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Contents of this file page
THE FRANK B. CARPENTER DINNER. 1
SHOULD THE CHINESE BE EXCLUDED? 6
PREFACE TO LITERE'S "FOR HER DAILY BREAD." 11
FOOL FRIENDS. 14
**** ****
This file, its printout, or copies of either
are to be copied and given away, but NOT sold.
Bank of Wisdom, Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
The Works of ROBERT G. INGERSOLL
**** ****
THE FRANK B. CARPENTER DINNER.
New York, December 1, 1891.
TOAST.
Art.
I PRESUME I take about as much interest in what that picture
represents as anybody else. I believe that it has been said this
evening that the world will never be civilized so long as
differences between nations are settled by gun or cannon or sword.
Barbarians still settle their personal differences with clubs or
arms, and finally, when they agree to submit their differences to
their peers, to a court, we call them civilized. Now, nations
sustain the same relations to each other that barbarians sustain;
that is, they settle their differences by force; each nation being
the judge of the righteousness of its cause, and its judgment
depending entirely -- or for the most part -- on its strength; and
the strongest nation is the nearest right. Now, until nations
submit their differences to an international court -- a court with
the power to carry its judgment into effect by having the armies
and navies of all the rest of the world pledged to support it --
the world will not be civilized. Our differences will not be
settled by arbitration until more of the great nations set the
example, and until that is done, I am in favor of the United States
being armed. Until that is done it will give me joy to know that
another magnificent man-of-war has been launched upon our waters.
And I will tell you why. Look again at that picture. There is
another face; it is not painted there, and yet without it that
picture would not have been painted, and that is the face of U.S.
Grant. The olive branch, to be of any force, to be of any
beneficent power, must be offered by the mailed hand. It must be
offered by a nation which has back of the olive branch the force.
It cannot be offered by weakness, because then it will excite only
ridicule. The powerful, the imperial, must offer that branch. Then
it will be accepted in the true spirit; otherwise not. So, until
the world is a little more civilized I am in favor of the largest
guns that can be made and the best navy that floats. I do not want
any navy unless we have the best, because if you have a poor one
Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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THE FRANK B. CARPENTER DINNER.
you will simply make a present of it to the enemy as soon as war
opens. We should be ready to defend ourselves against the world.
Not that I think there is going to be any war, but because I think
that is the best way to prevent it. Until the whole world shall
have entered into the same spirit as the artist when he painted
that picture, until that spirit becomes general we have got to be
prepared for war. And we cannot depend upon war suasion. If a fleet
of men-of-war should sail into our harbor, talk would not be of any
good; we must be ready to answer them in their own way.
I suppose I have been selected to speak on art because I can
speak on that subject without prejudice, knowing nothing about it.
I have on this subject no hobbies, no pet theories, and
consequently will give you not what I know, but what I think. I am
an Agnostic in many things, and the way I understand art is this:
In the first place we are all invisible to each other. There is
something called soul; something that thinks and hopes and loves.
It is never seen. It occupies a world that we call the brain, and
is forever, so far as we know, invisible. Each soul lives in a
world of its own, and it endeavors to communicate with another soul
living in a world of its own, each invisible to the other, and it
does this in a variety of ways. That is the noblest art which
expresses the noblest thought, that gives to another the noblest
emotions that this unseen soul has. In order to do this we have to
seize upon the seen, the visible. In other words, nature is a vast
dictionary that we use simply to convey from one invisible world to
another what happens in our invisible world. The man that lives in
the greatest world and succeeds in letting other worlds know what
happens in his world, is the greatest artist.
I believe that all arts have the same father and the same
mother, and no matter whether you express what happens in these
unseen worlds in mere words -- because nearly all pictures have
been made with words -- or whether you express it in marble, or
form and color in what we call painting, it is to carry on that
commerce between these invisible worlds, and he is the greatest
artist who expresses the tenderest, noblest thoughts to the unseen
worlds about him. So that all art consists in this commerce, every
soul being an artist and every brain that is worth talking about
being an art gallery, and there is no gallery in this world, not in
the Vatican or the Louvre or any other place, comparable with the
gallery in every great brain. The millions of pictures that are in
every brain to-night; the landscapes, the faces, the groups, the
millions of millions of millions of things that are now living here
in every brain, all unseen, all invisible forever! Yet we
communicate with each other by showing each other these pictures,
these studies, and by inviting others into our galleries and
showing them what we have, and the greatest artist is he who has
the most pictures to show to other artists.
I love anything in art that suggests the tender, the
beautiful. What is beauty? Of course there is no absolute beauty.
