Suicide was not thought unworthy by the ancients. It was resorted to by Anthony, Brutus, Cassius, Cato, and Zeno. To-day, the attempt is a crime, and its consummation a disgrace. In Europe and America it is _felo-de-se_. Infanticide is common in many parts of Asia and Africa. To-day the feudal baron would be adjudged a freebooter; the knight-errant a brawling vagabond. A nineteenth century man may beat his wife within an inch of her life, and get but three months. For stealing a suit of clothes he would be “sent up” for years. So “gambling on ’change is now respectable enough, but pitch and toss for halfpence is low, and must be dealt with by the police. We know that when questions connected with life contingencies were first considered, it was regarded as most deliberate gambling to be in any way concerned in buying or selling such articles as annuities, or any interests depending upon them.” The age boasts of an advance in the humanities; and yet, public opinion permits extravagance and selfishness in the rich while the poor are starving. Our educated classes, generally, approve the vivisection of animals. In ancient Egypt it would have been stigmatized as the most abominable of crimes. From age to age, likewise, law represents the code of the dominant or ruling class--at all times only valid because it is the code of those in power. How often used by “authority” for selfish purposes, may be read on every page of history. Monarchy, absolute or limited, is a synonym for injustice. Feudalism is another term for murder, rapine and extortion. In Spain, the lands of nobles were long exempted from direct taxation. For centuries the Hungarian turnpikes were free to the aristocracy. Prior to the revolution in France, all burdens of state devolved upon the lower classes. Less than two centuries ago Scotch lairds exported their peasantry into slavery. Students will recall the “Black Act” of George I., and the “Inclosure Laws” of England. Until quite recently, slavery existed in Europe and America; nor has the institution wholly disappeared from the earth. Legislation is mainly in the interest of the wealthy and powerful. Congress and legislatures are making the rich richer, and the poor poorer. Government is largely devoted to the creation and upholding of corporations, trusts, monopolies, subsidies and extortionate tariffs. What care the politicians for manhood? Wealth is their God.