Press enter after choosing selection

Has A Theory

Has A Theory image
Parent Issue
Day
27
Month
February
Year
1895
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

The subject of Prof. B. M. Thompsoii last evening before the Unity club was "The Individual and the State." Jt was handled in an entertainini; marnier. The professor is always a pleasant speaker, and seldom fails to please his audience. He started out lat evening by assertuïg that every age has a uew question to solve, one that must be solved and solved aright if the progress of the human race is to be assured. One hundred years ago our fathers had the question of self-government to solve, and they solved it. To-diiy we have thé question of labor and capital. In the days of our forefathers they were taught that all power came froni the throiie. The House of Commous existed because the kiug permitted it, the House of Lords received its authority from the king. Our forefathers said no, that the people were sovereign, and that all bodies received their power from the governed. They succeeded so well that all governments of the world have mitated them, even Russia. To-day there is a growing sentiment that the ballot-box and universal suffrage is not the panacea for all ills that aifect the people. There is too much voting and too litlle caring, and there is a feeling that there are rnany bad sovereigns and that it might be better to be governed by one tyrant tlian by a multitude of tjrants. The speaker then gave a very entertaining description of the country as it existed fifty and one hundred years ago, as when all were equal in wealth and station and all contented and happy. Then he told how the old things had pasl away and been succeeded by new ones. How the reaper had replaced the sickle and tlie scythe, and how the inventive genius of the American nation had pushed the individual workman to the rear. What was íormerly done by the skilled laborer, and much of the worWof the unskilled laborer, is now accomplished by machinery. The absolute equality of the early days has given place to rank inequality. This revölution is very apparent in the carrying traffic. Ten miles au hour was considered rapid lor the stage coach and six miles an hour good, now one is whirled along flfty and sixty miles au liour, and the Atlantic ocean is crossed in lesa (han fíve days. The State of Michigan has flve-sixths oí the populatioa of the eutire cblonies in 1876, she has inore and greater schools and colleges thau the entire nation then possessed, and Detroit has more and fiaer buildings than stood at that time. But the people of the eolonies were happier than are the people of Michigan to-day. [Then the professor, after a half apology for bringing np the matter, gave the audience a sample of the free trade doctrine that still appears to cling to him notwithstanding the terrible lesson the country has had of that theory for the past two years or more.] It takes but little to make a man happy, simply a knowledge that the other fellow lias got less than he has himself. There are a few places wliere all are batial. Before the law there is equality' and the poor man stands a better chance before a jury than does the rich man. If our judges are prejudiced at all it is in favor of the poor cliënt. In politics all are equal at the ballotbox. In edu catión, as far as our public schools go, all are absolutely equal. Bat there we must stop. In business in society, the poor boy does not stand an equal chance with the son of wealthy paren ts. Forty years ago the re was but on e millionaire in the nation, to-day millionaires are everywhere. Social reformers come to give us antidotes for these evils, for they are evils. The person must be blind if he can not realize that the future is dark if something is not done to relieve the miuds of the people. But there can be no solution of the problem unless in harmony with the eternal laws of tlie universe. Tliese laws elearly .indícate that God has to do I with the individual and not the state, foi' it is the individual fchat inakes the sl.ate. There s no progresa in tlie world exeept il comes froni the individurtl. Tlie speaker thought tliat if iiiitn had IihiI the inaking of the GSarden of Et leu he wunld not have placed the tree of knowledge of gootl iihd evil in the centre of it, hut woukl have had a live mile limit. The queslion is liow to remiMly the evils that exist and cause the tlisquial and anrest among the people and stil) preserve the iutegrity oC the individual? There is no divine right given to ariy man to give lii.s property to any person. Naked we carne into tlii.s world, naked we must go out. All the right man lias tü dispose of hjj5 property is given by statute, whicli was made for the benefit of individuáis. At first it was the olclest sou that inheriled the fatlier'a estáte, theii the slatute was ehanged, and all the children inherited Uike. Prof. Thompson would have a law euacted that no person should be allowed to give more tiian a certain reasonable amonnt tu his children. All the balance should go to the state to be beid in trust for the people of the state. It should be used to build colleges, schools, asylunis, etc, and to reduce taxation. In this way the nation woukl in time becouie possessed of all the railroads and express coinpanies and great enterprises, without the people being taxed to parchase them., This is the theory. By it our uational happiness and the salvation of our liberties are to be preserved. [The theory is ;ood, but the state would thus become a paternal government, a thing abhorred by all free traders.] J. C. Beniis, secret-ary, announces that the annual meeting of the Farmev's Yigilnnce Association of the townsliips of Augusta, Ypsilanti, Pittsfield and York, wil) be held on Saturday. Manh )tli. at 1:30 p. m. sharp, iu United "Woekmen's Hall, Union block, Yiisilaat :. By order of executive committee. The entertainment given iy district Ne 10, in honor of Vashi'ia'ton'ig BtrtMay, in Lodi Town Hall, ivas comsUtered a grand success. The hall was deeorated wltii evergreen, and red. wMte and blue bunting. Back of the stag-e htín% a large picture of Washington, draped with f lage. All the pieces were very pretty and entertajning and the way in which they ivere spoken and aeted was a great credit to the school, and shows the thorough training they receiveil by tlieir teacher, Miss Sophia Ea.st. Mrs. Ij. M. Lyon died on Sunday evening, at the home oí her son Arthur S. Lyooi, of general debility, aged 83 yeare. Mts. Iyon was a native oí New York. and eame to this county in 1830, two years afterward marryiug- Loa-enzo M. Lyon, and settling upon a farm in Seio -whe:re the couple reaided until some twenty years age, -vvhen they built for themselves a residence on W. Huron 6t., in this city, which has been thelr home every sinoe. Last fall Mrs. Lyon w&nt to the home of her son to stay for the winter, where her last days were spent. The funeral services will be held at the residence, No. 99 W. Huron ut., to-morrow afternoon at 2 o'clock, and interrmont will be in Forest Hill Cemetery. She leaves five sojis and two daughters, all of whom have reached man's Ostate.

Article

Subjects
Old News
Ann Arbor Courier