All beauty is relative. Probably the most beautiful thing to a frog
is the speckled belly of another frog, or to a snake the markings
of another snake. So there is no such thing as absolute beauty. But
what I call beauty is what suggests to me the highest and the
tenderest thought; something that answers to something in my world.
Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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THE FRANK B. CARPENTER DINNER.
So every work of art has to be born in some brain, and it must be
made by the unseen artist we call the soul. Now, if a man simply
copies what he sees, he is nothing but a copyist. That does not
require genius. That requires industry and the habit of
observation. But it is not genius; it is not art. Those little
daubs and shreds and patches we get by copying, are pieces of iron
that need to be put into the flame of genius to be molten and then
cast in noble forms; otherwise there is no genius.
The great picture should have, not only the technical part of
art, which is neither moral nor immoral, but in addition some great
thought, some great event. It should contain not only a history but
a prophecy. There should be in it soul, feeling, thought. I love
those little pictures of the home, of the fireside, of the old lady
boiling the kettle, the vine running over the cottage door, scenes
suggesting to me happiness, contentment. I think more of them than
of the great war pieces, and I hope I shall have a few years in
some such scenes, during which I shall not care what time it is,
what day of the week or month it is just that feeling of content
when it is enough to live, to breathe, to have the blue sky above
you and to hear the music of the water. All art that gives us that
content, that delight, enriches this world and makes life better
and holier.
That, in a general kind of way, as I said before, is my idea
of art, and I hope that the artists of America -- and they ought to
be as good here as in any place on earth -- will grow day by day
and year by year independent of all other art in the world, and be
true to the American or republican spirit always. As to this
picture, it is representative, it is American. There is one word
Mr. Daniel Dougherty said to which I would like to refer. I have
never said very much in my life in defence of England, at the same
time I have never blamed England for being against us during our
war, and I will tell you why. We had been a nation of hypocrites.
We pretended to be in favor of liberty and yet we had four or five
millions of our people enslaved. That was a very awkward position.
We had bloodhounds to hunt human beings and the apostles setting
them on; and while this was going on these poor wretches sought and
found liberty on British soil. Now, why not be honest about it? We
were rather a contemptible people, though Mr. Dougherty thinks the
English were wholly at fault. But England abolished the slave-trade
in 1803; she abolished slavery in her colonies in 1833. We were
lagging behind. That is all there is about it. No matter why, we
put ourselves in the position of pretending to be a free people
while we had millions of slaves, and it was only natural that
England should dislike it.
I think the chairman said that there had been no great
historic picture of the signing of the Constitution. There never
should be, never! It was fit, it was proper, to have a picture of
the signing of the Declaration of Independence. That was an honest
document. Our people wanted to give a good reason for fighting
Great Britain, and in order to do that they had to dig down to the
bed-rock of human rights, and then they said all men are created
equal. But just as soon as we got our independence we made a
Constitution that gave the lie to the Declaration of Independence,
and that is why the signing of the Constitution never ought to be
Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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THE FRANK B. CARPENTER DINNER.
painted. We put in that Constitution a clause that the slave-trade
should not be interfered with for years, and another clause that
this entire Government was pledged to hand back to slavery any poor
woman with a child at her breast, seeking freedom by flight. It was
a very poor document. A little while ago they celebrated the one
hundredth anniversary of that business and talked about the
Constitution being such a wonderful thing; yet what was in that
Constitution brought on the most terrible civil war ever known, and
during that war they said: "Give us the Constitution as it is and
the Union as it was." And I said then: "Curse the Constitution as
it is and the Union as it was. Don't talk to me about fighting for
a Constitution that has brought on a war like this; let us make a
new one." No, I am in favor of a painting that would celebrate the
adoption of the amendment to the Constitution that declares that
there shall be no more slavery on this soil.
I believe that we are getting a little more free every day --
a little more sensible all the time. A few years ago a woman in
Germany made a speech, in which she asked: "Why should the German
mother in pain and agony give birth to a child and rear that child
through industry and poverty, and teach him that when he arrives at
the age of twenty-one it will be his duty to kill the child of the
French mother? And why should the French mother teach her son, that
it will be his duty sometime to kill the child of the German
mother?" There is more sense in that than in all the diplomacy I
ever read, and I think the time is coming when that question will
be asked by every mother. Why should she raise a child to kill the
child of another mother?
