QUOTES
Freedom
of thought and freedom of speech in our great institutions are absolutely necessary
for the preservation of our country. The moment either is restricted, liberty
begins to wither and die..."
"Justice,
not expedience, must be the guiding light. The orator must fix his eye on the
polestar of justice, and plough straight thither. The moment he glances toward
expediency, he falls from his high estate."
"The
doctrine that might makes right has covered the earth with misery. While it crushes
the weak, it also destroys the strong. Every deceit, every cruelty, every wrong,
reaches back sooner or later and crushes its author. Justice is moral health,
bringing happiness, wrong is moral disease, bringing mortal death."
"Compromisers, traders
and neutral men never correct abuses, never found or save free institutions, and
never fight for human rights."
"I
say that there cannot be in a republic any institution exempt from criticism,
and that when any institution is permitted to assume that attitude, it will destroy
republican government."
"As
labor creates the wealth of the country, we demand the passage of such laws as
may be necessary to protect it in all its rights."
"There
are thousands of men in this state who have great fortunes invested in stocks,
bonds and other forms of personal property upon which they do not pay a dollar
(in taxes), yet they enjoy all ... of the advantages of government. ... Curiously
enough, these are very often the men who have the most to say about patriotism
and the duties of citizenship."
The
policy of the government in the hands of the Republicans is to take care of the
rich on the pretense that the rich will take care of the poor.
"No
man's ambitions (have) a right to stand in the way of performing a simple act
of justice."
"Honest
investigations into the condition of the poor will produce beneficial results,
and if this agitation shall serve to enlighten the public at large in regard to
the real character and condition of our poorer classes, then remedies will soon
be found which will without violence and without revolution greatly improve this
condition and serve to increase the greatness, the prosperity and the happiness
of our country."
"It
is a curious and sad fact that in the long, weary upward march of the human race
there was scarcely ever an act proposed for the protection, emancipation or elevation
of the poor but met with the most violent opposition from the so-called better
classes, as well as from statesmen and philosophers and from many of the clergy."
"You
ask whether a woman should be paid the same wages as man when she does the same
work? To this, there can be but one answer. If she does the same quantity and
quality of work under the same conditions as a man, simple justice requires that
she should be paid the same. wages. To deny her this is to deny her justice."
"In the entire history
of the human race there is not a single instance in which cruelty effected a genuine
reformation. It can crush, but it cannot improve. It can restrain, but, as soon
as the restraint is removed, the subject is worse than before. The human mind
is so constituted that it must be led toward the good, and be driven only in one
direction, and that is toward ruin."
"No
man can examine the great penal system of this country without being astounded
at its magnitude, its cost and its unsatisfactory results."
