Year: 1877

There was large attendance at the
Opera House to hear the eloquent orator
Colonel Robert J. Ingersoll, who was in
| troduced to the audience by Chris. Lewis
Superintendent of the Columbus Rolling
Mill. Colonel Ingepsoll opened his lee
ture by stating that there was mo
slavery but ignorance, and no liberty but
intelligence" He then went on to show
the progress that man has made since he
came into existence.


Not long since he had seen the club
used by the ancients and the Needle gun
and cannon of Krupp; the dug-out Of the
savage and the man of war carrying an
hundred guns; the plaster cast of the
skull of the lowest created object in the
shape of man, and that of one of the men
of the widest range of thought. What
he wanted to illustrate was that there
was Just as much difference in the ages as
in the implements which represented
them. Man in all ages had done the
best he could-everyt Iing considered.
The one theory he combatted for was
expressed in this: Infinite respect 70.
the rights of man, woman and child; in
finite contempt for any who seek to
shackle them or prevent the utterance of
their opinions. He desired to offer apol-
ogy for the race to which he belongs
and thought it needed it. "As kind Of
an excuse for the race | belong to" he
said, 81 will state why man has not at
tanned a higher state of mental and moral
growth. 1 have come to the belief that
this world is not very good place to
raise folks. In the first place it is only
about one-third land, and only a small
part of that is fitted as a dwelling place
for Hhara Wfofr
of soil, of climate, of cultivation, that
must exist before a habitatioa can be
formed at all. He believed in Darwin
ism; couldn't help it; didn't want to-,
but had to come to it; had to swallow the
doctrine that mahkind came from the
lower animals; saw so much in man that
he was at last compelled to acknowledge
the doctrine set forth by Darwin. yet he
believed he enjoyed it better in knowing
that man started from nothing and was
making capital headway on the road to
progress than to have started from
Heaven and know that we were going
backwards and downwards ever since
more honor to man to know that he
started out on his lifes journey with no
knowledge or wealth, and by steady work
and hard thinking reached his present
grandeur than to know that he was sent
out from heaven with the knowledge
that his journey will finally wind up in
hell The speaker then gave a descrip-
ton Of all the different stages that the
human race has passed through, espe.
cially the different instruments of tor.
ture that were in use by the early relig.
/ ious and political rulers; showing how
they shaped a mans way of thinking in
those good old days. That politics and
religion have ruled the world by force
and not by right. That neither Of them
| allowed a man to think for himself but
must think in the way that the majority
thought, or else come to the instrument
of torture and because the poor victim
failed to see matters in the same light al
his masters lin fOrce) did, he was tortur
ed until he died of pains more horrible
and terrible that hell could produce.


He believed that every man on earth
was equally right end equally sacred, anC
one had as much right to live and think
for himself as another. That every i'm
provement that has been made by mar
had done its share in turn to enlighter
the human race. There was a time wheI
man feared the sun, the moon, the stars
the rain, the snow and storms. Why


Because he knew not from whence thel
came and for what purpose they appear
ed. The speaker then went on to shov
what important historical events were tn,
cause OF improving and advancing man
Thought that the Moors done a grea


deal for science and progress. Wher
England was using the thumb-screw ant
the rack on all those who did not thinl
or do just so or so and were living in wha


might reasonably be called blind ignor
ance. The Moors studied astronomy an,
other sciences. They taught their littl


ones that the world was round, when il
Spain or England if a man had sal,
openly that it was his opinion that tn


earth was not as fiat as pancake, b,


would have been put to the rack an,


most cruelty tortured to death. Tn


Moors gave US paper, and with pape
came type and knowledge. Was of tn
opinion that one of the greatest discoI
cries ever made was gunpowder, becaus
it placed man on equal ground with mar


The weak man was as good Gs the stron