The time is coming when we will do away with all this. Man has
been taught that he ought to fight for the country where he was
born; no matter about that country being wrong, whether it
supported him or not, whether it enslaved him and trampled on every
right he had, still it was his duty to march up in support of that
country. The time will come when the man will make up his mind
himself whether the country is worth while fighting for, and he is
the greatest patriot who seeks to make his country worth fighting
for, and not he who says, I am for it anyhow, whether it is right
or not. These patriots will be the force -- Mr. George was speaking
about, If war between this country and Great Britain were declared,
and there were men in both countries sufficient to take a right
view of it, that would be the end of war. The thing would be
settled by arbitration -- settled by some court -- and no one would
dream of rushing to the field of battle. So, that is my hope for
the world; more policy, more good, solid, sound sense and less mud
patriotism.
I think that this country is going to grow. I think it will
take in Mr. Wiman's country. I do not mean that we are going to
take any country. I mean that they are going to come to us. I do
not believe in conquest. Canada will come just as soon as it is to
her interest to come, and I think she will come or be a great
country to herself. I do not believe in those people, intelligent
as they are, sending three thousand miles for information they have
at home. I do not believe in their being governed by anybody except
themselves. So if they come we shall be glad to have them, if they
don't want to come I don't want them.
Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
4
THE FRANK B. CARPENTER DINNER.
Yes, we are growing. I don't know how many millions of people
we have now, probably over sixty-two if they all get counted; and
they are still coming. I expect to live to see one hundred millions
here. I know some say that we are getting too many foreigners, but
I say the more that come the better. We have got to have somebody
to take the places of the sons of our rich people. So I say let
them come. There is plenty of land here, everywhere. I say to the
people of every country, come; do your work here, and we will
protect you against other countries. We will give you all the work
to supply yourselves and your neighbors.
Then if we have differences with another country we shall have
a strong navy, big ships, big guns, magnificent men and plenty of
them, and if we put out the hand of fellowship and friendship they
will know there is no foolishness about it. They will know we are
not asking any favor. We will just say: We want peace, and we tell
you over the glistening leaves of this olive branch that if you
don't compromise we will mop the earth with you.
That is the sort of arbitration I believe in, and it is the
only sort, in my judgment, that will be effectual for all time. And
I hope that we may still grow, and grow more and more artistic, and
more and more in favor of peace, and I pray that we may finally
arrive at being absolutely worthy of having presented that picture,
with all that it implies, to the most warlike nation in the world
-- to the nation that first sends the gospel and then the musket
immediately after, and says: You have got to be civilized, and the
only evidence of civilization that you can give is to buy our goods
and to buy them now, and to pay for them. I wish us to be worthy of
the picture presented to such a nation, and my prayer is that
America may be worthy to have sent such a token in such a spirit,
and my second prayer is that England may be worthy to receive it
and to keep it, and that she may receive it in the same spirit that
it is sent.
I am glad that it is to be sent by a woman. The gentleman who
spoke to the toast, "Woman as a Peacemaker," seemed to believe that
woman brought all the sorrows that ever happened, not only of war,
but troubles of every kind. I want to say to him that I would
rather live with the woman I love in a world of war, in a world
full of troubles and sorrows, than to live in heaven with nobody
but men. I believe that woman is a pacemaker, and so I am glad that
a woman presents this token to another woman; and woman is a far
higher title than queen, in my judgment; far higher. There are no
higher titles than woman, mother, wife sister, and when they come
to calling them countesses and duchesses and queens, that is all
rot. That adds nothing to that unseen artist who inhabits the world
called the brain. That unseen artist is great by nature and cannot
be made greater by the addition of titles. And so one woman gives
to another woman the picture that prophesies war is finally to
cease, and the civilized nations of the world will henceforth
arbitrate their differences and no longer strew the plains with
corpses of brethren. That is the supreme lesson that is taught by
this picture, and I congratulate Mr. Carpenter that his name is
associated with it and also with the "Proclamation of
Emancipation." In the latter work he has associated his name with
that of Lincoln, which is the greatest name in history, and the
Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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THE FRANK B. CARPENTER DINNER.
gentlest memory in this world. Mr. Carpenter has associated his
name with that and with this and with that of General Grant, for I
say that this picture would never have been possible had there not
been behind it Grant; if there had not been behind it the
victorious armies of the North and the great armies of the South,
that would have united instantly to repel any foreign foe.
END
**** ****
SHOULD THE CHINESE BE EXCLUDED?
The average American, like the average man of any country, has
but little imagination. People who speak a different language, or
worship some other god, or wear clothing unlike his own, are beyond
the horizon of his sympathy. He cares but little or nothing for the
sufferings or misfortunes of those who are of a different
complexion or of another race. His imagination is not powerful
enough to recognize the human being, in spite of peculiarities.
