The Labor enquirer., 1883-11-05
DYNAMITE is strong to-day at ole.
OUR IGNORANCE.

r 8 H .. = ! r.
tits charged by the upper-ten that the
people are ignorant, that they are un-
fitted to govern themselves or anybody
else. The press of the land has kept up
this cry, the courts have echoed it, and
the pulpit has added its voice to the tes-
timonY of these agents of the devil. Ig-
norance; ignorance has been the war-cry
of the oppressors for centuries. .
And the people are ignorant they are
also blind. Let us see of what this ig-
norance consists and what perpetuates
it. x f
Istart out with the clean proposition
that the root of the peoples ignorance.
lies in the fact that they do not know
their rights or are blind to the wrongs
under which they suffer. +
Is it possible that any of His people
know that God is no respecter of per-
sons, and that life and the pursuit of
happiness belong alike to all his crea-
lures ? Is it possible that there are crea-
lures in this country who think that the
Creator of this universe intended they
should be slaves and grovelers in the
dirt all their lives, while others, their.
exact physical counterpart, should be
the possessors of peace and plenty and
ply the lash to their fellow-beings en-
shaved? Is it possible that there are
citizens of this great republic to-day who
do not know that the constitution upon
which the government is founded guar
antees to all men equal rights and priyi-
legesP --l-g -. T.. D.. .a--'
. 1t hardly seems that such things are
possible, and yet they are so, or there
are millions who are blind to the facts
that they are daily and hourly being de-
. frauded of their birthrights and the
guarantees of their God and the consti-
tuition.
Are you too blind to see that you have
been robbed of the right to your herit-
: age and swiftly being deprived of your
privilege to complain or cry out against
the robbery. Do you understand, to be
more particular, that your means of Nv
ing are being daily more tightly clasped
in the iron grip of the oppressor; that a
landed and moneyed aristocracy of the
few is rapidly growing up under
your eyes and hourly tightening the
bonds of your slavery? Do 4oas know
that there are in the United States less
than two hundred men who own and
control more completely the means of
the entire population than do the more
than fifty million others? DO you know
that there is one man in the United
States who possesses the value sof two
hundred thousand homes, while
there are fifty millions of people who do
not possess the value of one home? Do
you know all this, say2 These things
are 80, and you by your consent to such
injustice admit that you are ignorant of
your rights or are blind to their viola
ton. Thus is the foundation for the ig-
norance of the masses laid, and thus are
they kept in complete subjection to the
will of the few, who fatten off the toll of
the many.
Of what use would be the perfect
knowledge of all the great and trivial
things Of life to people who are bound
hand and foot beyond the power to use
that knowledge ? And, again, what op-
portunity has the man whose daily life
is struggle for bread to become wise
upon the subjects which tend to make
life beautiful and pleasant, but without
which it is possible for the physical man
toexistr Why is it that some men are
80 much wiser than others 1t is be
cause they have the time to spare from