{
  "schema": "tga.work.v1",
  "identifier": "dresden:vol-9:reunion-address",
  "slug": "reunion-address",
  "title": "Reunion Address",
  "subtitle": "Elmwood Reunion of Six Regiments.",
  "excerpt": "An address delivered at the Elmwood Reunion of six Civil War regiments — Peoria delegation and crowd of thousands in attendance.",
  "year": 1887,
  "volume": 9,
  "category": "Political",
  "author": {
    "name": "Robert G. Ingersoll",
    "wikidata": "Q360326",
    "viaf": "44331023"
  },
  "isPartOf": {
    "title": "The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll",
    "edition": "Dresden Edition",
    "publisher": "C. P. Farrell",
    "year": 1900
  },
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/",
  "url": "https://thegreatagnostic.com/works/reunion-address/",
  "wordCount": 8679,
  "body": "• The Elmwood Reunion, participated in by six regiments,\n    came to a glorious close last evening. There were thousands\n    of people present. The city was gayly decorated with flags\n    and hunting, while pictures and busts of Col. Ingersoll were\n    in every show window. From early in the morning until noon,\n    delegations kept coming in, A special train arrived from\n    Peoria at 10.50 o'clock, bearing a large delegation of old\n    soldiers together with Col. Ingersoll and his daughter Maud.\n    He was met by the reception committee, and marched up the\n    street escorted by an army of veterans. When he arrived on\n    the west side of the public square, the lines were opened,\n    and he marched between, in review of his old friends and\n    comrades. The parade started as soon as it could be formed,\n    after the arrival of the special train.\n    Col. Ingersoll was greeted by a salute of thirteen guns from\n    Peoria's historic cannon, as he was escorted to the grand\n    stand by Spencer's band and the Peoria Veterans.\n    The reviewing stand was on the west side of the park. Here\n    the parade was seen by Col. Ingersoll and the other\n    distinguished guests, among whom were Congressmen Graff and\n    Prince, Mayor Day, Judges N. E. Worthington and I. C.\n    Pinkney, and the Hon. Clark E. Carr, who also made a speech\n    saying that the people cannot estimate the majesty of the\n    eloquence of Col. Robert G. Ingersoll, keeping alive the\n    flame of patriotism from 1860 to the present time. .\n    The parade was an imposing one, there were fully two\n    thousand five hundred old veterans in line who passed In\n    review before Col. Ingersoll, each one doffing his hat as he\n    marched by. The most pleasing feature of the exercises of\n    the day was the representation of the Living Flag by one\n    hundred and fifty little girls of Elmwood, at ten o' clock\n    under the direction of Col. Lem. H. Wiley, of Peoria. The\n    flag was presented on a large Inclined amphitheatre at the\n    left of the grand stand, and was the finest thing ever\n    witnessed lu this part of the country.\n    Following the presentation of the Living Flag, Chairman\n    Brown called the Reunion to order, and Col. Lem. H. Wiley,\n    National Bugler gave the assembly call.\n    Following the assembly call a male chorus rendered a song,\n    \"Ring O Bells.\" The song was composed for the occasion by\n    Mr. E. R. Brown and was as follows:\n    \"Welcome now that leader fearless,\n    Free of thought and grand of brain,\n    King of hearts and speaker peerless,\n    Hail our Ingersoll again.\" ***\n    Then Chairman, E. R. Brown, took charge of the meeting and\n    introduced Col. Ingersoll as the greatest of living orators,\n    referring to the time that the Colonel declared, a quarter\n    of a century ago, in Rouse's Hall, Peoria, that from that\n    time forth there would be one free man in Illinois, and\n    expressing Indebtedness to him for what had been done since\n    for the freedom and happiness of mankind, by his mighty\n    brain, his great spirit and his gentle heart.\n    He then spoke of Col. Ingersoll's residence in Peoria\n    county, paying an eloquent tribute to him, and concluded by\n    leading the distinguished gentleman to the front of the\n    stand. The appearance of Col. Ingersoll was a signal for a\n    mighty shout, which was heartily joined in by everybody\n    present, even the little girls composing the living flag,\n    cheering and waving their banners.\n    It was fully ten minutes before the cheering had subsided,\n    and when Col. Ingersoll commenced to speak it was renewed\n    and he was forced to wait for several minutes more. When\n    quiet was restored, he opened his address, and for an hour\n    and a half he held the vast audience spell-bound with his\n    eloquence and wit.\n    After Col. Ingersoll's speech the veterans crowded around\n    the stand to meet and grasp the hand of their comrade, and\n    the boys of the Eleventh Illinois Cavalry, his old regiment,\n    were especially profuse in their congratulations and thanks\n    for the splendid address he had delivered. His speeeh was\n    off-hand, only occasional reference being made to his short\n    notes. The Colonel then left the Park amid the yells of\n    delight of the old soldiers, every man of whom endeavored to\n    grasp his hand.\n    In the afternoon the veterans assembled in Liberty Hall by\n    themselves, the room being filled. Col. Ingersoll appeared\n    and was greeted with such cheers as he had not received\n    during the entire day. He then said good-bye to his old\n    comrades.—Chicago Inter-ocean and Peoria papers, Sept. 6th,\n    1896.\n\nElmwood, Ills.\n\n1895.\n\nLADIES and Gentlemen, Fellow-citizens, Old Friends and Comrades:\n\nIt gives me the greatest pleasure to meet again those with whom I became\nacquainted in the morning of my life. It is now afternoon. The sun of\nlife is slowly sinking in the west, and, as the evening comes, nothing\ncan be more delightful than to see again the faces that I knew in youth.\n\nWhen first I knew you the hair was brown; it is now white. The lines\nwere not quite so deep, and the eyes were not quite so dim. Mingled with\nthis pleasure is sadness,—sadness for those who have passed away—for\nthe dead.