{"collection":"philosophy-ethics","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_65477/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_65477","id":"gutenberg_65477","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/65477","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches","Category: History - American","Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Politics","Social problems","Speeches, addresses, etc."],"text":"Freedom! Equality!! Justice!!!\n           These three; but the greatest of these is Justice.\n\n\n\n\n                                A SPEECH\n                                 ON THE\n                         Impending Revolution,\n                              DELIVERED IN\n              Music Hall, Boston, Thursday, Feb, 1, 1872,\n                                AND THE\n               Academy of Music, New York, Feb. 20, 1872,\n\n\n                                   BY\n\n                         VICTORIA C. WOODHULL.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n                               NEW YORK:\n                  WOODHULL, CLAFLIN & CO., PUBLISHERS,\n                          No. 44 Broad Street.\n\n                                 1872.\n\n\n\n\n                                  THE\n                         IMPENDING REVOLUTION.\n\n\nStanding upon the apex of the nineteenth century, we look backward\nthrough the historic era, and in the distant, dim past catch sight of\nthe feeble outreachings of the roots of humanity, which during thousands\nof years have evolved into the magnificent civilization by which we are\nsurrounded. Mighty nations have risen and fallen; empires have gathered\nand wasted; races and peoples have evolved and decayed; but the mystic\nebb and flow of the Gigantic Spirit concealed within the universe has\ncontinued upon its course, ever increasing in strength and in variety of\nsequence.\n\nIt is true that the results which have flown from this progressive\ncourse have very materially changed. Early in its history every\nachievement was considered great or small, as its conquests by military\nprowess were great or small. But who in this era would think of placing\na Sesostris, or a Semiramis, or even an Alexander, or C\u00e6sar, in\ncomparison as conquerors, with the steamship, the locomotive engine, the\nelectric telegraph, and last and greatest, collecting the efforts of all\nmen, and spreading them world-wide\u2014the printing-press. Where kings and\nemperors once used the sword to hew their way into the centers of\nbarbarism, the people now make use of their subtle powers of intellect\nto pierce the heart of ignorance. The conquerors of the present, armed\nwith these keen weapons, are so intertwining the material interests of\nhumanity that, where exclusion was once the rule among nations,\nintercommunication has made it the exception. Every year some new tie\nhas been added to those which already bound the nations together, until\neven the continents clasp hands across the oceans, and salute each other\nin fraternal unity, and the islands stand anxiously waiting for their\ndeliverance.\n\nThe grand results of all these magnificent changes have accrued to the\nbenefit of nations as such. All the revolutions of the past have\nresulted in the building of empires and the dethroning of kings. The\ngrandeur of the Roman Empire consisted in its power, centered in and\nexpressed by its rulers. The glory of France under the great Napoleon\nwas the result of his capacity to use the people. We have no histories\nmaking nations famous by the greatness of their peoples. Centralization\nof power at the head of the government has been the source of all\nnational honor. Under this system grades and castes of people have built\nthemselves, the stronger upon the weaker, and the people as individuals\nhave never appeared upon the surface.\n\nGovernment has gone through various and important evolutions and\nchanges. First we learn of it as residing in the head of the family,\nthere being no other organization. Next, families aggregated into\ntribes, with an acknowledged head. Again, tribes united into nations,\noccupying specified limits, and having an absolute ruler. Then began a\ndouble process, which is even now unfinished\u2014the consolidation of\nnations into races, and the redistribution of power to the people. That\nwhich was once absolute in the head of the family, the tribe and the\nnation, is now shared by the head with the most powerful among the\npeople. These two processes will continue until both are complete\u2014until\nall nations are merged into races, and all races into one government;\nand until the power is completely and equally returned to all the\npeople, who will no longer be denominated as belonging to this or that\ncountry or government, but as citizens of the world\u2014as members of a\ncommon humanity.\n\n\u201cGod loves from whole to parts: but human soul Must rise from individual\nto the whole.\u201d\n\nIt is at once one of the most interesting as well as instructive of\nstudies, to trace the march which civilization has described. Beginning\nin Asia, it traversed westward by and through the rise and decay of the\nAssyrian, Egyptian, Persian, Grecian and Roman Empires, each one of\nwhich built successively upon the ruins of the preceding, and all\nculminating in the downfall of the last, whose civilization was\ndisseminated to impregnate that portion of the world then unknown.\nModern Europe rose, and when at its height of power, civilization still\nundeviatingly marching westward, crossed the stormy Atlantic, and\nimplanted itself in the virgin soil of America.\n\nHere, however, an entirely new process was begun. Representatives from\nall nations, races and tongues here do congregate. Not only do the\nnations of Europe and Africa pour their restless sons and daughters\nwestward, but the nations of Asia, setting at defiance the previous law\nof empire, send their children against its tide to meet it and to\ncoalesce. To those who can view humanity as one, this is a fact of great\nsignificance, since it proves America to be the center to which the\nnations naturally tend. But this is only a part of its significance. The\nmore prophetic portion is, that here a new race is being developed, into\nwhich will be gathered all the distinctive characteristics of all the\nvarious races. Each race is the distinct representative of some special\nand predominant characteristic, being weak in all others. The new race\nwill combine all these different qualities in one grand character, and\nshall ultimately gather in all people of all races. Observe the merging\nof the black and white races. The white does not descend to the black,\nbut the black gradually approaches the white. And this is the prophecy\nof what shall be:\n\n \u201cFor mankind are one in spirit, and an instinct bears along,\n Round the earth\u2019s electric circle, the swift flash of right and wrong;\n Whether conscious or unconscious, yet Humanity\u2019s vast frame,\n Through its ocean-sundered fibres, feels the gush of joy or shame:\n In the gain or loss of one race, all the rest have equal claim.\u201d\n\nAs in this country the future race of the world is being developed, so\nalso will the foundation of the future government be developed, which\nshall become universal. It was no mere child\u2019s play or idle fancy of the\nold prophets, whose prophecies of a Christ who should rule the world,\ncome trooping down the corridors of time, and from all eras converge\nupon this. Neither were the Jews entirely at fault when they looked for\na Messiah who should reign over the world in temporal as well as in\nspiritual things, since it is beginning to be comprehended that a reign\nof justice in temporal things can only follow from the baptism of them\nby spirituality. And it is the approach of these heretofore\nwidely-separated principles which is to produce the impending\nrevolution. And that revolution will be the final and the ultimate\ncontest between justice and authority, in which the latter will be\ncrushed, never again to raise its despotic head among and to divide the\nmembers of a common humanity.\n\nSt. Paul said: \u201cFaith, Hope and Charity. These three, but the greatest\nof these is charity.\u201d Beautiful as this triplet may appear to be to the\ncasualist, it cannot bear the test of analysis. It will be replaced in\nthe vocabulary of the future by the more perfect one\u2014Knowledge, Wisdom\nand Justice. These three, but the greatest of these is Justice. Charity,\nwith its long cloak of justice escaped, has long enough covered a\nmultitude of sins. Justice will in the future demand perfect\ncompensation in all things, whether material, mental or spiritual.\n\nHeretofore justice has only been considered as having relation to\nmatters covered by enacted law, and its demands have been considered as\nsatisfied when the law has had its full course. With Freedom and\nEquality it has been a mere abstract term with but little significance.\nThere has never been such a thing as freedom for the people. It has\nalways been concession by the government. There has never been an\nequality for the people. It has always been the stronger, in some sense,\npreying upon the weaker; and the people have never had justice. When\nthere is authority, whether it be of law, of custom, or of individuals,\nneither of these can exist except in name. Neither do these principles\napply to the people in their collective capacity, but when the people\u2019s\ntime shall come they will belong to every individual separately.\nEquality will exist in freedom and be regulated by justice.\n\nBut what does freedom mean? \u201cAs free as the winds\u201d is a common\nexpression. But if we stop to inquire what that freedom is, we find that\nair in motion is under the most complete subjection to different\ntemperatures in different localities, and that these differences arise\nfrom conditions entirely independent of the air simply as such. That is\nto say, the air of itself never changes its temperature. Therefore the\nfreedom of the wind is the freedom to obey commands imposed by\nconditions to which it is by nature related. So also is water always\nfree to seek its own level. But neither the air or the water of one\nlocality obeys the commands which come from the conditions surrounding\nanother locality. That is to say, that while air and water as a whole\nare subject to general laws, when individualized, each separate body\nmust be subject to its peculiar relations, and to the law of its\nconditions. Water in one locality may be pure\u2014hydrogen, nitrogen and\noxygen; while in others it may contain various additional elements, as\nsodium, calcium or ammonium, and yet each is free. Air in one locality\nmay be twenty degrees above, and in another twenty degrees below, zero;\nand yet each is free in its own sphere.