The independent. [volume] (Lincoln, Neb.) 1902-1907, 1904-10-20

hood is consistent with inequality Or
slavery.
II we are brothers. we must recog
nize equality, we must recognize lii
!erty. Not equal mentally, physically
morally, we separate ourselves .nJo
different groups social, religious, r.
| liticai-put the government which dos
not grant equal protection to all, equa
opportunity to all, equal justice to ai +,
prostitutes it's power, and is false =
its mission.
In this land, each of you is clothed
| by law with an equal voice, an equai
right to rule. With your ballot. aiii
through your representatives, you are
supposed to govern yourselves. II cur
system is all that it should be you
have but done your duty; you have
but proven yourselves worthy OF tbs
privileges and powers you inherited
from the real martyrs of the past. Ii
your system is not what it should be,
yours is the fault, for the responsibility
was on you, and you had within your
own hands the weapon with which It
was intended you should forever de
tend your liberties-the ballot.
Let us briefly glance at some OF thu
features OF our system. Let us face
the facts Let us grannle with actual
conditions and see what it is that dis
satisfies us. Let us know ourselves i
the broadcast scope of the, adase.
| Wastebasket Of Humanity
ye - t,,,r ~. ,,,.. that ,,,illio,,c of hui
iaAn beings among us never nave
enough to ed never know what it is
to have sufficient N 81 81 and fool
land raiment and shelter? IS n IN .
that children perish for lack OF arr:
THAT women stitch their lives out il
filthy sweat shops. or are driven D..
unmercllul poverty into the hopeless
caverns OF vice? That men toll and
moil all the days of their I1ves al
heavy tasks. never knowing what I
ls to have rest from the yoke, never
out of sight of he. yaWning pit 0f
lpauperism and are turned out at last
when bent and spent, to totter, IA,
broken IN mind and heart and Douy,
into the waste basket of humanity
called potter's Field?
y Is it true that the great part OF
the wealth of this Wealthiest land on
the globe was made by the toll OF the
tEnpriviieged millions With his rife
1.-THE plain citizen of The United sta Is
won the land in which we live; with
his axe he conquered the forest, with
his spade he reclaimed the MARSH !;
with his plow he made the seed-bag
for the harvest; with his troSel or
his saw and plane and hammer, de
built your houses; with his pick ar /:
his shovel he ripped open the very
bowels OF the earth ard too out lie
precious metal hidden there from the
foundation of the world. Vino can us
putc this recital CT the deeds done Is
the plain common people of Tie land /:
Nobody can do it; nobody tries to do
1t.
=. Never Created One Dollar
WTlsEa js,the greater part III all tbs
wonderful pr01uniiap of wealth which
has taken place mere 10i thae last one
hundred years? Who has got it. Eel
the men whose toll created ii. No. Al
most entirely it Is in the hands of men
who never created one dollar of IT,
Almost entirely it is in the hands Of
men who never in all their lives dit
an honest days work.
How did they get 1t? Mainly b.
operation of laws which violate every
principle of common sense, common
justice, common right. Certain me.l
have been granted privileges not en-
loyed by others; certan men hay e
been exempted from the burdens OF
government; certalif men have been
given the right to tax their fellow ci.i-
zens. These unnatural, irresistible am;
immensely important inequalities IL
law have during the long period OF q
century been operating silently, con-
sistently and persistently in favor III
their beneficiaries at the expense CT
their victims. There can only be the
one fault. Those who had the advant-
age used it-reaping where they hau
not sown. Those to whose disadvantage
the special privileges had been granted
had to bear the loss. Under forms ..
law their property, the produce of their
labor was annually taken from then.
and given to those whom the law