referred to in the address, the fifteen super-illiterate States combined cast but twenty-five per cent of the Greenback vote polled by the single State of Michigan, while in the late presidential election the same fifteen States cast but ten per cent more Labor Union votes than were cast in the State of Kansas alone, and nine of the super-illiterate States fail to record the polling of a Union-Labor vote.
Far from mental stimulation being essential to moral development, the most perfect order and deepest sense of justice are often found associated with the densest ignorance among the lowest races of humanity. Turn your attention to the Papuan-Islanders,[1] the Veddahs,[2] the Dyaks of Borneo,[3] the Fuegians,[4] and other barbarous races which, in the absence of rulers or organized societies, with no learning and but little acquaintance with even the rude arts of many primitive people, have developed the highest degree of tribal piety, integrity, chastity, and regard for covenants almost unknown to civilized man. The testimony of early travelers proves conclusively that intense poverty and deep ignorance are by no means incompatible with honesty, integrity, and virtue.
The table shows that where the extremes of poverty and wealth prevail, as in the Eastern States, there is found a maximum of moral and mental derangement, as exhibited in insanity, crime, and vice. Where wealth is more evenly distributed, as in the Western States, there are noted less insanity and crime, but almost as high a ratio of saloons as in the East. In the Southern States, although having a low per capita of wealth, yet the mental and moral forces of development are more nearly in adjust-
- ↑ "It is worthy of remark that these simple islanders, without hope of reward or fear of future punishment after death, live in such peace and brotherly love with one another, and that they recognize the right of property in the fullest sense of the word, without there being any authority among them other than the decision of their elders, according to the customs of their forefathers, which are held in the highest regard." (Earl Kolff's "Voyages of the Dogma," p. 161.)
- ↑ "The Rock Veddahs are divided into small clans, or families, associated for relationship, who agree, partitioning the forests among themselves for hunting-grounds, the limits of each family's possession being marked by streams, hills, rocks, or some well-known trees, and these conventional allotments are always honorably recognized and mutually preserved from violation. Each party has a head man, the most energetic senior of the tribe, but who exercises no authority except distributing at a particular season the honey captured by the members of the clan." (Tennant, ii, p. 440.)
- ↑ "The Dyaks' minds are as healthy as their bodies; theft, brawling, and adultery are unknown to them." (Boyle's "Borneo," p. 335.)"The Dyaks are manly, hospitable, honest, kindly, and humane to a degree which might well shame ourselves." (Ibid, p. 215.)
- ↑ "Nothing like a chief could be made out among the Fuegians of Blunder Cove, nor did they seem to require one for the peace of their society, for their behavior one to another was most affectionate, and all property seemed to be possessed in common." (Weddell's "Voyages toward the South Pole," p. 168.)
