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About The Hesperian / (Lincoln, Neb.) 1885-1899 | View Entire Issue (May 15, 1892)
THE HESPERIAN. 3 Let the mind ol a people be enslaved by ignorance and superstition, by selfish interest and desire, and Thor and Jupiter, the divine right ol kings, the inquisition, human slavery and the Czar of Russia arc possible. When once the mind is free nothing can withstand it; before it temples and sceptres, arbitrarily enslaving man, false creeds and dogmas fettering him are powerless. This spirit, progressive and invin cible, forced magna chartu and cr alod the house of commons. It guided the course of the Mayflower. It stimulated hoar's with heroic fortitude to endure those terrible winters at Ply mouth Rock and Valley Forge. It inspired the splendid charges of the national army in '64 and '65, and amid the awful carnage of war, the principle of freedom stood sublime. Aye, name it what you will, there is a marvelous power which exists co-ordinate with human life, a silent force which year by year is bringing the race nearer the goal of freedom, a spirit, before which monarchial tryanny, class privilege and blinded bigotry, must flee befarc the avenging angel of Almighty God. Freedom must be realized by man in society in relation to his fellowmen. In the very constitution of society there arc present two forct-s the one and the many, the individual and the state. Human nature forms the basis of society. Were human nature perfect, did each man recognize the rights of his lellowman, individual action would need no restraint. Hut, hemmed in by selfish interests, shackled by ignorance, each member "of society seeks his own advance ment regardless or the welfare of his fellows. Hence the necessity for government. Hence legislatures, prisons, and standing aimies. Hence that conflict in society which will continue so long as human beings arc actuated by motives of avarice and hate. Present in evtry period of history, determining theories of government, directing social and political movements, bal ancing and counter balancing each otlier are these two con flicting elements the individual and the state. The spirit 01 individual libei ly forces its way resistlessly onward until stayed by the power of the state. The state, becoming arro Rant and arbitiary is forced to give way before the the demands of the individual for justice and equality. The unlimited assertion of either principle has invariably been fol lowed by national disaster. Excess of individual privilege, lack of power in the state destroyed the Grecian republics. Not at the heart of Civsar was the dagger of Prutus aimed, but at the principle of absolute power in the state. In the feudal system with its pelty lords and barons, and in the absolute monarchy of Louis XIV, these opposing principles again found realization. From absolute despotism, the pen dulum swung back to the absolute anarchy of the French revolution to the reign of Terror, to the sovereignty of the Guillotine, to the domination of Danton, Marat and Robes pierre. Napoleon Honaparte cannonading the mob from the steps of St. Roche, announced the return of law, the restora tion of the state. In American political history these same forces have been at work. Setting forth diverging policies of government, they gave rise to the principles of national supremacy and state sovereignty. Hamilton, Webster, and finally the entire north on one side, Jefferson, Calhoun, and the south on the other. Not only to the distribution of political power, but also to the control of industry does the conflict between these pri mary social forces extend. The tendency toward the concen tration of capital in the hands ol the few, .struggles perpet ually with the tendency for its diffusion among the many. Man seeks to actualize his potential freedom. To accom, plish this purpose, industrial organization forms the great means; men combine with men, corporations are formed, factories arc set in motion, labor divided. Note the change this system has effected during the nineteenth century. Com mercial and industrial development has been accomplished as if by magic. Resulting from this feverish growth, there has come the exaggeration of property power in the individ ual. Contracts have been made, regardless of their effect upon the general welfare, corporations with unlimited power have been formed, illegal trusts and combines violating the sanctity of contract have organized, entire industries have been monopolized, private enterprise destroyed, rates estab lished, money have been extorted for the necessities of life, the masses have been robbed, and the spoiler goes unques tioned. Landlords, otl kings, and railroad princes, Wall .street, board of trade, and stock exchange are the marks of modern industrial tyranny. Reform is the demand of the hour. From mine and forge, from mill and factory, thousands of dissatisfied men and woman, poorly clad, and illiterate children clamor for and demand reform. Put how is reform to come? In the midst of a conflict whose i:sues arc human liberty, human happiness, human life itself, in which the existence of gov ernment, the preservation of social order, the continuance of civilization is at stake, from what source are relief and peace to come? Reaction against individual power over property has given rise to the current theories that government control of industry is the souicc from which industrial freedom is to come. From exaggeration of the power of the individual, modern reformers go to the exaggeration of the power of the state. Theorists and abstract philosophers, disregarding human nature, ignorant of the constitution ol society, forget ful of the province of government, have incited otherwise contented laborers until now they are wild with fancied wrongs. Meeting in organized forms all over the country these laborers are violating the same law of individual lib erty, trampling upon the same right of private ownership and sanctity of contract, as are the corporations against which the vials of their wrath are poured. They propose that govern ment shall create by its own will, without regard to inher ent worth or natural value, an unlimited supply of money based wholly upon credit. They would sweep away the national banking system, establish government warehouses, government subtieasurees, and devise a scheme by which the government itself is to lend money to individuals. They would place the lailroad and the telegraph in the hands of the government, beside and equal 'ie coinage ol money and the levying of taxes. They wouu ght the wrongs of labor by acts of government, remove inequalities in wealth and condition by the mandate of the state and abolish the laws of nature and the decrees of an omnipotent power by legislative enactment. The policy of these modern reformers, carried to its log ical effects, would sweep away all motive to act or work, all human ambition, all human progress. With all power vested in government, without competition, institutions become stationary, thought becomes fixed. It is by individual effort stimulated by the hope of success, that every step forward in civilization has been taken. It invented the steam engine and the printing press. It braved the dangers of an untried sea and opened to mankind a new continent. It wielded the av of the backwoodsman and kindled the camp-fires of the early settlers on the frontier. It has girded continents with steel and encircled the globe with lightning. It is the moving spirit ol American prosperity, the vital spirit of American freedom, the essence of modern civilization. Vain all attempts to undermine the very existence of government by interfering with the fiee activity of its members. Vain all EESjCThI KfZsS