The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-03-15

PHILOSOPHERS of the world with the great
thinkers. the great poets. the great inVen
tors. the captains of industry. the soldiers
of progress. Let them have a Sunday
school in which the children shall be made
acquainted with the facts of nature: with
and astronomy. Let them be made famil-
lar with the greatest of poems. the finest
paragraphs of literature. the stories of the
heroic. the self-denying and generous Now
il seems 70 me that such congregation in
a few years would become the most inteli-
gent people in the United States"
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT.
Touching upon the subject of crime and
punishment. Mr.. Ingersoll decried the pres
ent system of confinement for crime The
common system Of releasing. a man at the
place of confinement with merely enough
money to buy few meals and a ticket to
some point within the State. he said, was
the cause of many prisoners returning in
very short time. This is well known to
all. To remedy this he would establish re-
formatories for those not stepped in crime
where the prisoners would be given work
and education, with a reasonable compen-
Satlon Tor work actually done, making an
incentive for them TO do their best. This
money should be paid to the prisoner when
he leaves the place. He should also have
the right to change his name by legal pro-
cess so as TO lose his identity a criminal
and begin life anew. In speaking of the
the speaker SalO.
"Murderers. those belonging to the dam
gerous classes, those who are so formed
by nature that they rush 10 the crimes OF
desperation, should be imprisoned tor life
or they should be put upon some island,
some place where they can be guarded.
where II may be that by proper effort they
can support themselves, the men on one
these islands should be sent professional
criminals. those who have adopted a life
or crime Tor the purpose of supporting
themselves, the women upon one island,
the men upon another. Such people should
not populate the earth: Neither the
diseases nor the deformitieS of the mind
or body should be perpetuated. Life at the
FOUNTAIN should not be polluted.
=, MI; ingerson said he would advocate
law that would give absolute exemption 10
every home for a value OF $1,000 10 So 900
This exemption should be against execu-
ton for any purpose, taxes included. He
would also restrict the amount of land that
could be owned by any one person not sub
Ject TO a law that would give any indi-
vlduai the right TO petition court to con-
denim land so he could buy il for "A home
This would be for the purpose of encourage
ing home building. He said there is moth
ing more important 10 the future welfare of
America than that the babes should be
born at the fresides of homes.
Ihere Is another question in which
take great interest" he continued and il
ought, IN my judgment, to be answered by
the intelligence and kindness of our coun-
Try. we all know that for many, many
ages men have been slaves, and We all
know that during all these years women
nave TO some extent been the slaves of
slaves II Is of the utmost Importance TO
the human race that women, that mothers
should be free. Without doubt the con-
tract or marriage Is the most important
and the most sacred that human beings
can make. Marriage is the most important
or all human institutions. OF course the
ceremony OF marriage is not the real mar
riage. l. is only the evidence of the mutual
names that burn within. There can be no
real marriage without mutual love. So |
believe in the ceremony of marriage that
tlf.s hDr Dc L.,
Kept. Besides, the ceremony says TO all the
world that those who marry are in love
with each other.
BELIEVES IN EASY DIVORCE.
"Then arises the question of divorce
Millions of people imagine that the married
are Joined together by some supernatural
power. and that they should remain to-
gether or at least married during life If
all who have been married were joined to-
gether by the supernatural we must adj
NIT that the supernatural is not infinitely
wise.
After all, marriage is a contract. and
the parties to the contract are bound to
keep its provisions, and neither should be
released from such contract unless in some
way the interests of society are involved
/ would have the law SO that any husband
could obtain q divorce when the wife had
persistentiy and fiagrantly violated the con-
tract, such divorce TO be granted on
Spulapic teIHiS. WOULD give the wife a
divorce If she requested it, If she wanted it.
And L would do this not only for her
sake, but Tor the sake of the community
of the Nation. All children should be chill
dren of love- All that are born should be
sincerely welcomed. The children OF moth
ers who dislike or hate or loathe the
fathers will fill the world with insanity and
crime. No woman should by law by
pubic opinion be forced To live with man
whom she. abhors. There is no danger of
demoralizing the world through divorce
Neither Is there anv danger of destroying
in the human heart that divine thing called
love. As long as the human race exists
men and women will love each other and
just so long there will be true and perfect
marriage. Slavery is not the soil or rain
of virtue.
Il make difference between granting a
divorce TO a man and to a woman, and for
this reason: woman bowers her hus-
band with her youth and beauty. He
should not be allowed to desert her because
she has grown wrinkled and old. Her cap
ital is gone; her prospects in life lessened,
while, on the contrary, he may be far bet
ter able 10 succeed than when he married
her. As a rule, the man can take care OF
himself, and as q rule the woman needs
| help. So L would not allow him to cast her
off unless she had hagrantly violated the
contract. But for the sake OF the commun-
| ity, and especially for the sake of the
babes l would give her divorce for the
asking"
| Mr. mgersoll then devoted some time to
| the discussion of the labor question. He
| held that until the laboring people gained
| that intelligence that would cause them 10
| decide on a course and then follow II In
| unison. and to let circumstances broader
| than their own immediate surroundings as
| sist them in reaching conclusions, they
| could not hope for greater results than
| they We're now getting. He also spoke OF
| the employer The employer is controlled
| by forces beyond his power and cannot all
ways do what may seem to his employees
tc be the right thing to do. The address