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diff --git a/old/65477-0.txt b/old/65477-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index c49526a..0000000 --- a/old/65477-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1800 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Freedom! Equality!! Justice!!!, by Victoria -C. 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: Freedom! Equality!! Justice!!! - A Speech on the Impending Revolution, Delivered in Music Hall, - Boston, Thursday, Feb, 1, 1872, and the Academy of Music, New York, - Feb. 20, 1872 - -Author: Victoria C. Woodhull - -Release Date: May 31, 2021 [eBook #65477] - -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 FREEDOM! EQUALITY!! JUSTICE!!! *** - - Freedom! Equality!! Justice!!! - These three; but the greatest of these is Justice. - - - - - A SPEECH - ON THE - Impending Revolution, - DELIVERED IN - Music Hall, Boston, Thursday, Feb, 1, 1872, - AND THE - Academy of Music, New York, Feb. 20, 1872, - - - BY - - VICTORIA C. WOODHULL. - -[Illustration] - - NEW YORK: - WOODHULL, CLAFLIN & CO., PUBLISHERS, - No. 44 Broad Street. - - 1872. - - - - - THE - IMPENDING REVOLUTION. - - -Standing upon the apex of the nineteenth century, we look backward -through the historic era, and in the distant, dim past catch sight of -the feeble outreachings of the roots of humanity, which during thousands -of years have evolved into the magnificent civilization by which we are -surrounded. Mighty nations have risen and fallen; empires have gathered -and wasted; races and peoples have evolved and decayed; but the mystic -ebb and flow of the Gigantic Spirit concealed within the universe has -continued upon its course, ever increasing in strength and in variety of -sequence. - -It is true that the results which have flown from this progressive -course have very materially changed. Early in its history every -achievement was considered great or small, as its conquests by military -prowess were great or small. But who in this era would think of placing -a Sesostris, or a Semiramis, or even an Alexander, or Cæsar, in -comparison as conquerors, with the steamship, the locomotive engine, the -electric telegraph, and last and greatest, collecting the efforts of all -men, and spreading them world-wide—the printing-press. Where kings and -emperors once used the sword to hew their way into the centers of -barbarism, the people now make use of their subtle powers of intellect -to pierce the heart of ignorance. The conquerors of the present, armed -with these keen weapons, are so intertwining the material interests of -humanity that, where exclusion was once the rule among nations, -intercommunication has made it the exception. Every year some new tie -has been added to those which already bound the nations together, until -even the continents clasp hands across the oceans, and salute each other -in fraternal unity, and the islands stand anxiously waiting for their -deliverance. - -The grand results of all these magnificent changes have accrued to the -benefit of nations as such. All the revolutions of the past have -resulted in the building of empires and the dethroning of kings. The -grandeur of the Roman Empire consisted in its power, centered in and -expressed by its rulers. The glory of France under the great Napoleon -was the result of his capacity to use the people. We have no histories -making nations famous by the greatness of their peoples. Centralization -of power at the head of the government has been the source of all -national honor. Under this system grades and castes of people have built -themselves, the stronger upon the weaker, and the people as individuals -have never appeared upon the surface. - -Government has gone through various and important evolutions and -changes. First we learn of it as residing in the head of the family, -there being no other organization. Next, families aggregated into -tribes, with an acknowledged head. Again, tribes united into nations, -occupying specified limits, and having an absolute ruler. Then began a -double process, which is even now unfinished—the consolidation of -nations into races, and the redistribution of power to the people. That -which was once absolute in the head of the family, the tribe and the -nation, is now shared by the head with the most powerful among the -people. These two processes will continue until both are complete—until -all nations are merged into races, and all races into one government; -and until the power is completely and equally returned to all the -people, who will no longer be denominated as belonging to this or that -country or government, but as citizens of the world—as members of a -common humanity. - -“God loves from whole to parts: but human soul Must rise from individual -to the whole.” - -It is at once one of the most interesting as well as instructive of -studies, to trace the march which civilization has described. Beginning -in Asia, it traversed westward by and through the rise and decay of the -Assyrian, Egyptian, Persian, Grecian and Roman Empires, each one of -which built successively upon the ruins of the preceding, and all -culminating in the downfall of the last, whose civilization was -disseminated to impregnate that portion of the world then unknown. -Modern Europe rose, and when at its height of power, civilization still -undeviatingly marching westward, crossed the stormy Atlantic, and -implanted itself in the virgin soil of America. - -Here, however, an entirely new process was begun. Representatives from -all nations, races and tongues here do congregate. Not only do the -nations of Europe and Africa pour their restless sons and daughters -westward, but the nations of Asia, setting at defiance the previous law -of empire, send their children against its tide to meet it and to -coalesce. To those who can view humanity as one, this is a fact of great -significance, since it proves America to be the center to which the -nations naturally tend. But this is only a part of its significance. The -more prophetic portion is, that here a new race is being developed, into -which will be gathered all the distinctive characteristics of all the -various races. Each race is the distinct representative of some special -and predominant characteristic, being weak in all others. The new race -will combine all these different qualities in one grand character, and -shall ultimately gather in all people of all races. Observe the merging -of the black and white races. The white does not descend to the black, -but the black gradually approaches the white. And this is the prophecy -of what shall be: - - “For mankind are one in spirit, and an instinct bears along, - Round the earth’s electric circle, the swift flash of right and wrong; - Whether conscious or unconscious, yet Humanity’s vast frame, - Through its ocean-sundered fibres, feels the gush of joy or shame: - In the gain or loss of one race, all the rest have equal claim.” - -As in this country the future race of the world is being developed, so -also will the foundation of the future government be developed, which -shall become universal. It was no mere child’s play or idle fancy of the -old prophets, whose prophecies of a Christ who should rule the world, -come trooping down the corridors of time, and from all eras converge -upon this. Neither were the Jews entirely at fault when they looked for -a Messiah who should reign over the world in temporal as well as in -spiritual things, since it is beginning to be comprehended that a reign -of justice in temporal things can only follow from the baptism of them -by spirituality. And it is the approach of these heretofore -widely-separated principles which is to produce the impending -revolution. And that revolution will be the final and the ultimate -contest between justice and authority, in which the latter will be -crushed, never again to raise its despotic head among and to divide the -members of a common humanity. - -St. Paul said: “Faith, Hope and Charity. These three, but the greatest -of these is charity.” Beautiful as this triplet may appear to be to the -casualist, it cannot bear the test of analysis. It will be replaced in -the vocabulary of the future by the more perfect one—Knowledge, Wisdom -and Justice. These three, but the greatest of these is Justice. Charity, -with its long cloak of justice escaped, has long enough covered a -multitude of sins. Justice will in the future demand perfect -compensation in all things, whether material, mental or spiritual. - -Heretofore justice has only been considered as having relation to -matters covered by enacted law, and its demands have been considered as -satisfied when the law has had its full course. With Freedom and -Equality it has been a mere abstract term with but little significance. -There has never been such a thing as freedom for the people. It has -always been concession by the government. There has never been an -equality for the people. It has always been the stronger, in some sense, -preying upon the weaker; and the people have never had justice. When -there is authority, whether it be of law, of custom, or of individuals, -neither of these can exist except in name. Neither do these principles -apply to the people in their collective capacity, but when the people’s -time shall come they will belong to every individual separately. -Equality will exist in freedom and be regulated by justice. - -But what does freedom mean? “As free as the winds” is a common -expression. But if we stop to inquire what that freedom is, we find that -air in motion is under the most complete subjection to different -temperatures in different localities, and that these differences arise -from conditions entirely independent of the air simply as such. That is -to say, the air of itself never changes its temperature. Therefore the -freedom of the wind is the freedom to obey commands imposed by -conditions to which it is by nature related. So also is water always -free to seek its own level. But neither the air or the water of one -locality obeys the commands which come from the conditions surrounding -another locality. That is to say, that while air and water as a whole -are subject to general laws, when individualized, each separate body -must be subject to its peculiar relations, and to the law of its -conditions. Water in one locality may be pure—hydrogen, nitrogen and -oxygen; while in others it may contain various additional elements, as -sodium, calcium or ammonium, and yet each is free. Air in one locality -may be twenty degrees above, and in another twenty degrees below, zero; -and yet each is free in its own sphere. - -Now, individual freedom in its true sense means just the same thing for -the people that freedom for the air and water means to them. It means -freedom to obey the natural condition of the individual, modified only -by the various external forces