976 lines
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976 lines
49 KiB
Plaintext
15 page printout
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Reproducible Electronic Publishing can defeat censorship.
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Contents of this file page
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THE FRANK B. CARPENTER DINNER. 1
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SHOULD THE CHINESE BE EXCLUDED? 6
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PREFACE TO LITERE'S "FOR HER DAILY BREAD." 11
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FOOL FRIENDS. 14
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**** ****
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This file, its printout, or copies of either
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are to be copied and given away, but NOT sold.
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Bank of Wisdom, Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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The Works of ROBERT G. INGERSOLL
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**** ****
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THE FRANK B. CARPENTER DINNER.
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New York, December 1, 1891.
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TOAST.
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Art.
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I PRESUME I take about as much interest in what that picture
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represents as anybody else. I believe that it has been said this
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evening that the world will never be civilized so long as
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differences between nations are settled by gun or cannon or sword.
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Barbarians still settle their personal differences with clubs or
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arms, and finally, when they agree to submit their differences to
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their peers, to a court, we call them civilized. Now, nations
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sustain the same relations to each other that barbarians sustain;
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that is, they settle their differences by force; each nation being
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the judge of the righteousness of its cause, and its judgment
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depending entirely -- or for the most part -- on its strength; and
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the strongest nation is the nearest right. Now, until nations
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submit their differences to an international court -- a court with
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the power to carry its judgment into effect by having the armies
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and navies of all the rest of the world pledged to support it --
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the world will not be civilized. Our differences will not be
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settled by arbitration until more of the great nations set the
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example, and until that is done, I am in favor of the United States
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being armed. Until that is done it will give me joy to know that
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another magnificent man-of-war has been launched upon our waters.
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And I will tell you why. Look again at that picture. There is
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another face; it is not painted there, and yet without it that
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picture would not have been painted, and that is the face of U.S.
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Grant. The olive branch, to be of any force, to be of any
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beneficent power, must be offered by the mailed hand. It must be
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offered by a nation which has back of the olive branch the force.
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It cannot be offered by weakness, because then it will excite only
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ridicule. The powerful, the imperial, must offer that branch. Then
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it will be accepted in the true spirit; otherwise not. So, until
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the world is a little more civilized I am in favor of the largest
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guns that can be made and the best navy that floats. I do not want
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any navy unless we have the best, because if you have a poor one
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Bank of Wisdom
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Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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1
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THE FRANK B. CARPENTER DINNER.
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you will simply make a present of it to the enemy as soon as war
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opens. We should be ready to defend ourselves against the world.
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Not that I think there is going to be any war, but because I think
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that is the best way to prevent it. Until the whole world shall
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have entered into the same spirit as the artist when he painted
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that picture, until that spirit becomes general we have got to be
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prepared for war. And we cannot depend upon war suasion. If a fleet
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of men-of-war should sail into our harbor, talk would not be of any
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good; we must be ready to answer them in their own way.
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I suppose I have been selected to speak on art because I can
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speak on that subject without prejudice, knowing nothing about it.
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I have on this subject no hobbies, no pet theories, and
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consequently will give you not what I know, but what I think. I am
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an Agnostic in many things, and the way I understand art is this:
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In the first place we are all invisible to each other. There is
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something called soul; something that thinks and hopes and loves.
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It is never seen. It occupies a world that we call the brain, and
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is forever, so far as we know, invisible. Each soul lives in a
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world of its own, and it endeavors to communicate with another soul
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living in a world of its own, each invisible to the other, and it
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does this in a variety of ways. That is the noblest art which
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expresses the noblest thought, that gives to another the noblest
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emotions that this unseen soul has. In order to do this we have to
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seize upon the seen, the visible. In other words, nature is a vast
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dictionary that we use simply to convey from one invisible world to
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another what happens in our invisible world. The man that lives in
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the greatest world and succeeds in letting other worlds know what
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happens in his world, is the greatest artist.
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I believe that all arts have the same father and the same
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mother, and no matter whether you express what happens in these
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unseen worlds in mere words -- because nearly all pictures have
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been made with words -- or whether you express it in marble, or
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form and color in what we call painting, it is to carry on that
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commerce between these invisible worlds, and he is the greatest
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artist who expresses the tenderest, noblest thoughts to the unseen
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worlds about him. So that all art consists in this commerce, every
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soul being an artist and every brain that is worth talking about
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being an art gallery, and there is no gallery in this world, not in
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the Vatican or the Louvre or any other place, comparable with the
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gallery in every great brain. The millions of pictures that are in
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every brain to-night; the landscapes, the faces, the groups, the
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millions of millions of millions of things that are now living here
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in every brain, all unseen, all invisible forever! Yet we
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communicate with each other by showing each other these pictures,
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these studies, and by inviting others into our galleries and
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showing them what we have, and the greatest artist is he who has
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the most pictures to show to other artists.