\n\nAnd yet I am not sure that we ought to mourn for the dead. I do not know\nwhich is better—life or death. It may be that death is the greatest\ngift that ever came from nature's open hands. We do not know.\n\nThere is one thing of which I am certain, and that is, that if we could\nlive forever here, we would care nothing for each other. The fact\nthat we must die, the fact that the feast must end, brings our souls\ntogether, and treads the weeds from out the paths between our hearts.\n\nAnd so it may be, after all, that love is a little flower that grows\non the crumbling edge of the grave. So it may be, that were it not\nfor death there would be no love, and without love all life would be a\ncurse.\n\nI say it gives me great pleasure to meet you once again; great pleasure\nto congratulate you on your good fortune—the good fortune of being a\ncitizen of the first and grandest republic ever established upon the\nface of the earth.\n\nThat is a royal fortune. To be an heir of all the great and brave men\nof this land, of all the good, loving and patient women; to be in\npossession of the blessings that they have given, should make every\nhealthy citizen of the United States feel like a millionaire.\n\nThis, to-day, is the most prosperous country on the globe; and it is\nsomething to be a citizen of this country.\n\nIt is well, too, whenever we meet, to draw attention to what has been\ndone by our ancestors. It is well to think of them and to thank them for\nall their work, for all their courage, for all their toil.\n\nThree hundred years ago our country was a vast wilderness, inhabited by\na few savages. Three hundred years ago—how short a time; hardly a tick\nof the great clock of eternity—three hundred years; not a second in the\nlife even of this planet—three hundred years ago, a wilderness; three\nhundred years ago, inhabited by a few savages; three hundred years ago\na few men in the Old World, dissatisfied, brave and adventurous, trusted\ntheir lives to the sea and came to this land.\n\nIn 1776 there were only three millions of people all told. These men\nsettled on the shores of the sea. These men, by experience, learned to\ngovern themselves. These men, by experience, found that a man should\nbe respected in the proportion that he was useful. They found, by\nexperience, that titles were of no importance; that the real thing was\nthe man, and that the real things in the man were heart and brain. They\nfound, by experience, how to govern themselves, because there was nobody\nelse here when they came. The gentlemen who had been in the habit of\ngoverning their fellow-men staid at home, and the men who had been in\nthe habit of being governed came here, and, consequently, they had to\ngovern themselves.\n\nAnd finally, educated by experience, by the rivers and forests, by the\ngrandeur and splendor of nature, they began to think that this continent\nshould not belong to any other; that it was great enough to count one,\nand that they had the intelligence and manhood to lay the foundations of\na nation.\n\nIt would be impossible to pay too great and splendid a tribute to the\ngreat and magnificent souls of that day. They saw the future. They saw\nthis country as it is now, and they endeavored to lay the foundation\ndeep; they endeavored to reach the bed-rock of human rights, the\nbed-rock of justice. And thereupon they declared that all men were born\nequal; that all the children of nature had at birth the same rights, and\nthat all men had the right to pursue the only good,—happiness.\n\nAnd what did they say? They said that men should govern men; that the\npower to govern should come from the consent of the governed, not\nfrom the clouds, not from some winged phantom of the air, not from the\naristocracy of ether. They said that this power should come from\nmen; that the men living in this world should govern it, and that the\ngentlemen who were dead should keep still.\n\nThey took another step, and said that church and state should forever be\ndivorced. That is no harm to real religion. It never was, because real\nreligion means the doing of justice; real religion means the giving to\nothers every right you claim for yourself; real religion consists in\nduties of man to man, in feeding the hungry, in clothing the naked, in\ndefending the innocent, and in saying what you believe to be true.\n\nOur fathers had enough sense to say that, and a man to do that in 1776\nhad to be a pretty big fellow. It is not so much to say it now, because\nthey set the example; and, upon these principles of which I have spoken,\nthey fought the war of the Revolution.\n\nAt no time, probably, were the majority of our forefathers in favor\nof independence, but enough of them were on the right side, and they\nfinally won a victory. And after the victory, those that had not been\neven in favor of independence became, under the majority rule, more\npowerful than the heroes of the Revolution.\n\nThen it was that our fathers made a mistake. We have got to praise them\nfor what they did that was good, and we will mention what they did that\nwas wrong.\n\nThey forgot the principles for which they fought. They forgot the\nsacredness of human liberty, and, in the name of freedom, they made a\nmistake and put chains on the limbs of others.\n\nThat was their error; that was the poison that entered the American\nblood; that was the corrupting influence that demoralized presidents\nand priests; that was the influence that corrupted the United States of\nAmerica.\n\nThat mistake, of course, had to be paid for, as all mistakes in nature\nhave to be paid for. And not only do you pay for your mistake itself,\nbut you pay at least ten per cent, compound interest. Whenever you do\nwrong, and nobody finds it out, do not imagine you have gotten over it;\nyou have not. Nature knows it.\n\nThe consequences of every bad act are the invisible police that no\nprayers can soften, and no gold can bribe.