\ THE NEW REPUBLIC. FOUNDED ON THE NATURAL AND INALIENABLE EIGHTS OF MAN. AND CONTAINING THE OUTLINES OF SUCH A GOVERNMENT AS THE PATRIOT FATHERS CONTEMPLATED AND FORMULATED IN THE DECLARA- TION OF INDEPENDENCE, "WHEN STRUGGLING FOR LIBERTY. E. J. SCHELLHOUS, M. D. " The true Kepublic Is not yet here. But the birth-struggle must soon "begin. Already, with the hope of her, men's thoughts are stirring."— Henrt George. SAN FRANCISCO: BACON & COMPANY, PRINTERS, No. 508 CLAY Street. 1883. Copyright, 1883, By E. J. SCHELLHOUS. o / en cm ^ s i:^. PRESS NOTICES. » Permit me to say that I pronounce "The New Republic " a superior work on the subject of wliich it treats, both in its -- arrangements and the subject matter jiresented — Geo. T. •«£ Elliot. The work of Dr. Schellhous will rank with Henry George's ''Progress and Poverty." * * * "The New Republic " is a school-book for the people,— a popular educat- or for the American voter,— the problems in which must be understood before the New Republic which he foreshadows can be an accomplished fact. — E. M. Dewev, in Tulare County Journal. I would advise all advocates of the liberation of man- kind to read "The New Republic," by Dr. Schellhous, as he is an honest expounder of Truth and Justice. — The Tocsin, Dallas, Texas. "The New Republic," Schelllious.— This is one of the few works of reform writers of the last few years wliich can be said to be at once forcible and scholarly. 28G115 Many have been the former, and liave accomplished a great work, as iron is beaten into rude shapes by hard blows; but a few only have been sufficiently skilled to polish the works which they had hammered out into really symmetri- cal forms. The author of "The New Republic" has done this.— The SatKrdai/ Express, Chicago. I pronounce " The New Republic" a masterly book, afar- reaching work, pictured in plain, simple English. I shall loan it to my friends to read, for I would that every man in our fair country would read it; then we would surely see better times. — W. D. Young. The most I can do is to assert that no true reform library will be complete without "The New Republic." Prolific as California has been in ideas, the indisputable truths- ideas— put forth in "The New Republic" are the peers of the brightest and best. — Geo. C. Beecher. "The New Republic " is received and reviewed. When placed before the American people, they must be greatly benefited by its teachings. I truly congratulate you on its production. I think the book is opportune : is in the right time and place to fill a much needed want in American poli- tics. Its principles will be teachers when the hand that pen- ned them is dust. — Anna D. Weaver. I have not yet read thoroughly " Tlie New Republic"; it has been loaned nearly all the time since its receipt. But \ I those who have read it, and in whose judgment I have great confidence, say that I need have no fears in recommending it ; that it will do good wherever it goes.— Celia B. White- head. Your book to hand and read. I like it very much and think it excellent. I think it equals Henry George's "Progress and Poverty." I hope many may read it. * * « Your chapter on Tariff is especially good, the best I have ever seen on the question.— Hon. L. B. Keating. "The New Republic" is anti-monopoly from beginning to end, and will find little favor from politicians and monopo- lists. The author attacks corporate power in all its hydra- forms, nor leaves a single niche in our liberty temple on which to place its feet. Finance and Tariff are also subjects for the author's trenchant pen. Nor does he handle them with gloved hands. While the author tears down with vandal hands, he unhesitatingly lays plans for another edifice, for he would have a New Republic, phoenix like, to rise from the ashes of the old.— S. H. Bond, in Tulare Times. I want to say, " The New Republic " is by far the ablest work I have read on the subject. It should be introduced into our schools as a text book. It is truly multum in parvo, and should be in the hands of every man and woman in the land. * * It is admirably adapted to meet the views of the average citizen, and all labor organizations should have it in their library .—Samuel Sinnett in the lorva National Advocate. " The New Republic " is a most excellent work. It fills a place in political reform not supplied by any other book.— H. A. COFFEEN. Let me say that your work is taking as I have seen no other effort in this direction. My reform associates declare that the nltimatiim of reform is therewith presented, and that your effort has resulted in reducing the whole question at is- sue to an exact scientific base that must serve as a competent guide in the reform movement for the future. — L. A. Fisher. Mnch that the author of "The New Republic" says in part cannot be controverted, it must be believed. — Daily lie- port, San Francisco. Of Dr. Schellhous, Helen "Wilmans, editor of the Wom- an's World department of The Saturday Express, saya : "I know him well. He is a man of deep learning and scholarly attainments. I am pleased to know that he has written a work of the kind. It could not be other than valuable, com- ing from his pen." We have an unlimited conviction that Dr. Schellhous ad- vocates a system of Truth that the world needs, and must have, in order to prevent its relapse into the old-time barba- rism of selfishness and tyranny. — Tulare Times. OONTEj^TS PAGE. To THE Reader 5 The Presentment 11 CHAP. I. Definitions 15 n. Outlines of the New Republic 25 in. A Brief Review of the Struggle for Liberty 33 rV. History of the Federal Constitution, AND AN Account of the Leading Men WHO Advocated and who Opposed It 39 V. The Articles of Confederation and the Federal Constitution 62 VI. History of Political Parties in the United States, and the Evtls of Par- ty Spirit 77 VII. Review of our Judiciary System 91 VUl. Stock Operations, " Rings," and ** Cor- ners " 113 IX. Natural Rights Considered. — Land Tenures 125 X. Natural Rights Considered (Contin- ued). —Finance 133 XI. Natural Rights Considered (Contin- ued).— Banking System. 151 IV CONTENTS. XII. Natural Rights Considered (Contin- ued). — Transportation 159 XIII. Natural Rights Considered (ContIxV- xted). — Communication 168 XIV. Natural Rights Considered (Conclud- ed). — Education 176 XV. Labor and Capital 195 XVI. Tariff 217 XVII. Corporations 241 XVIII. Qualification for Citizenship 268 XIX. Nature and Uses of Government 280 XX. Difficulties Considered 304 XXI. Summary 313 Synopsis of the New Republic ^ 327 TO THE READER. It may seem like unwarrantable presumption for a single individual to put forth his efforts to restore to the people their rights by effecting the requisite changes in our government. If I presumed upon my own power or personal influ- ence, such presumption would not only be un- warrantable, but ridiculous. My appeal is to you in a common cause ; it is to your sense of right, your love of justice ; it is in behalf of the innocent, helpless victims to the overpowering greed of corporate rapacity ; it is to that just and laudable pride that comes from self-respect and claim to the dignity of true man- hood and womanhood. I appeal to your sense of duty, that ever- present but often feeble voice that sjDcaks to all, that our destiny and happiness are inseparably connected with others ; that we can help ourselves only as we help others. I wish to remind you that our interests are b TO THE READER. one ; of the power of unity ; of the necessity of unanhnity of thought and feeling and the concert of action. I wish to remind you of the tactics of our oppressors, whom we must regard as enemies, in keeping the people distracted, by exciting mutual hatred, and arraying faction against faction and interest against Interest, and thus secure an easy victory. Presuming upon their superiority, they take government matters in their own hands, furnish candidates committed to their interests for you to elect, and claim that the best must rule. This is an insult that de- serves the most Indignant contempt. The work here presented for your considera- tion is radical — it goes to the root of the matter. Those who live upon j'our toil would make the science of government complicated, intricate, ab- struse ; they would fain convince you that it is beyond your capacity to understand. The weakest and most contemptible fear is that which arises from ignorance. Confront any one with a problem of which he is profoundly ig- norant, and conviftce him that his welfare lies in its solution, and two things will result : unbound- ed confidence and respect for the one who he thinks can solve the problem, and a feeling of utter dependence on him. It Is for you to be TO THE READER. I able to solve the problems of free government ; then self-respect and self-confidence will secure your independence. They would have you leave the business for them to manage. They would have you accept as authority the accumulation of past ages derived from monarchical countries for them to interpret and apply, which is virtually saying : "You produce the wealth : that is your business ; we will enjoy it : that is our privilege. We will give you just enough of it to live and work. That will secure two things : first, it will enrich us ; and second, it will keep you so busy in earn- ing your share, that you will not have time, means, nor opportunity to study these intricate questions that require a lifetime of research to understand." And soon, as they know, you will feel no disposition to study them. Unremitting and constant contact with hard physical force hardens the heart as well as the hands, and dulls the intellect as well as deadens the sentiments. Thus the producers of wealth — those who expend their energies, Avaste their lives, and blunt all tho finer and nobler attributes of human character to create the millionaires' wealth — are regarded as the rabble, mud-sills, or, in their more polite language, the lower classes. They would entice you into the mazes and 8 TO THE READER. labyrinths of "Political Economy " and "Juris- prudence." as expounded by some " great " man, and awe you into submissive silence by inform- ing you that none but "great men" and pro- found statesmen can understand these wonderful sciences — the accumulation of the wisdom of ages. These, I say, are their tactics. We are bound and entangled and mystified ; they have woven a network of sophistries around us, and point to our inability to comprehend them, thus holding us in perpetual bondage. I do not propose to solve these mysteries : they cannot do it them- selves ; but I propose to lay them aside as im- practicable ; to ignore these theories and specu- lations. However truthful and a2:>plicable they may have been or may be to monarchical gov- ernments, they are foreign to a republican gov- ernment, and therefore useless to us. In proof of this, I present facts and conditions as the legit- imate outcome of these theories in this volume — of usurped power, of untold wealth in few hands, of an impoverished people, of the rule of avarice, of despotic cruelty, of political chicanery, of corruption in high places and poverty in low places, of insolent arrogance on the one hand and servile submission on the other ; — these are the fruits of corporate conspiracy to rob and TO THE READER. y plunder in a legal way ; for it Is a fact of alarming sio;nificance that there is nothino; clone or being done, however damaging to the people's interest and fatal to republican government, hut what is in strict accordance with the constitution \ind laws of the land. \ I have shown that the principles and processes of republican government are simple and com- prehensible, as all great truths and principles are when stripped of the verbiage that misleads and mystifies. Otherwise republican government is a myth, an impracticable dream, and the sooner we know it the better. Herbert Spencer is a profound thinker. He stands confessedly at the head of modern scien- tists. Not long since, he spent several months in the United States, and on the eve of his depart- ure for England he gave liis opinions of Ameri- can institutions. He said : " The republican form of government is the highest form of govern- ment, but because of this, it requires the highest type of human nature — a type nowhere at present existing. We have not grown up to it, nor have you." There is deep significance in these words. Let us profit by them. Let us have not only the intelligence to perceive the cause of our political downfall, but have the courage to assail it witli 1* 10 TO THE READER. destructive weapons. The revolution here pro- posed is not a bloody conquest, but a change from bad to good, from vice to virtue, from slav- ery to liberty, from despotism to freedom. Let the ballot in the hands of intelligence, prompted by the love of justice and guided by wisdom, be the nilent but potent weapon for its accomplish- ment. I have shown that all depends on the qualification of the ballot-holder. It is for the people to use and show to the world that self- government is not only possible, but practicable. E. J. S. \ THE peesentme:nt. " Ye build! ye build, but ye enter not in, Like the tribes whom the desert devoured in their sin; From the land of promise ye fade and die Ere it gleams forth on your wearied eye." " Who would be free, Themselves must strike the blow." To THE People of the United States. The time has now come when all true men and women can move forward in one unbroken line, vindicating and protecting their natural rio-hts as set forth in the Declaration of Inde- pendence. Your interests are indentical, your opportunities for action are free and ample, and your duties are plain and imperative. A confederation of corporations has usurped the sovereign functions of this government, and exercises them for its sole use and benefit, thereby resolving it into an oligarchy. The many are made to serve the few. In- dustry is made to enrich idleness. Capital created by hibor has gained complete control over it, and holds it in its relentless grasp. 12 THE PRESENTMENT. We declare that tlic principles upon which this o-overnment was founded have been ignored and superseded by a system whose essential fea- tures are borrowed from the British Govern- ment, Instead of equality, Ave have class distinctions founded on wealth. Instead of a medium of circulation to carry on the industries of the country by equal exchange and equitable distribution, we have a limited cur- rency controlled by corporations for their special benefit. Instead of a system of land tenure that would secure homes for the people, we have a land monopoly already grown to an alarming extent, and still increaslno;. Instead of fair and equitable rates for trans- portation and travel, we have ruinous discrimina- tions, and extortion beyond all reason, justice, or precedent. Instead of labor controlling its own interests, and regulating its relations to capital, i't is, by aggressive avarice and relentless tyranny, trampled upon, the rights of laboring men and women ignored, and they are being reduced to hopeless poverty and servile dependence ujjon it. Instead of honest representation and faithful public service, we have a system of political THE PRESENTMENT. 13 machinery that manipulates nominating conven- tions, secures the election of their candidates, and by lobbying and bribery controls the legis- lative, executive, and judicial departments of the government. As a consequence of these unjust measures and usurped powers, the vast majority of the people are made to pay tribute to the few, whereby immense wealth accumulates in their hands, by which class distinctions are built up, and aristocracies are founded at the cost of the wealth producer. There is no good reason why any should be compelled to long and monotonous labor ; to toil without recompense, save that of a bare subsist- ence, a condition that deadens stimulus, and ban- ishes all expectation and aspiration for anything higher than to be the sons and daughters of in- cessant toil. To liberate yourselves from the tyranny of capital, to break the bonds that enslave you, to strike off the fetters imposed by the bandit-chiefs of the Stock and Grain Exchange, and the rob- ber-leaders who organize parties into machines, is your work. Let us demand Justice that secures Equality ; Equality that secures Liberty; Liberty that se- cures Happiness ; for Happiness is the end and aim of human existence. THE NEW REPUBLIC. CHAPTER I. DEFINITIONS. *• 'Tis coming up tbe steeps of time, And this old world is growing brighter ; We yet may see its dawn sublime, For high hopes make the heart throb lighter." Government in the sense of political science is an agreement, expressed or implied, to con- form to certain regulations by a body of people having common interests and a common country. It is based on man's social nature and mutual wants ; and has for its object the regulation and protection of its citizens in the full and free ex- ercise of their natural rights, privileges, and op- portunities. Some uniformity and concert of action, some common sentiment finding expression in law and the various institutions of a country, are indispen- sable to the very existence of society. This 16 THE NEW REPUBLIC. truth has given rise to the adage, "Bad govern- jnent is better than no government." Government, being a national association founded on mutual interests and mutual dejDend- encies — an organized system of procedure — and necessary to secure these interests and the bene- fits of co-operation in the pursuit of mutual advantages, requires legislative and executive powers. When these powers are exercised in the inter- est of a few, who, by the force of custom and false education, hold the many in subjection, such government is Despotism ; when they are exer- cised by the people through an organized system of representation, such government is a Rejjuhlic. These two modes of government constitute the base upon which all the various forms of govern- ment amono; mankind are founded. The one is based upon assumed, usurped, vested power ; the other upon natural rights. The former demands submission to superiors, the latter obedience to Avell-regulated institutions ; the one for the ag- grandizement of the few, the other embraces the good of all. (1) A republican government is founded upon the natural rights of the people, and has for its sole object the regulation of those rights and the protection of the people in their full and free exercise. DEFINITIONS. 17 (2) Human rights are based upon the necessi- ties and requirements of life, and consist in a natural claim to the means of obtaining them ; the essential conditions of which are personal liberty, physical sustenance, and mental free- dom. (3) As life is of divine origin, so are the rights necessary to maintain it: and those means by which all its purposes ai'C accomplished are equally divine. These rights are inalienable, and as sacred as life itself, because their full and free exercise is essential to the accomplishment of life's purposes. (4) The right to live carries with it the right of personal liberty, the means of subsistence, and the development and culture of all the intel- lectual, moral, esthetic, and spiritual powers and capabilities of the individual ; and as all have the right equally to live, so all have the right equally to its prerogatives, means, and possibili- ties. (5) Since the ca^jaclty to enjoy liberty, to ac- quire the means of subsistence, and the natural capacity for mental development and spiritual cul- ture are within certain limits, with the free exercise of these natural rights, the status of the individ- ual in such conditions, physically. Intellectually, morally, and spiritually, would correspond with 18 THE NEW REPUBLIC. such capacity ; and equality of conditions within these limits would be established in a government founded on natural rights. In other words, the status of equality would be commensurate with the natural capacity of the people in the full and free enjoyment of such rights. As the limits in physical stature, strength, and endur- ance are comparatively narrow, with like de- velopment and culture, all the mental attributes would be within the same narrow limits, and NATURAL EQUALITY would be the rcsult. The struo:o;les and miseries of life have arisen chiefly from the denial of these natural rights ; and the usurpation of powers founded on the idea of a divine right to rule still prevails in all civilized countnes, under the name of vested RIGHTS. Whenever natural rights have as- serted their claims, " vested rights," holding the supremacy, have overpowered them, and thus kept mankind in submission. Contending usurpers have involved nations in war, either to support dynasties or for conquest ; and the wealth produced by the toiling millions has been squandered to satisfy the demands of ambitions pomp, luxury, and avarice. These are the fruits of despotism. On the other hand, under a government that secures the exercise and enjoyment of natural DEFINITIOXS. 19 rights, each one would hokl and enjoy the wealth he produces. The result would be the prosper- ity, advancement, and happiness of the people ; whereas, the result of " vested rights," exercised by the few, is war, with all its attendant evils, the burdens of which are borne by the people, but the glory, wealth, and power go to the few ; in- cessant toil, poverty, and slavery of the many, and idleness, luxury, and dominion to the few. Thus it is seen that usurped powers vested in governments, formulated in constitutions, com- manding obedience by the authority of law, and exercised for the benefit of the usurpers, must antagonize natural rights, and the results are inordinate wealth, tyranny, and oppression on the one hand ; and poverty, debt, ignorance, crime, degradation, and misery on the other. In our country, all vested powers, derived from the idea of a divine right to rule, have been proscribed in the Federal Constitution, but have been more than supplied by powers vested in corporations for private enterprise, under the authority granted by law, which have usurped and now exercise the sovereign functions of gov- ernment for their sole use and benefit, and by their power dictate all the affairs of government and control all its sources of wealth. A govern- ment thus based upon assumed vested rights can 20 THE NEW REPUBLIC. never be " a government of the people, for tlie people, by the people." Power emanating from the people, and delegated to their representatives for exercise, must remain under the people's con- trol and subject to their will. " Government is nothing more than a national association, and the object of this association is protection, as well individually as collectively. Every man wishes to pursue his occupation and to enjoy the fruits of his labors and the produce of his px'operLy in peace and safety, and with the least possible expense. When these things are accom- plished, all the objects for which government ought to be established are answered." — Paine's Mights of Man. There is but one general principle that distin- guishes freedom from slavery, which is, that all vested power is to the people a species of slavery, the degree of which corresponds with that of the power vested and exercised ; and delegated pow- er truly and faithfully exercised in a government is freedom within the scope of popular govern- ment. The power is in the people, not in their public servants ; in those who pay, and not in those who are paid. The prevalent idea is that the government is the power and the people are subject to it ; whereas, the true idea is that the people are sov- ereign, and that the government is the prescribed DEFINITIONS. 21 means for regulating their rights and protecting them in the exercise of them, and their official agents are subject to their control. A simple application of this idea will determine whether our government is a republic or not. If the greatest good is secured to the greatest number ; if the subdivision of land is so regulated and occupancy so protected that all citizens who desire it may have homes upon it ; if all who produce wealth can hold and enjoy it; if transportation, travel, and communication for intelligence are se- cured at the cost of service ; if in elections the voice of the people is fairly expressed; if the burden of revenue is borne by all according to their ability to pay ; if labor and capital are united in one common interest ; if social and educational institutions secure to the people the greatest blessings they are capable of giving — then we have a republican government. Such was the government contemplated a hundred years ago by the patriots. Inspired by the love of liberty and the divine heritage of human rights, they struggled with almost super- human efforts, endured indescribable hardships, and made heroic sacrifices to gain for themselves and transmit to posterity the highest and noblest of earthly blessings — liberty, equality, fraternity, justice, secured by popular government. 22 THE NEW llEPUBLIC. But before such government could be fully formulated and set in operation, and during its brief existence, by the intrigues and machina- tions of the enemies of free government, its aims were diverted and its purposes defeated. To show how far popular rights have been usurped, the following instance is given : In the last Congress an amendment to the post-office bill was offered, which provided, first, for an amendment to the charters of the Union and Central Pacific railroads ; and second, for the reduction of compensation for carrying the mails on old-subsidy-and-land-grant railroads to fifty per cent of the rate paid on roads built by private capital. The arguments in support of the amendment were, that as the government had virtually built these roads by donating to corporations land and subsidy bonds amply suf- ficient in amount to cover all costs of construc- tion and equipments, it had the I'ight to de- mand the transportation of the mails over them at cost. But the argus eyes of corporations saw that it would never do to acknowledge the right or power of the government to lay its finger upon a corporate prerogative, no matter how justly or how much the public good demanded it; so through its Democratic mouth-piece, Abi*am S. DEFINITIONS. 23 Hewitt (son-in-law of the venerable Peter Cooper), in a tone of holy horror it wanted to know " if the House felt prepared to begin the work of confiscating private property, which, when once approved by a vote of the House, would proceed with fearful strides until it ended in a logical result — communism." Through its Republican organ, Mr. Caswell, it was more defiant, and declared that the amend- ment would be inoperative, as it was a blow at the vested rights of those corporations, " ivhich could not he taken away or invaded hy Congreisy Any regulation for the reduction of rates for transportation on those roads which were virtu- ally built by the people is declared " confisca- tion of private property," resulting in " commun- ism." This from the Democratic side of corporate power; on the Republican side, "a blow at the vested rights of corporations, which could not be taken away or invaded by Congress " ! The definitions here presented show the ne- cessity and importance of the people in taking immediate and determined action in the estab- lishment of a government in which they will realize the blessings that justice, equality, and liberty give. The time must be near at hand, when the people, whose rights have been denied 24 THE NEW REPUBLIC. and their powers usurped by a confederation of corporations, will arise in their might, arouse their slumbering energies, and resolve that to secure the natural and inalienable rights they will demand such a government as will secure them; "laying its foundations on such principles and organizing its powers in such form as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness Where a long train of abuses and usurpations, having invariably the same ob- ject, evinces a design to reduce them to absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their diity^ to throw off such government, and provide new guards for their future safety." This right, this duty, is as sacred and binding now as it was a hundred years ago The issues now involved are essentially the same ; we have, however, this advantage : the foundation which they established, the Declara- tion of Independence, and the ballot, with which we may regain our liberties. The foundation is acknowledged by all, and the ballot is in the hands of enough to express the intelligence and enforce the will of the people, which constitute the power of the government. It only remains to test that intelligence and moral force of the people's will, for there is no obstacle that intelli- gence and moral power cannot overcome. OUTLINES OF THE NEW REPUBLIC. 25 CHAPTER II. OUTLINES OF THE NEW RErUBLIC. " What constitute a state? Men, liigh-miuded ineu, With powers as far above dull brUtes endued, In forest, brake, or den, As beasts excel cold rocks and brambles rude ; Men who their duties know. But know their rights, and knowing dare maintain; Prevent the long-aimed blow, And crush the tyrant while they rend the chain ; — These constitute a state." A GOVERNMENT founded on the natural rights of the people must have a system by which their will can be fully and fairly expressed. This requires political jurisdictions of two kinds ; for organizations, like individuals, must have prescribed limits. First, primary, in which the people have direct and personal control over their local affairs. By this local government, the construction of roads, bridges, and the erection of buildings for public use, as schools, lyceums, and for public entertainment, conduct- incr educational matters and all domestic affairs, are under the direct control of the people. The administration of justice in all civil and criminal matters, the abatement of nuisances and all other 2 26 THE NEW REPUBLIC. concerns of a local character, arc managed directly by the people in their local jurisdictions. Second, representative, because of the extent of country and population, and the common in- terests arising from the combinations of local governments, the powers are delegated to agents who represent the people in their interests. Sovereign control is to be exercised in these jurisdictions in matters pertaining to them respect- ively : in local, by the people direct ; in the rep- resentative, by delegates elected by the people. The primary jurisdictions extend to convenient limits, and unite to form county jurisdictions whose interests will be served by representatives. This is the first representative jurisdiction. Another, embracing the State, also represented by delegates elected by the people, would be the second. This body of delegates will have charsre of all the interests of the State, and tha regulation of all affairs in which the people of the State have a common interest. The highest representative jurisdiction will embrace the whole country, and the delegates for It will be elected by the people of the re- spective States, and their powers and duties will embrace all tlie interests of the people in the capacity of a General Government. Each of these jurisdictions will exercise a OUTLINES OF THE NEW ItEPUBLIC. 27 separate and inclepeudeiit sovereignty. Sover- eignty pertains to vmity, and each unit has sover- eignty over its own interests. In all that be- longs to a primary jurisdiction, its sovereignty is distinct and complete, and does not conflict with any other. So of a county, a state, or the nation. The sovereign powers of the nation will be ex- ercised by a legislative and executive department, which will be prescribed by a constitution, which will also contain provisions for other offices in the government, and for tlie election of officers, prescribing their duties and relations to their constituents. The state governments will be constructed on like principles, with sovereign powers co-exten- sive with their respective jurisdictions. The county governments will be merely ad- ministrative, and their sovereign powers will be commensurate with their respective jurisdictions. Primary jurisdictions will regulate all local affairs within the limits of the state and national government. Thus a scheme of government simple in its con- struction and easy of comprehension will secure all the purposes for which popular government is instituted, originating directly from the peo- ple and under their absolute control ; the powers 28 THE NEAV KErUBLIC. delegated will return to the peo])le at the expira- tion of the term of office. Having outlined the general system of repub- lican government, the most important subjects for consideration are the qualifications of citizens and the modes of election. The character of a government is that of the people composing it. If they have no true conception of just govern- ment, no just government can exist. The pow- ers of government arc inherent in the people, and for the purpose of exercise, are intrusted or delegated to some of their number. If these powers are so conferred as to be controlled by the delegates and beyond control or recall by the people, republican government ceases and is changed to despotism. The first qualification of a citizen is a willing- ness to concede to others all that he demands for himself. This implies justice and equality, with- out which republican government cannot exist. The second qualification for citizenship is a disposition and determination, at all times and in all places, to support the rule of the majority, when fairly and properly expressed. This is the authority of government. The third qualification is intelligence and moral appreciation. A clear comprehension of the principles of government and its purposes. OUTLINES OF THE NEW REPUBLIC. 29 and the tluties of the citizen, are indispensable. This is the pov^er of the government. The fourth qualification embraces those attri- butes that fit the individual for the social duties of life, for government is a national association. These constitute the benefits of government, for it is by it that they are enabled to become gen- eral. These qualifications are required of all, regard- less of sex. The rights of women are equal with those of men. Since government is founded on rights, it becomes as necessary to one sex as to the other ; for the question of sex does not in- volve that of rights. The power for good is the love of those attri- butes that secure it, applied by the guidance of wisdom. This power is all-sufficient for man's purposes. It will overthrow despotism and cor- ruption ; it will emancipate the people from ignorance, poverty, crime, and misery. It will bring to realization the dreams of the philoso- pher and the hopes of the humanitarian. It is attainable, not by conquest, but by the exercise of those attributes that constitute the true citizen, through the instrumentality of the ballot. It comes not with the sound of the trumpet and the clash of arms, but by the gentle and 30 THE NEW REPUBLIC. peaceful exercise of thought. It is ours when we command it, without cost or sacrifice, and of more value than wealth and pomp and dominion combined. Justice is its basis, equality its con- dition, and liberty, peace, and prosperity its bless- ings. All it asks is the liberty of appearing ; all it needs is the appreciation of the people. But so deeply rooted are the existing systems of the governments of the world, and so strongly have tyranny, the reverence for antiquity, and the slav- ery of fear wrought upon men, that it is difficult to overcome their influence. To eradicate error or remove prejudice is more difficult than to instill truth and inspire confidence in receptive minds. To realize this truth is the first step in this great work, and no greater or more important work can engage the mind and labor of man. Having outlined the general system of repub- lican government and the qualifications of its citizens, it is important to consider a just method of election. Tlie voice of the people must be fairly and honestly expressed. In order to do this, the representatives must be elected by" the people in their respective jurisdictions, without regard to lines of subdivision ; that is to say, all the officers of a county must be voted for without respect to district lines, those of a state OUTLINES OF THE NEW REPUBLIC. 31 regardless of county lines, and those of the na- tion irrespective of state lines. One month before the final election, let there be held a primary election, Avith all the binding force and safeguards that the law can give. Let each voter express his or her choice for a candidate for office freely ; and let there be as many candidates as the people desire to vote for. When these votes have been officially canvassed and reported, let all candidates be dropped ex- cept those having the highest number of votes aggregating a majority of the party voting for them. At the final election, each party will unite on one or more candidates who will be the choice of the majority of his party. Where a number of officers of the same kind are to be elected, as supervisors, commissioners, and legislators, let the number of votes in the jurisdiction be divided by the number of officers to be elected, and the quotient be termed a quota. When a candidate receives a quota of votes, let him be declared elected. Then each party will concentrate its whole force on as many candidates as it can elect, for more than that would defeat its candidates. Thus each party would have a proportional representation. With a government thus founded, constructed, and represented, the people of the United States 32 THE NEW REPUBLIC. would be the most j)owerful, pi-osperous, and happy nation on the globe, rcquirhig neither strife nor blood to attain such conditions. One hundred years of experience, with tlie aid of history and the present condition of existing nations, ought to be a sufficient guide to that happy consummation. Wisdom, justice, and humanity dictate it; ad- vancing civilization requires it ; and an enslaved, robbed, and impoverished people demand it. To break this thralldom and maintain popular free- dom is the first and most important duty, and the highest privilege of this oppressed, impoverished, and enslaved people. Let all who think, who love liberty, justice, and humanity, resolve to accomplish this great work ; and the toiling millions, struggling in their poverty and now sinking into pauperism, with grateful voices will bless tlie workers ; com- ing generations will sing their praises, and the glory of a moral heroism far surpassing any dis- played on the field of battle will give worth and splendor to the names of those who did it. THE STRUGGLE FOR LIBERTY. 33 CHAPTER III. A BRIEF RE\aEW OF THE STRUGGLE FOR LIBERTY. "The man that is not moved at what he reads, That takes not fire at their heroic deeds, Unworthy of the blessings of the brave, Is base in kind, and born to be a slave." » The love of liberty is inherent in every sen- tient being. The condition of liberty is essential in the accomplishment of life's purposes. In the wilds of the new continent, and yielding to the impulse of freedom, the colonists were not slow in developing its spirit and enjoying^he sweets of unrestrained activity. But the tyranny .that drove them from their native land followed them to their new homes, and with insatiable lust sought to replace its shackles upon them. For more than a hundred and fifty years this struggle went on. Inspired only by avarice and the love of dominion. Great Britain resorted to every means for her own aggrandizement at the expense of the colonists. And yet the colonists main- tained a loyalty to the mother government with wonderful pertinacity. But the accumulation of wrongs proved too much for even such loyalty. 2* 34 THE NEW REPUBLIC. 4 The colonies were made a source of immense revenue to the mother country, and the struggle to throw off British tyranny was as intense and determined as the spirit of the colonists had been patient and Indulgent ; and the long contest ended in the acknowledgment of the independence of the United States by Great Britain in 1783. It was not until 1754 that any effort was made to confederate the colonies for mutual defense. In that year, the first movement for a confedera- tion of interests in the colonies was made for defense against the threatened invasion of the French and in support of the home government. The next was in 1765, in wlilch a Declaration of Eights was published, but nothing further was done. The first suggestion of an independent movement was made in 1774, and the first Con- tinental Congress was lield in Philadelphia in Sep- tember of that year ; and in October following a Declaration of Rights appeared, in which nat- ural rlMits were considered to some extent, and representation in their colonial government de- manded, and a protest against certain usurpations. The result was expressed in the following words : " 1. To enter into a non-importation, non-con- sumption, and non-exportation agreement or as- sociation. " 2. To prepare an address to the people of THE STRUGGLE FOR LIBERTY. 35 Great Britain, and a memorial to the inhabitants of British America. " 3. To prepare a loyal address to his Majesty, agreeable to resolutions already entered into." But the stirring events that intervened between that act and July, 1776, prepared the people for that grandest of all Declarations. For sublimity and heroism it transcends anything ever accom- plished by man ; and for the interests involved in humanity no deeds of men approach it. " We hold these truths to be self-evident, thai all men are created equal.'" The necessary condition of equality is justice, and justice among men pre- cludes the necessity of charity, for those only re- quire charity who suffer from injustice. " That they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights." Bold and sacrilegious is the power that deprives them of these rights. Emanating from a divine source, they are them- selves divine, and their deprivation by force or fraud is a crime. " That to secure these rights governments are instituted among men." This is the legitimate object of government. " Deriving its just powers from the consent of the governed." All power derived from other sources is despotism. Consent implies volition, and a government sustained ]fy such power must necessarily be free. 36 THE NEW REPUBLIC. " That whenever any form of government be- comes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it." This is the right of all rights. It protects the people from the odious charge of revolution in any change of government they see fit to make. It is as legitimate to alter or abolish a govern- ment as to enact laws in support of it. "To institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness." By this declaration the right to build up in any form "most likely to affect their safety and happiness is conceded." It ignores all authority outside of the people, and leaves them free at any time to " alter or abolish " and institute a new government. Upon these principles a government was par- tially founded, but in the pressure of events and the condition, of the country, it was for a time left incomplete. Sovereignty is an essential condi- tion of complete unity. In 1777, the Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation. It was a compact of States ; it was not national. It served, however, to tide over the struggle and set the people upon an independent basis. It was required to exer- THE STRUGGLE FOR LIBERTY. 37 else sovereign functions of ti national cliaracter. It was not endowed with that sovereignty. It needed completing, and had it been clothed with national sovereignty, the inestimable blessings of free government would have been secured to the American people, just as these principles were, as ratified in 1778. In the Articles of Confederation the States were reo-arded as beino; endowed with absolute sov- ereignty, and the Confederation as an agreement to '' be inviolably observed by every State." A government that extends its jurisdiction over the whole in all matters which concern the interest of the whole, or which relates to intercourse with other powers with which it is connected, must pos- sess sovereignty over the acts it is required to pei'form and the interests it is required to pro- tect. This defect in the then existing form of fjovernment led to a call for a revision and amend- ment of the Articles of Confederation, the his- tory of which will be presented in the next chap- ter. Thus the struggle for liberty ended in a brief but brilliant victory. Its fruit, which promised to nourish the famishing millions, was turned to bitter ashes, Avhich only impoverishes by its hol- low pretensions. While liberty itself is lost,' the name remains, 280115 38 THE NEW REPUBLIC. and since its blessings have never been felt by this generation, its value is notestiinatctl. Inces- sant toil and privation stultify the mental powers and impoverish the spirit. A condition that requires the whole time and energy to procure the necessary means of sub- sistence defeats the very purposes for which life is given. The true purpose of life is to develop and cid- tlvate to their highest capacity all the powers and attributes of body and mind, thus rounding out the individual to full and harmonious propor- tions ; but this is impossible under existing con- ditions, because the wliole energies are exhausted in procuring a bare subsistence. This condition is virtually slavery — a condition incompatible with the purposes of life and the happiness of mankind. The attainment of liberty which involves the reconstruction of government is the work of the people, Avithout which life and the pursuit of happiness are but idle dreams. THE FEDERAL COXSTITUTIOX. 39 CHAPTER IV. HISTORY OF THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION, AND AN ACCOUNT OF THE LEADING MEN WHO ADVOCATED AND WHO OPPOSED IT. " God of mercy ! must this last ? Is this land preordaiusd For the present, as in the past, And the future, to be chained ; To be ravaged, to be drained, To be robbed, to be spoiled, To be hushed, to be whipped, Its soaring pinions to be clipped, And its every effort foiled ? " There has been no period in the history of the world in which popidar government was so nearly in the balance as in 1787, when the Federal Constitution was framed and adopted by the convention in old " Liberty Hall." Long years of struggle for liberty, with vary- ing success, had prepared the friends of freedom throughout the world for a determined resist- ance to the encroachments of usurped rights, and strike a blow that would effectually destro3' its power on American soil, and give civil liberty an abiding place for all time to tome. Only in their possession for a brief period, and 40 THE NEW REPUBLIC. before the plan for preserving it could be ma- tured, the " eternal vigilance " so strenuously urged by its master spirit Avas relaxed, and the oj)portune moment was seized by the supporters of aristocratic government, who decided the fate of that memorable struggle, until tlie accumu- lating evils of vested powers in giant corpora- tions will drive the people to another revolution, unless the wisdom and resolution of the present generation shall, by peaceful means, avert so terrible a calamity. In 1777 the Continental Congress agreed upon the Articles of Confederation to secure a united resistance to the measures of Great Britain in holding the colonies in subjection to her control. In the excitement of war — and during its darkest period for the colonies — these Articles were framed and agreed to ; but Avhen the war was over, and the busy pursuits of industry super- vened, the vigilant activity and artful schemes for aristocratic rule succeeded in substituting in- stead a system of government beyond the power of the people to control. Among the leading men of this period and for this work was Alexander Hamilton, ambitious, active, energetic, talented, and brave, and fully imbued with the spirit of aristocratic supremacy, and without any faith in the people's capacity for self-sTOvernment. THE FEDEr.AL CONSTITUTION. 41 At the close of the war lie entered into politics and became the acknowledged leader of the Fed- eralist, or aristocratic, l)arty, the basic proposi- tion of which is tiiat " in all civilized countries the peo^jle are naturally divided into two classes : the one, the few, the rich, the well-born ; the other, the many, the poor, the laboring masses." [This passage is approvingly quoted by Garfield, and credited to Hamilton. ] It will be remembered that deputies were sent to Annapolis in 1786 to revise the Articles of Confederation. Mr. Hamilton was a deputy from New York, and drafted an address to the State, which led to the convention by which the Federal Constitution was framed. " The prevailing ])arty in the New York legisla- ture was little inclined to any inaterial increase of authority of the Federal (ioverninent. Hamilton was appointed one of tlie delegates to that conven- tion to revise the Articles of Confederation, which met at Philadelphia in the following May. He had, however, two colleagues, who together controlled the vote of the State, of decidedly opposite opinions." — A^nerican Cyclopedia. Two projects were brought forward in that body : one known as the Virginia plan, wdiich contemplated the functions of a national govern- ment, with a legislative, executive, and judiciary of its own. 42 THE XEAV REPUBLIC. Edmund Randolph of Virginia Introduced a bill early in the proceedings of the convention, providing for a national government, but it under- went so many changes by amendment that he refused to support It, and finally, not only voted against the Constitution on its final passage, but used all his influence to jirevent Its ratification in his ow^n State. This resolution gave rise to what is known as the Virginia plan. Mr. Paterson of New Jersey Introduced a res- olution likewise, which had in contemplation the revision of the existing Articles of Confederation. His resolution having been rejected, Mr. Ran- dolph's resolution, which had lost its original character by amendments, finally grew into the present Constitution of the United States. " Mr. Hamilton set himself earnestly to work to incorporate his views of government into the organic law of the nation. As between the two plans above i-eferred to, he strongly advocated the former, and sought to make it as strong as pos- sible. His scheme included an Assembly to be elected by the people for three years ; a Senate to be chosen by electors, to be chosen by the people, to hold office during good behavior; and a Gov- ernor chosen also for good behavior, by a similar but most complicated process. The Governor was to have an absolute negative on all laws, and the appointment of all officers, subject to the approval of the Senate. The Governors of the States were to be appointed by the General Government, and THE FEDERAL COXSTITUTIOX. 43 * were to have a negative on all state laws. The jiower of declaring war and ratifying treaties was to be vested in the Senate. He insisted in establishing a national government so powerful and influential as to create an interest in its support, extensive and strong enough to counterbalance the state gov- ernments and reduce them to subordinate impor- tance." — American Ci/clojyedut. In tliis scheme we recognize many important features o£ the existing Constituticwi, especially in creating a Senate and the manner of choosing it ; in tiie Executive, and the mode of his elec- tion, his veto i)0vver, and many other features calculated to give strength to the Federal Gov- ernment, as the immense patronr»ge granted to officials and the control and disposition of pub- lic domain by Congress and the power vested in that body to create charters for individual enterprises whereby capital is amassed in the liands of the few to control the industrial inter- ests of the people. These, with other vested powers, separate the people from the government, and give it a power beyond their control. This is virtually a surrender of popular government into the hands of usurpers. The " self-evident. truths " enunciated in tlie Declaration of Independence, which fired the hearts of the patriots, were Ignored and set aside, and a scheme opposite in its tendency adopted in 44 THE NEW KEPUBLIC, tluxt convention; and liberty, wliicli had so re- cently won a brilliant victory on the field of bat- tle, suffered an ignominious defeat in the attempt to secure its blessings for all coming time by the incorporation of its principles into a popular gov- ernment. Upon the adjournment of the convention, Ham- ilton addressed himself with all his energies to secure its aitloption ; and soon there appeared a series of articles in a New York journal entitled "Federalist," in •u])port of the new Constitution, and against the various objections in opposition to it. These articles reached the number of sixty-five, and exerted a strong influence on the scheme of government embraced in the Federal Constitution. Under its provisions, he had the opportunity, at the head of Washington's first cabinet, to set In operation his favorite schemes of government. Among these were banks of Issue, with which he had been connected many years. He Immedi- ately went to work to fund the national debt and establish a United States bank. "Both the funding system and th6 bank were denounced 'as instruments of corruption, danger- ous in the highest degree to the liberties of the people, and Hamilton as designing, by their means, to introduce aristocracy and monarchy.' " — Amer- ican Cyclopedia. THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTIOX. 45 He charged these attacks upon Jefferson, and urged the hiconsistency of his hoklhig a phicc in the administration which lie assailed. Jefferson, on finding Hamilton's influence in Washington's cabinet predominant, retired from it. James Madison was a strong and active Fed- eralist at the time of the adoption of the Federal Constitution, and was in favor of vesting Congress with a power to exercise a negative in all cases whatever on the legislative acts of the States, "as heretofore exercised by the kingly prerogative." He was a strong advocate for the ratification of the Constitution, and joined Hamilton in the authorship of the series of articles entitled " Fed- eralist." But in 1792, while a member of Con- gress, he changed his views, and became the avowed leader of the Republicans ; and in 1798 drew up the resolutions for Virginia, as Jeffer- son had for Kentucky in the same year, to coun- teract the tendency of the alien and sediticion laws passed in Adams's administration, known as the " Kentucky Resolutions." Robert Morris was a man of great wealth and a stanch Federalist. When the first vote was taken on the Declaration of Independence, he voted against it (July 1, 1776), and on its adoption he refused to vote, urging that it was premature. He afterward contributed largely 46 THE NEAV REPUBLIC. to the support of the war; at one time Issuing his notes to a large amount, whicli, however, was all paid. He warmly supported liamllton in his views of government, and worked for the Consti- tution in the convention, and for its ratification in his own State. John Eutledge and tlie two Pinckneys of South Carolina were active and influential Fed- eralists, so were Governeur Morris and Roger Sherman, who were all members of the Constitu- tional Convention, and seemed to realize the ne- cessity of withholding the control of the govern- ment from the hands of the people. It is important in this connection to say that these men were as much Interested in the separa- tion of the colonies from the home government as any engaged in the struggle. During that struuffle there were three classes of men who felt a deep interest in its outcome. First, the pa- triots, with the spirit of liberty glowing in their breast, cheerfully and hopefully endured hard- ships, and made sacrifices, deeming nothing too costly in exchange for liberty. Second, a class of ambitious men fully imbued with aristocratic ideas, regarding the English theory of govern- ment as the nearest to perfection, and the great mass of the people as incapable of self-govern- ment ; that " the few, the rich, the well-born," must THE FEDERAL COXSTITUTIOX. 