The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1907-09-28

do not regard this an an occasion
when l am to fill a line of your printed
programme and occupy an hours time
in saying agreeable things 10 you. I
regard it as great privilege to be
able to speak to the coming gener-
alton, and I consider it my solemn
duty to say those things which I truly
believe,-those things which I hope
that you may begin your life where
end mine
It is as if torch bearer began mill
lions of years ago running down the
ages with his light, at first but a
feeble spark, which as he fell breath.
less he passed to another and he in
turn to another, the torch growing and
flaming more brightly until at last it
has been committed to our hands, and
as one Of the humblest runners of
my generation offer into your hands
are the torchbearers who must in your
turn take up the running. You are
the warriors for the coming ight-the
endless fight which the human race is
making for higher and a sweeter
life.
What shall we give to the young
men who are going down to battle?
With what shall we arm them? We
will give them Truth for their shield
and Freedom for their shining sword.
And what is Truth? It is that which
always is, which altereth not, which is
the harmony of the universe. The law
which holds the planets in their orbits
is a part of it. The light of the sun
and the life Of the earth and death of
man are Truth. Truth is that which
was from the beginning, ard is, and
ever shall be unto the end. It is that
which in the midst of change in all
things, changeth not. It IS itself the
very rule and order Of change. To
know Truth is to know that eternal
change is the order of the universe.
All things have been changing and are
now changing, and will forever change
the Earth and all the inhabitants
thereof, Man and all his institutions.
There is nothing which can be kept
unchanged or which ought to be kept
unchangcd; for if there be no change
then Death has indeed come. While
the Earth lives man will live and
must continually change; and all those
things which are of him and from him
must change except in so far as they
are founded in Truth.
You do not step from this hall out
into the streets of Seattle, you do not
take up your own paltry struggle for
existence; but you step out into the
universe, and you take part in the evo-
luton of man. You take part in the
evolution of mind. Evolution itself is
part of the great universal doctrine of
change. 1t is part of the invincible
Truth which is to be your shield.
I have heard it said by some that
the doctrine Of evolution brought only
despair to the world; that it's fruit
was bitterness; that it takes away
God and heaven and the Immortality
Of the SOUL But Truth is the harmony
of the universe, and I deny that the
truth can ever be bitter to the children
Of men,
If we have lost a god who was a die
tator Of the skies, choosing men and
races of men according to his whim,
and visiting vengeance upon the poor
ignorant insects at his feet, we have
gained the idea Of a Creator who is
impartial in all things and beneficent
in all things; who has set in motion
eternal laws which make man himself
creator Of his own destiny, maker Of
his own heaven and his own hell. 1t
is said that by Truth we have lost
the idea Of a Redeemer, the Son of
God, sent to save mankind; but I say
that if we have lost the tdea Of an
interceder before judge who could be
swayed by prayers and petitions, we
have gained the idea of Christ, our
dear and sweet brother, who was man
as we are men, close to us, one whose
patience and love and charity we may
hope to emulate. And as the supreme
triumph Of Truth, rising like a paean
Of joy to the everlasting skies, we ex-
change the tradition of original sin and
Adams fall for the glorious discovery
that the human race has. never, in all
, the millions of aeons of Time, fallen
by the estimation of a. hair; but has
steadily pushed upward, from the feeb-
lest and humblest beginning to the
present, when the mind Of man Is
seeking in humility and not in pride
to unravel the mysteries of the uni
verse, filing the hearts of men with
poetry and beauty, singing songs which
rejoice the heart, Harvesting the light
ming and weighing the stars, question:
ing all things as it has good right to
do, and giving hope Of a glorious pro-
gress for untold ages to come.
All this glorious achievement toward
Truth could not have been accom-
plished but for Freedom. You cannot
bind down the limbs and have them
develop. You cannot pen up any
species of animal and have it evolve
anything from captivity but degener-
alton; and it is as true of the mind as
of the body. There can be no evolu-
ton upward and onward save where
Freedom is. You can no more bind
the mind and have it develop than
you can bind the arm and have it de-
velop. You can no more develop
morals and strength Of will and OF
thought for another than you can eat
and exercise and develop muscles and