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I love anything in art that suggests the tender, the
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beautiful. What is beauty? Of course there is no absolute beauty.
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All beauty is relative. Probably the most beautiful thing to a frog
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is the speckled belly of another frog, or to a snake the markings
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of another snake. So there is no such thing as absolute beauty. But
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what I call beauty is what suggests to me the highest and the
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tenderest thought; something that answers to something in my world.
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Bank of Wisdom
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Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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2
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THE FRANK B. CARPENTER DINNER.
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So every work of art has to be born in some brain, and it must be
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made by the unseen artist we call the soul. Now, if a man simply
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copies what he sees, he is nothing but a copyist. That does not
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require genius. That requires industry and the habit of
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observation. But it is not genius; it is not art. Those little
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daubs and shreds and patches we get by copying, are pieces of iron
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that need to be put into the flame of genius to be molten and then
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cast in noble forms; otherwise there is no genius.
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The great picture should have, not only the technical part of
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art, which is neither moral nor immoral, but in addition some great
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thought, some great event. It should contain not only a history but
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a prophecy. There should be in it soul, feeling, thought. I love
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those little pictures of the home, of the fireside, of the old lady
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boiling the kettle, the vine running over the cottage door, scenes
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suggesting to me happiness, contentment. I think more of them than
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of the great war pieces, and I hope I shall have a few years in
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some such scenes, during which I shall not care what time it is,
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what day of the week or month it is just that feeling of content
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when it is enough to live, to breathe, to have the blue sky above
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you and to hear the music of the water. All art that gives us that
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content, that delight, enriches this world and makes life better
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and holier.
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That, in a general kind of way, as I said before, is my idea
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of art, and I hope that the artists of America -- and they ought to
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be as good here as in any place on earth -- will grow day by day
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and year by year independent of all other art in the world, and be
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true to the American or republican spirit always. As to this
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picture, it is representative, it is American. There is one word
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Mr. Daniel Dougherty said to which I would like to refer. I have
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never said very much in my life in defence of England, at the same
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time I have never blamed England for being against us during our
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war, and I will tell you why. We had been a nation of hypocrites.
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We pretended to be in favor of liberty and yet we had four or five
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millions of our people enslaved. That was a very awkward position.
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We had bloodhounds to hunt human beings and the apostles setting
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them on; and while this was going on these poor wretches sought and
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found liberty on British soil. Now, why not be honest about it? We
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were rather a contemptible people, though Mr. Dougherty thinks the
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English were wholly at fault. But England abolished the slave-trade
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in 1803; she abolished slavery in her colonies in 1833. We were
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lagging behind. That is all there is about it. No matter why, we
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put ourselves in the position of pretending to be a free people
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while we had millions of slaves, and it was only natural that
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England should dislike it.
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I think the chairman said that there had been no great
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historic picture of the signing of the Constitution. There never
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should be, never! It was fit, it was proper, to have a picture of
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the signing of the Declaration of Independence. That was an honest
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document. Our people wanted to give a good reason for fighting
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Great Britain, and in order to do that they had to dig down to the
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bed-rock of human rights, and then they said all men are created
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equal. But just as soon as we got our independence we made a
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Constitution that gave the lie to the Declaration of Independence,
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and that is why the signing of the Constitution never ought to be
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Bank of Wisdom
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Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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3
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THE FRANK B. CARPENTER DINNER.
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painted. We put in that Constitution a clause that the slave-trade
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should not be interfered with for years, and another clause that
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this entire Government was pledged to hand back to slavery any poor
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woman with a child at her breast, seeking freedom by flight. It was
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a very poor document. A little while ago they celebrated the one
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hundredth anniversary of that business and talked about the
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Constitution being such a wonderful thing; yet what was in that
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Constitution brought on the most terrible civil war ever known, and
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during that war they said: "Give us the Constitution as it is and
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the Union as it was." And I said then: "Curse the Constitution as
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it is and the Union as it was. Don't talk to me about fighting for
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a Constitution that has brought on a war like this; let us make a
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new one." No, I am in favor of a painting that would celebrate the
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adoption of the amendment to the Constitution that declares that
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there shall be no more slavery on this soil.
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I believe that we are getting a little more free every day --
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a little more sensible all the time. A few years ago a woman in
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Germany made a speech, in which she asked: "Why should the German
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||
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
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French mother? And why should the French mother teach her son, that
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||
it will be his duty sometime to kill the child of the German
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mother?" There is more sense in that than in all the diplomacy I
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ever read, and I think the time is coming when that question will
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be asked by every mother. Why should she raise a child to kill the
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child of another mother?