Instead of this he looks upon every difference as an evidence of
inferiority, and for the inferior he has but little if any feeling.
If these "inferior people" claim equal rights be feels insulted,
and for the purpose of establishing his own superiority tramples on
the rights of the so-called, inferior.
In our own country the native has always considered himself as
much better than the immigrant, and as far superior to all people
of a different complexion. At one time our people hated the Irish,
then the Germans, then the Italians, and now the Chinese. The Irish
and Germans, however, became numerous. They became citizens, and,
most important of all, they had votes. They combined, became
powerful, and the political parties sought their aid. They had
something to give in exchange for protection -- in exchange for
political rights. In consequence of this, they were flattered by
candidates, praised by the political press, and became powerful
enough not only to protect themselves, but at last to govern the
principal cities in the United States. As a matter of fact the
Irish and the Germans drove the native Americans out of the trades
and from the lower forms of labor. They built the railways and
canals. They became servants. Afterward the Irish and the Germans
were driven from the canals and railways by the Italians.
The Irish and Germans improved their condition. They went into
other businesses, into the higher and more lucrative trades. They
entered the professions, turned their attention to politics, became
merchants, brokers, and professors in colleges. They are not now
building railroads or digging on public works. They are
contractors, legislators, holders of office, and the Italians and
Chinese are doing the old work.
If matters had been allowed to work in a natural way, without
the interference of mobs or legislators, the Chinese would have
driven the Italians to better employments, and all menial labor
would, in time, be done by the Mongolians.
Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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SHOULD THE CHINESE BE EXCLUDED?
In olden times each nation hated all others. This was
considered natural and patriotic. Spain, after many centuries of
war, expelled the Moors, then the Moriscoes, and then the Jews. And
Spain, in the name of religion and patriotism, succeeded in driving
from its territory its industry, its taste and its intelligence,
and by these mistakes became poor, ignorant and weak. France
started on the same path when the Huguenots were expelled, and even
England at one time deported the Jews. In those days a difference
of race or religion was sufficient to justify any absurdity and any
cruelty.
In our country, as a matter of fact, there is but little
prejudice against emigrants coming from Europe, except among
naturalized citizens; but nearly all foreign-born citizens are
united in their prejudice against the Chinese. The truth is that
the Chinese came to this country by invitation. Under the
Burlingame Treaty, China and the United States recognized:
"The inherent and inalienable right of man to change his
home and allegiance, and also the mutual advantage of free
migration and emigration of their citizens and subjects
respectively from one country to the other for purposes of
curiosity, of trade, or as permanent residents."
And it was provided:
"That the citizens of the United States visiting or
residing in China and Chinese subjects visiting or residing in
the United States should reciprocally enjoy the same
privileges, immunities and exemptions, in respect to travel or
residence, as shall be enjoyed by the citizens or subjects of
the most favored nation, in the country in which they shall
respectively be visiting or residing."
So, by the treaty of 1880, providing for the limitation or
suspension of emigration of Chinese labor, it was declared:
"That the limitation or suspension should apply only to
Chinese who emigrated to the United States as laborers; but
that Chinese laborers who were then in the United States
should be allowed to go and come of their own free will and
should be accorded all the rights, privileges, immunities and
exemptions, which were accorded to the citizens and subjects
of the most favored nations."
It will thus be seen that all Chinese laborers who came to
this country prior to the treaty of 1880 were to be treated the
same as the citizens and subjects of the most favored nation; that
is to say, they were to be protected by our laws the same as we
protect our own citizens.
These Chinese laborers are inoffensive, peaceable and law-
abiding. They are honest, keeping their contracts, doing as they
agree. They are exceedingly industrious, always ready to work and
always giving satisfaction to their employers. They do not
interfere with other people. They cannot become citizens. They have
no voice in the making or the execution of the laws. They attend to
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Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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SHOULD THE CHINESE BE EXCLUDED?
their own business. They have their own ideas, customs, religion
and ceremonies -- about as foolish as our own; but they do not try
to make converts or to force their dogmas on others. They are
patient, uncomplaining, stoical and philosophical. They earn what
they can, giving reasonable value for the money they receive, and
as a rule, when they have amassed a few thousand dollars, they go
back to their own country. They do not interfere with our ideas,
our ways or customs. They are silent workers, toiling without any
object, except to do their work and get their pay. They do not
establish saloons and run for Congress. Neither do they combine for
the purpose of governing others. Of all the people on our soil they
are the least meddlesome. Some of them smoke opium, but the opium-
smoker does not beat his wife. Some of them play games of chance,
but they are not members of the Stock Exchange. They eat the bread
that they earn; they neither beg nor steal, but they are of no use
to parties or politicians except as they become fuel to supply the
flame of prejudice. They are not citizens and they cannot vote.
