the result of which would be that a failure to pay once would discredit -one for all future time, and compel honesty as a necessity for -existence, making it to the interests of the people to be honourable in -all things; and this, in turn, would abolish all civil courts and -lawyers with all their _attachés_ and expenses. I would restore to the -public the gold, silver, copper, iron, lead, coal, oil and salt lands -and mines and work them for its benefit, and I would send everybody who -should be found tampering with the public funds to the Dry Tortugus for -life. Yes; had I the power, I would make both compulsory and voluntary -idleness impossible, and wipe out the stain of millions starving idle in -a land of plenty, capable of sustaining a thousand million people; and -hush the wail of suffering that floats upon the winds from every section -of this God-favoured land, but now reeling under the effects of vicious -legislation; I would snatch the people from being pushed headlong into -revolution, and restore to them the equal use of God’s free gifts to all -His children. - - - A LAW-GIVER NEEDED. - -This country having fallen into the errors to which I have referred; -into the hands of mediocre and incompetent legislators, without even a -single statesman among them all; into the times of small minds and -smaller measures that do not look beyond the day in which they are -proposed; into industrial, financial and commercial ruin, with one half -the wealth-producing power starving in idleness and no one seeming even -to think what the end of this must be; having fallen into all these -ills, this country needs that a giant mind shall spring into its -councils, or else among its legislators, a captain which shall be able -to grasp the helm of the ship of state now floundering hopelessly in the -trough of the industrial sea, and put her before the wind again; a mind -that shall have the wisdom and the courage to show the puerility of -those who occupy the posts of honour, and, by the mere force of will, -lift them into the right path; show them that beneath the surface of -that which they seem to think is peaceable enough, there is a raging, -seething volcano ready at the slightest occasion to burst forth and -overwhelm everything in its path; a master mind which shall compel -Congress by active measures to guide its powers rather than by inaction -to provoke an eruption. This country needs that God shall send a -law-giver; one who shall understand what has led to the present -situation; what the exigencies of the people demand, and who shall have -the ability to propose and the power to enforce the needed remedies—a -Lycurgus to give a new code of laws that shall be the incarnation of the -principles of the Declaration of Independence, which alone of all -principles have any influence to mould the people, and from which they -draw the characteristics which distinguish them from the other nations -of the earth; and a Bonaparte to sweep out of the way the accumulating -_débris_ of years of vicious legislation and in its place inaugurate -that code; needs a Lycurgus with his code of laws; a Bonaparte with his -genius to command, and, combined with these, the vehement power of a -Demosthenes to rouse the people to a sense of the danger in which they -stand and, whether they will or not, lead them through a peaceable, -rather than permit them to plunge into a bloody, revolution. Let this be -done, no matter in what form this power may come, and a change of -greater magnitude for good to this people than that proposed by Lycurgus -for the Spartans, or that instituted in France by Bonaparte, will be -inaugurated here. - -But what has been done socially? Much of which I have not the time to -speak, but this, as to what I would have for the social condition:— - - - WORDS TO WOMEN. - -If the evils of industry were removed a great many social ills would -cease. For instance, if women were independent, industrial members of -the community, they would never be forced into distasteful, ill-assorted -or convenient marriages, which are the most fruitful of all the sources -of vice and crime in children, and consequently in the community. But -beyond the industrial and dependent relations of the sexes there are -many purely social ills that as much as those of industry require a -remedy. Marriage is regarded as a too frivolous matter; is rushed into -and out of in a haste that shows utter ignorance or else a total -disregard for its responsibilities, and as if it were an institution -specially designed for the benefit of the selfish wishes and passions of -the sexes. But to look at marriage in this light is to not see it at all -in that of the public good, or ultimately, in that of individual -happiness. Marriages that are based upon selfishness or passion can -never result in anything save misery to all concerned. Men and women who -cannot look above these interests, who do not recognize that these -interests should be secondary; who, after finding that their personal -feelings would lead them to marry, cannot coolly ask themselves, are we -prepared to become God’s architects to create His images, and be -governed by the truthful reply, are not fit to marry. Many have the idea -that I am opposed to marriage, but nothing could be further from the -truth. I am opposed to improper marriages only; to marriages that bring -unhappiness to the married, and misery to their fruits; and such as do -this, had I the power, I would prohibit. I would guard the door by which -this state is entered with all the vigilance with which the young mother -watches her first-born darling babe; I would have no one enter its -precincts save on bended knee and with prayerful heart, as if -approaching the throne of God; as if to enter there were to more than in -any other way to give one’s self to the service of God. So strictly -would I guard it that none who should once enter could ever wish to -retrace their steps. I would make divorces an unknown thing by -abolishing imprudent and ill-assorted marriages. I would make the stigma -so great that woman should find it impossible to confront the world in a -marriage for a home, for position, or for any reason save love alone; -and I would have her who should sell her person to be degraded in -marriage, as culpable, as guilty, as impure at heart, as she is held to -be who sells it otherwise. I would put every influence of the community -against impure relations and selfish purposes, in whatever form they -might exist, and encourage honour, purity, virtue and chastity. I would -take away from marriage the idea that it legally conveys the control of -the person of the wife to the husband, and I would make her as much its -guardian against improper use as she is supposed to be in maidenhood. It -should be her own, sacredly, never to be desecrated by an unwelcome -touch. I would make enforced commerce as much a crime in marriage as it -is now out of it, and unwilling child-bearing a double crime. As the -architects of humanity, I would hold mothers responsible for the -character and perfection of their works; make them realize that they can -make their children what they ought to be, every one of them God’s image -in equality. I would have them come