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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
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born; no matter about that country being wrong, whether it
|
||
supported him or not, whether it enslaved him and trampled on every
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right he had, still it was his duty to march up in support of that
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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
|
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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
|
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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
|
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settled by arbitration -- settled by some court -- and no one would
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dream of rushing to the field of battle. So, that is my hope for
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the world; more policy, more good, solid, sound sense and less mud
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patriotism.
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I think that this country is going to grow. I think it will
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take in Mr. Wiman's country. I do not mean that we are going to
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take any country. I mean that they are going to come to us. I do
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not believe in conquest. Canada will come just as soon as it is to
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her interest to come, and I think she will come or be a great
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country to herself. I do not believe in those people, intelligent
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||
as they are, sending three thousand miles for information they have
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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
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don't want to come I don't want them.
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|
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Bank of Wisdom
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Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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4
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THE FRANK B. CARPENTER DINNER.
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Yes, we are growing. I don't know how many millions of people
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we have now, probably over sixty-two if they all get counted; and
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they are still coming. I expect to live to see one hundred millions
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here. I know some say that we are getting too many foreigners, but
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I say the more that come the better. We have got to have somebody
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to take the places of the sons of our rich people. So I say let
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them come. There is plenty of land here, everywhere. I say to the
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people of every country, come; do your work here, and we will
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protect you against other countries. We will give you all the work
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to supply yourselves and your neighbors.
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Then if we have differences with another country we shall have
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a strong navy, big ships, big guns, magnificent men and plenty of
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them, and if we put out the hand of fellowship and friendship they
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will know there is no foolishness about it. They will know we are
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not asking any favor. We will just say: We want peace, and we tell
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you over the glistening leaves of this olive branch that if you
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don't compromise we will mop the earth with you.
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That is the sort of arbitration I believe in, and it is the
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only sort, in my judgment, that will be effectual for all time. And
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I hope that we may still grow, and grow more and more artistic, and
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more and more in favor of peace, and I pray that we may finally
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arrive at being absolutely worthy of having presented that picture,
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with all that it implies, to the most warlike nation in the world
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-- to the nation that first sends the gospel and then the musket
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immediately after, and says: You have got to be civilized, and the
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only evidence of civilization that you can give is to buy our goods
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and to buy them now, and to pay for them. I wish us to be worthy of
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the picture presented to such a nation, and my prayer is that
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America may be worthy to have sent such a token in such a spirit,
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and my second prayer is that England may be worthy to receive it
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and to keep it, and that she may receive it in the same spirit that
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it is sent.
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I am glad that it is to be sent by a woman. The gentleman who
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spoke to the toast, "Woman as a Peacemaker," seemed to believe that
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woman brought all the sorrows that ever happened, not only of war,
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but troubles of every kind. I want to say to him that I would
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rather live with the woman I love in a world of war, in a world
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full of troubles and sorrows, than to live in heaven with nobody
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but men. I believe that woman is a pacemaker, and so I am glad that
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a woman presents this token to another woman; and woman is a far
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higher title than queen, in my judgment; far higher. There are no
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higher titles than woman, mother, wife sister, and when they come
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to calling them countesses and duchesses and queens, that is all
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rot. That adds nothing to that unseen artist who inhabits the world
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called the brain. That unseen artist is great by nature and cannot
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be made greater by the addition of titles. And so one woman gives
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to another woman the picture that prophesies war is finally to
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cease, and the civilized nations of the world will henceforth
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arbitrate their differences and no longer strew the plains with
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corpses of brethren. That is the supreme lesson that is taught by
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this picture, and I congratulate Mr. Carpenter that his name is
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associated with it and also with the "Proclamation of
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Emancipation." In the latter work he has associated his name with
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that of Lincoln, which is the greatest name in history, and the
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Bank of Wisdom
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Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
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5
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THE FRANK B. CARPENTER DINNER.
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gentlest memory in this world. Mr. Carpenter has associated his
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name with that and with this and with that of General Grant, for I
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say that this picture would never have been possible had there not
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been behind it Grant; if there had not been behind it the
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victorious armies of the North and the great armies of the South,
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that would have united instantly to repel any foreign foe.
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END
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**** ****
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SHOULD THE CHINESE BE EXCLUDED?
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The average American, like the average man of any country, has
|
||
but little imagination. People who speak a different language, or
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||
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.
|
||
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||
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.
|
||
|
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|
||
Bank of Wisdom
|
||
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
||
7
|
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|
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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
|
||
|
||
|
||
Bank of Wisdom
|
||
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
|
||
7
|
||
|
||
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
|
||
8
|
||
|
||
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
|
||
9
|
||
|
||
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
|
||
11
|
||
|
||
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
|
||
15
|
||
|