The Topeka state journal., 1897-02-20


another I do not know, but I may
have used in your presence an illus
tration which to my mind is an apt
one You know we get our ideas from
every source. You never know just
when you are going to get an idea.
You never know just the effect an idea
is going to have on you. An idea is the
most important thing a man can get in
TO his head. 1t will revolutionize his
whole life. You put an idea into a
mans head and you never can tell
what is going to be the result of it. We
get our ideas from every source. AS I
was going through Iowa one day on
the train l saw some hogs roofing in
a field. 1t carried me back to the time
when I lived on a farm, and when we
had hogs, and as I noticed the damage
those hogs were doing, the thought oc-
CURED to me that we used to put rings
in the noses of our hogs, and then the
question suggested itself to my mind,
Why did we do it? Not to keep the
hogs from getting fat; we were more
interested in their getting fat than
they were. The sooner they got fat
the sooner we killed them: the longer
they were getting fat. the longer they
lived. Why did we put rings in the
noses of the hogs while they were get
ting fat? In order that they might not
destroy more property than they were
worth! Then the thought came to me,
What is government but the putting of
rings into the noses Of hogs? (Great
ShSSA1I4S anu ldQSnI0I.J L t1O IAOI 1IIS0L
it in any offensive sense, but mean to
assert that we are all hoggish, that we
all have the instinct of self -preserva-
ton, which is manifested in what is
known as selfshness. 1 am one of
those who admit that there Is good in
selfishness. The more l see of the way
in which the Creator has planned the
universe, the better satisfied [ am that
he was wise when he did it. 1 be-
lieve that when he made man selfish he
had a purpose in it. Selfishness, as
I said is the manifestation of the in
stinct of self preservation. I take care
of myself, and you take care of your
self 1 am glad that the Creator has
arranged it so that I can look after
myself instead of having to have some
body else to do it for me, because, if
get into danger, my guardian is always
there; whereas, if some body else mad
been appointed to look after me, he
might not be there when 1 wanted him.
1t is all right; the wrong is when you
carry your selfishness too far. In other
words, while you have the right to look
after yourself, 1 say that wisdom
teaches us that we can better afford to
put limitations upon our greed ana
avarice than to leave the greed and
aVarice of others without limitation,
and every law that begins Thou shalt
noti'' is simply a ring in the nose OF a
hog Now, my friends, it is more nee
essary than it ever was L want TO ex-
press it as my deliberate judgment that
of the human race when the restrain
ing part of government was as neceS-
sary as it is today Why, In the pc
ginning. it was necessary to protect
the weak from the strong man; but the
differences between men are not great
No man is twice as tall as the aver
age man. The strength of men IS not
so very different. The strongest man
is not many times stronger than the
weakest man. There are differences
in mental ability, differences in train
ing and power, yet the differences be
tween men, measure them as you Will,
are not so great as you might imagine
But here we have an improved ma
chine: we have the aid of inventive
genius; then we have the corporate me-
which exists beyond the human ME
the corporation which enables a large
number of people to put their money
together and act as one man. w NAT
do YOU find? You find that, whereas, in
the early days, you had to protect the
weak man against the strong man, To-
dav YOU have to protect the weak mem
bers of society from these great ana
overshadowing members of society
1t is harder today to protect each CIT
izen in the enjoyment OF ll1e anu prop
ertv and in the pursuit of happiness
that it ever was before in all the hlsto-
ry of the human race and today, more
than ever before, do we need that part
of government which is known as the
retraining part of government
Now, my friends, we have to meet
these great questions. and 1 believe it
is better to meet them right now, tnan
to wait until the influences winch TIl,Ns's We
must combat become stronger Every
once in a while we have trust or
ganized; every once in while trust
breaks up The existence OF a trust IS
generally denied until it breaks up, and
then everybody cOnfesseS that there
was a trust, and it has gone out OF eX-
istence. Some times they nave an IN
vestigation of a trust, and Wnen tney 90
something that is not known in any
other department of life. If you nave
friend whose memory is failing, you
cav "Poor man. you pity him; you
eao, so-rv for him: but whenever you
have an investigation of trust, you
find that the largest salaries are pald
to the men who have the weakest mem
cries of the details of the trust I on nno
these great aggregations of wealth
What is the effect of them? Why, my
friends. the one effect that is talked
about the most, is to my mind, one OF
tbe smallest effects, and one of the
least evils. We say that the trouble
with a trust is that it drives out compe-
tition, and then having destroyed COM
petition, it raises prices, ana coI!ectS
from the people an unjust tax Whlcn
they are compelled to pay because their
necessities compel them to purchase.
Yes that is one of the troubles, but to
ti0n 10 trusts To my mind the greatest
vice of the trust is that any government
that let's it live confeSSeS that 1t mas
created a being that is greater than the
government which has created it. The
moment you permit trust to exist in a
state you admit that the rest OF the peo-
ple are not as big as that one thlng
that lives and thrives upon the down
fail of the rest of the people. More than
that: When you permit it to live. you
say that your son and my son; or any
body's son, may start out in business;
he NAV have character; he may have
industry; he may have integrity but
vet you don't know the day when some
te17 him that he must ether join in a
Conspiracy con against his fellow men, or
else he driven out of business, have his
capital sacrificed, his occupation de-
stroved and become an outcaSt, per-
haps with a large judgment hanging