The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1881-04-21
Of the entire reins of the govern
ment and as there would be plenty

of business, for a number of years,
to lsgislate and reform this country,
to redeem the people from the thous-
and and one evils under which they
suffer, their minds would be kept
constantly busy in self.thinking,
something absolutely necessary, not
only to protect life and liberty, but
truth, justice and intelligence. For
1t Is not the will IF nature that a
certain class and few shall govern |;
neither Is it the law of nature that a
few shall live from the fat Of the
land, or possess all the land and wealth
Of the country and the masses moth.
ing. 1t is also against the laws of
nature to compel one person or GER
tain number to create and frame laws
by which all shall be governed. The
right, nay, the duty, to govern, be-
longs to all (; and it is an inexcusable
crime and the greatest sin on earth
not to perform this solemn duty which
nature demands Of us. To neglect or
refuse to govern ourselves and our
fellow-beings, Is murder and mental
suicide. cannot think of meaner
man, as an Outcast of the human
family, unworthy to exist and live
among human beings, unworthy to be
called the highest work Of nature and
an image Of his Creator, as he, who
does not want to think for himself
what his duties are towards his fel.
low man and rejoice in performing
them. Such man steps down and out
at once from the human society and
puts himself on level with a beast.
Let the people nderstand-and / in
clude the women, too, when l say
people" that they are not only re.
spOnsible for deeds done and per-
formed by them personally, but even
for those deeds done by others in
many respects. The land suffers, the
nation suffers, in many instances,
when one or a number of the inhabit-
ants commit wrong and sinful act,
no matter whether the people see and
feel it the moment the act is done or
not. For instance, when slave y was
first instituted in this country, the
people then probably had no idea that
| it would cost the lives Of half mil
lion of souls, and nearly three billion
of dollars, besides the destructiOn.'of
an enormous amount Of property
through four years war. and, be-
sides, cover the land with cripples
who draw a pension to the amount of
fifty millions of dollars per annum.
Had the people then known the
rights of men and the result of their
crime, methinks they would have
rather hanged the whole crew and
the ship, too, that brought the ne.
groes to this country as slaves. than
to bring such calamity over their
country as that of war, "for he who
| is the author of war lets loose the
whole contagion of hell and opens u
| vein that bleeds a nation to death. y
1t was either ignorance OF open re.
bellion against the rights OF men,
both to establish slavery and delight
in the diabolical act to sell human
flesh and their own children on the
auction block, and protect their wick.
edness by and through the constitu-
ton and the laws of their State. But
wrong is wrong, and neither the con-
stitution nor the holy scripture can
change it into right. Reason is the
Judge of both and above all laws and
constitutions. But the people had to
suffer for the sins of their fOrefath.
ers. They have good cause to say.
as the Israelites did: "Our fathers
have eaten a sour grape, and the chill
drens teeth are set on edge
This, of course, seems to many not
quite right and just that the children
should bear the iniquity of their
fathers, but it is nevertheless true
and an undeniable fact, for it Is the
natural result and cannot be other
wise. Therefore, we should avoid to
do wrong first, to bring no shame
and disgrace upon ourselves; and,
second, to save and protect our chill
dren and those who come after us
into this world, from all evil, result
ing from our folly and ignorance.
Knowledge is safety! Hence every
one should learn to do what is right,
and do all in his power to persuade
others to do the same then all will
be happy and rejoice and prosper, and
each would eat the fruit of his hands.
wish I could say of our country
that all national evils as slavery are
abolished, but that cannot do, be-
cause there are still, among others,
several evils equally as wrong as hu.
man slavery, namely: property in
land, excluding women from voting,
to exempt church property from tax.
alton, the usury laws and the repre-.
sentative System. These evils. and
ESPECIALLY the representative system,
must be abolished before perfect free.
dom can exist and justice be done 10
all men. 1t will take mighty stream
of truth and justice to wash away the
filth and dirt out of this political stall
| in which, since many thousand years,
tall kind of beasts and vermin have
lodged, who were all engaged to pile
up their dirt and folly for the purpose
| of preventing the masses from learn
ing the truth and their natural rights.
The people Of this country have too
many of the European maxims al
ready, and it they do not separate in
time therefrom and abolish the repre-
setative system, then they will find
when it is too late, that wealth, might
and State religion-the devils trinity
will swallow their representative
system and their little bit of liberty
with it. And, in fact, it matters not
under what form of government the
people are bound and get shaved. so
long MS they are not allowed to govern
themselves. Methinks that not only
every sensible and self.thinking man,
but even born fools, should see and
know that our whole representative
system is humbug, worthy to be
laughed at. Just think for moment
what these few laws, l49 in number,
which our solons manufactured for us
| in the last session, cost the people !!
One hundred and forty.seven men
(some of them of good size too) were
at work sixty long days to produce
these l40 laws. Each of them re:
ceived IS per day, which makes $500
for each, or $43,500 for all of them,
besides the mileage.
Why were not the fees of all office
holders reduced, and especially-I
say " especially" because the people
of the county demanded 1.-THE fees
of the sheriff from Blue Earth coun-
Ity! Is 1t true, which no man can
|deny, that our prisoners can be
boarded for $3.50 per week, why did
not our worthy Senator, Mr.. Buck,
support the bill? How. in the name
of common sense, can he claim that
lspite was at the bottom OF said bill,
when nothing more was asked by 1t