47 rule " the many, the poor, the hxboring masses." The third were tlie tory chiss, who sympathized with the English side of the struggle, and secretly aided them all in their power. Their political views were of course like the second class ; and when England acknowledged the independence of the States, they accepted the situation and united their fortunes with that class then known as the Federalist party. They realized the im- portance of the issue, and determined — no doubt with honest intentions — to secure the fruits of the separation by assuming the i-eins of govern- ment, thereby practically ignoring the rights of the people. In opposition to the Federalists, who contended for a government with power so vested as to be beyond the reach of the people, were the patriots, of whom Thomas Jefferson was the true type and avowed leader, reduced to a minority in the con- vention by the united influence and wealth of the Federalists and Tories. The majority proceeded to set aside the Arti- cles of Confederation which they had been called together to revise, and seizing the golden oppor- tunity, with closed doors and secret sessions, after four months' of stormy and angry debate, brought forth the body of the Federal Constitu- tion Cthe first seven articles), and in the latter 48 THE NEW REPUBLIC. p;u-t of the year 1787 submitted it to tlic States for ratification. In connection with this [)eriod, tlie following account of Mr. Jefferson's character, as fur- nished by the American Cyclopedia, is here pre- sented : " The character of Mr. Jefferson as a man and a statesman is easily deduced from the events attend- ing his career. lie was an original thinker in every department of human concern, and essentially a reformer. In this will be found the exj^lanation of his life. He had no respect for claims of I'ight founded only upon prescription, and attached no de- cisive weight to authority. In the General Assembly under the Commonwealth, he attached the time- honored system of aristocratic and religious intoler- ance as in open conflict with natural right, and for that reason wrongful, however fully acquiesced in and respected by preceding generations. This want of reverence for king, parliament, and aristocracy accompanied him to the cabinet, and dictated his opposition to England. " He carried everything to the test of abstract rea- son into matters of religion. Discarding faith as unphilosophical, he became an infidel ; thus present- ing the remarkable spectacle of a man of powerful mind and amiable disposition deeply venerating the moral character of the Saviour of the world, but refusing belief in his divine mission. " In politics, Jefferson, from native bent of intel- lect, was the opponent to strong government, and always maintained that the world was governed too much. He was in favor of the free development of the exercise of human power, so far as was consist- THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION. 49 ent with the good ordor of society, and a jealous advocate of individualism. This fact colored and shaped his whole political theory. The strength of his convictions is obvious in the nature of the changes wliich he made in Virginia law, in regard to which he says : ' I considered four of these bills, passed or reported, as forming a system by which t'very fiber would be eradicated of an ancient or fu- ture aristocracy The repeal of the laws of entail would prevent the accumulation and perpet- uation of wealth in select families. The abolition of primogeniture and the equal partition of inher- itances removed the feudal and unnatural distinc- tions which made one member of the family rich and all the rest poor. The restoration of the rights of conscience relieved the 2)eople of taxation for the support of a religion not theirs, for the eEtablish- ment was truly the religion of the rich.' From the prevailing character of Virginia society at that period, no measures could have been more revolu- tionary. " His aim was to overthrow the old domination of the ruling classes and raise the people. He car- ried the same principle to the study of the federal compact. Once convinced that the States-rights doctrine of restriction was the true theory of gov- ernment, he fought for it with persistent energy. Thus commenced on the threshold of his entrance into the cabinet the long struggle against Hamil- ton, the Federal champion. ' The party which sup- ported the Federal Constitution,' said Jefferson, ' was aristocratic and monarchical, desirous to draw over us the substance as they have already drawn the forms of the British government.' .... " In social life he faithfully carried out his demo- cratic i^rinciples. Born in a class which then en- 60 THE NEW REPUBLIC. joyed a prestige and authority resembling that of the higher castes of India, ho discarded every ad- vantage which his birthright gave liim, and mingled familiarly with the common people, as their equal, and no more He was naturally a democrat, and held as a radical doctrine that one man is no more than another — or rather, deserves no higher i:)rivileges. " He was opposed to the forms and ceremonies that characterized his pi'edecessors in office, and abol- ished them to a very gi-eat extent, and aimed to do his work in a common-sense way and without osten- tation. A committee had usually been appointed to infoi'ra the President of his election ; but Jeffer- son declared it was more in consonance with the simplicity of rej^ublican institutions to communicate the intelligence through the common post-office. .... Pie was regarded as the epitome and incarna- tion of democracy as opposed to the old world of aristocracy. In the j^lain, good-humored man whom all might approach, clad in every-day garments, and scarcely distinguishable from an honest yeo- man, the masses discovered a delightful contrast to the powdered and stately 'nabobs' of the past " In his retirement, Jefferson was as powerful as in office. His hand was often felt as decisively, and his opinions, instilled into active minds holding high i^ositions, became not seldom the ruling influ- ences in public affairs " On the question of slavery, which arose two or three times during his career, his views are well known. He regarded the institution as a moral and political evil : as a moral evil because it was re- pugnant to his cherished convictions of the equal rights of man ; and as a political evil from the as- sistance it offered to the old feudal svstem of aris- THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION, 51 tocracy wliicli be opposed ; and would most gladly have abolished the institution. " He said that the people would remain virtuous as long as agriculture is the principal pursuit, which will be the case while there remain vacant lands in America, ' When we get lulled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become cor- rupt as in Europe, and go to eating one another as they do there.' , , , , He was a tender husband and father, a warm friend and delightful host." — American Cyclopedia, loc. cit. Had Mr. Jefferson, who was then in Paris as Minister to France, been a member of that con- vention, there is no doubt but that it would have been materially changed. It is to be sincerely regretted that at this important juncture in our national affairs his commanding influence could not have been brougiit to bear, and his acknowl- edged ability exerted at a time and on an occasion the most needed, Edmund Randolph, with a view of remedy- ing the defects of the Articles of Confederation, early in the session introduced a resolution con- templating a plan for a national government clothed with the necessary sovereign functions ; but by " amendments " it was soon transformed into an instrument that he not only relinquished, but combated with all his energy, not only in the convention, but in its ratification by his own State. George Mason took an active part in the con- 52 THE NEW REPUI5LIC. ventlon, and always upon the llbei'al and demo- cratic side. He maintained that no republican government could stand without the confidence of the people, and that confidence could only be secured by a direct election by the people. In this manner he favored tlie election of the Presi- dent, and for one term only. "He opj>osed the proposition to require a prop- erty qualification from voters, and spoke with great enex-gy against the clause in the Constitution whiuh prohibited the abolition of the slave trade till 1808, declaring that slave? y was a source of national weakness and demoralization, and it was therefore essential that the General Government should have power to prevent its increase. In some of his attempts to render tlie Constitution more demo- cratic, Mr. Mason was defeated in the conven- tion, and when that instrument was completed he refused to sign it, declaring his apprehensions that it would result in monarchy or tyrannical aristocracy. He was especially dissatisfied witli the extended and indefinite powers conferred on Congress and the Executive." — American Cyclope- dia^ loc. cit. Subsequent experience has shown the sagacity and foresight of this eminent statesman, for we surely have a " tyrannical aristocracy." George Wythe joined his colleague in his efforts to defeat the encroachments of aristocratic ideas, and to support popular government. Elbridoe Gerry of Massachusetts united his THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTIOX. 53 powers with the little band of Patriots to resist aristocratic rule, and if possible to secure the blessinors of a free n;overnment. He was untir- ing in his zeal and devotion, and gave to the cause all the energies of his soul. Jonx Lansing and Robert Yates of New York worked and voted against the Federal Con- stitution, and when it came before their State for ratification, they were found still contending for the people's rights. It is only necessary to mention the names of the remaining number of delegates who took part in the proceedings of the convention but refused to sign it. They were Caleb Stroxg, Oliver Elsavortii, "William C. Houston, John F. Mercer, Luther Martin, James McClurg, Alexander Martin, William R. Davie, William Pierce, and William Hous- ton. The names of these sixteen illustrious men will serve as a protest to all coming gener- ations against the overthrow of popular govern- ment by substituting an organic law which, in the language of Jefferson, " was aristocratic and monarchical, desirous to draw over us the sub- stance as they have the forms of the British Government." The power emanating from the people is vested in such a manner as to be beyond their control, 64 THE NEW REPUBLIC. because the majority of that convention had no faith in the people, and were determined not to trust them. The Constitution, which only assures the name of a republic, is made the instrument by which the people are held in bondage. The cause which inspired a heroic people, involving the dearest and most sacred rights of humanity, was defeated in the formation and adoption of the Federal Constitution. The scenes of sanguinai-y strife, of suffering and sacrifice, must be re-enacted on a still grander scale ere the battle for freedom is won, unless the power of right wielded by the potency of justice is evoked for a peaceful and enduring victory. We will close this brief account of this mem- orable and important struggle for a popular gov- ernment, which resulted in a defeat of the people, in the language of a prominent American histo- rian : « On the 17th of September, 1787, the grand ques- tion finally came up for discussion. The Constitu- tion was then signed by thirty-nine of the fifty-five members. It was next submitted to Congress, and by them submitted to the State legislatures, who were invited to call conventions to take it into con- sideration. The stipulation was, that it should come into operation as soon as nine States ratified it ; but this was a matter of considerable difficulty. "In 1787, it was adopted in conventions unani- THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTIOX. 55 raously by Georgia, New Jersey, and Delaware, and by large majorities in Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Maryland, and South Carolina. Two, however, were still wanting before it could be acted on ; hence, the Massachusetts convention, which met in the beginning of 1788, was viewed with intense in- terest. Its fate there appeared doubtful from local feelings and discontents. Hancock, who had been so conspicuous through the Revolution, strenuously opposed it without the admission of certain pro- posed amendments, by which State rights might be more fully guarded. It was supported by Fisher Ames [a prominent Federalist], and finally carried by the small majority of nine out of three hundred and fifty-five votes. "In Xew Hampshire, the greater number of dele- gates came instructed to vote against it, but after an adjournment a majority of eleven was at last procured. "The requisite number of nine States had thus been obtained, yet there were still wanting the im- portant States of Virginia, New York, and North Carolina, without which it could scarcely be brought into action. In the first, the contest was long and fervid, and the displays of oratory are said to have been greater than any ever yet made in America. Madison, who at that time was a Feder- alist, took the lead in support of the measure ; while Patrick Henry assailed it with eloquence almost un- rivaled. He denounced it as a revolution more rad- ical than that which had separated America from Britain. The convention had been delegated solely to amend the old federation, instead of which they had brought forward a great consolidated govern- ment, vesting in it the whole prerogatives, and leaving to the States merely the pooi'-laws, roads, 56 THE NEW RErUBLlC. bridges, and other trilling concerns. In the warmth of debate he seemed to threaten resistance if the motion were carried ; yet at last declared tliat even then he would remain a peaceful citizen, only de- voting his head, his hand, and his heart to obtain redress in a constitutional manner. The measure was finally carried by a vote of eighty-eight to eighty. "New York, thus left nearly alone, could only persevere at the cost of throwing herself entirely out of tlie Union. Yet though the measure was supported by Jay, Hamilton, and Livingston, states- men of the highest character, it was carried only with a majority of five, and with the demand for the most extensive amendments." Within a year from the time the old Congress declared the Constitution ratified and in force, ten amendments were added; nine of which are for the protection of personal liberty, and the tentli specifies the limit of federal powers, and guaran- tees all power not delegated by the Constitution as belonging " to the States respectively, or to the people." The observant reader of the early history of our o-overnment will notice the sentiment of the leading statesmen in regard to the question of slavery. Thomas Jefferson introduced a bill in the Vir- ginia legislature to abolish slavery in that State, which was lost by a single vote, and in Congress he introduced a measure looking to final emanci- pation In 1800. THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTIOX. 57 Mr. Mason's views have already been noticed, and tlie feeling among the Republicans and some of the Federalists was in favor of manumission. But slavery was incorporated into the Consti- tution, and became a part of the government, with results calamitous beyond language to ex- press or human thought to conceive. " The Civil War placed the people in the condition out of which it took the slave, and transferred their masters from the Southern plantations to the factory pens, machine-shops, mining pits, and farms of the whole country. The war was the result of constitutional pro- visions, but the cause of it was removed by vio- lating them. It makes no provisions against secession, and the first advocates of it were the Federalists of New England. As early as 1811, Josiah Quincy of Massachusetts declared that if Louisiana was admitted with slavery, it would be good cause for the Northern States to with- draw from the Union. Mr. Poindexter of Lou- isiana called him to order, and demanded his language to be put in writing, which was done. The Speaker sustained the point of order, and Mr. Quincy appealed to the House, and upon a vote being taken the Speaker was overruled — thus showing the sentiment in the House of Rep- resentatives at that time to be in favor of secession. 4* 68 THE NEW REPUBLIC. The sole object of the Hartford Convention, held by the New England Federalists, was to take measures for secession, on account of the obstructions to their commerce by the necessities of war by a Republican administration. It is by powers vested in the Constitution that the curse of' corporate rule has corrupted tlic pub- lic service, and " established dominion over mon- ey, over transportation, over invention, and over land and labor." The control given to monopolies by its author- ity or permission will grow still stronger; and the liberties of the people are becoming, day by day, less possible. It is the instrument of tyran- ny and oppression, and by its provisions the ma- chinery of government is made to rob, plunder, impoverish, and enslave, instead of regulating the rights of the people and protecting them in their free exercise. The facts of this history are well summed up in the following propositions by L. A. Fisher of Morris, 111. In a letter to the author, he says : "If I read your circular correctly, your object is to educate the people of this country in the funda- mental facts of national reform guaranteed to the American people in that compact of Union, with reference to a restoration of the nation to its origi- nal republican base. If I mistake not the spirit of yonr field of labor, it comprises the following jjrop- ositions : THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTIOX. 59 " 1. That the common blessings of Divine Provi- dence are the indisputable equal right of all men and women to enjoy. '• 2. That the tlenial of this right by the Crown of Great Britain constituted the main points of the struggle between the mother country and the colo- nists. " 3. That in the midst of this struggle, termed the Revolution, the thirteen colonies found that to carry on the war successfully it was indispensable that they unite in one body and work under one head. " 4. That such confederation was effected on the 4th of July, 1776, on terms of agreement set forth in an arranged compact, and witnessed by the auto- graph signatures of the contracting parties. "5. That said act of confederation was to be perpetual, and form a nationality and government in keeping with the terms of this confederation, which guaranteed to every American citizen an equal and undisputed share in all of nature's boun- ties, regarded as 'endowments of the Creator.' " 6. That to accomplish the ends of this compact they saw no alternative but to cut loose from the parent stock and set up for themselves ; and as a matter of necessity this determination Avas made part of the contract. " 7. That such confederation should be regarded as perpetual, and was so intended, stii)ulated, and specified, so long as the terms of confederation were sacredly regarded, forming a corporate national base under tlie title of ' The United States of North America,' and at the time assuming all the powers, rights, and immunities of nationality, and were so regarded by the nations of Europe. " 8. That the terms of said compact minutely and 60 THE NEW REPUBLIC. definitely specify that the administration of the re- sultant executive department of said nationality shall be in strict unison with the charter stipula- tions aforesaid, and that any deviation from the spirit or letter of said guaranties shall nullify the contract at the option of the aggrieved party. " 9. That as a matter of course the executive de- tails of government were to be instituted in the usual manner, through representative legislative action. When within one year, 1777, such effort was made under the disturbed state of the country, in the presence of an overpowering foreign enemy and a large influential tory class of their own citi- zens, in their midst in full sympathy with the enemy and totally opjiosed to the independent national action already taken, it is not strange that the first attemi:)t to institute the executive details of govern- ment should prove a failure. " 10. And further, if I read your programme cor- rectly, your object is to enlighten the people on the crookedness of the administration after peace was established with England. That a convention was soon called at Philadelphia, ostensibly to amend the first attempt at framing a constitution. At Avhich time the soldiery were returned to society, and bus- ily engaged with the people in the arts of peace, in restoring the waste of an eight years' war, the aris- tocratic and tory class were left to manage the details of government to suit their OAvn tory ijrocliv- ities; and that they stealthily conceived the expert scheme of reversing the patriot ardor as to nullify all the essential points for which the rebellion was inaugurated, except the mere fact of independence, and thereby secure all of those royal prerogatives inherited from the British Crown. This tory class found it convenient at this time to sufficiently pack THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION. 61 tne convention with their own ordei*, to carry its deliberations, "11. That to this end, when met, their first act was to form themselves into a secret conclave, knowing that if their attempts to change the na- tional base from a republic to a mere constitu- tional government should get to the ears of the busy i^atriots, their scheme would not carry. Hence, the fifth rule in the order of business was, ' That nothing said or done in this convention should be communicated outside.' This done, the tory ele- ment prevailing, the attempt at revision was no longer thought of ; and, ignoring all previous action of a national character, they went to work as though the United States had no previous existence, and they had met to give it birth and executive being. " 12. That after four months of secret delibera- tion, our present Constitution was formed — except the amendments — and brought forward for the pop- ular patronage. The result has proved that this tory convention understood their purpose, and were adroit manipulators in changing the order of na- tionality and government, that not a vestige of the original republic now remains." 62 THE NEW KEPUI3LIC. CHAPTER V. THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION ANI> THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION. " With ti'eacherous art aud traitor hand Ambitious tyrants rule the laud." All things useful are liable to abuse ; the evils of abuse are commensurate with the benefits of their use. The benefits secured by good govern- ment are only measured by the evils of bad gov- ernment. How much of the one we may enjoy, or of the other we may suffer, will depend on the degree of wisdom the people bring to bear in their political affairs. The experience of a hun- dred years ought to lead to certain success. In former ages rulers sought power by force of arms and intrigues of courts ; but the arts of modern diplomacy, " bossism," lobby ism, and judicial legerdemain have superseded the old methods with an improvement that does credit to the new school of politicians. Our patriot fathers gave us the Declaration of Independence, and in it set forth the principles of a true republic. The Articles of Confedera- tion gave us, for a brief period and in an imper- THE ARTICLES OE CONEEDEllATIOX. 08 feet manner, ii republican form of government. They gave us the name, United States of America, under the form of a compact govern- ment. Eacli State retained its sovereignty. AH bodies, individual and political, must exercise sov- ereignty within their own spheres, for upon it unity depends. Local jurisdictions are sovereign in their local affairs. So are county and state. The Articles of Confederation did not confer national sovereignty in the exercise of those func- tions most essential to nation:d unity and inde- pendence. The Confederation was a league of friendship and for common defense, without recognizing the necessity for a sovereign power to be exercised in their common interests and for their common good. A few years' experience showed the defects ; the results of an attempt to remedy them have already been shown. These Articles entitled the citizens of any State " to all the privileges and ima)unities of free citizens in the several States," and the privi- leges of trade and commerce, " subject to the same duties, impositions, and restrictions as the inhabitants thereof respectively," and " the right of requisition in case of fugitives." The delco-ates " in Congress assembled " were sent annually by the several States, not less than G4 THE NEW REPUBLIC. two nor more than seven, " with a power reserved to each State to recall its delegates or any of them at any time within the year, and send others in their stead for the remainder of the year." No person was capable ^f being a delegate for more than three years in any term of six years. Each State was to maintain its own delegates in every meeting of the States. Freedom of speech and debate was guaranteed while in the discharge of their official duties, and adequate protection to their persons. These provisions are in accordance with the true principles of republican government. Repre- sentation in the national legislative body is prop- erly limited and regulated. The reservation of power to recall public servants and send others in their stead is most salutary and important. It is an essential provision, based on the right of the employer to hold his employee responsible. Another provision is made by which the dele- gates are maintained by their resjDCCtive States. The compensation of officers should be deter- mined by the people, and specified in the Con- stitution of their government — an oversight, not one of the least of the defects of the federal organic law. Power is delegated to be exercised for the THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION. 65 people's benefit, and should at all times be under their supervision and control, and returned at stated periods to the people, by the expiration of the term of office. All the foi'ces in nature move in cycles. The seasons come and go ; the mists from the ocean's bosom are lifted by atmospheric pressure, and wafted by the winds to the mountains summits. They return in rivulets and streams to the soui'ce from whence they came, fertilizing the soil and beautifying the face of nature. So of moral, social, and political forces in their rounds, peaceful, quiet, free. In a well-regu- lated government, with the expiration of the term (if office the power delegated flows back to the people ; but when no provision is made for such return, and power is suffered to be vested, retained, and exercised for the benefit of a privi- leged class, its return is sure, nevertheless. It is only delayed, yet when it comes, like the escape of pent-up waters, it brings violence and dt Hruc- tion in its course. , Revolution is the natural order of things, hoih in the domain of the material and moral world, and the law is alike in both. The normal con- dition is FREEDOM. All obstructions and inter- ruptions produce violence alike in both. Com- mon sense and experience would dictate measures 66 THE NEW REPUBLIC. for the peaceful return of power delegated to the [)eople's representatives ; for it will come, peace- fully if the people are wise; otherwise, inspired by the most malignant passions, it will come by the torch and the bayonet. Provisions were made in the Articles of Con- federation for mutual defense, and forbidding alliances of the States in their sovereignty with foreign powers ; for organizing land forces by the States, reserving to them the right to appoint all officers below the rank of colonel. All charges of war and other expenses for common defense were to be defrayed out of the common treasury, " which shall be supplied by the sev- eral States in the proportion of all land within each State granted to or surveyed for any per- son, and such land and the buildings and improve- ments thereon shall be estimated according to such mode as the United States in Congress assembled shall from time to time direct and appoint." The taxes for paying that propor- tion was to be laid and levied by the author- ity and direction of the legislatures of the sev- eral States within the time agreed upon by the United States in Congress assembled. Provisions for regulating all international mat- ters, granting letters of marque and reprisal in times of peace, appointing courts for receiving THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDEKATIOX. 67 and determining final appeals in all cases of cap- tures ; and also the last resort on appeal in all disputes and differences between States in regard to boundaries, " or an}' other cause whatever," prescribing the method, which was by arbitra- tion. " The United States in Congress assembled shall also have the sole and exclusive right and power of regulating the alloy and value of coin ^ struck by their own authority or that of the respective States," and " to emit bills of credit."' Subsequent experience has shown that liad Con- gress issued its notes with the promise to receive them in payment of all government dues, instead of a promise to pay in silver coin for public ser- vice, they would have remained at par with such coin as long as the government existed. In 1811 such notes wei'C issued which maintained their value with gold and silver, based on their legal tender for public due? only, notwithstanding all the efforts of the bankers and money-dealers to drive them out of circulation. And all subse- quent issues of that character have maintained a par value, with one slight exception. Had such provision been made no financial difficulties would have arisen. The pressure that moved to the call of a convention for a I'cvision of the Articles of Confederation arose from this 68 THE NLW REniBLIC. deficiency, and no doubt would have been reme- died, had the Republican party been successful in securing a majority of delegates of their party to that convention. Indeed, Edmund Randolph, a strong and uncompromising Republican, moved for national sovereignty by which such measures could be carried out; but, as has been seen his plans were defeated. The Articles of Confederation provided for the appointment by Congress of ''one of their num- ber to preside, provided that no person be al- lowed to serve in the office of President more than one year in any term of three years," and to adjourn from place to place. Congress, un- der the Articles, was only a deliberative body, charged with certain specified functions, dele- gated by the States for their safety and welfare. Every State was pledged "to abide by the de- terminations of the United States in Congress assembled, which by this Confederation are sub- mitted to them. And the Articles of Confeder- ation " shall be inviolably observed by every State, and the Union shall he perpetual: " And we do further solemnly plight and en- gage the faith of our respective constituents, that they shall abide by the determinations in Congress assembled on all questions which by the said Confederation are submitted to them, and that THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION. 69 the Articles thereof shall be inviolably observed by the States we res2)ectively represent, and that the Union shall be perpetual." Thus, the first effort for the realization of the aspirations and long-cherished hopes of the op- ])ressed of every land was made on American soil. This immortal document was signed by forty- eight members of the old Continental Congress, on the 9th day of July, 1778, without a dissent- ing voice; among whom were the most active, daring, and uncompromising of the patriot he- roes of the Revolution ; while only thirty-nine of the fifty-five signed the Federal Constitution, and sixteen opposed it. Only three of the signers of the Declaration signed the Constitution — one of whom, Benjamin Franklin, did so under protest ; Avhile sixteen of them signed the Articles of Confederation. Had the Articles of Confederation been so amended as to have consolidated their power by conferring sovereignty upon the United States, with provisions for carrying out republican prin- ciples, no one could tell what the results would have been. No United States bank would have been established on the English system of specie basis, which, once getting a foothold, has enabled the bankers to control the finances of the coun- try. 70 THE NEW REPUBLIC. No land tenures by wliicli the national domain is being rapidly absorbed for S2)eculation and mo- nopoly, thus reducing the people to a condition of tenantry ; no legislative system by which an aristocratic Senate tJiwarts the people's will, and secures class legislation for the favored few ; no scheming devices by which law has become the tyrant instead of the protector. No executive system vesting in its chief offi- cer a power gi'eater than that of the English monarch ; with an army of supporters a hundred thousand strong — a power wholly beyond the control of the people, and utterly indifferent to their welfare. No judiciary system borrowed from Great Britain, with its hot-bed of corruption ; its intri- cate, costly, dilatory, and uncertain administra- tion of law, to say nothing of justice, with its vast army of trained and skilled professionals. Whatever judiciary system would have been adopted, it certainly would not have been one originating in the feudal ages to serve the pur- poses of monarchy, but no doubt would have been one subject to modification and control by the people. No monopolies with their blighting effects on industry ; creating poverty, degradation, and crime ; despotism, avaricious, unscrupulous, am- THE ARTICLES OF COXFEDERATIOX. 71 bitious, and relentless, by which capital is fostered and protected and labor debased and despoiled. These were never contemplated, nor even dreamed of, as the outcome of that memorable struggle for independence and freedom ; but were the very i*esults they strove so hard to prevent. That struggle must be renewed. Happily, we have the ballot yet, and this must be the instru- mentality by which our independence and liberty are to be gained. In contrast Avith the form and spirit of the Articles of Confederation, a review of the Fed- eral Constitution is presented. The burden of effort by "eminent constitutional lawyers," as Judge Story, Daniel Webster, and others, has been to make it conform to " common law " ; but so many-sided, complicated, and j^rofoundly intri- cate are the subtleties that the o-reatest g-enius of any age or country is unable to cope with them, and we have questions of " constitutional law " that will remain forever unsettled. A constitution that requires the talent of a Webster to interpret is not suitable for the peo- ple, for a thorough comprehension of the funda- mental principles that enter into the structure of a popular government is essential to such gov- ernment, and were no other objection open to it, that alone would condemn it. But aside from 72 THE ^'EW KEPUBLIC. this, there arc many other serious and fatalones. The most important are here enumerated. It vests powers in the various governmental departments beyond the reach and control of the people, thus changing the form of government to a constitutional aristocracy. Ambitious and designing men seek positions at the heads of these departments, and thus exercise the func- tions of government in their own interest and for their sole benefit. It complicates the legislative system by creat- ing a senatorial branch, and rendering the elec- tion of Senators impossible by a popular vote. There can be no advantage in two distinct branches of one body. " The objections against two Houses are, first, that there is an inconsistency in any part of a whole legislature coming to a final determination by a vote on any matter whilst that witter Avith re- spect to that lohole is yet only in train of delibera- tion, and consequently open to new illustrations. Second, that by taking a vote on each as a separate body, it always admits of the possibility, and is often the case in practice, that the minority governs the majority, and that in some instances to a great de- gree of inconsistency. Third, two Houses arbitrarily checking or controlling each other is inconsistent, because it cannot be proved on the principles of just representation that either should be wiser or better than the other. They may check in the wrong as well as in the right, and therefore to give them the THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION. 73 power where we cannot give the wisdom to use it, nor be assured of its being rightly used, renders the liazard at least equal to the protection." — Paine' h Rights of Man. An instance illustratino; Mr. Paine's third ob- jection is found in senatorial interference early in the history of the Civil War. A bill passed the House of Representatives to authorize the Secretary of the Treasury to issue legal-tender notes to defray the expenses of tlie war. Tliat bill was " checked " in the Senate, robbed of its authority to issue such notes, and the result is, untold millions of debt, resulting in robbery and oppression on the one hand, and poverty, debt, crime, and misery on the other. There are ample means for preventing evils in a single legislative body, and provisions for sub- mitting any measure to the people for approval can be easily made. Another serious objection to the senatorial branch is that its powers are employed by the wealthy and aristocratic classes for their special interest and benefit. The following editorial extract from a leading Democratic journal, In commenting on the Cali- fornia (Democratic) legislative proceedings, says : " Speaking generally, the Assembly did much better than the Senate. Its record on vital issues 74 THE NEW REPUBLIC. is good. Had all the bills j^assed by it become laws, the rights of the people would have been better pro- tected. The Senate has been the theater of manip- ulation and evil practices. Useful and essential legislation has in several instances been stifled." It is no uncommon thing to " stifle " useful and essential legislation by senatorial " checks," " manipulations," and " evil j^i'^ctices." In the executive department excessive powers are vested. Beside the military and naval authority vested in the President, and the veto power by which he can render nugatory the action of Congress to the extent reaching a majority of two-thirds lacking one, the appoint- ment of the judges of the United States Su- preme Court and other Federal courts, and all foreign ministers and embassadors, he has the power to appoint a body-guard of one hun- dred thousam' strong, of party supporters, over none of whoni the people have any control. In regard to the third (judicial) department, there is no necessity, on the assumption that the people are capable of self-government. Laws can be so clearly expressed tliat there is no need of supporting a costly institution, with an army of liungry cormorants attached, to explain what may be made plain to any ordinary mind. "If we permit our judgment to act unencum- bered by the habit of multiplied terms, we can per- THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDEllATIOX. 75 ceive no more than two divisions of power of which civil government is composed; namely, that of leg- islating or enacting laws, and that of executing or administering them. Everything, therefore, apper- taining to civil government, classes itself under one or the other of these two divisions. So far as regards the execution of the laws, that which is called judicial power is strictly and properly the executive power of every country. It is that jjower to which any individual has an appeal, and which causes the laws to be executed." — Palae's Mights of Man. In this respect, as in all others, our government is made to conform to that of England, and the inevitable result is a condition of the people in all respects similar — so far as government is con- cerned — to that of England. A like system of land tenures, by which hun- dreds of millions of acres are held by a few, while millions of 2)eople are homeless and struggling in hopeless poverty, with all th \ evils of land monopoly rapidly increasing. A like monetary system, by which the volume of currency is controlled by corporations for their own benefit. A like system of legislation, by wiiich two dis- tinct legislative bodies are created to correspond with the House of Lords and House of Commons, by which legislation for the people is thwarted and schemes for enriching the few at the expense of the many made easy. 76 THE NEW REPUBLIC. A like executive system, by which the powei* is vested in a citizen that magnifies him to the proportions of a monarch. A like judiciary system, that brings with it the accumulation of hundreds of years of reports of decisions which are made to serve as precedents, and complicated and intricate methods of plead- ing, necessitating a class of skilled experts who alone are permitted to be iieard in the pursuit of justice or in defense of wrongs in behalf of their clients. All these are in direct violation of the princi- ples and affirmations as clearly set forth in the Declaration of Independence, and were incorpor- ated in a government formed by the memorable convention held in Philadelphia in 1787, in the name of freedom and popular rights. Its logical results are seen to-day in a govern- ment in the pX'sent order of things, in which land- lords and tenants, millionaires and paupers, pal- aces and hovels, masters and slaves, are rapidly and inevitably increasing, and in which crime, under the guise and protection of law, holds sway over a people robbed, impoverished, and practi- cally disfranchised. POLITICAL PARTIES. 77 CHAPTER VI. HISTORY OF POLITICAL PARTIES IN THE UNITED STATES, AND THE EVILS OF PARTY SPIRIT. " My ear is pained, !My soul is sick with every day's report Of wrong and outrage witli which the land is filled. There is no flesh in man's obdurate heart; It does not feel for man ; the natural bond Of brotherhood is severed as the flax That falls asunder at the touch of fire." It is sufficient for our purpose to date the ori- gin of those causes that in the evtnts of history have culminated in the political ^u«vties of the United States to the Norman invasion. In the eleventh century, William of Normandy crossed the English Channel with an armed force, Overpowered the Saxon mona;^h, and took pos- session of his kingdom. He parceled out the land to his officers, requiring of them allegiance to his crown and military service as compensation therefor. These lands were let for a rental which secured to the landlords an income, -as they were worked by the conquered people, most of whom went with the land. In the course of time the military service was exchanged for contributions in money, with 78 THE NEW RErUBLIC. Avhicli armies were raised and equipped. As events progressed, the nobility — as William's of- ficers and courtiers were called — began to clamor for more rights and privileges, which in the reign of King John were conceded and specified in the Magna Charta. The party under its authority increased in strength and efficiency so as to ef- fectually limit the power of the king. In the mean time, England became a great maritime power, and when enterprises were opened by the discoveries in the western conti- nent, they were largely entered into by Great Britain, by which extensive additions of terri- tory were mr le to her dominions. Especially was this the'^;?r..se along the eastern coast of the Atlantic, emending from the Gulf of Mexico to Newfoundland. Stimulated by the spirit of enterprise, British subjects came over to the col- onies and built u/t< societies, calling into requisi- tion political institutions which became objects of interest to the home government. In a country so distant and possessing such abundant natural resources, the people became more self-reliant, and the love of liberty, which first found expression in religious dissensions in the mother country, blazed afresh amid the free- dom of nature in the New World. The sjiirit of independence was fostered, and grew unconscious- POLITICAL PARTIES. 79 ly, as evidenced by the increasing resistance to the tyranny of the home government ; and the disposition to assert their natural rights finally became so strong that an open revolt was the result. Thus originated the Patriot or Repub- lican party. In that revolt, the party demanding natural rights, supported by sympathy and mate- rial aid from France, Holland, and Spain, and voluntary exiles from other lands, compelled an acknowledgment of independence. This was the first real victory for freedom based on a recognition of the natural, equal, and inalienable rights of man. But brief was its tri- umph. The advocates of vested power derived from kingly authority were unc^taging in their vigilance, and when the occasion krose for im- proving the form of government adopted for the preservation of these rights so gloriously won, a plan was consummated that established in the or- ganic act of the new government the principles of the party that originated with William the Conqueror. This party was at this time led by Alexander Hamilton, whose fundamental doctrine was that of a natural and Inherent division of the people of all civilized countries into distinct classes — the rich and the poor, the rulers and the ruled ; and so thoroughly was he imbued with this idea 80 THE NEW RErUBLIC. that he sousjht with all his energies to frame a government whose powers were as far removed from the control of the people as a government republican in form could be. In 1786, Mr. Madison, at that time an ardent adherent to Hamilton's views, proposed in the Virginia legislature a convention of deputies to meet at Annapolis, to revise the form of govern- ment then existing. Hamilton, a deputy from New York at that convention, presented a plan which was adopted by that convention, for a gen- eral convention of all the States to revise the Articles of Confederation. At that convention, which met in, '"May, 1787, the dominant party, known as thei^^'ederalist, ignoring the grand and fundamental idea of the divinity and equality of human rights that was the inspiration of the patriot fathers, and for which they sacrificed so much blood and treasure to gain, succeeded in overthrowing them, and establishing a govern- ment based on vested powers, over which the people have no control, and whose chief officers are not elected directly by the people nor respon- sible to them — a government more favorable to ai'istocratic rule than that which the Revolution- ary fathers had struggled so hard to free them- selves from. But scarcely a decade had passed after its POLITICAL PARTIES. 81 adoption, before the party of equal rights were once more victorious ; but the Federal Constitu- tion had fixed the limits and prescribed the pow- ers of the government and determined its char- acter. This will continue until the people once more demand their natural rights, and a orovern- ment based on them. Thomas Jefferson, bho declared that " the party who supported l3 t/ federal Constitution was aristocratic and mo)>archical," was absent on a foreign mission, and I jie country lost his ser- vices at home when they were the most needed. All the Republicans exhausted their utmost ener- gies to defeat the measure ; and denounced it as no better than the government t'aey had sought to free themselves from. They (v,^manded the recognition and establishment of the principles upon which our independence was won. They declared that the party that had set aside the Articles of Confederation purposely ignored the natural rights of man, and established a govern- ment with powers so vested that the people could not control them, which was a virtual defeat of popular government. From the commencement of the present cen- tury up to 1824, foreign difficulties kept the peo- ple so well united that party spirit was not so manifest. However, in 1811, Josiah Quincy, a 4# 82 THE NEW REPUBLIC. rank Federalist, declared that disunion would be justifiable under certain circumstances ; and in 1812, the Hartford Convention was called — a Federalist movement — to take into consideration the necessity of the New England States seced- ino; on account of the embarso laid on their commerce by the governpient. With these ex- ceptions, no important evj nts occurred to indicate their designs. tj, Upon the accession of Mr. Monroe to the Presidency, in 1817, narty lines seemed almost imperceptible. In reply to an address of the cit- izens of Maine, he said : " The farther I advance in my progress in the country, the more I per- ceive that we ,*^re all Americans; that we com- pose but one ^Y^^^J Nothing could give me greater satisfaction than to behold a per- fect union among ourselves — a union which is necessary to restore to social Intercourse its former charms, and to render our happiness as a nation unmixed and complete." He believed the people were unanimous in their opinions, and " that no second party was necessary to the well- being of the government." As evidence of the unanimity of party feeling, Mr. Monroe was re- elected in 1820, by a vote of 231 out of 232— the whole number of electoral votes. How differently Presidents talk in these days ! POLITICAL PARTIES. 83 Party spirit rules ; officials live and thrive on it, and do all in their power to foster and keep it up. During the Presidential campaign of 1824, party, spirit, which had been quiet — with the ex- ceptions above noticed — for nearly a quarter of a centui-y, began to revive, and by the next Pres- idential election rose to a considerable height. Various causes conMbuted to this result ; no doubt amons: them v ., '-e the cessation of hostili- ties, the increase of lov.? interests as new States Avere added to the Union, and the conflict of in- terests arising from increasing industries. But most of all was the prospect held out by Andrew Jackson, who had become a prominent candidate for President, of a removal of office-holders — at least, of such as were not strongly on their side — and the distribution of their places as spoils to the victors ; that is, rewards for electioneering purposes, which were fully carried out upon his accession to the Presidency in 1828. Since then the practice thus Inaugurated has tended to intensify party spirit by appeals to personal am- bition and selfish aims, rather than honest dif- ferences In regard to political principles and policies of government, which characterized the Federal and Republican parties previous to that time. This gave a different turn to the politics of the country, being thus transferred from the 84 THE NEW REPUBLIC. domain of politic science to that of personal strife for party supremacy and the spoils of office. The vast powers conferred by the Constitution upon the President has made that office the object of the most zealous and determined pur- suit, and the great parties have become mere fac- tions, organized for the so^e purpose of profit, power, and prestige ; and,^ avc lost sight of tlie people's interests altogether. In view of these facts, how foolish and short-sighted It is to be carried away by party spirit, to train under the whip of some leader for the sole purpose of ele- vating him to power ! But we must not lose sight of the old Federal party. During Jackson's administration, under a new name, and stimulated by his hostility to one of their favorite and most reliable schemes — the United States bank — their leaders made a grand effort to defend it, and by gaining party control fix it upon a lasting basis. It will be remembered that the occasion of this struggle was the attempt to renew the charter of the National Bank, which would expire in 1836. Falling in that, they gave their attention to State banks, and by the time of the outbreak of tiie Civil War they had acquired the financial ability to cope with and control the nation's treas- POLITICAL PARTIES. 85 vu'v, which enabled them to dictate the creation of corporations for the purpose of monopolizing- the currency, by which commerce, trade, and all the industries of the country are controlled, and thus bring the wealth-producer and wage-earner to a condition of servile dependence. Since the Civil War, this element has absorbed the most wealthy of both the old parties, and creating itself intra an oligarchy, controls the action of both the '^r.t:,;iiinant parties in all the departments of the government. In 1868 the Democratic party had declared a policy not al- together favorable to their interests — that is, payment of national bonds according to the pro- visions by which they were purchased, and they set themselves to work and defeated it. In 1872 Grant's re-election was necessary to carry out the plans they had so successfully Inaugurated dur- ing his first administration, and Mr. Greeley was sacrificed to secure it. In 1876 the Democratic nominee for President received 157,037 more votes than his competitor, who, however, was in- stalled into office because he was the choice of the oligarchy ; and during that administration, though the Democrats had a majority on joint ballot of 13, no measures were introduced and matured from cither party looking to the interests of the people. 86 THE NEW REPUBLIC. In a word, tlie old Federal party, that gave us the Constitution, has gained a permanent control, attracting to its ranks many from modern democ- racy ; it has retired from the field of party strife, and is enabled to hold sway by manipulating Its own rank and file, as well as the other party, through its tools, the politicians, who are satisfied to take their chances in the scramble for office, depending for success upon tVeir appeals to party spirit; and by prejudices lu.d animosities, stimu- lated by party zeal aroused by subsidized jour- nals, stump oratory, bold and artful misrepresen- tation and reckless promises, they manage to keep the people in subjection to their interests. In our present condition there is no hope of relief from the oppression and robbery carried on under the provisions and sanctions of the Federal Constitution. By it powers are vested In and exercised by giant corporations, who are able to clothe all their crimes in the habllimants of law, and succeed in impressing upon the peo- ple the sanctity and inviolability of all govern- ment proceedings. By the power it vests in the chief executive, It makes this office so much the object of pursuit that ambitious and unprincipled men resort to all means In their power to gain it. Party spirit is becoming stronger under the stimulus of increasing patronage and emolu- POLITICAL PARTIES. 87 ments and more tlioi'ough discipline ; and elec- tions are merely ratifications of conventions controlled in the interest of great coi'porations, the culmination of the old Federal party. Such officers so elected recognize no responsi- bility to the people, and over whom the people have no control whatever. In private business the employer claims and exercises control over his employee ; in j;ublic business the reverse is the case. This reversal is despotism, and must end in revolution in some way. Thus it will be seen that the prevailing party of to-day, which sways political factions for selfish and ambitious ends, is the same party that prevailed in the convention that framed the Fed- eral Constitution, and datino; its orijcin to the act of King John at Runymedc, in 1215. Emanating from royalty and granted to nobility, it still re- tains its aristocratic character, and has estab- lished that condition in society which Hamilton ascribed to natural causes. The people are di- vided into two classes — " the few, the rich, the well-born," and " the many, the poor, the laboring masses " — by the power of unjust laws. The real evils of party spirit consist in the bias it creates, the animosities and prejudices it en- genders, and the blind zeal and reliance upon party leaders it inspires and promotes, thus de- 88 THE NEW KEPUBLIC. feating the very purposes intended in establish- ing popuhir government. Passionate attachment to party disqualifies the mind for deliberation and judgment, without wliich free government cannot exist. It leads to opposition of interests and strife, compelling tlie people to take up the interests of individuals in- stead of interests of public concern. This will inevitably be the case when the aims and objects of party are the spoils of office. Party spirit now becomes the instrument of desio-ning men as we have so often seen manifested in political " bossism " within the last few years. Washington's Farewell Address is as applicable to the people of to-day as it was in 1796 ; and his views in regard to the evils of party spirit apply more forcibly now than ever before in the history of our government. He says : " I have already intimated the danger of parties in the State, with particular reference to the found- ing of them on geographical discriminations. Let me now take a more com])rehensive view, and warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party generally. " This spirit is unfortunately inseparable from our nature, having its root in the strongest passions of the human mind. It exists under different shapes in all governments, more or less stifled, con- trolled, or repressed ; but in those of the popular form it is seen in its greatest rankness, and is truly their worst enemy. POLITICAL PARTIES. 89 "The alternate dominatiou of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge natural to party dissensions, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormi- ties, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads me at once to a more formal and permanent despo- tism. The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual, and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing fac- tion, more able or more fortunate than his competi- tors, turns this disposition to t!ie purposes of his own elevation on the ruins of public liberty. " Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind (which nevertheless ought not to be en- tirely out of sight), the common and continual mis- chiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discour- age and restrain it. It serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public admin- istration. It agitates the community with ill- founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against the other, forments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign induence and corruption, which find a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passion. Thus, the policy and will of our country are subject to the policy and will of another. " There is an opinion that parties in free coun- tries are useful checks upon the administration of the government, and serve to keep alive the spirit of liberty. This, within certain limits, is probably true, and in governments of a monarchical cast, patriotism may look with indulgence, if not with favor, upon the spirit of party. But in those of a 90 THE NEW REPUBLIC. })Oj)ular character, in govei-nments purely elective, it is a spirit not to be encouraged. From their natural tendency, it is certain there will always be enough of that spirit for every salutary purpose. And there being constant danger of excess, the effort ought to be by force of ]nxblic opinion to mit- igate and assuage it. A hre not to be quenched, it demands a universal vigilance to prevent its burst- ing into a flame, lest, instead of warming, it should consume." To the reflecting mind a retrospect of the iiis- tcry of party spirit will disclose the sagacity, wisdom, and forethought expressed in the sol- emn warning of this illustrious man. They are seen in the recent elections. Without an issue of the least importance to the interests of the people, the two political parties, by appeals to party spirit, and arousing public passion, they drew to their ranks millions of adherents, the sole purpose of which was the contest for suprem- acy of the one party or the other. In this way, questions which should command the attention of the people, and the understanding of which is essential to their interest, are thus diverted from consideration and discussion. All questions of great importance are thus neglected, and the people's minds filled with prejudice and mutual hatred, they are not qualified to act intelligently. Popular government is in this way defeated, and party spirit is the chief instrumentality by which the defeat is accomplished. REVIEW OF OUll JUDICIARY SYSTEM. 91 CHAPTER VII. REVIEW OF OUR JUDICIARY SYSTEM. " For sjjariug justice feeds iuiquity." " There's a fish hangs in the net like a poor man's rights in the law." As civilization advances, the ruder and less developed institutions gradually yield to more advanced and mature. Each onward step is attended with difficulty in proportion as the peojile are rude and unde- veloped. The conservative element here asserts its prerogative, and the conflict is between error, supported by prejudice, bigotry, and the aggran- dizement of those whose interests it supports on the one hand, and the light of advancing thought expressed in new ideas, sought to be applied to the welfare of society, on the other. So firmly do laws and institutions once estab- lished remain fixed, and so easily are prejudices excited for them, that it is no difficult thing for interested parties to retain the old and prevent the new. Thus a judiciary system, established hundreds of yeai's ago, in the feudal ages, in a monarch i- 92 THE NEW REPUBLIC. cal government, attendetl with imposing ceremo- nies and fixed forms, is preserved in its material characteristics and transmitted to us. This system does not aim at justice, it only professes to administer law ; and whatever might have been the intention of formulating justice in the terms of law, the distinction is now so great as not to be included in the same category. Precedents, arising from decisions, the conditions which gave rise to them having ceased long years ago, and in localities thousands of miles away, form the basis of judicial decisions to-day. " The English Courts all decide according to pre- cedent, or if no former decision can be found, then by analogy, to what has been decided in similar cases, or upon some general principle which has been recognized ; and in cases entirely new, have sometimes sought aid from the Roman Law." — American C>/clo2)edia, loc. cit. That is to say, when a case arises that comes under no previous decision, they go hach to heathen institutions for light, ignoring the judg- ment of modern thinkers, and all the benefits of modern science and philosophy. Common sense and the promptings of natural justice are alike io-nored, and we have a fossilized system as arbi- trary and unyielding as the bed of Procrustes. " The Courts of the United States have a general correspondence with the English judiciary system." ^Ibid. REVIEW OF OUU JUDICIARY SYSTEM. 