\n\nRecollect that. Recollect, that for every bad act, there will be laid\nupon your shoulder the arresting hand of the consequences; and it is\nprecisely the same with a nation as it is with an individual. You have\ngot to pay for all of your mistakes, and you have got to pay to the\nuttermost farthing. That is the only forgiveness known in nature. Nature\nnever settles unless she can give a receipt in full.\n\nI know a great many men differ with me, and have all sorts of bankruptcy\nsystems, but Nature is not built that way.\n\nFinally, slavery took possession of the Government. Every man who wanted\nan office had to be willing to step between a fugitive slave and his\nliberty.\n\nSlavery corrupted the courts, and made judges decide that the child born\nin the State of Pennsylvania, whose mother had been a slave, could not\nbe free.\n\nThat was as infamous a decision as was ever rendered, and yet the\npeople, in the name of the law, did this thing, and the Supreme Court of\nthe United States did not know right from wrong.\n\nThese dignified gentlemen thought that labor could be paid by lashes on\nthe back—which was a kind of legal tender—and finally an effort was\nmade to subject the new territory—the Nation—to the institution of\nslavery.\n\nThen we had a war with Mexico, in which we got a good deal of glory and\none million square miles of land, but little honor. I will admit that we\ngot but little honor out of that war. That territory they wanted to give\nto the slaveholder.\n\nIn 1803 we purchased from Napoleon the Great, one million square miles\nof land, and then, in 1821, we bought Florida from Spain. So that, when\nthe war came, we had about three million square miles of new land. The\nobject was to subject all this territory to slavery.\n\nThe idea was to go on and sell the babes from their mothers until time\nshould be no more. The idea was to go on with the branding-iron and the\nwhip. The idea was to make it a crime to teach men, human beings,\nto read and write; to make every Northern man believe that he was a\nbulldog, a bloodhound to track down men and women, who, with the light\nof the North Star in their eyes, were seeking the free soil of Great\nBritain.\n\nYes, in these times we had lots of mean folks. Let us remember that.\n\nAnd all at once, under the forms of law, under the forms of our\nGovernment, the greatest man under the flag was elected President. That\nman was Abraham Lincoln. And then it was that those gentlemen of the\nSouth said: \"We will not be governed by the majority; we will be a law\nunto ourselves.\"\n\nAnd let me tell you here to-day—I am somewhat older than I used to be;\nI have a little philosophy now that I had not at the nine o'clock in the\nmorning portion of my life—and I do not blame anybody. I do not blame\nthe South; I do not blame the Confederate soldier.\n\nShe—the South—was the fruit of conditions. She was born to\ncircumstances stronger than herself; and do you know, according to my\nphilosophy, (which is not quite orthodox), every man and woman in the\nwhole world are what conditions have made them.\n\nSo let us have some sense. The South said, \"We will not submit; this is\nnot a nation, but a partnership of States.\" I am willing to go so far as\nto admit that the South expressed the original idea of the Government.\n\nBut now the question was, to whom did the newly acquired property\nbelong? New States had been carved out of that territory; the soil of\nthese States had been purchased with the money of the Republic, and had\nthe South the right to take these States out of the Republic? That was\nthe question.\n\nThe great West had another interest, and that was that no enemy, no\nother nation, should control the mouth of the Mississippi. I regard\nthe Mississippi River as Nature's protest against secession. The old\nMississippi River says, and swears to it, that this country shall be\none, now and forever.\n\nWhat was to be done? The South said, \"We will never remain,\" and the\nNorth said, \"You shall not go.\" It was a little slow about saying it,\nit is true. Some of the best Republicans in the North said, \"Let it go.\"\nBut the second, sober thought of the great North said, \"No, this is our\ncountry and we are going to keep it on the map of the world.\"\n\nAnd some who had been Democrats wheeled into line, and hundreds and\nthousands said, \"This is our country,\" and finally, when the Government\ncalled for volunteers, hundreds and thousands came forward to offer\ntheir services. Nothing more sublime was ever seen in the history of\nthis world.\n\nI congratulate you to-day that you live in a country that furnished the\ngreatest army that ever fought for human liberty in any country round\nthe world. I want you to know that. I want you to know that the North,\nEast and West furnished the greatest army that ever fought for human\nliberty. I want you to know that Gen. Grant commanded more men, men\nfighting for the right, not for conquest, than any other general who\never marshaled the hosts of war.\n\nLet us remember that, and let us be proud of it. The millions who poured\nfrom the North for the defence of the flag—the story of their heroism\nhas been told to you again and again. I have told it myself many times.\nIt is known to every intelligent man and woman in the world. Everybody\nknows how much we suffered. Everybody knows how we poured out money like\nwater; how we spent it like leaves of the forest. Everybody knows how\nthe brave blood was shed. Everybody knows the story of the great, the\nheroic struggle, and everybody knows that at last victory came to our\nside, and how the last sword of the Rebellion was handed to Gen. Grant.\nThere is no need to tell that story again.\n\nBut the question now, as we look back, is, was this country worth\nsaving? Was the blood shed in vain? Were the lives given for naught?\nThat is the question.\n\nThis country, according to my idea, is the one success of the world. Men\nhere have more to eat, more to wear, better houses, and, on the average,\na better education than those of any other nation now living, or any\nthat has passed away.\n\nWas the country worth saving?\n\nSee what we have done in this country since 1860. We were not much of a\npeople then, to be honor bright about it. We were carrying, in the great\nrace of national life, the weight of slavery, and it poisoned us; it\nparalyzed our best energies; it took from our politics the best minds;\nit kept from the bench the greatest brains.