Speech #490021931

The justification for its exertion at this time grows out of the most calamitous and stupendous transaction in this centurya war between the enlightened and powerful Commonwealths of the American Union. lasting. it is true. only four years. yet marked by sacrifices of property and life and by battles and campaigns and followed by political and social revolutions without a parallel in the history of civilized man. The North. that emerged triumphant from the conflict. is not in all respects the North that entered it. for material changes have taken place in the vital conditions of society. resulting in the gradual disappearance of the old simple ways of living. in the creation of a class on the one band who possess more concentrated wealth and power than any order of nobility in any nation of Europe. exercising a more extensive authority over the occupations of the people than the Federal Government itself. and on the other hand another class dependent upon their daily labor for their daily bread andseparated from the former by a deep and widening chasm. I do not mean to exaggerate the evils of this disproportional distribution of wealth or the manifest growth of discontent and tendencies toward communism. but however much they may be mitigated and modified by wise legislation and practical benevolence. it must be admitted that the selfrestraint and composure and disposition to settle all questions upon the basis ofj ustice which will enable the lawmaking power to meet and master the new social problems and embarrassments aggravated by immigration. and to determine ultimately what shall be the relations of the individual to the State and the limitations upon corporations. are to be found and found only in the discipline and resources of education upon a scale and to an extent not yet generally adopted. The people will be enabled to control and govern themselves with universal suffrage by means of universal education. or sooner or later they will be governed. as in all the most powerful nations of Europe. bypermanent class distinctions with special privileges backed by standing armies. Our own country is the only exception to this rule among great and rich nations.