4
T H E TORCH OF REASON, SILV ER TO N , OREGON, MARCH 9, 1899.
years ago, and f or this reason we ! ed to violate th eir conscience or lines begin to recognize us. The
lose two days each week instead of O regonian, th a t great northw estern
use it as an illustration.
This law is now such as to m ake ' one, th a t a class of men may the new spaper, writes a most excellent
The Only Paper of Its Kind.
it alm ost impossible for one who better fleece them of their hard- private letter in which we are
much praised for the m anner and
P ublished W eekly by th e L iberal U n i­ has not a license hut who has earned pennies.
versity C om pany, in the In te re sts of
knowledge of the craft and a desire , The religious law m aker has one m atter of th e Torch.
C onstructive, Moral Secularism .
But we are not sati-fl* d with the
He
to relieve suffering, to rem ain a advantage over all others.
In E astern can work on the superstition Torch, and we could m ake it very
........ Editor law -abiding citizen.
J. E. H osm er,..
the
legislators, and this mcch better under a little better
. .M anager Oregon a man has a very bad of
P. W. G eer,........
toothache; his neighbor is not a “ for C h rist’s sake” plan coupled | conditions. O ur press is not yet
with the “ scratch my back and I’ll paid lor. We paid off the original
E n te red a t th e postoffice a t Silverton, licensed dentist, but he can extract
O regon, as second-class m ail m atter.
teeth, and although his own work scratch vours” idea will ruin our debt a long tim e ago, hut we had
is pressing, he takes his team from republic unless we infidel puppies to borrow money to do it. We owe
SUBSCRIPTION RATES.
the plow and drives three or four get our eyes open before the sack is a paper bill of one hundred dollars,
miles, extracts the bad tooth, ac­ tied and we, with the rock of ages , which ought to he paid at once. If
One year, in a d v an c e ..........................$1 99
cepts twenty-five cents to pay for about our necks, are sunk into the we were not thus cram ped, we
Six m onths, in a d v a n c e ....................
m ight feel th a t we could afford a
T hree m onths, in a d v an c e ................
his tim e and thus saves his friend dark w aters of ruined em pires.
In clubs of five or m ore, one year,
In the ancient eastern nations, good half-tone cut in our paper
in ad v an ce..........................................
76 a long journey of perhaps twenty-
Money should
sent by registered five miles in additton to a protect­ when the favorite ones’ laws became once in a while th a t would add
le tte r or m oney order.
ed d e n tist’s charge.
Now is a law so oppressive th a t the common very much to the appearance and
just th a t provides for the arrest herd could not exist there, they interest of the Torch. We would
Notice!
and fine or im prisonm ent of one or either escaped to the more western like very much to he th e m eans of
both of these m en?
Yet this dis­ countries or died in the attem p t. showing our readers the faces of
A h a n d pointing to th is notice denotes
th a t your su b scrip tio n has ex p ired . graceful d en tist’s law, like m any Like the story of the children of Is­ some of the best workers and w rit­
You áre e arn estly requested to re ­ others, stands today on our statu te rael, little bands of the hum an ers for m odern F reethought, and
new so th a t you m ay receive th e p a­
per w ithout in te rru p tio n . W e have d e­ books, a record of the folly and fam ily have fled from their op­ also give them better ideas of what
cided th a t it is tiest for all concerned lost statesm anship of our age. pressors.
How m any, oh, how we are doing by p rin tin g pictures
th a t we do not send papers longer th an
th e tim e paid for unless so ordered. Fine and im prisonm ent are given to m any times history repeated itself of our buildings and grounds and
T his will p revent any loss and we will men who relieve pain, on the flim ­ before the little bands whose names scenes in and around this and o th ­
know just w here we sta n d .
We request you to semi us th e nam es sy pretext that society m ust be we hear cam e to the shores of this er F reethought centers.
of Secularists who m ight becom e su b ­ protected from quacks.
It takes but little money to do
I t is only broad land of the free! T heir a n ­
scribers and we will m ail sam ple copies.
a set of quacks who wish to pro­ cestors had been oppressed and had this, h u t th a t little cannot be ap ­
tect them selves who are crowding w andered to the western shores of plied u n til our debts are paid. If
THURSDAY, MAR. 9, E. M. 299
these abom inable laws upon our Europe, hut not having yet learned each of our readers will send us
people.
To prove this, let us ex­ the lessons of reciprocity and Secu­ one or two new subscriptions to the
C la s s e s vs. th e M a sse s.
am ine another law passed by our larism , they oppressed the poor Torch of Reason th ey will he re­
Celts and pushed them to the very warded by know ing th at they have
legislative assembly.