\n\nNow, individual freedom in its true sense means just the same thing for\nthe people that freedom for the air and water means to them. It means\nfreedom to obey the natural condition of the individual, modified only\nby the various external forces which are brought to bear upon, and which\ninduce action in, the individual. What that action will be, must be\ndetermined solely by the individual and the operating causes, and in no\ntwo cases can they be precisely alike; since no two human beings are\nprecisely alike. Now, is it not plain that freedom means that\nindividuals having the right to it, are subject only to the laws of\ntheir own being, and to the relations they sustain to the laws of other\nthings by which they are surrounded?\n\nIf, then, freedom mean anything, it means that no individual is subject\nto any rule or law to be arbitrarily imposed by other individuals. But\nseveral individuals may agree among themselves to be governed by certain\nrules, since that is their freedom to do so. And here is the primal\nfoundation and the only authoritative source of government. No\nindividual can be said to be free and be held accountable to a law to\nwhich he or she did not consent.\n\nIn the light of that analysis, have the people of this country got\nfreedom? But should it be objected that such freedom would be liable to\nabuse, we reply that that is impossible. Since the moment one individual\nabuses his or her freedom, that moment he or she is encroaching upon the\nfreedom of some one else who is equally entitled to the same right. And\nthe law of the association must protect against such encroachment. And,\nso far as restraint is concerned, this is the province\u2014the sole\nprovince\u2014of law, to protect the rights of individual freedom.\n\nBut what is equality, which must be maintained in freedom? A good\nillustration of what equality among the people means, may be drawn from\nthe equality among the children of a family in the case of an equal\ndivision of the property of the deceased father. If the property is\ndivided among them according to their respective merits, that would not\nbe equality.\n\nNow, equality for the people means the equality of the family, extended\nto all families. It means that no personal merit or demerit can\ninterfere between individuals, so that one may, by arbitration or laws,\nbe placed unequally with another. It means that every individual is\nentitled to all the natural wealth that he or she requires to minister\nto the various wants of the body, and to an equal share of all\naccumulated, artificial wealth\u2014which will appear self-evident when we\nshall have analyzed wealth. It also means that every person is entitled\nto equal opportunity for intellectual acquirements, recreation and rest,\nsince the first is necessary to make the performance of the individual\u2019s\nshare of duty possible; while the second and third are the natural\nrequirements of the body, independent of the individuality of the\nperson, and which was not self-created but inherited.\n\nUnder this analysis have we any such thing as equality in this country?\nAnd yet it should be the duty of government, since it is a fundamental\nportion of its theory, to maintain equality among the people; otherwise\nthe word is but a mere catch, without the slightest signification in\nfact.\n\nWhat, then, should be the sphere of justice in maintaining equality in\nfreedom? Clearly to maintain equal conditions among free individuals.\nBut this will appear the more evident as we proceed. The impending\nrevolution, then, will be the strife for the mastery between the\nauthority, despotism, inequalities and injustices of the present, and\nfreedom, equality and justice in their broad and perfect sense, based on\nthe proposition that humanity is one, having a common origin, common\ninterests and purposes, and inheriting a common destiny, which is the\ncomplete statement of the religion of Jesus Christ, unadulterated by his\nprofessed followers.\n\nBut does the impending revolution imply a peaceful change or a bloody\nstruggle?\n\nNo person who will take the trouble to carefully observe the conditions\nof the various departments of society can fail to discern the terrible\nearthquakes just ready to burst out upon every side, and which are only\nnow restrained by the thick incrustations with which customs, prejudices\nand authorities have incased humanity. Indeed, the whole surface of\nhumanity is surging like the billows of the stormy ocean, and it only\nescapes general and destructive rupture because its composition, like\nthe consciences of its constituent members, is so elastic. But, anon,\nthe restrained furies will overcome the temper of their fastenings, and,\nrending them asunder, will sweep over the people, submerging them or\ncleansing them of their gathered debris, as they shall have located\nthemselves, with regard to its coming.\n\nAll the struggles of humanity in the centuries which have come and gone\nhave been for freedom\u2014for freedom to think and for freedom to act, as\nagainst authority and despotic law, without regard to what should come\nof that thought and action. But we are now entering upon a struggle for\nsomething quite different from this. Having obtained freedom from the\ndespotism of rulers and governments, the rule and despotism of\nindividuals began to usurp the places made vacant by them. Where once\nthe king or the emperor reigned, capital, reinforced by the power of\npublic opinion and religious authorities, now sits and forges chains\nwith which to fetter and bind the people. Where, by divine right, men\nonce demanded the results of the labors of their people, the privileged\nfew, by the means of an ingenious system, facetiously called popular\nlaws, now make the same demand, and with equally decisive results. The\ndemand is answered by the return of the entire proceeds of each year\u2019s\nsurplus productions into their coffers. And this is no more true of the\npauper laborers of Europe and the slave laborers of Asia than it is of\nthe free labor of America. Six hundred millions people constantly toil\nall their lives long, while about ten millions sit quietly by gathering\nand luxuriating in their results.\n\nSimple freedom, then, is not enough. It has not accomplished the\nredemption of the people. It has only relieved them from one form of\nslavery to leave them at the mercy of another still more insidious in\nits character, because more plausible; since, if penury and want exist,\naccompanied by suffering and privation, under the rule of a monarch, he\nmay justly be held responsible. But when it exists under the reign of\nfreedom, there is no responsibility anywhere, unless it may be said to\nbe in the people themselves, which is equivalent to saying\nresponsibility without application.\n\nTo illustrate this distinction without a difference, take the island of\nCuba, with its half million inhabitants, and suppose it to be ruled by\nan absolute monarch, who administers his commands through the usual\nattach\u00e9s of the court and the noblemen of the island. Virtually owning\nthe people, he commands them to labor, taking from them all their\nproducts, and merely feeding, clothing and sheltering them. In this case\nit would be the non-laborers who, without any circumlocution, directly\nobtain all the produced wealth, they simply expending their time and\ntalent in its securing, while the lives of the people who produce it\nwould be simply maintained.\n\nNow advance one step toward popular government\u2014to a constitutional\nmonarchy. In this the same results to the producing people will be\nmaintained, while the noblemen will share the wealth among themselves,\nallotting a certain share to the monarch.\n\nComing down to a representative government, of which personal liberty is\nthe basis, the despotism of laws enacted in the interest of privileged\nclasses are substituted for the personal despotism of monarchs and\nnobles. What the absolute monarch possesses himself of by the right of\nmight, the privileged class in the popular government possess themselves\nof by the right of law, everything legal being held to be just.\n\nNow is not that precisely the case in this country? Do not all the\nresults of labor accrue to the privileged few? and are not the producing\nclasses just as much enslaved to them as the subjects of an absolute\nmonarch are to him?\n\nWith this mortification, however. In the last instance, they suffer from\nconditions over which they have no control; whilst in the former case\nthe conditions by which they are enslaved are of their own formation.\nAnd I say, I would rather be the unwilling subject of an absolute\nmonarch than the willing slave of my own ignorance, of which advantage\nis taken by those who spend their time in endeavoring to prove to me\nthat I am free and in singing the glories of my condition, to hoodwink\nmy reason and to blind my perception.\n\nAnd I further say, that that system of government by which it is\npossible for a class of people to practice upon my credulity, and, under\nfalse pretenses, first entice me to acquiesce in laws by which immense\ncorporations and monopolies are established, and then to induce me to\nsubmit to their extortions because they exist according to law, pursuing\nnone but lawful means, is an infernal despotism, compared to which the\nRussian Czar is a thousand times to be preferred.\n\nThis may at first seem a sweeping indictment of our form of government,\nbut I say it is just. Suppose we take our railroad system, now amounting\nto fifty-five thousand miles. At an average cost of eighty thousand\ndollars per mile for construction and equipment, its total cost would be\nfour billions four hundred millions dollars. To pay the shareholders an\neight per cent. dividend for doing nothing, the industries of the\ncountry would have to be taxed three hundred and fifty millions dollars\nover and above the cost of maintenance and operation. Did this enormous\ndrain from the products of the people stop here, the fertility of the\ncountry, made use of by the ingenuity of the people, might possibly keep\npace with the demand. But it does not stop there. The net earning of the\nrailroads enables their directors to make larger dividends than eight\nper cent. Do their managers relinquish this increase in favor of the\npeople? Never a bit of it. But they increase their stock either by\nselling new shares, or by making stock or scrip dividends, and to\nneither process has there been found any legal bar or cure.\n\nNow, what may the result of such a system be? Why, this. If the stock of\nall these railroads be increased in the same proportion that some of\nthem have already been increased, it may be raised to a thousand\nbillions of dollars, and the people, instead of being compelled to pay\nthree hundred and fifty millions dollars to provide an eight per cent.\ndividend on their cost, will have to submit to the extortion of eight\nhundred million dollars annually to satisfy the demands of these legal\ndespots for an eight per cent. dividend upon stock, a large part of\nwhich represent absolutely nothing but the people\u2019s stolen money.