Vermont telegraph. [volume] (Brandon [Vt.]) 1828-1843, 1843-09-06
UNIVERSAL INQUIRY AND REFORM.
From the Herald of Freedom.
OAKLAND, Ohio. july 18th, 1913.

OAKLAND, Ohio, July 4th, l843.
Dear Brother Rogers: = have ailud-
ed TO the execrable scheme for plumber,
devised by McDonoughof Louisiana, and
TO the inconsistencies of aboltionis,s, who
denounce him for thus selling what be
calls liberty to portion of his fellows,
whilst they assent TO, uphold, and practice
the wickedness of selling to the only right
ful owners the liUes of three millions more
of the Negro. Americans, and hundreds of
millions besides of the family of man, up
on precisely the same conditions, exceptas
to the period of servitude = namely, ex-
cessive toll, upon bare subsistence, with
neither mental nor moral culture, and the
surplus produce Of their labors enjoyed BY
others. The difference between the abo-
litionists with all those who monopolize
land and the products of labor, and Me d.
nough, is thay that while he generously
permits them to be happy in Liberia,across
the Atlantic, at the end Of sixteen years OF
voluntary" task work, our friends and
their associates hold on to their uietims for
three score gears and ten if human nature
shall unfortunately be able to sustain the
wear and tear so long! The comparison
lis legitimate still further. The slaves to
the wages system are perseveringly In
structed TO believe that their suffering and
degraded condition is in the ordering OF
i Providence and cannot be better-that the
/ Bible sanctions the system of monopoliz-
ing property, or at least says nothing
against it-that whatever Of suffering or
wrong has been perceived, originates not
in the use, but the abuse of the system
They are taught, too, perpetually, to SOL
ace themselves with the prospect of a
glorious Liberia beyond the grave if they
shall only serve their masters humbly
while here, and profess to believe in a mvs-
teal faith which their teachers have man
ufactured to serve the purpose Of transport
to convey them to the promised landl
| have not time or room to offer facts to
prove the tremendous amount of over
work performed by the laboring classes
eA11ed free. in the purchase of the lives o!
themselves and families-nor is it neces.
saryI should. All abolitionists are suffi-
lcientIy apprlzed of the facts = what they
need is not knowledge, but honesty a
willingness to love their neighbor as them
selves. will allude however to their
{ own testimony in regard to the matter
1 When solicited to abstain fiom the use O
slave-grown products, how many have ex
cused themselves by the plea, that they
perceive so much of oppression in the pro
duetion of what are called free labor goods
they see no propriety in making an ex
ception in their favor. -
o | have alluded also to the wickednes
; Of substituting the wages system for thu
of coerced labor. This may easily b
misunderstood. An intelligent compa:
son of the workings of those two mode
OF Obtaining labor without affording a
equivalent, might not even,uate in SHOW
y ing the last named to be the most iniqu
y tous. or most calamitous in its result
r But no such comparison was intended.
Id is not needed. Those to whom write I
Re not adopt that code of ethics which teac
he es we are bound to choose the leas, of "
ut evils. They are for eschewing evil alt
e gelher. have merely aimed to star.
Of into investigation those for whom it
It written, by the language that / have Ell
IN pIoyed,
e. Access to the soil Of the earth is as ne
" essary to sustain the life OF man, as is t
Isl air he breathes, consequentlyby right, t
70 soil is as little the subject of monopoly
the atmosphere or ocean. If man NJ
10 justly claim exclusive interest in one D,
ton of the soil, he may rightInlly cIai
the whole, to the exclusion of all othe
If hc can but arrive at the right to so mu
De through the operation of the same prn
or pie which has given him right to a pa
OF course. under such circumstances,
40 the remainder of the race can continue
or exist only through his suferance. Fl
oe Iis the natural termination Of the SYST,
ny which is now in operation. Al this o
elf ment large proportion of mankind /,