Their employers are about the only friends they have.
In the Pacific States the lowest became their enemies and
asked for their, expulsion. They denounced the Chinese and those
who gave them work. The patient followers of Confucius were treated
as outcasts -- stoned by boys in the streets and mobbed by the
fathers. Few seemed to have any respect for their rights or their
feelings. They were unlike us. They wore different clothes. They
dressed their hair in a peculiar way, and therefore they were
beyond our sympathies. These ideas, these practices, demoralized
many communities; the laboring people became cruel and the small
politicians infamous.
When the rights of even one human being are held in contempt
the rights of all are in danger. We cannot destroy the liberties of
others without losing our own. By exciting the prejudices of the
ignorant we at last produce a contempt for law and justice, and sow
the seeds of violence and crime.
Both of the great political parties pandered to the leaders of
the crusade against the Chinese for the sake of electoral votes,
and in the Pacific States the friends of the Chinese were forced to
keep still or to publicly speak contrary to their convictions. The
orators of the "Sand Lots" were in power, and the policy of the
whole country was dictated by the most ignorant and prejudiced of
our citizens. Both of the great parties ratified the outrages
committed by the mobs, and proceeded with alacrity to violate the
treaties and solemn obligations of the Government. These treaties
were violated, these obligations were denied, and thousands of
Chinamen were deprived of their rights, of their property, and
hundreds were maimed or murdered. They were driven from their
homes. They were hunted like wild beasts. All this was done in a
country that sends missionaries to China to tell the benighted
savages of the blessed religion of the United States.
At first a demand was made that the Chinese should be driven
out, then that no others should be allowed to come, and laws with
these objects in view were passed, in spite of the treaties,
preventing the coming of any more. For a time that satisfied the
haters of the Mongolian. Then came a demand for more stringent
Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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SHOULD THE CHINESE BE EXCLUDED?
legislation, so that many of the Chinese already here could be
compelled to leave, The answer or response to this demand is what
is known as the Geary Law.
By this act it is provided, among other things, that any
Chinaman convicted of not being lawfully in the country shall be
removed to China, after having been imprisoned at hard labor for
not exceeding one year. This law also does away with bail on habeas
corpus proceeding where the right to land has been denied to a
Chinaman. It also compels all Chinese laborers to obtain, within
one year after the passage of the law, certificates of residence
from the revenue collectors, and if found without such certificate
they shall be held to be unlawfully in the United States.
It is further provided that if a Chinaman claims that he
failed to get such certificate by "accident, sickness or other
unavoidable cause," then he must clearly establish such claim to
the satisfaction of the judge "by at least one credible white
witness."
If we were at war with China then we might legally consider
every Chinaman as an enemy, but we were and are at peace with that
country. The Geary Act was passed by Congress and signed by the
President simply for the sake of votes. The Democrats in Congress
voted for it to save the Pacific States to the Democratic column;
and a Republican President signed it so that the Pacific States
should vote the Republican ticket. Principle was forgotten, or
rather it was sacrificed, in the hope of political success. It was
then known, as now, that China is a peaceful nation, that it does
not believe in war as a remedy, that it relies on negotiation and
treaty. It is also known that the Chinese in this country were
helpless, without friends, without power to defend themselves. It
is possible that many members of Congress voted in favor of the Act
believing that the Supreme Court would hold it unconstitutional,
and that in the meantime it might be politically useful,
The idea of imprisoning a man at hard labor for a year, and
this man a citizen of a friendly nation, for the crime of being
found in this country without a certificate of residence, must be
abhorrent to the mind of every enlightened man. Such punishment for
such an "offence" is barbarous and belongs to the earliest times of
which we know. This law makes industry a crime and puts one who
works for his bread on a level with thieves and the lowest
criminals, treats him as a felon, and clothes him in the stripes of
a convict, -- and all this is done at the demand of the ignorant,
of the prejudiced, of the heartless, and because the Chinese are
not voters and have no political power.
The Chinese are not driven away because there is no room for
them. Our country is not crowded. There are many millions of acres
waiting for the plow. There is plenty of room here under our flag
for five hundred millions of people. These Chinese that we wish to
oppress and imprison are people who understand the art of
irrigation. They can redeem the deserts. They are the best of
gardeners. They are modest and willing to occupy the lowest seats.
