The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1888-05-04
tA.. was listened to darlng the evening He


others Is OF more value TO his country and his
race that the individual who endeavors 10 elabor-
ate and exhaust his own thoughts. In a barbaric
state man rs Intensely gregartous animal Saw
agery has developed. In all It's history. very few
= marked individualities Education ought 10 pro-
duce, logically, marked individuality. But the
schools teach man 10 copy rather than To origin
ate. Zach pupQ or student Is urged to assimilate
some other mind, some individual who has be-
come distinguished either In letters In the forum,
or in the field The present Is too busy copying
from the past The schools attempt mental
photogrAphy-tha Is. to picture or Impress one
mind upon anotber. This il a great defect Ia our
educational pra tice.
Comm, to the direct subject OF his consid-
Grafton he proceeded:
The edscition today. In some respects, tends
backward, or rather 10 throw the race backward
toward the individuality of the barbaric period
Thus, every attempt AT organization, every at
tempt mt statutory enactments which seeks TO de
personali]e labor 20 pool l. di .idual efforts and
responsible es in a multitude, or TO diffuse the
direction OF each hand upon the great mass, or
the trend of each head among many men, when
every man should he free Ia control his labor as
his own property. is a retrograde step, antagon-
istic TO truly useful intellectual training, to man
" skill. and also TO social and political develop
ment The trade union, whether of locomotive
engineers, on printers or switchinen, or shoe
makers, which demands equal pay for every one
of its members, regardless Of individual supe-
riority, skill and ability, steps backward
toward the tribal relations. The history or the
success of lab n aad aborers In the nited States
never be re- Gated in the II lure IL laborers In
sit on pooling taer abilities in single union or
labor trust for each trade so that the intellectual
gifts Of Inheritance, and the superior skill and
dciIness of indi yiduals shall be lost In the Dead
sea OF mediociity. 1t takes self reliance, brains,
and courage To indiy id ,alze as "scab," either
In the worksho OF the world OF matter or In the
clnsters and libraries of the world OF mind.
virIilent symptom of the existing Jenuency To-
ward gregariousncss and barbarism Is deserted
In the p pIliu Il mand to accomplish health
wealth, and social and political prominence by
the egaotTnent OF statutes. 1t is also seen In the
snbSidencr Of iidiyid iality everywhere from the
person bltb thr }OCial association, corporation,
guild. or trade uGon. -t-t. ".
The protective tariff has been and Is promi-
neatly pcy-cious and potent In this retrogressive
movement Nhe manufacturers who demanded
the PROTECTIVE {; inaugurated the first disas
trous rt,i a. wni1I ever TRANSFERRED in the
United States. 1t was the STRIKE of capital for
hiPher profits II demanded a monopoly Of the
Aperican markets. IL shut out competitors from
all foreign cimes. IL established, contrary to the
spirit Of our constitution, social class In Amer
lea. "a s...
BE II enacted that all shall be taxed so that
few shall I've made rich That was the response
OF congress to the strike Of capital for higher
profits Then labor, emulating capital, asked
also TO be enriched by legislation. Congress 10
piled promptly: BE II enacted that eight hours
is a days work" but here the advantage of legis-
lation to labor fails. Nobody pays ten hours
wages for eight hours work. Capital engaged In
the manufacture OF u protected article shuts out
foreign competitors and. watching the operation
of the law of supply and demand, prevents the !
former from outrunning the latter by shutting
down the mills and by stopping production. But
labor IL commodity for sale in the market just
as much MS any finished product Of labor Is a
commodity, and the law OF supply and demand"
regulates the price Of the product with no more
certainty than it regulates the wages OF the La
borer.
The I" Be il enacted" method Of eradicating
povcrty--creating wealth and abolishng all eco.
nomic laws 10y statute-is not original (thank God
for thatD with either New England or Penn.
sylvania nor indigenous to any part of the
United States 1t has been tried and found want
ing in all ages of civil alton. The governmental
careers of all the peoples the earth are filled
with the records OF the failures, the woes, the
dire disaster and distress which have deluged
humanity because Of the experimental dogma,
BE IL enacted"
Beginning with the tariff, ''be 1t enacted" that
all shall be taxed to make few rich; emitting
scores of economic bunders-not mentioning the
regulation OF railroad reses the prohibition laws
the sleeping car supervision In the several states
nor the annual eleemosynary distribution Of seed
and fish by enactment-the printing offices, lab
ofatories, experimental farms, and dozens of
other industries governmentaly carried on-let
us observe some of the newest efforts at pattern
alism which have been evolved
Mr.. Morton then referred to the oleomar. |
garine law and other laws enacted or pro-
posed to abate alleged and real evils by con-
gressional action, and raised a laugh by say |
ing that 3emulating the patent churn and |
patent cream separator patriots who secured |
the legislation to protect the tranquil cow |
from fair competition with oleomargarine, it |
is now declared that the manufacturers of |
are formulating a law-and |
viii insist upon its enactment-to prevent |
butter being sold as oleomargarine He then |
said:
IL congress eradlcates hog cholera by o statute, !
ment, establishes rates on railroads and limits |
competition to butter by the same sleight- Of
hand, where Ii the limit to its destructive or
creative powersg Who shall venture to define It? |
Thus far the congressional practice of medicine
has been confined 10 the lower order of animals.
Only the hog and the bovine have been honored
by the new school Of the "Be-itenacted" prac-
tice; though the noble horse, now suffering In
Illinois from nal du colt will soon, no doubt, ex-
cfte congressional sympathy, and elicit prescrip-
ton In q bill for ON act. Whether the cure OF
cough, measles. and m,imps In children
calves and colts, are esteemed more valuable,
The Congressional Record does not show; but we
may look for such legislation, no doubt, under
the modern construction of "the general welfare"
clause OF the constitution at an early day, IL the
disciples OF Belt enacted" economics are con.
tinued In control ~ t8.n
The speaker then spoke Of the great trusts
as the legitimate offspring Of the tariff, and
referred to the Greenbackers rs people who
had great faith in "Be it enacted as well as
the silver men. predicting that in a few years
the world will measure all we have to sell
by that silver dollar, and all we have to buy
with the gold dollar" bo closed as fol-
lows:
On that clear and certainly coming day the be-
nignant majesty of the divine benediction peace
m earth and good will 10 men," viii have as
serted It's supreme power, and commerce. as fine
and buoyant az the seabird's wing, will feck the
oceans In the sunlight Of every cline.
The dawn of that day Is in the words, BE 1t rc.
peaked"
The doom IL in BE IL enacted"
Hon. J.. ID. Thoman, Of Ohio, spoke OF
Progressive Politics" and Gen. Stiles on the
ABoes Trust"--the tariff, and the gathering
dispersed late in the night Letters of regret