The advocate., 1895-09-25

men were patriots They spoke forci-
bly,, eloquently. They told survivors of
the war who fought in the Civil war,
not only the glory o fine past but the
needs of the present and the menace
Of the future. These speakers were
from the same state, talked in much
the same strain, to crowds of the same
Americans One was cheered to the
echo; the other sullenly tolerated, per-
haps because Of his official position.
The one was reported at length In
the daily papers; the other quoted in
a few scanty excerpts. The one was
lauded to the skies for his patriotism
and bold, manly fiImness; the other
was denounced in the news columns
and in editorial articles as an anar-
chistic malcontent. The one still cllngs
to party whose greatness is now but
memory; the other is a daring friend of
the masses who politically has no place
to lay his head The one was Col Robt.
G.. Ingerson at the reunion of his old
regiment, the Eleventh Illinois, at Elm
wood, ILL.,; the other was Governor John
P. Altgeld at the Chicamauga dedica-
tion.
Altgeld courageously lifted the veil
that hides the future and showed how
vain is all the boast of the past, If we
forget the living principles which were
involved. Well could he see the hollow
mockery OF all parades and dedications,
all salutations and flag worship, If the
rights which they have represented are
to be ruthlessly brushed aside by the
iron hand of greed. He could expect
no reward other than abuse and scorn
and vituperation and contumely.
Truth forever on the scaffold wrong
forever on the throne" The man who
speaks for the right and acts consist
emily with his words expects to be
bounded by the unthinking. 1t recalls
the days when all influential journals
were "wax in slavery's shaping hand"
when Harper's Weekly-that journal
of civilization" as 1t still presumes to
call llitself-fiercely assailed Henry Ward
Beecher because ne dared denounce from
the pulpit the monstrous crime of hu-
man slavery. Once they published a
full-page cartoon showing Beecher as
refusing the communion wine to Wash
ington because he was a STAKEHOLDER.
Among other good things Ingersoll
Said II think the greatest thing for a
country is for all of it's citizens to have
a home think it is around the fire.
side of home that virtues grow, includ-
ing patriotism. We want homes" At
ter telling how the barbarous custom Of
permitting imprisonment for debt was
abolished, how next mans tools were
reserved from execution and then his
homestead also, he continued: "And so
we preserved hundreds and thousands
and millions of homes while debts were
as we'll paid as ever they were paid be-
fore. Now want to take a step fur
ther. I want the rich people of this
country to support It, (How awful If
Altgeld had said thisD want the peo-
pie who are we'll off to pay the taxes
l want the law to exempt a. homestead
to a certain value, say from $1,000 to
$500, and to exempt it. not only from
a sale on judgment and execution, but
to exempt 1t from taxes of all sorts and
kinds. Qsn't that anarchy, good men,
Der of the gold-bug g. o. p. or the Cleve-
land d. o. p.?) want to keep the roof
over the heads OF others when the man
himself is gone. want that homestead
to belong not only to the man
but also to his wife and chill
dren. 1 would like to live to see
a roof over the heads Of all the families
of the republic. 1 tell you it does a
man good to have a home. When you
set out tree you have new interest
I'm thisworld. When you own a. tract Of
land you feel as if You and Jehovah
were partners All these things dignity