93 The modifications pertain to local jurisdiction, rather than changes in the essential character of the courts. An attempt was made in France in 1790 to abrogate all power of deciding from analogy, or even a resort to general principles of jurispru- dence ; and all cases not provided for by express laws were to be refei'red to the National Assem- bly, for the purpose of having such law enacted as would be applicable to the particular case. " This crude experiment," says the historian, " was so unsatisfactory, that in the Code Napo- leon it was thought necessary, not only to restore to the courts >the power of deciding upon general principles and analogy, but it was made penal to do otherwise." " General principles and analogy ! " AYho understands general principles and analogy? Blackstone wrote four portly vol luues to explain the Common Law that every one is supposed to understand. It requires years of study and dis- cipline to be able to expound the law, and yet every one above an idiot or lunatic is responsible to it. The Emperor Nero is said to have dis- played his tyranny by causing the laws to be placed beyond the people's knowledge, and then punishing them for disobeying them. The people in this government are virtually 94 THE NEW REPUBLIC. in tlic same condition ; for the laws are access! ble to very few ; and if one wishes a legal opin. ion, it costs him a good round fee — an opinion that generally leads to litigation, and is stoutly denied by the opposing counsel, who is of equal ability. It is not strange that men eminent in the legal profession should disagree in the most vital points of law ; for when we come to consider that law is a vast accumulation of rules, regulations, orders, decisions, opinions, speculations, theories, legislative enactments, and customs, running back to " the time the memory of man knoweth not to the contrary " ; when we further consider the machinery for its administration is so compli- cated, cumbersome, intricate, dilatory, and uncer- tain — we cease to wonder at the diversity of opinion ; for it requires more than human ability to comprehend the whole. But the great won- der is, that since simple justice is all the people demand, and that its administration is so simple, easy, certain, direct, and less costly, that it does not take the place of the present burdensome and oppressive system. There is no reason why the people should tol- erate and suffer from such a judiciary system. If the laws were written in plain, clear, and explicit language, so that all could read and understand REVIEW OF UUU JUDICIARY SYSTEM. 95 them, andeatiy, simple, and direct methods of ad- ministration devised, the objects and purposes of law \Yould be accomplished at very little cost and infinite relief to the people. The history of judicial proceedings is one of injustice, cruelty, and tyranny. It is a history of fraud, crime, and oppression perpetrated in a legal way. Its great feature is the conviction of ])Oor and obscure offenders, and the infliction of heavy penalties ; while wealthy criminjds and those occupying prominent })Ositions in society are allowed almost perfect immunity: the former to " vindicate the law " and spread terror among the lower classes ; the n'tter serves for an im- mense revenue to the profession, and is a consid- eration for compounding 'crime in high places. In the attempted compromise between the rob- ber chiefs of the Mussel Slough land-steal and the settlers thereon, Mr. Huntington said in sub- stance : " We have the government to back us up; the settlers can do nothing." Instances of outright forgeries, recognized by judicial enactments, and nailed by precedents, ai'e numerous ; as instance the Broderick Will Case, the outlines of which are here presented : " David C. Broderick, a United States Senator from California, fell in a duel with David S. Terry, in this city and county, and died a few days there- 96 THE NEW llEPUBLIC. after, September 16, 1859, He left an estate in San Francisco of the value of about three hundred thousand dollars. It was generally believed that he left no kindred ; in fact, he was rej^orted to 'have so declared a long time before his death. During the few days which passed between his injury and his decease, he said nothing in regard to having any kin, or having made any will. After his death, a thorough search among his papers and effects was made, but no will was discovered, and the public administrator took charge of the estate, " On the 20th of the following February John A. McGlynn and Andrew J. Butler presented to our Probate Court and had tiled for probate a docu- ment whicli purported to be the last will and testa- ment of David C, Broderick, in which they were named as executors with^^iit bonds, in connection with George Wilkes of ^'ew York City, It dis- posed of the entire estate ''m two brief paragraphs — to John A. McGlynn was. given $10,000, to George Wilkes the residue, "On the day appointed for hearing the application of McGlynn and Butler for letters testamentary, various persons appeared, claiming to be heirs, and contested the proposed paper on the ground that it Avas forged. The trial was set for June 18, 1860, when it was commenced, and it continued until October 8th following. Many witnesses were ex- amined and depositions were read of persons resid- ing in New York, On the date last given, the Probate Court (Judge Blake) held the alleged will to be genuine, admitted it to probate, and appointed McGlynn and Butler executors without bonds. Appeals were taken by the claimants, or those de- claring themselves to be heirs, which were dis- missed fur want of prosecution. (It would not REVIEW OF OUR JUDICIARY SYSTEM. 97 puzzle the average lawyer to guess how this came about.) "The executors, in the course of administration, obtained an order of court authorizing them to sell, either at private or public sale, the whole or any portion of the estate. The sale was advertised for November 30, 1861. On November 29, 1861, the Attorney-General, Thomas H. Williams, on behalf of the State, and on the relation of Frank M. Pixley, Esq., Attorney-General elect, but not yet in office, filed in the Fourth District Court an information alleging that Broderick had died intestate and without heirs, and that his estate had escheated to the State of California. On the same day he com- menced in the same court a suit in equity to ob- tain an injunction against the sale of the estate by McGlynn and Butler. A temporary restraining or- der was issued pending the information. "On the hearing it wmclaimed by the plaintiff that the forgery was acr «"$ iplished after this man- ner : Butler, who was in this State when Broderick died, and afterwards, conceived the job ; and go- ing to New York, confederated witli Moses E. Flan- agan, James R. Maloney, George Wilkes, John J. Hoff, and Alfred A. Phillips. Flanagan, who had been in the habit of using, by consent, Broderick's senatorial frank, wrote simulated signatures on sev- eral sheets of paper. Phillips wrote the will above one of those signatures, and he and Hoff signed their names as witnesses. It was not disclosed where the alleged will was discovered. It pur- ported to have been made in the city of New York, on January 2 (Sunday), 1859. "McGlynn, who was not charged with the forgery, was the only defendant who appeared. He denied on information and belief all the allegations of the 98 THE XEW REPUBLIC. complaint. Ilis defense was that the will was gen- nine, and that tlie decree of the Probate Court admitting the document to probate was final and conclusive, and could not be questioned by any- other court — under the statute which provided that after the lapse of one year from the probate of a will the probate shall be conclusive. "Judge Hager held that this statute did not pre- clude courts of equity from setting aside wills the probate of which had been procured by fraud. He said : ' It seems like an anomaly in law that by any course of reasoning, based on principle and legal authority, we should attempt to establish the valid- ity of a forged will, which is of itself a nullity, or of its probate procured by fraud and perjury; and if successfully done, I fear it would be a reflection upon our institutions and a stain upon our juris- prudence It is i£ged that equity will not interfere, even if it be fiitablished that the will is a forgery, and its probate procured by fraud and perjury. If this be sound in principle and sup- ported by authority, we deduce a controlling prin- ciple of law to the following effect: That if aperson successfully consummates the forgery of a will, and by fraud and perjury gets it admitted to probate, and for one year thereafter conceals the evidence of his crime, he may acquire an estate Such a principle Avould seem to be in violation of natural justice, absolute rights, and public policy. . . . . I am not able to understand why a forged will should be placed upon any footing different from a forged deed.' " Having declared that the only satisfactory evi- dence in the case was that evinced by the will itself, Judge Hager proceeded : " ' An inspection of the will discloses to the REVIEW OF OUR JUDICIARY SYSTEM. 99 senses some peculiar pheuomeua, and many re- markable visible signs that are suggestive and cir- cumstantially strong against the probable truth of some of the defendants' evidence. It is manifest to the eye that, in the signature " D. C. Broderick," and in the words "John J. Iloff, 131 and 133 Wash- ington Street, Huboken, N. J.," the ink of the one is of a darker tint than that of the other, and tliat both are much darker-hued than the writing com- posing the body of the document and the certificate of attestation. In the last-mentioned instance it is so demonstrable, upon mere inspection, that I can hardly suppose tlie entire document and signa^ tures wex'e written on the same occasion, at the same table, and with the same ink, as we are led to infer was tlie case from the testimony of Phillij)8 and Iloff. •"The will consists of <;ne sheet of letter paper ; the signature is on the third line of the second page, and is succeeded by the certificate of the subscrib- ing witnesses. "'The body of the will contains twenty-one lines of manuscript. Of these, eighteen are entire lines, without interlineation. As the lines approximate the signature the letters become gradually and very perceptibly smaller, and the words were more con- densed and crowded, and in the last line a few of the words are carried beyond the marginal line, which is the only instance where it occurs, either in the body of the will or the certificate These phenomena, so remarkable and extraordi- nary, apparent upon the face of the will, and estab- lished in some respects with the certainty of a mathematical demonstration, are unexplained, and, in view of the evidence, cannot upon any reason- able hypothesis be attributed to chance or accident. 100 THE NEW REPUHEIC. The ordinary manuscript of a scrivener would scarcely ever' exhibit such marked peculiarities. If, however, as some of the evidence tends to indicate, the name " D. C. Broderick " was first loritteu, and that alleged signature and the initial line on the first page formed a Proscrustean bed, in which the body of this alleged will was placed and made to conform to it, we have a solution.' "The judge ordered the injunction issued as prayed for. McGIynn appealed, and a memorable argument followed before the Supreme Court. Messrs. Hoge and Wilson represented the appellant, and succeeded in upholding the will. Judge Ila- ger's injunction Avas dissolved. James B. Haggin represented the self-declared heirs-at-law, and Greg- ory Yale fought like a Titan for the lost cause. The following vigorous extract from his brief is hei-e presented : '"The great effort is now, and always has been since the accidental probate of this felonious paper, to take shelter behind a formal decree legalizing the felonious act. Will or no will when pro- pounded for probate, it is claimed that it became an immaculate testament when solemnized by cer- tain forms. Broderick may not have made a will, but Butler, with his co-conspirators, has secured the Probate Judge's name, if not D. C. Broderick^s, to the paper, and no human power can detach it. This is the doctrine that this court is called upon to sanction. Years and generations hence, the term of 18G2 is to be signalized — as the forgers and speculators would decree it — as an epoch in the legal history of this great State, when its highest tribunal pronounced in favor of an unmitigated fraud, only because an inferior tribunal had sanc- tioned it, and because the law afforded no escape REVIEW OF OUR JUDICIARY SYSTEM. 101 from its own machinations. Such reflections upon the law are unwarrantable, unworthy of any civil- ized code, and humiliating to listen to.' " The Supreme Court refused to interfere with the probate of the will, on the ground that the decree of the Probate Court was final and conclusive, the statutory period of one year having elapsed since its probate, and not subject, except on an appeal to a higher court, to be questioned in any other court, or he set aside or vacated by a court of equity on any ground (20 Cal. 234). "The estate was accordingly sold, and distributed in pursuance of the terms of the will." The following instance shows a case in which a precedent overrides the Constitution of the United States, as given by Samuel Sinnett of Iowa : " There is no place where reform is more loudly called for than in our courts of law. It is strange that in the latter part of the nineteenth century the demand for reform in our courts has not been treated with that respect to which such a subject is entitled. But, instead of keeping up with the spirit of the age, and repealing old obsolete laws and rulings in our courts, we are piling up a pyra- mid of absurd and complicated contradictory stat- utes, that are victimizing all those that seek justice in our courts. Fully four-fifths of the people are in favor of courts of arbitration (where no lawyers should be allowed to plead), where cases might be tried on their merits, and justice rendered without such fearful costs and the torture of prolonged de- lay, and the rude and often insulting of the cross- questioning of the counsel, who often treat witnesses 102 THE NEW KErUBLIC. as if they were in the habit of perjury. Then our whole sys-tem is wrong. The idea of one man de- ciding a case wliere eleven are in favor of convic- tion might have done very well in the days of John, but is altogether out of place in the present age. Why not have a two-thirds majority render a ver- dict? The Grand Jury is a relic of a past age, which, like the Electoral College and the Senate, ought to be sent up to tlie garret with the rest of the lumber. But some will ask, " What would be- come of our lawyers? " They could not all be sent to Congress and the Legislature. Your system would simplify justice, and there would be little chance for prolonged litigation. Then were our laws honestly executed (bad as some of them are), there would not be such cause for complaint; but we find our courts have become mere skinning es- tablishments, where the flaying is continued as long as there is hide enough left to pay for the operation. You can't give even a simple note off-hand any more without there is an iron-clad provision to pay a reasonable attorney's fee (generally from $50 to 1100, when |5 would be ample pay for the service), and then costs are all secured by provisions of the note. But worst of all is the iron-clad mortgage, with its coupons, each and all claiming like fees and costs. I know of one firm that has loaned out five millions of iScotch capital on mortgages on farms (these money-lenders always prefer that class of property), the principal and interest-coupons all to be repaid in gold at a certain banking-house in New York. AVhat a fat thing this will be for the lawyers that collect them ! Now, this is always loaned on a valuation of one-third, so that there is a rich margin to fatten on. And yet those very farmers will vote for lawyers to represent them, ex- EEVIEW OF OUR JUDICIARY SYSTEM. 103 pecting those men to make laws to protect the peo- ple from such a system of things. What fools the lawyers are to neglect their own interests! Now, the worst class of men to send to Congress and the Legislature to made laws are, without excej^tion, lawyers, because they have no interest in common with their constituents, and will make the laws as mysterious and contradictory as j^ossible. "It is generally believed that judges are seated on the bench to administer justice agreeable to law and in harmony with the Constitution, as it is gen- erally conceded that no statute can be of force when it conflicts with the Constitution. I will here relate a little of my own experience in that respect. We had one of those legalized robbery schemes en- forced here, termed a five-per-cent tax, to aid in building a railroad. A number of the tax-j^ayers refused to pay the tax, and sued out an injunction against the collector forbidding him selling our property. (Just imagine : selling our homes out to build a railroad to rob us!) Well, they sent for a certain judge from a neighboring county to come and try the injunction suit. In rendering his de- cision he made use of the following singular state- ment : " That there was little doubt but the law iocs unconstitutional.^^ Private jjroperty shall not be taken for public purposes without just compensation (tr. S. Const.); but there was a decision by which he would have to be governed, and he dissolved the injunction and ordered our property to be sold. The judge that had so just a respect for the deci- sion of a court and so little for the Constitution has since been advanced to the Supreme Bench, where his decisions will become law for future as- piring pettifoggers. I will here state another case to show how justice is carried on in our courts. A 104 THE NEW KEPUBLIC. certain young man committed forgery for some trilling amount. The penalty was only three months in the penitentiary. He wanted to plead guilty, but certain limbs of the law saw a good chance for a hand, and persuaded him to stand a trial. Well, he was indicted for the offense, and the State attorney drew up sixteen different charg- es or counts in the indictment, for which he charged sixteen different fees against the county ; and as the prisoner had no money to hire counsel, the judge appointed one of the bar to defend him, for which he was entitled to |10 fee, but he brought in a bill of $160, being $10 for each count in the indictment. That man is one of the law-makers of Iowa, and the prosecuting attorney is befoi'e the people for elec- tion again, with a good prospect of success." And thus innumerable cases have originated without the least merit, and carried through a long and costly litigation to a successful issue ; and innumerable other cases founded on justice and with real merit have met with an opposite fate. The only reason why such a monstrous system of oppression is suffered to exist, is that we rever- ence antiquity and venerate the institutions of the past, and bow to their authority by the sheer force of custom and education. . As a means for the administration of justice, our judiciary system is a most signal failure ; as a source of wealth to a class of professional vampires, it is a most sig- nal success. REVIEW OF OUR JUDICIARY SYSTEM. lOJ The moral Influence of the courts of hiw and of the legal profession is corrupting and degrading. The courts are stern, dignified, and despotic, exacting the most servile obedience to their man- dates, with severe and summary punishment for " contempt," as non-obedience to their dictates is termed ; all of which Is to enforce slavish obedi- ence and protect the " majesty of the law " ! As fitting instruments of these despotic institutions are the "legal profession," who infest every com- munity, and live in wealth and luxury at the peo- ple's expense. Mlsrejiresentation, cunning, and artifice are their implements, and skill in the intricacies of a subtle craft their stock in trade. Falsehood sup- ported by all the sanctity of an oath administered in the most solemn and Imposing manner, and sup- ported by all the craft that cunning can devise, is a frequent factor in the solution of their legal problems. Clients, whose desire for victory is intensified by the zeal and assurances of their advocates and the sympathy they excite, imbibe the spirit of their champions, and cherish with peculiar sat- isfaction the exaggerai?ions, misrepresentations, schemes of artifice, and often of falsehoods, employed by their attorneys, and these they carry to their homes and associates, where 106 THE NEW REPUBLIC. they are commented on and admired, and thus the poison, originating in well-trained and skill- ful brains versed in all the arts of decep- tion, is diffused throughout society ; and as custom blunts by familiarity, so the finer sense of justice, which under proper circumstances would demand the right, is lost in the coarser sense of self-interest. The influence of the legal profession in politi- cal affairs is well nigh omnipotent. As a rule, its members are the "politicians" and man- agers of all the scheme s for corporate villiany, always pliant and purchasable. As practice in the courts is a species of warfare, and as all measures of deceiving the enemy and tak- ing advantage of his weak points are justifiable in warlike tactics, so must the legal practitioner of necessity become familiar with and resort to these arts of war. However justifiable they may be on the battle-field, at the bar, and in conflict with moral forces, their effect is necessarily in- imical to integrity and uprightness of character. The rule of exception applies here as elsewhere, and it is due to the profession to say that some legal minds have reflected great credit upon human nature. The vocation necessitates craft, and the practice makes men crafty. REVIEW OF OUR JUDICIARY SYSTEM. 107 The following, from the pen of John Swinton, will be fippreciated by every admirer of that able reformer : "In the business of subverting the liberties of our beloved country, I do not dread the soldier with his rifle nor the conspirator with his mask, nor the fool, fanatic, or the demagogue, nor the king in his regalia, nor the cleric with his tongue, nor the editor with his quill, nor Satan with his liorus, nor yet the millionaire with his millions, if they have but a fair field. The man to be dreaded in this republic is the shystering lawyer; legal machina- tion is the thing of menace and danger. It is in this country especially that the people need to be • on the alert against legal quibblers ; here they swarm as they do nowhere else on the globe, not only in the courts, but in legislatures and their lobbies, and every place of power and greatness. " How often, in searching amid the ruins of pop- ular properties in other countries that once enjoyed them, do we come upon the tracks of the false lavv- ver! For what oppressor has he not found a legal subterfuge ? For what deed of guilt has he not been ready to erect a legal bulwark? Do we not find him with a legal defense of every usurpation of every usurper; with a legal justification for any invasion of every birthright of man ; with a legal quibble over every great popular franchise ; with a legal glaze for every clear word of freedom ; with legal pettifoggery against every establishment of right ; with a legal weapon for nullifying every vic- tory of progress ; with a legal jimmy, as Major Ilaggerty lately said in the Assembly, to pry open every man's safe ; with legal mechanism for tearing out every stone in the fabric of justice, and for rear- ing every pillar in the edifice ol: wrong ? 108 THE NEW KErUBLIC "■ Not a guilty deed has ever been perpetrated by power ; not a base treason has ever been hatched against the Commonwealth ; not a device has ever been set for the subversion of any popular right — but the false lawyer has stood ready to uphold it with the armament of false legality. He battered the Twelve Tables of Rome, he made of no effect the Ten Commandments of Moses, he stifled the genius of Magna Charta, and he is now scuttling the Constitution of the United States." The reform of this monstrous evil, so much needed and so essential to a true republic, is very simple and easy. The remedy may be expressed in three words — Let it alone. In all civil cases, provisions are made by law to settle all controversies by arbitration. Let tfie people settle their own disputes in their own way, and give the lawyers an opportunity to earn an honest living. Some modifications may be needed so that all cases may be settled in this manner. In criminal cases, a similar method may be employed, so that courts may in time cease to exist. In the disposition of property by inheritance, the vast amount of litigation and expense now incurred in the settlement of real estates of de- ceased persons could be avoided by conveying the title by deed of gift. Especially would this eive almost infinite relief to wives of deceased persons whose estates must be jirobated at an enormous expense, annoyance, and delay. REVIEW OF OUR JUDICIARY SYSTEM. 109 It must be remembered that the power of the government is the will of the people, and that that will is sovereign ; and further, that the peo- ple are interested in nothing but their advance- ment and welfare, and that reason and wisdom dictate the rule of justice. All that is needed is that the people shall agree. It would be far better on the score of economy, as vastly more is expended in litigating claims than is claimed in litigation. This fact being realized, many persons refrain from the courts and suffer absolute losses in consequence. Then why should they be su^iif^ained ? This reform would be reni^^'-ed easier by other reforms. Thus a volume of, tilon,ey sufficient to dispense with credits woultl taky away an im- mense amount of legal practice r but as it is, the profession will favor a contnj^^ted currency which by compelling the extensive ,'ise of credits and legal instrumentalities for the >yollection of debts, lawyers find amjjle and profitaole employ- ment. Withholding natural rights from women, by which a vast amount of business finds its way into the courts, is another source of patronage to the legal profession. So, really, the ])eople sup- port a burden of cost in the administration of law instead of justice, that supports and enriches 110 THE NEW REPUBLIC. a vast army of lawyers, judges, and attaches to the courts that would support the expenditures of government — a system in which the most money wins and the defenseless are victimized. The subject of litigation in the courts of jus- tice (?) is fraught with such vast importance to the people that any means by which some method of litin-ation can be substituted demands the most earnest and careful attention of the people. The most determined efforts to supply its place with a simpler, safer, si^eedier, cheaper, and more ef- fectual method of settling difficulties arising from injuries unjustly i,u£fered is imperatively de- manded. If the jeople have confidence in their friends and the community in which they live, if they are willing to appeal to those Avith whom they are acquainted for the rectitude of their purposes auKf their acts, they certainly have a tribunal io>. die adjustment of all controversies arising f roivt disputed claims, and protection from injuries, acuial or threatened ; for these purposes we can easily devise and set in operation a 2)lan for the adjustment of matters at variance with those with whom we deal, and protection from personal injury. In matters of a civil nature, a system of ad- judication can be easily established. Indeed, such a system already exists, and is enacted in REVIEW OF OUIl JUDICIAKV SYSTEM. Ill the code of our civil procedure. It is by arbi- tration. Let it be perfected, and let every well- disposed citizen resolve to resort to it. If this subject was discussed and made familiar to the public mind, and its advantages considered in all their bearings, there need be no difficulty in real- izing the vast benefits it would confer upon the government and society. In regard to criminal proceedings, no greater difficulty exists. Let an officer be elected in each local jurisdiction, whose duty will be to ar- rest and hold in custody an offender upon the complaint of a citizen, issued by the executive officer, with proper guards a:''d restrictions. Then let the accused select an ai--i- trator, and the exe- cutive officer one; let these two agree upon a third ; if they fail, let the accused select another and the officer the same, and so continue until an odd number is secured. We have here a court and jury in the same body of men, ind far better qualified to administer justice th-il any legal court in existence, because the courts are bound by law and precedents, whereas this body of men are perfectly free to make their decision accord- ing to the promptings of natural justice and the merits of that particular case. Or the arbitrators might be drawn from a list of citizens — say one hundred. 112 THE NEW REPUBLIC. The chai'ixc anil defense can now be conducted in a quiet and speedy manner. Upon submitting the case, let a majority determine the verdict; let there be no appeal and no further proceedings in the matter, except, in case of conviction, the dis- position of the criminal. The great questions that have long been in dispute, and taxed the erudition of the greatest minds, involved considerations of lavi and not of justice, whose demands are simple and easily un- derstood ; while those of law are extremely com- plicated, abounding in subtleties and intricacies too deep for a single mind to grasp, as evidenced by the vast accumuf'ation of decisions found in " Reports," and carfliiully preserved and consult- ed by the most eminent jurists. Thus litigation is tied up in the endless mazes of the law. The substitution of a simple, easy, natural method would remove a vast burden in the shape of courts of law and their attendant officers and attorneys, it would save millions upon millions to the people which now go to support useless in- stitutions and an army of non-producers who cause positive mischiefs far in excess of the nega- tive injuries the people sustain in supporting them. STOCK OrERATIONS. 113 CHAPTER yill. STOCK OPERATIONS, "RINGS," AND "CORNERS." "Foul Avarice! dread foe to bumau weal, Inflicting sorrows that tlioii canst not lieal; Spirit of the gambler's dreadful fate, That lures him on to hell's grim gate." Within tlie last twenty years, speculations In stocks, in " rings," and " corners " on the various productions of the country have grown into a serious evil. We read of extensive operations in stocks and bonds, and suppose they are made in good faith. But such is not the case. Watering stock is a process not easily detected. The purpose is to obtain larger returns for money invested than could be openly charged. There is nothing gained in watering stock of a strictly private corporation, because no addition is made to its value ; but public corporations, whose revenues are derived from public service, see the way to immense profits through fictitious additions to the amount of their capital stock. The people do not know what the charges should be, but are satisfied that net profits should equal current rates of intei'est. If one million invested is 114 THE NEW REPUBLIC. watered to five millions, the investors will draw five interests on the amount put in. If the capital stock thus inflated can be made to pay interest, its value becomes solid. It is worth in the iuarket ivhatever sum it will pay dimdends on. The great fortunes which have been acquired within the last twenty years in the United States were largely through this process. The people would not stand charges for service which would enable a corporation to declare a dividend of fifty per cent a year on their invest- ment ; but if that investment is multiplied by ten, thus reducing their rate to five per cent on ten times their capital, the matter seems to be easily arranged. If a laborer should demand pay for nine dum- mies of like wages as his own, he would be severely and summarily dealt with; but untold millions can be drawn from poor laborers by scheming capitalists on the same principle, with nothing more than a feeble protest. These sales are generally fictitious. As many causes can be brought to bear to produce fluc- tuations in the price of stocks, the chances of advance or decline are simply dealt in. Corpo- ration rings congregate in money centers, and so manipulate as to reduce the price of stocks and bonds, purchase largely, and then manipulate so STOCK OPERATIONS. 115 as to advance the price, while the real value is not changed during the entire transaction. Quotations are dictated in such a manner that those not in the secret have no means of know- ing their actual value, and by false representa- tion are induced to purchase at such figures as to sustain a loss in the transaction. Or an oper- ator may make a venture and purchase with the hope of an advance, and watch his opportunity to sell. The operation of speculating in stocks becomes intensely exciting, as all chance operations always do when indulged in. Thousands of dollars will sometimes change hands in a few hours, and some- times millions are " made " in a very few days' operation. For instance : " A agrees to purchase of B, four days after the date, $15,000 in stocks quoted at 93 cents, at 95 cents, being an advance of two per cent on the market price on the day of sale. The stock does not advance, and at the time for delivery A pays B the margin between the two cents on the dollar and the market price. No stock has passed between them. It was a fight between a ' bull ' and a ' bear' for the margin. " Nearly all of the financial operations of Wall Street brokers are of a like character. Some of them involve immense amounts. One man makes a fortune and another becomes bankrupt in a day. .... Men run about the streets, into the 'gold- room' and the 'clearing-house,' their faces flushed, 116 THE m:\v republic. their whole person excited, their appearance ' dis- tracted, hair disheveled,' their voices hoarse, all intent on making money, not in a legitimate way, but by the chance of a rise or fall in bonds and stocks."—!). (J. Cloud. " Corners " are made on pork or wheat, or some other staple, by purchasing all in tlie mar- ket, and then holding it for high prices. Advan- tage is taken of the supply in the market, or the chances of a deficiency of a supply, and often millions are realized in this way. Combinations of capitalists go into the market, and so rule the price of commodities in which they deal as to leave no option with the producer, as he is not a party to the contract in the sale of his products ; indeed, there is no sale ; they are simply transferred into the hands of these greedy speculators, and there is no alternative left to the l)roducer but putting the fruits of his year's toil into their hands and at their price, or leaving his produce on his farm to rot. They stand between him and the market, and shut him out from all its advantages. He lias no voice in the disposal of his own products. " Rings " in the channels of trade and business continue to get the lion's share of profit from the producers of wealth. The channels of business are so arranged tliat the products of the farmer ])ass through too many hands before gettlno; into STOCK OrEKATIO^S. 117 those of the consumer. Each time they change hands a profit must be taken out of them ; and so many pi'ofits are exacted that, while the producer receives barely enough to pay decent wages for his labor in producing them, his profits will scarcely support his family. Thus, by the machinations of a few men, the great multitude are ke[)t at hard work, with their noses to the grindstone, so to speak, to eke out a poor living for themselves, while the}' are sup- porting the few in luxury and general indulgences. Those who produce the means of life for the world should have, at least, a fair share in the world's good things. But things seem to be drifting from bad to worse. Produce exchanges have been organized for the purpose of increas- ing indefinitely the number of times of the sale of the farmers' crops, and thus to make the dis- tance from the producer to the consumer greater, and at the same time to cut down the j^i'ices to the producer and put them up to the consumer. Will these two great classes continue to be hood- winked in this way by the plans of the exchange ? An adequate and just system of the exchange of commodities is a great desideratum of our gov- ernment. Production and consumption are the vital and ever-pressing necessities of life, and to effect that exchanore so that nothinor is o-ained or 118 THE NEW REPUBLIC. lost by it, but the benefits of it secured, is a prob- lem demanding immediate solution, because frpm unjust exchanges arise the evils here treated of, and others to be considered hereafter. This ex- change requires skill and labor, and therefore costs something, and is worth something to the producer and consumer. What it costs and lohat it is Korth constitute the very essence of this problem. AVhat it cost for the exchange by the simplest and most direct method is justly added to the price for consumption. In proof of the evils of this indirect and un- just exchange, the farmers point to the enormous fortunes accumulated by dealers in their produce in short periods of time ; they point to their lavish expenditure of money in providing costly plans of business, in building magnificent resi- dences, and maintaining costly modes of living and outfits for their families to appear in. They instance the fact that these merchants most always have long bank accounts, and can at any time when they find a farmer in a tight place furnish him with money at a high rate of inter- est, provided he is well secured. Tiiey feel that the monopoly and combination are coming to the front and getting control of the cliannels of business and trade, till the small business men and farmers have become the STOCK OPERATIONS. 119 " hewers of wood and drawers of water " for those who have been so fortunate as to get in- side the rings and business combinations. Notwithstanding Grangers' Associations, Farm- ers' Alliances, Trades Unions, and otlier organiza- tions with a view of checkmating the concentration of capital, and combinations for controlling the business and trade, these evils from which we suffer are still growing and becoming more ag- gressive. Thus the producer and consumer alike suffer by " middle men " pushing the burden of cost upon them by increasing the number of ex- changes, and cutting down prices to the producer and putting them up to the consumer. The remedy for these evils is co-operation in all the industrial interests of the country. When avarice is dethroned and justice rules, then unity of interests will secure to all the means of life, and ample time and opportunity will be afforded for the culture and enjoyment of the higher and nobler elements of our being. In the mean time, and as a step to this higher condition, let the farmers and all others who produce wealth em- ploy agents to whom they will consign their produce and purchase the necessary goods for their consumption. Let, for instance, thirty or forty persons agree to pay into a common fund 120 THE NEW REPUBLIC. say 110,000, eacli putting in according to his means. Let them meet and elect three of their number to act as directors, wlio shall do the busi- ness for the whole. Let tliese directors enter into bonds, as public officers are required to do, for the faithful discharge of their duties. Let the consignee and agent at the place of market receive a certain commission for selling and buy- ing, and keep a set of books as a check to those kept by the directors. Let a suitable storehouse be provided in a central location for the reception and distribution of the goods. Let each contrib- utor make a memorandum of what he will need for the year (or for any other lengtli of time), and the approximate cost of the same, for whicii he is entitled to draw from the common store- house to the amount of his contribution. Let a distributor or clerk who has no interest in the matter be employed at a salary to deliver to the contributors to the extent of their credit, who will also keep a set of books. When the goods are stored, let the price be marked, including in it the first cost, commission, transportation, cost of storage, distribution, and compensation of directors as previously agreed upon. Or let an association of traders and manufac- turers furnish the goods and receive the produce, STOCK OPERATIONS. 121 and thus save the agency of " middle men." Something like this established among the indus- trial classes will save to them the profits that now go to enrich a class of non-producers. Where a remedy exists, let it be applied. But the grand remedy lies in the regulation and protec- tion of natural rights. The free exercise of these will secure to all the greatest good, measured only by the capacity of the peojjle. In connection with this subject, it would be proper to notice the monopoly of the press. This is the worst of all monopolies, not only because it prevents the publication of journals on small capital, but because intelligence is monopolized. The power of the press is everywhere acknowl- edged. If devoted to the interests and Avelfare of the whole, its power for good is inmieasurable ; and no less the evil if given to the service of cor- porate power and associated capital in the hands of the few. In this, as well as in other cases, large cai)ital can only compete with large capital ; but in this, the increase of capital offers peculiar facilities. The supply of published matter is in- creased without a corresponding outlay of expen- diture. Thus the second thousand copies of a paper is attended with only the additional cost of paper, pi-ess-work, and the distribution. In case of fifty thousand copies, dividing the whole cost G 122 THE NEW REPUBLIC. by that number, the cost of one tliousand would be much less proportionally than could be af- forded for a single thousand copies. So the monopoly is made nuich easier than that of other enterprises. In addition to this, the press caters to selfish interests, and is effectually controlled in the interests of the oligarchy, to monopolize the intelligence of the country and shape it so as to control public sentiment. We offer the follow- ing, copied from an Eastern paper, which will ex- plain itself : " The real truth coucerning the capitalistic press of America was uttered by a prominent New York journalist at a press dinner a short time since. The reunion on that occasion was of men who write and do the real work on the papers — the drudges. When the hackneyed and ridiculous toast, ' The Independent Press,' was proposed, the j jurnalist referred to, being called on to respond, said he did not wish to do so, but the company in- sisted upon it with loud acclamations. He finally arose and said : ' There is no such a thing in Amer- ica as an independent press, unless it is out in country towns. You are all slaves. You know it, and I know it. There is not one of you who dares to express an honest opinion. If you expressed it, you would know beforehand that it would never appear in print. I am paid $150 for keeping hon- est opinions out of the paper I am connected with. Others of you are paid similar salaries for doing similar things. If I should allow honest opinions STOCK OPERATIONS. 123 to be printed in one issue of my paper, I would be like Othello before twenty-four hours : my occupa- tion would be gone. " ' The man who would be so foolish as to write honest oj)iuions would be out on the street hunting for another job. The business of a New York journalist is to distort the truth, to lie outright, to pervert, to villify, to fawn at the feet of Mammon, and to sell his country and his race for his daily bread, or for what is about the same — his sal- ary. You know this, and I know it; and what foolery to be toasting an "Independent Press"! We are the tools and vassals of rich men behind the scenes. We are jumping-jacks. They pull the string and we dance. Our time, our talents, our lives, our possibilities, are all the property of other men. We are intellectual pj'ostitutes.'' "The bloom of sorrowful conviction fell upon the company, and the over-truthful journalist took his seat in profound silence." The control of telegraphic communication in connection with the press places journalism be- yond the control of the people. In this way public sentiment is swayed in spite of all efforts to prevent it. Smaller enterprises are shut out because they cannot afford to publish at the rates of large es- tablishments. Tims the press, a power of incal- culable influence, aided by the telegraph, is made the instrument of tyranny and oppression. What is the remedy for this great monopoly ? Patronize ])ublications that enlighten the people 124 THE NEW REPUBLIC. and advocate their interests, that fearlessly dis- cuss all questions connected with human welfare. Let the subscription lists of such papers be in- creased to tens and hundreds of thousands. Then they could be furnished much cheaper and become more efficient. Do the peo})le consider that by supporting the subsidized press they furnish the weapons by which they are robbed, and bare their necks for the master's collar ? Is it possible that they cannot see this ? The people's will, intelligence, and energy must combat the corporations' capital ; and thus by united effort the monopoly of the press will be destroyed. NATURAL RIGHTS CONSIDERED. 125 CHAPTER IX. NATURAL RIGHTS CONSIDERED. "If I'm designed yon lordling's slave — By Nature's law designed — "Why was an independent wish E'er planted in my mind? If not, why am I subject to His cruelty and scorn? Or, why has man the will and power To make his fellow mourn?" Natural rights being founded on the neces- sities and requirements of life, and the sole and legitimate objects of popular government being their regulation and protection, it is proposed here to consider them in their relation to such government. The right of personal liberty has been so thoroughly discussed and appreciated that little requires to be said in regard to it. The love of liberty is so intense that its protection is one of the first provisions of civilized life. The machinations of ambitious men have secured schemes for the accomplishment of their pur- poses in absorbing the fruits of labor, and the personal liberty of the wealth-producer is more favorable for that. Moreover, the interests of 126 THE NEW REPUBLIC. such men would rather suffer than otherwise by the abridgnient of personal liberty. More profit can be realized by the labor of those whose means of life are controlled than those in whom the em- ployer has the right of property. The wealth produced by labor is the object sought, and the poverty of the wealth-producer is the condition that best serves their purposes. Therefore it is in the right to the means of life we find the subject under consideration. 1. Right of Land Tenure. It is from the soil that all physical sustenance is derived ; and as we are constantly consum- ing, we must as constantly replenish. Every breath we exhale, every muscle we move, every thought we think, is at the expense of consumed value, and requires as constant a supply. Land is the all-sufficient source from which these sup- plies are derived ; therefore the occupancy and use of the soil becomes a necessity in the pro- duction for consumption. The value of land, tlien, consists in its power to supply the demand for the consumption of values. As all have a claim to these values, based on the necessities of life, it follows that the right to produce tliem, either directly from the land, or indirectly by enhancing the value of NATURAL RIGHTS CONSIDERED. 127 its raw productions by manufacture, is equal to such claim. In general terms : The right to live carries with it the right to the means of life ; the means of life are derived from the land ; therefore the right to the land, to those who desire to occupy and use it, is equal to the right to live. The regulation and protection of this right is one of the essential and most important functions of government, and indispensable to the freedom and equality of the peoplQ. The land of a country belongs to the people of that country, and it is the duty of the govern- ment to secure to all its citizens its fullest possi- ble benefits. Land monopoly is robbery; though under the forms and sanctions of law, and ratified by the decisions of courts, and established by cus- tom grown gray with age, still it is robbery. All the edicts of autocrats, the bulls of popes, the power of legislatures, and the authority of courts cannot make a wrong right nor a right wrong ; and although untold millions have been impov- erished and enslaved by land monopoly, it is no less bitter on that account. This evil grows as population increases, and it must inevitably result in oppression and despotism, landlordism and serf- dom. As population increases, the value of the land increases just in proportion as the increase 128 THE NEW RErUBLIC. of demand gives increased value to supplies. Both the cultivated and wild lands of this coun- try are rapidly going into the hands of monop- olists, who are thus laying the foundation for absolute despotism. The family is the foundation of society, the fountain of virtue, and the basis of government ; and the character of that society and government will depend very largely upon the permanence and ownership of the homes of the people. If owned by the occupants, every inducement to improve and beautify it is given ; if rented, neg- lect of both is the rule. The former conduces to sobriety, industry, and social improvement ; the latter to recklessness and disorder. These con- ditions materially affect the character of the gov- ernment. The rental generally takes from the tenant all his net jjrofits, which has the effect to discourage and impoverish — conditions incompat- ible with good government. The rents so de- manded go to eni'ich idleness, build up class distinctions, and by destroying equality make republican government impossible. Therefore, a radical change in the system of land tenures is an imperative and absolute ne- cessity. Those who live on the land must own it, and those who own it must cultivate it. There is no more justice or propriety in withholding NATURAL RIGHTS CONSIDERED. 129 land from others for use, or demanding pay for the use of it, than there is for withholdinof sun- light or air ; the only difference being that the one can be appropriated and the others cannot. It is given for the support of all, and not for speculation or the upbuilding of power. Our fathers sought to avoid the evils of land monopoly by proscribing primogeniture and en- tails ; but corporations have accumuluted its millions where primogeniture has preserved its thousands. B. S. Heath, of Chicago, has given a clear and forcible exposition of this subject. He says : "Our fathers recognized this laAv (primogeni- ture), and supposed they had guarded against its abuse and violation by providing equal distribution of estates among the heirs of deceased persons. "No accumulation of wealth, however large, long survives its owner, if left free from legal restraints. It was the boast of our ])eople that all were equal before the law, and that the prize of wealth was the reward of the most industrious and enterprising. As a rule, the heirs of wealth soon squander their patrimony. They were the autumn frosts which caused the leaves of the summer's growth to fall back to enrich the labor soil, to be again gathered up by the resolute and ambitious sons of poverty. As a rule, the rich men were the ' self-made men.' "In this way the wealth accumulations of each generation fall like the dews of heaven upon the toilers of the next; and thus social conditions were equalized. Consequently there were few paupers 6* 130 THE NEW REPUBLIC. and fewer millionaires. Comparative equality of social conditions formed a deep and permanent foundation for a just and permanent government, equable laws, and purity of administration The productive forces of society consisted of muscle and bi-ain. " Since that time great changes have taken place. Occult forces, never dreamed of, have supplanted skill and muscle. A ton of coal and a hogshead of water will do the work of a hundred men. The steam-horse and his train of a hundred tons fly like meteors from town to town and from ocean to ocean. The lightnings have been harnessed to the car of thought, and messages are flashed over the continent and across the ocean sooner than the post-boy of a century ago could saddle his horse. Our houses are warmed and lighted and the motive power of the nation's manufactures and commerce are supplied from the storehouses of nature, which were locked against the generation of fifty years ago. These have been developed outside the Con- stitution. To handle and control them a new class of persons, unknown to the framers of our govern- ment, have been created. Corporations instead of 77ien have come to the front. Upon these new ele- ments and forces incorporated greed and avarice have seized, as the Norman conqueror seized upon the wealth resources of Britain, and upon these a new empire has been established in the land of the free outside of the Constitution and the people. " Upon them a new feudal system has been inau- gurated and a new law of primogeniture established. Corporations are substitutes for dukedoms, baronies, and lordships, and the estates of this new feudalism are as effectually immortalized by government charters as were their prototypes by the Magna Charta. And the perpetuation of these estates, NATURAL RIGHTS CONSIDERED. 131 with their increasing annual accumulations from the labor soil, will as su-'ely impoverish, degrade, and enslave American society as the same causes have exhausted the manhood of England, as their l^ossessions and capacity for absorption are greater. "Our Constitution must be enlarged so as to em- brace these monopolies and bring them into subjec- tion to the people's interests, or they will root out the Constitution and establish an aristocracy upon the ruins of liberty and constitutional government." It is affirmed, and will be clearly shown in these pages, that the condition so forcibly described above already exists. It is only the comparative sparseness of population that prevents the devel- opment of a system even worse than that cf Irish landlordism ; for had the territorial limits not been enlarged, a condition worse than Eux'opean peasantry would have overtaken us long ago. These limits are reached, or nearly so ; and as the land is rapidly going into a few hands, the power that monopoly gives will crush out the liberties of the people; for he who owns the land by the authority of our land laws owns and con- trols those who live upon it, provided they can- not get off, and the press of population will soon prevent them. The value of land consists in its power to sup- ply the demands of consumption, and a popula- tion to create such demand. Without population, land of the greatest fertility and with all the appurtenances of natural resources would be 132 THE NEW REPUBLIC. totally valueless, and justice demands that they who create it should have and enjoy it; but under our laws of land tenure, that value goes to the monopolizers of the land without their adding anything to its value. If all who desire to oc- cupy and use the land could do so, that value would go to them. Thus equality of conditions growing out of equality of rights would secure freedom and prosperity to the people. The right to hold the land and secure a permanent title to it should be most carefully guarded, and should descend by equal inheri- tance by legal })rovisions. The law of primogeni- ture and entail are virtually in foi'ce, since the owner of land can devise, by gift or otherwise, his entire possessions to one person and secure perpetuity by corporate charter. The rights of future generations should be protected as well as the living. Monopoly of land gives to the holders of it the power to levy contributions upon the cultiva- tors of it ; which power is granted by usurped rights in direct violation of the law of justice. It is equally as unjust to demand tribute for the use of land as to lay a tribute on the personal service of another for private gain. Land is given for the use of all : it is the product of none ; and as all need its products, all are equally entitled to the right to produce them. FINANCE. 133 CHAl'TER X. NATURAL RIGHTS CONSIDERED (CONTINUED). FINANCE. " The simplest and most jierfect form of currency is that ■wliicli represents nothing but transferable debt, and of wliich the material is of no intrinsic value, such as pai^er. It is only when states have reached a high degree of civilization that they adopt this perfect form; before they attain that, the material of it entirely consists of something which has an intrinsic value, such as gold or silver."— J/acfeod. The exchange of values is a necessity of civil- ized nations, and requires a medium of currency to effect such exchange. This medium is money. It is a token or representative of value based upon the wealth of the nation, and by the authority of the government declared a legal tender for all debts, public and private. The issue of such money and the control of its vol- ume in circulation are natural rights, the free use and exercise of which are the indispensable requisites of republican government. The question of finance is one of pressing and vital importance to the people of a free govern- ment. The principles involved in it and their application to the best uses of life must be clearly understood. 134 THE NEW REPUBLIC. Finance is one of the chief factors in political economy, and hirgely governs the distribution of wealth equally, and thus'*erves its true purpose, or unequally, and thus overthrows republican government, as the people are wise or unwise. Equal distribution depends on equal exchange, which is the sole function of money. By it "wealth is secured to the producers of it for their enjoyment and benefit, resulting in peace, plenty, and happiness. By unequal distribution, millionaires and paupers are made, monopolies built up to rob and oppress, thereby creating political inequalities, the legitimate outcome of Avhich is the relation of rulers and ruled, master and slave. Because of its vast importance, it has been controlled in the interest of the few who have managed to secure its ])ower to themselves. They have clothed it in mystery and woven around it such an intricate network of theories and speculations that the people despair of com- prehending its nature and functions, thus secur- ing to those few its control for their own benefit. Thi'ough the monstrous robbery of banking sys- tems, millions upon millions have been drawn from industry to enrich idleness ; and the people tolerate this because they do not understand the means by Avhich it is done. FINANCE. 