Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1891-11-26
HaERsoLL ON LIBERTY.

iect of Liberty. He said, among other
things:
"What do mean by liberty? Let
me explain. If a man is prevented
from going where he desires by high
mountain or rushing river or WHO
beasts, he does not think he is enslaved.
But If . man with gun stands on the
oppbsite shore of the stream and says
that the other shall not cross. then that
il slavery. The idea of liberty ls not
to be interfered with by like intelll-
pence. whether in earth or in heaven.
It is not to be interfered with by
those who gloat over their victory. In
the world Of thought and speculation
there should be absolute liberty. There
is room in the intellectual air for every
wing that flies. Room on the intellect
ual sail. One is the majority; every
soul is sovereign, robed and crowned,
absolutely free. In the repxbiic OF the
mind men should give every mental
right to their fellow men that they
claim for themselves. Tonight l shall
speak for the most part of liberty of
thought, the right to investigate, to
guess for yourself, to people the future
according to your own fancy and die
tated to by none other. If there be
gods, give to them the same right
that 1 give to myself.
I'm the days of old our ancestors
believed that it was necessary for all to
think alike, especially on those ques-
tions which nobody knew anything
about. They believed there was be-
ing who had promised eternal joy to
those who believed a certain way, and
punished those who did not. All the
ingenuity of the world can not make
two clocks which will keep time ex-
actly alike. ALI the machinery OF
human invention cannot make two
things alike. Nature cannot do it. ln
the forest there are not two leaves that
are exact ccunterparts of each other.
Yet our ancestors thought they could
make al that living. throbbing passion
ate flesh walk in the same pathway.
If they could, what stupid world we
should have hadl believe that intel
lectual splendors are born of diversity
and not Of force applied to the brain of
man. Our ancestors tortured their
fellow creatures with the thumb-screws
and the racks for the sake of spreading
the gospel of universal love.
"a race which has to emerge from
barbarism by the blood of martyrs had
better remain in darkness forever. But
if it had not been for these men who
said, L will never stain the whiteness
of my SOUL we would have been in
darkness still. While live will dc
what can to augment the liberty Of
man, woman and child. After all, il
is q question Of intellectual develop
ment. Tell me what a man believe:
and will tell you Of his intellectual
development. went to an exhibition
and saw the dugout in which floated ;
barbarian orthodox in his day and gen
Grafton. Then I saw the great shil
which went sailing over the ocean with
out missing a throb or beat of it
mighty iron heart. From the tom ton
to the instruments of melody to-day
from the club to Krupp gun, from
rude sketch on the side of the rock to
glorious painting, is the measure o
intellectual development.
''How is it that when it came to re
ligion the world stood still? There ha
been no improvements on the Christia
devil for thousands of years. He ha
still the horns and cloven foot he wa
endowed with in the early ages.
this course had been followed in must.
do you think we could have had tn
symphonies of Beethoven and th
operas of Wagner? We have improve
ON, the dugout owned by the barbarian
1 plead for the same right to impro,
on his theology.
Imagine q human being claimir
the right to think and not giving it
Others. When you destroy liberty
mind it acts on the intellectual prOgre
Of the world as If all the streams ar
springs flowing into the MISSISSIPPI
were stopped-the river would dry u
Men have, not only been enslaved
mind, but in body. 1t was not uni
1883 that Great Britain abolished sfa
trade to her colonies. It was not uni
1888 that Lincoln abolished slave
here, 20 that this country has on
been worth living in for twenty-eig
years. s;
s.Give to every man what he ear
With his hands. Capital takes :
much, labor gets too little. Flesh n
blood are more sacred than gold. =
tlms viii come in .hie cpUptry Th,
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