Torch of reason., March 06, 1902, Image 1

T orch of
“ TRUTH
VOL. 6.
B E A R S T H E TORCH
IN T H E S E A R C H
FOR T R I T H . ’ ’— Lucretius-
NO. 9.
SILVERTON. OREGON, THURSDAY, MARCH 6, E. M. 302 (1902.)
decent enough to say he would if For th e Torch of R eason.
he could; no, sir; nothing. It did C O M P U L S O R Y A R B IT R A T IO N ,
ANONYMOUS.
not make any diffeience to him .
And Individual Rights.
But this rich man in hell—in tor­
F every tro u b le u n d e r th e su n ,
m ent— his heart was all right, for
T h is t r u t h is w rit in gold,
BY WILLIAM BIRNEY.
L ong ere th e p a ssin g y e a r is ru n ,
he
remembered
his
brothers;
and
he
’T w ill be as a ta le th a t is to ld .
You sit in a shadow a n d m o u rn to d a y , — j t h i n k a t h o u s a n d tim e s m o re of said to this A braham , “ If you ca n ­
T R IK E S and lockouts are as
B u t y o u ’ll d ry y o u r eyes to m o rro w ;
.
old a9 trade. Most of them
T here’s never a trouble th a t comes to th a t m an th a n I do of being theo- not go, why, send a m an to my
stay,
logically r ig h t: because I do not five brethren, so th a t they will not
have been settled by agree­
A n d th e r e ’s ever a jov a fte r sorrow .
•
ta re whether I am theologically come to this place!” Good fellow, ment or by voluntary arb itratio n .
So lift y o u r head an d look u p t o th e sky, r ig h t or not.
It is s o m e th in g t h a t to think of his five brothers when In some the parties cannot come to
So v a lia n tly ta k e th e ro a d ;
,
,
T h e re ’s g la d n e ss w aitin g y o u bye and I n e v e r, n e v e r, n e v e r s h a l l under­ he was burning up. Good fellow. term s. In these it is proposed to
bye,
stan d ; and every one of you will die Best fellow we ever heard from on compel them to do so; th a t is, if the
S oon v o u w ill d ro p th e load.
,
•
. ’ ,
-.i
laborers refuse to work a t the rates
O u r tro u b le s all com e b u t one a t a tim e , a n d y o u w on t u n d e r s t a n d it e ith e r the other side— in either world.
B u t o u r jo y s m ake h a ste in tro o p s;
— until after you die at any rate.
So, I say, there is my place. And, fixed by a state board, they are to
T h e re ’s a place to re s t if you will only
I do not know what will happen incidentally, A braham at th at time be fined and im prisoned un til they
clim b ,
A nd a cow ard it is th a t d ro o p s.
then.
gave his judgm ent as to the value consent; and if the em ployer refuses
Xo m a tte r how d a rk th e p re s e n t h o u r,
I am not denying anything. <»f miracles. He said, “ Though one to go on with his business and pay
T h e re ’s su n lig h t to follow th e ra in ;
should arise from the dead he said rates, he is to he find and im ­
T he b a re st field will bloom a n d flower, There is another ideal, and it is a
A nd th e b ird s com e b ack again.
beautiful ideal. It is the greatest wouldn’t help your five b re th ren !” prisoned until he consents. It is
T h e re ’s n e v er a tro u b le t h a t ’s h e re to
“ There are Moses and the prophets!” useless for the laborers to insist
dream
th
at
ever
entered
the
heart
sta y ,
Y ou'll d ry y o u r eyes to m o rro w ;
and brain of m an.— the Dream of No need of raising people from the th a t the fixed rates mean p erm a­
You m ay s it in th e shadow a n d m o u rn
nent starv atio n for themselves and
dead.
Im
m
ortality.
It
was
born
of
hum
an
to d a y ,
That is my idea, in a general way, fam ilies; or for the em ployer th a t
B u t w o rk .an d b liss will b a n ish sorrow . affection. It did not come to us
said rates mean speedy bankruptcy
from heaven. It was born of the about religion ; and I want the im ­
for him. The theory of the p u r­
hum an heart. And when he who agination to go to work upon it,
M U N D A N E R E L IG IO N .
pose is, th a t the Btate hoard knows
loved kissed the lips of her who was taking the perfections of one church,
better than the p arties what is best
One That We All Can Get.
dead, there came into his heart the of one school, of one system , and
putting them together, just as the for them and its judgm ent m ust he
dream : We may meet again.
enforced; th a t the individual has
BY ROBERT G. INGERSOLL.
And, let me tell yo u . th a t hope sculptor makes a great statue by
taking the eyes from one, the nose no rights th a t are sacred ; and th a t
of
im
m
ortality
never
came
from
OW, then, w hat is religion?
from another, the lim bs from a n ­ a board can order him to work for
any
religion.
T
h
at
hope
of
im
m
or­
I say, religion is all here in
other, and so on; just as they m ake starvation wages or to spend his
tality
has
helped
m
ake
religion.