\n\nA person who would double the size of another\u2019s note simply because the\nprofits of his business would permit the payment of twelve per cent.\ninterest, so that instead of paying twelve per cent. upon one hundred\ndollars, which would be an illegal charge, it would be six per cent.\nupon two hundred dollars, would be deemed and adjudged guilty of\nforgery. But these railroad magnates sit in their palatial offices and\nraise their notes at pleasure, and they are considered public\nbenefactors. It is a crime for a single person to steal a dollar, but a\ncorporation may steal a million dollars, and be canonized as saints.\n\nOh, the stupid blindness of this people! Swindled every day before their\nvery eyes, and yet they don\u2019t seem to know that there is anything wrong,\nsimply because no _law_ has been violated. In their eyes everything that\nis lawful is right, and this has become the curse of the nation. But the\nopposite\u2014that everything which is right is lawful\u2014don\u2019t follow as a part\nof their philosophy.\n\nNo matter what a person does if it is not actionable under the law; he\nis an honest man and a good church member. But Heaven defend us from\nbeing truthful, natural beings, unless the law says we may\u2014since that is\nto be an infamous scoundrel.\n\nA Vanderbilt may sit in his office and manipulate stocks, or make\ndividends, by which, in a few years, he amasses fifty millions dollars\nfrom the industries of the country, and he is one of the remarkable men\nof the age. But if a poor, half-starved child were to take a loaf of\nbread from his cupboard, to prevent starvation, she would be sent first\nto the Tombs, and thence to Blackwell\u2019s Island.\n\nAn Astor may sit in his sumptuous apartments, and watch the property\nbequeathed him by his father, rise in value from one to fifty millions,\nand everybody bows before his immense power, and worships his business\ncapacity. But if a tenant of his, whose employer had discharged him\nbecause he did not vote the Republican ticket, and thereby fails to pay\nhis month\u2019s rent to Mr. Astor, the law sets him and his family into the\nstreet in midwinter; and, whether he dies of cold or starvation, neither\nMr. Astor or anybody else stops to ask, since that is nobody\u2019s business\nbut the man\u2019s. This is a free country, you know, and why should I\ntrouble myself about that person, because he happens to be so\nunfortunate as not to be able to pay Mr. Astor his rent?\n\nMr. Stewart, by business tact, and the various practices known to trade,\nsucceeds, in twenty years, in obtaining from customers whom he has\nentrapped into purchasing from him fifty millions dollars, and with his\ngains he builds costly public beneficiaries, and straightway the world\nmakes him a philanthropist. But a poor devil who should come along with\na bolt of cloth, which he had succeeded in smuggling into the country,\nand which, consequently, he could sell at a lower price than Mr.\nStewart, who paid the tariff, and is thereby authorized by law to add\nthat sum to the piece, would be cast into prison.\n\nNow these individuals represent three of the principal methods that the\nprivileged classes have invented by which to monopolize the accumulated\nwealth of the country. But let us analyze the processes, and see if it\nis wholly by their personal efforts that they gain this end.\n\nNobody pretends that Mr. Stewart ever produced a single dollar of his\nvast fortune. He accumulated it by dealing in the productions of others,\nwhich he first obtained at low rates, and then sold at a sufficient\nadvance over the cost of handling to make in the aggregate a sum\namounting to millions.\n\nNow, I want to ask if all this is not arriving at the same result, by\nanother method, at which the slaveholders of the South arrived, by\nowning negroes? In the case of the latter, the slaveholder reaped all\nthe benefits of the labors of the negroes. In the former case the\nmerchant princes, together with the various other privileged classes,\nreap the benefit of the labors of all the working-classes of the\ncountry. Every year the excess of the produced wealth of the country\nfinds final lodgment in the pockets of these classes, and they grow\nricher at each succeeding harvest, while the laborers toil their lives\naway; and when all their strength and vigor have been transformed into\nwealth, which has been legally transferred to the capitalists, they are\nheavy with age, and as destitute as when they began their life of\nservitude. Did ever Southern slave have meaner end than this?\n\nIn all seriousness, is there any common justice in such a state of\nthings? Is it right that the millions should toil all their lives long,\nscarcely having comfortable food and clothes, while the few manage to\ncontrol all the benefits? People may pretend that it is justice, and\ngood Christians may excuse it upon that ground, but Christ would never\nhave called it by that name. He would even give him that labored but an\nhour as much as he that had labored all the day, but to him who labored\nnot at all he would take away even that which he hath. And yet we hear\nloud professions of Christianity ascending from the pulpit throughout\nthe length and breadth of the land. And when I listen, I cannot help\nexclaiming, \u201cO, ye hypocrites, how can ye hope to escape the damnation\nof hell?\u201d\n\nAm I asked, How are these things to be amended? I will tell you in the\nfirst place, that they must be remedied; and this particular case of\ndealing in the labor of the people is to be remedied by abolishing\nhuckstering, or the system of middle-men, and substituting therefor a\ngeneral system of public markets, conducted by the people through their\npaid agents, as all other public business is performed. In these markets\nthe products of the country should be received, in first hands, direct\nfrom the producers, who should realize their entire proceeds. In this\nmanner the immense fortunes realized by middle-men, and the profits made\nby the half-dozen different hands through which merchandise travels on\nits way to consumers, would be saved to the producer. A bushel of\napples, purchased in the orchard at twenty-five cents, is finally sold\nto the consumer at a dollar. Now, either the consumer has paid at least\na half dollar too much, or the producer has received a half dollar too\nlittle, for the apples; since, under a perfect system, the apples would\ngo direct from the orchard to the market, and thence direct to the\nconsumer.\n\nWe are forever talking of political economy, but it appears to me that\nthe most vital points\u2014one of which is our system of huckstery\u2014is\nentirely overlooked.\n\nSuppose Mr. Stewart, instead of having labored all these years for his\nown selfish interests, had labored in the interests of the people? Is it\nnot clear that the half-a-hundred million dollars he has accumulated\nwould have remained with the people who have consumed his goods? Place\nall other kinds of traffic upon the same proposed basis, and do you not\nsee that the system which makes merchant-princes would be abolished?\nNeither would it require one-half the people to conduct a general system\nof markets who are now employed speculating in the results of labor.\n\nIn short, every person should either be a producer or a paid agent or\nofficer of consumers and producers, and our entire system of shopkeeping\nreduced to a magnificent system of immense public markets. In this way\nthere could also be a perfect control exercised over the quality of\nperishable goods, the want of which is now felt so severely in summer in\nall large cities, and a thousand unthought of remedies would necessarily\nsuggest themselves as the system should develop.\n\nBut let us pass to one of the other branches of this same system. We\nhave in our midst thousands of people of immense wealth who have never\neven done so much to justify its possession as the merchant-princes have\ndone to justify themselves. I refer to our land monopolists, and to Mr.\nAstor as their representative. Mr. Astor inherited a large landed\nestate, which has risen in value to be worth millions of dollars, to\nwhich advance Mr. Astor never contributed even a day\u2019s labor. He has\ndone nothing except to watch the rise and gather in the rents, while the\nwhole laboring country has been constantly engaged in promoting that\nadvance. What would Mr. Astor have been without the City of New York?\nAnd what would the City of New York have been without the United States?\nYou see, my friends, it will not do to view this matter superficially.\nWe live in too analytic an age to permit these things to go on in the\nway they have been going. There is too much poverty, too much suffering,\ntoo much hard work, too many hours of labor for individuals, too many\nsleepless nights, too many starving poor, too many hungry children, too\nmany in helpless old age, to permit these villanous abuses to continue\nsheltered under the name of respectability and public order.\n\nBut again, and upon a still worse swindle of the people. A person having\nmoney goes out into the public domain and acquires an immense tract of\nland. Shortly a railroad is projected and built, which runs through that\ntract. It offers a fine location for a station. A city springs up, and\nthat which cost in some instances as little as a shilling per acre, is\ndivided into town lots, and these are reluctantly parted with at five\nhundred dollars each.\n\nAgain, I wish to inquire, in the name of Justice, to whom does that\nadvance belong? To the person who nominally holds the land? What has he\ndone to entitle him to receive dollars for what he only paid cents? Is\nthere any equality\u2014is there any justice\u2014in such a condition? He profits\nby the action of others; in fact at the public expense, since in its\nlast analysis it is the common public who are the basis of all advance\nin the value of property.\n\nNow, I say, that that common public is entitled to all the benefits\naccruing from common efforts; and it is an infamous wrong that makes it\naccrue to the benefit of a special few. And a system of society which\npermits such arbitrary distributions of wealth is a disgrace to\nChristian civilization, whose Author and his Disciples had all things in\ncommon. Let professing Christians who, for a pretense, make long\nprayers, think of that, and then denounce Communism, if they can; and\ndenounce me as a Revolutionist for advocating it, if they dare.\n\nBut, is it asked, how is this to be remedied? I answer, very easily!