They only ask to be day-laborers, washers and ironers. They are
willing to sweep and scrub. They are good cooks. They can clear
Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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SHOULD THE CHINESE BE EXCLUDED?
lands and build railroads. They do not ask to be masters -- they
wish only to serve. In every capacity they are faithful; but in
this country their virtues have made enemies, and they are hated
because of their patience, their honesty and their industry.
The Geary Law, however, failed to provide the ways and means
for carrying it into effect, so that the probability is it will
remain a dead letter upon the statute book. The sum of money
required to carry it out is too large, and the law fails to create
the machinery and name the persons authorized to deport the
Chinese. Neither is there any mode of trial pointed out. According
to the law there need be no indictment by a grand jury, no trial by
a jury, and the person found guilty of being here without a
certificate of residence can be imprisoned and treated as a felon
without the ordinary forms of trial.
This law is contrary to the laws and customs of nations. The
punishment is unusual, severe, and contrary to our Constitution,
and under its provisions aliens -- citizens of a friendly nation --
can be imprisoned without due process of law. The law is barbarous,
contrary to the spirit and genius of American institutions, and was
passed in violation of solemn treaty stipulations.
The Congress that passed it is the same that closed the gates
of the World's Fair on the "blessed Sabbath," thinking it wicked to
look at statues and pictures on that day. These representatives of
the people seem to have had more piety than principle.
After the passage of such a law by the United States is it not
indecent for us to send missionaries to China? Is there not work
enough for them at home? We send ministers to China to convert the
heathen; but when we find a Chinaman on our soil, where he can be
saved by our example, we treat him as a criminal,
It is to the interest of this country to maintain friendly
relations with China. We want the trade of nearly one-fourth of the
human race. We want to pay for all we get from that country in
articles of our own manufacture. We lost the trade of Mexico and
the South American Republics because of slavery, because we hated
people in whose veins was found a drop of African blood, and now we
are losing the trade of China by pandering to the prejudices of the
ignorant and cruel.
After all, it pays to do right. This is a hard truth to learn
-- especially for a nation. A great nation should be bound by the
highest conception of justice and honor. Above all things it should
be true to its treaties, its contracts, its obligations. It should
remember that its responsibilities are in accordance with its power
and intelligence.
Our Government is founded on the equality of human rights --
on the idea, the sacred truth, that all are entitled to life,
liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Our country is an asylum for
the oppressed of all nations -- of all races. Here, the Government
gets its power from the consent of the governed. After the
abolition of slavery these great truths were not only admitted, but
they found expression in our Constitution and laws.
Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
10
SHOULD THE CHINESE BE EXCLUDED?
Shall we now go back to barbarism?
Russia is earning the hatred of the civilized world by driving
the Jews from their homes. But what can the United States say? Our
mouths are closed by the Geary Law. We are in the same business.
Our law is as inhuman as the order or ukase of the Czar.
Let us retrace our steps, repeal the law and accomplish what
we justly desire by civilized means. Let us treat China as we would
England; and, above all, let us respect the rights of Men.
North American Review, July, 1898.
END
**** ****
PREFACE TO LITERE'S "FOR HER DAILY BREAD."
I HAVE read this story, this fragment of a life mingled with
fragments of other lives, and have been pleased, interested, and
instructed. It is filled with the pathos of truth, and has in it
the humor that accompanies actual experience. It has but little to
do with the world of imagination; certain feelings are not
attributed to persons born of fancy, but it is the history of a
heart and brain interested in the common things of life. There are
no kings, no lords, no titled ladies, but there are real people,
the people of the shop and street whom every reader knows, and
there are lines intense and beautiful, and scenes that touch the
heart. You will find no theories of government, no hazy outlines of
reform, nothing but facts and folks, as they have been, as they
are, and probably will be for many centuries to come.
If you read this book you will be convinced that men and women
are good or bad, charitable or heartless, by reason of something
within, and not by virtue of any name they bear, or any trade or
profession they follow, or of any creed they may accept. You will
also find that men sometimes are honest and mean; that women may be
very virtuous and very cruel; that good, generous and sympathetic
men are often disreputable, and that some exceedingly worthy
citizens are extremely mean and uncomfortable neighbors.