135 Had the people fully understood this impor- tant subject, they would never have been cursed with a bonded debt ; yv'ith banking corporations cstablitshed for no otl^^'r purpose than individual aggrandizement ; with a restricted basis for money, enabling greedy and unscrupulons spec- ulators to control its volume, and thus take ad- vantage of the necessities of industry, to levy contributions upon it under the name of interest for the privilege of using it ; with the stagnation of business and the ruin of many industrial enter- prises ; and many other evils consequent upon a false and defective monetary system, as the inev- itable and calamitous results to the people. As an instrument of exchange, it has no intrin- sic value. It being only a legal power, there was no necessity of creating a debt, for money is simply a legal device for exchanging one com- modity for another, or a service for a commodity, by which the holder of it can at any time or place within the jurisdiction of the government demand any commodity within the circle of ex- change, or service seeking compensation. Since money has for its sole and legitimate ob- ject and function the ecpial exchange of values, whereby equal distribution is effected, every wealth-producer could by such exchange retain and enjoy the full value of the wealth he pro- 136 THE NEW REPUBLIC. duced in any and every commodity lie needs or desires. No one could become excessively rich, for he could not accumul.ate by exchanges — for the}^ would be equal ; anc^none need be poor or dejjendent, for, based upon the equality of ex- change, the race for wealth would be free and open for all. To show the benefits of a true monetary sys- tem and the evils of a false one, and the power of money corporations to rob and enslave the people, the following definitions and illustrations will suffice : Market value is based on intrinsic or real val- ue, and is determined by tiie law of supply and demand, and is simply the money expression [price] of such value. The variations of supply, the demand remaining fixed, or the variations of demand, the supply remaining fixed — such variations determining the price — are expressed in money ; and as money represents value, as long as the volume of money remains fixed ag- ffreo-ate values remain unchanged. If supplv increases, prices go down just to that point that any given quantity will amount to the same money value. Thus, if the money volume be one million dollars, and all commodity values one million bushels of wheat, the price will be one dollar a bushel ; if the supply of the commodity FINANCE. 137 is doubled, the value it represents (one million dollars) remaining fixed, the price is reduced to that point that the given quantity will amount to the same money value — that is, two million of bushels at half a dollar a bushel just equals one million at one dollar a bushel. The converse is equally true : the supply reduced one half, the price will be two dollars a bushel. In a season favorable for production, the increased supply will bring only the same money value ; the low price is supplemented by increase of commodities. In a season unfavorable, the diminished supply will bring the same money value ; because it will be supplemented by high prices. Free from all modifying conditions, this is the law of market values. Fluctuations of supply and demand are in a great measure beyond hu- man control ; but by the increase in the power of production, as science and the arts advance, and facilities for transportation increase, these fluctu- ations can be materially controlled. On the other hand, the variations in the vol- ume of money affects prices as effectually ; and this volume is wholly under human control ; for so long as it is uniform, its representative value remains fixed, but any change in volume carries with it a corresponding change in value. Thus, in the illustration above given, doubling the vol- 138 THE NEW REPUBLIC. ume of money would reduce its value, as ex- pressed in units, to one half, and the money expression in wheat would be two dollars a bushel ; reducing the volume to one half would double its unit value, and wheat would be half a dollar a bushel. By changing its volume we change its unit value; and since prices are ex- pressed in units of value, market price is changed to correspond with changed value of the unit, and though aggregate values are not affected, prices are, which enable those who control the money volume to take advantage of the fluctua- tions they create. The evils arise from the unsteady and fluctuat- ing volume of money, whereby prices, which are money expressions of value, change without change of supply of commodities. Prices are thus controlled by those who control the volume of money, thus leaving the wealth-producer at the mercy of the money-changer. Since the unit value of money increases as the volume diminishes, and debts are estimated in units of value, their value increases in propor- tion as the volume is reduced. If A contracts a debt when tlie volume of money is $50 per capita, and the volume is reduced to |25 per cap- ita, the value of his debt is doubled; if it would require a thousand bushels of wheat to FINAXCE. 139 pay it at the time lie contracted it, upon a change of volume, as above noticed, it would require two thousand bushels, the supply of commodities remaining the same. The total amount of debts in the United States — public and private — is over twenty billions, most of which was contracted when the volume :of money was double its present volume. Be- sides intei'est, it will cost the debtors nearly double that amount to pay their debts. With an adequate volume of money, prices are firm and steady (for deuiand is very nearly uniform from year to year), i nd industry is stim- ulated and encouraged, a^^l wealth increases. Diminish the volume, credit for a time takes the plac.T of money, and business goes on for a while ; bu*, :bligations must be met, money increases in va¥u' as it diminishes in volume, and debts in- cre(ist. in the same proportion. Prices go down, the demand for labor diminishes, industi'y lan- guishes, and thus what the wealth-producers lose the money-changers gain. After debts have been paid and balances ad- justed on the basis of increased money value, the volume is inci'eased ; prices go up, business is revived, enterprises are extended, and every- thing begins to prosper, and will continue so long as the volume of money keeps up. Another con- 140 TflE NEW REPUBLIC. tr.iction, and the same evil results to the people follow. The control of supplies — that is, power of production — is in a great measure dependent on the facilities afforded by an adequate volume of money ; but as a rule, price is controlled by the volume of money and determines the amount of values that go to the money-changers, or that ■which remains in the hands of those who pro- duce it. If the law declares that money shall be stamped on only one material, and that material limited in quantity, it can be controlled by individuals and corporations, and tJuis labor and all its products will be controlled ^-oivv its net profits go to them ; but if the material Uj^jon which it is stamped be abundant and merely nominal in value, the vol- ume of money can at all times be adjusted tc^{,vie requirements of the industrial interests of th» |(ia- tion, and controlled by the people for their use and benefit. The first theory of creating money (that of intrinsic value) is open to several serious and one fatal objection. Among the serious ones are tlie limited supply of the material, the cost of its production, and tlie destruction of its com- modity value when coined into money. Its fatal objection consists in the power it has to measure all values — by representing them — thus giving FIXAXCE. 141 its holders the command of all values, and con- trolling the most important function of govern- ment. " It may be truly and incontrovertibly said that the power of money over the affairs of enterprise and labor is omnipotent ; and that they who con- trol the money of a people, control their destinies as surely and irresistibly as the sun controls the movements of the planets of tlie solar system. For those who control the character of people's money thereby have it in their power to fix the price of all kinds of property and labor at any conceivable rate, and to change the rates or prices from time to time, as their private interests dictate." — Bryant on Moneij. This power of law ves^-.tl in corporations is despotism. Such is the law — a monetary sys- tem based on the " precious metals," that enable a f.jw to control the many and hold the entire pv*luctive interests of the people in their hands. And the people profess to be free, pretend they have a government founded on their natural rights, and that they are in the full and free enjoyment of them ! " It is such considerations as these," says the same writer, " coupled with the knowledge his- tory gives us of ' man's inhumanity to man,' that forces us to acknowledge that it is unstates- manlike, unjust, and even inhuman to have so despotic a power as that whicii resides in and 142 riii: xi:w hepublic. flows from the quantity of the people's money, to any principle based on mere chance like the dis- covery or exhaustion of gold and silver mines, or to the justice of any body of men, no matter what their pretensions may be to intelligence, respectability, or honor. It is a question of gov- ernment, not a whit less fundamental and impor- tant than that of the liberties of the people." The true method for the exchange of values is by a legal instrument, the creature of law, based upon the wealth and credit of the nation and the authority of the government. It expresses three powers, and only three : first, it must represent the valuc^^-jf all exchangeable com- modities : this is ito ^'Siwer to exchange values ; second, it must bear upon its face the unit of value : this is its power to estimate and compute values ; third, to provide for time-transactionri<it must be receivable for all debts and dues, pi&blic and private. By this legal-tender power, it pro- tects the debtor from the avarice and tyranny of the creditor. It represents value, therefore it should be wherever value is, either in labor or its products. It is a universal acknowledgment of value given, and a universal willingness to accept it for any purchasable tiling or the can- cellation of any pecuniary obligation. So those who desire it can readily exchange any exchange- FIXAXCE. 143 able value they desire for it ; those who hold it can command any service or cotnniodity in the market, transfer or convert values into other values, and protect tlieraselves from all obligations to their financial creditors. Value belongs to those who produce it with their own means. All expend values in con- sumption, whether they earn them or not ; con- sequently, those who do not produce must subsist on those who do ; for since justice requires equalitij of exclianrje., there can be no accumula- tion by the instrument of exchange ; therefore, he who consumes without in some way producing value is an object of char'ty, a beggar, a thief, or a robber. To effect 'tl^^ fair and equal ex- change of values is the sole purpose and legiti- ma-e function of money. It possesses no intrinsic var'e ; therefore, to receive pay for its use would be like receiving pay for the use of any other legal power that does not possess intrinsic value. Without going into details to show that our exchanges through the agency of money are unfair, it is only necessary to point to the fact that producers, as a class, are poor, and those who jiroduce nothing, but control the medium of exchange (money), are as a class wealthy. All the money employed in the industrial pursuits of the country is borrowed at a rate of interest 144 THE NEAV REPUBLIC. far above tlte power to increase net wealth by productive labor. This condition of things must in the end inipoveri.'?h the wealth-producers. AVe cannot maintain free government with our present financial system, for such government is founded on political equality, and this cannot ex- ist where wealth is accumulated in the hands of the few. Where there is great wealth there must be great poverty. Palaces and hovels, millionaires and paupers, masters and slaves, are the inevitable condition of the exercise of vested powers granted to cor- porations by which the volume of money is con- trolled. Such wealth builds up and fosters aristocracy ; creates lords and serfs, proud and haughty rulers, and meek and submissive slaves. "Money," says Professor Bonamy Price,, an acknowledged authority in political economy,'^ is the tool of exchange, the instrument of obtaining for its present possessor some commodity or ser- vice which is desired. It derives its power from the law, and is not dependent on any kind of ma- terial." The following illustration will show the power of law to make money : " Law can make that money which costs little to produce it immensely more valuable than that which was produced at a great outlay of labor. Law can FINANCE. 145 give a paper dollar a hundred or a thousand times greater value or purchasing power than a gold or other kind of dollar, in despite of the fact that the gold dollar cost perhaps a hundred times as much as the paper dollar. One might term this the mir- acle of law, since the same is not true of anything else produced by man. This truth arises entirely from the fact practically to regulate the quantity of money issued or permitted to circulate ; and from the further fact, the quality of any one or several kinds of money is utterly the creature of law — the law makes it a full or restricted legal tender, or not a legal tender at all. We can illustrate this fact regarding the principles of money by supposing the United States were to issue say fifty millions of paper dollars, and make them the only legal tender to pay any tax or debt due the government, and say five hundred millions of silver dollars, and make them the only legal money to pay private debts due from one person to another, and say one hundred millions of gold dollars which are not a If .gal tender for any purpose whatever, leaving the ijiople free to acceptor reject them just as they j(>>e^ased. What would be the result of this action C'^Our government? Sinijlythis: the law of sup- ply and demand would .^it once assert itself, and work in combinatic with what the law had de- creed regarding t^ ^ *^ioney whereby there had been created three ki^"^^ lud three qualities of money. Whereas, if the law I'egarding each had been the same, there would have been but one kind and one quality, even if it were made of a hundred different materials. As every tax or debt due to the gov- ernment would have to be paid in paper dollars, thereby creating an enormous demand, which could only be met by the small supply of fifty millions of 7 146 THE ^'EW REPUBLIC. paper dollars, they would have a very high premium over the gold or silver dollars. But one thing is obvious and certain : those who could gtt control of the paper dollars would exact any price they pleased for them. The supply of silver dollars, being adequate for the demand for them in con- ducting the exchanges of the country, Ave may sup- pose no premium could be exacted for them. But the gold dollars, not being money at all — for noth- ing is money save that wliich is made a legal tender in payment of debts — would certainly fall to a dis- count, the amount of which would be fixed by the loss and expense necessary in case of expoi'ting them for recoinage into other money of any nation using gold for money. "I challenge any two political economists of world-wide reputation to publicly deny over their own names but what such would be the result ??6- cessan7_y flowing u]>on such action on the part of the government of the United States or any other nation. None will dare to do it, since such an act^ would brand them among all scientists as infamous scoun- drels who have accepted a bribe and degraCj^d themselves to the level of newspaper editors ^ei-l other hirelings who chami'ion lies of that character against the truth and agai\ist the intei'ests of man- kind."—// H. Bryant. '^^ The above illustration sh^J;,,^ how, during the Civil War, gold went up so high — at one time to 285. It was made by law the only money, with the exception presently to be noted, that was a full Ieo;al tender for all government debts and dues ; and by Its scarcity it was hoarded by bank- ers, brokers, and speculators, who caused the FINANCE. 147 currency of the country to be shorn of its power to pay government dues. Bonds were issued in large quantities and pur- posely depreciated and made purchasable dollar for dollar in this inferior kind of money. The law also made this paper currency, which was inferior to gold, convertible into bonds when they were cheap, and the debts due to the gov- ernment payable only in gold when gold was dear, so as to enable the government to pay the interest on the bonds in gold, and tlius it was gathered back into the hands of the money lords. After the bonds had advanced in value and had been bought up with the paper currency pur- posely made an inferior money, they were then destroyed, thus converting the people's money into an interest-hearing debt to the amount of twelve h^'.ndred millions of dollars. ,£put the first issue of the paper currency to the amount of sixty millions was a full legal tender, and performed all the functions of gold and kept at par with it durinr. all its fluctuations. So we see that money is ^j^olely a creature of the law, and its purchasing power, its ability to exchange values, (lepends on the quality and quantity in circulation. Its quality is its legal power, audits quantity in circulation determines its value. Since a change of volume does not affect the 148 THE NEW REPUBLIC. aggregate of values, but the value of the money, it is easy to make it dear and prices cheap by simply changing the relation of quantities. This power to regulate prices and keep them uniform determines the production and distribution of wealth, and consequently the freedom, pros- perity, and happiness of the people ; or if con- trolled by corporate power vested by law, then popular government is at an end. Webster said, at the foot of Bunker Hill, "The freest government cannot long endure where the tendency of the law is to create a rapid accumulation of property in the hands of the few and to render the masses poor and de- pendent." The result of all this is thus summed up in the language of C. W. Stanton : '■ Let us look back a few years. In 1862, the two exceptions in the Legal-Tender Act caused the gre<rj- backs to depreciate to forty cents on the dollar, J^J this act enabled the Shylocks to reap a harvest of $700,500,000 at the expense of the farmers and in- dustries of the country. Again, in 1863, the Na- tional Banking Act was passed, creating the most colossal money oligarcliy and monopoly that ever damned a nation since the fouif nation of the world. Li 186G wefind the Contraction* Act, whict reduced our currency from ^1,800,000,000 to $700,000,000. This act prostrated every industry, paralyzed every enterprise, and bankrupted over a hundred thousand business men and firms, throwing labor out of em- ployment, filling the country with tramps and crim- riNANCE. 149 inals, and destroying over half the value of the national wealth. Let us turn over a leaf to 18G9. We find the Ci-edit-Strengthening Act, changing the 5.20 bonds from currency (lawful money) to coin, giving hundreds of millions of dollars to the bond- holders and taking it from the farmers and laborers of the nation, and saddling on us an immortalized burden of debt and interest. Another leaf, and we find the Refunding Act of 1870, perpetuating the public debt, instead of paying it by refunding the 5.20's into coin bonds payable at the option of the United States. Then comes the Demonetiza- tion Act of 1873, depriving us of the use of silver to pay the coin obligations they have saddled upon us, establishing the single gold basis, and adding 40 per cent to the value of all money obligations, and 40 per cent to the debt burdens of the people. " One leaf more. Look at the work of 1875, and we will have all we can digest at one time. What do we find ? The Redemption Act, authorizing the redemption, retirement, and actual loss to the pro- ducers of wealth of over 1418,000,000 of legal tender and fractional currency, for no other pur- pose than to make room for the national bank cur- rency, thus giving the bondholders control of our circulating medium, with power to iuflate or con- tract it at pleasure, to fix values on our produce and our homes — in short, to hold the destinies of this country in their Iron grasp. We have already paid the national banking corporations $1,800,000,- 000 for the special privilege of furnishing the cur- rency for us, and yet no one Avill claim that it serves the purpose of money better than the legal- tender greenbacks that cost the people nothing; yet the greenbacks were withdrawn and interest- bearing bonds substituted — for what? — to create 150 THE NEW REPUBLIC. and sustain a i:»erpetual basis for national banks and rob the people of thousands of dollars annu- ally. Farmers and laborers, will you longer bow down and worship this Juggernaut, or voluntarily throw yourselves under its ponderous wheels, or Btand idly by while it grinds out the last drop of blood, the life of the nation? Every thinking farmer and laborer feels that there is something wrong, and unless we right these wrongs our national liberty will be lost, and we go down into history, like Greece and Rome, our column broken." BANKING SYSTEM. 151 CHAPTER XI. NATURAL RIGHTS COJfSIDERED (CONTINUED^ FINANCE. — BANKING SYSTEM. " O power of Greed clothed in Deception's garb .' To drain the wealth that labor gives, Assumes the Law's majestic form, And on the toils of others lives." The limited supply of gold and silver requires the currency to be supplemented by credit. To secure the benefits of credit to the money-deal- ers, banks of issue are instituted. Banks are chartered in order to furnish the people with a public representative of value. If this were their real purpose, such representative of value should be issued and controlled by the General Government, and in such volume as to dispense with the necessity of credit. But credit is a source of wealth to the money-dealers, and banks are the machinery by which that credit is utilized. M(;;ney is said to bear such and such a rate of interest ; it is the obligation given for the use of monoy that bears the interest ; the debtor pays intei'ee-c on his debt, that is, he is compelled to pay a petlalty for being a debtor, which goes to the credit who receives a premium for the priv- 152 THE NEW REPUBLIC. ilege of taking from the debtor that which does not belong to him. The secret of success of banking consists in the debtor receiving interest on his debts. The following, from the " American Sentry," presents the matter clearly, thus : " The ' Sentry ' briefly states the facts herein- after mentioned, in order to bring them pointedly before the minds of its readers, and earnestly asks that each will carefully weigh their import in their bearing upon the cause of equal justice to all, the welfare of our people, and the perpetuity of our republic. " Bank notes when issued simply prove that the corporation issuing them owes the holder thereof, and is indebted to the amount represented by such notes " When a bank loans its notes and collects in- terest therefor, it charges and receives interest on what it owes. " Laws that either directly or indirectly compel the people to receive and use as money the evi- dences of corporate indebtedness, for the benefit of corporations, as in the case of national-bank-note issues, are grossly despotic, oppressive, and wicked, and are of necessity the deadly foes of the people's rights. "By authorizing banks to issue their notes for use as money, and destroying the people's money — greenbacks and other Treasury notes — to such an extent that there was not enough of them left to carry forward the business of the country. Congress compels the people to have recourse to and use bank notes as money, and by that cii umlocution to pay interest to banks on what bank; re. BANKING SYSTEM. 153 " In order to more effectually force the masses to take and use as money the bits of paper that simply represent the debts of bank corporations, and thus become the slaves of and pay tribute to them, Congress, by a law printed upon the back of all national bank notes, compels their acceptance ' for all salaries and other debts and demands owing by the United States to individuals, corporations, and as- sociations within the United States, except interest on j)ublic debt.' So, when government pays inter- est to banks on the bonds they own, it cannot com- pel them to receive their own notes in payment of such interest, although the banks' notes are good enough money for the payments by government of all but the bondholders' claims. " Monstrous and degrading as the fact is, the American jjeople are tamely submitting to the com- pulsory use by them as money of bits of paper that are nothing but proofs of corporations' debts, and for that privilege, if it can be called such, are cheer- fully paying to national banks interest on what the banks owe, as well as on the bonds they own. Do the people realize that to enable corporations to filch from them interest on their own debts. Congress has prostituted its trust, and by law has made cor- porations ' notes a legal tender for the payment of debts and dues by the government, in order to force the use of such notes as money? "No wonder that these despotic corporations re- gard a system that enables them to extort interest on their debts from the people as ' the best bank- ing system the world ever saw.' What despot could ask for more or desire more willing, abject slaves than the American people are to national banks?" 7* 154 THE NEW REPUBLIC. But this is not ull. " Causes," says Kellogg, " are felt to be in operation which the people can- not comprehend — the changes in market value of property and in the prices of labor are ac- counted for by the abundance or scarcity of money ; but why money is scarce at one time and abundant at another is to the great body of the people utterly unknown." The business of the country is chiefly depend- ent on comparatively a few individuals, vested with power to issue bank notes. It is supposed that banks are instituted for public use, and that a large capital is required to operate them ; but in the case of national banks, the capital in- vested is capital already invested whose stocks are at a liigh premium in the market; so these bankers receive profits on their credits as well as on their debts. But they are allowed to issue more than their capital invested. A privilege is granted by the government to a corporation to issue bank notes bearing no interest, and exchange them for indorsed notes of the people bearing interest ; and in this way operate largely on a fictitious capital. A bank with a capital of $50,000 issues |150,000 in bank notes, for which interest is charged. At 7 ^jer cent, an annual income of 7,000 would he realized upon a purely fictitious capital. BANKING SYSTEM. 155 This method of supplying the people with money is claimed to be both just and safe ! It is not necessary to discuss the justice of such a method. A currency that the government is in duty bound to supply to the full requirements of business and trade is scantily supplied by the banks, which by the necessity of a medium of exchange is made to take the place of money, and a rate of interest charged above the net profits of labor. It is not necessary to show by this operation who are enriched and who are im- poverished. Before the national banking system was estab- lished, banks were established by the authority of State charters throughout all the States, in some of which the wildest speculations were cai'- ried on. In 1849 the Legislature of Connecticut created a commission to report upon the banks of that State. An extract of that report is here presented. " By the foregoing table it will be seen that the average amount of specie held by the banks in the State of Connecticut for twelve years was $178,719, while the a^-erage amount of their loans to the public during the same period was $11,069,457, more than twenty-four and one-third times as much money as the banks had specie. The annual inter- est on $11,609,457 was $700,197. If they could have loaned only their specie, the interest would have amounted to but $28,723. The banks gained 156 THE NEW REPUBLIC. from the public annually, $071,444 above the inter- est on their sjoecie, and in the twelve years |8,057,- 328. They collected this interest in advance, and made their dividends half-yearly to their stock- holders ; therefore it is proper to compound this in- terest half-yearly, which would swell their gains to nearly $12,000,000, that is to say, $1,000,000 inter- est annually. These were actual gains, as much realized by these banks as if they had produced and sold $700,167 worth of agricultural products in each year." — Kellogg'' s New Monetary System, p. 204. It would be interesting to Inquire what the people of Connecticut received in return for the million dollars they paid to the banks. The nat- ural rights of the people demand a volume of money to meet all the requirements of industry and trade, to go into circulation in obedience to the demand for it in exchanging values, and a tribute levied upon it is sheer robbery, no less such because clothed in legal raiment. Thus banks are institutions establislied by law for the benefit of the few at the expense of the many, vested in corporations to legalize robbery ! The following, from the pen of T. A. Bland, M. D., is very appropriate here : "Banks are foes to justice and equality always. They sent their coin to Europe or locked it in their vaults just at the time the government most needed it. They then suspended payment on their notes, which of course caused them to depreciate rapidly. BANKING SYSTEM. 157 These deijreciated promises to pay were offered to the government on a par basis, at six per cent in- terest in limited amount. Secretary Chase soon discovered that the banks were broken reeds. He asked Congress to anthorize the issue of Treasury notes. It was done. The bankers took the alarm. This policy if continued would render the govern- ment and the people independent of the banks. The first issue of greenbacks, 860,000,000, were a full legal tender. They were as good as coin. Then the bankers formed an association, and apj^ointed a committee of seventy-two leading bankei-s, and sent them to Washington to advise Congress on the subject of finances. Under the influences' of this committee, Congress committed what Thaddeus Stevens denounced as a crime against the Ameri- can people. The greenback was demonetized. Of course it depreciated. The next move was to get Congress to pass a National Banking law, and to authorize the sale of government bonds to raise funds' to carry on the war. The bankers bought the bonds with their own depreciated currency and with depreciated greenbacks, dollar for dollar. They then deposited these interest-bearing bonds with the government, and got their face value in currency printed and guaranteed by the govern- ment. The banking ring was now intrenched in the public treasury, with substantially absolute con- trol of the finances of the country; hence, with the power to rob the government and the people at Avill. It still holds the fort, and so strong and rich has it grown, that it controls both the Republican and Democratic parties. It tramples freedom and justice under its feet. It is the most stupendous, the most arrogant, and the most oppressive monop- oly ring that ever existed on this continent. It 158 THE NEW REPUBLIC. must be broken, and the power to issue and control the currency restored to the people, or the repub- lic will perish and liberty die." The national banks, from a capital of 104,213, are able to loan 11,238,286,325. This shows clearly the ability of the banks to do busi- ness on other people's money and furnish a cir- culating medium at the people's expense. TRANSPORTATION. 159 CHAPTER XII. NATURAL RIGHTS CONSIDERED (CONTINUED). — TRANSPORTATION. "All nature smiles in joy serene, In freedom's lioly liglit, But man's unholy love of power Brings on the gloom of night. Insatiate greed inspires his soul, Insatiate lust his heart; Unmeasured wealth by his control Unmeasured powers impart." Transportation and travel have become a necessity in the present stage of civilization, and the interests of society and the welfare of all in- dustries and enterprises depend upon it. The best modes and cheaj)est rates, together with the ownership and control of operating all lines of travel and transportation, are rights inherent in the people. So extensive are these operations, involving such a vast amount of capital, that in the present selfish condition of society they can- not be intrusted to private enterprise with safety to the people. This we say in the light of facts and experience. He must be a very obtuse ob- server who does not see the ominous attitude of railroad corporations, who derive all their privi- 160 THE NEW REPUBLIC. leges and means primarily from the people, and seek to override them and prey upon them. To the reflective observer, who sees this hostile atti- tude and the inevitable conflict that is impending, the subject must be of Intense interest. Through the agency and manipulations of law, corpora- tions arise, increase in power, and multiply in numbers, until the capital associated and consol- idated becomes an irresistible power ; lesser cap- ital, operated by single individuals, yields to its mighty sway, and in all the great enterprises of manufacture, transportation, trade, and com- merce, they rule with an iron hand and impe- rious will. The most alarming feature of this despotic domination Is the manner in which It is done. Unlike the bandit chiefs and piratic crews who seek Immunity by evading the law, they seize upon the citadel of the law itself, or- ganize their forces, and carry on their depreda- tions under the form and In the name of the law and the sanction of the government. This is despotism. In the palmiest days of Italian brig- andage, the people were not robbed so flagrant- ly ; the dliference being their open hostility to the law; but in our case, under the mask and with the sanction of the law. " Of all the tri- umphs of invention, none are more wonderful than those by which the hard-earned gains of TEANSPOKTATIOX. 161 millions are forcibly conveyed to the vaults of robber princes. No business Is more highly or- ganized, more strenuously pursued, more success- fully managed, than the business of robbery." It Is, under all Its elaboration of method, more than robbery. By the slow process of starvation and premature death by overwork, It Is murder. It Is by means of force evolved by heat, and machinery for the reception and distribution of that force, that such vast monopolies are carried on. A ton of coal will evolve a power greater than the combined force of a hundred men. The machinery to operate that force and the coal are not so expensive as a hundred men, and the dif- ference Is In favor of the capitalist. While It consumes comparatively little, It pi'oduces com- paratively much. This double advantage Is in favor of corporate capital; and thus cheap power and labor-saving machinery, by monopolizing the expansive power of heat and the advantage of mechanical contrivances, which are natural forces and advantages, and iv.jjrefore the equal heritage of all, corporations, by tlu c sanction and through the instrumentality of laiv, gather Immense wealth, which Is really and ji^^tly the people's wealth because they produced It. In this way that which siiould be a blessing for all is converted into a curse, controlling the / 162 THE NEW REPUBLIC. market values of commodities by charging ex- tortionate rates for freight, of labor by diminish- ing the demand for it, and the market prices, and thus stagnating industry and reducing the value of land, or rather appropriating its value by appropriating an undue share of its produc- tions. If land will produce a ton of wheat to the acre, and freight is charged four dollars a ton when two is all it costs, then two dollars an acre are unjustly appropriated as often as this is done. And what is the remedy? Let the people fur- nish their own means for transportation. Let the government issue, say 1250,000,000 of money, a full legal tender for all debts public and private, and with it build a railroad along- side of the main trunks of the corporation lines. What would be the result ? First, it would swell the volume of currency, and thus stimulate industry; second, it would furnish em- ployment for at least a hundred thousand men and relieve the pressure of the labor market; third, it would add |250.j]'!/0,000 to the national wealth ; and fourth}, J t would bring these haughty tyrants to feheir'senses, and show them that there is a ^/ower before which they must yield unconditionally. By such means an enterj[>cise compared to which this would be a meri* by-play was carried TRANSPORTATION. 163 on. More than two millions of soldiers were equipped, trained, subsisted, and transported at an expense that would have built every mile of railroad in the country, and contemplated to be built for the next ten years, by the people's money. While this measure would afford an effectual remedy it would do injustice to none. A true republic is a co-operative system in which each citizen is a stockholder and all are entitled to equal benefits ; but as it is, the few gather in the wealth and the people who produce it are impoverished by law. Corporate power granted to individuals is so much of the people's power taken from them : not for the people's good, as they have been led to believe, but to accumulate wealth to override the people and reduce them to a subordinate condition. Let that corporation extend to all; let the wealth be held and enjoyed by those who produce it. As poverty is removed the people are lifted up, made more virtuous, in- telligent, and happy. They require more than food, raiment, and shelter. They require higher development, and time and means for it. They require all the elevating and purifying influences of ajsthetic culture — in a word, to be fully de- veloped, intellectually, morally, aesthetically, and spiritually. In our great centers of civilization 164 THE NEW REPUBLIC. all the extremes of life exist. It is not necessaiy to visit London, or Paris, or even Siberia, to wit- ness scenes of poverty and distress. In our cities, manufacturing districts, and mining localities, are to be found selfishness, crime and cruelty, wealth and wretchedness, pride and poverty. Neither need we go to the isles of the sea for exhibitions of savagism, barbaric ignorance, and enslaving superstition. The soul is sickened at the con- templation of so much misery and degradation where there might be such happiness and pros- perity, so much good where there is so much evil. The great purposes of life are overlooked and lost sight of, and the few sacrifice the many upon the altar of Mammon. This is accomplished through the usurpation of human rights and the monopoly of capital. By the magic of intelli- gence, powers are evoked that have transformed the face of the civilized world — powers that speed the ^'I'oduction of wealth far beyond the dreams of the optimist. One more achievement is due and indispensable to the onward march of civilization, and that is the relegation of this power to the control of the people. The first was achieved in the domain of phys- ical science, the second must be in the domain of mental science ; the one through the agency of physical mechanism, the other must come through TRANSPORTATION. 165 the machineiy of government. This Is the great problem of the age — the utilization of all the natural means of wealth for all the people of a country — this is popular government, equality, justice, fraternity. It demands the full recog- nition of the humblest and most obscure citizen ; it demands justice to all. It requires of each the development and culture of all to their highest capacity. Then justice would be established, tranquillity insured, tlie common defense pro- vided for, the general welfare j^romoted, and the blessings of liberty secured to all, and de- scend as the richest and noblest heritage to pos- terity. Let those who love justice, their fellow-men, and their country be reminded of their duties ; let them aim at and labor to accomplish this greatest, highest, noblest destiny of man. For this the patriot fathers struggled and bled and poured out their most precious treasures. For this the down-trodden millions hope and yearn and pray. For this the noble heroes of the Old World are sacrificing life and treasure. Tlie theme of the poet, the dream of the hu- manitarian, peace, harmony, prosperity, happi- ness — these the full fruition of liberty, justice, equality. Justice and freedom for all — TnE New Republic. 166 THE Nlijy REPUBLIC. This government is not a republic. It is a government of landlords and tenants, of million- aires and paupers, of masters and slaves. It is a government of golden splendor, of pomp and display, and of miserable obscurity ; of purple and fine linen, and debasing rags ; of crime and misery in high places, and misery and crime in low places; with prisons filled and lunatic asy- lums overflowing, crime, insanity, and suicide in- creasing, drunkenness and debauchery sapping the fountain of moral purity, and threatening the overthrow of society and domestic institutions ; — these are the inevitable results of inordinate wealth in the hands of the few. And the people, with the ballot in their hands, suffer such things to be ! It may be objected that the people, or at least a great portion of them, are comparatively free and independent. Grant this. The vital ques- tion is not what we are, but whither are we tending. Twenty years ago our millionaires could be counted not to exceed a score. To-day their enumeration would carry us into thousands. Since the new system of robbery has been per- fected, half a million of people have come into the possession and control of more wealth than the balance of the entire nation. In other words, two per cent of the population hold and control TRANSPORTATION. 167 more wealth than the remaining ninety-eight per cent, and tlie ratio of disproportion is increasing. It is the te7ide7icy to (ihsolute despotism that gives character and importance to this subject. This is the result of corporate power. A cor- poration is a " body politic," organized for the purpose of exercising certain powers not exercis- able by individuals or voluntary associations ; a legal entity separate from personal entity, exer- cising such powers as interfere with and override natural rights. It is a petty kingdom, endowed with perpetuity, created by law for its own ag- grandizement : a usurpation of power for the benefit of the few at the expense of the many. They increase and multiply all over the land, ab- sorbing and controlling all the elements of politi- cal power, whereby the well-being of the people is involved. These combine, confederate, and by utilizing labor-saving machinery in the pro- duction and transportation of wealth, raise up a corporate empire, ruling with an iron hand the toiling, struggling masses of the impoverished and enslaved multitude. And this is our " republic " ! What mockery ! "Why do not the people rise in their might and hurl with contempt and loathing such despotism from its usurped power, and assert their rights as freemen ? 168 THE NEW REPUBLIC. CHAPTER XIII. NATURAL RIGHTS CONSIDERED (CONTINUED). — COMMUNICATION. " Science is a child as yet, But her power ami scope shall grow, And her secrets, in the future. Shall diminish toil and woe ; Shall increase the bounds of pleasure, "With an ever-widening ken, And the woods and wildernesses Make the homes of happy men." A LITTLE more than forty years ago the first line of telegraphic communication was set in operation between Baltimore and Washington. Since then such lines have formed a network of communication throughout the civilized world, and connected continents thousands of miles apart. The means by which these grand results are accomplished have been wrought out by the busy brain of the scientist, from the great store- house of Nature, evoked from her hidden and hitherto mysterious recesses. The value to mankind of the application of the electro-magnet in telegraphy is beyond all com- putation. As civilization advances, its necessities COMMUNICATION. 169 increase, so that rapid and extended communica- tion becomes indispensable. This value belongs to all alike. The force by which this needful work is accomplished is given by the Creator. He has made it necessary to the higher and more advanced condition in the moral, intellectual, social, and political world, and given to his creatures the capacity to develop and appropriate it to their use. This God-given means, this inestimable value, this imperative necessity in advancing civilization, is appropriated by corporate power, and con- trolled and used for corporate benefit, not only compelling exorbitant rates for its service to the many, but controlling intelligence, thereby direct- ing national affairs and monopolizing the interests of all. By it political movements are conducted, con- ventions manipulated, nominations dictated, and elections carried. By it the markets are regulated in the interests of capitalists, and prices deter- mined. In short, it controls the political, financial, and industrial interests of the country. And yet these arrogant usurpers have the effrontery to set themselves up as the benefactors of the land. They declare that these beneficent enterprises could not be carried on without their aid ; that nil the intelligence and enterprise is 8 170 THE NEW REPUBLIC. confined to their narrow limits ; tliat the people are incapable of conducting great enterprises, and should be grateful for their arduous and self- sacrificing efforts to extend the blessings of — monopoly. Moreover, they contend that those who take the woi"ld are entitled to it. They say the race is fair and open to all, and those who win are the heroes, and entitled to the spoils of their victory. It is by such sophistries as these, thrust upon the people by a subsidized press, and silenced by a refusal to give room for a discussion of the subject, that this illusion is kept up. Now what are the facts? To begin with, our government is based upon the doctrine of vested powers and kingly prerogatives. The race is 7iot open and fair. These usurpers are endowed by the government with rights and privileges not accorded to the people. The aristocratic party did this in fastening upon the people a govern- ment to all intents and purposes English in its character and tendency, and managed to get themselves elected so as to set it in operation under its newly prescribed form, with the name of a re- public, but the nature of an oligarchy. With these advantages to start with, they have sought in every way to improve them. With a land-tenure system that secures millions of acres to single in- COMMUNICATION. 171 dividuals, the domain of the country is rapidly going into few liands. The power of this mo- nopoly is incalculable, but in consequence of the sparseness of the population, not yet fully de- veloped. With a financial system based on the " precious metals," and conducted by banking corporations, untold millions wei'e accumulated by the few. With kingly prerogatives granted to the chief executive, a political patronage was secured that gave dominance to the spirit of party, by which these advantages could be util- ized. With a judiciary system by which all their claims are supported and protected, and the very class of men by whose efforts this system was inaugurated and set in operation were installed into office ; and with ceaseless vigilance preserved that order of things by false pretenses, chicanery, political machinery, bribery, and fraud. The results are, as we see, the illimitable blessings of science and art monopolized and appropriated through government functions, by those clothed in government authority, usurped and exercised through the instrumentality of an ambitious and tyrannical aristocracy ! Public benefactors ! The following extract, over the nom de plume ''Asthoreth," sets forth in vigorous language the " benefits " claimed by these immaculate impostors : 172 THE NEW REPUBLIC. " They have refused to pass laws the most whole- some and necessary for the jiviblic good. " They have obstructed the administration of justice to such an extent that it is impossible to convict a rich man of a crime, and - equally impos- sible to enforce the rights of a poor man. " They have made judges dependent upon their will for election to and retention in office. " They have created a multitude of new offices, and set over us swarms of officers to harass our 2>eople and eat our substance. " They have endeavored to prevent the popula- tion of these States by monopolizing land, labor, and money to such an extent as to reduce us to the po- sition of starving slaves. '• They kee]) among us in time of peace standing armies of police and military, whose establishment is supported by decrees of bribed and intimidated legislatures. "They have set up a monetary system, based not upon the time and service of labor, but upon ficti- tious values set by themselves upon unproductive elements, and have forced us by inhuman laws to receive this medium in payment of our toil. " They have created and fostered an immense and iniquitous machinery of courts and senates, ethron- ing as its triumvirate of tyranical rulers, debt, profit, and interest, and have used these agencies to crush out the life-bloodof our people, " They have possessed themselves of the land, and as far as possible they control all other elements of natural wealth, excluding the laborer from the ownership or use thereof. " They have seized upon the machinery and working tools of our people, and have thus offered them no other condition of being in life save that of toiling slavery. COMMUNICATION. 173 " They have fostered among us degrading and immoral literature, and have provided brutal and cruel amusements and maintain and protect every- where among us establishments where poisonous, brutalizing, and intoxicating beverages are practi- cally forced upon our people — all with a purpose of degrading our moral, mental, and physical natures to the level of the unthinking, degraded, and un- complaining slave. " They have corrujited the sources of public in- telligence ; they have been and are inculcating false ideas to our children in the common schools. " They have endeavored to disunite us, and set brother against brother and child against parent, by religious, political, and sectional prejudices. " They have imposed upon us prisons, almshouses, and insane asylums ; they have compounded crimes, and openly flaunted guilt in the faces of the people. "They have driven our sons to theft and oar daughters to prostitution. " They have invaded our riglits of free assem- blage and free speech by armed force, and have dispersed the peaceable meetings of our people. " They have, when our people have assembled to demand their just rights given by Nature's God, fired upon and killed them, both men and women and little children." The power by which these tyrannies and op- pressions are carried on ARE legal POWERS, and are hy the authority of the government, and will so continue as long as our present form of government continues. As long as the cause continues the effects will remain. The country has developed and improved 17-1 THE NEW REPUBLIC. somewhat under this monopoly, hut not the gov- ernment, nor by its provisions. It would be impossible in the nature of things for some im- provement not to have been made. But under a just system of government the results would have been infinitely greater, which, in another chapter, will be considered. At present, telegraphic communication is mo- nopolized by one man. He is supreme in the exercise of this power. All bow before this mighty chief. He speaks through the press : the tone of public sentiment is changed. Stocks go up or down at his bidding, and trade and commerce acknowledge the supremacy of his power. What an illimitible blessing this would be to the people if they could utilize it! This man who holds and controls it, and realizing a net profit of six millions annually from it, did not originate it, did not build and does not support nor operate it, but appropriates it and exercises the powers it confers in perverting their true use. Thus a power that would infinitely bless the peo- ple is made the means to curse them, to deceive and mislead by manufacturing intelligence or suppressing it. And what is the remedy ? It is already an- ticipated. Incorporate it into the postal system, COMMUNICATION. 175 and conduct it in the interest of the whole peo- ple. The I'eal cost of telegraphy is small. Mes- sages could be sent at one-fifth the cost now charged, and would form the most valuable part of the postal service. The force is an element of nature, the machin- ery is the -product of man's skill and labor. Why should one man, whose natural rights are no moi'e nor better than those of another, and who had no hand in the scientific discovery, the mechanical contrivances, nor the labor of putting the ma- chinery in working order, not only reap the entire profits of telegraphy, but use it to oj)- press and subjugate the people ? 176 THE NEW KEPUBLIC. CHAPTER XIV. NArURAL RIGHTS CONSIDERED (CONCLUDED). — > EDUCATION. "Wisdom is the princii^al thicg, therefore get wisdom; and with all thy getting, get understanding." — Proverbs. Like all other institutions, those of an educa- tional character carry with them the traits and characteristics stamped upon them by the age in which they originated. Until within a compar- atively modern period education was regarded as an accomplishment. Labor was the inevitable lot of the great mass of the people. Under monarchical governments this was the necessary consequence. Under a more liberal government education became more popular ; but still it was regarded as an accomplishment. As long as the lower classes, under the super- vision of overseers, produced the wealth, the higher classes had no disj)osition to apply their educational acquirements to such purposes. But in a republican government, where all are equal in their political status, where all are supposed to provide for their own wants, where social re- lations require equal social qualifications, where EDUCATION. 177 duties as citizens are required of all, education must become universal ; and as its benefits must extend to all, so it must be supported by all. Of late years this idea has become quite uni- versal, and the people are expecting great results from our system of free schools. But if we look back for the last twenty years, in which our pub- lic schools have flourished best, what do we see ? A greater change from the simplicity of our early republican principles toward aristocratic rule has taken place during that time than in all the time before. Can we say that this change has been in spite of our public schools? This would not be true. They have aided in this change. All who have been and are conspicuous in building up monopoly, in legislating, in the strife for political power, in the establishment of corporate monopoly — all of these have been and are the most highly educated. Their acquire- ments have aided them, qualified them for this work. The tendency of education is away from pro- ductive vocations. As a rule, the youth who graduates from a grammar or a high school feels himself above the condition of a laborer and seeks some elegant (?) employment. While the uneducated man or woman feels a depend- ence on manual labor, the educated man or 8* 178 THE NEW REPUBLIC. woman thinks only of some professional or gen- teel vocation. Class distinctions are encouraged, labor is de- graded, the professions are overrun, and poverty increased. This is not all. The evils of our present system are both positive and negative : positive, because the knowledge acquired is mostly impracticable and useless, occupying the time the most jjrecious in life, a period that can- not be compensated for, an outlay of labor and expense that cannot be recalled, for the knowl- edge, most of which is forgotten in after years, cannot be used, and therefore drops out like dead matter; negative, because practical and useful knowledge is neglected and lost, and the mind, by improper training, loses its vigor and power of thought and reasoning, to say nothing of the errors and false notions that come from most of the existln<y institutions of learnino;. Due qualification for citizenship is necessary for the existence and maintenance of a true re- public. Intelligence and virtue are its essentials — intelligence to comprehend the principles upon which it is founded, and virtue to appreciate the natural rights upon which it is based. Intelli- gence to comprehend the relation of cause and effect, to realize the condition of mind arising from false teaching and prevailing errors, and EDUCATION. 179 the effect of exciting causes which constant ac- tivity unconsciously develops, and traits of char- acter which greatly modify individuals and even nations; and virtue that inspires that moral sense that will not tolerate wrong, such love and ven- eration for justice as regards every violation of it as a sacrilege. Of the former, are the blind acceptance of opinions long cherished, Avithout examination or reason, or the strong adherence to them in spite of i-eason, and the rejection of new ideas without examination or reason. Of the latter, blind ad- herence to party, and clanish spirit, pride, intol- erance, and arrogance. A little reflection will show how difficult it is for communities or even individuals to change their opinions. Indeed, it is difficult, for just when to change opinion is the test of wisdom. That we must change our opinions sometime is evident from the fact that nothing in nature is at a stand-still. AYe are carried onward by the law of progress, and must conform to its change- ful conditions. It is curious and interesting to study the ad- vance of great ideas in the past. Sensuous perception for ages limited the intellectnal pow- ers of man. If a great genius, like Pythagores, penetrated the veil of sensuous perception and 180 THE NEW KEPUBUC. proclaimed the deeper phenomena of nature, as in the motion of the phmets, it was silenced by the sensuous perception of the Ptolemaic theory for a thousand years. The Apparent veiled the Keal. Even the clear and forcible reasoning of Copernicus availed nothing. The Real disclosed by the laws of Galileo banished the Apparent, and gave the world a deeper insight into the great arcana of nature. The deeper comprehension of Columbus in penetrating the veil of the Appar- ent went for naught ; only visions of possible wealth and dominion, coupled with woman's in- herent faith and trust in man, triumpeed over sensuous perception. It is humiliating and surprising when we look back and discover how long we have been beat- ino; ajTainst a Q-rand idea without seeing it. So simple a thing as the art of printing was on the point of being discovered for a thousand years. The invention of the telescope was a mere acci- dent ; and the phenomena that led to the dis- covery of steam in its application as a motive power were familiar for thousands of years. Professor Morse was ridiculed when he applied to Congress for a small appropriation to enable him to put in operation his simple plan of teleg- raphy. And we are now, undoubtedly looking at ideas EDUCATION. 