Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1895-02-16

have mistaken your calling. or, at
least, in assuming it, to have neglect
ed covering over those defects which
betray you, somewhat like the wolf
that got inside the sheepskin and let
the wolf hair show around. In the
first place. there is difference be.
tween "a prophet" and Ia fool" A
prophet is a divinel y-inspired man
who knows both the present and the
future far beyond the ken of the
ordinary, or even the ''originaF man,
like my humble self. He has no need
to ask what Is, or what is to be. He
asks nobody. Every body looks up to
him he gives forth the fiat and that
settles it. He would not be found
guilty of some wise mems processes
of asking questions to trap those given
to augmentation. He is none of your
petty men. He is away off. He com.
munes with God. sees spirits. lives in
solitude. and when he speaks his
prophetic utterances he is present him.
SELF; everybody knows that it is he and
his fame spreads in ''the country round
about" 1T such Is his high estate he
would under no circumstances allow
himself to be found i'll the category of
the fool who had it said of him-"anv
fool can ask questions, but it takes a
wise man to answer them" 1t may
be that am no "onginaT that my
view of the requirements of ''proph-
et' are peculiarly my own, and are
unshared by the world at large. If it
so be, trust the editor of the jour
NAL will determine before publishing
this dialogue, and kindly prevent me
from scattering Affections among the
public. | will now proceed to con
slider you in the light of that gentleman
! (for there is possibility of his being
one exteriorly) who has such an apt
itude for asking questions of wise
men.
| H. W.-Are the laws of man a
source of justice at all? If source
of Justice" how beautiful a source WAS
it to the negro where the law made
him slave
L. That depends upon whether man
made laws are source of justice among
| civilized men: one is the law of man,
presided over by its judges, and the
other is the law of God. Justice
among men varies greatly. What one
| Hdtlou COuolueIS JUST, duo'ucl COu-
siders unjust What. one State con-
siders just, another considers unjust.
What one individual considers just,
another considers unjust. There is
no accounting for tastes.' as the old
man said when she kissed the COW.
In the days of slavery the south held
to a very different idea of justice on
that subject to the north. Judge and
jury in South Carolina would have de-
cided any questions pertaining to it
very differently from the same bodies
in New England prior to the late war,
achile in the early history Of tile country. the
decision arould hare been the same, as siaeerg
@as introduced into this country Mr0ugh
Neso England, and it was only on ac-
count of the climate being too severe
for their remunerative employment
that they were sold to the south and
became its peculiar institution. Thus
we see that the same class of men who
call thing just at one day, call it
wrong the next. If all gleTaxers
owned property and were looked to to
give it up the same as if they were
abolitionists holding slaves, | trow
we would not hear SO much about
Single-TaX. Private ownership of
land would be esteemed with its usual
business. There are men who say
that there are "white slaves" now
slaves of labor-whom anarchy,
socialism, Single-Tax and labor re,
forms seek to free, and who are
driven by capitalists who hire and pay
them for their labor. Here again
there is a great diversity of opinion
regarding what is called justice; bu,
we have to accept justice as it is given
to us by the courts. Ii we do not like
1t, we have some chance Of changing
it in the ordinary line of changing
mems beliefs, until there is popular
demand for judges COMFORTING with
the change. For myself. when | was a
horny handed son of toll "before the
mast and behind the pillow. working
for capitalists, ] felt myself just as
free and independent an American
citizen as feel now that my working
days are past. 1t is for the reason
that there is such diversity of opinion
among men regarding justice, and that
Henry George seems to place no con
fidence in them himself, that sought
to transfer the trial of Sing. e-Tax, in its
moral aspects, to the tribunal of chris
tianity. was further encouraged Sc
to do by the apparent appreciation
Henry George had OF christianity, as
| thought that, like the slaye-owpers
he would appreciate his assumed
authority.
Remainder of this letter, signed Francis b
| Livesey, will appear next week.
\ Warm Analysis Of IIvesey's
Arguments.
PI-uRDpr Mn lam