The Portland daily press., 1884-04-29
col. JESSE HARpER,s LECTURE.
He civilization a Failure.

N GEuAOth4CCS CIVILIZATION a EBLkufG.
A very small audience gathered at City Hall
last evening to hear Col. Jesse Hsrper's lecture
on "The Civilization of the Nineteenth Cen
tury.''
Col. Harper said the civilization of the nine
teenth century is threatened by many dangers,
Nan is two-fcld~-that which now is. and that
which is to come-the body and the soul.
mere are two kinds of law-ths moral and
the state law. Daniel Webster said. "Loye
the supreme supremacy, and love thy neighbo1
as myself" That is a good definition of moral
law State law says that justice shall be done
and injustice shall not be done. Bacon saws
that moral law is the law of all places, and
state law is the law of a place, The minister
IS the recognized leader Of moral law, while
the statesman is the leader of State law. II is
the duty Of all men and women to make them
selves as intellectual as they can. Little do
we think that one hundred men rule this coun-
try as a monarch does his. Good laws promote
happiness and liberty, and auify the country
There are no statesmen in these times, but
there are mis-statesmen.
This is the age of selfshness, and there are
six great dangers that have grown up since
1866: the railroad, the telegraph, the land, the
debt, the bank and the money questions.
Attempts have been made to settle these
questions, but they never have been settled
yet. do not fight against railroads, bat the
misuse of railroads. Labor needs protection,
A man tolls to-day, earns a dollar and paws
fifty cents of it to feed and clotha his bodv.
but tomorrow he takes the other fifty cents as
a capital to work on, and starts out. making
nlmseIt JUST as bad as any capitalist of mil
Hobs. Ihere were no Shareholders who were
mlllionaires, but at the close of the war there
were ten, and they had twelve millions among
them. In 1880 there were five hundred mil
lionalres. Less than one per cent. of the
people OF this country are railroad owne rs
DANGERS, oondnolders, exporters or importers,
aud they own the Democratic and Republican
parties. Seventy-two out of one hundred Of
the Associated Press dispatches concerning
the railroads are incorrect. Col. Harper then
gave statistics about railroad and telegraph
lines.
Egypt. Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome
were at first owned by many people; but finally
by a few, and they fell. We are following in
their footsteps. All over the country bankers
and brokers' are getting possession of our prop
erty. Statistics were then given regarding the
amount OF property owned in different parts of
ono "oEiu. Liners nave Deon no statesmen
since the surrender of Lee; but there have
been mis-statesmen These men are ~intellec-
tual, but that they are not statesmen is the
misfortune of the country. We are going down
In the great moral whirlpool. and there are six
more dangers, and when they come to the
front the nation will go down. These are: fail
ures in business, penitentiary offences, murder,
lunacy, suicide and assassination. The serious
sign OF the death of a nation is when Won see
the property of many going into the hands Of
q few. # statesmen had framed the law.
happiness and liberty would have been pro-
NOTED. TIL laws since 1866 have done inius-
tice to many, and given special privileges to a
lew, and what cannot be corrected by ballots
can be corrected by bullets.