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12 Conservative.
INGERSOLT , ON UNFITS.
"For thousands of years men and
women have boon trying to reform the
world. Why have the reformers failed ?
I will tell them why.
"Ignorance , poverty and vice are pop
ulating the world. The gutter is a nur
sery. People unable even to support
themselves fill the tenements , the huts
and hovels with children. They de
pend on the Lord , on luck and charity.
They are not intelligent enough to think
about consequences , or to feel responsi
bility. At the same time they do not
want children , because a child is a
curse a curse to them and to itself.
The babe is not welcome , because it is a
l
burden.
"These unwelcome children fill the
Vlk jails and prisons , the asylums and hos
pitals , and they crowd the scaffolds. A
few are rescued by chance or charity ,
but the great majority are failures.
They become vicious , ferocious. They
live by fraud and violence , and bequeath
their vices to their children. '
Against this imiudation of vice the
forces of reform are helpless , and char
ity itself becomes an unconscious promoter
meter of crime.
"Nature produces without purpose ,
sustains without intention , and destroys
without thought. Man has a little in
telligence , and he should use it. Intel
ligence is the only lever capable of rais
ing mankind. The real question is , can
we prevent the ignorant , the poor , the
vicious from filling the world with their
children ? Can we prevent this Mis
souri of ignorance and vice from empty
ing into the Mississippi of civilization ?
State Control of Reproduction.
"Must the world forever remain the
victim of ignorant passion ? Can the
world be civilized to that degree that
consequences will be taken into consid
eration by all ?
"Passion is , and always has been , deaf.
These weapons of reform are substan
tially useless. Criminals , tramps and
beggars and failures are increasing
every day. The prisons , jails , poorhouses -
houses and asylums ore crowded. Relig
ion is helpless. Law can punish , but it
can neither reform criminals nor pre
vent crime. The tide of vice is rising.
The war that is now being waged
against the forces of evil is as hopeless
as the battle of the fireflies against the
darkness of night.
"There is but one hope. Ignorance ,
poverty and vice must stop populating
the world. This cannot bo done by
moral suasion. This cannot be done by
talk or example. This cannot be done
by religion or by law by priest or
by hangman. This cannot bo done by
force , physical or moral.
' 'To accomplish this there is but one
way : Emancipate the women.
"Science must make woman the
owner , the mistress of herself. Science ,
the only possible saviour of mankind ,
must put it in the power of woman to
decide for herself whether she will or
will not become a mother.
"This is the solution of the whole
question. This frees woman. The
babes that are then born will be wel
come. They will be clasped by glad
hands to happy breasts. They will fill
homes with light and joy.
"I look forward to the time when
men and women by reason of their
knowledge of consequences , of the mor
ality born of intelligence , will refuse to
perpetuate disease and pain will re
fuse to fill the world with failures.
When that time conies , the prison walls
will fall , the dungeons will bo flooded
with light and the shadow of the scaf
fold will cease to curse the earth.
Poverty and crime will be childless.
The withered hands of want will not
bo stretched for alms. They will bo
dust. The whole world will be intelli
gent , virtuous and free. "
SAVING TREES.
Club of San Fran-
cisco , which is in the habit of going off
into the redwoods once a year to cele
brate a jinks , has done a good thing in
buying up a tract of beautiful forest
laud. It has agreed to pay $27,500 for
the property. Thus it is made certain
that at least one fragment of redwood
forest in California will be saved from
the lumberman's ax. Oakland ( Calif. )
Enquirer.
"At this rate the insurrection will
drag along through the summer and
autumn of 1900 , " warns the Chicago
Tribune ( Rep. ) , "and will soon begin to
cut a figure in national politics as well
as in international comment. "
It is the belief of the New Orleans
Picayune ( Dem. ) that "many thousands
who oppose the republican party because
of its expansion policy , and thousands
more who would oppose its protective
policy , will nevertheless vote the repub
lican ticket if the national democratic
convention in 1900 again adopts the
silver plank upon which the party stood
in 1890. "
"The information no wand then comes
through authentic channels that certain
common pleas judges of the state are
actively interesting themselves in behalf
of the Quay machine in the election of
delegates to the republican state conven
tion , " says the Philadelphia Press
( Rep. ) . "It would not be difficult to
name some of these judges and to give
the corrupt reasons why they are mess
ing in factional politics. JTlio people
have no security whatever when the
courts have been debauched and dis
honored by machine bribery. There is
too mush of that sort of thing in Penn
sylvania at this time. "
"T1IE WAR MAY LAST ANOTHER
YEAR. "
Exactly what the original plan of the
expedition to Laguua do Bay was I am
unable to say , but I have reason to be
lieve that it was bound first for Santa
Cruz , then along the lake west to Cal-
amba , and finally it was intended clos
ing in from the south to catch the in
surgent general Pie del Filar in Para-
uaque. As a matter of fact , a division
general , at the head of fifteen hundred
men , or about half a brigade , was sent
out to capture Santa Cruz , and then
ordered to desert the place and return
to Manila. Incidentally the general
captured five launches which were in
the hands of the insurgents. After
three days' work , the general managed
to get these launches over the obstruc
tions and bar at the head of the Santa
Cruz river. Aside from the capture of
these launches , which were practically
valueless to the insurgents , the expedi
tion accomplished nothing except the
killing of a few insurgent soldiers.
Santa Cruz is one of the richest towns
of the interior of Luzon. Its situation
is such that it would make an excellent
base of supplies for expeditious to the
southern provinces. To have occupied
this town and garrisoned it would have
been an excellent strategical move. To
take the place and then withdraw is in
the nature of a piratical raid. General
Lawtou expressed his great regret , at
the end of this expedition , that he could
not leave a garrison at Santa Cruz.
Why he was ordered to withdraw with
out completing the intended movement
seems inexplicable. It is generally sup
posed , however , that General Otis
thought it best to concentrate all his
available forces for an immediate move
against the strong position of the enemy
north of Malolos.
General Lawton , in an interview after
the Santa Cruz expedition , said that if
the insurgents continued to fight , it
would take one hundred thousand
American forces to pacify the islands.
By this ho meant that it would be no-
cepflary to leave a garrison in every
town we occupied. The fact is that
there are not enough soldiers hero to
enable General Otis to carry on the war
with that effective rapidity which is the
only humane way to make war. He
cannot at present spare a single man for
garrison duty in Santa Cruz or any
other town wo take. With the line
around the city to hold and the railway
line to protect , ho has only enough
forces loft to continue moving against
the insurgent army on the north. It
looks as if the war may last for another
yonr. Manila correspondence Harper's
Weoldy.
Doogan "Casey fill in yesterday an'
was near clrownded ut wuz up to his
ankles. " Regan "Up to his ankles and
near drownded 1" Doogau "Faith , he
wint in head furst. " Brooklyn Life.