The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1898-03-14
THE THEORY OF EQUAL. RIGHTS.
Representative Mcguire Talks In
teresifngIy on Single Tax.


evening upon THE True Theory of Equal
Rights" This was the second of series
Of meetings devoted to political econ
omy to be addressed by prominent men,
held under the direction of DIR. Kent, of
the Peoples Church. Mr. Mcguire made
an eloquent and convincing argument,
defining the God-given rights of men, one
Of which is the right TO earn a living out
Of the soil, which no man produced, nor
can produce.
Men come together" he said, by
force OF that law known as gregarious-
ness. They come together 10y the force
of laws above them and permeating their
lives 10y the decree Of the author OF all
life. There does not seem 10 be any true
conception Of mans relations, OF the
moral obligations resting upon govern
ments To- respect the rights of the weak
en- In the schools and colleges there Is
now doctrine taught that causes this
confusion This doctrine is that i'm
society there is no such thing as nat
ural rights. Men surrender whatever
rights they may have for the social
rights they receive from governments.
According to that doctrine they have
their rights. II was a doctrine promul-
gated for the purpose Of sustaining tot
teriug monarchies. missionaries and oil
Earchios
-All men have certain rights-thc right
90 life the right 10 liberty, and the equal
right 10 the use of the earth-rights be-
longing To- them anterior To the cstab-
lshmcnt Of human governments. Earth
was the gift Of God To man anterior to
the establishment OF any form of gov
eminent II they deny the existence OF
God they must admit that prior to the
establishment Of any form OF govern
meut the rights Of all men were equal
But they claim that there were no hu-
man rights: that the weak preyed upon
the strong. and that this was the rule Of
right prevailing among mankind, just as
among the lower order of animals. And
80, by this process OF reasoning. they
have demonstrated the utter absence Of
any natural rights. and claim that what
the weak get they owe to the govern
ment. If there were any natural rights
in man entering society and taking
chances with his fellows. he surrendered
these natural rights and took back So
cial rights.
This argument" said Mr.. Mcguire.
"omits the total difference between man
an the lower order or animals. To ar
que that the God OF nature gave man
no rights is to deny the moral nature of
men. In man there is Il moral nature
planted by the Creator which sets limits
TO mems rights. The strong and the
fierce who did not respect the moral
rights of the weak were following the
savage example Of the lower animals. If
there had been no such evu-diSpOsed per-
sons, governments would have been un-
necessary. The establishment Of govern
mentS did not establish or create any
new rights but were established as an
institution to prevent the evil disposed
from interfering with the equal rights of
any.
There are certain rights that are in
alienable Life is inalienable-life is a
natural right. Liberty is readily admit
ted TO be the natural right Of all men.
Pursuit OF happiness is another inalien-
able right % an men. BY pursuit Of hap
piness is meant the seeking after proper
raiment shelter and food. and passing
above such things TO the qualification Of
the kcener senses by such things as We
cali luXuries. TO preserve life and liber-
~ man must have the use Of the earth.
II the first two are inalienable rights,
the latter certainly is, as without it the
other two cannot exist
What did this Government do with
/ its land Sell ii, 50 that now the citi-
! zeus may be denied the right TO live upon
| the soil Of their own country. They also
! sold to citizens Of foreign countries and
/ the citizens Of a county in California are
now sending $7H0.Jjo a year TO five or six
Enclishmen. who have never seen the
soil of California. FOR the privilege OF de-
YclOpinE the soil Of their own country.
The land constitutes the country. The
citizens Of the United States are in the
habit II referring TO this as our coun-
try when many OF us cannot lay claim
10 single foot Of its soil. The country
belongs Co the men who own the soil and
fraEe. The day viii come when there
viii Doe no public lands and the citizen
viii ask whore he can go. Not to Eng
I land for there even the highways are a
place % activity and he will not be al
lowed 20 stop or sleep upon them. But
/ Prof. Pollock asks where a citizen may
20 without the permission Of any one
and say I am here because / have "A
right as citizen Of this country to be
here2 tie has only found one place
the close shore of the sea: that is the
strip % land on the shore between the
high and low water marks. He cannot
even 40 up In a balloon. for according
10 law the landlord possessed Of a plat
Of the surface Of the earth owns to its
center In convereing lines and to the ethe-
real dome in diverging lines.
AS our laws are adapted from the Eng
fish and enforced I'm their harshest form,
the citizen Of the United States has no
right 10 the soil of his country. Even the
Government has reserved no rights and
may have to go to some private individ-
ual in a foreign country to get permits
sion 10 use that which is its natural prop
erty.
There are two things which this coun-
try ought TO amend or minimize There
are hundreds of thousands Of American
citizens who are unable TO support them
selves. though strong and willing to work,
and are condemned to starvation just as
truly, as surely. as cruelty. as barbar-
iously and murderously as the reconcen-
trados, who are being driven by Spain
from the island of Cuba. Aye, Spain is
cruel and her intent was TO murder all
| the inhabitants of the island she could
| and reduce the rest to subsection.
but she could not do II and she dared
not shoot down all those found without
| arms for fear Of the effect upon all civiliZ-
| ed nations and knew that if she dared TO
/ do so her government would not longer be
allowed to exist and as a nation she
would disappear from the map. But she
could starve them to death and the world
would permit.
! There has been wide wave of sympa-
thy sweeping over this country for the
pacificos who were driven into the cities
and are being starved to death. We may
| be able to turn back that tide of senti-
| ment among ourselves and where Spain
| has starved between two and four hun
| dred thousand Cubans, we have driven
millions of our citizens to pauperism, pri-
! walton and death. We have destroyed by
| the same method we condemn Spain for
/ i'm the island of Cuba. Spain, however,
! has done ii with murderous intent. while
| we have been. led into ii through the ig-
norance OF the higher natural laws While
hers was wfllfully and for the purpose
| of determination. we have done the same
! thing in another way.