\n\nBut what have we done since 1860, since we really became a free people,\nsince we came to our senses, since we have been willing to allow a man\nto express his honest thoughts on every subject?\n\nDo you know how much good we did? The war brought men together from\nevery part of the country and gave them an opportunity to compare their\nfoolishness. It gave them an opportunity to throw away their prejudices,\nto find that a man who differed with them on every subject might be the\nvery best of fellows. That is what the war did. We have been broadening\never since.\n\nI sometimes have thought it did men good to make the trip to California\nin 1849. As they went over the plains they dropped their prejudices on\nthe way. I think they did, and that's what killed the grass.\n\nBut to come back to my question, what have we done since 1860?\n\nFrom 1860 to 1880, in spite of the waste of war, in spite of all the\nproperty destroyed by flame, in spite of all the waste, our profits were\none billion three hundred and seventy-four million dollars. Think of it!\nFrom 1860 to 1880! That is a vast sum.\n\nFrom 1880 to 1890 our profits were two billion one hundred and\nthirty-nine million dollars.\n\nMen may talk against wealth as much as they please; they may talk about\nmoney being the root of all evil, but there is little real happiness in\nthis world without some of it. It is very handy when staying at home\nand it is almost indispensable when you travel abroad. Money is a good\nthing. It makes others happy; it makes those happy whom you love, and\nif a man can get a little together, when the night of death drops the\ncurtain upon him, he is satisfied that he has left a little to keep the\nwolf from the door of those who, in life, were dear to him. Yes, money\nis a good thing, especially since special providence has gone out of\nbusiness.\n\nI can see to-day something beyond the wildest dream of any patriot who\nlived fifty years ago. The United States to-day is the richest nation\non the face of the earth. The old nations of the world, Egypt, India,\nGreece, Rome, every one of them, when compared with this great Republic,\nmust be regarded as paupers.\n\nHow much do you suppose this Nation is worth to-day? I am talking about\nland and cattle, products, manufactured articles and railways. Over\nseventy thousand million dollars. Just think of it.\n\nTake a thousand dollars and then take nine hundred and ninety-nine\nthousand; so you will have one thousand piles of one thousand each. That\nmakes only a million, and yet the United States today is worth seventy\nthousand millions. This is thirty-five percent, more than Great Britain\nis worth.\n\nWe are a great Nation. We have got the land. This land was being made\nfor many millions of years. Its soil was being made by the great lakes\nand rivers, and being brought down from the mountains for countless\nages.\n\nThis continent was standing like a vast pan of milk, with the cream\nrising for millions of years, and we were the chaps that got there when\nthe skimming commenced.\n\nWe are rich, and we ought to be rich. It is our own fault if we are not.\nIn every department of human endeavor, along every path and highway,\nthe progress of the Republic has been marvelous, beyond the power of\nlanguage to express.\n\nLet me show you: In 1860 the horse-power of all the engines, the\nlocomotives and the steamboats that traversed the lakes and rivers—the\nentire power—was three million five hundred thousand. In 1890 the\nhorse-power of engines and locomotives and steamboats was over seventeen\nmillion.\n\nThink of that and what it means! Think of the forces at work for the\nbenefit of the United States, the machines doing the work of thousands\nand millions of men!\n\nAnd remember that every engine that puffs is puffing for you; every road\nthat runs is running for you. I want you to know that the average man\nand woman in the United States to-day has more of the conveniences of\nlife than kings and queens had one hundred years ago.\n\nYes, we are getting along.\n\nIn 1860 we used one billion eight hundred million dollars' worth\nof products, of things manufactured and grown, and we sent to other\ncountries two hundred and fifty million dollars' worth.\n\nIn 1893 we used three billion eighty-nine million dollars' worth, and\nwe sent to other countries six hundred and fifty-four million dollars'\nworth.\n\nYou see, these vast sums are almost inconceivable. There is not a\nman to-day with brains large enough to understand these figures; to\nunderstand how many cars this money put upon the tracks, how much coal\nwas devoured by the locomotives, how many men plowed and worked in the\nfields, how many sails were given to the wind, how many ships crossed\nthe sea.\n\nI tell you, there is no man able to think of the ships that were built,\nthe cars that were made, the mines that were opened, the trees that were\nfelled—no man has imagination enough to grasp the meaning of it all. No\nman has any conception of the sea till he crosses it. I knew nothing of\nhow broad this country is until I went over it in a slow train.\n\nSince 1860 the productive power of the United States has more than\ntrebled.\n\nI like to talk about these things, because they mean good houses,\ncarpets on the floors, pictures on the walls, some books on the shelves.\nThey mean children going to school with their stomachs full of good\nfood, prosperous men and proud mothers.\n\nAll my life I have taken a much deeper interest in what men produce than\nin what nature does. I would rather see the prairies, with the oats and\nthe wheat and the waving corn, and the schoolhouse, and hear the thrush\nsing amid the happy homes of prosperous men and women—I would rather\nsee these things than any range of mountains in the world. Take it as\nyou will, a mountain is of no great value.\n\nIn 1860 our land was worth four billion five hundred million dollars; in\n1890 it was worth fourteen billion dollars.