Elmore bulletin. [volume] (Rocky Bar, Idaho) 1889-1906, 1890-06-07
NATURAL INEQUALITY.


W nat - tne meaning OF the famous
phrase that "ail men are born free and
equal" which gailicized Americans.
who were as much .'philosophs' n their
inherited common sense and their prac-
tical acquaintance with men and with
affairs would let them be. put forth as
the foundation of the "Declaration Of
IndependenceP" | have seen con-
siderable number OF new born infants.
without wishing to speak OF them with
the least disrespect--a thing no man can
do, without. As the proverb says. foul
ing his own nest fail to understand
how they can be- affirmed to have any
political qualities at all. How can IL he
said these poor little mortals who have
not even the capacity to kick To any
definite end. nor indeed TO do any thing
but vaguely squirm and squall. are
equal politically, except as all zeros
may be said to be equal? How can little
creatures be said TO be free" OF whom
not one would live for four and twenty
hours IL IL were not imprisoned by
kindly hands and coerced into applying
its foolish wandering mouth to the
breast IL could never find for itself?
How IL the being whose brain is still too
pulpy to hold an idea Of any description
To be moral agent either good or bad? /?
surely 1t must be a joke, and rather
cynical one, too, to talk of the political
status of a newborn child. But We
may carry our questions a step further.
II ii il mere abracadabra to speak of
men being born in state of political
freedom and equality, thus fallaciously
confusing positive equality-that is to
say. the equality of powers-with the
equality OF impotences; in what con.
ceivable state Of society is Ii possible
that men should not merely be born.
but pass through childhood and still re-
main. free?' Has child at fourteen
been free to :hoose its language and all
the connotations with which words be-
anne burdened in their use by genera
lion after generation? Has ii been free
to choose the habits enforced by precept
and more surely driven home by OK.
ample? Has ii been free to invent its
own standard Of right and wrong? On
rather. has IL not been as much held In
bondage by its surroundings and driven
hither and thither by the scourge OF
opinion. as a veritable slave, although
the fetters and the whip may be invisi-
6le and intangible? Surely, Aristotle
was much nearer the truth in this mat
Ter than Hobbies or Rousseau. And il the
predicate born slave" would more nearly
agree with fact than born free. what
Is to be said about born equal?" Rous-
seau. like the sentimental rhetorican
that he was, and half, or more than
half, sham, as all sentimental rhetor-
leans are. sagaciously fought shy. as we
have seen, of the question of the in
finence Of natural upon political equal
ity. But those Of Us who do not care
for sentiment and do care for truth, may
not eyade the eonside ration of that
which is really the key of the position.
If Rousseau. instead of letting his chill
dren 20 to the eafaats tronres. had taken
the trouble to discharge fathers duty
toward them. he would hardly have
talked so fast about men being born
equal. even in political sense. For, If
that merely means that all newborn
children are political zeros. IL is. as W.
have seen, though true enough, nothing
to the purpose: while. ii IL means that,
in their potentiality of becoming fac
.ors in any social organization
kens in Ronsseau's sense-all men are
born equal. il Is probably the most
astounding fa1sity that ever was put
forth by political specnIator; and that.
Is all students of political speculation
will agree, is saying good deal for
Il. In fact. nothing Is more remarkable
han the wide inequality which children.
eyan Of the same family. exhibit, as soun
as the mental and moral qualities begin
10 manifest themselves. which i earlier
han most people fancy Every family
spontaneously becomes polity. Among
The children. there are some who CON
tinue IA be more honored and more
powerful than the rest, and 10 make
themselves obeyed'' tsome times, indeed.
by their elaersl in virtue Of nothing but
thair moral and mental qualities. Here.
political inequality. visihly dogs the
heels Of natural" inequality The
group of children becomes a political
body. a firttas. with its rights of prop.
arty. and its practical distinctions of
rank and power, And all this comes
about neither by force nor by fraud. but
A. the necessary consequence of the In,
nate inequalities Of capability. Thus
men are certainly not born free and
quail in natural qualities; when thes
are born. the predicates Free and
equal in the political sense are not
applicable to them. and a. they develop
year by year, the differences in the POI
litieal potentialities with which they
taally are born, become more and more
obviously converted into actual differ
ences-the ineqnalityo of political faculty
shows itself to be necessary conse-
qnence of the inequality Of natural
faculty. II Is probably true that the
earliest men were nomads. Bnt among
body OF naked, wandering savages.
though there may he no verbally recog-
nlzed distinctions of rank or office. sn-
perior strength and cunning confer
authority of more valid kind than thai
secured by acts OF Parliament; there
may be no property in things, but the
witless man will be poverty stricken in
ideas. the clever man will be capitalist
In that same commodity. which in the
long run buys all other commodities.
one will miss opportunities, the other
will make them, and. proclaim human
equality as loudly as you like. Nitless
will serye his brother. So long as men
are men and society Is society, human
equality will be dream: and the as.
sumption that Il does exist i as untrue
IN faet as lt sets the mark of impraetiea-
hilitY on every theory of what ought ta
be. which starts from it. Prof. f. H.
Huxley. In Nineteenth Century.