The morning times., 1897-03-01
HOW TO REFORM MANKIND
Col. Ingersol's View of Mans
Ideal Happiness.
NATURE HIS ONLY TEACHER
Broad Discussion of the Study
and Practice OF Material Phil
osophy-Some Caustic Criticisms
of the Inefficacy Of the Chris
tian Greed. 1 q

of the Inefficacy Of the Chris
tian Greed. "a
Col. Robert G.. Ingersoll not a moment
older and not a whit less aggressive than
many years ago, delivered, perhaps. his
ahlest special plea against the Christian
religion last night before very large
audience at the New National Theater
IL could be anticipated that there would
be III attendance more than so per cent
oi Womankind, lnasmuen as the piose-poet
was TO talk on How to Reform Mankind" "
1hcre was, as usual, a great deal OF ap-
pituse for the fire phrases of his oratory,
Dut the biggest wave that swept over the
house was when he referred to the cru
esade' or The preachers against the news.
boys Tor The reason, as he put it, that the
latter were interfering with the "busi-
ness" of the former.
Col. luseTsOll spoke from the two CORE
lated themes, There is no darkness but
ignorance, and his own converse, In
telliEcnce is the only light His whole
argument was contained i'll the assertion
that If the human race was to improve
1T could only be through the development
OF the brain. Every human being he as
sumed to be necessary product and every
one OF them had some defect with the
exception, perhaps, of orthodox ministers
OF the gospel, and every step in ciyiliza-
ton widened the horizon OF man. he
savage was influenced by appearances
ana passion and therefore he sought the
nj nF
however, is II myth, and nature is our only
mother and teacher, although man has
believed there was master behind it,
aut he awoke and found that the ren'c-
dies of life's ills were to be sought in
nature herself, and even the pope, when
he was sick, did not send for saints
homes, pewter virginsor little brass Christs,
but for the doctor.
The age Of miracles has departed for
the good OF humanity. Again, nobody
would contend that ali tine pOpes. priests,
parsons, or even eXhorters, ever did, or
ever would, succeed in praying down one
drop of rain from the COncave. The super
natural, too, had passed away as the
foundation of government, and, here, gov
eminent rested on the consent Of the gov
erned. AS to the theories about morality,
| lie held that whatever tended to the hap
! piness ofthe race was moral and the reverse
| immoral. Proving the responsibility of
man to the Infinite Reine,' If there be
! such a thing, lie said that the Infinite
| doesn't want anything, does nothing con
| seuuently, and therefore cannot affect
! us An would be well as n beginning
| if man could understand that the universe
! is absolutely natural, and that prosperity
| is not the product OF prayer Col. Inger
| soI then pitched into Jehovah In his
| old time way and abused Him for letting
| His enemies butcher His friends, the
| innocent to die on scaffolds, etc, as IN
| former lectures.
| Some of the lecturer S suggestions as TO
! how to reform mankind were first TO
| avoid waste. as in the money employed in
| keeping up standing armies with which
| christians intended TO kill other gentle
men for whom Christ died" and folio wing
up this idea, ne stood for ali kinds of arbi-
| tration, and especially an international
| court, which alone should have an army
and navy to enforce its just DEGREES
Another waste was the money invested
| in churches, in1smuch as crime had not
! decreased at home, while millions were
| sent abroad to convert the heather. He
| suggested 4 model church, in which some
| gentleman of genius" not called, "
| should talk every Sunday on some sub
| iect that he knew something about, and
| that the building should be equipped
| with billiard and card rooms, libraries,
! etc, to make it interesting to the Con-
gregation The Sunday school should also
be a house of education, where people
| could learn something about Aeschylus
| Socrates, sculpture and poetry, instead
| of about Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The
congregation Of such church, he thought,
would be the most Intelligent in the
| United States.
He would reform the penitentiaries- Men
had failed to reform the world by punish
| ment and death, for they would commit
murder if the government did it. Society
he said, had the right to reform, but not
| to punish. He would have Convicts paid fol
their work, and go out TO the world with
| n change OF name and sufficient money tC
face it without the certainty OF going
| back again a S convlcts.
| Another way to reOrm the world was
to make the home beautiful and happy,
asst was the unit of the nation. He hoped
| that the time for tenant homes would
Da SIS away ana every man nave nome.
| He would enlarge the operation OF the
| homestead law, and he would make the
sale Of surplus lands compulsory on de-
maud. He would have a free wife, u
free mother in every home" as the founda-
| tion of an ideal state OF human happi-
| ness He stood for divorce, to be granted
to the man on proof Of fragrant abuse
of the marriage VOWS by the woman; but
on the request" OF the wife, If she
found living with her partner intolerable
He characterized man as a beast
who would insist on keeping wife who
despised him All welcome children, he
maintained, should be the result Of nu-
tual love- and there never would be a
| generation of great men until there was
| n generation of great and free women,
One of the most beautiful of all the
orators flights was his eulogy Of the
word and idea OF maternity.
Col. Ingersoll closed his suggestions b,
| q discussion of the labor question, in which
he scored employers who underpaid thei
servants and otherwise took advantage o
their necessitous conditions. He believes
fiat one day labor would unite and solve