181 as grand as any yet utilized without seeing them. Heat as a motor, electricity as a subtile agent in disturbing static conditions, chemical action in composing and disolving forms of matter — these jjlienomena have been familiar to man, coeral with his very existence, yet how recent it is that he has made them factors in working out the great problems of life ! Here is a lesson in this history of the past, and it is time we should have learned it ; namely, other ideas as productive of human welfare, though in other fields of research, are waiting the magic touch of human genius to invoke their DOwers for human weal, thus complementing the domain of research, and rounding out and devel- oping the many-sided phases of human activities. It is a well-known fact that physical science has far outstripped the more intricate departments of mental science. Mechanics in its application to machinery, enginery, military operations, man- ufactories, and chemical appliances are far in ad- vance of political, social, and ethical sciences ; and it is in these fields of research that attention is being directed. In political science, the advance has been slow, labored, and uncertain. The earlier wi*itei's, misled by sensuous per- ception, looking only on the surface of things, taking effects for causes, laid down their theories ; 182 THE NEW REPUBLIC. and subsequent writers have accepted them with- out due examination, and sometimes without even question. Tims we see liow difficult it is to uproot old ideas and long-established opinions. This is the work of education, and yet education has been and is now a pi'ominent factor in perpetuating the existinii; condition of things. The intelligence to comprehend the condition of the present, and a realization of the difficulty in removing the errors of past and present teach- ings, are essential requisites. This condition and these traits being understood, the real work of educational reform will then commence. The laws of mental action, in development and cul- ture, which have unconsciously estabHshed the existing conditions, have not been fully recog- nized and understood. The fundamental law by which all educational processes are carried on may be briefly stated — exercise is the law of development. Any cause that excites the activity of a power or faculty invigorates, itensifies, and develops that power or faculty within the limits of its nutrition. The truth of this proposition is more tersely expressed in the adage, "Practice makes perfect." This law determines all character and the Jormatlon of all character. The child born of German EDUCATION. 183 parents and reared in an American home, sur- rounded by American influences, loses its German characteristics and becomes Americanized, and in one or two generations anew cast of character takes the place of the old one. In improving domestic animals the same law prevails ; certain qualities of the horse or the dog most desirable to be developed are carefully and judiciously exercised. So permanently do these traits be- come fixed that tliey are transmitted by inheri- tance. The operation of this law is seen even in the vegetable kingdom. Thus fruits, cereals, and flowers are cultivated to a high degree of per- fection. In the higher and more complicated structures this law* operates with most effect ; and in the human type it displays its greatest powers. It is by this law that national characteristics are pro- duced and preserved. Even new characteristics might be evoked from the plastic mind if a new influence were to act persistently and for a suffi- cient length of time. Sailors can discern and distinguish vessels that a landsman cannot see ; the accountant runs np his columns and sets down his results with astonishing rapidity and ease ; tlie pianist sweeps the chords of his instru- ment, evoking a flood of harmony, while the voice pours forth a melody in perfect unison with it. 184 THE NEW REPUBLIC. This is the great underlvino; law of all activities — the developing power. We are now prepared to make the application of this law in the formation of our national char- acter. Tiie inordinate love of money made val- uable by the device of law and the necessities of exchange above all commodities, and by its scar- city that value increased — this love so excited and constantly acting on the mind has developed ava- rice as the national characteristic. Let us for a moment contemplate the value of money over and above all transferable things, so made by law. The value of a fortune can be expressed on a bit of paper and carried in the vest pocket. It will command anything in the market at any time or place within the jurisdiction of the government creating it. It commands time, opportunity, ease, pleasure ; its possessor may command power, dominion, honor, and position. It is the magic wand that transforms the slave into the master, the pauper into the millionaire ; it converts hov- els into palaces and serfs into lords. It wipes out the stain of dishonor and shields the criminal from justice. Nothing else can vie with it, nothing can com- pare with it, nothing so good in the estimation of its votaries — and who are not its votaries ? This love, excited by such vast, varied, and mighty EDUCATION. 185 powers, has burned with incessant intensity in the hearts of the people for ages. Is it any wonder, then, that it is developed into uncon- trollable avarice ? There is no passion or am- bition it cannot satisfy, no elevation that its possessor cannot reach — passion that degrades and brutalizes, ambition that transforms the man into the demon. "The love of money," said Paul, " is the root of all evil." Avarice is a moral poison, a passion that overrides and crushes out the finer sensibilities and nobler emotions of the soul. It is the perversion of a faculty necessary in the economy of life as a means and subject to control, but a cruel tyrant, a relentless, grasping, devouring monster, when it gains the mastery. Thus the nation has been educated. The phrase " almighty dollar " is as familiar as a household word. Thus wealth has become an object of worship. Thus every man's hand is turned against his fellow in its tireless pursuit. The great struggle of life is for money. The high and the low, the rich and the poor, long for it, yearn for it, pray for it, fight for it, toil for it, sacrifice love, virtue, honor, health, happiness, and life for it. It has made truthful in the esti- mation of men the parody of the wise man's say- ing, "Money is the principal thing, therefore get money ; and with all thy getting, get money." Get it honestly if you can, but — get it. 186 THE NEW REPUBLIC. The spirit of avarice rules the nation. It is the great educator of the people, and well has it done its work. Inspired by it, fraud, theft, robbery, and murder reign supreme, and in the form of corporate power prey upon the peo- ple's wealth and trample upon their liberties. Usurping their rights, it has arrayed its forces and organized its schemes in national banks, in stocks and rings, in transjiortation corporations, in telegraph and insurance companies, manufac- turing establishments, mining enterprises, raayket and commercial exchanges, and every business and industry in which capital can rob and en- slave labor. It has poisoned the " milk of human kindness " and embittered the cup of joy ; the purest bosom has felt its glow, and the softest cheek its feverish breath. It enters every department of life ; all feel its withering touch. It has desolated the homes of millions, and driven their inmates into the streets, into the poor-house, into the Potter's Field. The toilers in the workshop, in the field, on land and sea, and in the bowels of the earth are made to bow their heads at its command. Tramps plod their way in hunger and rags, and paupers take their meager sustenance from the tribute of their less unfortunate fellow-creatures. To the wealthy, this tyrant is scarcely more EDUCATION. 187 lenient. Victors and victims alike fall a prey to his insatiate greed ; the one class, moral paupers, stripped of their manhood, honor, love, virtue, benevolence ; all humanly qualities gone, greed hardens their hearts and steels them against the finer and nobler emotions of the soul, thus fitting them for the doom pronounced upon them by the gentle Nazarene : " It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven." The other class are the victims of greed, poverty and wretchedness, suffering and sorrow, toil and weariness, ignorance and obscurity. Thus, all the fruits of avarice are evil, and the people of all classes suffer from it. The true teacher has not yet come. We long and pray for his advent. When he comes, we will look back with astonishment at the ignorance and superstition that prevailed, and the stolid in- difference of the people at the cause of so much misery and selfishness, and congratulate ourselves that they have disappeared in the sunshine of an enlightened age. He will come in the garb of science — political science. He will unfold the true principles of money. He will divest it of its overmastering eharm. He will make it the servant of industry, " the tool of trade." He will dethrone it, and 188 THE KEW REPUBLIC. teach its true use. Pie will teach and enforce the law of justice ; from it will come equality; from equality, liberty ; from liberty, fraternity ; from fraternity, peace, harmony, prosperity. The true aims of life will be recognized, and education will develop, culture, and harmonize the individual to his full capacity. Such individuals will consti- tute the aggregate ; and as the units are so Avill the aggregate be. Avarice and his brazen imp. Monopoly, will tlisappear, and the forces that are now employed in impoverishing and enslaving the people will serve to establish their equality and secure their liberty. Not comprehending the cause of the greed and selfishness of man, his wickedness and crimes, it was ascribed to the disobedience of our first pa- rents ; but mankind are just as good as they can be under the circumstances. Let the developing influences and refining processes of education call out the higher and better elements of our nature ; then we would have vastly better conditions. And this is the mission of true education. Mere instruction forms but a small part of it ; that will come with development and culture. Looking to the qualification for citizenship, to a comprehension of the principles of political sci- ence and their relation to human rights, to the EDUCATION. 189 structure of government, its ])urposes and objects, its legislative and executive powers, qualification for the elective franchise and the proper mode of its exercise, the distribution of its wealth and en- joyment of the natural means of wealth ; in the regulation of all its industries, public and private, in transportation and travel, in lines of communi- cation for intelligence, in trade and commerce, in providing for its revenue, in all its industries; in its sanitary regulations, in the care and protection of its moral interests, in its protection against crime and the treatment of its criminals, in its social requirements, in its educational depart- ment — scientific, philosophical, literary, and aes- thetic — and other things pertaining to a people's government, it will make adequate provisions. In other words, it will secure the full, true, many- sided })hases of human character, fully rounded out and completed Education means unfoldment, growth, develop- ment, culture, the power of appreciation, judg- ment, original thought, and self-reliant action. It means the use of all the appliances that con- tribute to the fullest unfoldment of all the pow- ers and faculties of the human being ; not only to use and enjoy, but to control and direct. To the vigor of the mind; to the harmony of the social relations ; to the happiness of domestic 190 THE NEW REPUBLIC. life; to the production and distribution of wealth ; to the culture of taste and refinement by the ex- alting and ennobling Influences of the fine arts, music, painting, sculpture ; — this is the mission, these the true aims and purposes, of education. But long-established customs and settled oj^in- ions, the wrong and pernicious influences that predominate and result in the undue develop- ment of the selfish propensities, the evils and defects arising from false notions and methods of education, render it extremely diflScult to insti- tute measures that will result in the greatest good to the greatest number. And this is the highest interest of the people, and to secure these results their imperative duty. Experience has shown tliat " mankind are more disposed to suffer while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed." This goes to show how diflScult it is to effect reforms. When Ave comprehend the causes that have brought into existence the present conditions, and not till tiien, will we be ready not only to re- move them, but we will likewise have the ability to do it. Correct thought must i^recede correct action. Opinion rules the actions of men. When the Jersey City freight-handlers struck for three cents an hour additional, they gave EDUCATION. 191 away tlie whole question involved In the labor problem, and resolved it into the one of, What shall the wages be ? They admitted the right to hold them in the bonds of wage-service, and while that opinion prevails there is no hope of emancipation from the greed of capital. So long as men are satisfied to surrender their natural rights for a mere pittance and their dignity as men, thus conceding the right of capital to con- trol labor, barter their liberties, and sacrifice tlieir manhood for a price, we may be sure of a continuation of slavery without mitigation or relief. So long as the cultivators of the soil only demand less rents as a measure of reform, they ignore the very question involved in the reform, and may be sure of the continuance of the rela- tion of landlords and tenants, lords and serfs. So long as the wealth-producer believes that money possesses intrinsic value based on its con- vertibility into gold and silver, so long will he be cursed and impoverished by the unjust dis- tribution of wealth, and be willing to suffer liis hard earnings to be accumulated by money- lenders in the shape of interest. So long as me- chanics and tradesmen believe that banking in- stitutions arc just and necessary, so long will they continue to be robbed by the control of prices, by 192 THE NEW REPUBLIC. usury, and the golden harvests by operathig fic- titious capital. So long as the people believe that corporations have the right to control pub- lic highways, and claim in them the rights of absolute ownership and the right to con- solidate their interests to monopolize trans- portation, and thus control labor and market prices, so long will these corporations continue their brigandage upon the toiling millions. So long as the people have full confidence in our educational institutions, and regard them as the "palladium of our liberties," there will be no disposition to change them — for they contribute largely to the perpetuation of existing conditions. Without a radical change in public sentiment ; without a clear conviction that our system of government is wrong — no matter what the opin- ion is as to the mode of administering the existing one ; until the conviction is clear and positive that vested powers have usurped natural rights, whereby laws are enacted in favor of the few to rob the many, and an executive power instituted by which these laws are enforced — there is no hope for a remedy. When courts fail to administer justice ; when they become the willing tools of designing men and powerful corporations, by which the strong are supported and the weak without protection ; EDUCATION. 193 when these are manipuhited wholly by a special and exclusive class requiring special training, and the validity of their authority goes unquestioned by the people, who bow with submission to that authority — what hope is there in reform in the administration of justice, or the substitution of a better mode ? It can never be. A i-evolution must come ; and it will come. Shall it come in blood, or in peace ? By the bayonet, or the ballot ? By pas- sion, or reason ? By the desolation of war, or the guidance of wisdom ? We hope and toil and pray for the latter. Let us transform this oligarchy of wealth, this usurpation of poAver, this monopoly of capital, this universal greed of avarice, by which millions upon millions are made to bow their backs for the burdens of despotism, and bend the knee in servile submission to a proud and haughty aristocracy, into a New Republic, wherein justice will hold rule and the law of righteousness will prevail, equality and liberty founded on the natural, inalienable rights of man will bless this oppressed and greed-cursed people. How little they appreciate this transformation ! Accustomed to wrongs and usurj)ations, to false theories and dictation, and having never tasted the sweets of liberty, harmony, competence, and the inestimable blessings of that full and exalted 9 194 THE NEW REPUBLIC. development and culture In all the attributes of their being to their full capacity, they seem to expect little more than they realize. It Is difficult to think aright ; It Is more diffi- cult to act aright when thought is rightly directed and the Ideal formed ; but by the exercise of will, by surrounding one's self with good influences and repelling bad ones, and persisting In this, that ideal character can be realized. When this is done, education will have done its work. All the powers and faculties of the human being will be developed and cultivated to the highest capacity, and the " pursuit of happiness " will be crowned in full fruition. I LABOR AND CAPITAL. 195 CHAPTER XV. LABOR AND CAPITAL. "See yonder poor, o'erlabored wight, So abject, mean, and vile. Who begs a brother of the earth To give him leave to toil. Then see his lordly fellow-worm The poor petition spurn, Unmindful though a weeping wife And helpless offspring mourn." With the vast amount of speculation and dis- cussion in regard to the relation of labor and capital, the problem seems as far from solution as ever. To discuss this important question, it will be necessary to take up and examine each factor involved, and consider all of them in their logical oi-der. The ultimate object of all labor is the produc- tion of values ; but without the necessary condi- tions and appliances for its embodiment and utilization it is of no avail. Labor perishes the instant it is performed, and without embodying its results it is lost forever. One might labor all day in lifting at a heavy weight, with no result save that of physical exhaustion. Mere human exertion, then, without embodi- 196 THE NEW REPUBLIC. merit in valuable results, is a waste of life and of its purposes, the aim of the laborer. Its impor- tance may be better estimated when we consider that, with the exception of air and water, there is no necessary or luxury of life that is not the pro- duction of labor or made valuable by it. Labor, then,. in the sense here considered, is human ex- ertion in the production of values. There are three essential factors in such pro- duction ; namely, land, labor, and capital. The ultimate of human exertion is value. Utility is the measure of value. All that can be appropri- ated to the use of life is value. All value is in some way consumed, for its use depends on con- sumption. Consumption, then, is the basis of all values, because all values are in some way consumed. Life is one continued series of production and consumption, of composition and decay, of crea- tion and destruction ; even death itself is the es- sential and indispensable condition of life. To produce those forms of matter necessary for consumption is the first object of all labor. The inexhaustible resources of potential wealth, that is, natural elements wrought into values, and the intelligence, skill, and industry of man, are all utilized that he may live ; and to live is to realize all the possibilities of life by developing, cultivat- LABOR AND CAPITAL. 197 ing, and harmonizing all the attributes of man, thus Jifting him up and out from his low estate of ignorance and selfishness, and fitting him for his high and noble destiny. Consumption is the demand, and human exer- tion, coupled with nature's resources, is the sup- ply. Here we have the basis of political economy. As population increases, the demand for its ne- cessities are balanced by the increasing intelli- gence and inventive resources in creating supply. But there is an essential factor in supply that will not respond to man's intelligence and invent- ive genius nor his creative power. That factor is land. When population increases and accumulates, and demand keeps pace with it, this essential factor remains fixed. Its control in the production of values gives to the owners thereof control of life ; and as every one has the right to control his own life, he has a right to the means of control. As population increases, the ralue of land in- creases, for the plain reason that increase of pop- ulation carries with it increased demand ; and as demand rises above supply, the primary source of supply (land), being fixed in quantity, must rise in value. Primarily and essentially, land has no value ; without population to consume its prod- ucts there would be no value. Were there but 198 THE NEW REPUBLIC. one man on the earth, the value of all the land on it would be measured by the value of his life; with two, it would be doubled ; and so on. Land has no market value so long as all who Avish to occupy it have full access to it. But as population begins to press, and the quantity is proportionally lessened to the population, its market value begins to rise, and continues to as long as population continues to increase. We say " market value," because, so long as govern- ment is founded on the individual rights of property, land will be included in the category* of such rights, with the sole restriction of limi- tation. While the right to values produced is commensurate with the ability of the individual to produce them, the right to land is commensu- rate with the right to life itself, since it is given by the Creator and is not a product of labor. This rise in the value of land is measured by the value it yields — value increased by the in- creased demand for it — and should belong to the owner of the land, if it is owned only by those who cultivate it. This would be proper, for as no man has a right to land that he cannot cul- tivate, it belongs to those who can. Absolute property in land secures the value of it to the owner who is only a unit in the increase of such value, and is therefore not entitled to 1 LABOR AND CAPITAL. 199 more than his proportion of such value. In the monopoly of land, one of its great evils consist in the holder of large tracts taking the benefits of the increase of value by increase of popula- tion — a value for which no exchange is given. The consideration now is the control and monopoly of this essential factor, land, in the solution of the labor problem. Since it is co- essential with the factor, labor, it must hold an intimite and important relation to it ; and since land is the primary source of values essential to life, the other factors are dependent on it. The monopolist can demand a share of the products of the soil in proportion to the extent of his monopoly. In proportion to that demand, labor's share is diminished and labor cheapened. This effect is not limited to agriculture, but ex- tends to all the departments of industry. The poverty of the laboring classes in Europe is owing mainly to this cause ; for, as has been stated, increasing the price of land and products, labor's share of such increase would rise as in- crease in land (released from monopoly) rises, if rents were not exacted, for the value of such rents would go to labor. The principal reason why labor is not reduced to the European stand- ard is owing to the large area of land in propor- tion to the population. 200 THE NEW REPUBLIC. The pressure is not yet strongly felt ; our population is yet sparse, and our public domain is wide, and the ability to appropriate additional domain not yet exhausted, but the principle and conditions are all here, only waiting the inevita- ble results of those principles and the logic of those conditions to develop the curse of landlord- ism to its European standard on American soil. "In charging the Dublin jury in the Land League cases, Mr. Justice Fitzgerald told them that the land laws of Ireland were more favorable to ten- ant than those of Great Britain, Belgium, or the United States. As a matter of fact, Justice Fitz- gerald was right." — Henry George. We even now feel the oppression of landlord- ism, even with a population comparatively sparse ; but the appropriation of -land in large tracts to single individuals is rapidly going on, and the laborer will be reduced to the standard of European peasantry as an inevitable result. In the further examination of this subject, it will be well to define the terms usually employed in the discussion of the labor question. Land includes soil, water, all minerals and metals, timber, air, and sunlight. Labor is human exertion in the production of values. Capital is that portion of wealth employed in the production of values. LABOR AND CAPITAL. 201 Rent is the increase of value in land arising from and measured by the increased demand for its productions by increasing population. Wage is the compensation for labor in the production of values. Profit is compensation for the consumption of wealth in the production of values. Wealth is a general term, and includes all values. The true formula of the labor problem in agri- cultural industry may be stated thus : (1.) Land + (labor -j- capital) = values, the means of life under the ownership and control of one individual. In manufactures the formula is : (2.) Raw material (land products) -j- (labor -\- capital) = values, which may be consumed or exchanged. In mining industries the formula is : (3.) Mines (portions of land) + (labor -|- capital) := values, to be consumed or exchanged. In transportation, travel, and communication : (4.) Road-beds, streams, and coasts (portions of land) + (labor -\- capital) = increased values. Thus it will be seen that labor and capital are inseparable companions in the production of values, and land in some form is its basis. In all private enterprises and for individual gain, 9* 202 THE NEW REPUBLIC. labor and capital must be furnished by the same person ; that is, every man must operate his own capitaL In all enterprises of a public character, they are to be carried on by corporations, in which the people are stockholders and equal re- cipients of the dividends. In transportation, travel, and lines of communication, postal service, com- merce, education, and means for defense, the peo- ple in their governmental capacity should operate and control them. In private enterprises, vol- untary associations of capital may be permitted, wherein the laborers are co-owners with the cap- italists and recipients of the dividends regulated on a just basis. The true relation of capital and labor, where wealth is ])roduced directly from the soil, is tlie occupancy and cultivation of the land only by the owners of it. This is the solution of the labor problem in the department of agricultural indus- try. As long as land is held in large quantities, and the holding protected by law, and this ac- cepted as legitimate, the problem will remain un- solved — the premise being wrong, the conclusion, however logical, must be wrong. In other departments of industry, the principle is that all who participate in the production of values shall be recipients of its dividends ; thus, a common interest is established wiiich will harmon- LABOR AND CAPITAL. 203 ize capital and labor, and annihilate all antago- nisms that now threaten such serious results. The great difficulty is in overcoming the ra- pacity and greed of capitalists, and arousing the spirit and enterprise of the wage-laborer. According to the national census, the propor- tion of people engaged in agriculture outnumbers all others engaged in industrial pursuits. Noth- ing remains but for them to secure the benefits of equal protection, which they would gladly extend to their fellow-laborers in other departme-nts of industry. In accordance with provisions already existing, the power is in their hands. The bur- dens of transportation, the robbery of market ex- changes, the oppressions of landlords, the tyranny of courts, and exorbitant taxes bear them down, and crush out the spirit of independence. Care- worn and weary, harassed with debt and uncer- tainty, they have neither time nor ojjportunity for the enjoyment of social and intellectual pleas- ures. The farmer, who sliould be the most inde- pendent, with the exception of wage-servers and tramps, is the most dependent; the primary pro- ducer of the chief values for consumption, they are spirited out of his hands, and he is often left in want. Let him once understand his power and appreciate the value of his rights, they would soon be his to enjoy. His is the most important 204 THE NEW REPUBLIC. and independent vocation ; let him take the lead ; but this importance and independence exist only in song and story, while he, following in the lead of some wily, ambitious demagogue, under the stim- ulus of the party lash, becomes the willing dupe and supporter of his schemes for personal ad- vancement. In regard to wage-earners, who are at the mercy of their employers with the present antag- onism between capital and labor, the case is still worse. Wage-service is slavery ; not such as ex- isted in the Southern States, where the interest of the master was in the welfare of his slave, and thus prompted by selfishness to keep him in good condition ; but such slavery as cupidity and av- arice dictate : when one is disabled or worn down with toil, he is turned out for another to take his place. He is so dependent that he cannot afford to displease his master, however much he may feel inclined to do so. His liberty and manhood have disappeared ; the semblance of his liberty consists in the right to starve, and of his man- hood in the disgrace attached to " strikes " and riots. He will concede all tliis, and still go on in his servitude. This condition of an " Ameri- can freeman," with the elective franchise in his hand, is terrible to contemplate : in a land where all are "equal," he in poverty and rags, his em- LABOR AND CAPITAL. 205 ployer in " purple and fine linen " ; the one going to his rented hovel, the other to his gilded palace. Labor is the expenditure of life itself, and he who sells it for a mere pittance is to all intents and purposes a slave, and will continue so as long as he appeals for higher wages or better condi- tions while liis master holds the power. Mr. Julian, on the floor of Congress, said : " Nothing is more remarkable than the growing tendency of legislation in this country to lend itself to the service of capital of great corporations, of raonoi3olies of every sort, while too often turning an unfriendly eye upon the people, and especially upon the laboring poor. The cause of this may fairly be traced to the evil genius of the times, Avhich makes the greed for sudden wealth a sort of devouring jjassion, and thus naturally seizes upon the machinery of government in the accomplish- ment of its purposes. This bad spirit, which has been steadily marching toward its alarming ascen- dency since the outbreak of the late civil wai*, writes itself down upon every phase of societv and life. "It breeds political corruption in the most gi- gantic and frightful forms. It whets the appetite for public plunder, and through the aggregation of capital in the hands of the cunning and unscruj:)!!- lous, it menaces the eqiial rights of the people and the well-being of society. So malign a spirit must be confronted. It is no more a question of party politics, for it threatens the life of all parties, and the perpetuity of the government itself. It not only invokes the saving offices of the preacher and 206 THE NEW REPUBLIC. the moralist, but it summons to new dnties nnd in- creased vigilance every man who really concerns himself for the welfare of his country. " I believe the evil to which I refer finds some explanation in the false teachings of political econ- omy. According to many of the leading writers on this science, its fundamental idea is the creation and increase of productive wealth. If farming on a great scale, carried on with skill and appliances which concentrated capital alone can command and methodize, will yield greater results than the tillage of the soil in small homesteads and by ruder meth- ods, then the system of large farming must be pre- ferred, though it deprives multitudes of the poor of all opportunity to acquire homes and independence, and entails the appalling evils of landlordism, and the whole brood of mischiefs with which the mo- nopoly of the soil has scourged the people in every age. " So if manufacturing on a grand scale, with the perfected machinery and cheap labor which capital can wield, turn out a larger product and at lower prices than numerous small industries, then such manufactories must be fostered, though the policy pauperizes and brutalizes thousands of human be- ings who take rank as ' operatives,' and whose exist- ence is made a curse rather than a blessing. I protest against such principles as both false and unjust. ' The increase of wealth,' says Sismondi, ' is not the end of political economy, but its instru- ment in procuring the haj^piness of all. It regards chiefly the producer, and strives for the welfare of the people through a just distribution. It is not the object of nations to produce the greatest quan- tity of work at the cheapest rate.' " In the light of these broad and humane princi- LABOR AND CAPITAL. 207 pies I interpret the duty of the government. Its mission within the sphere of its just powers is to protect labor, the source of all wealth ; and to seek constantly the well-being of the millions who toil. Capital can take care of itself. Always sagacious, sleepless, and aggressive, it holds all the advantages in its battle with labor. The balance of power falls so naturally in its hands that labor has no oppor- tunity to make a just bargain. The labor market, it has been well observed, differs from any other. The seller of every other commodity has the option to sell or not ; but the commodity the workingman brings is life. He must sell it or die. Labor, there- fore, should not be regarded as merchandise to be bought and sold, and governed by the law of supply and demand, but as capital, and its human needs should always be considered. ' The rugged face of society,' says a celebrated writer, 'checkered with the extremes of affluence and want, proves that some extraordinary violence has been committed upon it, and calls on justice for redress. The great mass of the poor in all countries have become a hereditary race, and it is next to impossible for them to get out of the state of themselves. It is also to be observed that this mass increases in all countries that are called civilized. The proposition that the rich are becoming richer and the poor becoming poorer has been vehemently denied, but I cannot doubt its truth for a moment. I want no statistics to settle it, since the unnatural domination of cap- ital over labor, which instead of being repressed by legislation is systematically aided by it, clears the question of all doubt. Our vitiated currency lai'gely increases the cost of necessaries of life, and is thus a heavy tax upon the poor. Our system of national banking is an organized monopoly in the interests 208 THE NEW RErUBLIC. of capitalists, is demanded by no public necessity, and renders no substantial service in return for the burdens it imposes on the people "The population of our great cities and towns, instead of re-enforcing the rural districts, is unduly increasing ; and so is the number of buildings de- voted to banking, brokerage, insurance, and kindred projects. Not production, but traffic, is the order of the day. The enhanced cost of the instruments requisite for the prosecution of industrial jjursuits, and the higher price of fuel, food, and clothing, naturally hinder the accumulation of capital suffi- cient to enable the man of small means to establish himself as an independent producer. This necessity subordinates labor more and more to capital, and concentrates the business of manufacturing and ex- changing into large establishments, while working the destruction of smaller ones. Of course, the ten- dency of all this is to render the many dependent on the few for the means of their livelihood, rather than upon themselves, and to divide society into two classes: the cai^italists, who own everything; and hands, who own nothing, but depend entirely on the capital class. " That the policy of the government to a great extent evokes and aggravates these evils can scarcely bu questioned ; and that the policy results from the ugly fact that the laboring and producing classes are unrepresented in the government, save by the non-j^roducers and traffickers, is equally clear. It illustrates the evils of class legislation, and calls on the people to apply the remedy." " The unproductives," says Commissioner Wells, " being the chief makers of the laws and institution ■, for the protection of labor and ingenuity, the in- crease of production, and the exchange and trans- LABOR AND CAPITAL. 209 fer of property, they shape all their devices so cunningly and work them so cleverly, that they, the non-producers, continue to grow rich faster than the jDroducers. Whoever at this day watches the subject and course of legislation, and appreciates the sjjirit of the laws, cannot fail to perceive how more and more the idea of the transfer of the sur- plus products of society, and the creation of facilities for it, available to the cunning and the quick as against the dull and the slow, has come to i:)ervade the whole fabric of that which we call government; and how large a number of the most progressive minds in the nation have been led to accept as a fundamental truth in political doctrine that the best way to take care of the many is to commence by taking care of the few ; that all that which is necessary to secure the well-being of the workman is to j)rovide a satisfactory profit for his employer." Labor and capital are insej)arable and must harmonize. Labor must own and control capi- tal. These are the essential conditions of the problem which render its solution simple and easy. There can be no other. If capital con- trols labor, the laborer is the victim of avarice and tyranny. Eight-hour agitations, trades- unions, and other associations for the protection of labor against capital are ineffectual as a rem- edy, but useful as educators. Strikes imply the right of capital to control labor, and thus surren- der the whole question. All of these means can prove but palliatives at best. AVc might as well attempt to solve the 210 THE NEW REPUBLIC. problem of eclipses on the Ptolemaic theory of astronomy. " The labor question is indeed the natural succes- sor and logical sequence of the slavery question. It is, in fact, the same question in another form, since the practical ownership of labor by capital necessarily involves the ownership of the laborer himself." We speak of labor and capital in the same cat- egory. This is not true. Labor is guided by intelligence, and this becomes an element in it. It is human exertion, and human exertion is the expenditure of life itself. It is inspired by love ; it is prompted by affection. It is life, energy, clothed with moral power, and in it are involved the welfare and destiny of the human race. The control of labor by capital means the reign of avarice. It is simply brigandage, rob- bery, despotism. In the hands of greedy, am- bitions, and unscrupulous men — and they are the ones who seek it — its power consists in control- ling the means of life, and thus controlling life itself. The first great necessity of life is a bare subsistence. When this alone exists, and is de- pendent on the will and interest of another, the relation is that of master and slave. And such is the condition of wage-labor ; and by the agen- cies now at work the wealth-producer is rapidly LABOR AND CAPITAL. 211 reaching the same condition. Tiie subserviency of legislation to corporate rule, the immense power vested in the executive by which party spirit is excited and fostered, the servility of the courts and their authority in interpreting law, the exercise of sovereign functions of the govern- ment by a confederation of corporations prompted by avarice and lust of dominion, have already cast the die; and without a radical reconstruction of government, the inevitable doom of labor is Slavery. Since the sole purpose of labor is the produc- tion of wealth, and labor-saving machinery by its advantages in utilizins: mechanical forces is held in the hands of capitalists, manual labor is coni- pelled to compete with it ; and this power to pex'form more work and much cheaper is utilized by the capitalists to further oppress labor. Man- ual labor costs more than machine labor. To produce a manual laborer, twenty years of time and a vast amount of values are consumed. His capacity is comparatively limited, and his sub- sistence absoi'bs a large proportion of his produc- tion. To produce a machine laborer, little time is required, and the cost is comparatively small; while the productive power is much greater than that of the manual laborer. With these advan- tages, capitalists build up vast manufactories in 212 THE XEAV REPUBLIC. which most of the hibor is performed by machin- ery, and then invoke the aid of government in chartering corporations, clothing them with legal powers not permitted to individuals or simple partnerships, and protecting the manufacturing industries of the cov7itri/. The Southern slave-owner never became a mil- lionaire, because the cost of labor in the slave was so great. While a thousand dollars in slave capital would bring but a meager net profit, the same amount in labor-saving machinery would be as much greater as its power to pro- duce is greater and the cost of running it is less ; thus, the Eastern capitalist becomes a millionaire. Besides, the superannuated and disabled slave was supported by his owner ; but the white slave is obliged to shift for himself, and look out for em- ployment, under the serious disadvantages of com- j)etition with the wage-seeker, and the despotism of the employer or his agent. In this way, the wasre-slave is reduced to a worse condition than the negro slave. Practically, the question of per- sonal liberty has but little consideration ; 'not only from the fact that the negro is disposed to contentment with the supply of physical wants, but from the further fact that necessity and pov- erty leave but little liberty to enjoy for the wage-slave, however keenly he may feel the practical deprivation. J LABOR AND CAPITAL. 213 Thus, by the application of the power of steam and electricity to labor-savino- machinery, the capitalist is enabled to produce wealth by converting it into labor. The laborer is thereby robbed, because these powers and appliances are appropriated and monopolized by the few who can command capital. These powers and appli- ances are the gifts of God and the ingenuity of men in the laborino; ranks. Leijislatures have legalized and courts have confirmed these appro- priations, and thus the law is made the instru- ment of oppression and robbery. The rights of the people are as dear and sacred as life itself, and the government whose sole functions are the regulation and protection of those rights is employed to rob the people of them by their usurpation and exercise by unscru- pulous men whose ambition is to vie with the splendor and station of their competitors across the sea. And the [)eople are made by their la- bor and servitude to support them. Law cannot make a wrong right nor a right wrOng ; yet here is a system which robs the pro- ducers of wealth more effectually and systemat- ically, and with as little remorse, as the bandit outlaws of society commit theirs ; a system that condemns millions of human beings to a strug- gling, lingering existence, amid the lavishment of 214 THE NEW REPUBLIC. wealth and display of magnificence equaled only by the richest aristocracies of Europe, and in a country abounding in the most profuse natural re- sources that nature has ever lavished upon any country. What is the remedy ? Correct thought must precede correct action. No one can do right without he thinks right. Here comes the ques- tion of education. The cause of the present self- ish condition has been discussed. Avarice has been the great teacher, and well has he done his work. The love of money is the ruling passion. Greed, cruel and relentless, is the presiding gen- ius, and all the skill and ingenuity of man has been employed to incorporate it into a govei-n- ment to concentrate and perpetuate its power. The inherent tendency of the human mind is to reverence authority, the more especially when expressed in the form of law and under the sanction of courts. Antiquity fortifies it, and imposing ceremonies give it an irresistible charm. The power of custom and habit to which the mind becomes familiar offers serious obstacles in the way of reform — obstacles that can only be removed by reason and a keen sense of right. The first thing is to consider the principles upon which a system is founded, and upon them lay out the proper procedure. We must decide LABOR AND CAPITAL. 215 what we want — what is needed to carry out the work. In the problem before us we have land, labor, and capital : land, the universal source of sup[)ly ; labor, the appliance of means to develop and produce ; and capital, the means for the pro- duction. Land, being a fixed quantity and base of supply, must be limited to the requirements of and controlled by labor. Capital, which is but stored-up labor, is the inseparable agent of labor. But as an indispensable and essential condition, the laborer must be intelligent and just. " The first question," says Henry George, " that natur- ally arises is that of right. Among whatever kind of people such a matter as this is discussed, the question of right is sure to be raised. This to me seems a very significant thing, for I believe it to spring from nothing less than a universal perception of the human mind — -a perception of- ten dim and vague, yet still a universal percep- tion — that justice is the supreme law of the universe, so that as a short road to what is best, we instinctively ask what is right." Now, what is the right in this case ? That which one produces with his own means belongs to him. No one can deny this proposition. If capital is furnished by another, a portion of the products belongs to him. The two are then partners. Since capital is stored-up labor, they 216 THE NEW REPUBLIC. are really one factor in the production of wealth. But labor is intelligent ; it is life itself and must control. Either the laborer must own the capi- tal, or unite his interests with the owner of it. Then the interests of capital and labor are unit- ed, and protection to labor comes under the law of self-preservation. Labor-saving machinery would be utilized for the benefit of all, and wealth would increase, and poverty, with its con- sequent crime, degradation, and misery, would disappear, and the blessings of a true republic bring to realization all that the patriot fathers aimed to accomplish. TARIFF. 217 CHAPTER XYI. TARIFF. "The freest government cannot long endure when the tendency of the law is to create a rapid accumulation of property in the hands of the few, and to render the masses poor and dependent."— DawjeZ Webster. " If I could, 1 would have free trade with all the world, without toll or custom-house." — Emerson. Intimately connected with the question of the relations of labor and capital is that of tariff. The question arises from a conflict of local inter- ests, as a method of raising a national revenue and protecting certain industries. In manufac- turing districts, high rates of tariff are con- tended for, and in agricultural districts the theory of low rate and even free trade seems to prevail. A tariff is a tax or duty laid on certain articles or commodities imported from foreign countries, as a mode of revenue and for the protection of domestic manufactures. As a source of revenue, it is quite generally admitted. This arises from the concessions of political parties in recognizing a tariff ; but this method for revenue is open to serious objections, 10 218 THE NEW REPUBLIC. even if a better system were not at hand. As a means of protection, it is a complete success to the extent to which it is carried. But whom does it protect? Labor, and thus lift it from servile dependence ? The fact, as shown in the United States Census Reports, that wage-labor is less than a dollar a day, and has steadily de- creased about eight per cent since 1870, will show that labor is not the object of its fostering care. But somebody is protected. The rapid in- crease of capital in manufacturing and mining localities answers the question. But the tariff system is open to other serious objections, which will be considered in this chapter. Not only will the reader's judgment be ap- pealed to, but facts from authentic sources will be presented to explain why politicians and sub- sidized journals are so sensitive on this subject. Let us illustrate : " A St. Louis merchant went to New York to purchase goods. He first called on an English merchant who sold goods from his own manufac- tory in England. The St. Louis merchant asked the price of some woolen goods, and was told two dollars a yard. Said he, 'Howls this? Before the war I got this kind of goods for one dollar a yard.' ' Yes,' rej)lied the English merchant, ' such was the price then, but your government has put one dollar a yard duty on this goods, and now we sell for two dollars, and pay one dollar to your TARIFF. 219 government, and put the other dollar in our own pocket.' The St. Louis merchant crossed the street to an American merchant, who manufactures his own goods in the United States, and asked the l^rice of the same quality of goods, and was told two dollars a yard. He replied, 'How is this? The English merchant sells the same article at the same price, and he j^ays a duty on his goods.' 'That's so,' said the American merchant; 'the Eng- lish merchant sets the price, and we sell at his price, and that's where we have the advantage of him. We put the two dollars in our own pocket.' " If the duty be laid on imported goods of the same kind that are manufactui'ed in this country and sold, the duty goes to the government ; but if manufactured in this country and sold, the duty is added to the cost of manufacture, and goes into the pocket of the manufacturer. To show the inconsistency and injustice to our industries, let us take two of the staple products of our own country, namely, sugar and tobacco. A duty of from two to five cents a pound is laid on sugar, and an internal-revenue tax is laid on tobacco. Through the manipulation of the markets, cap- italists control the price of sugar, and wholesale dealers and refiners receive a profit equal to the duty imposed on all the products of this country, at the expense of the consumers. On the other liand, a tax is laid on the tobacco that is produced 220 THE NEW REPUBLIC. in tills country; that goes direct to the govern- ment. So we see that in one instance the benefit goes to the favored capitalist, in the other it is paid hy the producer. This discrimination is in favor of a certain class and against another. Even if the sugar-producer got the benefit, the injustice would have been no less ; but the gov- ernment is never guilty of favoring production. Both commodities are produced and Imported, and bear the same relation to industry and trade. It is urged that tariff Increases the price of labor and of agricultural products, thus increas- ing the prosperity of the country. It may be of Interest to the reader to look back and ascertain if protection in the past has done anything in the way of redeeming the promises that have been made in its behalf. " Unfortunately for purposes of comparison, this country has never enjoyed absolute free trade since the machinery of the Constitution was got into working order. We will have to content ourselves with comparisons between periods of high duties and periods of low duties. If protection possesses the virtue claimed for it by its advocates, every ad- vance in the rate of duty will be found to have been succeeded by, first, an increase in population through immigration ; second, a falling off of exports, of farm products; and third, in an increase in the price of the same ; and on the other hand, under periods of low duties the opposite of the foregoing results will be found to have succeeded. TARIFF. 221 " The first tariff act in which the principle of pro- tection cut any figure was passed in 1816. There was an increase in the number of articles taxed, and also an increase of duties made in 1824 and in 1828. " Let us now see what effect this had on immi- gration, prices, and exports of farm products : In 1820 the number of immigrants was 8,385 " 1824 " " " " " 7,912 " 1828 " " " " " 7,382 " 1833 " " " " " 58,G40 "Thirteen years of unbroken protection gives an increase of over 80,000, of which 58,640 were in 1833. In this year the compromise tariff went into effect. This act provided for a gradual reduction in the rate of duty until it reached twenty per cent. This period has been erroneously denominated a non-protective period, and is embraced in the years 1833-41. "As stated above, the number of immigrants which arrived on our shores in 1833 was 58,640. After nine years of lower and regularly diminishing duties, the number of immigrants in 1842 was 104,563. The liigh tariff in 1842 was followed in 1843 with a reduction in the number of immigrants of about 40,000. Three-fourths of the year 1843 brought but 52,496, which would be about 70,000 for the year. "The Democratic Congress in 1846 gave protec- tion a 'black eye,' and immigrants to the number of 234,968 responded to the change in policy. After four years of ' British free trade,' in 1850, 310,004, increased to 427,833 in 1854, immigrants cast their lot among us. "Never but once prior to 1880 did the number 222 THE NEW REPUBLIC. of immigrants equal the number that came to us in 1854, namely, 459,803 in 1873 "There was no change in the tariff from 1854 to 1856; yet there was a falling off of more than one- half of the number of immigrants in the latter year. Again : there was no change in the rate of duty in the years 1879 and 1880 ; yet the difference in the number of immigrants arriving in the two years is very great, being 157,862 in 1879, and 457,257 in 1880." If protection had increased the prosperity of our country and raised the price of farm prod- ucts, and thus stimulated agriculture, foreign im- migration would have responded to the changCj but the foregoing exhibit shows that such is not the case. Our author goes on : " The great consideration with the farmer is the question of price. Fortunately, we have a complete record running back to a time that antedates the memory of the oldest inhabitant. Wheat is the staff of life, and I will take it as a criterion. Prices given are taken from the records of trade : Wheat in 1825 was worth per bushel $0. 92 " " 182G " " " " 94 " " 1827 " " " " 99 " " 1828 " " " " ............. 1.22 " " 1829 " " " " 1.24 " " 1830 " " " " 1.07 " " 1831 " " " " 1.18* " " 1832 " " " " 1.26*" Average for eight years l.lOg " Under the compromise tariff — TARIFF. 223 Wheat in 1833 was worth $1.19i " " 1834 " " 1.06 " " 1835 " " 1.21^ " " 1836 " " 1.78 " " 1837 " " 1-77 " "1838 " " 1.92 " " 1839 " " 1.24A " "1840 " " 1-04I " " 1841 " " 1.18| " " 1842 " " 1.14 Average for ten years 1.35 Increase of 80.24^ per bushel. "From 1825 to 1832 was high tariff. The aver- age of wheat per bushel was 81.10^. From 1833 to 1842 was low tariff. The average of wheat per bushel was $1.35. Increase in price during period of low tariff, $0.24J. Second period of protection, 1842-46. Wheat in 1843 was worth |0.98| " "1844 " " 97^ " "1845 " " 1.04 " " 1846 " " l.OSh Average during high tariff, per bushel 1.02 A reduction during this period, per bushel, $0.33. "Non-protection, first period, 1847-50. Wheat in 1847 was worth $1.36i " " 1848 " " 1.16* " " 1849 " " 1.24" " " 1850 " " 1.27* Average of four years of low duties 1.26 An increase over protection, per bushel, $0.24. "Second period of low duties, from 185*1-54 : Wheat in 1851 was worth $1.07^ " " 1852 " " 1.10 " " 1853 " " 1.39 " " 1854 " " 2.14 Average for four years of low duties, per bushel. . . 1.44 Another increase of 18 cents per bushel. 224 THE NEW REPUBLIC. "Third period of low duties, from 1855-60. Wheat in 1855 was worth $2.43^ 185G 1857 1858 1859 1860 1.75 1.32I 1.50 Average for six years low duties, per bushel 1. 69 " Still another increase of 25 cents, and 67 cents more per bushel than the average under the high tariff of 1842. " After fourteen years of what Mr. Carey styled ' British free trade,' wheat was worth in 1860 |1.50, and averaged for the whole period $1,69 per bushel. " The table from which I have expounded the foregoing does not give prices since 1860; but I have one giving the price of flour down to 1867, and doubtless I could get data from the" reports of the Department of Agriculture down to 1881, but I do not deem it necessary. In 1854 flour was worth per barrel $8.44 " 1861 " " " " " 5.29 Average for the years 1854 to 1861 6.47 In 1862 flour was worth per barrel 4. 70 " 1863 " " " " " 3.93 " 1867 " " " " '' 6.66 Average for seven years, per barrel 4.94 "A reduction under the tariff yet in force of $1.53 per barrel ; and yet protectionists have the effront- ery to tell us that their swindling device is a good thing for farmers. Choice flour is now worth less than in 1860. " Here is another table which is a recapitulation of some lengthy ones, and which, for want of space, I TARIFF. 225 I will not enumerate. The following are the aver- ages for the periods : Period. 1825-32. 1833-42. 1843-46. 1847-50. 1850-54. 1855-60. Wheat. Cotton. Corn. Kye. Oats. Butter. Cheese. . 1.35| . 1.02 . 1.26 . 1.44 . 1.69 .101 .12 .06| .09 .09 AOl .62 .57 .77^ •68i .7U .8lt .67 .84J .68 .72 .9U .94" .37 .43 .34 .43 .47 .48* .15^ .161 • 111 .15i ■m .19i .07i .05| .06j .07i .081 " Special attention is called to this last table. To assist in the matter, the jieriods of high and low tariff are here given : High tariff from 1825 to 1832, wheat rer bushel. . .$1.10i Low " " 1833 to 1842, " " "... 1.351 High " " 1843 to 1846, " " " ... 1.02^ Low " " 1847 to 1850, " " "... 1.26 Stilllower "- 1850 to 1854, " " " ...L44 British free trade 1855 to 1860, " " " ... 