The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 09 (of 12): Dresden Edition—PoliticalIngersoll, Robert Green
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The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 09 (of 12): Dresden Edition—Political
Ingersoll, Robert Green
Free thought
Something has been done for labor. Only a few years ago a man worked
fifteen or sixteen hours a day, but the hours have been reduced to at
least ten and are on the way to still further reduction. And while the
hours have been decreased the wages have as certainly been increased. In
forty years--in less--the wages of American workingmen have doubled. A
little while ago you received an average of two hundred and eighty-five
dollars a year; now you receive an average of more than four hundred and
ninety dollars; there is the difference. So it seems to me that the star
of hope is still in the sky for every workingman. Then there is another
thing: every workingman in this country can take his little boy on his
knee and say, "John, all the avenues to distinction, wealth, and glory
are open to you. There is the free school; take your chances with the
rest." And it seems to me that that thought ought to sweeten every drop
of sweat that trickles down the honest brow of toil.
So let us have protection! How much? Enough, so that our income at least
will equal our outgo. That is a good way to keep house. I am tired of
depression and deficit. I do not like to see a President pawning bonds
to raise money to pay his own salary. I do not like to see the great
Republic at the mercy of anybody, so let us stand by protection.
There is another trouble. The gentleman now running for the
presidency--a tireless talker--oh, if he had a brain equal to his vocal
chords, what a man! And yet when I read his speeches it seems to me
as though he stood on his head and thought with his feet. This man is
endeavoring to excite class against class, to excite the poor against
the rich. Let me tell you something. We have no classes in the United
States. There are no permanent classes here. The millionaire may be a
mendicant, the mendicant may be a millionaire. The man now working for
the millionaire may employ that millionaire's sons to work for him.
There is a chance for us all. Sometimes a numskull is born in the
mansion, and a genius rises from the gutter. Old Mother Nature has a
queer way of taking care of her children. You cannot tell. You cannot
tell. Here we have a free open field of competition, and if a man passes
me in the race I say: "Good luck. Get ahead of me if you can, you are
welcome."
And why should I hate the rich? Why should I make my heart a den of
writhing, hissing snakes of envy? Get rich. I do not care. I am glad I
live in a country where somebody can get rich. It is a spur in the flank
of ambition. Let them get rich. I have known good men that were
quite rich, and I have known some mean men who were in straitened
circumstances. So I have known as good men as ever breathed the air, who
were poor. We must respect the man; what is inside, not what is outside.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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