which are brought to bear upon, and which -induce action in, the individual. What that action will be, must be -determined solely by the individual and the operating causes, and in no -two cases can they be precisely alike; since no two human beings are -precisely alike. Now, is it not plain that freedom means that -individuals having the right to it, are subject only to the laws of -their own being, and to the relations they sustain to the laws of other -things by which they are surrounded? - -If, then, freedom mean anything, it means that no individual is subject -to any rule or law to be arbitrarily imposed by other individuals. But -several individuals may agree among themselves to be governed by certain -rules, since that is their freedom to do so. And here is the primal -foundation and the only authoritative source of government. No -individual can be said to be free and be held accountable to a law to -which he or she did not consent. - -In the light of that analysis, have the people of this country got -freedom? But should it be objected that such freedom would be liable to -abuse, we reply that that is impossible. Since the moment one individual -abuses his or her freedom, that moment he or she is encroaching upon the -freedom of some one else who is equally entitled to the same right. And -the law of the association must protect against such encroachment. And, -so far as restraint is concerned, this is the province—the sole -province—of law, to protect the rights of individual freedom. - -But what is equality, which must be maintained in freedom? A good -illustration of what equality among the people means, may be drawn from -the equality among the children of a family in the case of an equal -division of the property of the deceased father. If the property is -divided among them according to their respective merits, that would not -be equality. - -Now, equality for the people means the equality of the family, extended -to all families. It means that no personal merit or demerit can -interfere between individuals, so that one may, by arbitration or laws, -be placed unequally with another. It means that every individual is -entitled to all the natural wealth that he or she requires to minister -to the various wants of the body, and to an equal share of all -accumulated, artificial wealth—which will appear self-evident when we -shall have analyzed wealth. It also means that every person is entitled -to equal opportunity for intellectual acquirements, recreation and rest, -since the first is necessary to make the performance of the individual’s -share of duty possible; while the second and third are the natural -requirements of the body, independent of the individuality of the -person, and which was not self-created but inherited. - -Under this analysis have we any such thing as equality in this country? -And yet it should be the duty of government, since it is a fundamental -portion of its theory, to maintain equality among the people; otherwise -the word is but a mere catch, without the slightest signification in -fact. - -What, then, should be the sphere of justice in maintaining equality in -freedom? Clearly to maintain equal conditions among free individuals. -But this will appear the more evident as we proceed. The impending -revolution, then, will be the strife for the mastery between the -authority, despotism, inequalities and injustices of the present, and -freedom, equality and justice in their broad and perfect sense, based on -the proposition that humanity is one, having a common origin, common -interests and purposes, and inheriting a common destiny, which is the -complete statement of the religion of Jesus Christ, unadulterated by his -professed followers. - -But does the impending revolution imply a peaceful change or a bloody -struggle? - -No person who will take the trouble to carefully observe the conditions -of the various departments of society can fail to discern the terrible -earthquakes just ready to burst out upon every side, and which are only -now restrained by the thick incrustations with which customs, prejudices -and authorities have incased humanity. Indeed, the whole surface of -humanity is surging like the billows of the stormy ocean, and it only -escapes general and destructive rupture because its composition, like -the consciences of its constituent members, is so elastic. But, anon, -the restrained furies will overcome the temper of their fastenings, and, -rending them asunder, will sweep over the people, submerging them or -cleansing them of their gathered debris, as they shall have located -themselves, with regard to its coming. - -All the struggles of humanity in the centuries which have come and gone -have been for freedom—for freedom to think and for freedom to act, as -against authority and despotic law, without regard to what should come -of that thought and action. But we are now entering upon a struggle for -something quite different from this. Having obtained freedom from the -despotism of rulers and governments, the rule and despotism of -individuals began to usurp the places made vacant by them. Where once -the king or the emperor reigned, capital, reinforced by the power of -public opinion and religious authorities, now sits and forges chains -with which to fetter and bind the people. Where, by divine right, men -once demanded the results of the labors of their people, the privileged -few, by the means of an ingenious system, facetiously called popular -laws, now make the same demand, and with equally decisive results. The -demand is answered by the return of the entire proceeds of each year’s -surplus productions into their coffers. And this is no more true of the -pauper laborers of Europe and the slave laborers of Asia than it is of -the free labor of America. Six hundred millions people constantly toil -all their lives long, while about ten millions sit quietly by gathering -and luxuriating in their results. - -Simple freedom, then, is not enough. It has not accomplished the -redemption of the people. It has only relieved them from one form of -slavery to leave them at the mercy of another still more insidious in -its character, because more plausible; since, if penury and want exist, -accompanied by suffering and privation, under the rule of a monarch, he -may justly be held responsible. But when it exists under the reign of -freedom, there is no responsibility anywhere, unless it may be said to -be in the people themselves, which is equivalent to saying -responsibility without application. - -To illustrate this distinction without a difference, take the island of -Cuba, with its half million inhabitants, and suppose it to be ruled by -an absolute monarch, who administers his commands through the usual -attachés of the court and the noblemen of the island. Virtually owning -the people, he commands them to labor, taking from them all their -products, and merely feeding, clothing and sheltering them. In this case -it would be the non-laborers who, without any circumlocution, directly -obtain all the produced wealth, they simply expending their time and -talent in its securing, while the lives of the people who produce it -would be simply maintained. - -Now advance one step toward popular government—to a constitutional -monarchy. In this the same results to the producing people will be -maintained, while the noblemen will share the wealth among themselves, -allotting a certain share to the monarch. - -Coming down to a representative government, of which personal liberty is -the basis, the despotism of laws enacted in the interest of privileged -classes are substituted for the personal despotism of monarchs and -nobles. What the absolute monarch possesses himself of by the right of -might, the privileged class in the popular government possess themselves -of by the right of law, everything legal being held to be just. - -Now is not that precisely the case in this country? Do not all the -results of labor accrue to the privileged few? and are not the producing -classes just as much enslaved to them as the subjects of an absolute -monarch are to him? - -With this mortification, however. In the last instance, they suffer from -conditions over which they have no control; whilst in the former case -the conditions by which they are enslaved are of their own formation. -And I say, I would rather be the unwilling subject of an absolute -monarch than the willing slave of my own ignorance, of which advantage -is taken by those who spend their time in endeavoring to prove to me -that I am free and in singing the glories of my condition, to hoodwink -my reason and to blind my perception. - -And I further say, that that system of government by which it is -possible for a class of people to practice upon my credulity, and, under -false pretenses, first entice me to acquiesce in laws by which immense -corporations and monopolies are established, and then to induce me to -submit to their extortions because they exist according to law, pursuing -none but lawful means, is an infernal despotism, compared to which the -Russian Czar is a thousand times to be preferred. - -This may at first seem a sweeping indictment of our form of government, -but I say it is just. Suppose we take our railroad system, now amounting -to fifty-five thousand miles. At an average cost of eighty thousand -dollars per mile for construction and equipment, its total cost would be -four billions four hundred millions dollars. To pay the shareholders an -eight per cent. dividend for doing nothing, the industries of the -country would have to be taxed three hundred and fifty millions dollars -over and above the cost of maintenance and operation. Did this enormous -drain from the products of the people stop here, the fertility of the -country, made use of by the ingenuity of the people, might possibly keep -pace with the demand. But it does not stop there. The net earning of the -railroads enables their directors to make larger dividends than eight -per cent. Do their managers relinquish this increase in favor of the -people? Never a bit of it. But they increase their stock either by -selling new shares, or by making stock or scrip dividends, and to -neither process has there been found any legal bar or cure. - -Now, what may the result of such a system be? Why, this. If the stock of -all these railroads be increased in the same proportion that some of -them have already been increased, it may be raised to a thousand -billions of dollars, and the people, instead of being compelled to pay -three hundred and fifty millions dollars to provide an eight per cent. -dividend on their cost, will have to submit to the extortion of eight -hundred million dollars annually to satisfy the demands of these legal -despots for an eight per cent. dividend upon stock, a large part of -which represent absolutely nothing but the people’s stolen money. - -A person who