\nSince those who possess the accumulated wealth of the country have\nfilched it by legal means from those to whom it justly belongs\u2014the\npeople\u2014it must be returned to them, by legal means if possible, but it\nmust be returned to them in any event. When a person worth millions,\ndies, instead of leaving it to his children, who have no more title to\nit than anybody else\u2019s children have, it must revert to the people, who\nreally produced it. Do you say that is injustice to the children? I say,\nNo! And if you ask me how the rich man\u2019s children are going to live\nafter his death, I answer, by the same means as the poor man\u2019s children\nlive. Let it be remembered that we have had simple freedom quite long\nenough. By setting all our hopes on freedom we have been robbed of our\nrights. What we want now is more than freedom\u2014we want equality! And by\nthe Heaven above us, earth\u2019s growing children are going to have it! What\nright have the children of the rich to be born to luxurious idleness,\nwhile the children of the poor are born to, all their lives long,\nfurther contribute to their ease? Do they not in common belong to God\u2019s\nhuman family? If I mistake not, Christ told us so. You will not dispute\nhis authority, I am sure. If, instead of preaching Christ and him\ncrucified quite so much, we should practice his teaching a little more,\nmy word for it, we should all be better Christians.\n\nAnd when by this process all the land shall have been returned to the\npeople, there will be just as much of it, and it will be equally as\nproductive, and just as much room on it as there is now. But instead of\na few people owning the whole of it, and farming it out to all the rest\nat the best possible prices, the people will possess it themselves in\ntheir own right, through just laws, paying for its possession to the\ngovernment such moderate rates of taxes as shall be necessary to\nmaintain the government.\n\nBut I may as well conclude what I have to say regarding railroads, which\nmust also revert back to the people, and be conducted by them for the\npublic benefit, as our common highways are now conducted. Vanderbilt,\nScott & Co. are demonstrating it better and better every day that all\nthe railroads of the country can be much more economically and\nadvantageously conducted under one management than under a thousand\ndifferent managements. They imagine that very soon they will have\naccomplished a complete consolidation of the entire system, and that by\nthe power of that consolidation they will be able to control the\ngovernment of this country.\n\nBut they will not be the first people who have made slight\nmiscalculations as to ultimate results. Thomas Scott might make a\nsplendid Secretary of the Department of Internal Improvements, for which\nthe new Constitution, which this country is going to adopt, makes\nprovision; but he will never realize his ambition to preside over the\nrailroad system of the country in any other manner.\n\nAnd I will tell you another benefit that will follow the nationalization\nof our railroads. You have all heard of the dealing in stocks, of the\n\u201cbulls\u201d and the \u201cbears,\u201d and the \u201clongs\u201d and the \u201cshorts,\u201d and the \u201clame\nducks\u201d of Wall street. Well, they will all be abolished. There will be\nno stocks in which to deal. That sort of speculation, by which gigantic\nswindlers corner a stock and take it in at their own figures, will, to\nuse a vulgar phrase, be \u201cplayed out.\u201d And if you were to see their\ncustomers, as I have seen them, rushing about Broad street to catch\nsight of the last per cent. of their margins as they disappear in the\nhungry maw of the complacent brokers, you would agree with me that it\nought to be \u201cplayed out.\u201d\n\nUnder the system which I propose, not only will stock gambling be\nabolished, but also all other gambling, and the hundreds of thousands of\nable-bodied people who are now engaged in it, living from the products\nof others, will be compelled to go to producing themselves.\n\nBut, says the objector, take riches away from people and there will be\nno incentive to accumulate. But, my dear sir, we don\u2019t propose to do\nanything of the kind, nor to destroy any wealth. There will never be any\nless wealth than now, but a constant increase upon it. We only propose\nthat the people shall hold it in their own right, instead of its being\nheld in trust for them by a self-appointed few. Instead of having a few\nmillionaires, and millions on the verge of starvation, we propose that\nall shall possess a comfortable competence\u2014that is, shall possess the\nresults of their own labors.\n\nI can\u2019t see where there is a chance for a lack of motive to come in. It\nseems to me that everybody will have a better and a more certain chance,\nas well as a better incentive to accumulate. Will the certainty of\naccumulation destroy the desire to accumulate? Nobody but the most\nstupid would attempt to maintain that. It is not great wealth in a few\nindividuals that proves a country prosperous, but great general wealth\nevenly distributed among the people. That country must be the most\nprosperous and happy where the people are most generally comfortably and\nhappily circumstanced. And in this country, instead of a hundredth part\nof the people living in palaces and riding in coaches, while the balance\nlive in huts and travel on foot, every person may live in a palace and\nride in a coach. I leave it to you to decide which is the preferable\ncondition and which the more Christian.\n\nAnd why should the rich object to this? If everybody has enough and to\nspare, should that be a subject of complaint? What more do people want,\nexcept it be for the purpose of tyrannizing over others dependent upon\nthem? But no objections that may be raised will be potent enough to\ncrush out the demand for equality now rising from an oppressed people.\nThis demand the possessors of wealth cannot afford to ignore. It comes\nfrom a patiently-enduring people, who have waited already too long for\nthe realization of the beautiful pictures of freedom which have been\npainted for them to admire; for the realization of the songs which poets\nhave sung to its praise. Let me warn, nay, let me implore them not to be\ndeaf to this demand, since they do not know so well as I know what\ntemper there is behind it. I have tested it, and I know it is one that\nwill not much longer brook the denial of justice.\n\nBut there is another monopoly of which I must speak\u2014I mean the monopoly\nof money itself. We have seen how great a tyranny that is which arises\nfrom monopolizing the land. But that occurring from the monopoly of\nmoney, is a still more insidious and dangerous form of despotism, since\nits ramifications are more extensive and minute. It may be exercised by\nthe person possessing a hundred, or by the person possessing a million\ndollars. But what is the process? A person inherits a half million\ndollars for which he never expended a single day\u2019s labor. He sits in his\noffice loaning that sum of money say, in sums of one thousand dollars to\none thousand different persons, each of whom conducts a little business\nwhich yields just enough to support a family and to pay the interest.\nThese people live for forty years in this manner, and die no better off\nthan when they began life. But during that time they have paid all their\nextra production to the amount of four thousand dollars, each, to the\ncapitalist; and, finally, the business itself is sold out to pay the\nprincipal. And thus it turns out that the capitalist obtains everything\nthose thousand persons earned during their whole lives, they leaving\nnothing to their families. Now, what better is that result than it would\nhave been had these people been slaves? Could their owners have obtained\nany more from them? I say they would have obtained less; since, had they\nbeen slaves in name, as in fact they were, there would have been times\nduring the forty years that they would not have earned interest over\ncost of their support. Now, look at the capitalist. For one million\ndollars, and without the straining of a muscle, he receives five million\ndollars direct, which, reinvested from time to time as it increases,\namounts at the end of the forty years to not less than fifteen millions\ndollars.\n\nBut try another example of a somewhat different kind. A person having\nfour grown children, whom he has reared in luxury, and given all the\nfacilities of education, dies, leaving each of them a farm worth\ntwenty-five thousand dollars. These children having never learned the\nart of farming are incapable of conducting these farms; but they lease\nthem to four different people for a thousand dollars a year each, and\nlive at ease all their lives, therefrom, never so much as lifting their\nhands to do an hour\u2019s labor. Now, who is it that supports those four\npeople? Is it not clear that it is the people who work the farms? And\nhow did it happen that they had the farms to lease? Simply by an\nincident for which there was no legitimate general cause, else why do\nnot all children have farms and live without work?\n\nNor can you, my friends, discover anything approaching equality, or\naught that looks like justice in that operation. I tell you nay! It is\nthe most insidious despotism, with a single exception, that is possible\namong a people. It is a despotism which was condemned in all former\ntimes, even by barbarians, and which the Jews were only permitted to\nenforce upon people of other nations. It is the hideous vampire fastened\nupon the vitals of our people, sucking\u2014sucking\u2014sucking their very life\u2019s\nblood, leaving just enough to keep up their vitality, that they may\nmanufacture more. It is the heartless monster that will have the exact\npound of flesh, even if there be loss of blood to obtain it, and there\nis no just judge near to prevent the taking, or to hold him to account\nif he take it. It paralyzes our industries; shuts the gates in the way\nthat leads to our inexhaustible treasures within the bosom of mother\nearth; strips the stars and stripes from the masts of merchantmen;\ncompels our immense cotton lands to luxuriate in weeds; robs our\nspindles of the power to turn them; and lays an embargo upon every\nproductive enterprise. Whoever makes a movement to compel the earth to\nyield her wealth, or to transform that wealth into useful form, must\nfirst obtain the consent of this despot, and pay his demands for a\nlicense.\n\nThirteen millions of laborers in this country produce annually four\nthousand millions dollars of wealth, every dollar of which over and\nabove the cost of living is paid over to appease the demands of this\ninsatiate monster\u2014this horrid demon, whose name is Interest.\n\nWe are told that we cannot manufacture railroad iron in this country as\ncheap as it can be manufactured in England. Yes! And why? Is it because\nwe have no ore or no coal; or that, which is not as good as England has?\nNo! We have on the surface what in England is hundreds of feet in the\nbowels of the earth, and coal the same; and both of better quality. But\nmoney can be put at interest in this country so as to double itself\nevery four years, and be amply secured. What reason have capitalists to\nconstruct iron works, or to have their care, when twenty-five per cent.