It takes a great deal of genius and a good deal of self-denial
to be very bad or to be very good. Few people understand the amount
of energy, industry, and self-denial it requires to be consistently
vicious. People who have a pride in being good and fail, and those
who have a pride in being bad and fail, in order to make their
records consistent generally rely upon hypocrisy. The people that
live and hope and fear in this book, are much like the people who
live and hope and fear in the actual world. The professor is much
like the professor in the ordinary college. You will find the
conscientious, half-paid teacher, the hopeful poor, the anxious
rich, the true lover, the stingy philanthropist, who cares for
people only in the aggregate, -- the individual atom being too
small to attract his notice or to enlist his heart; the sympathetic
man who loves himself, and gives, not for the sake of the beggar,
but for the sake of getting rid of the beggar, and you will also
Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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PREFACE TO LITERE'S "FOR HER DAILY BREAD."
find the man generous to a fault -- with the money of others. And
the reader will find these people described naturally, truthfully
and without exaggeration, and he will feel certain that all these
people have really lived.
The reader of this story will get some idea as to what is
encountered by a girl in an honest effort to gain her daily bread.
He will find how steep, how devious and how difficult is the path
she treads.
There are so few occupations open to woman, so few things in
which she can hope for independence, that to be thrown upon her own
resources is almost equivalent to being cast away. Besides, she is
an object of continual suspicion, watched not only by men but by
women. If she does anything that other women are not doing, she is
at once suspected, her reputation is touched, and other women, for
fear of being stained themselves, withdraw not only the hand of
help, but the smile of recognition. A young woman cannot defend
herself without telling the charge that has been made against her.
This, of itself, gives a kind of currency to slander. To speak of
the suspicion that has crawled across her path, is to plant the
seeds of doubt in other minds; to even deny it, admits that it
exists. To be suspected, that is enough. There is no way of
destroying this suspicion. There is no court in which suspicions
are tried; no juries that can render verdicts of not guilty. Most
women are driven at last to the needle, and this does not allow
them to live; it simply keeps them from dying.
It is hard to appreciate the dangers and difficulties that lie
in wait for woman. Even in this Christian country of ours, no girl
is safe in the streets of any city after the sun has gone down.
After all, the sun is the only god that has ever protected woman.
In the darkness she has been the prey of the wild beast in man.
Nearly all charitable people, so-called, imagine that nothing
is easier than to obtain work. They really feel that anybody, no
matter what his circumstances may be, can get work enough to do if
he is only willing to do the work. They cannot understand why any
healthy human being should lack food or clothes. Meeting the
unfortunate and the wretched in the streets of the great city, they
ask them in a kind of wondering way, why they do not go to the
West, why they do not cultivate the soil, and why they are so
foolish, stupid, and reckless as to remain in the town. It would be
just as sensible to ask a beggar why he does not start a bank or a
line of steamships, as to ask him why he does not cultivate the
soil, or why he does not go to the West. The man has no money to
pay his fare, and if his fare were paid he would be, when he landed
in the West, in precisely the same condition as he was when he left
the East. Societies and institutions and individuals supply the
immediate wants of the hungry and the ragged, but they afford only
the relief of the moment.
Articles by the thousand have been written for the purpose of
showing that women should become servants in houses, and the
writers of these articles are filled with astonishment that any
girl should hesitate to enter domestic service. They tell us that
nearly every family needs a good cook, a good chambermaid, a good
Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
12
PREFACE TO LITERE'S "FOR HER DAILY BREAD."
sweeper of floors and washer of dishes, a good stout girl to carry
the baby and draw the wagon, and these good people express the
greatest astonishment that all girls are not anxious to become
domestics. They tell them that they will be supplied with good
food, that they will have comfortable beds and warm clothing, and
they ask, "What more do you want?" These people have not, however,
solved the problem. If girls, as a rule, keep away from kitchens
and chambers, if they hate to be controlled by other women, there
must be a reason. When we see a young woman prefer a clerkship in
a store, -- a business which keeps her upon her feet all day, and
sends her to her lonely room, filled with weariness and despair,
and when we see other girls who are willing to sew for a few cents
a day rather than become the maid of "my lady," there must be some
reason, and this reason must be deemed sufficient by the persons
who are actuated by it. What is it?
Every human being imagines that the future has something in
store for him. It is natural to build these castles in Spain. It is
natural for a girl to dream of being loved by the noble, by the
superb, and it is natural for the young man to dream of success, of
a home, of a good, a beautiful and loving wife. These dreams are
the solace of poverty; they keep back the tears in the eyes of the
young and the hungry. To engage in any labor that degrades, in any
work that leaves a stain, in any business the mention of which is
liable to redden the cheek, seems to be a destruction of the
foundation of hope, a destruction of the future; it seems to be a
crucifixion of his or her better self. It assassinates the ideal.
