, and that the Catholics
can give a longer list of distinguished names.
My answer to all this, however, is that the history of the world
shows that ignorance has always been in the majority. There is
one right road; numberless paths that are wrong. Truth is one;
error is many. When a great truth has been discovered, one man
has pitted himself against the world. A few think; the many believe.
The few lead; the many follow. The light of the new day, as it
looks over the window sill of the east, falls at first on only one
forehead.
There is another thing. A great many people pass for Christians
who are not. Only a little while ago a couple of ladies were
returning from church in a carriage. They had listened to a good
orthodox sermon. One said to the other: "I am going to tell you
something--I am going to shock you--I do not believe in the Bible."
And the other replied: "Neither do I."
--_The News_, Detroit, Michigan, January 6, 1884.
POLITICS, MORMONISM AND MR. BEECHER
_Question_. What will be the main issues in the next presidential
campaign?
_Answer_. I think that the principal issues will be civil rights
and protection for American industries. The Democratic party is
not a unit on the tariff question--neither is the Republican; but
I think that a majority of the Democrats are in favor of free trade
and a majority of Republicans in favor of a protective tariff.
The Democratic Congressmen will talk just enough about free trade
to frighten the manufacturing interests of the country, and probably
not quite enough to satisfy the free traders. The result will be
that the Democrats will talk about reforming the tariff, but will
do nothing but talk. I think the tariff ought to be reformed in
many particulars; but as long as we need to raise a great revenue
my idea is that it ought to be so arranged as to protect to the
utmost, without producing monopoly in American manufacturers. I
am in favor of protection because it multiplies industries; and I
am in favor of a great number of industries because they develop
the brain, because they give employment to all and allow us to
utilize all the muscle and all the sense we have. If we were all
farmers we would grow stupid. If we all worked at one kind of
mechanic art we would grow dull. But with a variety of industries,
with a constant premium upon ingenuity, with the promise of wealth
as the reward of success in any direction, the people become
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