would double the size of another’s note simply because the -profits of his business would permit the payment of twelve per cent. -interest, so that instead of paying twelve per cent. upon one hundred -dollars, which would be an illegal charge, it would be six per cent. -upon two hundred dollars, would be deemed and adjudged guilty of -forgery. But these railroad magnates sit in their palatial offices and -raise their notes at pleasure, and they are considered public -benefactors. It is a crime for a single person to steal a dollar, but a -corporation may steal a million dollars, and be canonized as saints. - -Oh, the stupid blindness of this people! Swindled every day before their -very eyes, and yet they don’t seem to know that there is anything wrong, -simply because no _law_ has been violated. In their eyes everything that -is lawful is right, and this has become the curse of the nation. But the -opposite—that everything which is right is lawful—don’t follow as a part -of their philosophy. - -No matter what a person does if it is not actionable under the law; he -is an honest man and a good church member. But Heaven defend us from -being truthful, natural beings, unless the law says we may—since that is -to be an infamous scoundrel. - -A Vanderbilt may sit in his office and manipulate stocks, or make -dividends, by which, in a few years, he amasses fifty millions dollars -from the industries of the country, and he is one of the remarkable men -of the age. But if a poor, half-starved child were to take a loaf of -bread from his cupboard, to prevent starvation, she would be sent first -to the Tombs, and thence to Blackwell’s Island. - -An Astor may sit in his sumptuous apartments, and watch the property -bequeathed him by his father, rise in value from one to fifty millions, -and everybody bows before his immense power, and worships his business -capacity. But if a tenant of his, whose employer had discharged him -because he did not vote the Republican ticket, and thereby fails to pay -his month’s rent to Mr. Astor, the law sets him and his family into the -street in midwinter; and, whether he dies of cold or starvation, neither -Mr. Astor or anybody else stops to ask, since that is nobody’s business -but the man’s. This is a free country, you know, and why should I -trouble myself about that person, because he happens to be so -unfortunate as not to be able to pay Mr. Astor his rent? - -Mr. Stewart, by business tact, and the various practices known to trade, -succeeds, in twenty years, in obtaining from customers whom he has -entrapped into purchasing from him fifty millions dollars, and with his -gains he builds costly public beneficiaries, and straightway the world -makes him a philanthropist. But a poor devil who should come along with -a bolt of cloth, which he had succeeded in smuggling into the country, -and which, consequently, he could sell at a lower price than Mr. -Stewart, who paid the tariff, and is thereby authorized by law to add -that sum to the piece, would be cast into prison. - -Now these individuals represent three of the principal methods that the -privileged classes have invented by which to monopolize the accumulated -wealth of the country. But let us analyze the processes, and see if it -is wholly by their personal efforts that they gain this end. - -Nobody pretends that Mr. Stewart ever produced a single dollar of his -vast fortune. He accumulated it by dealing in the productions of others, -which he first obtained at low rates, and then sold at a sufficient -advance over the cost of handling to make in the aggregate a sum -amounting to millions. - -Now, I want to ask if all this is not arriving at the same result, by -another method, at which the slaveholders of the South arrived, by -owning negroes? In the case of the latter, the slaveholder reaped all -the benefits of the labors of the negroes. In the former case the -merchant princes, together with the various other privileged classes, -reap the benefit of the labors of all the working-classes of the -country. Every year the excess of the produced wealth of the country -finds final lodgment in the pockets of these classes, and they grow -richer at each succeeding harvest, while the laborers toil their lives -away; and when all their strength and vigor have been transformed into -wealth, which has been legally transferred to the capitalists, they are -heavy with age, and as destitute as when they began their life of -servitude. Did ever Southern slave have meaner end than this? - -In all seriousness, is there any common justice in such a state of -things? Is it right that the millions should toil all their lives long, -scarcely having comfortable food and clothes, while the few manage to -control all the benefits? People may pretend that it is justice, and -good Christians may excuse it upon that ground, but Christ would never -have called it by that name. He would even give him that labored but an -hour as much as he that had labored all the day, but to him who labored -not at all he would take away even that which he hath. And yet we hear -loud professions of Christianity ascending from the pulpit throughout -the length and breadth of the land. And when I listen, I cannot help -exclaiming, “O, ye hypocrites, how can ye hope to escape the damnation -of hell?” - -Am I asked, How are these things to be amended? I will tell you in the -first place, that they must be remedied; and this particular case of -dealing in the labor of the people is to be remedied by abolishing -huckstering, or the system of middle-men, and substituting therefor a -general system of public markets, conducted by the people through their -paid agents, as all other public business is performed. In these markets -the products of the country should be received, in first hands, direct -from the producers, who should realize their entire proceeds. In this -manner the immense fortunes realized by middle-men, and the profits made -by the half-dozen different hands through which merchandise travels on -its way to consumers, would be saved to the producer. A bushel of -apples, purchased in the orchard at twenty-five cents, is finally sold -to the consumer at a dollar. Now, either the consumer has paid at least -a half dollar too much, or the producer has received a half dollar too -little, for the apples; since, under a perfect system, the apples would -go direct from the orchard to the market, and thence direct to the -consumer. - -We are forever talking of political economy, but it appears to me that -the most vital points—one of which is our system of huckstery—is -entirely overlooked. - -Suppose Mr. Stewart, instead of having labored all these years for his -own selfish interests, had labored in the interests of the people? Is it -not clear that the half-a-hundred million dollars he has accumulated -would have remained with the people who have consumed his goods? Place -all other kinds of traffic upon the same proposed basis, and do you not -see that the system which makes merchant-princes would be abolished? -Neither would it require one-half the people to conduct a general system -of markets who are now employed speculating in the results of labor. - -In short, every person should either be a producer or a paid agent or -officer of consumers and producers, and our entire system of shopkeeping -reduced to a magnificent system of immense public markets. In this way -there could also be a perfect control exercised over the quality of -perishable goods, the want of which is now felt so severely in summer in -all large cities, and a thousand unthought of remedies would necessarily -suggest themselves as the system should develop. - -But let us pass to one of the other branches of this same system. We -have in our midst thousands of people of immense wealth who have never -even done so much to justify its possession as the merchant-princes have -done to justify themselves. I refer to our land monopolists, and to Mr. -Astor as their representative. Mr. Astor inherited a large landed -estate, which has risen in value to be worth millions of dollars, to -which advance Mr. Astor never contributed even a day’s labor. He has -done nothing except to watch the rise and gather in the rents, while the -whole laboring country has been constantly engaged in promoting that -advance. What would Mr. Astor have been without the City of New York? -And what would the City of New York have been without the United States? -You see, my friends, it will not do to view this matter superficially. -We live in too analytic an age to permit these things to go on in the -way they have been going. There is too much poverty, too much suffering, -too much hard work, too many hours of labor for individuals, too many -sleepless nights, too many starving poor, too many hungry children, too -many in helpless old age, to permit these villanous abuses to continue -sheltered under the name of respectability and public order. - -But again, and upon a still worse swindle of the people. A person having -money goes out into the public domain and acquires an immense tract of -land. Shortly a railroad is projected and built, which runs through that -tract. It offers a fine location for a station. A city springs up, and -that which cost in some instances as little as a shilling per acre, is -divided into town lots, and these are reluctantly parted with at five -hundred dollars each. - -Again, I wish to inquire, in the name of Justice, to whom does that -advance belong? To the person who nominally holds the land? What has he -done to entitle him to receive dollars for what he only paid cents? Is -there any equality—is there any justice—in such a condition? He profits -by the action of others; in fact at the public expense, since in its -last analysis it is the common public who are the basis of all advance -in the value of property. - -Now, I say, that that common public is entitled to all the benefits -accruing from common efforts; and it is an infamous wrong that makes it -accrue to the benefit of a special few. And a system of society which -permits such arbitrary distributions of wealth is a disgrace to -Christian civilization, whose Author and his Disciples had all things in -common. Let professing Christians who, for a pretense, make long -prayers, think of that, and then denounce Communism, if they can; and -denounce me as a Revolutionist for advocating it, if they dare. - -But, is it asked, how is this to be remedied? I answer, very easily! -Since those who possess the accumulated wealth of the country have -filched it by legal means from those to whom it justly belongs—the -people—it must be returned to them, by legal means if possible, but it -must be returned to them in any event. When a person worth millions, -dies, instead of leaving it to his children, who have no more title to -it than anybody else’s children have, it must revert to the people, who -really produced it. Do you say that is injustice to the children? I say, -No! And if you ask me how the rich man’s children are going to live -after his death, I answer, by the same means as the poor man’s children -live. Let it be remembered that we have had simple freedom quite long -enough. By setting all our hopes on freedom we have been robbed of our -rights. What we want now is more than freedom—we want equality! And by -the Heaven above us, earth’s growing children are going to have it! What -right have the children of the rich to be born to luxurious idleness, -while the children of the poor are born to, all their lives long, -further contribute to their ease? Do they not in common belong to God’s -human family? If I mistake not, Christ told us so. You will not dispute -his authority, I am sure. If, instead of preaching Christ and him -crucified quite so much, we should practice his teaching a little more, -my word for it, we should all be better Christians. - -And when by this process all the land shall have been returned to the -people, there will be just as much of it, and it will be equally as -productive, and just as much room on it as there is now. But instead of -a few people owning the whole of it, and farming it out to all the rest -at the best possible prices, the people will possess it themselves in -their own right, through just laws, paying for its possession to the -government such moderate rates of taxes as shall be necessary to -maintain the government. - -But I may as well conclude what I have to say regarding railroads, which -must also revert back to the people, and be conducted by them for the -public benefit, as our common highways are now conducted. Vanderbilt, -Scott & Co. are demonstrating it better and better every day that all -the railroads of the country can be much more economically and -advantageously conducted under one management than under a thousand -different managements. They imagine that very soon they will have -accomplished a complete consolidation of the entire system, and that by -the power of that consolidation they will be able to control the -government of this country. - -But they will not be the first people who have made slight -miscalculations as to ultimate results. Thomas Scott might make a -splendid Secretary of the Department of Internal Improvements, for which -the new Constitution, which this country is going to adopt, makes -provision; but he will never realize his ambition to preside over the -railroad system of the country in any other manner. - -And I will tell you another benefit that will follow the nationalization -of our railroads. You have all heard of the dealing in stocks, of the -“bulls” and the “bears,” and the “longs” and the “shorts,” and the “lame -ducks” of Wall street. Well, they will all be abolished. There will be -no stocks in which to deal. That sort of speculation, by which gigantic -swindlers corner a stock and take it in at their own figures, will, to -use a vulgar phrase, be “played out.” And if you were to see their -customers, as I have seen them, rushing about Broad street to catch -sight of the last per cent. of their margins as they disappear in the -hungry maw of the complacent brokers, you would agree with me that it -ought to be “played out.” - -Under the system which I propose, not only will stock gambling be -abolished, but also all other gambling, and the hundreds of thousands of -able-bodied people who are now engaged in it, living from the products -of others, will be compelled to go to producing themselves. - -But, says the objector, take riches away from people and there will be -no incentive to accumulate. But, my dear sir, we don’t propose to do -anything of the kind, nor to destroy any wealth. There will never be any -less wealth than now, but a constant increase upon it. We only propose -that the people shall hold it in their own right, instead of its being -held in trust for them by a self-appointed few. Instead of having a few -millionaires, and millions on the verge of starvation, we propose that -all shall possess a comfortable competence—that is, shall possess the -results of their own labors. - -I can’t see where there is a chance for a lack of motive to come in. It -seems to me that everybody will have a better and a more certain chance, -as well as a better incentive to accumulate. Will the certainty of -accumulation destroy the desire to accumulate? Nobody but the most -stupid would attempt to maintain that. It is not great wealth in a few -individuals that proves a country prosperous, but great general wealth -evenly distributed among the people. That country must be the most -prosperous and happy where the people are most generally comfortably and -happily circumstanced. And in this country, instead of a hundredth part -of the people living in palaces and riding in coaches, while the balance -live in huts and travel on foot, every person may live in a palace and -ride in a coach. I leave it to you to decide which is the preferable -condition and which the more Christian. - -And why should the rich object to this? If everybody has enough and to -spare, should that be a subject of complaint? What more do people want, -except it be for the purpose of tyrannizing over others dependent upon -them? But no objections that may be raised will be potent enough to -crush out the demand for equality now rising from an oppressed people. -This demand the possessors of wealth cannot afford to ignore. It comes -from a patiently-enduring people, who have waited already too long for -the realization of the beautiful pictures of freedom which have been -painted for them to admire; for the realization of the songs which poets -have sung to its praise. Let me warn, nay, let me implore them not to be -deaf to this demand, since they do not know so well as I know what -temper there is behind it. I have tested it, and I know it is one that -will not much longer brook the denial of justice. - -But there is another monopoly of which I must speak—I mean the monopoly -of money itself. We have seen how great a tyranny that is which arises -from monopolizing the land. But that occurring from the monopoly of -money, is a still more insidious and dangerous form of despotism, since -its ramifications are more extensive and minute. It may be exercised by -the person possessing a hundred, or by the person possessing a million -dollars. But what is the process? A person inherits a half million -dollars for which he never expended a single day’s labor. He sits in his -office loaning that sum of money say, in sums of one thousand dollars to -one thousand different persons, each of whom conducts a little business -which yields just enough to support a family and to pay the interest. -These people live for forty years in this manner, and die no better off -than when they began life. But during that time they have paid all their -extra production to the amount of four thousand dollars, each, to the -capitalist; and, finally, the business itself is sold out to pay the -principal. And thus it turns out that the capitalist obtains everything -those thousand persons earned during their whole lives, they leaving -nothing to their families. Now, what better is that result than it would -have been had these people been slaves? Could their owners have obtained -any more from them? I say they would have obtained less; since, had they -been slaves in name, as in fact they were, there would have been times -during the forty years that they would not have earned interest over -cost of their support. Now, look at the capitalist. For one million -dollars, and without the straining of a muscle, he receives five million -dollars direct, which, reinvested from time to time as it increases, -amounts at the end of the forty years to not less than fifteen millions -dollars. - -But try another example of a somewhat different kind. A person having -four grown children, whom he has reared in luxury, and given all the -facilities of education, dies, leaving each of them a farm worth -twenty-five thousand dollars. These children having never learned the -art of farming are incapable of conducting these farms; but they lease -them to four different people for a thousand dollars a year each, and -live at ease all their lives, therefrom, never so much as lifting their -hands to do an hour’s labor. Now, who is it that supports those four -people? Is it not clear that it is the people who work the farms? And -how did it happen that they had the farms to lease? Simply by an -incident for which there was no legitimate general cause, else why do -not all children have farms and live without work? - -Nor can you, my friends, discover anything approaching equality, or -aught that looks like justice in that operation. I tell you nay! It is -the most insidious despotism, with a single exception, that is possible -among a people. It is a despotism which was condemned in all former -times, even by barbarians, and which the Jews were only permitted to -enforce upon people of other nations. It is the hideous vampire fastened -upon the vitals of our people, sucking—sucking—sucking their very life’s -blood, leaving just enough to keep up their vitality, that they may -manufacture more. It is the heartless monster that will have the exact -pound of flesh, even if there be loss of blood to obtain it, and there -is no just judge near to prevent the taking, or to hold him to account -if he take it. It paralyzes our industries; shuts the gates in the way -that leads to our inexhaustible treasures within the bosom of mother -earth; strips the stars and stripes from the masts of merchantmen; -compels our immense cotton lands to luxuriate in weeds; robs our -spindles of the power to turn them; and lays an embargo upon every -productive enterprise. Whoever makes a movement to compel the earth to -yield her wealth, or to transform that wealth into useful form, must -first obtain the consent of this despot, and pay his demands for a -license. - -Thirteen millions of laborers in this country produce annually four -thousand millions dollars of wealth, every dollar of which over and -above the cost of living is paid over to appease the demands of this -insatiate monster—this horrid demon, whose name is Interest. - -We are told that we cannot manufacture railroad iron in this country as -cheap as it can be manufactured in England. Yes! And why? Is it because -we have no ore or no coal; or that, which is not as good as England has? -No! We have on the surface what in England is hundreds of feet in the -bowels of the earth, and coal the same; and both of better quality. But -money can be put at interest in this country so as to double itself -every four years, and be amply secured. What reason have capitalists to -construct iron works, or to have their care, when twenty-five per cent. -per year is returned them, without care or risk? And