\nper year is returned them, without care or risk? And what is true of\niron is also true of every other natural production. Is it any wonder\nthat our manufacturers are obliged to demand that the people pay an\nadditional per cent. upon everything they eat, drink or wear, that they\nmay be protected in their various productive enterprises, when such\nexactions are laid upon them by this more than absolute monarch? No! It\nwould indeed be a wonder if it were not so.\n\nNow, do you suppose our markets would be flooded with British goods if\nour producing and manufacturing interests had all the money they require\nwithout interest? If there are any borrowers at ten per cent. who hear\nmy voice, let them answer. No; it is the tribute that industry is\ncompelled to pay to capital that forces our government to exact ten,\ntwenty, fifty, aye, even a hundred per cent. for the privilege of\nbringing merchandise into this country.\n\nBut they tell us if we go to free trade that our country would be\nflooded with foreign products, so there would be absolutely no\nproduction of manufactured goods in the country. Now that would be true,\nif we should attempt free trade and leave the monster Interest with his\ngrip upon our vitals. And here is the short-sightedness of Free-Traders.\nIf we want free trade, we must, in the first place, attack, throttle and\nkill this demon, after which we may manufacture at prices that will not\nonly absolutely forbid the importation of almost everything that is now\nimported, but which will also enable us to play the same game with\nEurope that Europe has played so long upon us. Free money in this\ncountry would abolish every European throne within ten years. And yet\npeople cannot be made to see that this country is their support. With\nfree money what need would we have for a protective tariff? Can any\nProtectionist answer that?\n\nYou see, my friends, that it is the people who catch sight of an idea\nand pursue it to the death, regardless of relative ideas, who make\nreform so ridiculous. One reform cannot advance alone. All kinds of\nreform must go on together. Interest and free trade must go hand in\nhand; interest, if either, a little ahead.\n\nAnd in this regard I am free to confess that the National Labor Union\u2019s\ndemand for a decrease of interest is the most reasonable single reform\nnow being advocated. We want free trade; but we want free money first,\nso that not a spindle or forge in this country shall stop at the command\nof those across the ocean.\n\nBut how are we going to get free money? Why, in the very easiest way\npossible. It is the simplest problem of them all. I am not going into\nthis discussion to prove to you that gold is not money, since everybody\nought to know that it has no more the properties of money than cotton,\ncorn and pork have the properties of money. Now, money is that thing\nwhich, if every dollar in circulation should be destroyed, there would\nbe no loss of wealth. Gold, cotton, corn and wheat are wealth. Destroy\nthese and there is a loss. But when money is destroyed, there is no more\nloss than when a promissory note is destroyed. A note is an evidence of\ndebt. It is not wealth, but its representative. So also is money not\nwealth, but its representative. And if we had a thousand million dollars\nin circulation to-day, there would be no more wealth in the country than\nthere now is, and we would have quite as much wealth if there were two\nthousand millions dollars, since money and wealth are two entirely\ndistinct things.\n\nBut they tell us that unless money is made redeemable in gold, it is not\nof any account, and that, too, in the face of our miserable greenback\nsystem, which was so much better even than gold that it saved the nation\nwhen, had we stuck to gold, we should have been destroyed. Oh, but it\nwas a depreciated currency, says some one. Yes, it was a depreciated\ncurrency, and we should have ample reason to be thankful if when we come\nto pay our bonds, we have a depreciated currency with which to liquidate\nthem, instead of being obliged, as we shall, to pay a thousand dollars\nin cotton for what we realized less than five hundred in gold.\n\nIt is not the gold only of a country that constitutes its wealth. What\nshould we care if we had not a single ounce of gold, if we had a\nthousand million bales of cotton, ten thousand millions bushels of corn\nand wheat, and a billion dollars\u2019 worth of manufactured goods to send to\nother countries? So you see it is not the gold after all that makes a\ncirculation good, but the sum total of all kinds of wealth. Now, that is\nwhat we propose to substitute for gold as the basis for a money issue.\nAnd instead of permitting corporations to issue it and remain at liberty\nto dispose of their property and let the people who hold their\ncirculation whistle for its redemption, we propose that government,\nwhich can neither sell our property nor abscond with it, shall issue it\nfor the people and lend it to them at cost; or if you will insist on\npaying interest for money, why, then, pay it to the government and\nlessen your taxes that much, instead of paying interest to bankers and\nsupporting government besides.\n\nNow, don\u2019t you think that would be rather a good sort of a money system?\nI know that every manufacturer in the country would like it. But I can\ntell you who will not like it; and whom we may be compelled to fight\nbefore they will permit us to have it; and these are the money-lenders\nand money-changers, such as it is related the Head of the Christian\nChurch\u2014one Jesus Christ, of whom we hear a great deal said, but whose\nteachings and doctrines are wofully perverted\u2014scourged out of the Temple\nat a place known as Jerusalem.\n\nI have not been guilty of frequenting the temples of the country much of\nlate, but if I am not misinformed upon the subject, and unless they have\nchanged since I did frequent them, if Christ should pass through this\nland of a Sunday, scourge in hand, he would find plenty of work to do in\nthe same line in which he labored so faithfully among the Jews.\n\nBut the National Labor Union say they won\u2019t be so hard upon these\nmoney-lenders as we would be. They are willing that they shall be eased\ndown from the vast height to which they have attained. They say they\nshall have three per cent. interest instead of six, seven, eight and\nten, or as much more as they can steal out of the necessities of the\ncase, by the circumstances and discounts. But they shall be limited to\nthree per cent., and in a way that they cannot evade, as they now evade,\nlawful interest. It is proposed that government shall issue this money,\nbut that it shall be convertible into a three per cent. interest-bearing\nbond; so that when money shall be so plenty that it will be worth less\nthan three per cent. in business, it can be invested in bonds drawing\nthree per cent.; and the bonds to also be reconvertible into money, so\nthat the moment business shall demand more money than there should be in\ncirculation\u2014which would increase the value of money to more than three\nper cent.\u2014the bonds would be converted into money again; and when there\nshould be no more bonds to convert, and money still worth more than\nthree per cent., then the Government shall issue more money to restore\nthe equilibrium. In this way money would always be worth just three per\ncent. No more nor less, and there would always be just enough; or, in\nother words, money would be measured, as it never has been, and which\nhas been the cause of all our financial troubles. What would you say to\na person who should talk to you about measuring your corn in a bushel\nthat had itself never been measured? But you complacently talk of money\nbeing a measure of values, and money has never had a measure regulating\nits own value.\n\nBut this consideration is only a stepping-stone to what shall be. Money\nmust be made free from interest. In fact, I do not know but people who\nhave money should pay something to have it securely loaned, the same as\nyou must pay your Safe Deposit Companies for safely keeping bonds,\njewels and other valuables. I think people ought to be made to pay for\nthe safe keeping of money upon the same principle. Money under our\npresent system is the only thing which we possess that does not\ndepreciate in value by use. The more money is used, the more it\nincreases; a proof complete of the fallacy and its despotism.\n\nThe Government now pay the banks thirty millions dollars per year for\nthe privilege of loaning them about three hundred millions national\ncurrency, which the banks reloan to the people at an average of ten per\ncent. It seems to me that is almost too good a thing to last long. If\nthe Government can afford to do this thing, why can\u2019t they better afford\nto loan directly to the people for nothing, and save thirty millions\ndollars annually? Do you think the people would object? Oh, no; but the\nbankers would. But for all that the cry of \u201cDown with the tyrant\u201d is\nraised, and it will never cease until interest shall be among the things\nthat were.\n\nI also desire to call attention to the reduction of the Public Debt, and\nto the means by which this reduction has been accomplished. The\nAdministration hangs almost all of its hopes upon this fact, while if it\nwere thoroughly understood it would prove its condemnation. It has paid\nthree hundred millions of the debt, they say. Who has paid it? we\ninquire. It fails to answer. We say that that entire payment has been\nmade by the producing classes of the country, while the capitalists have\nnot reduced their cash balances in the least. In other words, the\nproducers have got no more money now than they had before the debt was\npaid, while the capitalists have had their bonds changed into money.\nNow, who have paid that three hundred millions dollars? I repeat the\nlaboring people have done it, just as they pay all public debts and all\npublic expenses, besides constantly adding to the wealth of the\ncapitalists themselves. Can such a state of things continue? Again I\ntell you nay.\n\nThis wrong must be remedied by a system of progressive taxation. If\npersons having a hundred thousand dollars pay one-half per cent. tax,\nlet those having a million pay ten per cent., or two millions\ntwenty-five per cent. Let there be a penalty placed upon monopolizing\nthe common property, and it will soon cease and equality come in its\nplace. Now, the poorest woman who buys the cheapest calico pays a tax to\nthe Government, while the rich appropriate her labor to pay their dues.\nTruly said Jesus, \u201cThe poor ye have with you always.