\n\nIn 1860 all the railroads in the United States were worth four hundred\nmillion dollars, now they are worth a little less than ten thousand\nmillion dollars.\n\nI want you to understand what these figures mean.\n\nFor thirty years we spent, on an average, one million dollars a day in\nbuilding railroads.—I want you to think what that means. All that money\nhad to be dug out of the ground. It had to be made by raising something\nor manufacturing something. We did not get it by writing essays on\nfinance, or discussing the silver question. It had to be made with the\nax, the plow, the reaper, the mower; in every form of industry; all to\nproduce these splendid results.\n\nWe have railroads enough now to make seven tracks around the great\nglobe, and enough left for side tracks. That is what we have done here,\nin what the European nations are pleased to call \"the new world.\"\n\nI am telling you these things because you may not know them, and I did\nnot know them myself until a few days ago. I am anxious to give away\ninformation, for it is only by giving it away that you can keep it. When\nyou have told it, you remember it. It is with information as it is\nwith liberty, the only way to be dead sure of it is to give it to other\npeople.\n\nIn 1860 the houses in the United States, the cabins on the frontier, the\nbuildings in the cities, were worth six thousand million dollars. Now\nthey are worth over twenty-two thousand million dollars. To talk about\nfigures like these is enough to make a man dizzy.\n\nIn 1860 our animals of all kinds, including the Illinois deer—commonly\ncalled swine—the oxen and horses, and all others, were worth about one\nthousand million dollars; now they are worth about four thousand million\ndollars.\n\nAre we not getting rich? Our national debt today is nothing. It is like\na man who owes a cent and has a dollar.\n\nSince 1860 we have been industrious. We have created two million five\nhundred thousand new farms. Since 1860 we have done a good deal of\nplowing; there have been a good many tired legs. I have been that way\nmyself. Since 1860 we have put in cultivation two hundred million acres\nof land. Illinois, the best State in the Union, has thirty-five million\nacres of land, and yet, since 1860, we have put in cultivation enough\nland to make six States of the size of Illinois. That will give you some\nidea of the quantity of work we have done. I will admit I have not done\nmuch of it myself, but I am proud of it.\n\nIn 1860 we had four million five hundred and sixty-five thousand farmers\nin this country, whose land and implements were worth over sixteen\nthousand million dollars. The farmers of this country, on an average,\nare worth five thousand dollars, and the peasants of the Old World, who\ncultivate the soil, are not worth, on an average, ten dollars beyond the\nwants of the moment. The farmers of our country produce, on an average,\nabout one million four hundred thousand dollars' worth of stuff a day.\n\nWhat else? Have we in other directions kept pace with our physical\ndevelopment? Have we developed the mind? Have we endeavored to develop\nthe brain? Have we endeavored to civilize the heart? I think we have.\n\nWe spend more for schools per head than any nation in the world. And the\ncommon school is the breath of life.\n\nGreat Britain spends one dollar and thirty cents per head on the common\nschools; France spends eighty cents; Austria, thirty cents; Germany,\nfifty cents; Italy, twenty-five cents, and the United States over two\ndollars and fifty cents.\n\nI tell you the schoolhouse is the fortress of liberty. Every schoolhouse\nis an arsenal, filled with weapons and ammunition to destroy the\nmonsters of ignorance and fear.\n\nAs I have said ten thousand times, the school-house is my cathedral. The\nteacher is my preacher.\n\nEighty-seven per cent, of all the people of the United States, over ten\nyears of age, can read and write. There is no parallel for this in the\nhistory of the wide world.\n\nOver forty-two millions of educated citizens, to whom are opened all the\ntreasures of literature!\n\nForty-two millions of people, able to read and write! I say, there is\nno parallel for this. The nations of antiquity were very ignorant when\ncompared with this great Republic of ours. There is no other nation in\nthe world that can show a record like ours. We ought to be proud of\nit. We ought to build more schools, and build them better. Our teachers\nought to be paid more, and everything ought to be taught in the public\nschool that is worth knowing.\n\nI believe that the children of the Republic, no matter whether their\nfathers are rich or poor, ought to be allowed to drink at the fountain\nof education, and it does not cost more to teach everything in the free\nschools than it does teaching reading and writing and ciphering.\n\nHave we kept up in other ways? The post office tells a wonderful story.\nIn Switzerland, going through the post office in each year, are letters,\netc., in the proportion of seventy-four to each inhabitant. In England\nthe number is sixty; in Germany, fifty-three; in France, thirty-nine; in\nAustria, twenty-four; in Italy, sixteen, and in the United States, our\nown home, one hundred and ten. Think of it. In Italy only twenty-five\ncents paid per head for the support of the public schools and only\nsixteen letters. And this is the place where God's agent lives. I would\nrather have one good schoolmaster than two such agents.\n\nThere is another thing. A great deal has been said, from time to time,\nabout the workingman. I have as much sympathy with the workingman as\nanybody on the earth—who does not work. There has always been a desire\nin this world to let somebody else do the work, nearly everybody having\nthe modesty to stand back whenever there is anything to be done. In\nsavage countries they make the women do the work, so that the weak\npeople have always the bulk of the burdens. In civilized communities\nthe poor are the ones, of course, that work, and probably they are never\nfully paid. It is pretty hard for a manufacturer to tell how much he\ncan pay until he sells the stuff which he manufactures. Every man who\nmanufactures is not rich. I know plenty of poor corporations; I know\ntramp railroads that have not a dollar. And you will find some of them\nas anarchistic as you will find their men. What a man can pay, depends\nupon how much he can get for what he has produced. What the farmer can\npay his help depends upon the price he receives for his stock, his corn\nand his wheat.