It may be said that labor is noble, that work is a kind of
religion, and whoever says this tells the truth. But after all,
what has the truth to do with this question? What is the opinion of
society? -- What is the result? It cures no wound to say that it
was wrongfully inflicted. The opinion of sensible people is one
way, the action of society is inconsistent with that opinion.
Domestic servants are treated as though their employment was and is
a degradation. Bankers, merchants, professional men, ministers of
the gospel, do not want their sons to become the husbands of
chambermaids and cooks. Small hands are beautiful; they do not tell
of labor.
I have given one reason; there is another. The work of a
domestic is never done. She is liable to be called at any moment,
day or night, She has no time that she can call her own. A woman
who works by the piece can take a little rest; if she is a clerk
she has certain hours of labor and the rest of the day is her own.
And there is still another reason that I almost hate to give,
and that is this: As a rule, woman is exacting with woman. As a
rule, woman does not treat woman as well as man treats man, or as
well as man treats woman. There are many other reasons, but I have
given enough.
For many years, women have been seeking employment other than
that of domestic service. They have so hated this occupation, that
they have sought in every possible direction for other ways to win
their bread. At last hundreds of employments are open to them, and,
as a consequence, domestic servants are those who can get nothing
else to, do.
Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
13
PREFACE TO LITERE'S "FOR HER DAILY BREAD."
In the olden time, servants sat at the table with the family;
they were treated something like human beings, harshly enough to be
sure, but in many cases almost as equals. Now the kitchen is far
away from the parlor. It is another world, occupied by individuals
of a different race. There is no bond of sympathy -- no common
ground. This is especially true in a Republic. In the Old World,
people occupying menial places account for their positions by
calling attention to the laws -- to the hereditary nobility and the
universal spirit of caste. Here, there are no such excuses. All are
supposed to have equal opportunities and those who are compelled to
labor for their daily bread: in avocations that require only bodily
strength, are regarded as failures. It is this fact that stabs like
a knife. And yet in the conclusion drawn, there is but little
truth. Some of the noblest and best pass their lives in daily
drudgery and unremunerative toil -- while many of the mean, vicious
and stupid reach place and power.
This story is filled with sympathy for the destitute, for the
struggling, and tends to keep the star of hope above the horizon of
the unfortunate. After all, we know but little of the world, and
have but a faint conception of the burdens that are borne, and of
the courage and heroism displayed by the unregarded poor. Let the
rich read these pages; they will have a kinder feeling toward those
who toil; let the workers read them, and they will think better of
themselves.
END
**** ****
FOOL FRIENDS.
Nothing hurts a man, nothing hurts a party so terribly as fool
friends.
A fool friend is the sewer of bad news, of slander and all
base and unpleasant things.
A fool friend always knows every mean thing that has been said
against you and against the party.
He always knows where your party is losing, and the other is
making large gains.
He always tells you of the good luck your enemy has had.
He implicitly believes every story against you, and kindly
suspects your defence.
A fool friend is always full of a kind of stupid candor.
He is so candid that he always believes the statement of an
enemy.
He never suspects anything on your side.
Nothing pleases him like being shocked by horrible news
concerning some good man.
Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
14
FOOL FRIENDS.
He never denies a lie unless it is in your favor.
He is always finding fault with his party, and is continually
begging pardon for not belonging to the other side.
He is frightfully anxious that all his candidates should stand
well with the opposition.
He is forever seeing the faults of his party and the virtues
of the other.
He generally shows his candor by scratching the ticket.
He always searches every nook and corner of his conscience to
find a reason for deserting a friend or a principle.
In the moment of victory he is magnanimously on your side.
In defeat he consoles you by repeating prophecies made after
the event.
The fool friend regards your reputation as common prey for all
the vultures, hyenas and jackals.
He takes a sad pleasure in your misfortunes.
He forgets his principles to gratify your enemies.
He forgives your malinger, and slanders you with all his
heart.
He is so friendly that you cannot kick him.
He generally talks for you but always bets the other Way.
**** ****
Electronic Publishing can defeat censorship.
**** ****
The Bank of Wisdom Inc. is a collection of the most thoughtful,
scholarly and factual books. These computer books are reprints of
suppressed books and will cover American and world history; the
Biographies and writings of famous persons, and especially of our
nations Founding Fathers. They will include philosophy and
religion. all these subjects, and more, will be made available to
the public in electronic form, easily copied and distributed, so
that America can again become what its Founders intended --
The Free Market-Place of Ideas.
The Bank of Wisdom is always looking for more of these old,
hidden, suppressed and forgotten books that contain needed facts
and information for today. If you have such books please contact
us, we need to give them back to America.
Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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