to know that their bodies are the -temples of God, and that within their inner sanctuaries, within “the -holy of holies” God performs his most marvellous creations; that it is -there that God Himself dwells, there that He will make Himself manifest -to man, and that every act that He does not inspire is sacrilege, is -worship of the Evil One, while every other, is an offering of sweet -incense to the Heavenly Father. I would have man so honour woman that an -impure or improper thought, or a self desire other than a wish to bless -her, could never enter in his heart, would have him hold her to be the -holy temple to which God has appointed him to be High Priest, as -elaborately set forth by St. Paul in Hebrews, as the Garden of Eden into -which the Lord God put him, “to dress it and to keep it,” forbidding him -to eat of the fruit of the tree that stands in the midst of the garden; -would have him awake to the consciousness that, by not so regarding her, -he is repeating the sin of Adam, and by not compelling him to so regard -her, she is repeating the sin of Eve; and that by these sins they are -thrust out of the garden, and prevented from eating of the fruit of the -tree of life and living forever; more than this, I would enlarge the -sphere of parental responsibility so that they should be held -accountable for the instruction of their children in all of the -mysteries of sex, so that none could go into marriage in ignorance of -the laws and uses of the reproductive functions. I would rob the subject -of the mawkish sentimentality in which it is submerged, and make it a -common and proper matter for earnest consideration and complete -understanding. Indeed, I would make it a crime to enter marriage in -ignorance of any of its possible duties and responsibilities; and twice -a crime to bear improper children, for they who, to satisfy their own -propensities, bring children into the world marked with the brand of -Cain or Judas, are the worst kind of criminals. I would frown upon -prostitution in every form; and make promiscuousness an abomination in -the sight of man as it is in the sight of God; and I would drive out of -the race the morbid passions that are consuming it. I would stop -marrying until it should be no longer done in ignorance; and -child-bearing until it could be done intelligently, so that every child -might be a son or else a daughter of the living God. And I would have -every woman remember the injunction of St. Paul, “Wives, submit -yourselves unto your own husband as it is fit in the Lord,” but in no -other way; and men, “Husbands, love your wives and be not bitter against -them.” And if there be any other things let St. Paul also speak for me -of them. “Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, -whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if -there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things.” - - - - - NOTES. - - -LYCURGUS—“considering education to be the most important and the noblest -work of a law-giver, he began at the very beginning and regulated -marriages and the birth of children.... He strengthened the bodies of -the girls by exercise in running, wrestling, and hurling quoits or -javelins, in order that their children might spring from a healthy -source and so grow up strong, and that they themselves might have -strength, so as easily to endure the pains of childbirth. He did away -with all affectation of seclusion and retirement among the women, and -ordained that the girls, no less than the boys, should go naked in -processions, and dance and sing at festivals in the presence of the -young men. The jokes which they made upon each man were sometimes of -great value as reproofs for ill-conduct; while on the other hand, by -reciting verses written in praise of the deserving, they kindled a -wonderful emulation and thirst for distinction in the young men: for he -who had been praised by the maidens for his valour went away -congratulated by his friends; while on the other hand, the raillery -which they used in sport or jest had as keen an edge as a serious -reproof; because the kings and elders were present at these festivals as -well as all the other citizens. This nakedness of the maidens had in it -nothing disgraceful, as it was done modestly, not licentiously (as in -ballet dances and music halls and ball-rooms of the present day), -producing simplicity, and _teaching_ the women to _value good health_, -and to love honour and courage no less than the men. This it was that -made them speak and think as we are told Gorgo, the wife of Leonidas, -did. Some foreign lady, it seems, said to her, ‘You Laconian women are -the only ones that rule men....’ She answered, ‘Yes; for we alone bring -forth men....’ They considered that if a child did not start in -possession of health and strength, it was better for itself and for the -State that it should not live at all.”—_Plutarch’s Life of Lycurgus, -Bohn’s Standard Library._ - - * * * * * - -Lycurgus did not view children as belonging to their parents, but above -all to the state; and therefore he wished his citizens to be born of the -best possible parents; besides the inconsistency and folly which he -noticed in the customs of the rest of mankind, who are willing to pay -money, or use their influence with the owners of well-bred stock, to -obtain a good breed of horses or dogs, while they lock up their women in -seclusion and permit them to have children by none but themselves, even -though they be mad, decrepit, or diseased; just as if the good or bad -qualities of children did not depend entirely upon their parents, and -did not affect their parents more than anyone else.... Adultery was -regarded amongst them as an impossible crime.... The training of the -Spartan youth continued till their manhood. No one was permitted to live -according to his own pleasure, but they lived in the city as if in a -camp, with a fixed diet and public duties, thinking themselves to belong -not to themselves but to their country.... Lycurgus would not entrust -Spartan boys to any _bought_ or _hired servants_ nor was each man -allowed to bring up and educate his son as he chose, but as soon as they -were seven years of age he himself received them from their parents, and -enrolled them in companies. A superintendent of the boys was appointed, -one of the best born and bravest of the state.... The boys were taught -to compress much thought in few words; though Lycurgus made the -iron-money of little value he made their speech have great value. One of -his great reforms was the common dining-table.... In Sparta, as was -natural, lawsuits became extinct, together with money, as the people had -neither excess nor deficiency, but were all equally well off, and -enjoyed abundant leisure by reason of their simple habits. - - - Women’s Printing Society, Limited, 66, Whitcomb Street, W.C. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES - - - 1. P 3, added “THE REVIEW OF A CENTURY; OR, THE FRUIT OF FIVE THOUSAND - YEARS” chapter heading. - 2. Silently corrected typographical errors and variations in spelling. - 3. Archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings retained as printed. - 4. 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