The Louisiana populist., 1895-12-27
SAUL ON IGNORANCE.
LIBERTY WITHOUT RECOCNI-
TON OF OTHERS RIGHTS.
. People Intelligent on Economic Lines
Cannot be Csjoled Into Servitude--"The
Chain That Has Held Mankind In Bond
age is Ignorance"

Liberty can only come by intelli.
Eence. Intelligence can only be gained
oy thoughtful study and patient perusal
of facts. The chain that has held
mankind in bondage is Ignorance. By
universal intelligence upon the lines
Of economics it will be impossible to
raiole men into servitude, in relegat-
ing their rights and liberties to the dis
oOsal of others. A glance at the his
.Ory of the world shows cOnclusively
that government has ever been the
special province of the few, because the
many were too ignorant to claim their
tights, and have bowed to those whom
,hey were taught to believe were their
letters. Nor has superstition lacked
n its influences to subvert mems
minds, by those who have wickedly
proclaimed themselves possessed of su-
perior powers and knowledge, derived
direct from God the father of us all,
who cares equally for all and favOrs
none. In fact the suppression of lib
erty may be traced more fully to this
cause than any other. This species of
ignorance is the most difficult to over
come. Mans great dread and ter
rOr of the unseen renders him the
abject slave of those who work upon
his cowardice, timidity and super
stitions, and such are ever the ready
servants of the rich and influential, so
great is their power that even awak-
ened thought is checked, as being re-
belliOus and improper, and the would
be reformer shrinks from running
counter to those who profess to have
special charge of his soul.
No march in reform will be made
till this spell is broken. 1t is painful
fact that all such from the early days
of paganism to the latest of Christian
ity have sought to check the progress
of human thought, from whence must
spring human liberty. No fraternal
world can be founded until a universal
recognition of the EatherhoOd of
God, free from every form of dOctrinal
restraint is an established fact. The
schisms of centuries must be cast aside.
The high order of mans purpose and
existence must be understood, rccOg-
nized and practically consummated, in
each believing he must live for all, and
all for each.
No liberty, no fraternity, can co-ex-
list without a recognition of the sacred
ness of the rights of others, and uni
versal code of honor, honesty and in
tegrity, at least equal to the Peruvians'
four hundred years ago, who could
leave all their belongings by placing a
white rod at their door, and return at
an indefinite period to find them intact.
The sacredness of honesty may well
call forth the epigram ''An honest man
is the noblest work of God" $50 in
terwoven is this with national comfy
that its absence is destroying our civil
lization; upon it hinges every founda-
tion of our well being, prosperity and
happiness, its phases are so numerous
that it enters into every act of selfish
ness of the individual. Without it
there is no faith or hope. Without it,
the sense of duty is entirely absent,
without it we drift to chaos.
1t is the handspring of every noble
act, it is the very bulwark of our lib
critics. 1t is the keystone of justice.
1t is the foundation of true social
order. That Indifference that leaves
to others all that the individual ought
to do is one of its many phases, with
out it we are a seething cauldrOn of
corruption.
Surely God Almighty can have no
use for dishonest man; the simple
minded, honest man may learn, but the
dishonest never. In short, there can
be no hope for our civilization, while
the dishonest believe that an act of
grace can convert them, irrespective of
that personal sacrifice to the holy cause
of all mankind, that must alone qualify
them to live life hereafter. '.As the
tree falleth so shall it lie."
Progress, liberty, justice and human
fraternity can only cO-exist by the un-
fiinching and untiring effort of each
to honestly do his part to all. Too
little is the priceless gem priced, too
often is it cast aside for those temporal
tiles that only work their own destruc-
ton to the mistaken.-William Saul in