The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1904-08-13


Been Obliged TO Fight for His Lib
erty, that the Declaration Of Inde-
pendenee was written Under In
tense Exoiten, ,ent-eigeiow Makes
Strong Answer. .:
A Chicago preacher declared the
other day: There never was a more
interesting falsehood than "a IL men are
born free and equal Freedom is
something to be. won. Men are not
born free.'
These words u were taken from the
public press. He: may have qualified
them. But as they stand they seem
to assume that either the authors or
the readers Of this declaration are
fools.
The men who put their names on
that declaration we'll knew that might
be signing their death warrant They
understood quite as we'll as this
preacher that freedom had to be won.
What made them great was the con-
vfctton that, under Gotl they were en-
titled to their freedom, and that the
men who tried to rob them Of it were
offenders against heavens laws.
Acentury and half removed from
the bullets 'of the redcoats, does this
preacher stand iii hts pulpit in security
and tell our youth that the men who
bequeathed them their liberties pelmed
off upon the werld interesting false
hoods: which should be outgrown.
There were greater need that preach
ers should earnestly commend to our
young men the. eternal principles of
this declaration. What does 1t teach
Freedom is natural law, and the
moral obligation1I rests upon human
government to respect that law. 1t
means that mans soul needs freedom
as much as his body needs food. 1t
means that liberty. is a necessary con-
dition Of mans moral welfare Every
page Of history bears witness to this
fact. The centuries are eloquent with
warnings: to thoee. who ignore it.
II We know anything about God, we
know that he. intended man to live in
state Of freedom. If any obligation
rests upon man, :It is the obligation to
respect his brother's. freedom. Shame
Iup' s. ..Ill'
s
IDS
of] their fenoa nc sI11a alxinls st the, Old
World tyfantss until, they no longer
understand=# the glory Of that great
declaration, which made the heart of
man leap with hope when it was born,
and which has sent light down the
centuries to guide nations now un-
born.
This Declaration that all men are
born free states as sober a truth as
does not declafe the obvious absurdity
that men are not born with different
and unequal endowments. It was not
referring to natural endowments; it
was discussing political principles. 1t
was disputing the right of any man to
lord 1t over his fellows by means of
unequal laws. When the children of
queens are born with the stamp of
royalty upon them; when the mine
monopolist can show US his title deeds
duly signed by Almighty God; when
the unrequited toilers are born with
out stomachs, and the luxurious and
the idle are born without hands--then
we may know that Jefferson was
wrong in asserting that men are born
with an equal right to political JUS
tice, and with an equal right to deter
mine the form Of the governments un-
der which they must live and work.
The child of an Astor comes into
the world as naked as the waif of
Five Points. Land monopoly makes
the difference. Nature does not starve
one and gorge another. Human law
does that. To the stars above, men
are brothers, heirs Of common houn-
ty, children Of the same impartial faith
er.
That government which exaggerates
the differences Of Nature, making the
strong stronger and the weak weaker,
violates primary justice. This is the
teaching Of our immortal charter. 1t
is the Golden Rule translated into
politics. Let us teach our children to
love it, that in all coming days it may
be, as Lincoln said, rebuke and a
stumbling-block to the very harblng-
ers OF reappearing tyranny and oppres-
sion." .
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