12 Hbe Conservative *
HUMANITY VS. TIIK INDIVIDUAL.
In another contribution it was stated
that contrary to the general opinion that
which was S3omingly in the interests of
the individual is not always in those of
humanity. By interests of the indi
vidual is meant those things which go to
support individual life which are not the
result of personal endeavor. By human
ity is meant that continuity of individ
uals , known as the race , state or nation ,
and not humanity of today in any given
time. First as to
Public ItiMicfli'oncrs.
Why should any one give anything to
the public , to which he owes nothing ,
save for reasons elsewhere stated ? The
public is composed of individuals for
whom it is impossible for any sane man
to have a personal liking , except for
very few. The number of friends in
good seasons and bad seasons , which one
makes in a lifetime , can easily be
counted on one hand. The every-day
acquaintanceship of good-fellowship are
fair-weather birds. Even for them no
man would or does do in life what men
often do on their death for that in
definite object humanity. If evil com
munications corrupt good manners ,
certainly wrong thinking is corruptive
of sterling morality. Private benefi
cence is fast corrupting the public
morals. If our best acquaintances , not
to speak of our few friends , have no
right to expect anything of us , why has
the public a right to expect so much ?
That it does expect it , that it is being
educated to expect it by press and pul
pit , is to be seen by the demands it is
making and the almost universal con
demnation of the rich man who provides
for his family and does not rob them
for the benefit of this public highwaj'-
man who is seeking to rob his heirs by
succession and inheritance taxes of
every name and description. Again it
is defiantly asserted that
The Individual O\V > H Nothing to the
r ii bile.
It is universally admitted and gener
ally lived up to outside the admissions
of the laws of inheritance , that no man
has a right to anything he does not
voice by his own abilities. Even the
most rabid socialists with some abso
lutely insane exceptions insist upon
this in relation to themselves. That is
"natural law" and human law dare not
attempt to nullify it except at the peril
of the nullifies. That being so , the
public being simply a social organization
of individuals , how can it be asserted
that that which is true of every indi
vidual is not equally BO of every accumu
lation of individuals ? Why should the
public claim rights which every indi
vidual denies to every other individual ,
personally , of the same community ? In
point of fact the public has become
An Omnivorous letid-bcut
and is fast becoming a highwayman ,
using the bludgeon of the law and the
sand-bag of superstition to rob widows
and orphans , the care of whom , in their
affliction , has been said to be the purest
outcome of religion by accepted
authority.
[ Public liciinllccnco a Public ( Menace ,
As the practical object to which public
beneficence has been largely applied is
the maintenance of the unfit , and the
unfit are those who cannot maintain
themselves in the struggle for existence ,
it should be self-evident that such main
tenance is contrary to nature and is
surely resulting to the injury of the race.
Rigidly understood there is 110 doubt
that every public benefactor is either a
menace to or an enemy of the race. If
it is a generally accepted rule that "the
laborer is worthy of his hire , " why
should the public , which does nothing ,
have so much for nothing ? If the public
were truly and manly honest it would
put an end to all public beneficence by
making it impossible by law.
Superstition Supported and Ignorance
Upheld.
If , as must be admitted , the large
majority of public beneficences are made
on so-called religious grounds , to the
untrammelled , non-traditional mind it
is self-evident that no matter how much
they may contribute to the maintenance
of the unfit , deed * made on the
basis of superstition must contribute to
continuance of ignorance , the greatest
menace to the prosperity of the race.
The man who gives money to an eccle
siastical institution , or one under
ecclesiastical management , is an enemy
of his race. The reasons for the gift
sanctify the benefactor , not its effects
on the recipient.
All Altruism is a Racial Menace.
Let us illustrate this by a striking and
to many a shocking example. As every
consumptive is more or less a menace to
the race , as the chief cause of consump
tion is hereditary transmission , as no
cure , no matter how apparently perfect ,
can remove the constitutional weakness
and render a person fit to be a father or
mother , it must be evident that every
method looking to the preservation of
consumptives must be antagonistic to
the welfare of the race If living for
humanity is everything , here is a hard
nut to crack for its advocates. The
same is true of all institutions for the
care of imbeciles and criminals. What
ever the individual may benefit thereby
it is evident that it is at the cost of and
welfare of the race. Whatever individ
uals may benefit by free education , due
to public beneficence , it is safe to say
that , as members of the public , they
have no right to such benefits unless
"that which is worth having is worth
paying for" is a fallacy , except when
applied to individuals. The public
should look out for itself in the eame
manner it requires of individuals.
There is no doing for others except that
which is done without even the pleasure
of self-satisfaction. The major part , if
not all of this public beneficence and
altruism , is the grossest selfishness. A
person recently died leaving a fortune
to public institutions and his wife and
children in comparative poverty and yet
the press and pulpit praised his "great
charity" and said not a word of those
almost thrown on the public thereby.
Another did the same thing , receiving
unlimited praise , and yet that person
gave to the public an ancestral home
that had come down in the family since
1680 and left nephews and nieces to
struggle with poverty ; some of them
half-starving ministers of the gospel.
Every dollar this person had was in
herited. The public naturally praises
its benefactors. The press speeds the
nobility of character of persons who in
life were nothing but despicable misers
or false-hearted hypocrites. The public
cares not an iota how the money was
got. It is "good money" then. The
donor is Fainted whether the' money
represents the life-blood of the poor , the
spoils of the gambling-hell , saloon. The
donor at once arises to nobility and the
church blesses the memory of the
money-shark whose hands were buried
elbow deep in the misfortunes of
humanity. What the public sorely
needs is a self-respecting , self-support
ing manliness. What the millionaire
sorely needs is educating out of super
stition into manly courage and a self-
respecting manhood instead of cowardly
vanity and a due regard for family and
friends instead of purse-proud vanity.
What is needed , when millionaires have
more than is requisite for their family
and needy friends , is intelligent giving
of a sufficiency for the purpose to per
sonally selected young men and women ,
and annuities for life to worthy widows
and orphans , left so by no fault of their
own , and who cannot possibly maintain
themselves. If the life insurance com
panies would work intelligently in this
direction they would be as much benefit
to humanity as they now are to indi
viduals. "If I could save the world by
pulling out of a hair I would not lift my
finger unless the world paid for the
hair. " That is justice.
FRANK S. BILLINGS.
The state of NO-
EDUCATION IN . . . , !
NEHKASKA.toaska is expend
ing large suras of
money for educational purposes.
How much has been expended each
year , since 1875 , upon the agricultural
farm and the agricultural experiment
station ?
How many practical farmers are there
in Nebraska who have been certificated
by the agricultural college ?
How many persons have graduated at
the state university and where are they
and what are they doing ?
Will some university publication or
the State Journal kindly answer these
interrogatories ? Statistics of educa
tional development in Nebraska can bo
made very useful if properly classified.
