The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1893-09-07

stock III trade that IL is hard for him TO
come down Ia "A plane of common sense
all at once.
That the reader may know why find
ex-senator ingalls, an interesting subject
just at this time | present several ex-
cerpts from one of his late letters. He
is not n socialist, nor even populist,
yet the following paragraph shows that
he las adopted the most radical plank
in the platform Of the most extreme So
| cial revolutonist:
The man whose daily bread for himself and
his family depends upon wages that an en-
ployer may give or withhold at pleasure is not
free. The alternative between starvation and
submission 10 n schedule is slavery. Liberty is
something more than a name. lie whodepend.
upon the will of another for shelter, clothing
and food cannot be a free man in the broad
| full meaning Of that word. Freedom does not
consist In definitions The declaration that Iife
liberty and the pursuit of happiness are the in
alienable rights of every human being makes
| no man independent. The right TO liberty is an
| empty mockery and delusion unless the power
| To be free exists also Freedom il not merely
| the removal of legal restraints, the permission
| to come or 20. Added 10 these must be the
| capacity and the opportunity, which only ex-
| emption from the necessity of incessant daily
| labor can bring. To paraphrase Shakespeare,
| poverty and liberty are an Ill matched pair.
| Freedom and dependence are incompatible.
Other men have been called dema-
| gOgues for tanner utterances than these,
| but they have tried to remedy the ills re-
cited. Mr.. Ingalls, will be safe from
abuse so long as he confines himself to
criticism and doesn't attempt or suggest
a practical remedy.
Let US read more from Mr.. Ingalls,
lance pointed pen, which punctures the
painted balloon of Fourth Of July bun
connie:
The inequality of fortunes and the obvious
injustice of the unequal distribution of wealth
| among men have been the perplexity of philos-
| ophers. 1t is the unsolved enigma OF political
| economy. Civilization has no paradox SO mys-
| ferrous a. the existence of hunger when there
| is all excess of food-Of want in the midst oil
| superiority. That one man should have pos
| sessions be yond the capacity of eYtravagance
to squander, and another, able and willing to
| work, should perish for want of enbers, rags
and crust, renders society uni Ineligible. /,
| makes the charter of human rights a logogriph
So long as such conditions continue the key e
| the cipher in which destiny is written is not re-
| vealed-the brotherhood of man is a phrase
Justice is q formula, and the divine code is illeg
ible.
This is not the ranting of a Dutch
socialist" unfamiliar with America and
its institutions, but the sober utterance
Of a man who holds high place in the
roll of American statesmen, and one who
has been fanatical in his devotion to the
flag and all it represents.
Mr.. Ingalls, disagrees with the clergy
men and editors who think poverty ant
its attendant evils are part of the di
vine plan; who imply by their action.
that they understand the Scripture K
mean that the more poor Eye have will
We" the nearer Gods will is done. TIL,
ex-senator says:
To admit that the ignorance, Indebtedness
disease, want, poverty and degradation Of so
| ciety are inevitable and irremediable is to i'm
peach God.
1t is only when he comes to consider
the causes for conditions which he de
plores that Mr.. Ingalls, shows his weak
ness. Then one understands that b,
must travel little longer this road
which is new to him, before he is able t,
decipher all its sign posts. Without at
tributing other cause for existing con
ditions than that the freemen of thi
country have not used the ballot wisely
he declares as fallacious the claim tina
extrcme wealth is the cause of extrem
poverty. By this he means that the ricl
do not become rich at the expense of tn
poor.
There is no necessity for repeating tn
truths upon this point so familiar t
economic students. Until Mr.. Ingall
recognizes the logical fact that no on
/: can drain abnormal riches from tn
f wealth jointly created without deprivin
r others of a portion of their share, an
couples that fact with his knowledg
that the possessors of great wealth us
their possessions to squeeze all they ca
out of the less fortunate, he will cor
D tinue to stumble along the stony patti
! way, not understanding from whenc
, came the impediments to his progres
a nor low to get rid of them. He can se
;, how the populations of one man in
business concern may make him ric
= while it impoverishes his partners, bu
Q he is unable to apply this parallel to 81
;, ciety, which is only huge business cor
i Germ.
' Iwant to agree with Mr.. Ingalls, in on
particular. He says:
q II the unequal distribution of the burden an
: benefits of society depends upon legislation, II
stitutions and government, then under syste
: like ours the equilibrium should be restored.
& wealth results from unjust laws and pover'
from legislative oppression, tie remedy is
. the hands Of the victims. IL they suffer, 1t
u from self inflicted wounds.
The workingmen of this country, Il
!. poor and oppressed, have the ballot, an