All I.r.en Are Created Equal?
When one hears that old, timeworn expression, "All men
"are created free and equal", it only provokes a wish that it
might be true. If intended to mean that all are born with a
right to be free, then the "free" part is all right. 3ut the
"equal" part of it is in no sense true. One may not shut his
eyes to the universal inecuality of life. If it be right that
we are or should be created equal, then nature, or whatever
calls into existence the individuals of this life, has woe
fully failed. That he who is born to ignorance and of mean
material is born the equal of him. who is born to all the
invironment of fortunate conditions and with talents and all
that makes for victory in life, will not be asserted by the
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thoughtful.
By
nature
one
is
born
a
"clod",
"a
brother
to
the ox" , while another is given by nature all those things
that make him conspicuous among men and cble to win the best
of life with ease, that which the'clod"can not reach however
much he may struggle. The "clod" may yearn to be great, to be
large of soul and mind, but nature h;.s shackled his feet and
those things he may not be. What a tragedy all this! iiearly
everyone who is low and mean is so because nature made him so.
I n b i r t h t h e r e i s n o e q u a l i t y, e v e n t h o u g h w e d o n o t c o n s i d e r
external environments, ilature never intended equality among
its created things. The dove is not given the steel claws
and saber beak of the eagle, and each is powerless to pass the
l i n e o f d i f f e r e n t i a t i o n fi x e d b y n a t u r e . F r o m t h e s m a l l e s t
i n f u s o r i a t o t h e m a s t o d o n , n a t u r e s p e a k s i n t e r m s o f i n e q u a l i t y.
Not only is this true in classes and species; inside those,
inequality is. as well marked as outside. That phrase should
have been written, "All men should be born to an attainable
right to be equal, one with another". That would be ouite
another thing.
James W. Oates.
Santa Rosa, Cali f.,
Aug. 27th, 1910.
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