\u201d\n\nAnother mode of remedying the existing ills in industry and the\ndistribution of wealth, must be in giving employees an actual interest\nin the products of their labors, so that ultimately co-operation will be\nthe source of all production, its results being justly distributed among\nall those who assist in the production. First, pay the employer the same\nrate of interest for his capital that Government shall charge for loans\nmade to the people; next, the general expenses, including salaries to\nhimself and all employees, the remainder to be equitably divided among\nall who have an interest in it. Do you not see what a revolution in\nindustrial production such a constitutional provision would effect? And\ndo you not suppose if the workingmen and women of this country\nunderstood the justice of it, that they would have it? I intend that\nthey shall have the required information. Already there have been half a\nmillion tracts upon these subjects sent broadcast over this land, and\nthe present year shall see double as many more, until every laborer,\nmale and female, shall hold in his or her own hands the method of\ndeliverance from this great oppression.\n\nBut there is another consideration, which, more forcibly than any other,\nshows the suicidal policy which we pursue. If the present rates of\ninterest are continued to be paid upon only the present banking capital\nand bonds of the country, for twenty-five years to come, the interest,\nwith the principal added, will have absorbed the total present wealth,\nas well as its perspective increase. And such a consummation as this are\nthe European capitalists now preparing for this country. Europe holds\nnot less than three thousand millions of bonded indebtedness of this\ncountry, which is being augmented every month by additional railroad\nbonds, or some syndicate operation. So do you not see that European\ncapital is gradually, but nevertheless inevitably, absorbing not only\nall of our annually produced wealth, but also acquiring an increased\nmortgage every year upon our accumulated wealth? There is no escaping\nthese facts. Figures don\u2019t lie. Mathematics is an absolute science from\nwhose edicts there is no escape. And mathematics inform us that we are\nyear by year mortgaging ourselves to European capitalists, who will\nultimately step in and foreclose their mortgages, and possess themselves\nof our all, just as we foreclose our smaller mortgages, when there is no\nhope of a further increase from interest.\n\nBesides the monopoly of land, money and public conveniences, there is\nanother kind of monopoly still, which may appear rather strange and new\nto be thus classed, but it is nevertheless a terrible tyrant. I refer to\nthe monopoly of education. I hold that a just government is in duty\nbound to see to it that all its children of both sexes have the same and\nequal opportunities for acquiring education, and that every person of\nadult age shall have graduated in the highest departments of learning,\nas well as in the arts, sciences and practical mechanics. Every person\nshould be compelled to acquire a practical knowledge of some productive\nbranch of labor, because the time will come when all people will be\nobliged to produce at least as much as they consume, or earn what they\nconsume, as the paid agents of producers. What a revolution would that\naccomplish? If every person in the world was to work at production two\nhours a day there would be a larger aggregate produced than there is\nnow. Therefore every person must learn the art of production, and thus\nbe equal in resources to any other person, and Government must undertake\nthe compulsory industrial education of all its children.\n\nThus I could continue analysis upon analysis, until not a stone in the\nfoundations of our social structure would be left unturned, and all\nwould be found unworthy of our civilization\u2014our boasted Christian\ncivilization. I think Christianity has been preached at, long enough. I\ngo for making a practical application of it at the very foundations of\nsociety. I believe in recognizing the broad principle of all\nreligion\u2014that we are all children of one great common parent, God,\nwhich, since it disproves the propositions of the Church, that at least\na large portion of us are the children of the devil, and renders the\nservices of the clergy to save us from that inheritance unnecessary,\nwill abolish our present system of a licensed and paid ministry.\nThirty-five thousand ministers are paid twenty-five millions dollars\nannually for preaching the gospel in cathedrals costing two hundred and\nfifty millions dollars; and how many of them ever teach any fact other\nthan that Jesus was crucified, just as though that would save us from\nthe sloughs of ignorance in which we are sunk? Which one of them dare\ntell his congregation the truth, as he, if he be not a blockhead, knows\nit? I here and now impeach the clergy of the United States as dishonest\nand hypocritical, since the best of them acknowledge that they do not\ndare to preach the whole truth, for, if they should, they would have to\npreach to empty seats\u2014an admission sufficiently damnable to consign them\nto the contempt of the world and to the hell of which they prate so\nknowingly, but whose location they have not been able to determine, and\nto light the torch which shall fire the last one of these palatial\nmockeries of true religion.\n\nWhy, should Christ appear among these godly Christians as he did among\nthe Jews, he would be arrested as a vagrant, or sent to jail for\nstealing corn; and in Connecticut, perhaps, for Sabbath-breaking, or for\ntelling the maid at the well \u201c_all she had ever done_,\u201d which is now\ncalled fortune-telling, or for healing the sick by laying on of hands,\nwhich they denominate charlatanry. Christ and his Disciples and the\nmultitude which he gathered together had all things in common. But every\npulpit and every paper in this Christian country launch the thunders of\ntheir denunciations when that damnable doctrine is now advanced. Now,\nChrist was a Communist of the strictest sort, and so am I, and of the\nmost extreme kind. I believe that God is the Father of all humanity and\nthat we are brothers and sisters; and that it is not merely a\ntheoretical or hypothetical nothing but a stern reality, to be reduced\nto a practical recognition. And they who cannot accept and practice this\ndoctrine of Christ, and who still profess to be his followers, are\nsimply stealing the livery of Christ in which to serve the devil in\ntheir own souls.\n\nI do not care to what length Christians may stretch their faces of a\nSunday, nor how much they pay to support their ministers; nor do I care\nhow long prayers they may make, nor what sermons preach, when they\ndenounce the fundamental principles of the teachings of Christ, I will\nturn upon and, in his language, utter their own condemnation: \u201cInasmuch\nas ye have not done it unto the least of these, ye have not done it\nunto\u201d Christ. And they may make all the fuss, call me all the hard\nnames, they please; but they can\u2019t escape the judgment. And I don\u2019t\nintend they shall have a chance to escape it. I am going to strip the\nmasks of hypocrisy from their faces, and let the world see them as they\nare. They have had preaching without practice long enough. The people\nwant practice now, and when they get it, they can even afford to do\nwithout the preaching.\n\nThese privileged classes of the people have an enduring hatred for me,\nand I am glad they have. I am the friend not only of freedom in all\nthings, and in every form, but also for equality and justice as well.\nThese cannot be inaugurated except through revolution. I am denounced as\ndesiring to precipitate revolution. I acknowledge it. I am for\nrevolution, if to get equality and justice it is required. I only want\nthe people to have what it is their right to have\u2014what the religion of\nhumanity, what Christ, were he the arbiter, would give them. If, in\ngetting that, the people find bayonets opposing them, it will not be\ntheir fault if they make their way through them by the aid of bayonets.\nAnd these persons who possess the monopolies and who guard them by\nbayonets, need not comfort themselves with the idea that the people\nwon\u2019t fight for their rights. Did they not spring to arms from every\nquarter to fight for the negro? And will you say they will not do the\nsame against this other slavery, compared to which the former is as a\ngentle shower to a raging tempest?\n\nDon\u2019t flatter yourselves, gentlemen despots, that you are going to\nescape under that assumption. You will have to yield, and it will be\nbest for you to do it gracefully. You are but as one to seven against\nthem. Numbers will win. It will be your own obduracy if they are goaded\non to madness. Do not rely upon their ignorance of the true condition.\nUpon that you have anchored your hopes as long as it is safe. There are\ntoo many reform newspapers in circulation. And though the columns of all\nour great dailies are shut to their truths, still there are channels\nthrough which they flow to the people\u2014aye, even to those who delve in\nthe coal mines of Pennsylvania, seldom seeing the joyous sunshine. And\nthis education shall continue until every person who contributes to the\nmaintenance of another in luxurious idleness shall know how such a\nresult is rendered possible.\n\nHence, I say, it lies in the hands of those who have maintained this\ndespotism over the common people to yield it up to them and recognize\ntheir just relations.\n\nAnd remember what I say to you to-night: If this that is claimed is not\ngranted\u2014if, beside freedom, equality is not made possible by your giving\nup this power, by which the laborer is robbed of the results of his\nlabor, before our next centennial birthday, July 4th, 1876, you will\nhave precipitated the most terrible war that the earth has yet known.\n\nFor three years before the breaking out of the slavery rebellion I saw\nand heard with my spiritual senses the marching of armies, the rattle of\nmusketry, and the roar of cannon; and I already hear and see the\napproach of this more terrible contest. I know it is coming. There is\nbut one way in which it can be averted. There was one way by which the\nslave war could have been avoided\u2014the abolition of slavery. But the\nslave oligarchy would not listen to our Garrisons, Sumners, Tiltons and\nDouglases. They tried the arbitration of war, but they lost their slaves\nat last. Now, will not these later oligarchies\u2014the land, the railroad,\nthe money aristocracies\u2014learn a lesson from their terrible fate? Will\nthey not listen to the abolitionists\u2014to the Garrisons, the Sumners, the\nTiltons and the Douglases\u2014of to-day? Will they try the arbitration of\nwar, which will result as did the last, in the loss of that for which\nthey fight? I would that they should learn wisdom by experience. The\nslaveholders could have obtained compensation for their negroes. They\nrefused it and lost all. Ponder that lesson well, and do not neglect to\ngive it its true application. You can compromise now, and the same\ngeneral end be arrived at without the baptism of blood. It shall not be\nmy fault if that baptism comes. Nevertheless, equality and justice are\non the march, and they cannot be hindered. They must and will attain\ntheir journey\u2019s end. The people shall be delivered.