Southport telegraph. [volume] (Southport, W.T. [i.e. Kenosha, Wis.]) 1840-1850, 1849-05-25
Reforms.

coSniiion o. man Natural right 10 the earth, must
be very partial and unsatisfactory in their results
Sell-pTeservation is the first and strongest law of
our nature EVERY thing, as all know, will be
sacrificed to guard and prolong lie. Such being
the fact, whilst any system prevails which allows
one man or a few men. to monopolize the elements
OF the lives of Others those others cannot pursue
the end of their being there can be no satisfactory
intellectual or moral advancement, nor can there
be any certain progress in the elevation of the
SEES
Happiness is the end which all pursue No walk
of life is tred with any other motive; it may be
said to be the aim of life, and if such is the fact
should like some philosopher TO tell us how the
end is ever to be attained, when man is DEEPEN
dant on the will Of another for access to the ele-
ments of life We may be answered by the
tor, that 1t was never the design of the creator
that it should be attained and therefor the present
order OF things which denies it, is the natural order.
Nature never planted these aspirations in the hu
man breas: to cheat mankind. There is lie in
nature; she does not hold out promises which she
Cdllliol lUilh tIeSt
the struggles of mankind, are the outgoings of
truthful instincts mpellng the intellect 10 search
for the true relations TO natures laws whereby
comparative happiness may be obtained. We then
urge the recognition of mans natural right TO the
soil, as the first and most important, indeed the
step absolutely necessary to be taken TO enter up
on the threshold of this relation; and contend that
all efforts at reform which fall short of this although
not entirely fruitless are yet scarcely worth the
labor they cost.
What are the teachings Of morality to houseless
homeless and starving men and women. How arc
the passions Of envy, pride, hate, revenge, avarce,
and all others which disturb the earth 20 be allay-
ed, when the starving and suffering millions look
round them and find that for fault OF theirs they
are compelled TO a life of wretchedness and DEEPEN
dance They know there is enough for ALL for they
see the pampered SON of nobility who never earned
dollar in his life driving silver nails into the cof-
fin of his dog, whilst they, who have sweat out
their LIES blood in toll have nothing but dunghi,l
for the murdered of their own loins. They know
well that the earth yields an abundance for they
have shaved Tor the monopolizer OF the soil and
packed away the fruitful harvest, in his well pro-
tected granary. They know this, and they know
that 1t is by some system of fraud they are COM
PEELED to starye the green earth, which yields
enough for all and TO spare. What is the use then
if the masses so situated had even time to listen to
moral teachings,to expect good fruits from them in
opposition TO the overpowering influence Of the
false and nfdcI relations in which they are placed
We contend that the first step in reform is. not
to feed and clothe the masses but to put them into
a position to do it themselves. The moral and
intellectual nature can only be developed through
the physical, and when you can gather roses from
thstlrs, you may look for moral fruits from the
starved and ragged millions. On this earth the
physical man cannot be neglected; it will demand
and have our first attention, and if its necessaries
can be obtained only by selling all our energies to
others then others must have these energies for the
necessaries must be had.
Has man a natural right to the earth Has the
fruit natural right to the limb which gives it
birth? 1t depends on what you wish to accomplish
Ii You wish the fruit should be stunled and wither-
ed in its BIRTH and be bitter and useless thing, you
will pluck it from the parent branch. II yen wish
man To be an lily Gcvclopel being cursed from his
birth, you will pluck him from his parent earth
and shut out its nourishment by the barren parch-
ment of the land monopoizer; but if you wish a
development OF his powers the growth and expan-
sion of his moral and intellectual nature, you will
do with the fruit, leave him 10 cling for suste>
nance TO the earth which gave him birth and being.
denial of mans natural right to the earth can
spring only from very false notions with regard to
the principles through which he has his being. Man
is the fruit of the earth The fruit Of the tree is
not more the creature of the forces therein existing
than is man the creature of the forces of the earth
He is the cfIsf4ing of principles which belonged to
earth when II was first hurled from the hand of its
creator lie is, as SAID, the fruit of the earth,
the highest development yet attained of the princ-
pies existing in its bosom, and each and every one
thus ushered TO light has natural right of access
to such portion Of the earth as may be necessary to
his subsistence.
We say again, as long as man is deprived of his
natural right to the earth violently severed from
the source from whence alone his subsistence is de-
rived, all efforts for his benefit must be partial and
unsatisfactory; and hence those phianihropists and
reormers who have really at heart the benefit of
their fellows, must commence the worE of reform
at the point we have indicated.