The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1894-02-07
AN ADDRESS
Delivered Before the State Farm
ers Alliance at Minneapolis,
January 10th. 1898.
BY HON. JOHN ARNOLD KEYES

Continued from last soeek.
In matters of personal liberty and
political equality, we have, as already
pointed out, abrogated the lac Of conape-
tition and beyond certain well-marked
lines no man can hope to 60, although
he may have within him the bones
and marrow of master or king
Unless the law of the survival of the
strongest in matters of property &C
emulation and ownership can be
modified as in the other cases referred
to, by the genius of the people itself,
then there is little hope for the fu-
ture. Of what value, indeed, is the
elective franchise to one perishing Of
cold and hunger; or to one so ignorant
of all needs of the hour, from lack of
means or opportunity for education,
as to be unable intelligently to Judge
Of it's use or understand the duties of
citizenship. OF what satisfaction
| is it to a man to know that 90 other
can acquire an hereditary title in this
country, when he, himself, is deprived
of the very necessities of life, and
even of right to work, to the end
that another may be enabled to &C
quire houses and lands and untold
wealth? Aye, Of what significance
to him the name of liberty, when cru
Ell and relentless man-made circum
stance compels him to be the slave of
industry in the workshop or, upon the
farm, trying to lift mortgage that
cannot be lifted, that he and his fam
| lily may have shelter and retain the
mere right of life and suffering, that
the wills and wishes of few be &C
complished. Indeed, had he not bet
ter serve an actual human master and
receive the dues of slave,-dues &C
corded dumb animals,-than yield
unmurmuring to the despotism of
unjust conditions, and receive the
dues Of necessity only, and sometimes
not even those. That such crushing
conditions exist need not be told, for
the eye witness can see their victims
on every hand, and they are no longer
the curious tales of some land beyond
the seas.
That many who are suffering
thereby do not appreciate the situa-
tion is also evident; and the latter
class furnishes the thinker subject
for apprehension as to the future.
"Man is not armed until he knors,
And, knowing, dares to do"
That this question of the distribu-
ton of wealth, or the product of la
Dor, is important, has been felt in a
certain way for many years, and was
expressed by Adam Smith and many
others; but it has never been really
appreciated until recently, and even
yet the best minds are cropping about
in the realms of conjecture, uncer-
tain as to the beginning point of the
reform that is to take, place. Ever
since Charles Darwin, in the most
original and startling works of ten
centuries, demonstrated that in his
material being mans destiny is de-
termined by multiplication of two
factors:-heredity and environment,
or, the traits he inherits modified
and influenced by his surroundings in
the woyd,-it has gradually forced
itself upon the attention of all
thatA majority Of the ills of life
ariSe out of unfavorable surround
iGgs, and that many hereditary traits
are also the result of prior conditions.
While these new ideas have had and
are having marked influence on the
personal lives of individuals, and
while the wave of agitation has gone
beyond mere personal matters, as il
Illustrated in sanitary regulation, yet
that the life of nations, as manifest
in government, also requires reor-
ganization on the basis of the new
thought, has found fewer advocates.
Traditions, customs, and prejudices
are the most difficult things to up
root, and many seem to disbelieve in
the power of government to modify
general conditions, being not mind
full that it is through it's instrument
tally that society is organized and
maintained. These doubts must be
cleared away before anything can be
accomplished, and that task is the
duty of the hour.
| Nor need we be frightened by the