The Labor enquirer., 1885-05-16

less expensive--by voting for mel
pledged to the repeal of existing statute
and not to make any new ones. A po
llitical party oylnized for the sole pur
pose Of repeafiu existing statutes il. il
my opinion, thsonly piece Of politica
machinery that will save US from . VIC
llent Revolutioh a Repeal Party woult
be something sosnew to the general no
ton Of obtaining relief from politica
and social ills t6atit would immediatel,
attract attention and have q healthy
effect upon legislation and politics al
around.
.Poliucs," says Proudhon, is the sci
ence of liberty. But Webster tells vi
that politles acienee sf goyaEn|
nlars fs1e NJ sssss 8 j stwo NJ very ! f dlstin15cl
and opposite definitions of politics, be.
cause liberty and government are anti.
thetical principles. E'.i
Liberty is to enjoy the right of doing
what one pleases without being re.
strained by anybody else to be free
from restraint the power of choice; to
do what one wills that will do no harm
to any one else. Liberty must always
and does always harmonlze with Right
To do that which is wrong is license. 1t
is common notion, and IN fact we are
taught, that license is an excess ofhberty
or that license is liberty run mad, but
this is not so, any more than is wrong
right carried too far. There IS absolutely
no affinity, no relationship whatever be-
tween liberty and license. Liberty is to
do right; license is to do wrong.
To tell the truth: to be honest; to
exchange equivalents, or to give that
which cost one person one hours work
for that which cost another person one
hours work, all things considered do
these things Is right, is in accord with
liberty.
To lie; to be dishonest; to give that
which cost one person one hours work
for that which cost another person ten
hours work-to do these things is wrong,
is license.
I have not the space here to define
liberty more elaborately to show that it
is a correct principle, but this will un-
doubtedly be sufficient to give a correct
idea of what is meant by the term.
Now, government is to control, to re-
strain. We are prevented by govern
ment from doing whati is right From
the place that I write see large areas
of land that are not used at all. know
of a large number of people who would
put that land to use ta.morraw and make
a good living on it for themsel YES and
families, did not government step in and
say to them they have no right to use it.
They must live on some land, and as they
have none of their own they must live
on somebody else's. for whioh they have
to pay rent. Now, is it not plain even to
the 81 nplest mind, that government
gives to the class of people that owns
the land the power to make the class
that does not own the land pay for the
right to live, because nobody can live
without the use of land, and land tax
is therefore tax for the right to live.
To till the soil is an honest way to make
a living, and as the government denies
the right of the idle hands to use the
idle lands, it therefore follows that gov
ernment denies the right of the non
land-owning class of making an honest
living,
If discover a principle in mechanics,
which is principle in nature,
construct machine in accordance with
itgovernment steps in and says the righ
to monopolize that principle belongs to
me, and no one else shall copy the
machine l make without being punished
for it. 1t makes no matter with govern
ment if this machine throws thousands
of people out of work, and may be in
consequence into. prisons and poor
houses, or destroys the value of thou
sands of dollars Of property, no one else
has the right to make another machine
like that one with out paying tribute to
me.
If you get a chance to earn an honest
penny by carrying letters from one place
to another, the government steps in and
says you must not earn thatpenny under
penalty of fine and Imprisonment.
Ifa number Of people want to ex'
change the products of their own labor
with one another, and in order to expe
dite these exchanges they issue notes
money-for the purpose Of striking bal
ances between the different values of the
products, government steps in and says
they shall not do so.
All these restrictions work directly II
the interest of few people who, with
out work, live luxuriously on the bes
the land affords, and against the interes
of the producers of wealth.
Surely, in the face of these facts, Web
ster must be right, Politics, as it is to
day at least, isthe science of government
Science means skill. Does it not look a
though government is a skillfuf instru
ment for the robbery of the honest ane
easily-deluded working people? 1t doe
look very much like it. ..
But that evidently is politics in th
bad sense. Proudhon's definition is th'