OCR Text |
Show L The Phantasies of freedom. HL Bro. Brvan, In his Nebraska Com- Ml; ' moncr, seems to be In favor of "freo Mf silver, free trade, free soil, free speech n and a freo press." Ho Indulges In the H1L.- " practice so common among free H& traders of trying to make everything H desirable to which enn be prefixed the MJO ?, wor(1 "ficc." H ' Such efforts arc but tho tinkling of Mft sheep bells, to lure on others. What M& does he mean by saving tliat ho Is In R favor of fice soil? Would it bo his $:' Idea to run his cattle upon another's Hp range or to cut tho oats fiom a neigh- M.' ' bor's field In older to demonstrate KTi that doctilne? A belief In free Mm , speech that means nothing unless he Mr further qualifies tho term; or would M he believe In the tongue of the slun- W derer oi backbiter In ordei that cv- J ery tongue maj wag with freedom? A ,1 free press Is all right so long as the r term Is proper)) applied; but a free : press does not give the person who happens to control a newspaper the right to slander his fellow cltlens, or the liberty to vilify the courts. There u- are men who believe In "free wills- key" and "free love;" we arc not one of them. There have been many people In tho United States who believed that property prop-erty should be free to all; they take an) thing upon which they may place their hands, disregarding the laws of ownership, but well-regulated society disapproves of such free handling of others' property. Freedom to do right cannot be too much extended; freedom to do vviong has never been too much restricted. ,Thcword free, whether prefixed to coinage or trade, or any of the terms of tho politician, is a catch-word used to mislead the unthinking. It Is understood, In Its different phases, by all the thoughtful men In the Union as antagonistic to the best Interests of the nation. Men have a right to build fences to protect their own Inelosurcs, to manufacture man-ufacture clothing to protect them against cold or heat, to enact laws to protect them against the vicious and to promote the general welfare. The right to protection Is Nature's llrst law. The higher civilization of this country, which can only be maintained by the dignity of labor and by good wages paid for good work by good money, demands piotcction against the low mode of life and the cheap labor of countries which do not enjoy the same benflts of such high civ libation. liba-tion. Protection of the Individual begins with the ciadlc and only ends with the grave. Individuals, when organized or-ganized Into society, c.iriy with them the right to exercise this law of protection pro-tection or civilization, and the Idea of a "freedom" which simply means license to overrun the rights of others will not be allowed to prevail, even to a limited extent, In the bounds of the United States. |