what is true of -iron is also true of every other natural production. Is it any wonder -that our manufacturers are obliged to demand that the people pay an -additional per cent. upon everything they eat, drink or wear, that they -may be protected in their various productive enterprises, when such -exactions are laid upon them by this more than absolute monarch? No! It -would indeed be a wonder if it were not so. - -Now, do you suppose our markets would be flooded with British goods if -our producing and manufacturing interests had all the money they require -without interest? If there are any borrowers at ten per cent. who hear -my voice, let them answer. No; it is the tribute that industry is -compelled to pay to capital that forces our government to exact ten, -twenty, fifty, aye, even a hundred per cent. for the privilege of -bringing merchandise into this country. - -But they tell us if we go to free trade that our country would be -flooded with foreign products, so there would be absolutely no -production of manufactured goods in the country. Now that would be true, -if we should attempt free trade and leave the monster Interest with his -grip upon our vitals. And here is the short-sightedness of Free-Traders. -If we want free trade, we must, in the first place, attack, throttle and -kill this demon, after which we may manufacture at prices that will not -only absolutely forbid the importation of almost everything that is now -imported, but which will also enable us to play the same game with -Europe that Europe has played so long upon us. Free money in this -country would abolish every European throne within ten years. And yet -people cannot be made to see that this country is their support. With -free money what need would we have for a protective tariff? Can any -Protectionist answer that? - -You see, my friends, that it is the people who catch sight of an idea -and pursue it to the death, regardless of relative ideas, who make -reform so ridiculous. One reform cannot advance alone. All kinds of -reform must go on together. Interest and free trade must go hand in -hand; interest, if either, a little ahead. - -And in this regard I am free to confess that the National Labor Union’s -demand for a decrease of interest is the most reasonable single reform -now being advocated. We want free trade; but we want free money first, -so that not a spindle or forge in this country shall stop at the command -of those across the ocean. - -But how are we going to get free money? Why, in the very easiest way -possible. It is the simplest problem of them all. I am not going into -this discussion to prove to you that gold is not money, since everybody -ought to know that it has no more the properties of money than cotton, -corn and pork have the properties of money. Now, money is that thing -which, if every dollar in circulation should be destroyed, there would -be no loss of wealth. Gold, cotton, corn and wheat are wealth. Destroy -these and there is a loss. But when money is destroyed, there is no more -loss than when a promissory note is destroyed. A note is an evidence of -debt. It is not wealth, but its representative. So also is money not -wealth, but its representative. And if we had a thousand million dollars -in circulation to-day, there would be no more wealth in the country than -there now is, and we would have quite as much wealth if there were two -thousand millions dollars, since money and wealth are two entirely -distinct things. - -But they tell us that unless money is made redeemable in gold, it is not -of any account, and that, too, in the face of our miserable greenback -system, which was so much better even than gold that it saved the nation -when, had we stuck to gold, we should have been destroyed. Oh, but it -was a depreciated currency, says some one. Yes, it was a depreciated -currency, and we should have ample reason to be thankful if when we come -to pay our bonds, we have a depreciated currency with which to liquidate -them, instead of being obliged, as we shall, to pay a thousand dollars -in cotton for what we realized less than five hundred in gold. - -It is not the gold only of a country that constitutes its wealth. What -should we care if we had not a single ounce of gold, if we had a -thousand million bales of cotton, ten thousand millions bushels of corn -and wheat, and a billion dollars’ worth of manufactured goods to send to -other countries? So you see it is not the gold after all that makes a -circulation good, but the sum total of all kinds of wealth. Now, that is -what we propose to substitute for gold as the basis for a money issue. -And instead of permitting corporations to issue it and remain at liberty -to dispose of their property and let the people who hold their -circulation whistle for its redemption, we propose that government, -which can neither sell our property nor abscond with it, shall issue it -for the people and lend it to them at cost; or if you will insist on -paying interest for money, why, then, pay it to the government and -lessen your taxes that much, instead of paying interest to bankers and -supporting government besides. - -Now, don’t you think that would be rather a good sort of a money system? -I know that every manufacturer in the country would like it. But I can -tell you who will not like it; and whom we may be compelled to fight -before they will permit us to have it; and these are the money-lenders -and money-changers, such as it is related the Head of the Christian -Church—one Jesus Christ, of whom we hear a great deal said, but whose -teachings and doctrines are wofully perverted—scourged out of the Temple -at a place known as Jerusalem. - -I have not been guilty of frequenting the temples of the country much of -late, but if I am not misinformed upon the subject, and unless they have -changed since I did frequent them, if Christ should pass through this -land of a Sunday, scourge in hand, he would find plenty of work to do in -the same line in which he labored so faithfully among the Jews. - -But the National Labor Union say they won’t be so hard upon these -money-lenders as we would be. They are willing that they shall be eased -down from the vast height to which they have attained. They say they -shall have three per cent. interest instead of six, seven, eight and -ten, or as much more as they can steal out of the necessities of the -case, by the circumstances and discounts. But they shall be limited to -three per cent., and in a way that they cannot evade, as they now evade, -lawful interest. It is proposed that government shall issue this money, -but that it shall be convertible into a three per cent. interest-bearing -bond; so that when money shall be so plenty that it will be worth less -than three per cent. in business, it can be invested in bonds drawing -three per cent.; and the bonds to also be reconvertible into money, so -that the moment business shall demand more money than there should be in -circulation—which would increase the value of money to more than three -per cent.—the bonds would be converted into money again; and when there -should be no more bonds to convert, and money still worth more than -three per cent., then the Government shall issue more money to restore -the equilibrium. In this way money would always be worth just three per -cent. No more nor less, and there would always be just enough; or, in -other words, money would be measured, as it never has been, and which -has been the cause of all our financial troubles. What would you say to -a person who should talk to you about measuring your corn in a bushel -that had itself never been measured? But you complacently talk of money -being a measure of values, and money has never had a measure regulating -its own value. - -But this consideration is only a stepping-stone to what shall be. Money -must be made free from interest. In fact, I do not know but people who -have money should pay something to have it securely loaned, the same as -you must pay your Safe Deposit Companies for safely keeping bonds, -jewels and other valuables. I think people ought to be made to pay for -the safe keeping of money upon the same principle. Money under our -present system is the only thing which we possess that does not -depreciate in value by use. The more money is used, the more it -increases; a proof complete of the fallacy and its despotism. - -The Government now pay the banks thirty millions dollars per year for -the privilege of loaning them about three hundred millions national -currency, which the banks reloan to the people at an average of ten per -cent. It seems to me that is almost too good a thing to last long. If -the Government can afford to do this thing, why can’t they better afford -to loan directly to the people for nothing, and save thirty millions -dollars annually? Do you think the people would object? Oh, no; but the -bankers would. But for all that the cry of “Down with the tyrant” is -raised, and it will never cease until interest shall be among the things -that were. - -I also desire to call attention to the reduction of the Public Debt, and -to the means by which this reduction has been accomplished. The -Administration hangs almost all of its hopes upon this fact, while if it -were thoroughly understood it would prove its condemnation. It has paid -three hundred millions of the debt, they say. Who has paid it? we -inquire. It fails to answer. We say that that entire payment has been -made by the producing classes of the country, while the capitalists have -not reduced their cash balances in the least. In other words, the -producers have got no more money now than they had before the debt was -paid, while the capitalists have had their bonds changed into money. -Now, who have paid that three hundred millions dollars? I repeat the -laboring people have done it, just as they pay all public debts and all -public expenses, besides constantly adding to the wealth of the -capitalists themselves. Can such a state of things continue? Again I -tell you nay. - -This wrong must be remedied by a system of progressive taxation. If -persons having a hundred thousand dollars pay one-half per cent. tax, -let those having a million pay ten per cent., or two millions -twenty-five per cent. Let there be a penalty placed upon monopolizing -the common property, and it will soon cease and equality come in its -place. Now, the poorest woman who buys the cheapest calico pays a tax to -the Government, while the rich appropriate her labor to pay their dues. -Truly said Jesus, “The poor ye have with you always.” - -Another mode of remedying the existing ills in industry and the -distribution of wealth, must be in giving employees an actual interest -in the products of their labors, so that ultimately co-operation will be -the source of all production, its results being justly distributed among -all those who assist in the production. First, pay