The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1915-05-25
THE Rights of Man."
BY Or. FRANK CRANE
Copyright. 1915, by Frank Crane)

EVERY young AHlcIlCtH, DOCK from
which extracts ought to be included in
every reader used in our public schools,
| is Thomas Paine's Rights of Man"
Because Of his severe criticism Of con-
ventlonal religion in his Age of Rea-
son and other writings, Tom Paine's
name used to be among the bugaboos for
children. and for long held place in that
dreaded and horrihc trinity Of "infdels,"
Noltaire. Paine. and lngersoll.
But this was more due to the temper
| of his time than to the nature of his
works; for what was bold and terrible
| in the age of the beginnings of free in
Quiry may now be heard from the most
orthodox puplltS. ! can assure the eau
! tiouS reader, however, that in the
Rights of Man" religion is scarcely
mentioned and not at all attacked So
much for the odium theologicum
/ Paine'S Rights of Man" was COM
posed as a reply 10 Burkes attack upon
the principles of republicanism as mani
/ tested IN the French revolution.
! IL Is a clear. masterful. and vigorous
statement of the fundamental ideas of
/ democracy; and this is what recon-
mendS II TO us Written about the time
/ Of the birth of the United States, and
/ dedicated To George Washington, il is
now, after century of experiment, still
one OF the best compendiums of democ-
racy 20 be found on the library shelf. II
/ deserves a place among the dozen epoch
making books of the race. Like Rants
Pure Reason" Rousseau'S Emile" and
/ DHrWin'S Origin of Species, il is mile
stone in human development that marks
! q point of progress that never can be re-
traced. There are few volumes that con-
tain 50 many sentences all men ought TO
know by heart.
The whole delusion Of monarchy is pitt
lesSly exposed; II is shown how militar-
ism is monarchy'S natural right hand;
the fallacy of punishment and governing
by terror and the injustice OF inheri-
tanCe and the established rule of the liv-
jug by the dead are riddled by his clear
reasoning.
Speaking 81 punishment, he says:
lay then the axe 10 the root and teach
governments humanity. II is their SAN
culinary punishments that corrupt man.
kind l. is over the lowest class Of man.
kind that government by terror, instead
ot reason. is intended 90 operate, and it
is on them il has its worst effect. They
at'lict in turn the examples Of terror
they have been instructed TO practice"
He thus inciSively marks the differ
enCe between monarchy and republic:
Governments arise either out Of or over
the people" The despotic governments
of Europe arose in conquest; those of
| France and America arose from the con-
sent of society itself.
This for hcreditics. The idea Of he
rcditary rulers or legislators is as incon-
siStent as that Of hereditary Judges or
hereditary Jurics and as absurd as a he
reditary mathematician and as ridicu-
lous as a hereditary poet laureate"
Here are some other pointed sayings:
a man or body of men holding them
selves accountable to nobody ought not
TO be trusted by anybody"
when a man in wrong cause at
tempt~ 10 steer his course by anything
else than some polar truth or principle,
ne is sure to be lost. Neither memory
nor invention will supply the want of
this. The former fails him, and the lat
ter betrays him"
Wrongs cannot have n legal descent"
Placemen. job-hoders. can find for the
svstcm or party under which they hold
office, "as many reasons as their salaries
amount TO-
Every war terminates with the addi-
lion Of taxes. War. therefore, is prin-
cpal part in the system of autocracies.
To establish any mode TO abolish war,
however advantageous il might be TO the
naIons. would be TO take from govern
ment the most lucrative of its branches.
The frivolous matters upon which war is
made show the avidty of governments to
uphold the system of war, and betray the
motives upon which they act
"The animosity which nations recipro-
Icallv entertain is nothing more than what
the policy Of their governments excite to
keep up the spirits of their system Each
government accuses the other of perfidy,
intrigue. and ambition, as means OF
heating the maginations of their respec-
tive nations, and incensing them to hos
/ tilities MAN IS NOT THE ENEMY OF
MAN but through the medium of false
government"
"The Rights of Man" has recently
been published, in attractive style and at
a cheap price in "Everybody's Library
NOT FROM WEST INDIES
,,.. .hnr rfn nIbI