\n\nBut wages in this country are getting better day by day. We are getting\na little nearer to being civilized day by day, and when I want to make\nup my mind on a subject I try to get a broad view of it, and not decide\nit on one case.\n\nIn 1860 the average wages of the workingman were, per year, two hundred\nand eighty-nine dollars. In 1890 the average was four hundred and\neighty-five. Thus the average has almost doubled in thirty years. The\nnecessaries of life are far cheaper than they were in 1860. Now, to my\nmind, that is a hopeful sign. And when I am asked how can the dispute\nbetween employer and employee be settled, I answer, it will be settled\nwhen both parties become civilized.\n\nIt takes a long time to educate a man up to the point where he does not\nwant something for nothing. Yet, when a man is civilized, he does not.\n\nHe wants for a thing just what it is worth; he wants to give labor its\nlegitimate reward, and when he has something to sell he never wants more\nthan it is worth. I do not claim to be civilized myself; but all these\nquestions between capital and labor will be settled by civilization.\n\nWe are to-day accumulating wealth at the rate of more than seven million\ndollars a day. Is not this perfectly splendid?\n\nAnd in the midst of prosperity let us never forget the men who helped\nto save our country, the men whose heroism gave us the prosperity we now\nenjoy.\n\nWe have one-seventh of the good land of this world. You see there is a\ngreat deal of poor land in the world. I know the first time I went to\nCalifornia, I went to the Sink of the Humboldt, and what a forsaken look\nit had. There was nothing there but mines of brimstone. On the train,\ngoing over, there was a fellow who got into a dispute with a minister\nabout the first chapter of Genesis. And when they got along to the Sink\nof the Humboldt the fellow says to the minister:\n\n\"Do you tell me that God made the world in six days, and then rested on\nthe seventh?\"\n\nHe said, \"I do.\"\n\n\"Well,\" said the fellow, \"don't you think he could have put in another\nday here to devilish good advantage?\"\n\nBut, as I have said, we have got about one-seventh of the good land of\nthe world. I often hear people say that we have too many folks here;\nthat we ought to stop immigration; that we have no more room. The people\nwho say this know nothing of their country. They are ignorant of their\nnative land. I tell you that the valley of the Mississippi and the\nvalleys of its tributaries can support a population of five hundred\nmillions of men, women, and children. Don't talk of our being\noverpopulated; we have only just started.\n\nHere, in this land of ours, five hundred million men and women and\nchildren can be supported and educated without trouble. We can afford to\ndouble two or three times more. But what have we got to do? We have got\nto educate them when they come. That is to say, we have got to educate\ntheir children, and in a few generations we will have them splendid\nAmerican citizens, proud of the Republic.\n\nWe have no more patriotic men under the flag than the men who came from\nother lands, the hundreds and thousands of those who fought to preserve\nthis country. And I think just as much of them as I would if they had\nbeen born on American soil. What matters it where a man was born? It is\nwhat is inside of him you have to look at—what kind of a heart he has,\nand what kind of a head. I do not care where he was born; I simply ask,\nIs he a man? Is he willing to give to others what he claims for himself?\nThat is the supreme test.\n\nNow, I have got a hobby. I do not suppose any of you have heard of it.\nI think the greatest thing for a country is for all of its citizens to\nhave a home. I think it is around the fireside of home that the virtues\ngrow, including patriotism. We want homes.\n\nUntil a few years ago it was the custom to put men in prison for debt.\nThe authorities threw a man into jail when he owed something which he\ncould not pay, and by throwing him into jail they deprived him of an\nopportunity to earn what would pay it. After a little time they got\nsense enough to know that they could not collect a debt in this way,\nand that it was better to give him his freedom and allow him to earn\nsomething, if he could. Therefore, imprisonment for debt was done away\nwith.\n\nAt another time, when a man owed anything, if he was a carpenter, a\nblacksmith or a shoemaker, and not able to pay it, they took his tools,\non a writ of sale and execution, and thus incapacitated him so that he\ncould do nothing. Finally they got sense enough to abolish that law,\nto leave the mechanic his tools and the farmer his plows, horses and\nwagons, and after this, debts were paid better than ever they were\nbefore.\n\nThen we thought of protecting the home-builder, and we said: \"We will\nhave a homestead exemption. We will put a roof over wife and child,\nwhich shall be exempt from execution and sale,\" and so we preserved\nhundreds of thousands and millions of homes, while debts were paid just\nas well as ever they were paid before.\n\nNow, I want to take a step further. I want, the rich people of this\ncountry to support it. I want the people who are well off to pay the\ntaxes. I want the law to exempt a homestead of a certain value, say from\ntwo thousand dollars to two thousand five hundred, and to exempt it, not\nonly from sale on judgment and execution, but to exempt it from taxes of\nall sorts and kinds. I want to keep the roof over the heads of children\nwhen the man himself is gone. I want that homestead to belong not only\nto the man, but to wife and children. I would like to live to see a roof\nover the heads of all the families of the Republic. I tell you, it does\na man good to have a home. You are in partnership with nature when you\nplant a hill of corn. When you set out a tree you have a new interest in\nthis world. When you own a little tract of land you feel as if you and\nthe earth were partners. All these things dignify human nature.