1.69 " I think I have shown how utterly opposed to fact is the statement that protection affords a bet- ter price for farm products ; and I will now exam- ine the other proposition, that protection builds up a home market. "If I were to give the exports of farm products for each year, not one reader in fifty would look them all over; so I will confine myself to compar- ing a few years under the different periods of high and low duties. And let me here remark, that I sometimes fall into the error of speaking of cer- tain periods as non-protective. We have never had non-protective periods, for the reason that Congress has never yet favored a bill that did not afford protection to many industries. Duties under the ' British free trade ' tariff average nineteen per cent. The principle of all tariffa 10* 226 THE NEW REPUBLIC. where revenue is not alone the object is protec- tion. They differ only in degree. In 1850 farm products exported were $123,875,880 " I860 " " " " 260,139,925 " 1870 " " " " 391,269,695 " 1880 " " " " 685,867,737 " The same in a different form : Exports of farm products in 1850, per capita $5 " " " " " 1860, " " 8 " " " " " 1870, " " 10 " " " " " 1880, " " 13 " The facts set forth in the foregoing tables are worth more than all the theories and sophistries contained in all the books that were ever printed with a view to cajole farmers into supporting the most stupendous and infamous svviiKlle that was ever invented. There are thousands of farmers that firmly believe that protection builds up a home market at better prices, and they do not take the pains to inquire into the basis of their belief. In- vestigation is all that is necessary to convince any man that protectionist writers are either dishonest or ignorant. " The facts contained in this article are matters of history, accessible to protectionists as well as free traders ; but I have yet to see a single state- ment touching prices and exports of farm products emanating from protectionist writers. They take for granted that high wages result from protection ; in other words, they think that because manufac- turers are enabled to make large profits, they will divide with the laborer. Strikes and tramps were unknown under 'British free trade.'" — William Manning. TARIFF. 227 Thus we see that a tariff does not favor immi- gration, advance the price of farm products, nor create a demand for home consumption. There are several reasons that induce immigration, among which are cheaper homes and better facil- ities for living. We are told that a high tariff advances wages, but the facts show the contrary. It enables manufacturers to increase the price of their arti- cles, but that they share the profits with their operatives is in no sense true. Holding absolute control over labor, they give no more than its ab- solute needs for existence, as the history of labor struggles most amply show. The following, from the " Saturday Express," well illustrates this point : "PKOTECTION. THE AVERAGE "WAGES OF LABOR LESS THAN A DOLLAR A DAY. " The ' New York Herald ' is not much impressed by the demonstrated value of the present high tariff to laboring men. Eeferring to the census bureau statistics, in Bulletin No. 302, giving the number of hands employed, the amount of wages paid, and the value of the material used, and the value of all the products for all the establishments of manufactur- ing industry in each of the States or 'J'erritories as returned at the census of 1880, the 'Herald' thus comments : " ' The protectionists having had full swing during the decade under consideration, we look to find, of 228 THE NEW REPUBLIC. course, a most satisfactory and liberal outlay in the way of wages to operatives, as set forth in this doc- ument. " ' The average number of hands employed is • 2,738,950 in 253,840 establishments; the amount of wages paid is $947,919,674. Dividing one by the other, we find the net average annual wages of our manufacturing operatives to be $346.08 — less than a dollar a day. And when it is considered that this includes all those skilled operatives who are paid high wages, it may be imagined that the rank and file are not very well equipped financially for their struggle with life ; house-rent, fi)od, clothing, fuel, light — all to be supplied from less than a dollar a day. And it is not to be supposed that this exhibit occurs on account of the employment of women and children ; the fact being, that these form only 26 per cent of the whole number of operatives. The fig- ures are : Males above 16 years 2,025,279 Females" 15 " 351,753 Children and youths 181,918 *"This statement shows that the enormous gratuity which is given every year by the protective tariff to the manufacturers goes into their own jyocjcets., while the operatives are ground down to the lowest POSSIBLE WAGE. " ' As the jDrotective tax comes also out of the pockets of these very operatives, the rascally circle is complete. " ' But this is not the worst of it, for an examina- tion of the census of 1870 makes the following show- ing: In that year the number of hands employed in the manufactories was 2,053,996, and the amount of wages was $775,584,348, an annual average wage of $374.64, or 131.56 more than in 1880. So that TARIFF. 229 the poor wages of the laboring man employed in our manufacturing establishments have actually de- clined in the ten years in the amount of 131.56 each, or more than 8 per cent. While all this leads to the suggestion that while the laboring classes are being humbugged by the manufactures into the be- lief that all their troubles originate with the capi- talists and railroads, they may as well commit to memory two pregnant facts : '"1. That in the manufacturing establishments the net average wages of the operative is $346.08 per year. " ' 2. That even this paltry sum is 8 per cent less than it was in 1870.' " Both the dominant parties are clamoring for tariff, and to make the thing appear different, the Republicans cry out "' protective tariff," while the Democrats want " tariff for revenue only." All tariff is protective, unless confined to articles not produced in the country. The only difference is in the rate. High rate gives proportionate pro- tection and proportionate revenue, if importations are carried on. " A tariff for protection gives to the manufactur- ei'S a monopoly, in some cases so complete as to drive the foreign article from our poi'ts. In such cases, the government receives no revenue, but the manufacturer can make a clear profit of the per cent fixed by the tariff, all of which is eventually paid by the consumer, and for which he receives no con- sideration. To illusti-ate this, let us take the duties ou blankets for the year 1871, and the quantity im- 230 THE NEAV REPUBLIC. ported. The duty on the four classes of blankets was 87, 88, 100, and 109 per cent, respectively. The whole imports for that year amounted to $19,355, and the tariff duties to $17,316. All the residue of blankets pur.chased during that year were home pro- ductions. The manufacturer has only to mark up his price to realize about 100 per cent over the price at which they would have been sold but for the protective tariff. '• Take boots and shoes as another illustration. We imported none in 1871, and of course no reve- nue was received on these articles in that year ; yet the manufacturer had the benefit of a tariff of 35 per cent on each pair sold. If a pair of boots were sold at $8, the protection the wearer paid to the manufacturer was $2.80. The law compels the farmer and laborer to jiay that sum as a bounty to the manufacturer. " On cotton goods the consumer jiays a duty of from 85 to 03 per cent. For almost every article of clothing worn by man, woman, or child, a duty must be paid. The average is about 45 j^er cent on the value. " Prices are nearly uniform for the same classes of goods, whether of foreign or domestic manufac- ture. On imported articles the tariff is paid to the government ; on domestic manufacture the duty is paid to the manufacturer. This system compels the poor man to contribute more than his fair pro- portion to protect the already rich manufacturer. To illustrate this, let us suppose that A is worth §500,000, and has a family of four to clothe, while B has nothing but his industry and perhaps a small liomestead, and a family of eight to support. Both families must be clothed and fed ; each must con- tribute to the manufacturer the same rate of pro- TARIFF. 231 tection. The man with liis half a million of property and family of four will probably purchase as much for his family as the poor man will for his iiamily of eight, each expending say |400. If the duty on the pui'chase averages only 40 per cent, each pays for the support of the government to protect home manufactures $160, The sweat and toil of the poor man contributes just as much as the rich man's half-million. Or, supj^ose A is a man without a family and has great wealth, and B is dependent on a small farm for the support of himself and family. A spends for clothing 1200, while B is obliged to expend |400 for clothing for his family. Hence, the labor of the poor man pays twice as much as the capital of the rich man to protect home industry and supj^ort the govern- ment. " To illustrate the difference between a revenue by tariff and direct tax, the following instance is given. A has $1,000 assessable property, consisting of a homestead, and working tools, etc., and a family of five to support. A national tax of one half of one per cent on $30,000,000,000 (the assessable prop- erty in the United States) would bring an income of $150,000,000. B is worth $500,000 and has a family of five to support. By direct tax, A would pay $5, B would pay $2,500, A revenue by tariff would compel A to pay say on $200 of dutiable articles 40 per cent (the present tariff rate is over 43 per cent), which would be a tax of $80, instead of $5 by direct tax ; and B, who would purchase say $400 of dutiable articles, would pay $160 on $500,000,' instead of $2,500 which he would pay by direct tax. The injustice is as 80 : 1,000 : : 160 : 500,000. The proportion would be 80 : 1,000 :: 160 : 2,000. B escapes paying tax on $498,000 ! Thus we see 232 THE NEW REPUBLIC. that a revenue by tariff throws the burden on the wealth-prodi;cers, while those who live on their ncome nearly escape the burden." — D. C Cloud in Monopolies and the People. If this subject is not understood by the people, capitalists will continue to enrich themselves un- der the pretense of building up home industries and creating a home market. The truth is, our ports are open to immigration, drawn to this country by the prospect of better means of livelihood and at no expense to capitalists, to com- jjcte with an already overcrowded labor market, while the capitalists are protected and enriched by the very class they rob and oppress. If labor had its own it would need no protec- tion. If the motive powers of nature and the almost unlimited capacity of labor-saving ma- chinery could be utilized for the laborer instead of for the capitalist, with the inexhaustible resources of the country, the people of the United States could compete with the whole world. The ten- dency of American genius is inventive and prac- tical. This is shown in the manufacture of watches. In Switzerland each piece is made by hand, a necessarily slow and tedious process ; while in this country the same work is done by machinery, better and much cheaper ; and as a consequence, American watches are finding a market all over the world. TARIFF. 233 The vast wealth resources of our country and the ability of the people to develop them are be- yond computation. Regulation of the industries mio-ht be so arrano-ed as to secure a balance in all. With adequate facilities for exchange and transportation, we could furnish manufactured articles at rates that would allow us to export to other countries and compete with them in their own markets. Such stimulus to industry would be almost inconceivable, and under proper re- strictions and regulations no tariff, however high, could affect the industrial interests of the people. The American Samson has been shorn of his strength while asleep, and like his prototype of old his locks are reappearing, and he will seize the pillars of the temple of monopoly, and bring to destruction all his enemies. It is humiliating to witness the gradual de- struction of our commerce by the operation of protective tariff. " Tlie fact is well known that our carrying trade has passed into the hands of other nations. That vessels can be built more cheaply in foreign ports is well known ; as also that American ship-owners build or purchase their ships in Europe, sail under English colors, and use English pa})ers, assigning as a reason therefor their inability to ))ay the duty upon the materials used in ship-building. So op- pressive is this duty, and so damaging has it become to our comraei-ce, that Congress is being urged to 2o4 THE NEW REPUBLIC. grant subsidies to shii>owners. As a necessary re- sult of this system of protective tariff, the American - built ships cannot carry freight as cheaply as those built in foreign countries, and the producer must be content to have his produce, already taxed to half or two-thirds its value for inland transporta- tion, taxed beyond the amount charged by the ves- sels of other nations for ocean transportation, or allow the ocean trade to remain as it now is in the hands of England. "American seamen must abandon the ocean or sail under foreign flags. Protection has destroyed our mercantile navy, and compelled our seamen to seek employment elsewhere and in other occupa- tions. With our vast agricultural wealth, demand- ing the markets of the world, the protection policy of the government effectually closes our j^orts to other nations, while the farmer is obliged to accept for his grain the low price that a home market al- ready glutted will afford him." — Ibid. Mr. Julian, who has been quoted in a former chapter, said on the same occasion : " Our tariff laws for years past, while jiretending to favor the laborer, have been framed in the in- terest of monopolists. The duty on coal, which is a necessity of life, admits of no defense. To tax coal is to tax the poor man's fire, to ' tax the force of the steam-engine, to starve the laborer on whom we depend for work.' " The duty on leather has increased its cost an- nually about ten million dollars, while the consum- ers of boots and shoes have had to pay an increase of some fifteen millions of dollars. The duty on lumber has lai-gely increased its price, and is wholly TARIFF. 235 jDaid by the consumer. The duties on wool, salt, and pig-iron impose heavy burdens on the poor, and, like the other duties named, can scarcely be de- fended, even granting the principle of protection to be sound. This legislative discrimination in favor of the richer and more favored ranks in society, and against the laboring and producing masses, ought to cease. Instead of being loaded down with bur- dens and exactions for the aggrandizenient of the few, they should share the ujistinted favor of the government." Thus the scheme for the aggrandizement of capital, under the pretense of public good, has been one of the most efficient and successful of accomplishments. It cannot be too often nor too strongly urged upon the mind, the power and obstinacy of pre- conceived opinion. Pride of opinion has mucli to do with it. The reason why pertinacity of opinion is so strong with some is because such love of self is stronger than love of justice. Neither can the importance of right-thinking be overestimated. In regard to the subject under consideration, the accumulation of wealth by levying contribu- tions upon the sources of it, not only the tempo- ral and physical needs of society are seriously disturbed, but the very basis upon which a better system can be built is rapidly getting beyond the reach of the people, and a system founded upon 236 THE NEW llEPUBLIC. rule and service will be adjusted upon an im- movable and permanent basis. Such a system, by controlling industry and gauging the produc- er's share to the "minimum at which the supply of labor can be kept u])," will be organized into a perfect science, and the vast outlay of wealth will be devoted to the arts of oppression instead of being employed in the building up of a higher civilization. " The great aggregations of wealth," says Henry George, " are like great trees which strike deep roots and spread wide branches, and which, by sucking up the moisture from the soil, and inter- cepting the sunshine, stunt and kill the vegetation around them. When capitals of millions of dollars come in competition with capitals of thousands of dollars, the smaller capitalists must be driven out of the business or be destroyed. With great capital, nothing can compete but great capital. Hence, ev- ery aggregation of wealth increases the tendency to the aggregation of wealth and decreases the possibil- ity of the employee ever becoming more than an employee ; compelling him to compete with his fellows as to who will work cheapest for the great capitalist — a competition that can have but one result: that of forcing wages to the minimum at which the supply of labor can be kept up. Where we are is not so important as in what direction we are going; and in the United States all tendencies are clearly in this direction. A while ago any jotir- neyman shoemaker could set up a business for him- self with the savings of a few months, but now the operative shoemaker could not in a lifetime go into business for himself. TARIFF. 237 " And now that great capital has entered agricul- ture, it must be with the same results. The large farmer who can buy the latest machinery at the lowest cash prices and use it at to the best advan- tages ; who can run a straight furrow for miles ; who can make special rates with railroad companies, take advantage of the market, and sell in large lots for the least commission — must drive out the small farmer of the early American tyj^e, just as the shoe factory has driven out the journeyman shoemaker. And this is going on to-day." — Henry George. Observing and reflective minds throughout the country perceive the inevitable consequences of present conditions, and it is only for the people to realize the direction in which they are going to arrest the fatal tendenc3^ One of the causes of this condition and this in- evitable tendency is the operation of our tariff system. At first, the weak and helpless condi- tion of manufacturing industries invited and seemed to demand protection, and it offered such convenient facilities for the collection of revenue thsit it was not difficult to Inaugurate the system. As a system of revenue it is grossly unjust, be- cause it lays the burden of taxation upon labor instead of on property, and as a system of pro- tection, it protects the wolf instead of the lamb. " Nature creates the middle classes," says Pro- fessor Swing ; " the two extremes, being of human origin, are the outgrowth of false and periiicious 238 TITE NEW REPUBLIC. systems of political economy, class laws, and spe- cial legislation, and one is the inevitable result of the other." This states in general terms the sub- stance of the Avhole matter, and a prominent fea- ture of " false and pernicious systems of political economy " is a tax laid on imported commodities " to protect home industries and furnish a reve- nue for the government." The necessity for raising a revenue to meet the expenditures of the civil war served as an excuse to increase the rate and enlarge the class of articles made dutiable, and now the average ad valorem tax is over 43 per cent and the list of articles has swelled to the volume of three thou- sand. On some of them tlie rate has reached the point of prohibition of importation. In such cases the home manufacturer marks his price accord- ingly. The remedy has already been hinted at. Throw off the restraints on labor, give it the benefits of a true medium of excliange, freedom from land monopoly, a co-operative system in all public en- terprises, and man's inventive genius in mechan- ical invention, and with the vast and inexhausti- ble resources of potential wealth, the power of foreign competition would no longer serve as an excuse to enrich capital by impoverishing labor, and direct taxation, the only just method of rals- TARIFF. 239 ing a revenue, would be the source for govern- ment expenditures. Another serious objection to the tariff system is the corruption that springs from the patronage of the government in appointing officers to con- duct it. The power and importance of the ad- ministi'ation consists in a great measure in the appointment of this service, and the strife for gov- ernment control itensifies party spirit to such an extent that politicians are enabled to "take cap- tive " the will of the people, and thus perpetuate existing evils. The enormous expense of collection is another objection. Revenue by direct tax could be col- lected by the metliod for the collection of state tax, and along with it, thus saving to the people an army of custom-house officers and others con- nected with the collection of customs. It is the business of politicians to mystify by sophistries and half-truths with wrong conclu- sions. There has been so much said and written on this subject, and so many falsities and theoret- ical speculations, that it is no difficult matter to keep the agitation up for political purposes. The politician presumes for his strength and success upon the people's ignorance, but is cunning enough not to let them suspect his trick. With a show of giving them credit for much wisdom 240 THE NEW REPUBLIC. and sagacity, he offers them the merest shams and pretenses, and depends on his art and soph- istry in pahiiing them off as sound doctrine. To insure success, the politicians itensify and im- bitter party spirit to give direction to popular thought, and so prevent the examination and dis- cussion of true principles of government. Thus they make the people's strifes and dissentions their strength. CORPORATIONS. 241 CHAPTER XVII. CORPORATIONS. ""Work, ■rt^ork, work ; My labor never flags ; And what are its wages ? A bed of straw, A crust of bread — and rags. That shattered roof, and this naked floor, A table, a broken chair ; And a wall so blank my shadow I thank For sometimes falling there." " A CORPORATION" is a civil institution, or, as it is sometimes termed, ' a body politic' the essential character of which is that it has a legal existence as a person under the name given it by legislative authority, either by express charter or by prescrip- tion which implies a charter." — American Cyclo- pedia. Corporations for the aggregation and accumu- lation of wealth are of comparatively modern origin. Recent writers on political economy seem to turn their attention to the consideration of the most effective methods of concentrating wealth and accumulating large capital for the production of wealth as the leading object of government ; and corporations are the most effi- cient instrumentalities for that purpose. A corporation has a legal existence as a per- il 242 THE NEW REPUBLIC. son. While the rights of a person are limited to his natural life, and he is restrained by conscien- tious considerations and social dependencies, cor- porations are renewed in their existence, and having no obligations to society, they ai'e free to act solely in the interests for which they are created, therefore relentless in their greed and despotic In their rule. " The king of England lives forever. He passes through many forms, but he does not die. He is a great conquerer, a great warrior, a vain and arro- gant woman, a fop, a libertine, an idiot, a states- man, sage, and soldier, a fierce and cruel tyrant, a stupid beer-drinker, a sober matron; but all the time king. " So a corporation lives forever. It is even worse than a king, for it has no human feeling or emo- tion. Its motive power is profit, and its only in- spiration is avarice. The corporation is a greater menace than noble or king." It is a law of nature that the greater attracts the less. All bodies attract directly in propor- tion to their quantity of matter. The principle holds good in political economy. A number of natural persons, having their natural rights rec- ognized by law, associate into a body politic for some financial or industrial enterprise, combine their capital, and become a power much greater than their dissociate powers, which, however, re- main intact. CORPORATIONS. 243 A corporation, having been formed for a spe- cial purpose, is bound to its accomplishment ; for that, it exists. A power is created hy law, vest- ing in individuals rights in addition to their natural rights. Here is a disturbance of po- litical equilibrium, and the whole fabric is affected. These combine, and thus the power of vested rights gains the ascendency, and a few control the many. Sometimes a single individ- ual becomes a " body politic," having previously associated himself with others and gained a foot- hold by indomitable energy and deep forethought, outstripes his fellows in the race and gains a su- preme control. How nearly this condition of things is reached may be seen in the person of Jay Gould. Another instance is William Van- derbilt, who within the year has accumulated 120,000,000. The fact that not one cent of this vast sum was earned or produced by him will assist in re- alizing the gross outrage this is upon labor, and how destructive to a free government such a vast power becomes. It is a general opinion that corporations arc necessary for carrying on great enterprises re- quiring innnense outlay of capital. It must be remembered that in public enterprises all are equally interested, and a fund should be furnished 244 THE NEW REPUBLIC, from the public treasury to curry on these enter- prises, and conducted by the respective jurisdic- tions for which they were intended ; then all would be equal recipients in its benefits. Thus a highway or bridge, the improvement of a navigable stream, a canal or the building of a railway or telegraph line, should be carried on for the benefit of the township, county, state, or general government, according to the conven- ience and requirements of each. The canal system of the State of New York affords demonstrable proof of the practicability of state corporations. " De Witt Clinton broke with his own hand the ground in the beginning of the enterprise (the Erie Canal), July 4, 1817; and overcoming constant, un- remitting, and factious resistance, he had the feli- city of being borne, in October, 1825, in a barge on the artificial river which he seemed lo all to have constri¥)ted from Lake Erie to the bay of New York, while bells were ringing and cannons saluted him at every stage of the imposing progress. No sooner had that great work been undertaken, in 1817, than the population of the State began to swell with augmentation from other States and from abroad ; prosperity became universal ; old towns and cities expanded, and new cities rose and multiplied ; agriculture, manufacture, and com- merce quickened in their movements, and wealth flowed in upon the State from all directions." — American (Jyclopedia. CORPORATIONS. 245 The New York State canals have an aorjjreo-ate length of 886 miles. "The gross earnhigs of these canals for the four years from September 30, 1860, to 1864 was 817,722,384. After paying the expenses of superin- tendence and ordinary repairs for the same period, the net balance of surplus revenue was §14,442,408." This is an income to the State of $3,610,602 a year, and shows how much could be saved to the people if the government conducted all pub- lic enterprises. "De Witt Clinton had the good fortune to ma- ture the system of finance which enabled the State, unconscious of expense or care^ to begin and carry out his policy of internal improvement." — Ameri- can Cyclopedia. How much of wise political economy is ex- pressed in this brief statement ! The rapid increase of population, the universal prosperity, the multiplicity of towns and cities, the quicken- ing of industries and the increase of wealth, the wisdom and efficiency of their management, and the financial measures, " unconscious of expense or care," in this vast and magnificent enterprise carried on by a State corporation. Why do not other statesmen arise and put into practice what is here so clearly demonstated? Corporate greed rules the nation, and a score of De Witt 246 THE NEW REPUBLIC. Clintons, working in unison and with most per- sistent energy, could do nothing should they at- tempt in opposition to corporations. This greedy monster must be throttled, his power crushed out, and EQUALITY OF EIGHTS established be- fore liberty can be restored. Our postal system is another instance in which an extensive and complicated enterprise is car- ried on. Our educational system and military service are other proofs of the ability for public enterprises on a vast scale to be conducted by the government. In all enterprises of a private character, no one has a right to appropriate more legal power than another, because the rights of all are equal ; and to vest special power in some ignores the princi- ples upon which our independence was won and renders a free government impossible. " We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal." There can be no equality where one citizen is vested with legal power to do what another is forbidden to do. The objector may urge that all have a right to incorporate. If for private purposes, then no one would be the gainer. The quality of corpo- rate power consists in giving to the incorporators an advantage over others, lor if nothing is gained, there is no object in incorporating. CORPORATIONS.* 247 A receives a charter authorizing him to erect a bridge, and guarantees that no other bridge shall be built within three miles of it on the same stream. Why is this special privilege giv- en to A ? It is said to induce him to build the bridge, and a maximum toll is prescribed to pro- tect the public from extortion. His charter grants him a power; otherwise, why the re- straint ? This is the simplest case in which a corpora- tion can exist, and yet it is an injustice. Within twenty-five years, corporations have extended to all enterprises where capital can be best invested and industry monopolized. " The best lawyers, the best inventors, the best business men, are all on the pay-roll of the monopo- lists. The corporations have not only monopolized the means of producing wealth, but they are even forcing a ' corner ' in brains. In attracting to them- selves the service of the most active and vigor- ous intellects and strongest wills, the confederate monopolies are doubly intrenched. The past his- tory of the world gives no record of any sys- tem of oppression so insidious, so strong, and so all-pervading as that of the jiredatory corporations which are absorbing the substance and undermining the liberties of the American people." They are the machinery by which the robbery of the people is accomplished. Banking corpor- ations control the currency of the nation, a power 248 TIIE NEW KEPUBLIC. incalculable and inconceivable. The volume and stability or instability of the circulating medium directly affects the jjrice of commodities ; it de^ termines the rate of interest by w^hich millions are taken from labor to enrich corporations. Had the men who were instrumental in the creation of these banking corporations been con- scientious, there would have been some palliation and some hope that they would relinquish their powder when they were convinced of the wrong ; but when we know that they are thoroughly familiar with the results and aimed to bring them about, we can feel nothing but execration for the crimes they are committing. They know the ef- fects of contraction and expansion of the curren- cy. They must therefore be declared guilty of deliberate intent to rob the nation of billions of dollars, with the full knowledge that it would drive multitudes to bankruptcy and ruin. To sanction this diabolical scheme by legalizing it only adds to its perfidy by investing it with the authorit}^ of the government. And these men are honored and trusted, and permitted to con- tinue to control the currency and rule prices. " The people sleep in ignorance, or such a thing could not be jjossible. When they awake, God have mercy on their oppressors, for they will not." — Leo Miller. CORPORATIONS. 249 It is by corporations that transportation is car- ried on. Combinations are effected, and, with the exception of the canal system above noted, the entire carrying trade is monopolized; dis- criminations are made, the people are insulted and robbed and placed at their mercy. Although demanding a paying rate on an enormous outlay of capital (watered stock), yet they refuse to pay taxes on an assessment of one-fourth of the value of their roads, to say nothing of the immense sub- sidies granted to them by the government. And now ex-Senator Conkling, in defending a corporation that refused to pay its taxes and ap- ^Dealed the case to the United States Supreme Court, declares it to all intents and purposes a person in law, and as such is to be protected by the provisions of the Federal Constitution, amend- ed Article XIV. Sec. 1, under the following clause : " Nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law, nor deny to any pex'son within its juris- diction the equal protection of the laws" ; thus making a corporation the agent of an outrageous robbery, and the United States Constitution the authority for it. Vast aggregations of capital in manufacturing enterprises are effected by corporations which exercise their power in securing the protection 11* 250 THE NEW REPUBLIC. of the government in laying high duties on im- poi'ted commodities, and thus imposing a heavy and unjust burden on hibor. The lines of communication for intelligence are controlled by corporations. The advantage of this control is of incalculable value. The state of the market, both foreign and domestic, the fluctuations in the stock market, the schemes and manipulations in political transactions, and shaping intelligence for the press cannot be over- estimated ; to say nothing of the immense reve- nues derived from it. Corporations for insurance business and stock operations, mining associations, in trade, and even in agriculture, organize their forces and carry on their operations to control labor. They are conspiracies against labor that seek to appro- priate its fruits and enslave the toiler ; they are usurpations of natural rights, inspired by greed and for self-aggrandizement. In other countries, rights, privileges, and powers are recognized as hereditary ; in this they are secured by legal enactments. In other countries, class distinctions of rich and poor, of high and low, bond and free, are supported by heredity ; in this they are established hy law. While they increase with unexampled rapidity, there is neither time nor opportunity for culture, and indeed, no inclina' CORPORATIONS. 251 tlon for It ; in other countries the aristocracy support their distinction by superior intelligence and culture, and that class possess genuine merit ; but our "aristocracy," founded on wealth, are characterized by arrogance, presumption, greed, tyranny, and aping the style and manners of foreign aristocracy, with all their vices, but with- out their virtues. Wealth, combined and employed as capital, possesses vastly more power than if employed in separate enterprises. Let twenty men with $5,000 each associate their capital, or let them employ it separately. Suppose it to be for the manufactuae of woolen goods. The grounds, sites, and buildings would be important items in the estimate, and would be a savino- in a com- bined capital of more than half in them. The purchase of machinei-y for a single establish- ment with a capital of $100,000 would be much more advantageous and economical than for twenty manufactories of $5,000 each ; the num- ber of operatives, overseers, and skilled laborers would be proportionally less in one large estab- lishment, the advantages of the purchase of stock and the sale of goods would also correspond. Taking all these advantages, in favor of large establishments — for the difference is not gain — we find thcni to be greatly in favor of large 252 THE NEW REPUBLIC. capital. Any business enlarged is proportion- ately more profitable. If a farmer should divide his farm and carry on two distinct operations, with two sets of buildings, the necessary additional fencing implements, and the added care of man- gement, he would see the benefit of combination. Corporations secure all these advantages by the creation of a separate " person " in law, exercising the rights and prerogatives of an individual, with full power to push his enterprises without restraint of conscience, social dependence, or responsibil- ity. These legal robbers associate, conspire, and confederate, being organized for the sole purpose of gain, and free from all obligations to society, they build up in few hands immense power to prey upon the people and rob them of the nat- ural rights — nay, worse : through the machinery of government they compel the people to carry on these outrages against themselves ! There is one class of citizens — the wage-earners — who seem to be, by their poverty and utter de- pendence on corporate capital, hopelessly lost. They have gone over " to the bleak barrens and ice-walled shores of the frozen zone of poverty." The millions they create serve to perpetuate their poverty, and the ballots they hold have placed them in the condition of slavery, and continue to hold them there. Poverty is the CORPORATIONS. 253 greatest foe to moi'ality and intelligence. It dulls the finer sensibilities, and takes away all aspiration for anything manlike and noble ; and by constant and daily contact with physical forces, blunts and hardens the whole being. Wearied and worn with toil, one seeks rest and sleep, only to awaken to renewed toil and weari- ness. No time, no means, no opportunity, and finally no desire for intellectual and moral cul- ture, and as the " weary plowman plods his way," so plod the weary toilers, victims to the greed and tyranny of corporate power. Professor Carey says : " Under the established systems, the middle classes tend to pass away, and its condition is well expi*essed by the term, ' the uneasy class.' There is a permanent strife for life, and man endeavoring to snatch the bread from his neighbor's moutli." The wao;e-earner may be consigned to the category of slavery, the " middle class " are on their way, and no remedy now prescribed, no powers now invoked, will stay them from the same fate. Instead of there being anything to prevent the enslavement of the laborer, there is everything to facilitate it. The government is the agency employed by corpora- tions, and the law the instrumentality by which millionaires and paupers arc made. What does suffrage amount to when votes can 254 THE NEW REPUBLIC. be boiiglit at a mere nouiiual price on election clay, or dictated by fear of starvation ? It serves to add to the political power of wealth, and the establishment of tyranny. In spite of all the j)recautions of the people of California to guard and protect their liberties by constitutional enactment, the insidious power of corjjorations crept in and intrenched itself in its provisions. The artful framers set out with a "Declaration of Eights" in the followino; Ian- guage : "All men are by nature free and independent, and have certain inalienable rights, among which are those of enjoying and defending life and liberty ; acquiring, possessing, and protecting property, and pursuing and obtaining safety and happiness. " All political power is in the people. Govern- ment is instituted for th.e jirotection, s°.curity, and benefit of the people, and they have the right to alter or reform the same whenever the public good may require it." In section 4, article 12, we find the following definition of " corporation" : "The term 'corporations' as used in this article shall be construed to include all associations and joint-stock companies having any of the powers or privileges of corporations 7iot possessed by i?idivkl- uals or partnerships ; and all corporations shall have the right to sue and be sued in all courts in like cases as natural persons." CORPORATIONS. 255 The new Constitution of Cfiliforniji declares, " All men are by nature free and independent, and have certain inalienable rights" ; and then in art. 12, sec. 4, it proceeds to alienate them by declaring corporations "to include all associations .... having any of the powers or privileges of corporations not i^ossessed by individuals^ Here we have a declaration of personal rights, and a provision in the same instrument conferring "powers and privileges" on corporations "not possessed by individuals and partnerships." The aim and intent of corporate power is the aggrandizement of the few by the accumulation of wealth. The productive power evoked from heat and electricity applied to mechanical Inven- tion has increased the means for creating wealth a hundred-fold, and by means of corporations this power is utilized in the hands of the few. Hence, it is impossible to maintain political equal- ity, without which a republic cannot exist. In all cases the tendency of advancing civiliza- tion is the increase of jiower of producing wealth to meet the increasino; needs advancinjj civiliza- tion creates. Every power that increases the production of wealth is monopolized by corpora- tions by virtue of aggregated capital and the ex- ercise of vested " rights." The laborer has no more interest in the production of wealth than 256 THE ^'EW EEPUBLIC. the Cuban slave, and Is reduced to wages upon which all his interests concentrate. Thus robbed of all the benefits of productive jiower, labor is reduced to utter dependence on those who exercise it ; machinery takes the place of manual labor, and the capitalist owns the one and controls the other. This control is by the agency of corporations ; therefore corporations are the enemies of republicanism, and the two cannot co-exist in the same government. By cor- porations, in the midst of wealth poverty exists, political equality is destroyed, and society separ- ated into ever-receding divisions of proud and haughty snobs and poor and humble slaves. Cor- porations serve the purpose of a huge wedge, driven not under society as a whole to lift it up, but in the midst of it, forcing one part up and the other down, and destroying the equality ; and thus the lower stratum loses the essential qusvlities of manhood and becomes a slave, a ma- chine, a commodity in character and destiny. The question may arise in the present condi- tion of society. How can the vast enterprises for the production of wealth be carried on without corporations ? Even the manufacture of a pin requires a capital expressed by scores of thou- sands, and so great is the division of labor that individual enterprise seems out of the question. CORPOKATIO.XS, 257 Co-operation is the answer. Let the producer have an equitable interest in the outcome of the enterprise. The experience of the Rochdale en- terjn'ise in England, and others of still greater magnitude, not only demonstrate the practica- bility of co-operation, but the fact that it has gone into practical operation. The reader is re- ferred to Mr. Holyoke's works. In individual enterprises, all are entitled to an equal opportunity to acquire the means of life, and the combination of capital for the advantages it gives should be shared by all in proportion to their contribution in labor or capital. We must not lose sight of the fact that people have something else to do besides " making money." The production of wealth as an end is vitiating and degrading. Wealth is only the preliminary condition, tlie means to an end — the development and culture, the harmonization and refinement, the vigor and power of all the attri- butes of man, the happiness of the individual in the welfare of the whole. In regard to public enterprises and the ability of the people to operate them by government agency, let the canal system of New York, that brings annually a net income of millions to the State, be the answer. Our postal system, with its vast ramifications and its complicated opera- 258 THE NEW REPUBLIC. tions, is so familiar that it is overlooked. So necessary has it become that all enterprises, public and private, would be so crippled that business would soon cease. The difference between what is and what would be if all the appliances man is capable of bringing to bear on the- welfare of society, is in- conceivable. Not without too much elaboration, is it possible to notice some of the benefits that would accrue from the i*elegation of the powers and privileges of private corporations to those of a public character. The people would demand a volume of currency equal to the demand of trade and industry; then time-transactions of debts and credits would no longer exist. This in itself would bring about a change in public affairs more marked than one in a thousand can conceive. It would overthrow the credit system, by which so many billions of dollars are taken from labor. A vast army of lawyers who now flourish and fatten would be compelled to look elsewhere for support. A multitude of jurors and witnesses would be released from service. An immense and complicated system of govern^ ment machinery would be dispensed with, and justice would be meted out to the people. All public service would be done at a reasonable cost, and wealth would flow in to the producer, CORPORATIONS. 259 who would have the tune, opportunity, means, and disposition to apply it to the higiiest and best uses. The time for labor would be abridged, and the curse of poverty, like a darkening mist, would disappear before the light of a higher intelligence. The social forces that now are expended in strife and contention would be employed in building up, refining, and harmon- izing the social fabric. The following clear and forcible presentation is from the pen of Henry George, author of " Progress and Poverty " : "The growth of morality consequent upon the cessation of want would tend to a like diminution in other civil business of the courts, which could be hastened by the adoption of the common-sense proposition of Bentham to abolish all laws for the collection of debts and the enforcement of private contracts. The rise of wages, the opening of op- ])ortunities for all to make an easy and comfortable living, would at once lessen, and would soon elim- inate from society the thieves, swindlers, and other classes of criminals, who spring from the unequal distribution of wealth. Thus the administration of tlie criminal law, with all its paraphernalia of police- men, detectives, prisons, and penitentiaries, would, like the administration of the civil law, cease to make such a drain upon the vital force and atten- tion of society. We should get rid, not only of many judges, bailiffs, clerks, and prison-keepers, but of the great host of lawyers who are now main- tained at the expense of producers ; and talent now 260 THE NEW REPUBLIC. * wasted in legal subtleties would be turned to higher pursuits. "The legislative, judicial, and executive func- tions of government would in this way be vasily simplified ; nor can I think that the public debts and the standing armies, which are historically the outgrowth of the change from feudal to allodial tenures, would long remain after the reversion to the old idea that the land of a country is the com- mon right of the people of the country " Society would thus approach the ideal of Jef- fei'sonian democracy, the promised land of Herbert Spencer, the abolition of government ; but of gov- ernment only as a directing and repressive power. It would at the same time and in the same degree become possible for it to realize the dream of social- ism. All this simplification and abrogation of the present functions of government would m.ake j^os- sible the assumption of certain other functions which are now pressing for recognition, " Government could take upon itself the trans- mission of messages by telegraph as well as by mail, of building and operating railroads as well as of oj^ening and maintaining common roads. VV^ith present functions so simplified and reduced, func- tions such as could be assumed without danger or strain, and would be under the supervision of pub- lic attention, which is now distracted " We might not establish j^ublic tables — they would be unnecessary ; but we could establish pub- lic baths, museums, libraries, gardens, lecture-rooms, music and dancing halls, theatei's, universities, tech- nical schools, shooting galleries, play-grounds, gym- nasiums, etc. " Heat, light, and motive power, as well as water, might be conducted through our streets at public CORPORATIONS. 261 expense; our roads be lined with fruit trees, dis- coverers and inventors rewarded, scientific investi- gations supported, and in a thousand ways the public revenues made to foster efforts for the pub- lic benefit. " We should reach the ideal of the socialist, but not through government repression. Government would change its character, and would become the administration of a great co-operative society. It would become merely the agency by which the common property was administered for the com- mon benefit. " Does this seem impracticable ? Consider for a moment the vast changes that would be wrought in social life by a change which would assure to labor its full reward ; which would banish want and the fear of waut, and give to the humblest freedom to develop in natural symmetry. " In thinking of the possibilities of social organi- zation, we are apt to assume that greed is the strongest of human motives, and that systems of administration can only be safely based upon the idea that the fear of punishment is necessary to keep men honest, that selfish interests are always stronger than general interests. Nothing could be farther from the truth. " From whence springs this lust for gain, to grat- ify which men tread everything pure and noble under their feet ; to which they sacrifice all the higher possibilities of life ; which converts civility into a hollow pretense, patriotism into a sham^ and religion into hyprocrisy ; which makes so much of civilized existence an Ishmaelitish Warfare, of which the weapons are cunning and fraud? " Does it not spring from the existence of want? .... Poverty is the open-mouthed, relentless 262 THE NEW REPUBLIC. hell, which yawns beneath civilized society. And it is hell enough For poverty is not merely deprivation : it means shame, degradation, the searing of the most sensitive parts of our moral and mental nature as with hot irons ; the denial of the strongest impulses and the sweetest affections ; the wrenching of the most vital nerves. " You love your wife, you love your children ; but would it not be easier to see them die than to see them reduced to the pinch of want, in which large classes in every highly civilized community live ? The strongest of animal passions is that with which we cling to life ; but it is an every-day occurrence in civilized societies for men to put poison to thejr mouths or pistols to their heads from fear of pov- erty ; and for one who does this there are probably a hundred who have the desire, but are restrained by instinctive shrinking, by religious considerations, or by family ties. " From this hell of poverty it is but natural that men should make every effort to escape. With the impulse to self-jjreservation and self-gratification combine nobler feelings, and love as well as fear urges in the struggle. Many a man does a mean thing, a dishonest thing, a greedy and a grasping and unjust thing, in the effort to place above want or the fear of want mother or Avife or children " How sweet to the storm-stricken seems the safe harbor, food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, warmth to the shivering, rest to the weary, power to the weak, knowledge to him in whom the intel- lectual yearnings of the soul have been aroused ! " And thus the sting of want and the fear of want make men admire above all things the possession of riches, and to become wealthy is to become respect- ed and admired and influential. Get money — CORPORATIONS. 263 honestly if you can, but at any rate, get money. This is the lesson that society is daily and hourly dinning in the ears of its members. Men instinct- ively admire virtue and truth, but the sting of want and the fear of want make them even more strongly admire the rich and sympathize with the fortunate. It is well to be honest and just, and men will commend it; but he who by fraud and in- justice gets him a million dollars will have more respect and admiration and influence, more eye- service and lip-service, if not heart-service, than he who refuses it " Whatever is potent for evil may be made potent for good. The change I have proposed would de- stroy the conditions that distort impulses in them- selves beneficent, and would transmute the forces that r )W tend to disintegrate society into forces which would tend to unite and purify it. " Give labor a free field and its full earnings, take for the benefit of the whole community that fund which the growth of the community creates, and want and the fear of want would be gone. The springs of production would be set free, and the enormous increase of wealth would give the poorest ample comfort. Men would no more worry about finding employment than they worry about finding air to breathe ; they need have* no more care about physical necessities than do the lilies of the field, Tlie progress of science, the march of invention, the difiusion of knowledge, would bring their benefits to all. " With this abolition of want and the fear of want, the admiration of riches would decay, and men would seek the respect and approbation of their fellows in other modes than by the acquisition and display of wealth. In this way there would be brought to the 2G4 THE NEW REPUBLIC. managemeut of public affairs and tht administration of common funds the skill, the attention, the fidel- ity and integrity that can now only be secured for private interests; and a railroad oi' gas-works might be operated on public account, not only more econ- nomically and efficiently than as at present under joint-stock management, but as economically and efficiently as would be possible under a single owner- ship "There are people into whose heads it never enters to conceive of any better state of society tiian that which now exists ; who imagine that the idea that there could be a state of society in which greed would be banished, prisons stand empty, in- dividual interests be subordinated to general inter- ests, and no one seek to rob or to oppress his neigh- bor, is but the dream of impracticable dreameis, for whom these practical, level-headed men who pride themselves on recognizing facts as they are have a hearty contempt. But such men — though some of them write books, and some of them occupy the chairs of universities, and some of them stand in the pulpit — do not think. If they wei-e accustomed to dine in such eating-houses as are to be found in the lower quarters of London and Paris, where the knives and forks are chained to the table, they would deem it the natural, ineradicable disposition of man to carry off the knife and fork with which he has eaten. " Take a cumpany of well-bred men and women dining together : there is no struggling fur food, no attempt on the part of anyone to get more than his neighbor, no attempt to gorge or carry off. On the contrary, each one is anxious to help his neighbor before he partakes himself ; to offer to others the best, rather than pick it out for himself; and should COKPORATIONS. 265 any one show the slightest disj^osition to prefer the gratification of his own appetite to that of the others, or in any way to act the pig or pilferer, the swift and heavy penalty of social contempt and ostracism would show how such conduct is repro- bated by common opinion. All this is so common as to excite no remark; as to seem the natural state of things : yet it is no more natural that men should not be greedy of food than that they should not be greedy of wealth. They are, greedy of food when they are not assui-ed that there will be a fair and equitable distribution which will give to each enough. But when these conditions are assured, they cease to be greedy of food. And so in society as at present constituted : men are greedy of wealth because the conditions of distribution are so unjust that instead of each being sure of enough, many are certain to be condemned to want. It is 'the Devil catch the hindmost' of present social adjust- ment that causes the race and scramble for wealth, in which all considerations of justice, mercy, relig- ion, and sentiment are trampled under foot ; in which men forget their own souls, and struggle to the very \%v^q of the grave for what they cannot take beyond. But an equitable distribution of wealth, that would exempt all from the fear of want, would destroy the greed of wealth, just as in polite society the greed of food has been de- stroyed " But it may be said, to banish want and the fear of want Avould be to destroy the stimulus to exer- tion ; men would become simply idlers, and such a happy state of general comfort and content would be the death of progress. This is the old slave- holders' argument — that men can only be driven to labor with the lash. Nothing is more untrue. 12 266 THE NEW- REPUBLIC. Want might be banished, but desire would remain. Man is the unsatisfied animal. He has but begun to explore, and the universe lies before him. Each step that he takes opens new vistas and kindles new desires. He is the constructive animal ; he builds, he improves, he invents, and puts together; and the greater the thing he does, the greater the thing he wants to do. He is more than an animal. Whatever be the intelligence that breathes through nature, it is in that likeness that man is made. The steamship driven by her throbbing engines through the seas is in kind, though not in degree, as much a creation as the whale that swims beneath. The telescope and the microscope — what are they but added eyes which man has made for himself ? The soft webs and fair colors in which our women array themselves — do they not answer to the plum- age that nature gives the bird? Man must be doing something, or fancy that he is doing some- thing ; for in him throbs creative impulse ; the mere basker in the sunshine is not a natural but an abnormal man." — (pp. 408-419.) We could not forbear this long quotation from Mr. George's book. It is so applicable to our case, and so vivid in description of the present and prospective condition of man ! The objection that to banish want and the fear of want would destroy the stimulus for exertion is farther an- swered by stating the fact that many of the most brilliant and active minds have been of those who were placed beyond want. In fact, the freer from this dread incubus, the stronger is the impulse CORPORATIONS. 267 to higher and nobler modes of life. The present disparity of social conditions — the struggle with poverty on the one hand and the inordinate and unjust accumulation of wealth on the other — tends to destroy those higher aspirations that better conditions would prompt. Avarice is the inspir- ing genius; it corrupts the social fountain; it turns the channel of thought and feeling from the higher impulses that are slumbering in the soul. In our government, corporations are the means by which these conditions of extreme wealth and extreme poverty exist — conditions fatal to the prosperity and hapjiiness of the people. The fear of want that characterizes the " uneasy class " — those occupying a middle ground but with a downward tendency — disqualifies them for better impulses and higher aspirations. Corporations for individual aggrandizement must give way to cooperative enterprises ; and measures for the public good must be carried on for the equal benefit of all. Justice is thus made possible, and equality established — conditions ab- solutely essential to a true republic. 