Man-Blind, Greedy and Brutal

By

H. H. Broach

An address given to a luncheon club
made up of both men and women.

It is not a very pleasant thing to talk frankly and bluntly about man-man as he was, and man as he is-blind, deceitful, greedy and brutal. I asked your committee just what prompted them to suggest such a subject, and was told that during your discussions the question was asked, "How can there be any hope, how can there be any real progress, when the average man shows the evil passions that he does?"

And sometimes the future does seem somewhat hopeless when you come to think of it. Here men are fighting like savage beasts, as the animals used to fight. Here they are cheating and stealing from one another, as the stronger animals stole from the weak. Here they are, hundreds of millions of them, followers of the great Teacher Who gave as His chief commandment, "Love one another." And they cover the earth with churches in His honor; they bow down before His teachings, and every Sunday they repeat, "Love one another." But every day they continue hating, cheating and killing one another.

And sometimes it looks as if man will go right on forever hating and fighting, cheating and sacrificing, and stinging and slaughtering his brothers and sisters. But there is hope-hope because man has advanced, and will continue to advance, in spite of himself, in spite of his arrogance, his blindness, his selfishness and his brutality. Why it's only a few years since he crushed the bones of his brothers in iron boots; cut off their lips and eye lids, pulled out their finger nails; jerked out their tongues, gouged out their eyes; tore at their quivering flesh with iron hooks and pincers; burned them at the stake, mocked their cries and groans, and ravished their wives and robbed their children and then prayed to God to finish the job in hell.

That was man-man in all his glory.

For thousands of years he believed that disease and health, happiness and misery, fortune and misfortune, success and failure, were but arrows shot at him by shadowy ghosts. He believed that when these citizens of the air, fires and waters,

were pleased or displeased by his actions, that they blessed the earth with harvest or cursed it with famine; that they fed or starved children at will, and crowned and uncrowned kings overnight. These ghosts were his school masters, his physicians and scientists, his philosophers and legislators, his judges and historians of the past-in short, everything.

Then man was a helpless slave to ignorance and fear, and down on his knees half the time to these aristocrats of the clouds, the fires and waters. He went to them for all information, for authority and orders to torture and kill. He was like a bat living in darkness. Ignorance covered the brain of the world; superstition ran riot, and torture and murder occupied the throne.

Fellow human beings were burned for causing frost in summer; for destroying crops with hail, for causing storms and making cows go dry. They believed the devil had taken possession of certain dumb beasts, so they tried, convicted and executed these helpless animals with all due solemnity. They tried, convicted and duly executed roosters for laying eggs containing witch ointment. They went through the streets and alleys warning all rats and snakes to leave by a certain time or else suffer the same fate as the roosters; and they passed a law in the state of Minnesota setting aside certain days for fasting and prayer to see if the Lord could not be induced to kill the grasshoppers or send them to another state.

Yes, that was man-man who now is so cocky and boasts so proudly about his "glorious past"-his "gallant" ancestors.

He hated and fought progress as bitterly as he now fights smallpox. Whenever a doubting Thomas came forth and said, "I don't believe we have any enemies in the air or fires or waters watching every move we make"-the others cried, "Stone him; throw him on the torture rack; start the fire. He's against religion; he will corrupt the youth; he will break up the home. Away with him." When a thinking brother came along and said, "You can't frighten diseases away, but you can cure them"-the others cried, "Down with him, crucify him; he's against morality; he's against the church; he doubts the elders. Put him away" -and they did.

When the inquisitive fellow came along and started to gaze at the sky through a telescope, the believers in "things as they are," the aged and mental defectives, cried, "Fool! doubter! atheist! club him; he's against God; he's against the king; he's

against government; heat the oil red hot; imprison him in the cave. Be done with him.”

And when a studious brother discovered how to read and write, the upholders of the old faith, then as now, cried, "Chain him; confine him under the hill; he is a disturber of the peace; he's against law and order; he will incite riot and rebellion; he will bring shame and disgrace on our 'best' people; he wants free love, free booze, free everything. Lynch him. Put him away." And they did.

When the young enthusiast from Italy came forth and said, "The world is round; there are other lands; I can sail over the Atlantic; give me ships and I will prove it;"-the others cried, "He's crazy; this Columbo is a nut; stone him; mock him; get rid of him." And when the sanitarily inclined American gentleman rigged up a bath tub for himself, the other brothers, the intelligent and able lawyers in the legislatures, cried, "Drown him; hang him; he will spread sickness; he will teach people bad habits. Pass laws to make him get rid of that bath tub." And they did.

So it has been with man all down through the ages-through every page of history, blotted and smeared with blood, with selfishness and blindness. And the pitiful part, the most shameful part, is that so many of our present day men, men who claim to be "civilized," still cling desperately to the ignorant, brutal beliefs and dogmas of the dark past. They would gladly turn out all lights of reason and throw away all brains; they would bring back the torture racks, the whips and chains and dungeon keys— if only they could. But fortunately, man is young, and the earth will last hundreds of millions of years longer, according to the best of scientists. The brain of the world is not yet fully developed. And while we still have intellectual diseases-intellectual mumps and measles-the new will continue to come, and the old will continue to protest and fight, then shrivel and wrinkle up and finally be carried off mournfully to the grave.

So we need not despair. The miracle of miracles is yet to come. Man has conquered the animals of the wilderness; he has conquered the air, the lightning and waters; he has diverted rivers from their course, bored holes through mountains and made lakes and dams at will-but he has yet to conquer himself -to rule himself.

And perhaps the time will come when men will marvel that there ever was a period when they called themselves "civilized," yet hated, cheated and sacrificed, clubbed and slaughtered one another like wild beasts without mercy or shame.

And perhaps the man of tomorrow will not curse and disgrace his land with insane asylums and poor houses; with jails and gallows; with illiterates and defectives; and perhaps he will manage somehow to get along without wholesale lies, hypocrisy and murder. Who knows?

Lincoln

By

H. H. Broach

From an address before a special

meeting of a Central Labor Union on
Lincoln's Birthday.

To some it might seem strange that we gather in this way in a labor hall to do honor to the man who was branded a traitor, a coarse, vulgar illiterate, slandered beyond measure and denounced as the most despicable of men, but who, as Ingersoll put it, had more brains than books; more sense than education; more courage than politeness; more strength than polish; he loved the truth for the truth's sake, and for man's sake; he hated ancient lies, sham and pretense, and had no respect for old mistakes and false teachings, and detested meaningless ceremony-that was Abraham Lincoln, the leader of all leaders. And his "respectable" defamers were not fit to black his boots.

Today, as usual, many fine things are being said about himsince he is not here. Now he is quite respectable; everything connected with his name is respectable-since he cannot speak. The Babbitts and the Garys-all our "respectables" and "best people"-all the long distance lovers of truth and justice, are today leading the annual parade and holding him tightly to their breasts as long as he is far away.

The occasion provides them a splendid opportunity to parade before the people as model patriots, as men of conscience, to take Lincoln close to their hearts, and to tell in glowing terms of their deep love for the "lowly." And it is really remarkable how some people do love honesty and truth, justice and freedom-as long as they are far away.

So with such control of the stage by our "refined" people, with barrels of printer's ink being used by our respectable newspapers, and with the polished dinner club orators orating to their heart's content, it is no wonder that a labor representative has so little chance to be heard today outside of a labor hall. And the "best people" and newspapers that today hail Lincoln as America's greatest-because he is not here were the very first ones to boycott and slander him at every turn in the road when he was alive. The New York Herald-which now says what all papers