the employer the same -rate of interest for his capital that Government shall charge for loans -made to the people; next, the general expenses, including salaries to -himself and all employees, the remainder to be equitably divided among -all who have an interest in it. Do you not see what a revolution in -industrial production such a constitutional provision would effect? And -do you not suppose if the workingmen and women of this country -understood the justice of it, that they would have it? I intend that -they shall have the required information. Already there have been half a -million tracts upon these subjects sent broadcast over this land, and -the present year shall see double as many more, until every laborer, -male and female, shall hold in his or her own hands the method of -deliverance from this great oppression. - -But there is another consideration, which, more forcibly than any other, -shows the suicidal policy which we pursue. If the present rates of -interest are continued to be paid upon only the present banking capital -and bonds of the country, for twenty-five years to come, the interest, -with the principal added, will have absorbed the total present wealth, -as well as its perspective increase. And such a consummation as this are -the European capitalists now preparing for this country. Europe holds -not less than three thousand millions of bonded indebtedness of this -country, which is being augmented every month by additional railroad -bonds, or some syndicate operation. So do you not see that European -capital is gradually, but nevertheless inevitably, absorbing not only -all of our annually produced wealth, but also acquiring an increased -mortgage every year upon our accumulated wealth? There is no escaping -these facts. Figures don’t lie. Mathematics is an absolute science from -whose edicts there is no escape. And mathematics inform us that we are -year by year mortgaging ourselves to European capitalists, who will -ultimately step in and foreclose their mortgages, and possess themselves -of our all, just as we foreclose our smaller mortgages, when there is no -hope of a further increase from interest. - -Besides the monopoly of land, money and public conveniences, there is -another kind of monopoly still, which may appear rather strange and new -to be thus classed, but it is nevertheless a terrible tyrant. I refer to -the monopoly of education. I hold that a just government is in duty -bound to see to it that all its children of both sexes have the same and -equal opportunities for acquiring education, and that every person of -adult age shall have graduated in the highest departments of learning, -as well as in the arts, sciences and practical mechanics. Every person -should be compelled to acquire a practical knowledge of some productive -branch of labor, because the time will come when all people will be -obliged to produce at least as much as they consume, or earn what they -consume, as the paid agents of producers. What a revolution would that -accomplish? If every person in the world was to work at production two -hours a day there would be a larger aggregate produced than there is -now. Therefore every person must learn the art of production, and thus -be equal in resources to any other person, and Government must undertake -the compulsory industrial education of all its children. - -Thus I could continue analysis upon analysis, until not a stone in the -foundations of our social structure would be left unturned, and all -would be found unworthy of our civilization—our boasted Christian -civilization. I think Christianity has been preached at, long enough. I -go for making a practical application of it at the very foundations of -society. I believe in recognizing the broad principle of all -religion—that we are all children of one great common parent, God, -which, since it disproves the propositions of the Church, that at least -a large portion of us are the children of the devil, and renders the -services of the clergy to save us from that inheritance unnecessary, -will abolish our present system of a licensed and paid ministry. -Thirty-five thousand ministers are paid twenty-five millions dollars -annually for preaching the gospel in cathedrals costing two hundred and -fifty millions dollars; and how many of them ever teach any fact other -than that Jesus was crucified, just as though that would save us from -the sloughs of ignorance in which we are sunk? Which one of them dare -tell his congregation the truth, as he, if he be not a blockhead, knows -it? I here and now impeach the clergy of the United States as dishonest -and hypocritical, since the best of them acknowledge that they do not -dare to preach the whole truth, for, if they should, they would have to -preach to empty seats—an admission sufficiently damnable to consign them -to the contempt of the world and to the hell of which they prate so -knowingly, but whose location they have not been able to determine, and -to light the torch which shall fire the last one of these palatial -mockeries of true religion. - -Why, should Christ appear among these godly Christians as he did among -the Jews, he would be arrested as a vagrant, or sent to jail for -stealing corn; and in Connecticut, perhaps, for Sabbath-breaking, or for -telling the maid at the well “_all she had ever done_,” which is now -called fortune-telling, or for healing the sick by laying on of hands, -which they denominate charlatanry. Christ and his Disciples and the -multitude which he gathered together had all things in common. But every -pulpit and every paper in this Christian country launch the thunders of -their denunciations when that damnable doctrine is now advanced. Now, -Christ was a Communist of the strictest sort, and so am I, and of the -most extreme kind. I believe that God is the Father of all humanity and -that we are brothers and sisters; and that it is not merely a -theoretical or hypothetical nothing but a stern reality, to be reduced -to a practical recognition. And they who cannot accept and practice this -doctrine of Christ, and who still profess to be his followers, are -simply stealing the livery of Christ in which to serve the devil in -their own souls. - -I do not care to what length Christians may stretch their faces of a -Sunday, nor how much they pay to support their ministers; nor do I care -how long prayers they may make, nor what sermons preach, when they -denounce the fundamental principles of the teachings of Christ, I will -turn upon and, in his language, utter their own condemnation: “Inasmuch -as ye have not done it unto the least of these, ye have not done it -unto” Christ. And they may make all the fuss, call me all the hard -names, they please; but they can’t escape the judgment. And I don’t -intend they shall have a chance to escape it. I am going to strip the -masks of hypocrisy from their faces, and let the world see them as they -are. They have had preaching without practice long enough. The people -want practice now, and when they get it, they can even afford to do -without the preaching. - -These privileged classes of the people have an enduring hatred for me, -and I am glad they have. I am the friend not only of freedom in all -things, and in every form, but also for equality and justice as well. -These cannot be inaugurated except through revolution. I am denounced as -desiring to precipitate revolution. I acknowledge it. I am for -revolution, if to get equality and justice it is required. I only want -the people to have what it is their right to have—what the religion of -humanity, what Christ, were he the arbiter, would give them. If, in -getting that, the people find bayonets opposing them, it will not be -their fault if they make their way through them by the aid of bayonets. -And these persons who possess the monopolies and who guard them by -bayonets, need not comfort themselves with the idea that the people -won’t fight for their rights. Did they not spring to arms from every -quarter to fight for the negro? And will you say they will not do the -same against this other slavery, compared to which the former is as a -gentle shower to a raging tempest? - -Don’t flatter yourselves, gentlemen despots, that you are going to -escape under that assumption. You will have to yield, and it will be -best for you to do it gracefully. You are but as one to seven against -them. Numbers will win. It will be your own obduracy if they are goaded -on to madness. Do not rely upon their ignorance of the true condition. -Upon that you have anchored your hopes as long as it is safe. There are -too many reform newspapers in circulation. And though the columns of all -our great dailies are shut to their truths, still there are channels -through which they flow to the people—aye, even to those who delve in -the coal mines of Pennsylvania, seldom seeing the joyous sunshine. And -this education shall continue until every person who contributes to the -maintenance of another in luxurious idleness shall know how such a -result is rendered possible. - -Hence, I say, it lies in the hands of those who have maintained this -despotism over the common people to yield it up to them and recognize -their just relations. - -And remember what I say to you to-night: If this that is claimed is not -granted—if, beside freedom, equality is not made possible by your giving -up this power, by which the laborer is robbed of the results of his -labor, before our next centennial birthday, July 4th, 1876, you will -have precipitated the most terrible war that the earth has yet known. - -For three years before the breaking out of the slavery rebellion I saw -and heard with my spiritual senses the marching of armies, the rattle of -musketry, and the roar of cannon; and I already hear and see the -approach of this more terrible contest. I know it is coming. There is -but one way in which it can be averted. There was one way by which the -slave war could have been avoided—the abolition of slavery. But the -slave oligarchy would not listen to our Garrisons, Sumners, Tiltons and -Douglases. They tried the arbitration of war, but they lost their slaves -at last. Now, will not these later oligarchies—the land, the railroad, -the money aristocracies—learn a lesson from their terrible fate? Will -they not listen to the abolitionists—to the Garrisons, the Sumners, the -Tiltons and the Douglases—of to-day? Will they try the arbitration of -war, which will result as did the last, in the loss of that for which -they fight? I would that they should learn wisdom by experience. The -slaveholders could have obtained compensation for their negroes. They -refused it and lost all. Ponder that lesson well, and do not neglect to -give it its true application. You can compromise now, and the same -general end be arrived at without the baptism of blood. It shall not be -my fault if that baptism comes. Nevertheless, equality