268 THE NEW REPUBLIC. CHAPTER XVIII. QUALIFICATIOX FOR CITIZENSHIP. ' A weapon that comes down so still As snow-flakes fall upon the sod, But executes a freeman's will, As lightning does the will of God ; And from its force nor doors nor locks Can shield you : 'tis the ballot-box." Rights enjoyed imply duties to be performed. Such are the demands of life. The bahince of privilege and responsibility, of service and re- ward, is the constant requirement of justice. The eventful march of human progress carries along with it the service to be rendered as well us the privileges to be enjoyed ; the one is as essential as the other is valuable. Among the most important duties the citizens of a republic are required to perform are : 1. Acquiring the necessary qualification. A clear conception of the principles upon which a free government is founded, the relations its citi- zens hold to it and to each other, are the first considerations. Experience as well as reason demonstrates the fact that due qualification for any work is a necessity ; but in matters of government this QUAHFICATIOX FOR CITIZENSHIP. 269 seems to be overlooked. Reliance upon authority and blind confidence in those who are in the ex- ercise of it, intensified by political bias and party zeal, without the " eternal vigilance " so ear- nestly recommended by that great apostle of human liberty, Thomas Jefferson, are fatal de- fects in the qualification for citizenship. Taking advantage of these, designing and ambitious men, selected not for their qualification but for their availability, are thrust upon the people — not chosen by them — to carry out the schemes for securing wealth and dominion. It is clearly the duty of citizens to protect themselves from such imposition ; therefore, such a system of educa- tion as will develop a knowledge of the principles of a true republic is the pressing and imperative requirement. Whatever the character of the government may be, the governed must abide by it ; and the question here is, What shall be the character of the governed? For in a republic they ai'e the governors. This is so evident that it requires nothing but the bare statement to brino^ it home to every intelligent mind. Are they self-reliant, and sufficiently independent of political tricksters ; of the influence of party " fealty "; of the tyranny of capital ; free from the debasing influences of vice ? It is the aim and plan of the politicians 270 THE NEW REPUBLIC. and their masters to mystify, to distract and weaken, to demoralize, to create distrust and destroy confidence. The ignorant man is the weak man. He is the most easily led to believe he is wise, and therefore the most easily hood- winked. His prejudices are aroused ; he im- agines them to be sound principles ; party spirit is awakened forthwith ; in his estimation he be- comes a patriot. He mistakes sophistry for reason, and vehement declamation for profound wisdom. He is alike the sport and the victim of political jugglery. No one is capable of being deceived, but there stands ready a deceiver ; no one in a condition to be robbed, but there stands ready a robber. Jefferson's test of the qualification for office is equally applicable to the citizen : " Is he capable? Is he honest ? " The science of political economy should be regularly and thoroughly taught; not the theories found in the writings of the subjects of kings, and servilely imitated by writers who profess to live under a republican government ; into whose heads the idea of the true source of power never enters; who take for granted the complicated and mystified theories of English finance, the oppressive and wicked system of land tenures, and thus establishing and firmly rooting the idea of the justice of land monopoly, a dual QUALIFICATION FOR CITIZENSHIP. 271 legislative system to serve the interests of the "upper" class, and a judiciary system relegat- ing the administration of justice to a class of special experts, thus creating not only a vast source of income, but the greater evil of the ex- ercise of political power — evils f asrtened upon the people by foreign political economists and jurists. The structure of republican govei-nment is es- sentially different from that of monarchical ; as different as the source of power is different, which requires as much difference in principle as there is in source of power ; and an attempt to teach republicanism on monarchical principles is as futile as the attempt to teach morals by the code of the highwayman. There can be no proposition plainer than to be able to do anything successfully there must be a qualification for the work. The true principles of a republican government have never yet come to the public mind, much less been systematically taught. Every citizen should master them — must master them ; not the mass of I'ubbish found in the musty tomes of English jurisprudence and political economy, but the principles of justice in the recognition of the equality of natural rights and their benefits to be enjoyed by all; the just and equal distribution of wealth by which each producer may hold and enjoy his own ; the meth- 272 THE NEW RErUBLIC. ods of building, equipping, and operating lines of travel, transportation, and intelligence upon a system of actual cost ; a method for the adminis- tration of justice by ready and simple means, and by which emancipation from the control of lawyers and judges, who now operate by the complicated intricacies of theories that have been accumulating for ages. The elements necessary to be understood are not complicated and massive beyond the compre- hension of ordinary capacity when developed ; otherwise, there is no possibility of self-govern- ment: in which case, here ends the whole matter. The truth is, we are and have been under the tuition of English political economists and jurists, who have fastened their systems upon us, and, as like causes produce like effects, our political and industrial condition resembles that of its prototype as nearly as modifying influences will allow. 2. An appreciation of the natural rights upon which a true republic is founded. Experience and observation show the indiffer- ence of the people under the present system of government to an appreciation of the priceless value of the natural rights endowed upon them by their Creator. After a hundred years of failure to secure their QUALIFICATION FOR CITIZEXSHIP. 273 just exercise, is it any wonder that the people are discouraged, demoralized ? Under the false and pernicious system of competitive industry, where every man's hand is against his neighbor's, where want and poverty, and the suffering and disgrace attending them, have been so long in operation, is it any wonder that greed and avarice have be- come the ruling forces of society ? The appreci- ation of justice and the idea of its rule in the affairs of life are not looked for in this age of greed and selfishness. Justice is the equilibrium of values, and its blessings are realized just in proportion to the general intelligence and virtue of the people ; and a government is good just in proportion to the degree of justice exercised in it. Selfishness is the great antagonist of justice, and governments are the instrumentalities for the ex- ercise of the one, in despotism and slavery by the ignorance and moral obliquity of the governed, or in liberty, equality, and happiness by the in- telligence and virtue of the governed. Truth is the torch that lights to the domain of justice ; error always leads astray into the des- potism of selfishness. Truth is the child of knowledge ; error, that of ignorance. " He whom the truth makes free is free indeed," and in the en- joyment of its innumerable blessings ; but he who flounders in the sea of error is carried on its 12* 274 THE NEW REPUBLIC. darksome waves into the tlomaln of poverty, de- gradation, misery, and ruin. Intelligence comes to us only by hard and per- sistent effort, and well it is that it does, or we would sink into intellectual and moral inanition. The effort required to develop the intellectual and moral powers yields a double blessing ; with the developement by acquisition comes the ca- pacity for gratification that activity affords. The legitimate pursuit of all thought is truth ; the inevitable result of ignorance is error. Truth builds up and preserves, and carries us upward and onward to illimitable heights of grandeur and glory ; error arrests and turns us backward into barrenness and gloom : the one gives light and joy, the other darkness and mis- ery. Truth comes as the fruit of effort and in- dustry ; error of ignorance and misguided zeal : the one is the spirit of right, the other the ghost of wrong. The inseparable companion of truth is love ; that of error is passion. In a political sense, error is terrible to contemplate. Its off- spring are hate, intolerance, pride, egotism, big- otry, superstition, greed, oppression. It gave the poison to Socrates ; it nailed the gentle Nazarene upon the cross; it imprisoned Copernicus; it manacled the hands of Galileo, and laid the in- junction of silence upon his lips for uttering a QUALIFICATION FOR CITIZENSHIP. 275 great and Immortal truth ; it murdered the inno- cent victims of alleged witchcraft ; it decapi- tated Charles I. of England, and then tore open the grave of his destroyer, Cromwell, snatched his body from it, hung it upon a gibbet, and then quartered it. It has immolated the sons and daughters of liberty upon its altar, and covered the seat of justice with the robes of iniquity. It antagonizes fi-eedom and destroys human happi- ness. It is strongly intrenched in the citadel of human affection, and is the main reliance of tyrants. Liberty cannot exist where error reigns. With keen moral perceptions and appreciation of justice, with natural rights weighed and scaled up to their full value, the fruits of ignorance and error — poverty, slavery, depravity, crime, and misery — would not, could not, exist. We now suffer and tolerate these evils : ought not this to arouse us to the fact that moral appreciation is not up to the point requisite for individual free- dom and happiness, the true aim of popular government ? Ignorance and vice are insepara- ble in the administration of government. Igno- rance converts liberty into license, and vice panders to the lowest passions. Ignorance tol- erates wrong because it cannot comprehend right, vice supports it because it ministers to sensuality. " We must educate ! We must educate ! Or 276 THE NEW REPUBLIC. else we perish ! " said an American writer years ago. The truth of this is so apparent that it needs no statement. The rapid creation of wealth, without the corresponding moral culture, gives impetus and force to the rule of passion ; the control of this increased wealth by a few, without due qualification in the many, must be disastrous to the rule of justice and the reign of liberty. Intelligence and virtue are inseparable. We do not appreciate our rights because we do not understand them. Who is able to measure the value, the resources, or compass the limits of power that slumber in the human soul? "The human mind," says a living writer, " is the re- pository of infinite possibilities." Accustomed to toil and to the cruel reign of greed and unhal- lowed ambition, these having never been duly developed, cannot be duly appreciated. The energy of the toiler has been expended in the struggle with poverty, and the incessant haunting of the fear of want, and the forebodings of misery that follow in its train have prevented the higher and nobler attributes of the soul from being called out. Environments create conditions. Because we have so often seen the suffering and torture of anxiety proceeding from poverty, and know not QUALIFICATION FOR CITIZENSHIP. 277 how soon we may become its victims, we have ixrown cautious and selfish. Everthinfj that touches our pecuniary interests I'ender us ex- tremely solicitous. AVe give an intellectual assent to the statements of history and the deduc- tions of science, for the simple reason that they do not perceptibly affect our pockets. So far as they are concerned, the nebula hy- pothesis of La Place may be true or not, and the results of the ever-busy woriiers in elaborating and formulating scientific data are alike indiffer- ent to us, because we see no direct relation be- tween them and our purses. So we do not perceive the intimate relations between and the direct dependence on all that makes life dear and valuable, a just and true government, and the welfare and happiness of the people. We are ready enough to resist the evils that reach our doors, without an appreciation or even a laudable effort to grasp and comprehend the cause. We overlook the gigantic wrong and try to grapple with its effects. Unless we clearly perceive the underlying cause of the evils from which we suffer, we will never make an effort to remove it. That cause lies in an unjustly con- stituted government, wherein usurped rights, not natural rights, are the foundation. The abil- ity to comprehend that wrong basis and fully 278 THE NEW REPUBLIC. appreciate the right one are indespen&able quali- fications in the citizens of a republic. Justice is its constructive principle, liberty its temple, equality its condition, and the free exercise of all the natural rights its aim and consummation. The power to conceive and appreciate the prin- ciples and forces that constitute a I'epublic are absolutely necessary to its existence. This must be acquired. The immensity of its importance cannot be expressed or even estimated. The ap- plication of this power to the purposes of gov- ernment is the highest and most important duty of man. A well-constituted government is the essential condition for the most advanced civili- zation, and upon which it must depend. What duty, then, so imperative ? What benefit so great ? What result so grand? Would the curse of in- temperance, with its horrible train of crime, deg- radation, moral, social, domestic, pliysical, and financial ruin, be tolerated when virtue is appre- ciated ? AYould we behold the tears and hear the cries of women and children in their suffer- ings from liunger and cold, with indifference, if the sense of justice glowed in our hearts? Would corporate power, inspired by greed and impelled by cupidity, place its iron heel on tlie neck of labor, to rob and enslave it without a protest, if fraternal love beamed in our souls ? QUALIFICATIOX FOR CITIZEXSHIP. 279 Would the tyrant robber-chiefs ti'ample upon the people's rights, while we look on in slavish fear, if there was a spark of the love of liberty glow- ing in our breasts ? Would courts be bribed and lobyists flourish, if corruption was not tolerated ? Would land robbery, money swindling, railroad extortion, and gambling speculation be the order and the rule in a government of the people, for the people, by the people, if they did their duty as citizens ? We answ^er. No ! There is no question in this matter. We cannot tolerate wrong when Ave realize it and know the remedy. We do tol- erate it. Our duty as citizens is plain. AVe must not expect reward without earning it. The blessings of liberty come only to those who achieve liberty. 280 THE NEW REPUBLIC. CHAPTER XIX. NATURE AND USES OF GOVERNMENT. " A new and fair division of the goods and rights of this world sliould be the main object of those who conduct human affairs." — De Tocqueville. " Since writers have so confounded society with government as to leave little or no distinction be- tween them, whereas, they are not only different, but have different origins : society is produced by our wants, and government by our %oickedness ; the former promotes our happiness ^os^■<^ye/y by uniting our affections , the latter nefjatively by restraining our vices. The one encoui'ages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. •' Society in every state is a blessing; but govern- ment, even in its best estate, is but a necessary %\'A : in its worst, an intolerable one; for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries by a govern- ment which we might expect in a country without a government, our calamity is heightened by re- flecting that we furnish the means hy which we suffer. "^ " Government, like dress, is the badge of lost inno- cence ; the palaces of kings are built on the ruins of the bowers of Paradise. For, were his impulses of conscience clear, uniform, and irresistibly obeyed, man would need no other law-giver; but that not be- ing the case, he finds it necessary to render up a part * In this allusion to the British government, how striking the analogy between it and our own ! NATURE AND USES OF GOVERNMENT. 281 of his property to fuvuish means for the protection of tlie rest ; and this he is induced to do by the same prudence which in every other case advises him out of two evils to choose the least ; wherefore, secur- ity being the true design and end of government, it unanswerably follows that whatever/b?7w thereof appears most likely to insui-e it to us with the least expense and greatest benefit is preferable to all others. In order to gain a clear and just idea of the design and end of government, let us suppose a small number of persons settled in some sequestered part of the earth unconnected with the rest ; they will represent the first j^eopling of any country or of the world. In this state of natural liberty soci- ety will be their first thought, a thousand motives will excite them thereto ; the strength of one man is so unequal to his wants, and his mind so unfitted for perpetual solitude, that he is soon obliged to seek assistance and relief of another, who in his turn requires the same. Four or five united would be able to raise a tolerable dwelling in the midst of a wilderness ; but one man might labor out the com- mon period of life without accomplishing anything: when he had felled his timber he could not remove it, nor erect it after It was removed ; hunger in the mean time would urge him from his work, and every different want would call him a different way. Disease — nay, even misfortune — would be death, for though neither might be mortal, yet either would disable him from living, and reduce him to a state in which he might rather be said to perish than to die. " Thus necessity, like a gravitating power, would soon form our newly arrived emigrants into society ; the reciprocal blessings of which would supersede and render the obligations of law and government 282 THE NEW REPUBLIC. unnecessary, while they remained perfectly just to each other ; but as nothing but heaven is impreg- nable to vice, it will unavoidably happen that in proportion as they surmount the first difficulties of emigration which bind them together in a com- mon cause, they will begin to relax in their duty and attachment, and this remissness will point out the necessity of establishing some form of govern- ment to supply defect of moral virtue. " Some convenient tree will afford them a state house, under the branches of which the whole col- ony may assemble to deliberate on public matters. It is more than probable that their first laws will have the title only of Regulations, and be enforced by no other penalty than public disesteem. In this first parliament every man, by natural right, will have a seat. " But as the colony increases, public concerns will increase likewise, and the distance at which the members may be separated will render it too incon- venient for all of them to meet on every occasion as at first, when their nuiaibor was small, their habita- tions near, and public concerns few and trifling. "This will point out the convenience of their con- senting to leave the legislative part to be managed by a select number chosen from the whole body, who are supposed to have the same concerns at stake which those have who appoint them, and who will act in the same manner as the whole body would were they present. If the colony continue increasing, it will become necessary to augment the number of representatives; and that the interest of every part of the colony may be attended to, it will be found best to divide the whole into convenient parts, each part sending its proper number ; and that the elected might never form to themselves an inter- NATURE AND USES OF GOVERNMENT. 283 est seperate from the electors, prudence will point out the propriety of having elections often ; because as the elected might by that means return and mix again with the general body of the electors, in a few months their fidelity to the pnblic will be secured by the prudent reiiection of not making a rod for themselves. And as this frequent interchange will establish a common interest with every part of the community, they will mutually and naturally sup- port each other, and on this depends the strength of government, and the happiness of the governed. " Here, then, is the origin and rise of government, namely, a mode rendered necessary by the inability of moral virtue to govern the world ; here, too, is the design and end of government, viz., freedom and security. And however our eyes may be dazzled with the show or our ears deceived by sound, how- ever i^rejudice may warp our wills or interest dark- en our understanding, the simple virtue of nature and reason will say it is right. " I draw my idea of government from a principle in nature which no art can overturn ; viz., that the more simiDle anything is, the less liable it is to be disordered, and the more easily repaired when dis- ordered.'' — Paine's Rights of Man. The aim and intent of a republic is the regula- tion and protection of the people in the free and full exercise of their natural and inalienable rights. The necessity of government arises from the clashing of selfish interests; the •power of government is commensurate with the needs and wants of man ; and the character of government will correspond with the cluiracter of the people 284 THE JsEW KEPUBLIC. composing It. The foundation of republican government is the natural rights of man and his common interests. The 'principles of a republi- can government consist in a free and voluntary compact by which the units form an aggregate, each maintaining his personal sovereignty ; with a mutual agreement to abide by and conform to certain prescriptions for mutual benefit and safe- ty ; with constitutional provisions for organi- zation, in which are specified the sovereign functions of government and provisions for ex- ercising them ; provisions for electing some of their own number, and delegating power to act within certain prescribed limits; being a volun- tary national association, recognizing their nat- ural rights and organizing for the sole purpose of securing their exercise and enjoyment. Such government retains the power in the people ; it serves the highest purposes of gov- ernment, and lays a foundation lasting as long as the necessity for government exists. It is the most advanced plan of government, founded on the recognition of the individual rights of property How far these principles are to be carried out depends on the people composing it. * Its embodiment of principles and structure are prescribed and formulated in a constitution. This NATUKE AND USES OF GOVERNMENT. 285 is not tlie work of the government, but of the people ; it is the formation of the government. It defines and formulates the natural rights of the citizens. It creates and establishes legislative and exec- utive powers, prescribes a method of electing representatives, and determines their term of service and compensation therefor. It defines the sovereign functions of govern- ment, and provides measures for their perform- ance. It provides for self-defense and relations with other governments ; for revenue and public en- terprises. It secures to all its citizens equal rights, privi- leges, and opportunities. It ])rovides for schools of necessary kinds and their support, and due quajification for citizen- ship. It creates modes for the administration of jus- tice and the disposition and treatment of criminals ; for the preservation of health, and protection from the allurements of debasing; and dcf^radino; vices. It secures freedom of opinion on all subjects, and freedom of speech and assemblage. All its institutions arc public corporations: its postal system, its telegraph and other lines of communication, its transportation and travel, its 286 THE NEW REPUBLIC. education and bureaus for information, are estab- lished and conducted by government. Individual rights, privileges, and opportunities are equal, and all duties equally required and all burdens equal- ly borne in proportion to their ability. Compen- sation for public service should be no inducement for being sought. For when extraordinaiy power and extraordinary pay are conferred upon any individual in government, he becomes the center around which every kind of corruption generates and forms. Give any man a very large official salary, and add thereto the power of disposing of places at the expense of the government, and of- fices of public service, and the liberties of the people are no longer secure. When once such a vicious system is established, it becomes the guard and protection of inferior abuses. Cor- ruption, once tolerated, extends to all the depart- ments of the government and becomes the rule. It is the interest of each to defend the others, and thus all keep pure, for all have a mutual interest. Reformation never comes from those in 'power. If we would compare the Federal Constitutioti with one framed as here indicated, we would at once discover its inadaptability to the require- ments of a true republic. In its legislative dei^artment, it has a branch NATURE AND USES OF GOVERNMENT. 287 devoted to the interests o£ the higher class. By its criminal action, untold millions of dollars have been drawn from labor and given to idleness ; by it a debt has been created and fastened upon the people, to be borne by them alone, while that class best able to bear it are exonerated, and this debt is sought to be perpetual. Through the influence of its leading members, that debt has been doubled in value by legislative enact- ment, and witliout any value in retui'n to the people. Had it not been for the interference of the Senate, the money which was designed for the expenditure of the government during the civil war, and which would have been at par with gold, would have remained in sufficient volume in circulation for all the purposes of industry and commerce. The difference between such a condition and that which now exists is beyond all calculation. Notwithstanding the immense loss of life and de- struction of property occasioned by the war, the volume left in circulation at its close ffave such an impulse to industrial pursuits as were never before known in the history of our nation. Wealth flowed in upon the people as if by magic, debts were paid, and comforts and even elegances were begun to be enjoyed. Through 288 THE NEW REPUBLIC. the influence of the Senate, contraction began, and the tide was turned. As a result, the peo- ple are robbed and being impoverished, class dis- tinctions are built up, and corporate rule holds absolute sway. The Senate has neither sympathy nor respect for the people ; it is not elected by them, and feels under no obligations to them. This is justly in- ferred from the history of their action for the last twenty years. Thus equality is destroyed, liberty trampled under foot, justice ignored, and the dear, and long-cherished hopes and aspirations of the toil- ing millions overthrown. The executive department provided in the Federal Constitution is no less inimical to the lib- erties and happiness of the people. The vast powers conferred upon the chief executive enables him to turn this government into a des- potism without changing the Constitution or abandoning popular elections. He is the head and leader of the dominant political party, and the power and patronage vested in him enables him to exercise a power that few kings possess. "Section II. (Art. 2.) The President shall be the commander-in-chief of the array and navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several States when called into actual service of the United NATURE AND USE8 OF GOVERNMENT. 289 States. He may require, in writing, the opinion of the principal officers in each of the executive de- partments upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices, and he shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States except in cases of impeachment. " 2. He shall have power, by and with the con- sent of the Senate, to make treaties, provided two- thirds of the Senate present concur ; and he shall nominate, and by and with the consent of the Sen- ate shall appoint, embassadors, other public minis- ters and consuls, judges of the Supreme Court, and all other officers of the United States whose ap- pointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by law ; but the Congress may by law vest the appointment of such inferior officers as they think proper in the Presi- dent alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads of departments. " 3. The President shall have power to fill up all vacancies that may happen during the recess of the Senate, by granting commissions which shall expire at the end of their next session. " Sec. in. He shall from time to time give to Congress information of the state of the Union, and recommend for their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and ex- pedient ; he may on extraordinary occasions con- vene both Houses or either of them, and in case of disagreement between them with resjsect to the time of adjournment, he may adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper ; he shall re- ceive embassadors and other public ministers ; he shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed, and shall commission all the officers of the United States." — United States Constitution. 13 290 THE NEW REPUBLIC. Section VII., 2 (Article I.), clothes the Presi- dent with a negative jiower over the action of the Congress, of any majority less than two- thirds. These powers vested in the President are kingly prerogatives and derived from English law, modified by the pressure of public senti- ment at the time of the framing of the Federal Constitution and by the necessity to secure its ratification. The Englisli monarch commands his armies, creates his courts, advises his Parliament, ap- points his embassadors, makes treaties, and par- dons state criminals. What a wonderful similarity ! The one, the head and representative of nfree government and the other of a monarchy ! How obvious it Is that this transformation of a popular government into a despotism of the vilest and most degrad- ing kind — not into a monarchy, where some respect is due to the subjects, but of an oli- garchy, whose sole and avowed purpose is domin- ion of all the wealth resources of the land. The corrupting influence and tyranny of the courts transferred from the English monarchy with no material change of character are by this Constitution foisted ujoon our government, a de- partment unnecessary in a government of equal- NATURE AND USES OF GOVERNMENT. 291 ity, intelligence, and justice. Could an estimate be made that would exhibit at one view the evils of our judiciary system, it would be appalling. The tyranny of the courts, the defeat of justice, the immunity of the wealthy, the vexatious de- lays, and enormous expense are burdens too heavy for a free people to bear. The Federal Constitution allows members of Congress to fix their own compensation, while the people have to supply the treasury from which they draw their salaries. This is contrary to all business principles ; it should be determined by the people and incorpor- ated in their Constitution. The United States Constitution authorizes the disposition of the " territory and other property of the United States."— (Art. IV., Sec. III.) This power to dispose of the public domain has been and is employed to build up giant monopolies, which override the liberties of the people and destroy their government. The idea that the public domain belongs to the govern- ment and not to the people is derived from the prevailing opinion that the sovereign is sole pro- prietor of the nation, and that the government is the sovereign. The people have been robbed of an area of one-third of the arable land of the country : tiie disastrous effects will be realized in 292 THE NEW REPUBLIC. years to come. It lias laid the foundation for evils that may culminate in blood. Such reck- less disregard for justice and the public welfare is unparalleled in the history of modern govern- ments. The powers conferred by land monopoly have been discussed, and their evils in other countries should have served as a warning to our own ; but blind to every other consideration, cor- porate power has sought every means for its advancement, and the very foundation of all prosperity has been removed by the government transfer of the land of the people to the control of corporations. " It was and is the evident duty of the govern- ment," says R. T. Bland, " to prevent any mo- nopoly of the soil, and to hold the public lands to equal and free occupancy by the people for actual settlement. To give or to sell the lands in large bodies to Individuals or corporations for speculative purposes is a manifest usurpation and injustice. It is a violation of the spirit of free government, and incompatible with the con- tinued existence of a republic. It is a direct step toward aristocracy and despotism." The results of vested power, and its exercise beyond the control of the people, are perfectly in accordance with the conclusions reached by logi- cal deductions. The temptations it affords to NATURE AND USES OF GOVERNMENT. 293 ambitious and unscrupulous men are too great ; and the facilities for their gratification are em- ployed for the overthrow of free government. The structure of our government offers opportu- nities for usurpation and robbery ; as one politi- cian was candid enough to say, '' If the people put saddles on their backs and spurs on our heels, they might expect we would ride." The conse- quence is, the worst men came to the surface ; and a Franklin or a Jefferson could no more be elected to an office than a Christian priest could officiate at a Mussulman's altar. The idea of conferring titles of nobility upon citizens would excite honest indignation, but they are virtually conferred by corporate charters vipon American citizens who excel English aristocracy in everything but vir- tue. These are the facts that confront us to-day ; these are the logical sequences of vested pow^ers beyond the people's control, attracting the selfish, the unscrupulous and ambitious, and virtually Inviting them to take the reins of government In their own hands ; and they have accepted the Invitation ; they have seized the opportunity offered them. What is the remedy? Recon- struction. EstahUsh a government on the prin- ciples of the Declaration of Independence. It Is worthy of remark how tenaciously the people hold to a mere name, and refuse to accept 294 THE NEW KEPUBLIC. the facts made palpable by the evidence of their senses, and cling to a delusion because it is a pleasing one, and try to make themselves believe the delusion is a reality. The late Judge Black has given his testimony in regard to the political condition of our country, in the following unmistakable language : " The actual consequences resulting to the coun- try from the measures of the monopolists have not, I think, been truly represented or properly consid- ered. For many years past, all legislation has been partial to capitalists, and correspondingly injurious to the rights of land and labor. To what pernicious extent this system has been carried I need not say, for it is seen and known of all men. It cannot and will not come to good. Artificial regulations of that character never have, since the beginning of the world, had any effect but a bad one on the gen- eral condition of society that tried them. But the monopolists insist that they have changed the nature of things and enriched the masses of the people by the simple process of filching from them the fruits of their toil. They loudly cry out that the whole country is in a state of boundless prosperity. They get this brag inserted in political platforms when- ever they can, and thunder it from every stump on which they are permitted to speak. But it is false. They themselves are, indeed, superabundantly rich ; and invested, as they are, with the privilege of plundering their fellow-citizens, why should they not be rich? But for every millionaire they have made a thousand paupers. The relations between workmen and employers have never been so unsat- NATURE AND USES OF GOVERNMENT. 295 isfactory as now. Laborers are complaining every- where of inadequate wages ; and the complaint is true without doubt. The law ought to secure them a living rate of compensation ; but capital has got labor by the throat, and will not suffer anything done for its relief. "Agriculture is scarcely better off. The farmer who tills his own acres can make the barest living. The carrying trade of the world has passed from us into the hands of our great rival, simply because our jDreposterous legislation will not permit us to buy ships abroad, or build them at home without paying a tax on the material, which enhance their cost, and by reason of this — that is to say, carry it, or get it carried by the nearest way — we have lost what was or should be now the richest portion of our foreign commerce. Is all this loss and suffering of the industrious classes to be ignored? " If we estimate the prosperity of a country only by the overgrown fortunes of individuals especially favored by law, then Ireland is prosj^ei'ous as well as America ; for there as here the legal machinery is in perfect order, which makes the rich richer, while it grinds the poor down into deej)er poverty ; and thei-e as here the lines of Goldsmith are ever true and ever wise : " ' Hard fares the state, to hastening ills a prey, "Where wealth accumulates and men decay.' " In formulating and framing a government, we must adopt the plan of nature. The entire do- main of natural phenomena is the necessary result of tiie operation of natural law ; whether it be in the domain of matter or mind, the law is 296 THE NEW REPUBLIC. as absolutely definite and determinate In the realm of mentality as that of matter. But sensu- ous perception has always preceded the deeper processes of the reasoning powers. The apparent always comes before the real, even in the realm of matter. Astrology preceded astronomy. For thousands of years the wox'ld was satisfied with the Idea that the earth was flat, and that the sun, planets, and stars revolved around it. Alchemy was the intuitive vagaries that human genius has since developed Into chemistry, and the dreams of transmutation indulged in by the alchemist are realized in the magical results of modern chem- istry. The forces that now move the machinery of the civilized world, until within a compara- tively recent period of time, were slumbering in the coal-beds, and only waited the power of gen- ius to evoke them. The electric force, that until recently only displayed itself in the lightning's flash and the thunder's roar, now meekly obeys the voice of man and becomes his most valuable servant. What is done in the realm of mechanical forces, that have added so much to the power of pro- duction and facility of communication, may soon be 'done in the realm of thought. The mora} forces that move the social world, definite and determinate as they are, will be recognized and NATURE AND USES OF GOVERNMENT. 297 applied to the social and political world. As motion is the result of physical force, so emotion is the result of moral force. What gravitation and chemical affinity are to the physical world and justice to the moral world, so is desire to the social world. The laws of motion are so well understood that machinery is contrived and ar- ranged by which almost incalculable results are obtained. The laws of moral and social force must be equally comprehended and applied to obtain results of commensurate value. In the affairs of government, the natural laws of mind are ignored. Self-constituted authority and usurpation of power were the first steps to- ward the establishment of government. Edicts and mandates were the first laws. Resistance on the part of the governed was the next step. This resulted in a compromise between the " powers that be " and the subject of these powers. Under such a system of government, in the course of time there accumulated a vast amount of laws and usuages, sanctioned by cus- tom, in the form of edicts, decisions, opinions, speculations, and legislative enactments, classi- fied, systematized, theorized, and formulated ; and elevated into the dignity of a science by the ingenious commentaries of men of acknowledged 13* 298 THE NEW REPUBLIC. ability, and accepted as the authority of govern- ment. The moral law of social relations is justice ; that of government is force. The first is the law of God ; the second the law of man. The adjustment of man's relations by the former will secure the full capacity of his hap})Iness ; the adjustment by the latter, under the control of prevailing power, brings into existence in civil- ized nations the distinctions of high and low, rich and poor, bond and free. Force takes the place of justice. Immense wealth in few hands is drawn from labor by the power of man-made law. There is no more effectual way of establishing slavery of the most abject kind than by reduc- ing the people to poverty. Give to man ever}'^- thlng else he may desire — health, liberty, learning, genius : poverty will make him the humblest and most submissive slave. Give him wealth, and he feels the aspirations and dignity of a man, because wealth enables him to develop, exercise, and enjoy the attributes that characterize him as a moral, intellectual, and social being. Impoverishment of thj people is the only mode of subjugation, and ignorance of human rights, however much impracticable knowledge and learned nonsense may prevail, is the means NATURE AND USES OF GOVERNMENT. 299 of subjugation. Legislation provides for it, and the " courts of law " secure it. Force and author- ity take the place of reason and justice. Greed and want, avarice and poverty, discontent and submission, are the somewhat paradoxical con- ditions of the people. Three words will express the remedy — justice to all ; and how to ob- tain that justice is the object of our present inquiry. With what has been said, the method may be readily Inferred. Injustice inevitably brings misery. The whole intent of republican govern- ment is to secure justice. With it flow all the blessings of society and the benefits of govern- ment. HoAv shall we secure it? 1. Frame such a government as will secure the control of it to the governed. 2. Provide for a fair and honest election of ofl[icers by a proportional system of representa- tion. 3. Provide due qualification for citizenship by disregarding the distinction of sex, and securing adequate moral and intellectual cultivation. 4. Let all power delegated to oflScers be re- turned at stated periods to the people by the expiration of their term of office. 5. Let the burden of revenues be borne 300 THE NEW REPUBLIC. equally by all in proportion to tlieir ability to bear it. 6. Provide for a financial system by which exchanges are made equal, and a just distribu- tion of wealth is secured. 7. Substitute a system of arbitration for the present " courts of law." In the adjustment of controversies, justice is all that is demanded. In any community where the conduct of men is expected to meet with approval, they certainly would be willing to abide by the decision of such men as they would select. The complications, intricacies, and subtleties of law are beyond the mental scope of the people, and when applied in the adjustment of controvei'sies or causes at issue, by a class of experts who are specially trained in those complications, intricacies, and subtleties, the people are at their mei'cy ; and since this class officiate for the people, and shape and con- strue the laws of which they are sole creators and expounders, and even expounders of the meaning of Constitutions, the dependence of the people on them is that of absolute submission — a condition that every honest man should spurn with contempt and indignation. 8. A system of national enterprise for travel, transportation, and communication, by which only the cost is paid, or if more, let it be applied as revenue. NATURE AND USES OF GOVERNMENT. 301 9. A system of education by which the citi- zens will be qualified for the discharge of all their duties, and thus secure a free government. These are the fundamental principles upon which a true republic may be established, the aim and end of which is the regulation and pro- tection of the people in the exercise of their natural rights ; and this exercise is the best and all that government can confer upon a people. It is for them to determine. It is only for them to understand to apply the remedy. It is impos- sible to conceive that men will take up arms and spend their lives and fortunes, not to maintain their rights, but to perpetuate a system that out- rages every jirinciple of justice and destroys their liberty. The power to do this is in the people ; but that power must be concentrated. The power is in the knowledge of these immortal truths in the minds of the people and in their will to enforce them. "If, while there is yet time," says Henry George, " we turn to justice and obey her, if we trust liberty and follow her, the dangers that now threaten must disappear." The means for such reconstruction are still in our hands ; but intelli- gence, resolution, organization, are the necessary conditions for its successful accomplishment. Let 802 THE NEW REPtTBLIC. the ballot, which is the force that now menaces our destruction, be turned to agencies for con- struction. Let wisdom guide and reason rule ; let unity give strength. With a government as here Indicated, what a glorious achievement would be accomplished ! " With want destroyed ; with greed changed to noble passions ; with the fraternity that is born of equality taking the place of jealousy and fear that array men against each other ; with mental power loosened by conditions that give to the humblest comfort and leisure — and who shall measure the heights to which our civilization may soar? Words fail the thought! It is the golden age of which poets have sung and high-raised seers have told in metaphor. It is the glorious vision which has always haunted man with gleams of fitful splendor." — Henry George. Civilization, which has risen and declined in successive periods, may steadily pursue Its up- ward course. It only needs the full and uninter- rupted play of the social forces, and the political appliances for their regulation and protection of their exercise, to reach a point in civilization never yet experienced in the history of the world. There is nothing extravagant or exaggerating in this view. When poverty Is removed ; when avarice and greed no longer goad to cruelty and robbery, and the higher faculties assert their prerogative, then NATURE AND USES OF GOVERXMEXT. 303 the " sword will be beaten into a plowshare, and the spear into a pruning-hook." Is not this worth striving for ? What nobler object could engage the attention of man ? How earnestly and faithfully the patriot fathers strug- gled for this ! How bravely and lavishly they poured out their treasure and their blood ! And shall we, the sons and daughters of such noble sires, ignobly submit to what they so gloriously conquered ? " The true republic is not yet here; but her birtli- struggles must soon begin. Already with the hope of her men's thoughts are stirring Not a republic of landlords and peasants, nor a republic of million- aires and tramps ; not a republic in which some are masters and some serve : but a republic of equal cit- izens, where competition becomes co-operation, and the interdependence of all gives true independence to each ; where moral progress goes hand in hand with intellectual progress, and material progress elevates and enfranchises even the poorest and weakest and lowliest." — Henry George. 304 THE NEW REPUBLIC. CHAPTER XX. DirnCULTIES CONSIDERED. " Truth cruslied to earth will rise again, The eternal years of God are hers ; ^ While Error writhing in her pain Dies amid her worshipers." The presentation of new thoughts, or even of old ones in new arrangement or application, ex- cites opposition and is generally resisted. We cherish our opinions with vigilant care. No dif- ference what they are or how we came by them : should they be assailed, we hasten with laudable zeal to defend them. Were they judiciously se- lected from the great field of thought and formed with special regard to truth and reason? We never knew how or when they were formed. We never questioned their soundness nor suspected their validity. But let a new idea, or a new appli- cation of an old one, be presented for acceptance, and forthwith there is " war in the camp." We approach it with the utmost caution ; we examine it with the utmost care ; we scrutinize it with the keenest adverse criticism ; and then — reject it. This is the most favorable consideration of its treatment. Too often we refuse it attention, DIFFICULTIES CONSIDERED. 305 and not seldom make war upon it because it is a new idea. Tiiere are several reasons for this. We love our opinions because — they are ours. They flow along the mental ruts without much exertion ; whereas, the acceptance of a new idea necessi- tates a mental effort. They belong to our sect or our party, and are therefore to be cherished. To adopt a new train of thought or of thought to new purposes re- quires moral courage — a quality of mind that cannot be overrated. Any change is not popu- lar. The advocacy of a new thought or a new arrangement of thought subjects one to the charge of being a " crank," an impracticable dreamer, an optimist, a socialist, a communist — scarecrows to deter investigation and keep the timid "in their proper places." It is along the line of religious, social, and political thought that the advance has been slowest — where passion is the most liable to ex- citement, where control of opinion is most available for despotism. And yet ideas arc the potent agencies in the worhl. The idea of right to private opinion, originated by Martin Luther, broke down the walls of ecclesiastical tyranny and liberated mil- lions from the rule of popery. The idea of 306 THE NEW REPUBLIC. diurnal revolution changed the direction of thought into new channels, and explained the apparent motions of the heavenly bodies, and sent Columbus across the ocean to explore a new world. The idea of gravitation formulated as- tronomical science and gave to Newton undying fame. A new idea sent Franklin's kite into the clouds and revealed the identity of the light- ning's flash with that mysterious force that now binds the world of thought by the electric wire. These new ideas battled with persistent ener- gy against stolid conservatism ; and years of pre- cious time and precious treasure and more precious blood flowed along the path of progress as a sac- rifice to the god of " old opinion." And history is about to repeat itself in the advent of another new idea. The fitful gleam of victory won by this new idea a hundred years ago, and lost in the gloom of old conservatism, is about to burst forth in a new and steady light, whose splendor will envelope the civilized world, and bi-ing joy and peace to its millions of struggling toilers. A careful study of the obstacles to be over- come in the advent of a new idea will give us some impression of the difficulties to be sur- mounted in the impending conflict. Happily, we have as the fruits of the Revolutionary struggle the two essential elements of success in the strife DIFFICULTIES CONSIDERED. 307 left to us — the Declaration of Independence, the acknowledged charter of our liberties, and the ballot. These are conceded. They dispense with the necessity of compulsory force in an open conflict, and relegate the battle-ground to the domain of ideas. We are placed in a position to fight with brain and heart. This is the true method of warfare, its victories are permanent and valuable. Those of Alexander, Hannibal, CVsar, and Napoleon concentrate their lurid glare upon these illustri- ous warri-ors; while those of Aristotle, Plato, Lycurgus, Gracchus, Kepler, Galileo, Columbus, Newton, Jefferson, and a host of others whose weapons were ideas, have shed their light upon the world, and will continue to grow brighter during all the coming ages The condition of the people, arising from a multitude of opinions, causing distraction and disunion in their ranks, is the thing to be depre- cated. A small army of well-organized and thoroughly disciplined troops can easily defeat and put to rout a large army of disunited and demoralized soldiers. Their strength lies in their organization, and not in their numbers. And so it is in this political warfare : strength is as re- quisite and as dependent on organization and discipline, which in this case means education. SOS THE NEW REPUBLIC. We are now prepared to consider tlie dlfficul ties. They lie in the condition of the people, and not in the power of their oppressors. There is nothing in the way to permanent and complete victory that the people cannot overcome. The principles upon which it is founded are acknowl- edged and recognized. The intelligence and will of the people constitute the acknowledged power ; and the ballot, by which this power can be exer- cised, is in the acknowledged possession of the people. All tliat is needed is to exercise it. The man who would starve to death with his larder well supplied would be considered a fool or a lunatic. Our enemy's strength is our weak- ness, and our weakness is our disorganized, dis- tracted condition. As long as we remain so, victory over us is easy and certain. We have a common cause, a common interest. We have a common enemy. He is vigilant, active, brave, art- ful, and far-seeing. He takes advantage of our pas- sions by exciting them on the eve of an election. He takes advantage of our vices in keeping their stimulants before us in the form of vile intoxi- cants. He takes advantage of our ignorance by concealing his real objects from view, and put- ting us upon a false scent. He swindles us out of true representation by electing — or rather make us elect for him — his own tools ; or should DIFFICULTIES CONSIDERED. 309 by chance an honest man be elected, he manages to silence him in some way. He concentrates and masses us in nearly equally balanced array, one portion of us against the other, to do his bidding. It is to be acknowledged that these achieve- ments require cunning, vigilance, energy, perfect organization, and untiring zeal. The difficulty lies in our prejudices, lack of confidence In each other and in ourselves, in our political bias and party zeal, in oiu- want and the fear of poverty, in the contemplation of the enemy's strength, in his wealth and political power, in our own cupid- ity and selfishness, and the discouragement of the failures of our favorite plans. It lies in the force of custom, submission to authority, the pressure of Immediate and pressing demands, and in the inability to provide for them while organizing the elements necessary to the defeat of the enemy. The apathy, indifference, and neglect arising from these conditions are difficult to overcome. The people are strangers to each other. The expense and time necessary for assembling and intermingling for counsel are not at their com- mand. They depend on the press for Informa- tion, which Is sure to ignore all intelligence necessary for the improvement of their condition, and it is difficult to establish a system of jour- 310 THE NEW KEPUBLIC. nalism by which the necessary communication can be secured. Can these difficulties he overcome with the means at the people's command ? This is the question pregnant with the most vital issues of the age. They must be overcome. The spirit of Napoleon's question must be in our question — "Is the passage through the moun- tain pass possible ? " asked he of the guide. " It is impracticable," was the reply. " Is it possi- ble?" demanded the warrior, in a stentorian voice. This is the question the people must put, and in the earnestness in which it was put in the midst of Alpine snows. And, like Napoleon, they will turn the impracticable into the possible and achieve a victory. It is possible ; and as soon as this fact is real- ized, victory is sure to follow. Shall the great mass of the American peo])le be consigned to servile submission to a few rob- ber-chiefs because of their superior knowledge, energy, and skill in concentrating and directing their forces ? Shall the few prey upon and im- poverish the many, while it is conceded that the power of government is derived from the con- sent of the governed? Shall despotism rule while the people hold the ballot? Shall ti'eason triumph over liberty and justice be handcuffed by greed? DIFFICULTIES CONSIDERED. 311 The thought that these questions are perti- nent, or can even be suggested with a hundred years of schooling in government, is humiliating, and calculated to excite alarm in the minds of every lover of liberty. A change in public opinion is I'apidly going on, and when it reaches the point requisite for action, then action will come. At present the most advanced reform political party sees noth- ing and proposes nothing that promises perma- nent relief from the evils they suffer. Reduction in freights and fares, advance in wages and reduction in the price of articles of consumption, lower rates of interest and more liberal terms in rent, are now demanded; the compliance to which would satisfy the people. They ask mitigation, and mitigation is compro- mise. To compromise with robbers and usurpers is to acknowledge the right to rob and usurp. "It is best that the truth be fully stated and clearly recognized. lie who sees the truth let him proclaim it, without asking who is for it or w^ho is against it. This is not radicalism in the bad sense which 80 many attach to the word. It is conserva- tism in the true sense." — Henry George. A people who clearly comprehend their rights, who appreciate their value, and are able to real- ize the blessings their full exercise would confer, 312 THE NEW REPUBLIC. would lose no time in providing the means for tlieir enjoyment. As long as the people think the theory of their government is right, there is no possibility of a change. We claim the right not only to choose our ser- vants to perform prescribed duties, and to hold them responsible, but to alter, amend, or abolish the Constitution, and frame one to our liking if Ave think it necessary ; yet we go on repeating the farce over and over, suffer defeat in all meas- ureS'of redress in legislatures and courts, while oligarchies and petty aristocracies multiply and grow stronger year by year. Every effort the people make in their behalf is in some way foiled and a new advantage for corporate interest gained. To see this and realize it is tlie first step. Thought will thereby be aroused, investi- gation succeed, intelligence develop ; organiza- tion will follow, and a power that will wrest from the hand of greed the people's wealth, and convert the machinations of political chicanery into an honest government. No one can compute the evils of war. In the work of building up a true republic there is no necessity for it. The battle-field is the brain and heart, and the weapons ideas propelled by the love of justice, equality, and liberty. The victory won upon this field will be lasting, benefi- cent, glorious. SUMMARY. 