The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1893-06-23
SHALL WE DRIFT FROM FEUDAL
ponuERY TO SOCIAL CoBRUPTIOSf

tates claiming the right to rule then
bv command OF the Almighty. Thei
kings. without exception, asserted tn
doctrines that the Almighty had consti
tuted them. their ancestors and thei
descendants to be the rulers OF the PEG
pie. and had enIoined upon the people
that they must obey the kings in what
ever they commanded. The foolish young
Emperor OF Germany Is at this day
| strongly tlnctured with this notion.
Under the system OF government which
this idea produced. the governments over
the people were paternal in many re-
spects. But they were OF that parental
sort which the wolf exercises over the
lamb. The kings took care OF their SUD-
jects that they might devour them as
kingly appetite demanded food.
About four hundred years ago there
was a general awakening all over west
ern Europe. and people began to inquire
| into this claim Of the divine origin OF
| the kinely authority. and the divine IN
| functions that the people must submit TO
/ IL.
restraints upon the kingly claim in Eng
| land. by the methods OF peace, tempered
with the execution Of one king and the
| Punishment Of another.
II burst into a volcano in France.
which overthrow social order and del
uged the land with blood, but ended for
ever on earth the pretension that any
man can hold from the Almighty a COM
mission to rob and plumber his fellow
man. From the beginning Of that con-
test to the end Of the last century all
men were engaged in a struggle against
the divine right Of any man 10 force
them TO subject their will TO his. The
struggle was for the right Of each per-
son to live as he pleased, so long as he
interfered with the rights Of no other
person. and when the old idea Of the
divine right of kings came 10 an end. this
idea took its place as the true corner
and foundation stone of all government.
The great men who ruled the desti
MES Of this country at the end Of the
last century understood perfectly the
lesson Of the struggle which had pre-
coded them. They knew it meant re-
striction Of government to laws; restric-
son Of laws to what was necessary for
preserving the peace at home and de-
Tending the country against foreign at
tack. with liberty TO all men to seek hap
piness and wealth in their own ways so
long as they were careful to trespass on
no right Of their neighbor
They built this government on that
idea. The constitution which they framed
clothes the government with the fullest
authority to do whatever is necessary
for protecting itself against internal in
surrections and external attack, but II
does not contain one line or word which
even suggests the idea that that govern
ment may thrust its meddling finger into
the affairs of the people. 1t was In
tended that the people should be left free
to manage their own internal affairs to
suit themselves.
The government respected this cardi-
nal idea If its creation and existence
until the war came on. when, TO further
the aims and ends OF the war, II asserted
a right to NEEDLE with the peoples af-
fairs in ways that would have shocked
and astounded those who created it.
Justifying its acts under the necessities
Of war, it continued these interferences
until men acquiesced in them as acts
now rapidly drifting into the ancient
tyranny, to be called socialism instead Of
rule by divine right. The people must
rouse themselves and arrest this pro-
gress towards social rule, or they will
lose their liberties and be robbed and
plundered by government. through
stealth, II is true, but as effectively as
their ancestors were plundered by the
mailed hand Of robber barons. Our drift
towards socialism is nowhere so power
fully manifested as in the general sane
tion Of the United States Government
regulating the daily contracts men make
with each other by telling them they
may use for those transactions one
kind Of negotiable commercial paper,
but that they shall not use for them
another kind.
Win any man tell us what principle In
our government any such authority can
be deduced from? No such authority ex-
lists When we permit it we permit a
usurpation Of authority that embodies IN
itself every element for the corruption Of
and subsequent destruction Of social or
der. II we permit it to continue we must
end IN a rotten oigarchy. fouier than
Tweed's regime in New York.
Pray tell US you who say that State
banks shall not issue their notes. II it is
a legitimate function OF the United
States Government TO forbid A to pass
his negotiable note to 3. why Is II not
equally competent for the United States
Government to say that A shall not eat
his eggs boiled. but must eat them fried?
II it may interfere with the citizen in
the one case. why may il not interfere
with him in the other? And II in both.
why not in all things? And IL this is so.
IS not liberty ended, except as the So
cialists who shall assemble in Congress
at Washington may choose to allow It TO
exist?
Leland Stanford was poor boy on a
farm when he started life: but he was one
OF those persons who are born 10 be
money makers With him the accumula-