\n\nI have several times referred to the methods by which these things may\nbe accomplished. They are impossible under our present Constitution. It\nis too restricted, too narrow, to admit even an idea of a common\nhumanity. True, its text is complete, but its framework does not carry\nout the original design. Even George Washington, himself, was accused of\ntreachery for countenancing so great a departure as was made; and the\nlate war justified the grounds upon which that accusation was founded.\nThe text of the Constitution held these truths to be self-evident, \u201cThat\nall men (and women) are born equal and entitled to certain inalienable\nrights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.\u201d\nThe Constitution should have been erected in harmony with those\ndeclarations. It was not. There is no such thing as equality provided\nfor. Life and liberty have not been held inalienable under it; the\npursuit of happiness has been outrageously interfered with, and the\ngovernment has been made to exist without the consent of the governed;\nand exists to-day against the protests of a large number of its\nsubjects.\n\nIs it to be expected that anything so false as that is to its basic\npropositions can be made enduring? It is against the constitution of\nnature itself that it should be so. Nature is always true to itself, and\nwill always vindicate itself. If hedged in and obstructed, it will burst\nthrough or find its way around. The needle is not truer to the pole than\nis Nature to the truth. And Nature is always just. Those propositions\nwere deduced from human rights, regardless of any authority or\ndespotism. Had they been elucidated\u2014had their principles guided the\nconstruction of the Constitution itself, all would have been well. What\nour fathers failed to do is left for this generation to perform; and it\nmust not shirk the duty. It must look the condition squarely in the\nface, and meet the issue as squarely.\n\nWhat issues must be met and provided for in order that human rights may\nbe respected and protected? I have already referred to the monopolies\nthat must be abolished. But there are also many other things. I will\ncall attention first to minority representation, which lies at the base\nof a representative government. The State of Massachusetts has eleven\nrepresentatives in Congress, and they are all Republicans. Justice would\ninfer that there are no Democrats in the State. But such is not the\nfact. There are a large body of Democrats. They are not represented.\nThat is the fault of the system of arriving at representation. While it\nis true that majorities must rule, that is not equal to saying that\nminorities shall have no voice. But the practice in Massachusetts does\nsay just that. I suspect if it were possible for all the real\ndifferences, politically, to be represented, that the Congressmen would\nstand something as follows: The Democrats would have, say, four out of\nthe eleven, the Republicans, say, three, while the remainder would be\ndivided between the Labor and Temperance Reformers and Woman\nSuffragists. Indeed, I am not certain if the door were to be opened that\nthere would be any straight Republicans left, since all reformers are,\nunder the present system, compelled to congregate together in this\nparty, so as not to entirely throw away their votes. The Democrats are\nalways Democrats. Like the hard-shell Baptists, you always know where to\nfind them.\n\nThey are always on hand to vote early, and often also, if opportunity\npermit. Admit minority representation, and the Republican party in\nMassachusetts would be abolished, except that part who carry the loaves\nand eat the fishes. They are as certain to be found \u201cright there\u201d as the\nDemocrats are. I think the Woman Suffragists cover about one-half the\nRepublican party. But a large body of them are Spiritualists and\nTemperance men, while as many more are Labor Reformers. But those who\nare more Labor Reformers than anything else, are perhaps two-sevenths;\nwho are more Woman Suffragists than anything else, are perhaps\ntwo-sevenths; who are more Spiritualists than anything else, perhaps\ntwo-sevenths; and who are more Temperance men than anything else,\none-seventh; therefore, if the delegation were elected by the\nrepresentation of minorities, it would stand four Democrats, two\nSpiritualists, two Labor Reformers, two Woman Suffragists, and one\nTemperance man. But all of these, however, would be again swallowed up\nwhenever a Human Rights party should be evolved, and that will be the\nparty of the near future, in whose all embracing arms the people, long\nsuffering and long waiting, will at last find repose, while the Goddess\nof Liberty, with her scales of equality, shall find no more of her\nsubjects to whom justice is not measured out. Then will partisan\npolitics have received its death warrant; then will the people become\none in heart, one in soul and one in common purpose\u2014the general good of\nthe general whole. The \u201cgreatest good of the greatest number\u201d will be\nsupplanted by: \u201cthe general welfare, is best maintained when individual\ninterests are best protected.\u201d The new government, then, must be the\nresult of minority representation, and all legislative bodies, and,\nwhere possible, all executive officers, be so elected, while the people\nshall retain the appointing as well as the veto power. Our lawmakers\nmust be made law proposers, who shall construct law to be submitted to\nthe people for their approval, in the same manner as our public\nconventions appoint committees to draft resolutions, which are afterward\nadopted or rejected by the convention itself. This will make every\nperson a legislator, having a direct interest in every law. The people\nwill then no longer elect representatives to make laws by which they\nmust be bound whether they approve or disapprove. The referendum is the\ndesired end. The referendum is what the people require, and it is what\nthe new Constitution must provide. So that in all future time the people\nthemselves will be their own lawmakers\u2014will be the government.\n\nThe people must appoint all their officers, heads of departments and\nbureaus at regular intervals, and all under assistants, during faithful\nperformance of duty. We want no Civil Service Commissions. Every person\nwho shall be eligible to office under the new government will be\ncompetent; and when once familiar with the duties, will not be removed\nto give room for the friend of some politician belonging to the party in\npower, since it would be the people in power at all times.\n\nAnother matter which must have attention is the sweeping away of that\n_jeu d\u2019esprit_, our courts of justice, by making all kinds of contracts\nstand upon the honor and capacity of the contracting parties. All\nindividual matters must be settled by the individuals themselves without\nappeal to the public. Our present system of enforced collection of debts\ncosts every year more than is realized, and besides maintains a vast\narmy of lawyers, constables and court officers in unproductive employ.\nAll this is wrong, entailing almost untold exactions upon the producing\ncommunity, who in the end are made to pay all these things.\n\nFurther, our system of oaths and bonds must be abolished. This swearing\npeople to tell the truth, and binding them to perform their duty,\npresupposes that they will lie and neglect their duty. People are always\nplaced upon the side of force and compulsion\u2014never upon that of personal\nrectitude and honor. The results are what might be expected. It plunges\nus into the very things we would avoid. There is a philosophy, too, in\nall these things; since in freedom only can purity exist. Anything that\nis not free is not pure. Anything that is accompanied by compulsion is\nno proof of individual honesty.\n\nThe new government must also take immediate steps for the abolition of\npauperism and beggary. It is an infamous reproach upon this country that\nthere are hundreds of thousands of people who subsist themselves upon\nindividual charity. I do not care whether this is from choice or\nnecessity. I say it is a burning shame, requiring immediate curative\nsteps. The indigent and helpless classes are just as much a part of our\nsocial body as the protected and the rich are, and they are entitled to\nits recognition. Society must no longer punish and compel suffering and\ndeath for its own wrongs. It must evolve such a social system as shall\nleave no single member of the common body to suffer. When one member of\nthe body suffers, the whole body sympathizes. So, also, when a member of\nthe social body suffers, does the whole body suffer. And yet we have\npretended philanthropists and Christians who have never grasped that\ntruth.\n\nOur civilization and our Christianity have been made too much a matter\nof faith in, and devotion to, the unknowable, divorced from all human\nrelations. We must first recognize and practice the brotherhood of man\nbefore we can be made to realize the Paternity of God, since \u201cif we love\nnot our brothers whom we have seen, how can we love God whom we have not\nseen?\u201d Our religious teaching has been too much of punishment, and too\nlittle of love; too much of faith, too little of works; too much of\nsectarianism, too little of humanitarianism; too much of hell-fire\narbitration, too little of inevitable law; and too much of\nself-righteousness, and too little of innate goodness.\n\nAnd here I cannot forbear to depart from the strict line of my subject\nto say a word regarding a doctrine, from the effects of which even this\ncountry is but slowly recovering\u2014that of eternal damnation! I say, that\na people who really believe in a God who could burn his own children in\na lake of literal fire and brimstone, \u201cwhere the worm dieth not and the\nfire is not quenched,\u201d and from which there is no present escape nor\nfuture hope, for a single unrepented misdeed, and still profess to\nhonor, love and worship a fiend so infernal as that would make Him,\ncannot be honest and conscientious, since they must mistake fear for\nlove, and confound sycophancy with worship. It was such a belief that\nkindled the fires by which the early martyrs perished, by which the\nQuakers of Massachusetts were burned and the witches hanged, and which\ninvented the terrible Inquisition, with its horrid racks and tortures.\nThese are the legitimate results of such a belief; and if the people of\nto-day really believed what they profess in their creeds, they would do\nprecisely the same things. And they would be justified, since it would\nbe merciful in them to subject a person to a few moments\u2019 torture, to\ninduce him or her to escape the eternal tortures of Hell, the horrors of\nwhich all the ingenuity men can command could not invent a torture\none-hundredth part as inhuman; and yet they say our Heavenly Father has\nprepared this for nineteen-twentieths of humanity.