Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1883-05-09

wilson county M6ulCdl OVOiCe1
| Nashville Medical Society, TENNESSEE
! State Medical Society, American Pub
| lie Health Association and the Amerl
can Medical Association.
I80hn Bright on Wars aud Wal
Debts.
tPersration Of his Recent Address at the Uni
versity Of Glasgow.
Would you believe that if you were
to add up all the expenses of the
country since the beginning of the
century, and during the lifetime oil
some thousands of people now living.
the expenditure upon war and war
debts, the expenditure of military
and naval war kind, what do you sup
pose it comes TOP You could not
guess, and if | told you you would be
no wiser. 1t comes to the sum OF
"a, Ala, 100000 sterling Of taxes. |
say you would be no wiser. | do not
know that we are any wiser from hear
ing that a man is worth a million.
except that he is a rich man We do
not know very we'll what million is.
But what are twenty millions, and
what are one hundred millions, or
what are a thousand millions, or four
thousand millionsP 1t is like speak
ing of those great astronomical dis
tances of which at lectures we
hear so much and know so little.
But if these military expenses
have come to "a, 4l4,000,0O0. how
much has the real government, the
civil government of the country cost
during the same time? 1t has cost
FL ,0l2, 100000 Less than one fifth OF
all our expenditure has been in our
civil government; more than four
ffths have been in wars prepared for
in future. l ask you then what of the
people, and what of the millionsP We
find poverty and misery. What does
it mean when all these families are
living in homes of one room, to us who
have several rooms and all the com
forts Of life? 1t means more than |
describe, and more than will attempt
to enter into; and, as need begets need,
SO poverty and misery beget poverty
and misery. So, in all our great towns
and not little in some of our small
towns, there are misery and helpless
ness so much as have described. In
fact, looking at the past, to me it is a
melancholy thing to look at. There
is much OF it which excites in
me not establishment only, but
horror. The fact is, there
passes before my eyes a vision Of
millions of families-not individuals,
but Manifestations and children,
CHASTITY and sorrow stricken, passing
in a never ending procession from
their cradle to their grave. Now l
have to put to you a question. A
friend of ours in the corner there was
little stirred because some of the
subjects on which treated seemed to
take political aspect. Some one has
said that the two things Of all others
in the world that are worth consider
ing, worth talking about, are the sub
jects Of religion and politics. l want
to ask you whether the future is to be
no better than the past. Do we
march, or do we not, to brighter
time? For myself, it will not be pos
sible for me to. see it; but you have
before you. many of you, the pros
pect of witnessing the transactions
Of the public policy of your country
for forty, or fifty, or even it may be
for more, years to come. On you and
such as you depends greatly our fu-
ture. What | want to ask you
is, whether you will look back
upon the past and examine it
carefully; look round then in the
present, and see what exists; and
endeavor, if it is possible, to get bet
ter and higher tone to our national
policy for the future. To me it ap.
pears that during the last two centu-
ries { | keep myself to that because.
since that time, the public opinion Of
the country has had greatly increased
inAuence) we trod in the footsteps of
caesar ana accepted the DarDar0us
policy Of pagan Rome; while, at the
same, with vast and unconscious by
pocrisy, we have built thousands of
temples and have dedicated them to
the Prince Of Peace. say with grief
and shame, that they who have minis
tered at his affairs have, for the most
part, on these matters, been absolutely
dumb. Now, ask you this question:
Shall we reverse this policy? Shall
we contrive to build up the honor, the
true honor and true happiness. of our
people, on basis Of justice, morality
and peace2 l plead not for the great
and the rich; l plead for the millions
who live in homes Of onlyone room.
Can you answer me in the words
which | quoted years ago on a some
what like occasion, words which fell
from the crowned minstrel who left us
the Psalms "The needy shall not
always be forgotten; the expectation
of the poor shall not perish forever y