The herald., 1896-09-08

hogs. Uaughter.) An idea Is the most
important thing that a person can get
into his head. and we gather our idas
from every source. AS I was riding
along noticed these hogs roofing in a
field and they were tearing up the
ground and the first thought that came
to me was that they were destroying
| good deal of property and that carried
me back to the time when as a boy I
lived on farm. and remembered that
when we had hogs we used to put rings
in the noses of the hogs and then the
thought came to me why did we do
it?' Not to keep the hogs from getting
tat. WeSwere more interested in their
getting fat than they were. Iaughter.)
The sooner they got fat the sooner we
killed them; the longer they were in get
ting fat, the longer they lived. But why
were the rings put in the noses of those
hogs? So that while they were getting
rat they would not destroy more prop
erty than they were worth. daughter
and applause.) And as thought of that
this thought came to me that one of the
duties of government, one of the i'm
portant duties of government is the put
ting Of rings in the noses of hogs. Gap
slider this reflection on your. neighbor.
We are all hoggish. We are all selfish,
my friends, and we must not apply this
lesson to somebody else. If you tell me
| that you are not selfish can prove by
your neighbor that you are (applause)
and If your neighbor denies that he is
selfish 1 can prove by you that he is
Applause.) We are all selfish. The
| creator did not make any class Of peo-
pie who were entirely unselfish, but I
have faith in our form Of government,
because believe that the people, in their
better moments, will adopt laws which
Will restrain themselves in hours of
temptation, in order that their neigh
bors may alse be restrained in hours of
temptation. (Applause.)
When I say that one of the duties of
the government is to put rings in the
noses of the hogs, I simply mean this:
That while society is interested in hav-
| ing every citizen become independent
| become self-supporting, society is iu-
| terested in having every citizen secure
enough of this worlds goods, not only to
supply his own wants, but to educate
| his children and leave him something
for his declining days But while society
is interested in this. society is also in
terested in having laws that will pre-
vent him from destroying more than
he is worth while he is securing his own
independence. (Applause.)
| Our government is the best form of
government known among men, not be-
cause every law is good, not because
we have upon the statute books every
law needed to protect each citizen in the
enjoyment of his rights; ours is the best
form Of government known among men
| because 1t is possible under our form
] OF government to have just as good
| government as the people deserve; ours
| is the best form of government because
1t is possible for the people to make 1t
reflect the best intelligence, the highest
virtue and the broadest patriotism Of
all the people,.
| Let me warn you against confusing
government with the abuses of govern
| ment. Andrew Jackson said that there
was no necessary evil in government,
| that its evils existed only in it's abuses
He was.right, my friends There are no
necessary evils in government, and no
| man who understands the advantage of
government will ever raise his voice or
hand against government ITSELF 1t is
the abuse of government against which
we have the right to complain. There
are some who would silence every criti-
cism of existing law. There are those
who would denounce every one who
| advocates any change as a disturber of
public peace. There are those who
would call disturber one VINO
diSnnnfapf nj to t/
that discomfort lies at the base of all
progress (Applause.) So long as you
are satisfied you never go forward. Il
is only when you are dissatisfied with
your conditions that you try to improve
those conditions. Why, my friends, had
our forefathers been satisfied with En-
glish political supremacy we never
would have had declaration of indie
pendence. (Applause.) They We're not
content with the conditions under which
they lived, and they put that expression
of discomfort in the form of a declara-
tion of independence and maintained
that declaration with their blood, and
it gives us this form of government.
There is this difference between our
form of government and the monarchical
form: If you are discontented against
monarchy, how can you get relief?
You can petition, but your petition may
be disregarkd d. Discomfort under a
monarchy may end in despair or it may
end in revolution Discomfort under our
form of government ends in reformation
through the peaceful means of the bal
lot. (Applause.)
/ am not going to violate the proprie-
ties of this occasion by entering into a
discussion of partisan questions, but L
desire to call your attention to a certain
broad questions, which cannot be con-
fined by party lines. The ballot Is the /
means by which the people of this coun-
try must right every wrong and if the
people have not the independence; if
they have not the intelligence to right
their wrongs at the ballot box, they have
not the courage to secure their rights in
any other way. (Applause.) But, my
friends, conditions arose in this country
wich made 1t impossible for the country
to use the ballots which they had. Cap
plause.) There were certain influences
so strong. SO powerful. that men were
afraid to exercise freely and upon their
own conscience the political rights given
them under our institutions. What did
they do? 1 honor the laboring men of
the country and organized la hor sta nd