29 



firm conviction that if that is accomplished it must be accom- 

 jjlished hy the yeomanry of the country. I know that an edu- 

 cated and intelligent people will not quietly submit to have the 

 property in the hands of the few, any more than they will 

 consent to have the political power of the State in the hands of 

 the few. The povei-ty of the masses will not be tolerated if 

 the country is rich. Political and civil rights will not be high- 

 ly valued, which will not enable the possessors of them to ob- 

 tain a fair share of the lands and a fair compensation for 

 labor. If the wealth of the country in a generation or two 

 shall have passed into the hands of the few, the coming multi- 

 tudes will not be bound to submit to its remaining there 

 through the operation of laws which they can change, ought 

 not to submit to it, and I rejoice to believe will not. If wise 

 and just laws are not enacted which wnll return a fair share of 

 the wealth of the country back to the masses, from whom it is 

 obtained, the earthquake and the volcano, the whirlwind and 

 the tornado, will do it. The people now have the opportunity 

 to provide by wise statesmanship for the accomplishment of 

 that which, if they fail thus to accomplish, revolution with all 

 its excesses must accomplish. 



It is yet to be determined whether an intelligent republic 

 can govern by reason, or whether it will leave violence to work 

 the changes which peaceful legislation should accomplish. It 

 will be but a short period of time before all the property of the 

 country will be in the hands of a very small number of per- 

 sons indeed, if*the present policy of the government is pur- 

 sued. 



The present laws regulating the distribution of the estates 

 of deceased persons wholly fail to provide a remedy. The 

 system of wills, by which the larger portion of an immense 