\n\nBad as I am, I have another hobby. There are thousands and thousands of\ncriminals in our country. I told you a little while ago I did not blame\nthe South, because of the conditions which prevailed in the South. The\npeople of the South did as they must. I am the same about the criminal.\nHe does as he must.\n\nIf you want to stop crime you must treat it properly. The conditions of\nsociety must not be such as to produce criminals.\n\nWhen a man steals and is sent to the penitentiary he ought to be sent\nthere to be reformed and not to be brutalized; to be made a better man,\nnot to be robbed.\n\nI am in favor, when you put a man in the penitentiary, of making him\nwork, and I am in favor of paying him what his work is worth, so that\nin five years, when he leaves the prison cell, he will have from two\nhundred dollars to three hundred dollars as a breastwork between him and\ntemptation, and something for a foundation upon which to build a nobler\nlife.\n\nNow he is turned out and before long he is driven back. Nobody will\nemploy him, nobody will take him, and, the night following the day of\nhis release he is without a roof over his head and goes back to his old\nways. I would allow him to change his name, to go to another State with\na few hundred dollars in his pocket and begin the world again.\n\nWe must recollect that it is the misfortune of a man to become a\ncriminal.\n\nI have hobbies and plenty of them.\n\nI want to see five hundred millions of people living here in peace. If\nwe want them to live in peace, we must develop the brain, civilize the\nheart, and above all things, must not forget education. Nothing should\nbe taught in the school that somebody does not know.\n\nWhen I look about me to-day, when I think of the advance of my country,\nthen I think of the work that has been done.\n\nThink of the millions who crossed the mysterious sea, of the thousands\nand thousands of ships with their brave prows towards the West.\n\nThink of the little settlements on the shores of the ocean, on the banks\nof rivers, on the edges of forests.\n\nThink of the countless conflicts with savages—of the midnight\nattacks—of the cabin floors wet with the blood of dead fathers, mothers\nand babes.\n\nThink of the winters of want, of the days of toil, of the nights of\nfear, of the hunger and hope.\n\nThink of the courage, the sufferings and hardships.\n\nThink of the homesickness, the disease and death.\n\nThink of the labor; of the millions and millions of trees that were\nfelled, while the aisles of the great forests were filled with the\nechoes of the ax; of the many millions of miles of furrows turned by the\nplow; of the millions of miles of fences built; of the countless logs\nchanged to lumber by the saw—of the millions of huts, cabins and\nhouses.\n\nThink of the work. Listen, and you will hear the hum of wheels, the\nwheels with which our mothers spun the flax and wool. Listen, and you\nwill hear the looms and flying shuttles with which they wove the cloth.\n\nThink of the thousands still pressing toward the West, of the roads they\nmade, of the bridges they built; of the homes, where the sunlight fell,\nwhere the bees hummed, the birds sang and the children laughed; of the\nlittle towns with mill and shop, with inn and schoolhouse; of the old\nstages, of the crack of the whips and the drivers' horns; of the canals\nthey dug.\n\nThink of the many thousands still pressing toward the West, passing over\nthe Alleghanies to the shores of the Ohio and the great lakes—still\nonward to the Mississippi—the Missouri.\n\nSee the endless processions of covered wagons drawn by horses, by\noxen,—men and boys and girls on foot, mothers and babes inside. See the\nglimmering camp fires at night; see the thousands up with the sun and\naway, leaving the perfume of coffee on the morning air, and sometimes\nleaving the new-made grave of wife or child. Listen, and you will hear\nthe cry of \"Gold!\" and you will see many thousands crossing the great\nplains, climbing the mountains and pressing on to the Pacific.\n\nThink of the toil, the courage it has taken to possess this land!\n\nThink of the ore that was dug, the furnaces that lit the nights with\nflame; of the factories and mills by the rushing streams.\n\nThink of the inventions that went hand in hand with the work; of the\nflails that were changed to threshers; of the sickles that became\ncradles, and the cradles that were changed to reapers and headers—of\nthe wooden plows that became iron and steel; of the spinning wheel that\nbecame the jennie, and the old looms transformed to machines that almost\nthink—of the steamboats that traversed the rivers, making the towns\nthat were far apart neighbors and friends; of the stages that became\ncars, of the horses changed to locomotives with breath of flame, and the\nroads of dust and mud to highways of steel, of the rivers spanned and\nthe mountains tunneled.\n\nThink of the inventions, the improvements that changed the hut to the\ncabin, the cabin to the house, the house to the palace, the earthen\nfloors and bare walls to carpets and pictures—that changed famine to\nfeast—toil to happy labor and poverty to wealth.\n\nThink of the cost.\n\nThink of the separation of families—of boys and girls leaving the old\nhome—taking with them the blessings and kisses of fathers and mothers.\nThink of the homesickness, of the tears shed by the mothers left by the\ndaughters gone. Think of the millions of brave men deformed by labor now\nsleeping in their honored graves.\n\nThink of all that has been wrought, endured and accomplished for our\ngood, and let us remember with gratitude, with love and tears the brave\nmen, the patient loving women who subdued this land for us.\n\nThen think of the heroes who served this country; who gave us this\nglorious present and hope of a still more glorious future; think of the\nmen who really made us free, who secured the blessings of liberty, not\nonly to us, but to billions yet unborn.