and justice are -on the march, and they cannot be hindered. They must and will attain -their journey’s end. The people shall be delivered. - -I have several times referred to the methods by which these things may -be accomplished. They are impossible under our present Constitution. It -is too restricted, too narrow, to admit even an idea of a common -humanity. True, its text is complete, but its framework does not carry -out the original design. Even George Washington, himself, was accused of -treachery for countenancing so great a departure as was made; and the -late war justified the grounds upon which that accusation was founded. -The text of the Constitution held these truths to be self-evident, “That -all men (and women) are born equal and entitled to certain inalienable -rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” -The Constitution should have been erected in harmony with those -declarations. It was not. There is no such thing as equality provided -for. Life and liberty have not been held inalienable under it; the -pursuit of happiness has been outrageously interfered with, and the -government has been made to exist without the consent of the governed; -and exists to-day against the protests of a large number of its -subjects. - -Is it to be expected that anything so false as that is to its basic -propositions can be made enduring? It is against the constitution of -nature itself that it should be so. Nature is always true to itself, and -will always vindicate itself. If hedged in and obstructed, it will burst -through or find its way around. The needle is not truer to the pole than -is Nature to the truth. And Nature is always just. Those propositions -were deduced from human rights, regardless of any authority or -despotism. Had they been elucidated—had their principles guided the -construction of the Constitution itself, all would have been well. What -our fathers failed to do is left for this generation to perform; and it -must not shirk the duty. It must look the condition squarely in the -face, and meet the issue as squarely. - -What issues must be met and provided for in order that human rights may -be respected and protected? I have already referred to the monopolies -that must be abolished. But there are also many other things. I will -call attention first to minority representation, which lies at the base -of a representative government. The State of Massachusetts has eleven -representatives in Congress, and they are all Republicans. Justice would -infer that there are no Democrats in the State. But such is not the -fact. There are a large body of Democrats. They are not represented. -That is the fault of the system of arriving at representation. While it -is true that majorities must rule, that is not equal to saying that -minorities shall have no voice. But the practice in Massachusetts does -say just that. I suspect if it were possible for all the real -differences, politically, to be represented, that the Congressmen would -stand something as follows: The Democrats would have, say, four out of -the eleven, the Republicans, say, three, while the remainder would be -divided between the Labor and Temperance Reformers and Woman -Suffragists. Indeed, I am not certain if the door were to be opened that -there would be any straight Republicans left, since all reformers are, -under the present system, compelled to congregate together in this -party, so as not to entirely throw away their votes. The Democrats are -always Democrats. Like the hard-shell Baptists, you always know where to -find them. - -They are always on hand to vote early, and often also, if opportunity -permit. Admit minority representation, and the Republican party in -Massachusetts would be abolished, except that part who carry the loaves -and eat the fishes. They are as certain to be found “right there” as the -Democrats are. I think the Woman Suffragists cover about one-half the -Republican party. But a large body of them are Spiritualists and -Temperance men, while as many more are Labor Reformers. But those who -are more Labor Reformers than anything else, are perhaps two-sevenths; -who are more Woman Suffragists than anything else, are perhaps -two-sevenths; who are more Spiritualists than anything else, perhaps -two-sevenths; and who are more Temperance men than anything else, -one-seventh; therefore, if the delegation were elected by the -representation of minorities, it would stand four Democrats, two -Spiritualists, two Labor Reformers, two Woman Suffragists, and one -Temperance man. But all of these, however, would be again swallowed up -whenever a Human Rights party should be evolved, and that will be the -party of the near future, in whose all embracing arms the people, long -suffering and long waiting, will at last find repose, while the Goddess -of Liberty, with her scales of equality, shall find no more of her -subjects to whom justice is not measured out. Then will partisan -politics have received its death warrant; then will the people become -one in heart, one in soul and one in common purpose—the general good of -the general whole. The “greatest good of the greatest number” will be -supplanted by: “the general welfare, is best maintained when individual -interests are best protected.” The new government, then, must be the -result of minority representation, and all legislative bodies, and, -where possible, all executive officers, be so elected, while the people -shall retain the appointing as well as the veto power. Our lawmakers -must be made law proposers, who shall construct law to be submitted to -the people for their approval, in the same manner as our public -conventions appoint committees to draft resolutions, which are afterward -adopted or rejected by the convention itself. This will make every -person a legislator, having a direct interest in every law. The people -will then no longer elect representatives to make laws by which they -must be bound whether they approve or disapprove. The referendum is the -desired end. The referendum is what the people require, and it is what -the new Constitution must provide. So that in all future time the people -themselves will be their own lawmakers—will be the government. - -The people must appoint all their officers, heads of departments and -bureaus at regular intervals, and all under assistants, during faithful -performance of duty. We want no Civil Service Commissions. Every person -who shall be eligible to office under the new government will be -competent; and when once familiar with the duties, will not be removed -to give room for the friend of some politician belonging to the party in -power, since it would be the people in power at all times. - -Another matter which must have attention is the sweeping away of that -_jeu d’esprit_, our courts of justice, by making all kinds of contracts -stand upon the honor and capacity of the contracting parties. All -individual matters must be settled by the individuals themselves without -appeal to the public. Our present system of enforced collection of debts -costs every year more than is realized, and besides maintains a vast -army of lawyers, constables and court officers in unproductive employ. -All this is wrong, entailing almost untold exactions upon the producing -community, who in the end are made to pay all these things. - -Further, our system of oaths and bonds must be abolished. This swearing -people to tell the truth, and binding them to perform their duty, -presupposes that they will lie and neglect their duty. People are always -placed upon the side of force and compulsion—never upon that of personal -rectitude and honor. The results are what might be expected. It plunges -us into the very things we would avoid. There is a philosophy, too, in -all these things; since in freedom only can purity exist. Anything that -is not free is not pure. Anything that is accompanied by compulsion is -no proof of individual honesty. - -The new government must also take immediate steps for the abolition of -pauperism and beggary. It is an infamous reproach upon this country that -there are hundreds of thousands of people who subsist themselves upon -individual charity. I do not care whether this is from choice or -necessity. I say it is a burning shame, requiring immediate curative -steps. The indigent and helpless classes are just as much a part of our -social body as the protected and the rich are, and they are entitled to -its recognition. Society must no longer punish and compel suffering and -death for its own wrongs. It must evolve such a social system as shall -leave no single member of the common body to suffer. When one member of -the body suffers, the whole body sympathizes. So, also, when a member of -the social body suffers, does the whole body suffer. And yet we have -pretended philanthropists and Christians who have never grasped that -truth. - -Our civilization and our Christianity have been made too much a matter -of faith in, and devotion to, the unknowable, divorced from all human -relations. We must first recognize and practice the brotherhood of man -before we can be made to realize the Paternity of God, since “if we love -not our brothers whom we have seen, how can we love God whom we have not -seen?” Our religious teaching has been too much of punishment, and too -little of love; too much of faith, too little of works; too much of -sectarianism, too little of humanitarianism; too much of hell-fire -arbitration, too little of inevitable law; and too much of -self-righteousness, and too little of innate goodness. - -And here I cannot forbear to depart from the strict line of my subject -to say a word regarding a doctrine, from the effects of which even this -country is but slowly recovering—that of eternal damnation! I say, that -a people who really believe in a God who could burn his own children in -a lake of literal fire and brimstone, “where the worm dieth not and the -fire is not quenched,” and from which there is no present escape nor -future hope, for a single unrepented misdeed, and still profess to -honor, love and worship a fiend so infernal as that would make Him, -cannot be honest and conscientious, since they must mistake fear for -love, and confound sycophancy with worship. It was such a belief that -kindled the fires by which the early martyrs perished, by which the -Quakers of Massachusetts were burned and the witches hanged, and which -invented the terrible Inquisition, with its horrid racks and tortures. -These are the legitimate results of such a belief; and if the people of -to-day really believed what they profess in their creeds, they would do -precisely the same things. And they would be justified, since it would -be merciful in them to subject a person to a few moments’ torture, to -induce him or her to escape the eternal tortures of Hell, the horrors of -which all the ingenuity men can command could