313 CHAPTER XXL SUMMARY. "Is it right, is it fair. That we perish of despair, In this land, on this soil, Where our destiny is set, "Which we cultured with our toil And watered with our sweat ? We have plowed, we have sown, j^» But the crop is not our own ; We have reaped, but harpy hands Swept the harvest from our lands." From what has been Avritten, we are able to obtain some Idea of what a republican govern- ment should be. Its object is to secure the full- est and freest exercise of the natural rights of the citizen consistent with good government. These rights have been considered, and the means for their exercise somewhat discussed. The bounties of nature so generously bestowed by our Creator are to be secured alike to all his children. Land is the primary source of all the means of life. The first consideration is a just method by which a just portion is secured to all who desire to occupy and use it — or, rather, the necessity of such occupancy and use ; the mode is to be prescribed by law. 11 314 THE NEW REPUBLIC. Those who control the land, and can fix the terms of occupation, hold a power over the occu- pants. He who controls the means of life con- trols life itself. Since land is the primary source of the means of life, and is controlled in large quantities by few individuals, we can easily per- ceive the evils of land monopoly. The necessity of removing this evil is apparent to all. A true republic cannot exist with our present laws of land tenure. Now what is the duty of the citizen ? Some means must be adopted by which the natural rights of the people to the land are secured ; and this right transcends in importance all others. What that method is must be determined by the people. A medium of exchange is of next importance. The false teachings designedly set up by those interested in controlling the currency have en- abled them to so mystify the public mind as to secure such control. The necessity of a clear and comprehensive understanding of money, its nature and func- tions, is so obvious that no one can fail to see it. The equal exchange of values would prevent their accumulation in the hands of those who control the volume of circulation. In this con- sists the evil. The effectual method by which SUMMARY. 315 this is done is to make gold and silver the basis. So long as this idea prevails, there is no hope for a system of finance that will secure all the bene- fits of money to the people, and enable them to avoid the evils that arise from it. AVith the con- trol of the volume of currency in the hands of the few, and for their benefit, a republic cannot exist. The history of our government is ample proof of this. The moneyed corporations and capital- ists hold absolute control over the industries of the country : labor and its products, and con- sequently the laborer and producer, are dependent on those who conti*ol the money of the country. This creates distinctions between the many and the few : the many toil and suffer ; the few are clothed in "purple and fine linen, and fare sumptuously every day." This distinction creates aristocracies, and aris- tocracies cannot exist in a republic. Therefore, a system of finance that will meet the demands of the people in effecting an equal exchange and distribution of values is an imperative necessity. Regulation of transportation and travel, that will secure all their benefits to the people at actual cost, is an equal necessity. The history of transportation in this country demonstrates the fact that vast wealth is accumulated by corpora- 316 THE NEW REPUBLIC. tions tliat control transportation and travel at the expense of the people. The- rights of the people must be secured In the best modes and cheapest rates before a true republic can exist. Telegraphic communication should constitute part of the postal system, thus increasing the facilities for the spread of intelligence. So far, this important and valuable agent is controlled, and the people are made dependent on those who control it, not onlyybr intelligence, but for what intelligence they receive—often false, and always such as serves the purposes of the managers. Therefore, the telegraph system must be made to serve the people's interests. This is essential to the existence of republican government. The revenues of the government must be pro- vided by a tax on property and not on labor. The burden would then be borne equally by all in proportion to their ability to bear it. The his- tory of our revenue system shows the gross in- justice of it by imposing an undue burden on the laboring classes and protecting capitalists, and by destroying one of the most important and val- uable industries of the country — marine com- merce. This condition is incompatible with a government wherein equal rights to all are to be exercised and enjoyed by all. The co-existence of natural rights and corpor- SUMMARY. 317 ate power Is impossible in a true republic, for corporate power Is the usurpation of natural rights. Corporations have become the agents by which all political and industrial powers are exercised — in the Interests of corporations. The exercise of corporate power vested by law and sustained by the courts has obtained such con- trol over land, over money, over transportation, and all popular Interests, that the people are made dependent on them, and are compelled to submit to their dictation. The history of our country proves this also. Therefore, corporations for private gain and Individual aggrandizement are at war with the true Interests of a republic. An elective system by which proportional representation can be secured Is an Indispensable requirement of a true republic. In the election of legislators or any other body of men clothed with specific powers, as many citizens as possible should be represented. As our election laws now exist, It can be shown that a very small mi- nority of the people may elect. The system of conventions for nominating candidates are con- trolled in the interests of corporations, and their agents and elections are but the ratification of some one whose manipulators are more skillful or can command more " influence." Our legislative system, consisting of two 318 THE NEW REPUBLIC. branches, is inconsistent with popuhir representa- tion. It renders legishition difficult and dilatory, and offers ample opportunity for defeating the people's will and securing class interests. It is useless, cumbersome, dilatory, and open to cor- ruption and destructive to republican govern- ment. The appointing and veto power are kingly pre- rogatives and a usurpation of natural rights. The office of commander-in-chief of all the mili- tary and naval forces of the nation is another. The appointing power brings to his support a class of men who by their dependence and sense of obligation for their place feel bound to serve their master. His veto power enables him to defeat national legislation, measured by a major- ity verging on two-thirds of both branches. His military authority gives him immense pres- tige and power, which he may exercise at his discretion. A judiciary system is in existence in our gov- ernment that is the source of a vast amount of corruption and fraud, and bears heavily upon the people. Predicated on the authority of law, it only aims to deal with law and the precedents established by decisions of courts, some of which were made more than a hundred years ago! Strange that men of mature minds and experience SUMMARY. 319 should be compelled to go back a hundred years and search among the musty volumes of judicial decisions to determine a case in which the parties to it demand simple justice ! The whole system is defended and supported, not for the sake of justice, but because it is a source of vast revenue and power to a class of men trained in the ab- struse subtleties of the law — not a necessary, but an unnecessary, evil ; for it has been shown that a system of adjudication in which justice can be secured independent of " law courts," and the paraphernalia, expense, delay, appeal, vexation, and uncertainty of trials at law, is in- compatible with a republican government. Courts profess not only to administer the law, but to interpret the law, and although the law- making power is declared to be supreme, the court declares this or that law null and void by its own authority. The courts which often set aside equitable cases should themselves be set aside, and the more simjsle, speedy, direct, and less expensive system of arbitration be substi- tuted. Instead of justice, we have law ; instead of reason, we have authority. An eminent law- yer has given his testimony : " It has been the custom from time immemorial for courts to be governed and controlled by prece- dents. This is adopted in order that the law may 320 THE NEW REPUBLIC. be settled and certain. When questions arise un- der the statutes, the meaning of which is ambigu- ous, resort is had to former decisions under lilie statutes for a rule of construction, and thus the law is settled. "We accept the decision as the law, and to criticise it is deemed discourteous to the court making it. To call in question the motives of the courts or to doubt their wisdom is deemed eank TEEASON. The rule governing them inay be of an- cient date ; the reason for its adoption may have long ceased; the eule itself may be obsolete. .... Most of these old precedents originated in monarchical countries where all doubtful questions were construed in favor of the crown, and where the rights of the people always yielded to kingly jn-erogative The j^ractice of solving consti- tutional problems by resort to old monarchical pre- cedents, and the adoption of the reasoning of the high courts of the king's exchequer, should not be tolerated in a republic. Our courts should be courts of the people, and not a star-chamber for the protection and perpetration of the monarchical dog- ma that ' it is absolutely necessary to independent national existence that the government should have a firm hold on the two great sovereign instrumen- talities of the sword and the purse,' as was declared by the Supreme Court of the United States in De- cember, 1871. Such declarations are at war with our ideas of republican government. It has no support, save in despotic governments and decisions emanat- ing from them ; yet it is the doctrine that must ob- tain if the recent decisions of the Supreme Court are to remain as the settled law of the nation. To accept this doctrine as the final exposition of the relative rights of the people and the government is to ac- knowledge that the agents and servants of the peo- SUMMARY. 321 pie, elected and appointed to office, become their masters, clothed with imperial power." — D. C. Cloud. The Supreme Court declares what is law and what is not law, what is constitutional and what is not. It administers the law or not in accord" ance with its supreme pleasure. It is not respon- sible to the people ; it is tlie supreme autocrat. There could not have been devised a more successful and effectual method of defeating jus- tice, and giving full scope and free play to legal minds, than the jury system. The less a man knows, the better qualified he is for a juror. If he reads the news and forms an opinion, he can- not serve. Integrity and intelligence tell against him. Men unaccustomed to continuous thought and logical processes are kept for hours, and sometimes for days, exposed to the jDitiless storm of contentious wrangling and intricate sophis- tries, become so wearied and confused that they are unable to put two ideas in logical order. What chance for justice, when with confused and exhausted minds they retire for deliberation, to grapple with the abstruse subtleties of the law, and the contending arguments of the opposing counsel? One juryman, more wise or more ob- stinate, offsets the eleven, and the case goes back to the court to repeat the farce. 14* 322 THE NEW REPUBLIC. Besides, men are taken from their business, and kept for days in the custody of the court for the purpose of determining whether they are stupid enough for first-chiss jurymen. Custom has fortified the practice, and the people think they must submit. Thus tlie people suffer and are robbed accord- ing to law ; they support an army of men skilled in legal legerdemain, who produce nothing but evil, according to law. Education, which involves the very existence of a republic, has proved insufficient and inade- quate to the high and important offices it is de- signed to perform. With hundreds of millions of dollars expended in its support, and the great expectations the people have cherished, how little real service it has rendered ! Years of the most precious period of life are wasted in the acquisi- tion of knowledge never called into use ; while other knowledge, waiting the opportunity of the master to impart, and which the imperative necessities of life demand, is not even dreamed of by the educators of the land. The principles of political science, the very basis of society and government, are unknown to the educational cur- riculum, indispensable to popular government ; it should be the great central idea of popular education. The necessity of qualification for SUMMARY. 323 citizenship has been shown. Let it be realized in its full force. This brief enumeration of objections, fatal to a true republic, will indicate the plan and outline of such a government as was contemplated by the patriot fathers, and which was partially set in operation for a brief period. The claim of equal natural rights made sacred and inalienable by divine endowment, and the right to organize and establish a government to secure their free exercise, asserted and main- tained in defiance of the despotism of the Old World, was heroic, grand, and sublime. After a hundred years of experience in an ineffectual struggle to support a republican government, •and with the aid advancing knowledge and the history of other governments as lights and warn- nings, the people should be able to frame a gov- ernment that will be a republic in fact as well as in name. It is expected, as a matter of course, that the people, fully sensible of their great wrongs, and of the rights they hold by divine inheritance, and appreciating the means and opportunities at their disposal, will proceed without delay, and show to the world that they have rights and are able to maintain them. When we think of what might be, what the 324 THE NEAV REPUBLIC. almost Infinite capacity for improvement, for human culture, for happiness ; when we think of the plenitude of wealth that might be produced, of the freedom we might enjoy, with the appli- ances of all these already at our hands ; when we think of the beautiful, elegant homes, and their smiling, happy inmates ; when we think how poor, how pitiful, how little better than barbar- ism, is this land of civilization, with its teeming millions toiling with calloused hands, with bended backs, and stiffened joints : if we could realize their cares and anxieties, their want and fear of want, and their struggles with pov- erty and debt ; if we could at once set this picture and that side by side — what feelings of recfret and indignation would fill the soul ! Yet these pictures are not overdrawn. This is a broad and rich land. A beneficent Father has endowed it with inexhaustible nat- ural resources, and his children with unmeas- ured capacities and possibilities, and yet we groan with burdens heaped upon us by those who are in theory our equals, but in reality ten thousand times stronger, because we have bowed down to the authority of laws enacted for the ex- press purpose of taking our power unto them- selves. In our senseless zeal for party, we have SUMMARY. 325 placed in power men who have sought their places with the sole intent of betraying us, and then i-eap for themselves a reward for their treachery ! We have done this repeatedly. We have a hundred years' experience, and that of other nations for thousands of years, yet we struggle in the toils of error, succumb to the weakness of ignorance, and flounder in the sea of political empiricism ! We go back more than a hundred years and search amid the vague specu- lations of monarchists for light to guide us in framing and supporting republican institutions ! With righteous indignation and heroic energy we strip off the robes of royalty, and in a few short years we don them in the name of liberty. We hurl with contempt the insignia of nobility and its supporters, primogeniture and entail from the pages of our fundamental law, and forthwith endow the same instrument with the purple and fine linen of corporate power. With British common law, British courts, British finance, British legislation, and British executive prerog- atives transferred to American soil, we vainly imagine we are living in a republic. May this delusion be swept away ; may we be enabled to behold our condition as it is; and then with one heart and with one intent stand forth resolved to be free. 326 THE NEW REPUBLIC. To do this, we must demand amendments to the Constitution by which the natural and in- alienable rights of the people will be secured in their free and full exercise. These rights are divinely endowed ; they are guaranteed by the Declaration of Independence ; they were con- ceived in the highest and holiest aspirations of the human soul, and brought forth amid the din of battle and the flow of blood — " that when- ever ANY FORM OF GOVERNMENT BECOMES DESTRUCTIVE OF THESE ENDS, .... TO SE- CURE THE RIGHTS OF THE GOVERNED, .... IT IS THE RIGHT OF THE PEOPLE TO ALTER OR ABOLISH IT, AND TO INSTITUTE A NEW GOVERN- MENT, LAYING ITS FOUNDATION ON SUCH PRIN- CIPLES AND ORGANIZING ITS POWERS IN SUCH FORM AS TO THEM SHALL SEEM MOST LIKELY TO EFFECT THEIR SAFETY AND HAPPINESS." SYI^TOPSIS THE NEW REPUBLIC. DEFINITION. Popular o;overnment is a national association in which all its citizens are recognized as possess- ing equal rights, privileges, and opportunities. The term "popular government" means a "govern- ment of the people, by the people, for the people " ; that is, one in which the will of the people is fairly and properly expressed and exercised. POWER. The power of such a government is derived " from the consent of the governed." There are essentially two forms of government : in the one, the power is assumed or usurped, and is vested in one or moi-e persons who claim the right to rule ; such government is a monarchy, usually in some modified form, an aristocracy, or a confederation of petty aristocracies, constituting an oligarchy. In the other, the power, emanating 328 SYNOPSIS. from the people by virtue of their natural rights, is delegated to representatives to execute the people's will ; this form of government is a republic. In the former, it is permission by or submission to usurped ])0wers ; in the latter, it is consent which implies volition, will, by the governed. Since voli- tion means freedom of action, a government deriv- ing its power from the consent of the governed must be a free government. PURPOSE. The object of popular government is the regu- lation and protection of all its citizens in the full and free exercise of their natural rights and op- portunities. In monarchies and aristocracies, the purpose of government is the aggrandizement of those who govern at the expense of the governed ; in a popu- lar government all the benefits go to the governed. It follows, as an inevitable conclusion, that if " all men are created equal ; that they are endowed by their Creator Avith certain inalienable rights " — all must be equal beneficiaries in any scheme of gov- ernment instituted " to secure these rights." CONDITIONS NECESSARY FOR ITS EXISTENCE. Popular government can only exist when there is intelligence in its citizens to comprehend the principles upon which it is based, and virtue to appreciate the rights upon which it is founded. No duty can be properly performed without due qualification of those upon whom such duty de- «TNOPSis. 329 volves. No one would intrust another with any- kind of work or business, unless he was satisfied as to the qualification of the person so intrusted for that work or business ; for no one could succeed in any enteri:)rise or business without the proper knowledge and skill. No one can intrust another unless he himself understands the work to be per- formed, with any prospect of success. If the em- ployer be ignorant, he is dependent on the employee and at his mercy. Designing knaves seek such em- ployers because they can take advantage of them. In popular government the people are the employ- ers and their only safeguard is their intelligence. Not only is intelligence necessary, but the ability to appreciate the value of human rights is essential to their preservation and enjoyment. The love of justice must be supreme; for justice is to the men- tal what gravitation is to the physical world — the great regulator of the equilibrium of values, as gravity is that of forces. If values are duly appre- ciated, they are secured and utilized ; if not, they cannot be. Therefore, there must be such luve of justice in the people that any violation of it would be deemed sacrilege.. The value of these rights is equal to life itself ; and life is valuable only so far as they are exercised and utilized. Hence, the conditions necessary to the existence and maintenance of a popular govern- ment must depend on the intelligence and virtue of its citizens. ENUMERATION AND DEFINITION OF RIGHTS. I. The right to live ; that is, to the free and unrestrained activity of all the physical powers and mental faculties of the individual in the le- gitimate pursuits of life. 330 SYNOP?iIS. Tliis is pei*3onal freedom, without which no one can truly be said to live ; namely, to carry out all the purposes of life ; although he may in a certain sense be said to exist. 11. Tlie means of life, which consist in — (1.) The possession and free use of all the natural elements of wealth — God's free gifts to man — sunlight, air, water, and the natural prod- ucts in it, and land with its natural productions, as minerals, metals, forests, and wild animals and fruits. Since these natural means of wealth are produced by no man, they belong to no man ; but as " God is no respecter of persons," they belong to all equally alike. They are sources of supply for man's consumption, and as all equally need the supply for consiimption, all are equally entitled to the means for obtaining the supply for consumption. Sunlight is the great vivifying j^rinciple of the earth : all life and organization depend upon it. Air is so essential to life that were one compelled to walk two hundred yards to reach it, he would perish in the attempt. Hence it envelopes the whole earth, and presses into every nook and cor- ner where life exists. Water enters into every structure of organized beings, and of most of them constitutes the greater part. It is the great fertilizer of the soil, and an essential supporter of life. Land is the source of the means of life, and those who control it control the means of life. In densely populated countries, this condition is fully realized. In our country the possession and control of vast SY>opsis. 331 tracts of land are rapidly passing into the hands of a few. As population increased, the area of our coun- try expanded and the pressure was not felt ; but its limits are now nearly reached, population is flowing in and increasing among us, and the time is not far distant, when, by accumulation in large tracts in the hands of the few and increase of popu- lation, there is nothing to prevent the poverty and enslavement of the many by the few. (2.) (a.) The use and benefits of the forces evolved by the expansive power of heat and other means for the evolution of force. The law by which force is evolved is God's law, and the benefits derived from it belong alike to all his children. The value of these forces may be es- timated by the consideration of the fact that the evolution of force is only limited by the demand for it in the propulsion of machinery, and that in the power of steam alone more force is evolved than is equal to the united muscular force of manual labor. (6.) The benefits arising from the disturb- ance of static conditions by electric and magnetic agencies, by wiiich messages are conveyed in- stantaneously for thousands of miles ; and other uses for man's progress and impi'ovement. In the i^resent state of the civilization of the world, these agencies are indisi)ensable, and their value is beyond computation, and all are equally entitled to their benefits. (c.) The advantages of tlie reception and dis- tribution of force by mechanical contrivances. 332 SYNOPSIS. By means of labor-saving macliinery, the produc- ivo power of wealth has been increased tenfold. This increase in the facility for the production of values belongs to all, because it is obtained by natural law, which is God's law. The inventor should be compensated, not for the value of his in- vention, but for the time, labor, and expense em- ployed in his work. (3.) The issue and control of a medium of cir- culation for the exchange of values. Money is simply a device for the exchange of commodities, and its authority is derived from law, that is, the mutual agreement of all in the govern- ment to accept as a token of value some device upon which value is expressed in the unit or units of value, in exchange for a value in some commod- ity or service rendered. By this contrivance, values to any amount may be conveyed at any time and to any place within the jurisdiction of the government, and converted (in common parlance) into anything within the circle of exchange, at the option of the holder. So valuable is this device that it has become a neces- sity of civilization, and is monopolized for the pur- poses of gain. Since this comes by the authority of the people, it belongs to them, and their right to all its benefits is as clear as that to exchange values. (4.) The best and cheapest methods for travel, transportation, and lines of communication for intelligence. This right is as clear as the necessity for it. If people have the right to travel and transport the products of their labor, they have a right to the SYNOPSIS. 333 best facilities at a just cost for the service ; and ihis irai:)lies the right to control all modes of transit and travel, and communicating lines. (5.) The full and unrestricted use and enjoy- ment of all tl;c products of the labor of each individual, or their full equivalent in other prod- ucts by equal exchange. The unequal distribution of wealth by the monopoly of land and by an unjust monetary sys- tem is one of the direct and most effective means by which labor is robbed and the wealth-producer made dependent on the landlords and money- dealers. (6.) The education of the people, and due prep- aration for the duties of life, in the highest de- gree of intellectual, moral, assthetic, and spiritual culture; in the preservation of health, and in the enjoyment of social and domestic life. DECLARATION. We hold that the above-enumerated rights belong by divine inheritence to all men: they are therefore sacred ; by virtue of their divine origin they are inalienable : therefore, the depri- vation of them by force or fraud is a crime ; " that to secure these rights, governments are in- stituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed ; that when- ever any form of government becomes destruc- 334 SYNOPSIS. tlve of these ends, it Is the right of the people to altar or abolish it, and to Institute a new govern- ment, laying Its foundations on such principles and organizing its powers in such form as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, .indeed, will dictate that ffovernment lono; established should not be changed for lIo;ht and transient causes ; and ac- cordlngly, all experience hath shown that man- kind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations^ pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a de- sign to reduce them under absolute despotism, it IS THEIR RIGHT, IT IS THEIR DUTY, TO THROW OFF SUCH GOVERNMENT AND TO PROVIDE NEW GUARDS FOR THEIR FUTURE SECURITY." TO SECURE AND ENJOY THESE RIGHTS, A radical reconstruction of the Constitution of our exlstlno- o-overnment is necessary in abrogat- ing— I. (1.) All vested powers whereby public service is performed, beyond the control of the people. Powers vested beyond the control of the people is a surrender of their natural rights, and must ne- SYNOPSIS. 335 cessarily prove fatal to popular government so long as ambitious and designing men seek such powers in order to exercise them for their own aggrandize- ment. It is not necessary to say that such is the fact in our government ; it is only necessary to state it. All political power should be delegated, not vested, and return to the peo2)le by the expiration of the term of office. By authority of the Federal Constitution, powers are vested beyond control and exercised by design- ing men who liave sought these opportunities for self-aggrandizement; whence arise the evils of gov- ernment, and not from the natural dislionesty of men. While men are ruled by selfishness and our present system of government exists, a better polit- ical condition is impossible ; for men will take all they seek. The tendency is towards a worse con- dition. Reform must come from the people and through a reconstruction of the government in the change of their organic law. (2.) The power vested in public oflScers to a,ppoint others to public service who are responsi- ble to the people for their acts. The relation between the employer and the em- ployee must be direct, since the latter is always responsible to the former. All the evils of our civil service have arisen by the abuse of power in those who aim to please their patron, rather than the people whom they are re- quired to serve. (3.) All powers and rights vested in individ- uals in a corporate capacity, for individual enter- prise. 336 SYNOPSIS. The title of nobility and " bill of attainder " are prohibited in the Constitution of tlie United States, but the power for evil thus sought to be averted is more than supplied by the power in our govern- ment to charter coriDorations. By means of these, capital is aggregated and associated, by means of which powers are created that have grown to such an extent that all the departments of the govern- ment have succumbed to their baleful influeoce. They have consolidated and made common cause against the rights and interests of the wealth-pro- ducers and wage-earners, and thus the wealth of the nation is largely in the possession and con- trol of a very small number of its citizens. This state of affairs is absolutely incompatible with pop- ular government ; class distinctions are built up, which render equality of citizenship impossible. (4.) The senatorial department in all legisla- tive bodies. The excuse for this department in the federal legislature is, that the States must be equally rep- resented in the national legislature. There is no interest that can affect one State more than another, since their interests are identical throughout. The national sovereignty is to be preserved and main- tained, and all the States are alike interested in that. Since they are the equal members of one body, what affects one would affect the others in the same way. Measures for defense, for revenue, for the election of federal officers, foreign relations, issue of a circulating medium, regulation of weights and measures, postal and other public service, In- dian affairs, etc., concern one State as much as an- other; and as all the States are represented in the popular branch, the aristocratic branch has no right SYNOPSIS. 337 or excuse to exist. State Senates do not have even this excuse, (5.) Our entire judiciary system, wherein justice is ignored, immoralities and crimes are encouraged and instigated, as misrepresentation, falsehood, fraudulent transactions, forgery, per- j-iry, and subornation, provoked by the strife of contending litigants, and the cupidity of attor- neys who resort to quibbles, technicalities, com- plications in pleading, looseness and license in the construction and interpretation of law, delays and appeals, by which villainy is rewarded, and thousands upon thousands of honest citizens are defrauded and ruined ; and a vast army of non- producers lives in wealth and luxury at the ex- pense of the wealth-producers ; being a class of disciplined and skilled experts, trained in the specialties and intricacies of a subtle craft, who provoke and encourage litigation, sell their ser- vices to known and notorious criminals, and greedy, unscrupulous corporations in their schemes of robbery and plunder by legislative means, and through the instrumentalities of the courts of law. The abrogation of this department of our gov- ernment would remove a vast burden from the peo- ple in the way of expense, and a fearful source of corruption and crime and a baleful influence on the morals of the community. The tendency to the com- 15 338 SYNOPSIS. " mission of crime is increased by the well-known fact that any one who can command money enjoys immunities denied to others. II. The second measui-e essential in the sup- port of popular gavernment is the repeal of all existing laws of- — (1.) Land tenures by which thousands and and even millions of acres of land are held and controlled by single individuals and corporations, and used by means of wage-labor, or for rent, or held for speculation for the accumulation of wealth. By the power vested in Congress by the Federal Constitution in disposing of the public domain, an area of land equal to fourteen States of the Union has been granted to railway corjDorations. Foreign capitalists have purchased for a mere nom- inal price millions of acres from which they expect to realize immense profits at the expense of their fellow-men. By these vested powers — in Congress for the disposal of the public domain in vast tracts and the power permitting the grant of charters to corporations — the people have been robbed of this vast amount of land, sufficient to subsist a popula- tion of thirty millions, already held by them. At the same time, millions of American citizens are homeless and struggling in hopeless poverty. With the horrors of Irish tenantry as an example, we still persist in tolerating a like system with only a feeble protest. (2.) By which the national finances are con- trolled for private gain ; banking corporations SYNOPSIS. 339 conducted in the issue of their jn-ivate notes as a circulating medium, demanding interest on their own debts, and receiving it on the capital they invest, and on deposits, which is other peoples' money ; and by which a national debt has been created, and from which a vast income is realized to the holders of government bonds. By these laws, the volume of the circulating me- dium is controlled in the interests of the money power and manipulated by the government at their command. Laws are now in force by which the banks are able to lend more than double their capital of other people's money, besides drawing interest on about $400,000,000 of United States bonds. In other Avords, the actual use of money by the national banks, as compared with their capital, is multiplied • twice in loans on deposits, eight-tenths times in United Stafes bonds, and one-half times in loans of their own money, increasing their actual working capital threefold and thirty per cent over; and this too, independent of their resources, surplus, real estate, and other property. While the people are compelled to iKiy interest on what they owe, banking corporations receive interest on their debts. While the people cannot borrow on half of their capital, the banking corporations can loan on more than three times their working capital, and get in- terest on all their loans. By laws now existing, bonds greatly below par were purchased with money purposely depreciated. Tliese bonds were made solvent by the solemn pledge of the government, by becoming a part of the Constitution, and then greatly enhanced in 340 SYNOPSIS. value by declaring them payable in coin, or its equivalent; and by the demonetization of silver they were further increased in value, until they command a premium of from 10 to 25 per cent above gold coin. And all this increase in the value of the people's debt without aay benefit whatever to the people themselves, which means taking that much from labor. (3.) By which individuals and corporations have been given the ownership, control, and operation of lines for ti'avel, transportation, and communication of intelligence, and all the bene- fits of the same. Railways have been declared public highways by the highest authority of the government and the right of the States to control them. " I hold," says Judge Black, " that a railroad charter without a reasonable limit to charge is void. The road is not a public highway if the managers charge just v/hat they please To say the State cannot save the peoj)le from such extortion and fraud is to utter a preposterous absurdity. By the right of eminent domain the State always has the power to abate a monopoly." And yet the corporations continue to defy the courts when their decisions are averse to their interests, and employ means to secure im- munities and privileges by the courts- Judge Black continues: "Mr. Gowen [President of the Eeading Railroad Company] says the rail- roads liave gr^at power with the courts. I don't know how that is, but really they are weak and jDOwerless in any issue that brings them before the people. For every millionaire, they have made a thousand paupers ; for every one they have SYNOPSIS. 341 done a favor to, they have cheated ten thousand ; and these are the things that will be remembered in a popular issue." The telegraph system, which now extends over more than one hundred thousand miles of line, yields a net revenue of over $6,000,000 a year. By it the intelligence of the country is monopolized, and all under the control of one man ! The evils of this may in some degree be perceived, when it is considered that such intelligence is so raodilied by falsehood and suppression of facts, that the true uses for which it was designed have been perverted, and it proves an evil instead of a benefit. C4.) For levying duties on imported commodi- ties, whereby a burden, ostensibly for revenue, is laid on labor instead of on the property of the people, and whereby the greater part of the tax thus levied goes to further enrich already wealthy corporations at the expense of labor. In the early period of our national existence, a need was felt to foster and encourage the manufac- turing interests of the country. This was before corporations were created and while universal in- terest was felt in national prosperity. At that time labor-saving machinery was in its infancy and the profits on capital were small. The duty levied was to be added to the price of manufac- tured commodities, with the intention of enabling the employer to increase the wages of his em- ployees, and thus stimulate the industries of the nation. Besides, the duties collected on foreign imports would serve as a revenue for the general govern- 842 SYNOPSIS. ment. Thus a convenient means for obtaining a revenue would be added to the aid and encourage- ment in the manufacturing industries of the coun- try. The introduction of Labor-saving machinery has rendered in a great measure the capitalist indepen- dent of manual labor ; and the result is a material lessening in the demand for it ; the aggregation of capital by corporate power increasing their means for utilizing machinery in the production of wealth, together with the continued immigration of the labor element, while shutting out foreign manufac- tures, have enabled the home manufactuers to con- trol the labor element, and reduce it to absolute dependence on the capitalists, who exercise entire control over the manufacturing interests of the country. Duties are laid on the most common necessaries of life, and since the great mass of consumers con- stitute the laboring element, the greater burden falls on them ; and since the tax thus levied is added in marking the price, it goes to the manu- facturer. The poor and miserable condition of wage-laborers and their continued strikes for higher wages corroborate the statement above made. Thus it is seen that the tariff laws, however just and needful in the early existence of our gov- ernment, are means now to enrich capitalists at the expense of the toilers of the land. AND SUBSTITUTING For such abrogated powers, by constitutional and legislative provisions — (1.) The election of all public officers directly by the citizens. SYNOPSIS. 343 Since the relation is direct and the responsibility of officers is due to the people, their selection and appointment should be direct. (2.) A system by which the choice of the people can be expressed in the selection of can- didates for office. The convention system has serious and fatal de- fects. Conventions are managed and manipulated by party bosses and corporation tools in the interest of their masters, and the people are compelled to ac- cept what they consider a less evil to avoid a greater. The selection of candidates is governed by their disposition and means to serve the man- agers and the party selecting them, couj^led with their availability — that is, the power they have to hoodwink the people and secure their votes. (3.) A method- by which proportional repre- sentation can be secured. In a sovereign jurisdiction, in which but one officer for the discharge of a prescribed duty is re- quired, he is to be elected by a majority of the votes cast in that jurisdiction ; but in the case of a number for the performance of a common duty, as boards of supervisors or a legislature, it is just to provide for a method by which all parties can be represented. To illustrate : a county has, say, 3,000 voters, of which 1,300 are Democrats, 1,100 Repub- licans, and 600 Independents, Say there are five supervisors to be elected. Dividing the 3,000 by 5 gives a quotient of 600. Let 600 elect a can- didate, a little more or less. The Democrats would see that by this rule they could elect but two, and would concentrate their numerical strength on any 344 SYNOPSIS. two they might select. The Republicans would do the same, and the Independents would unite on one candidate. The result would be the election of two in the nearly balanced parties, and one Inde- pendent, and all would be proportionally repre- sented. As no one should be deprived of his rights because he is in the minority, he is entitled to repre- sentation when no otiiers' rights are injured. Of course, this method would necessitate the ob- literation of all district lines w^ithin the jurisdiction, and that would be proper, because the duties of the office are the same in all. In state and national offices these principles would apply. As the law now is, in the case of the election of supervisors above supposed, the 1,300 Democrats would elect the whole live, and the 1,700 other voters would have no representation. The disparity would in- crease as the number of parties increased. (4.) The free exercise of the elective of fran- chise by all citizens, without regard to sex. For the last thirty years, the subject of female suffrage has been under discussion. The progress made toward its consummation is cljeering and gratifying ; and the day cannot be far distant when sex will be no barrier to tlie exercise of a right which will be doubled in value to all : not by dou- bling its power by numbers, but by the quality of virtue it will impart to the ballot. Wrongs which shock the sensitive mind, pollute the social circle, and force their way into the sa- cred precincts of home, corrupt public morals, impoverish, degrade, and debase mankind, and sustained by the ballots of men, would be swept out of existence, could the intelligent and virtuous will of woman be enforced by her ballot. The SYxopsis. 345 moral atmosphere would be purified^ and with its purification would disappear drunkenness, debauch- ery, and a long list of crimes that disgrace manhood, enfeeble the race, and threaten a relapse into bar- barism. Whenever woman's political power has been ex- ened, a marked improvement has resulted, and the nation only waits the full exercise of her natural ri<fhts to realize the full fruition of the nation's (5.) For local government in local affairs, and for the exercise of sovereignty in the county, state, and nation. The people are sovereign by virtue of their nat- ural rights, and the necessity of their full exercise in the enjoyment uf "life, liberty, and the j^ursuit of happiness." The exercise of sovereign powers in the capacity of county government will not con- flict with that of state; neither will the exercise of state sovereignty conflict with that of national, because the functions of each do not conflict with any others. County government is organized for certain specific purposes, and functions prescribed for their performance cannot interfere with those of the state. The state is organized with certain prescribed functions; they cannot be performed by a county or a nation. Likewise, a national govern- ment is instituted for purposes that cannot be ac- complished by a state government.- Hence we liave distinct sovereignties, which are supreme in their respective spheres. (6.) For revenue, local, state, and national, by direct tax on the property of the people. 15* 846 SYNOPSIS!. The abolition of the tariff ejstem would relieve the people of a heavy burden, to say nothing of the political corruption it engenders. Direct tax on the j^roj^erty of the people would equaliz* the bur- den of revenue. For national purposes, a tax of one-half of one per cent, say on an assessment of $30,000,000,000, would yield a revenue of $150,000,- 000; and this ought to defray the yearly expendi- tures of the Federal Government. Indeed, with the changes here advocated, one-fifth of it would suffice. This could be assessed and collected along with state and county taxes, and segregated as our state tax is from the county tax, with only this addi- tional labor and expense to the Federal Government. The cost of collecting the customs duties amounts to many millions annually. The justice, benefits, and advantages of direct taxation are so great and so apparent, that it requires no argument for their suj^port. (7.) For the recall and discharge from public service any officer when a majority of his con- stituents demand such recall and discharge ; and a penalty attached to the offense for which he was recalled and discharged. This provision is just and reasonable. The ser- vant agrees and undertakes to perform a certain service. In the violation of his agreement he for-^ feits his contract, and in addition, he is guilty of treachery, which incurs a penalty. By the existing system, instead of feeling the obligation of duty to his constituents, he elevates himself above them, and too often sells the powers delegated to him for his own benefit. The liberty to use his own discretion is turned into a license tc SYNOPSIS. Ml mtrigne to further bis ambitious scbemes and pro- mote tbe interests of bis party. Therefore, tbe recall, discbarge, and punishment of this class of offenders are just and necessary. (8.) For the reduction of all salaries and compensations for public services to the scale of the natural ability of such person holding public office to produce wealth by his labor. The high salaries of office are among the most prolific sources of corruption that disgrace our political system. There is no reason why a person should receive more compensation for serving the people than for serving himself. His labor yiyo- duces a certain value for whomever performed. The strifes for high salaries engender and intensify party spirit, which too often flames into passion ; then reason flees, and the wily jaolitician succeeds in his schemes of personal aggrandizement, or in serving his master. Those who now seek office for the pay that is in it would give way to honest men who are actuated by a desire to advance the interests of his fellow- men, if no magnet in the shape of big salaries did nor exist to attract him there. Such reduction would tend to the purity of the ballot more than any other one cause. (9.) For the establishment of a system of arbitration, by which all causes at issue and con- troversies between ihdividuals shall be adjusted in accordance with the promptings of natural jus- tice and upon the particular merits of each individual case ; the apprehension, trial, and dis- 348 SYNOPSIS. position of criminals ; and for the adjustment of disjiutes and issues wherein a citizen is a party and the county, state, or nation the contestant ; a county with another county, a state, or the nation ; or a state with another or the nation — are respectively the parties in issue. The abrogation of our existing judiciary system necessitates the adoption of a method of adjudica- tion that will secure justice to all parties. The ad- vantages of a system as here indicated secure it from the evils of our present judiciary. First, it has for its aim justice, while the courts only aim at the administration of law. Second, it tends to peace and harmony among the people, while the courts of law encourage dishonesty and crime in creating or supj^ressing testiuiony when the case urgently demands it. Third, it settles at once and forever the matter in dispute on its own merits, therefore requires no law save that of justice, no interpretation of former decisions, because it rests upon its own merits, while in courts of law the temptation for quibbles and pretenses, dodges and delays, is so strong that yielding to them is the common custom. Fourth, it is simple, cheap, and easy, while the courts of law are so intricate, com- plicated, and difficult that a class of skilled experts have to be employed who demand as their compen- sation for their service such exorbitant fees that they are enabled to live in wealth and luxury at the ex- pense of their clients. Fifth, it would dispense with a large and influential class of men whose interests and aims are in perpetuating existing conditions, by which swindling and robbery are carried on in the name of and through the instrumentality of SYNOPSIS. 349 law. This class of men, skilled in the intricacies and subtleties of an exclusive craft, are the conven- ient and efficient agents of a government of organ- ized greed, of which the wage-earner and wealth- producer are the victims. In the name of the public good and by its authority, they enact and enforce laws for the benefit of the few, by which robbery is legalized, powers belonging to the people are usurped, and labor enslaved. All the legisla- tion in the world, supported by the decision of every court in existence, cannot make a wrong right. (10.) For owning, controlling, and operating all public highways and lines of communication by water, as railroads, canals, navigable streams, lakes and coasts ; and all means for the transmis- sion of intelligence, as postal routes, telegraphs, and telephones, by the government. The rapid advancement of the railroad corpora- tions, anid their consolidation into a system for mutual advantage and defense, excites alike the surprise and alarm of all who desire the welfare of their country and humanity. A railroad is a per- manent thing, and becomes a geograi^hical feature of the country, and materially affects the value of land by the faciilities it affords for the markets and travel, like that of a navigable stream. Postal routes, public schools, sanitary regulations, and means for defense and administration of the law are owned, controlled, supported, and operated by government means. The adoption by the govern- ment of all lines of travel, transporation, and intel- ligence would comi^lete the category, and secure to all the equal benefits derived from these enter- 350 SYNOPSIS. prises. The corporations that now control them, and by which millions upon millions are unjustly taken to enrich the corporators, would be changed into a co-operative system in which all would be equal beneficiaries; for, as has been stated, the very purposes for which popular government is in- stituted are the regulation of natural rights, and the protection of the citizens in their full and free exercise, and the security of all in equal opj^ortuni- ties. The absorption of wealth in the hands of a few necessarily defeats the purposes of the people in their attempts to establish free government; for freedom depends on equality ; and equality cannot exist when wealth is accumulated in few hands; for upon it class distinctions are built up ; the few become rulers, and the many their dupes and slaves. By controlling the lines for the transmission of intelligence by private corporations, free and truth- ful communication is prevented, and false state- ments are published and true ones supj^ressed. In this way, false notions and errors are propa- gated, and reform seriously retarded. Public con- trol of lines for intelligence would remove this barrier to reform — a necessary condition in the work of reconstruction. (11.) For the occupation and use of the pub- lic domain by the citizens of the government, and the adoption of measures for the restoration of all lands granted to corporations and obtained by individuals now unoccupied and held for rent or speculation, to the use and benefit of the peo- ple. SYNOPSIS. 351 The necessity of this measure is apparent when it is considfrecl that land is the source and support of life ; and he who holds it holds and controls the lives of those who are dependent uj^on it. Land being a fixed quantity, its value increases as popu- lation increases ; and as life is dependent on it, the power of the holder over others increases with the increase of its value. The conditions upon which a greater portion of the jiublic lands were granted have not been ful- filled, and should revert to the public domain ; the reversion has been hedged in by a resolution of Congress to the effect that no grant, however palpable the fact of the non-fulfillment of its con- ditions by the grantee, it cannot revert to the gov- ernment without a declai'ation of such non-fulfill- ment by the joint action of Congress. Millions of acres are thus withheld from occupancy and use in which not a move has been made to perform the conditions of the grant, and the time specified in the chai'ter expired yeai's ago, in which the condi- tions were to be fulfilled, and still awaiting the action of Congress. It has been the policy of the government until recently to prohibit the right of aliens to hold land, but of late, tlie title to millions of acres has been granted to foreign lords and dukes, who will occu- py them with English tenantry, and thus extend English rule upon American soil. (12.) For an efficient system of education, by which all tlie people shall be duly and thoroughly qualified for all their duties, public and private, and for the exercise of all their rights and privileges. 352 SYNOPSIS. The condition of a people is determined by the status of their education, politically, socially, and financially. The educational agencies that deter- mine the status of a 2:)eople are far more numerous and potent than those prescribed in the ordinary school curriculum. By the scramble for wealth, selfishness is developed, and selfishness is the great drawback to individual advancement. The pursuit of wealth, as the aim and object of life, is vitiating and degrading ; the production of wealth as a means of life is laudable and necessary : vitiating because it develops selfishness ; degrading because it engendei'S a lust for power and dominion which characterize the tyrant, or contracts its unfortunate owner to that of a miser. Besides, its successful accumulation deprives others who need a portion of it of its proj^er use. The accumulation of wealth by unequal exchange is robbery ; in other words, to take without giving an equal value by fraud is swindling; by force, is robbery ; neither of which would be possible if the people were j^roperly educated. Tlie use of wealth now employed is to accumulate more wealth, to exercise control over others, and to serve as the basis of American aris- tocracy. The true use of wealth, aside from ade- quate subsistence, is in the development of all the powers and faculties of the individual. It is the culture and rounding out, the refinement and har- monious relation, of all the attributes of the being to the full capacity of each. The intellect observes, conceives, reasons, ar- ranges, and classifies knowledge ; the moral powers deal in social relations based upon the require- ments of justice and the regulation of domestic affairs; the cesthetic relates to the beautiful in nature and art — scenery, flowers, sculjDture, paint- J STNOPSis. 353 ings, music. These elevate, purify, refine, and l^olisli, and add greatly to the pleasures and enjoy- ments of life. The spiritual has reference to the interior life, and relation to the life after death. All blend and unite in each properly educated and cultured individual. Thus the purposes of life are fully accomplished, and each passes on to his just reward. In view of the blessings arising from the exercise of our natural rights in the enjoyment of j^ersonal liberty in all the means of life, the free use of God's gifts to man, and the inherent capacity of man for unfoldment in his intellectual powers, whereby the secrets of nature are unveiled and her forces evolved and applied for his benefit, and for the ex- ercise of his i^olitical rights in devising measures for the advancement of industry, commerce, and edu- cation, Ave deem it necessary, in order to realize these blessings, to labor for their realization, fully convinced that if we would be free, we must take the work of reform in our own hands, and forever relinqiiish the hope of refoi'mation from the politi- cal forces now in existence. We contemplate these things in the ideal with the vague hope that sometime and in some way they may be real. History and experience teach us that blessings come to those who take them, who provide for them by the means appointed by a wise providence. They will never come to those who wait for them. The poet sings of the noble, heroic deeds of our forefathers; the orator in glowing terms recounts their struggles, their suffering, and their sacrifices ; we wave banners and fire cannon in celebration of their deeds, but do nothing for ourselves. They did their duty well : let us do ours; for we have a duty to perform, not upon the ooi SYNOPSIS. battle-field, nor in the council-chamber. The work is in brains, illumination, and heart purification. " We li-^e in deeds, not years. We should count Time by heart-throbs, not by figures On the dial-plate. He lives most Who thinks most, feels the noblest, Acts the best." Their work was to break the bonds imposed by- royal prerogative and '■' vested " rights : ours to preserve the liberty thus gained ; they put the bal- lot in our hands, and charged us with the power of self-protection by its judicious use. Rejoicing in the liberty thei/ won, we forget that it is in the USE of the ballot, not its possession^ that our liber- ties are to be preserved. They gave us the example, the lesson : it is for us to profit by the one and learn from the other. To enjoy the fruits of their labor, we must labor likewise. We must think as they did ; we must feel as they did ; we must value our liberties as they did theirs : and then we will do as they did. Tlie enemy they fought was clothed with kingly authority; ours, in corporate power : the one is vested by a long line of inheri- tance, the other is a usurpation of natural rights ; the one is essential to monarchical government, the other destructive to a true republic. r UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY This book is DUE on the last date stamped below iLJAN 141985 JftN 7 TJ87 Form I.-O 20m-l,'41(H52) AT LOS ANGELES LIBRARY 246 Schellous 3 1158 00996 3496 AA 000 808 410 5