The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1883-07-05

the individual must be Just before lie
can be truly generous, 50 must human
society he based npnn Justice before II
can be based rpcn benGno,ent;e:
Thib, and this alone, is what I con-
tend for-that Dur social institutions be
conformed to justice; to those natural
and eternal principles Of right that are
SO obvious that no one can deny or dis
pute theni---so obvious that by a law Of
the human mind even those who try to
defend social injustice must invoke
them. This, ann this alone, ! contend
for--that he who makes should save:
that he who saves should enjoy. ask
in behalf of the poor nothing whatever
that properly belongs to the rich. In
stead Of weakening and confusing the
idea OF property, would surround it
with stronger sanctions. Instead Of
tion Of wealth. would make it more
powerful by making the reward more
certain. Whatever any man has added
to the common stock of wealth, or has
received Of tho free will Of him who did
produce it, let TINT l,c his as against all
the worl1--his to ,tsa or give, To do
with it whichever he may please. go
long rs such use does not interfere
with the equal freedom Of others. For
my part ! would put no limit on ac-
QUESTION. No matter how many mill
ions any man can get bv methods
which do not involve the robbery OF
others it is his; let him have it. /
would not even ask him for charity. or
have it dinned into his ears that it is
his dntv to help the poor. That Is his
own affair. Let hind as lie pleases
with his own, without re,triction and
without suggestion. If lie gets without
taking from others. and uses without
hurting others, what he does with his
wealth is his own business aad his own
respons .bility.
/ reverence the spirit that. in such
cities rs London and New York, orgali-
izes suell great charities and gives to
them such magnificent enlownients, hut
| that there j. need for such charities
proves to me that it is slanaer upon
| Christ to call such cities Christ an
cities. / honor the Astors for having
provided for New York the Astor Lii
brary, and Peer Cooper for having
given it the Cooper Institute; hut it is
a shame and disgrace to the people of
New York that such thing, should b.
left to private beneticence. Aud he
who struggles for that recognition Of
justice which, by securing to each his
own, will make il needless to beg for
aims from one for another, is doing q
greater and higher work than he who
builds churches, or endows hospitals,
or founds colleges and libraries. This
justice, which would first secure to each
his own earnings. is, it seems to me. Of
that higher than almsgiving, which the
apostle had in mind when he sail ]:
Though bcstow all MY gools to feed
the poor, and though give my body to
he burned, and have not charity, it
profiteth me nothing."
Let us first ask what arc the natural
rights OF man, and endeasor to secure
them, before we propose either to beg
or to pillagc.
In the succeeding papers shall in
quire what are the natural rights OF
men, and how, under present social al
justments. they arc denied and contra
scned. This is made necessary by the
nature of this inquiry. But do not
! wish t, call upon men to demand their
own rights, SO much as to call upon
them to secure those rights to those
even more helpless. l believe that the
idea of duty is more potent for social
improvement than the idea of interest
that in sympathy is stronger social
force than in selhshness. believe that
any great social Improvement must
spring from, and be animated by. that
spirit which seeks to make life better,
nobler, happier for others, rather than
enjoyment for itself. For the mammon
of injustice can always buy the selfish
whenever it may think it worth while tc
pay enough; but unseltishness it canno,
buy.
In the idea of the incarnation-oft the
God voluntarily descending to the hell
of men, which is embodied not merely
in Christianity, but in other religions
lies, / sometimes think, deeper tfutl
than perhaps even the churches teach
This is certain, that the deliverers, thu
liherators, the adyancers of humanity
have always been those who wer.
4 IN Nle SiSHs VI stue
misery rather than those spurred b,
their own suffering. As it was a Moses
learned in all the lore of the Egyptians
and free to the court of Pharaoh ant
not tasked slave, forced 10 max,
bricks without straw, who le.
the children Of Israel from th,
louse of bondage; as it was ,
Gracious, of patrician blood an,
fortune. who struggled to the aeatl
against the land-grabhing system whicl
finally DESTROYED Rome, as it must
should it so on, in time to DESTROY thi
republic, SO has it always been that the
oppressed, the degraded, the downtroa
den have been freed and elevated mor
by the efforts and sacrifices of those t,
whom fortune had been more kind thai
by their own strength. For the NOR
fully men have beeh deprived Of thei
natural rights, the less their power t.
, gain them. The more men need help
the less they can help themselves.
: The sentiment to which | would ap
, peal is not envy, nor vet self-interest
but that nobler sentiment which fotn,
strong. though rude, expression in til
battle-hymn which rang through tn
land when great wrong was goin
down in blood:
In the beauty ~ the lilies, Christ Dor
! across the sea;
| With glory in his boron to transtigure YOU AN
: me.
As lie died to make men holy. let US di. Ia max
men tree'
And what il there for which life give
, MS opportunity that can he. compare
: with the effort to do what We may, be
) ever so little. To improve social eond
0 tions and enable other lives to reac
i fuller, nobler development. Old Joh
i Brown, dying the death Of II felol
. launched into eternity with rinione
o arms and the kiss Of the slave chil
j on his lips was not his n great y life an
$ n grander death than though his yeal
/ had been given To self-seekinS? Did b
: not take with him more than the ma
9 who grabs for wealth and leaves hi