\n\nThank Heaven, however, the day has come when such libels upon the name\nof God are rapidly merging into the gray twilight, to soon sink in\nblank, unfathomable oblivion. Thank Heaven, for its own approach\nearthward, to strike off the chains of superstition from humanity, and\nfor the first faint glimmering of light shed upon us by its angels\u2019\nfaces, proving to us that humanity, whether of earth or heaven, is:\n\n            \u201cOne life for those who live and those who die\u2014\n            For those whom sight knows and whom memory.\u201d\n\nThe Jews would not accept Christ since he came not with temporal power.\nBut Christ will come in the power of the spirit, and shall baptise all\nhumanity. Already His messengers begin to herald the \u201cglad tidings of\ngreat joy which shall be unto all people.\u201d Already the music of the\napproaching harmonies are heard from the hill-tops of spirituality\nsinging the approaching millennium. Already its divine notes have\npierced some of the dark places of earth, making glad the hearts of\ntheir oppressed children, shedding light and truth and joy into their\nsouls. The prophecies of all ages converge upon this, and for their\nfulfillment, Christ, with all his holy angels, will come to judge the\nworld, and to erect upon it that government already inaugurated in\nHeaven and long promised Earth, for\n\n           \u201cDecrees are sealed in Heaven\u2019s own chancery,\n           Proclaiming universal liberty.\n           Rulers and kings who will not hear the call,\n           In one dread hour shall thunder-stricken fall.\n\n           \u201cSo moves the growing world with march sublime,\n           Setting new music to the beats of time.\n           Old things decay, and new things ceaseless spring,\n           And God\u2019s own face is seen in everything.\u201d\n\nTherefore it is that there shall soon come a time in which the people\nwill ask for universal liberty, universal equality, and universal\njustice. Heretofore all branches of reform have been separated each from\nthe other\u2014have been diffusive, working in single and straight lines from\na principle outward, utterly regardless of all other movements. Reform\nhas never yet been constructive, but destructive to existing things.\nNevertheless, all reform originates primarily from a common cause\u2014the\neffort of humanity to attain to the full exercise of human right, only\nattainable through the possession of freedom, equality and justice. Any\nreform which does not embrace these three principles must necessarily be\ndiffusive, instructive or educational. Each different branch is the\nsquaring of a separate stone, all of which must be brought together and\nadjusted before even the corner-stone of the perfect and permanent\nstructure can be laid. Republicanism even was not integral in its\npropositions. It looked simply to personal freedom. Neither equality in\nits high, or justice in its broad, sense was a portion of its creed.\nHence republicanism as represented by the party in power has done its\nwork, and those who prefer to stick to it rather than to come out and\nrally around a platform perfect in humanitarian principles, will thus\nshow themselves to be more republican than humanitarian.\n\nAs a nation we are nearing our first centennial birthday. A hundred\nyears have come and gone since political freedom was evolved from the\nwomb of civilization. Great as its mission was, great as its results\nhave been, shall the car of progress stop there? Is there nothing more\nfor humanity to accomplish? I tell you there are still mightier and more\nglorious things to come than human tongue hath spoken or heart\nconceived. Little did our noble sires imagine what a century would do\nwith what they set in motion. From three to forty millions is a grand, I\nmay almost say a terrible, stride. But with this step we cannot stop. We\nmust open new channels for the expansion of the human soul.\n\nUp to this time we have expanded almost wholly in a material and\nintellectual sense. There is a grander expansion than either of these.\nWealth and knowledge have brought us power, but we lack wisdom. To\nmaterial prosperity and intellectual acquirements there must be added\nmoral purity, and then we shall get wisdom. Everybody appears to live as\nthough this life were all there is of life, and that to get from it the\nmost physical enjoyment were the grand thing to be attained. Wealth has\nbeen made almost the sole aim of living, whereas it should only be\nregarded as the means to a better end; as the means by which to\naccumulate an immense capital with which to begin life in the next and\nhigher stage of existence; and he or she lives best on earth who does\nthe most for humanity.\n\nIn this view, what are professing Christians\u2014the churches\u2014doing for the\ngeneral good to-day? What good can come from preaching without practice,\nsince, though people may be able to say, \u201cAll of these have I kept from\nmy youth up,\u201d Christ, when he shall come, will reply to them: \u201cGo sell\nall thou hath and give to the poor, and come and follow me.\u201d What\nclergyman in this city dare stand in his pulpit Sunday after Sunday and\ninsist upon such practice? or what one dare to insist that his church\nshould have all things in common? or what one dare to eat with publicans\nand sinners, or say to the woman, \u201cNeither do I condemn thee.\u201d Or which\none of the people dare go to her poor, enslaved and suffering sisters\nand take them to her heart and home? or be the good Samaritan? I tell\nyou, my friends, beware lest those whom you scorn to know be before you\nwith Christ, who knows the heart. It is not what you pretend that shall\nmake you Christian, but what you do, and if you do right, though the\nworld curse you, yet shall you lay up treasures in Heaven thereby.\nTherefore, I say that the Christianity of to-day is a failure. It is not\nthe following of Christ, nor the practice of his precepts. True religion\nwill not shut itself up in any church away from humanity; it will not\nstand idly by and see the people suffer from any misery whatever. It is\nits sphere to cure all ills, whether moral, social or political. There\nare no distinctions in humanity. Everything to be truly good and grand,\nwhether it be in politics, society or religion, must be truly moral, and\nto be truly moral is to live the Golden Rule.\n\nTherefore, it is foolish for the Christian to say, \u201cI have nothing to do\nwith politics, as a Christian.\u201d It is the bounden duty of every\nChristian to support that political party which bases itself upon Human\nRights; and if there is no such party existing, then to go about to\nconstruct one. It is too late in the century for a Justice of the\nSupreme Court of the United States to be a political thief and trickster\nas a politician, while he issues a call asking that the people inject\nGod into the Constitution. Such consummate hypocrisy is an outrage upon\nthe intelligence of the nineteenth century; and it will meet its just\nreward.\n\nIf they would take the precepts of Christ and build a new Constitution\nupon them, nobody would object; but to be asked to recognize a God whom\nthese people have themselves fashioned and set up, who hath not even\nhuman sense of justice, is quite a different thing, and one to which\nthis people will not submit. I could point out to you why this attempt\nis made just at this time, but I rather prefer to point out how this and\nall other attempts to put fetters upon the people must be avoided, and\nhow to break the fetters by which they are already galled.\n\nPermit me to ask what practical good arises from the people\u2019s coming\ntogether and merely passing a set of resolutions. You may pass\nresolutions with whereases and therefores a mile long, and what will be\nthe result unless they are made practical use of. What would you say to\na person who should come before you with a resolution setting forth that\nwhereas, thus and thus, are so and so, therefore some new invention\nought to be made to meet the conditions. Why you would at once say to\nhim, \u201cGive us the invention; then we shall be able to judge whether your\ntherefore bears any relation to your whereas.\u201d Now precisely in that way\nshould you judge of resolutions for political reform. We have had\nresolutions long enough. We now need a working model which will secure\nfreedom, equality and justice to the smallest of our brothers and\nsisters. Anything less than this is no longer worthy to be considered\npolitical reform; and that is not only political reform, but it is also\nthe best application possible of the precepts of Jesus Christ, and\ntherefore the best Christianity, the best religion, since to its creed\nevery human being who is not supremely selfish can subscribe.\n\nIn conclusion, therefore, let me urge every soul who desires to be truly\nChristian to no longer separate Christianity from politics, but to make\nit the base upon which to build the future political structure. Instead\nof an amendment to the Constitution, which these hypocrites desire,\nrecognizing a God who is simply the Father of themselves, and a Christ\nof whom they are the self-appointed representatives, give us a new\nConstitution, recognizing the human rights of the people to govern\nthemselves, of which they cannot be robbed under any pretext whatever,\nand my word for it, humanity will not be slow to render due homage to\ntheir God. Let that Constitution give a place to every branch of reform,\nwhile it shall not so much as militate against the rights of a single\nindividual in the whole world\u2014and we are large enough to begin to say\nthe whole world\u2014and to think of and prepare the way for the time when\nall nations, kindred and tongues shall be united in a universal\ngovernment, and the Constitution of the United States of the World be\nthe\n\n\n                              SUPREME LAW.\n\nAround this as a New Departure let all reformers rally, and, with a\ngrand impulse and a generous enthusiasm, join in a common effort for the\ngreat political revolution, after the accomplishment of which the\nnations shall have cause to learn war no more.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n                          TRANSCRIBER\u2019S NOTES\n\n\n 1. P. 4, corrected \u201cGod loves from whole to part. But human soul must\n      from individual to the whole.\u201d to \u201cGod loves from whole to parts:\n      but human soul Must rise from individual to the whole.\u201d This is to\n      match the original quote by Alexander Pope.\n 2. P. 20, changed \u201cought that looks like justice\u201d to \u201caught that looks\n      like justice\u201d.\n 3. Silently corrected typographical errors and variations in spelling.\n 4. Archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings retained as printed.\n 5. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.","title":"Freedom! Equality!! Justice!!! These Three; but the Greatest of These Is Justice: A Speech on the Impending Revolution, Delivered in Music Hall, Boston, Thursday, Feb. 1, 1872, and the Academy of Music, New York, Feb. 20, 1872","tradition":"philosophy-ethics","translated_text":null,"word_count":14872}