“ R ight wrongs no m an ,” hut the
It seems that the people are te r­ w ater’s edge. K ingcraft (class leg­ lifted from our shoulders what is to
m any thousands of laws passed for
islation) and priestcraft (religious us a heavy burden, and they will
the benefit of certain classes and ribly suffering from the bad prac­
legislation) in time oppressed the receive a b rig h ter Torch each week
the salaries and fees of the reces^ tice of incom petent barbers, and so
masses, and when America was dis­ than they do a t present. I f we all
sary officers to carry out their pro­ a few h-o-n-o-r-a-b-l-e men con­
covered m any turned to these in ­ pull together we will accom plish
v isio n s, have wronged countless ceive the idea of having a barber
viting shore?. But the lessons of much.
m illions of people and are still on law. The result is th a t a m an ca n ­
tru th and right are not yet learned
the increase. Of course these laws not now hire whom he chooses to
and our poor people are in the
F a lse P atriotism .
are not confined to religious legis­ cut hiH hair, unless he chooses to
throes
of
pain
caused
by
the
viola­
lation. Bills are introduced into choose one of the chosen ones or
Of all foolish things on h u m an i­
It seems tion of the eternal principles of lib­
the U nited States and state legisla­ pay a fine or go to jail.
erty and justice. We have reached ty ’s green earth, the most foolish is
tures, and if one of these em bryon­ to us th at our legislators are get­
w hat some people call patriotism .
ic laws is for the benefit of the ting down rath er fine. They are the western boundary of the world.
people and it does not come in con­ certainly splitting hairs, and if God T here is no land now free from the It m akes even the sanguine person
craft of king and priest to which alm ost blue when he sees how peo­
tact with some individual or class has num bered every h air of our
We the people of the ple are led arouud with this little
enterprise, it may live, and the heads he will certainly hold some we can flee.
people reap the benefit; but such one responsible for the hairs thus U nited States m ust learn th a t cord fastened in their m ental noses.
Really it is a sham e w hat is good for all is best for the “ The world is my c o u n try ” is too
laws are very scarce com pared with destroyed.
an o th er class.
This class is in tro ­ th at a hoy caim ot cut his neighbor individual, and th a t no nation can large an idea to enter the little
duced by in d ividuals or their se­ hoy’s h air w ithout passing an ex­ long exist whose god is not the bone boxes of m any who wave the
stars and stripes and shout “ old
cret representatives who try to am ination and paying five dollars good of the people.
glory” on every public occason, but
wield influence enough with o th ­ down and one dollar per year to a
who never th in k th a t to talk of
T h e T o rc h o f R e a s o n .
ers having sim ilar hills to get th eir lot of men who are getting fat at
revenging the wrongs of an in d i­
votes. Those who fail in thus in ­ the expense of honest people.
Our paper has m any friends and vidual or a n atio n is in h u m an
But of all the foolish, injurious
fluencing enough votes, are lost,
but those whose influence is great laws th a t are passed, there are we cannot express the joy we feel and u npatriotic. “ Rem em ber the
enough are passed.
We honestly none so num erous and dam aging as th a t the very best th in k ers am ong M aine,” if p u t forth with the idea
believe th a t the m ajority of the those favoring religious sects. The our ranks recognize it as a “clean, of arousing the savage revenge of
laws now passed are of this class. sectarian school laws of this and well gotten up little p a p e r’’. The our fellow7 men is u n p atrio tic; for,
We can not estim ate the far-reaeh- m any other states are so common F reethought Magazine, one of the th a t which lowers the ideals of love
ing in ju ry this has done to h u m an ­ as to he alm ost overlooked and ta k ­ oldest and best of F reethought and forgiveness ta u g h t us by the
ity : and we would not be true to en as a m atter of course. People workers, com pliments us highly best m inds of the past an d present
B. F. Underwood, is an in ju ry to our country. “ Re­
the religion of Secularism which we do not seem astonished th a t tw en­ this m onth.
profess if we did not cry out against ty-eight thousand dollars are ap- whose work is too well known to venge dw elb in little m inds,” and
propiated to one sectarian school need any explanation, writes for th e perp etu atio n of ideas of re­
it.
In a former editorial we spoke of of this state while others get sums us an d encourages us with m any venge will hold back civilization,
S unday laws, kind words through private letters. m ake bigots and widen the gulf be­
the dental law which exists in most nearly as large.
of our states, and as a change in which are such a good financial M any others of the foremost Free- tween our time and th e tim e when
the Oregon dental law has just scheme for the preachers, are hack­ thought thinkers send us words of all men will be brothers and wars
been m ade, we wish to refer to it ed up by others who are exem pt cheer and literary and financial will have ceased.
How easy a th in g it is to play on
But it is not alone
again. We can speak of this law from closing their places of busi- assistance.
more intelligently than of some ress, and thus some suffer finan- irom those actively engaged in our a ch ild ’s ra ttle —to please the baby
others, on account of having work­ financial loss and others are even great work, but others who are — but it is a n o th er th in g to educate
ed a t the business a num ber of (Worked in the chain gang or oblig­ know n as successful men in other 1 a child in the ways of tru th and
Torch of Reason