not invent a torture -one-hundredth part as inhuman; and yet they say our Heavenly Father has -prepared this for nineteen-twentieths of humanity. - -Thank Heaven, however, the day has come when such libels upon the name -of God are rapidly merging into the gray twilight, to soon sink in -blank, unfathomable oblivion. Thank Heaven, for its own approach -earthward, to strike off the chains of superstition from humanity, and -for the first faint glimmering of light shed upon us by its angels’ -faces, proving to us that humanity, whether of earth or heaven, is: - - “One life for those who live and those who die— - For those whom sight knows and whom memory.” - -The Jews would not accept Christ since he came not with temporal power. -But Christ will come in the power of the spirit, and shall baptise all -humanity. Already His messengers begin to herald the “glad tidings of -great joy which shall be unto all people.” Already the music of the -approaching harmonies are heard from the hill-tops of spirituality -singing the approaching millennium. Already its divine notes have -pierced some of the dark places of earth, making glad the hearts of -their oppressed children, shedding light and truth and joy into their -souls. The prophecies of all ages converge upon this, and for their -fulfillment, Christ, with all his holy angels, will come to judge the -world, and to erect upon it that government already inaugurated in -Heaven and long promised Earth, for - - “Decrees are sealed in Heaven’s own chancery, - Proclaiming universal liberty. - Rulers and kings who will not hear the call, - In one dread hour shall thunder-stricken fall. - - “So moves the growing world with march sublime, - Setting new music to the beats of time. - Old things decay, and new things ceaseless spring, - And God’s own face is seen in everything.” - -Therefore it is that there shall soon come a time in which the people -will ask for universal liberty, universal equality, and universal -justice. Heretofore all branches of reform have been separated each from -the other—have been diffusive, working in single and straight lines from -a principle outward, utterly regardless of all other movements. Reform -has never yet been constructive, but destructive to existing things. -Nevertheless, all reform originates primarily from a common cause—the -effort of humanity to attain to the full exercise of human right, only -attainable through the possession of freedom, equality and justice. Any -reform which does not embrace these three principles must necessarily be -diffusive, instructive or educational. Each different branch is the -squaring of a separate stone, all of which must be brought together and -adjusted before even the corner-stone of the perfect and permanent -structure can be laid. Republicanism even was not integral in its -propositions. It looked simply to personal freedom. Neither equality in -its high, or justice in its broad, sense was a portion of its creed. -Hence republicanism as represented by the party in power has done its -work, and those who prefer to stick to it rather than to come out and -rally around a platform perfect in humanitarian principles, will thus -show themselves to be more republican than humanitarian. - -As a nation we are nearing our first centennial birthday. A hundred -years have come and gone since political freedom was evolved from the -womb of civilization. Great as its mission was, great as its results -have been, shall the car of progress stop there? Is there nothing more -for humanity to accomplish? I tell you there are still mightier and more -glorious things to come than human tongue hath spoken or heart -conceived. Little did our noble sires imagine what a century would do -with what they set in motion. From three to forty millions is a grand, I -may almost say a terrible, stride. But with this step we cannot stop. We -must open new channels for the expansion of the human soul. - -Up to this time we have expanded almost wholly in a material and -intellectual sense. There is a grander expansion than either of these. -Wealth and knowledge have brought us power, but we lack wisdom. To -material prosperity and intellectual acquirements there must be added -moral purity, and then we shall get wisdom. Everybody appears to live as -though this life were all there is of life, and that to get from it the -most physical enjoyment were the grand thing to be attained. Wealth has -been made almost the sole aim of living, whereas it should only be -regarded as the means to a better end; as the means by which to -accumulate an immense capital with which to begin life in the next and -higher stage of existence; and he or she lives best on earth who does -the most for humanity. - -In this view, what are professing Christians—the churches—doing for the -general good to-day? What good can come from preaching without practice, -since, though people may be able to say, “All of these have I kept from -my youth up,” Christ, when he shall come, will reply to them: “Go sell -all thou hath and give to the poor, and come and follow me.” What -clergyman in this city dare stand in his pulpit Sunday after Sunday and -insist upon such practice? or what one dare to insist that his church -should have all things in common? or what one dare to eat with publicans -and sinners, or say to the woman, “Neither do I condemn thee.” Or which -one of the people dare go to her poor, enslaved and suffering sisters -and take them to her heart and home? or be the good Samaritan? I tell -you, my friends, beware lest those whom you scorn to know be before you -with Christ, who knows the heart. It is not what you pretend that shall -make you Christian, but what you do, and if you do right, though the -world curse you, yet shall you lay up treasures in Heaven thereby. -Therefore, I say that the Christianity of to-day is a failure. It is not -the following of Christ, nor the practice of his precepts. True religion -will not shut itself up in any church away from humanity; it will not -stand idly by and see the people suffer from any misery whatever. It is -its sphere to cure all ills, whether moral, social or political. There -are no distinctions in humanity. Everything to be truly good and grand, -whether it be in politics, society or religion, must be truly moral, and -to be truly moral is to live the Golden Rule. - -Therefore, it is foolish for the Christian to say, “I have nothing to do -with politics, as a Christian.” It is the bounden duty of every -Christian to support that political party which bases itself upon Human -Rights; and if there is no such party existing, then to go about to -construct one. It is too late in the century for a Justice of the -Supreme Court of the United States to be a political thief and trickster -as a politician, while he issues a call asking that the people inject -God into the Constitution. Such consummate hypocrisy is an outrage upon -the intelligence of the nineteenth century; and it will meet its just -reward. - -If they would take the precepts of Christ and build a new Constitution -upon them, nobody would object; but to be asked to recognize a God whom -these people have themselves fashioned and set up, who hath not even -human sense of justice, is quite a different thing, and one to which -this people will not submit. I could point out to you why this attempt -is made just at this time, but I rather prefer to point out how this and -all other attempts to put fetters upon the people must be avoided, and -how to break the fetters by which they are already galled. - -Permit me to ask what practical good arises from the people’s coming -together and merely passing a set of resolutions. You may pass -resolutions with whereases and therefores a mile long, and what will be -the result unless they are made practical use of. What would you say to -a person who should come before you with a resolution setting forth that -whereas, thus and thus, are so and so, therefore some new invention -ought to be made to meet the conditions. Why you would at once say to -him, “Give us the invention; then we shall be able to judge whether your -therefore bears any relation to your whereas.” Now precisely in that way -should you judge of resolutions for political reform. We have had -resolutions long enough. We now need a working model which will secure -freedom, equality and justice to the smallest of our brothers and -sisters. Anything less than this is no longer worthy to be considered -political reform; and that is not only political reform, but it is also -the best application possible of the precepts of Jesus Christ, and -therefore the best Christianity, the best religion, since to its creed -every human being who is not supremely selfish can subscribe. - -In conclusion, therefore, let me urge every soul who desires to be truly -Christian to no longer separate Christianity from politics, but to make -it the base upon which to build the future political structure. Instead -of an amendment to the Constitution, which these hypocrites desire, -recognizing a God who is simply the Father of themselves, and a Christ -of whom they are the self-appointed representatives, give us a new -Constitution, recognizing the human rights of the people to govern -themselves, of which they cannot be robbed under any pretext whatever, -and my word for it, humanity will not be slow to render due homage to -their God. Let that Constitution give a place to every branch of reform, -while it shall not so much as militate against the rights of a single -individual in the whole world—and we are large enough to begin to say -the whole world—and to think of and prepare the way for the time when -all nations, kindred and tongues shall be united in a universal -government, and the Constitution of the United States of the World be -the - - - SUPREME LAW. - -Around this as a New Departure let all reformers rally, and, with a -grand impulse and a generous enthusiasm, join in a common effort for the -great political revolution, after the accomplishment of which the -nations shall have cause to learn war no more. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES - - - 1. P. 4, corrected “God loves from whole to part. But human soul must - from individual to the whole.” to “God loves from whole to parts: - but human soul Must rise from individual to the whole.” This is to - match the original quote by Alexander Pope. - 2. P. 20, changed “ought that looks like justice” to “aught that looks - like justice”. - 3. Silently corrected typographical errors and variations in spelling. - 4. Archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings retained as printed. - 5. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_. - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FREEDOM! EQUALITY!! JUSTICE!!! *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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