What is
of more concern to us, and to all others who have no doubt but what
there is something wrong in the present scheme of things, is that the
doctrine of Confiscation should be first understood before it is
rejected. If it is found to conflict with law and order; if it is found
to obstruct in any way the material welfare necessary to any man, woman,
or child in the United States; if if takes from any man, woman, or child
in these United States a solitary privilege or right that is essential
to their well being; if it makes one more tramp, convict, or outcast of
the street; if it fills one more pauper's bed or potter's grave, then
our Search is not ended, for it is only another delusion, and of them we
have more than enough already.
If, on the other hand, it does away with hunger and rags in a land of
plenty. Does away with the cause of ignorance, namely poverty. Does away
with the cause of eighty-five per cent. of crime, namely, poverty. Does
away with the cause of strikes and rioting, namely, poverty. Destroys
the power of one man to bribe one or fifty, and with his thumb at his
nose defies the law to reach him. Makes robbery of the people by way of
the lobby a thing of the past, and makes unnecessary a third house for
the investigation of the other two, a stage we have already reached.
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