It
this world— right here— and
hard-earned gains in a non-paying
th a t all our (iuti-B are right hsre to has been the great oak around a great painting from a landscape
by puttin g a river in this place, business.
our fellow-men; th at the m an that which have climbed the poisonous
No such b rutal operation of the
instead of over there, changing the
builds a home, m arries the girl that vines of superstition.
location of a tree and im proving on power of the m ajority to crush in ­
And
vet
the
m
om
ent
a
man
ex-
he loves; takes good care of her;
what they call n a tu re —th a t is to dividual n a tu ra l rights has ever
likes the fam ily; stays
home presses doubt about the tru th of
say, sim ply by adding to, taking been enacted in a large in d u strial
nights, as a general thing; pays his Jo sh u a or Jonah or the other three
from, th a t is all we can do. But com m unity ; and none such will
debts, tries to find out w hat hecan; fellows in a fiery furnace, up hops
let us go on doing th a t until ever he enacted in Am erica, the
gets all the ideas and beautiful some poor little wretch and says,
there shall be a church in sym pa­ country of bills of right as p art of
things th a t his m ind will hold; “ W hy, he doesn’t want to live any
thy with the hum an heart, and in constitutional governm ent I
tu rn s a p a rt of his brain into a gal- more; he w ants to die and go down
But, it is said, New Zealand has
harm ony with the best hum an
lery of fine a rts; has a host of paint- like a dog, and th a t is ths end of
such a law and it has been success­
brain.
ings and statues there; then has an- him and his wife and ch ild ren .'’
ful. “ It has checked cu t-th ro at
And, w hat is more, let us have
other niche devoted to music and They really seem to think th a t the
com petition between business men
__a m agnificent dome, tilled with m om ent a m an is w hat they call th at religion for the world we live and put an eird to trade dishonesty.’*
winged notes th a t rise to glory an Infidel he has no affections, no in. R ight here! Let us have th a t (See T orch of J a n u a ry 30.) H as
— now the m an who does th a t gets heart, no feeling, no hope—uothing religion until it cannot be said th a t it, indeed ? Let us wait aw hile—
all he can from the great ones dead, — nothing. J u s t anxious to be an- they who do the moat work have say fifty years. New Zealand is
the least to eat. Let us have th a t
swaps all the thoughts he can with n ih ilated l
But if the orthodox
very young; is in her first boom
religion here until hundreds and
the ones th a t are alive ; true to the creed be true, I m ake my choice to-
and is not a safe guide for older
ideal th a t he has here in his b ra in — night. I take hell. And if it is thousands of women are not com ­ com m unities.
Mr. Lloyd says
pelled
to
make
a
living
with
the
he is w hat I call a religious man, between hell and an n ih ilatio n , I
there have been no strikes for sev­
needle th at has been called “ the asp
because he m akes the world better, taiie an nihilation.
eral years. Yes! nor have there
at the breast of the poor,” and to
happier; he puts the dim ples of joy
I wiH tell you why I take hell
been any in the Zulu Islan d s, in
live in tenem ents of filth, where
in the cheeks of the ones he loves, in m aking the first choice. We have
Luzon, and in hundreds of other
modesty is impossible.
and he lets the gods run heaven to heard from both of those places—
com m unities quite as populous as
I
say,
let
us
preach
th
a
t
religion
suit them selves.
And I am not heaven and hell.
According to
New Zealand.
here
until
men
will
be
asham
ed
to
Numerous experim ents in m unic­
saying th a t he is right; I do not the New T estam ent there was a
have
forty
or
fifty
m
illions,
or
any
ipal adm inistration have been m ade
rich man in hell, and a poor m an,
know. [W h y need he?]
more th an they need, while their recently and are now in progress.
This is all the religion th at I Lazarus, in heaven. And there
brethren lack bread— while their R esults vary.
Q uincy failed in
have; to m ake somebody else hap­ was another gentlem an by the name
Let us Boston; Jones in Toledo; and in
of A braham . The rich man in hell sisters die from want.
pier if I can.
preach th a t religion here until man Glasgow some reforms failed and
I divide this world into two was in flames, and he called for wa-
will have more am bition to become others succeeded.
Let us study
elasses— the cruel and the kind; ter, and they told him they couldn’t
wise and good th an to become rich them all and adopt those favored
and I think a thousand times more give him any. No bridge! But
an d powerful. Let us preach th a t by conditions.
But go slowly; the
of the kind m an than I do of an they did not express the slightest
religion here am ong ourselves until world is very young yet.
intelligent man. I th in k more of regret th at they could not give him
Prudence is especially called for
C o n tin u e d ou page 3.
kindness th an I do of genius, I any water. Mr. A braham was uot •
T ra n s ie n t Troubles.
O
think more of real good hum an n a ­
ture in th at w ay—of one who is
willing to lend a helping hand and
who goes through the world with a
face that looks as if its owner were
willing to answer a decent question
S
N