\n\nThis country will be covered with happy homes and free men and free\nwomen.\n\nTo-day we remember the heroic dead, those whose blood reddens the paths\nand highways of honor; those who died upon the field, in the charge,\nin prison-pens, or in famine's clutch; those who gave their lives that\nliberty should not perish from the earth. And to-day we remember the\ngreat leaders who have passed to the realm of silence, to the land of\nshadow. Thomas, the rock of Chickamauga, self-poised, firm, brave,\nfaithful; Sherman, the reckless, the daring, the prudent and the\nvictorious; Sheridan, a soldier fit to have stood by Julius Cæsar and\nto have uttered the words of command; and Grant, the silent, the\ninvincible, the unconquered; and rising above them all, Lincoln, the\nwise, the patient, the merciful, the grandest figure in the Western\nworld. We remember them all today and hundreds of thousands who are\nnot mentioned, but who are equally worthy, hundreds of thousands of\nprivates, deserving of equal honor with the plumed leaders of the host.\n\nAnd what shall I say to you, survivors of the death-filled days? To you,\nmy comrades, to you whom I have known in the great days, in the time\nwhen the heart beat fast and the blood flowed strong; in the days of\nhigh hope—what shall I say? All I can say is that my heart goes out to\nyou, one and all. To you who bared your bosoms to the storms of war; to\nyou who left loved ones to die, if need be, for the sacred cause. May\nyou live long in the land you helped to save; may the winter of your\nage be as green as spring, as full of blossoms as summer, as generous as\nautumn, and may you, surrounded by plenty, with your wives at your sides\nand your grandchildren on your knees, live long. And when at last the\nfires of life burn low; when you enter the deepening dusk of the last\nof many, many happy days; when your brave hearts beat weak and slow,\nmay the memory of your splendid deeds; deeds that freed your fellow-men;\ndeeds that kept your country on the map of the world; deeds that kept\nthe flag of the Republic in the air—may the memory of these deeds fill\nyour souls with peace and perfect joy. Let it console you to know that\nyou are not to be forgotten. Centuries hence your story will be told in\nart and song, and upon your honored graves flowers will be lovingly laid\nby millions' of men and women now unborn.\n\nAgain expressing the joy that I feel in having met you, and again saying\nfarewell to one and all, and wishing you all the blessings of life, I\nbid you goodbye.*\n  • At the last reunion of the Eleventh Illinois Cavalry, the\n    Colonel's old regiment, and the soldiers of Peoria county,\n    which Mr. Ingersoll attended, a little incident happened\n    which let us into the inner circle of his life. The meeting\n    was held at Elmwood. While the soldier were passing in\n    review the citizens and young people filled all the seats in\n    the park and crowded around the speaker's stand, so as to\n    occupy all available space. When the soldiers had finished\n    their parade and returned to the park, they found it\n    impossible to get near the speaker. Of course we were all\n    disappointed, but were forced to stand on the outskirts of\n    the vast throng.\n    As soon as he ceased speaking, Mr. Ingersoll said to a\n    soldier that he would like to meet his comrades in the hall\n    at a certain hour in the afternoon. The word spread quickly,\n    and at the appointed hour the hall was crowded with\n    soldiers. The guard stationed at tue door was ordered to let\n    none but soldiers pass into the hall. Some of the comrades,\n    however, brought their wives. The guards, true to their\n    orders, refused to let the ladies pass. Just as Mr.\n    Ingersoll was ready to speak, word came to him that some of\n    the comrades' wives were outside and wanted permission to\n    pass the guard. The hall was full, but Mr. Ingersoll\n    requested all comrades whose wives were within reach to go\n    and get them. When his order had been complied with even\n    standing room was at a premium. When Mr. Ingersoll arose to\n    speak to that great assemblage of white-haired veterans and\n    their aged companions his voice was unusually tender, and the\n    wave of emotion that passed through the hall cannot be told\n    in words. Tears and cheers blended as Mr. Ingersoll arose\n    and began his speech with the statement that all present\n    were nearing the setting sun of life, and in all probability\n    that was the last opportunity many of them would have of\n    taking each other by the hand.\n    In this half-hour impromptu speech the great-hearted man,\n    Robert G. Ingersoll, was seen at his best. It was not a\n    clash of opinions over party or creed, but it was a meeting\n    of hearts and communion together In the holy of holies of\n    human life. The address was a series of word-pictures that\n    still hang on the walls of memory. The speaker, in his most\n    sympathetic mood, drew a picture of the service of the G. A.\n    R., of the women of the republic, and then paid a beautiful\n    tribute to home and invoked the kindest and greatest\n    influence to guard his comrades and their companions during\n    the remainder of life's journey.\n    We got very close to the man that day, where we could see\n    the heart of Mr. Ingersoll. I have often wished that a\n    reporter could have been present to preserve the address.\n    Imagine four beautiful word-paintings entitled, \"The Service\n    of the G. A. R.,\" \"The Influence of Noble Womanhood,\" \"The\n    Sacredness of Home,\" and \"The Pilgrimage of Life.\" Imagine\n    these word-paintings as drawn by Mr. Ingersoll under the\n    most favorable circumstances, and you have an idea of that\n    address. Mr. Ingersoll the Agnostic is a very different man\n    from Mr. Ingersoll the man and patriot. I cannot share the\n    doubts of this Agnostic. I cannot help admiring the man and\n    patriot.—The Rev. Frank McAlpine, Peoria Star, August 1,\n    1895.\n"
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