Workmen's advocate. (New Haven, Conn.) 1883-1891, 1886-07-11

come the normal condition of the
masses of mankind.
Never did n nation of three mil
lions of people emerging triumph
antly from a war of blood, of ar
son, raplne and butchery, with II CO.
lossal military power have so splen-
did and untrammeled an opportn-
nifty for founding institutions that
should promote and perpctuatc the
lmprlscriptlble rights of man.
But so boundless and ineyhaustible
seemedthe resources of natural wealth
IN the possession Of the government
and people of that time that no ad-
equate safeguards were erected by
the former to secure to the latter
their imperlshable heritage. Lulled
to sleep by Il false, ,delusivc dream in
the possession of these rights, their
agents and trustees in the persons of
their representatives at Washington,
ignorant and mmindful of the val
he OF the trusts transmitted to their
care; actuatcd by "A grasping ayarice
and liendsh lust for sordid gain,
have stolen, given away and reck-
Iessly sqnanderod the peoples inhcr-
tance, and corrupt and subsidized
judiciary have become co-conspira-
tors with them in despoiling the peo-
pie Of their natural rights and as
slstng the administration and con-
firmation of their public robberes.
Franchises with hundreds of mil
lions have been given to banking
syndlcates, the highways of com
merce between States have become
the exclusive property of greedy.
soulless, unprlnclpled but all pow
crfnl railroad monopoies. and the
toll levied on that commerce in the
shape of freight, storage, elevator
and other charges are crushing the
very llfe-blood out of the commerce
and industry Of the country to-day.
The people'sinvaluable mines of gold
and silver, iron and coal,
Of which they have been ruthless
ly despoiled have all been trans
ferred to organized oligarchies,
and the illimitablc area of your
country, from the fruitful bosom of
which the teeming millions must be
fed have passed entirely out of their
possession and beyond their con-
troll. Denied access to their natural
sources of wealth and employment.
with the tools of labor entirely in
the hands of your opprcssors, forced
by necessity to beg of them the boon
or favor to earn your daily bread
and obliged to submit to terms that
rob you of half your manhood and
make of you at best but an inyoun-
tary slave, what, | would ask, have
you got to boast of on this, the one
hundred and tenth anniversary of
the declaration of independence of
your country? Still, in view of all
these facts, statesmen look wise and
solemn, and political and social
philosophers are hoodwinking the
people by pretending to find out
what are the causes of commercial,
manufacturing and industrial de-
preston. 1t is said that the priests
of ancient Rome used to laugh in
each others faces in broad day when
they met at the juggleries, mum
merles and deccptlons practiced by
them in their sacred temples before
their dupes in the name and cause
of their religion. There were two
sides, or views, to it. The esoteric
view, which was the prlestly and
real one, and the exoteric, which
was the popular and false one. All !!
would to God that these jugglerics
had been confined to their dav and
generation; but instead of that they
have been transmitted through the
centuries and made to play the same
part in the science of government
and political economy as they for
merly played in religion and super
stitlon, and we are the victims. And
social ostraclsn, persecution and the
dungeon are just as surely the re-
wards of the social and industrial
reformcr of to-day as they were of
the Brunos and Galileos of ancient
Rome.
told you in the commencement
Of the reading of this essay that the
men who formulated the declaration
of independence, and sacrificing
everything ON the altar Of their