Year: 1875

Cincinnati Gazette.


The most pleasing philosophical specr


lation is upon plans of social structure


or constitutions whereby mankind shall


lift itself to state of moral perfection


1t has been the fondest indulgence of tn


humanitarian dreamer in all times


There are two promising invention


which the genius of mankind is alway


working at; one is moral contrivanc


by which the inventors shall elevat


themselves; the other is the perpetua


motion They will find both at exactl.


the same time. Their moral elevato


will always sink to the level of the char


acter of the people-every man will con


tinue to create his god after his own like


ness-and the perpetual motion will rur


as long as they turn the crank.


Invariably these plans whether o


model republics, or of entire community
of goods, wives, and children, require
| that at the outset the system shall be
agencies welded by one absolute head


that is to say, by the inventor. The ul
| innate aim of all of them is perfect liber-
| ty and equality as soon as all shall be fit
| for it; but first they must be fitted for
| freedom by domestic training. And,
somehow, despotic ieihods never come
to the time when it is safe to let go their
hold. Thus every mans model republic


is paternal despotism. But this is only


the common nature. To all of us the
idea of perfect liberty is a state of strin-


gent and all-searching laws to make peo-


pie think and do as we say. If people
shall think, act, eat, drink, and wear
what We shall prescribe, we are willing
they shall be as free as th' y please.


If these philanthropic dreamers OF
making a perfect social state by moral
machinery had foreseen the rise OF the
daily newspaper, they would have felt
the joy of prophetic vision; and then
their joy would have turned to weeping
at the thought that they lived too soon
to see this splendid realization. Univer-
sal recognition of the power of the press,
and of the high moral principle which
always directs it, has given to it the sub
lime ascription of the great moral en-
gine. This swallows up all the other
attributes which fond Columbian orators
ascribe to it, such as the palladium of
our liberties; the beacon of progress the
fountain of intelligence; the safety of the
republic; the great educator.


During the political changes of the last
twelve years some of our statesmen alb
SGIdCINo Tie ldSb udUlSu atIFlDuGS-LlS
great educaior-from the press, and be-
slowed it on that other great American
institution. the ballot There is plau-
sibility in this; for The ballot seems to
work an instantaneous Transformation of
the ignorant to the intelligent. That
they who hold the ballot are intelligent
and virtuous is one of our great Ameri-
can truths. Our public men who receive
these ballots, and who therefore have
the best means of knowing, testify to
this with great unanimity, and with the
more earnestness as the time draws near
when the people shall east their ballots


The miracle of our institution is in
this, that although individuals my be ig-
norant and vicious, yet when aggregated
they make wise and virtuous people.
Wise statesmen explain this by saying
that the sum of the intelligence and vir-
tue of all must be greater than of a part
or of any individual. That is a mathe-
matical proposition. But how would it
work if we should put the other end
first, and inquire if the sum of the igno-
rance and viciousness of all is not great
er than of the better part?


Affirming that the ballot is the great
educator, our statesmen said, none need
it so badly as the 100000 of ignorant
Africans just freed from slavery Put
the ballot into their hands, and it will
educate them up to an equal governing
capacity with US, who, by our own con-
fession, are the smaftest people on the
face of the earth, and the only people
who are all capable of being governors
Or at the least, said some of them, they
will know enough to vote for their
friends. 1t is a question if this is not
as far as popular education can safely
go.


But this, however much it may seem
to be sustained by the results of the ex-
pertinent, is but a superficial view; for |
all can see that it would not be safe to |
put the ballot into the hands of either
whites or blacks, without the newspaper |
to tell them how to vote. Therefore, the |
press alone is the great educator


At first this general term, the press, |
meant all printed literature; but in this |
century, the activity, aggres-
siveness, omnipotence, and omniscience |
of the daily newspaper have made it |
dominant over all other literature; so |
that now, when the great moral engine |
is spoken of, the common mind receives
it as meaning the daily journal of the
period.


And this grand title does not overstate
its moral power. 1t comes daily into
every household, bringing ready-made
opinions on almost every conceivable
subject; just as the baker, the milkman,
and the meat-man bring it ready-made
bread, and meat, and sausages Thus it
saves mankind from the danger of think
ng for themselves. Thinking for our
selves is dangerous abuse of our facul-
lies. 1t is the origin of all evil. 1t is
1nquestionably that original sin, through
which we all became unoriginal sinners
Through the tempting of our first moth
sr to think for herself, we are what we
ire, instead of being what we might
nave been. Always the tempter of wo-
nan tells her to think for herself, and to
soulless conventionalities The
orce of the lines of the pious DIR. Watts:


''For Satan finds some mischief still


For idle hands to do,'


lies in the inevitable fact that lack Of oc-
,upation leaves them to think for them
selves. When thinking for ourselves
comes in, obedience, loyalty, faith, har-
nony, and contentment take their de-
0arture. Therefore have we made the
,erm free-thinking reproach, as proper
y it should be. The vital mission of the
great moral engine is to save mankind
rom thinking for themselves


. Mr.. Yawkins, the polite bookseller of
hat modal English provincial town, Lit
lie Peddlington, was telling an inteIli-
gent visitor from London of the literary
celebrities and topics of the town, and
With the rest, of the opposite views of
,he two editors on the respective merits
Of Mr.. Struts dramatic company. The
lppreciating visitor narrates the conver-
iation with a gravity beftting the i'm.
1ortance attached to the subject in that
place:


"And pray, Mr.. Yawkins," INQUIRED |