Prospectus
STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES. The AGE OF THOUGHT is an independent, radical, weekly paper; its watchword is “Liberty for All;” and while it welcomes discussion from all standpoints in furtherance of this condition, it will editorially advocate the following principles and incidentally criticise others: MONEY—The issuance of money—medium of exchange—should be the free and unrestricted right of individuals and associations. LAND—The right to land ends with occupancy and use of an area not excluding others from the use an of equal area. Only the improvement are the exclusive property of the individual. TAXATION—All compulsory taxation is robbery, and should be resisted with the most prudent and effective forces at command at any given time. All public works should be paid for by voluntary contributions. PERSONAL LIBERTY—The individual should have liberty to pursue his own ends at his own responsibility; inviting the resistance of other, by becoming invasive, just as others becoming invasive would meet resistance by him. PROTECTION OF LIFE AND THE PRODUCTS OF LABOR—To be left to voluntary associations of defense; this defense does not warrant the proscription or prohibition of acts that may lead to invasive actions, for such proscription is in itself direct invasion of personal liberty, and calls for active resistance by individuals. Defense is warranted only in cases of direct or threatened invasion. GOVERNMENT—All authoritative regulation of manners and customs, all restrictions on commerce, all meddling or interference with individual activities, exercised by any majority or minority whatever, is essentially iniquitous and should not be tolerated. The government (or the state) restricts the field of honest industry and thus drives many to thievery, fraud and rascality, while vainly legislating against its necessary product; it is maintained presumably to protect life and property while it indirectly kills and robs a hundredfold more than it saves; it means the pauperization, the slavery and the degradation of the many; it kills the liberty, prosperity and nobility of all; its foundation is brute force; it is invasive, and it invites the strongest resistance at any time practical and expedient. METHODS OF GAINING LIBERTY AND APPROXIMATE EQUALITY—However inequitable the division of wealth may be today, and however plainly it gives evidence of robbery, it should not be forgotten that it is the state and not the individual who must be held responsible, for the robbery is made possible and is sanctioned by the law. The fortunate individual merely profits by the opportunity given him by the state his victims maintain. Passing by the question of the right of violent expropriation, in the opinion of the editor of this paper it is decidedly inexpedient; and therefore will be neither advocated nor favored in these columns. Liberty is all that need be required at present, for it follows that if the privileged rich were divested of their slaves their palaces would succumb to the ravages of time; huts and hovels would also disappear and in their stead would rise free homes. In a condition of equal freedom, the division of wealth would approach equality; the distribution would be equitable at least. The methods of gaining liberty should be defensive, never invasive; they should be made as effective as possible and such as to win the sympathy of the people: first, agitation by speech, by press and by passive resistance, and finally, if necessary, by active resistance.A Radical Weekly Paper: An Advocate of Equal Freedom and Voluntary Co-operation · 1896–1897
Publisher: Edward H. Fulton
Editor(s): Edward H. Fulton
City: Columbus Junction, United States
Language: English
Frequency: weekly
TitleID: AGETHOUX-1896
An independent, radical weekly with the watchword “Liberty for All,” advocating free money, occupancy-and-use land tenure, resistance to compulsory taxation, personal liberty, voluntary defense, opposition to governmental interference, and defensive rather than invasive methods of social change.
The Union of Egoists index reports a weekly run from Vol. I, No. 1 (July 4, 1896) through Vol. II, No. 24 (December 11, 1897). The subtitle changed during the run: the first form continued through I:20; a longer statement about individual liberty and the emancipation of industry and commerce appeared in I:21–40; “An Advocate of Equal Liberty and Voluntary Cooperation” appeared in I:41–II:23; and II:24 used “An Advocate of Liberty and Reason.” Vol. II, No. 1 displays the masthead title form “The Age of Thought” and prints Whole Number 53.
Primary sources: Age of Thought, Vol. I, No. 1 (July 4, 1896), supplied scan AgeOfThought-v1n1.pdf; The Age of Thought, Vol. II, No. 1, Whole No. 53 (July 3, 1897), supplied scan AgeOfThought-v2n1.pdf. Supporting working reference: Union of Egoists, “Age of Thought (1896),” https://www.unionofegoists.com/journals/age-of-thought-1896/.
Age of Thought Vol. I, No. 1
Vol. I, No. 1 — Saturday, July 4, 1896
8 pp.
The PDF contains eight consecutively numbered pages and appears complete and in order; no separate covers or wrappers are present. The copy has substantial edge tears, losses, creases, tape repairs, and Labadie Collection markings. E. H. Fulton’s “Land, Money and Property” runs on pp. 1–3 and announces Part II for the next issue. Francis D. Tandy’s “Free Competition” runs on pp. 6–8 and is also continued. Page 3 contains subscription notices, periodical notices, Publisher’s Notes, and “The Political Situation”; page 4 prints the masthead, Statement of Principles, and the beginning of the Introductory Announcement; page 8 carries Humboldt Library and Liberty Library advertisements. The issue describes itself as eight 9×13-inch pages, while the Union of Egoists page reports approximately 9.25×12.5 inches; Size is left blank pending physical measurement.
| Pg. | Item | Author |
|---|---|---|
| 1–3 | Land, Money and Property. — article | E. H. Fulton |
| 3 | Special Subscription Offer — notice | |
| 3 | [Sample-copy and subscription solicitation] — notice | |
| 3 | Papers and Magazines. — department | |
| 3 | Publisher’s Notes. — department | |
| 3 | The Political Situation. — editorial | |
| 4 | [Publication, subscription, and remittance information] — notice | |
| 4 | Statement of Principles. — policy statement | E. H. Fulton, editor |
| 4–5 | Introductory Announcement. — editorial | |
| 5 | “Revolution Inevitable.” — editorial | |
| 5 | Competition Not Monopoly. — editorial | |
| 5 | Usury the “Bete Noir.” — editorial | |
| 5 | He Will Fight. — editorial | |
| 6–8 | Free Competition. — article | Francis D. Tandy |
| 8 | Humboldt Library of Science. — advertisement | |
| 8 | Liberty Library Pamphlets. — advertisement |
Age of Thought Vol. II, No. 1 (Whole No. 53)
Vol. II, No. 1, (Whole No. 53) — Saturday, July 3, 1897
8 pp. · 2 cents
The PDF contains eight consecutively numbered pages and appears complete and in the correct order; no separate cover, wrapper, insert, or supplement is present. Pages 7–8 occupy only the upper-left portion of the photographic frame, with black background and an orange lighting band elsewhere, but the complete printed leaves and text are visible. Page 1 prints the title form “The Age of Thought,” the subtitle “An Advocate of Equal Liberty and Voluntary Coöperation,” Vol. II, No. 1, Whole Number 53, the date Saturday, July 3, 1897, and a price of 2 cents. A handwritten identification note appears at the top of page 2 and is not part of the issue. “News of the Movement” begins on page 1 and continues on page 6, where it is signed F. D. Tandy. H. J. Schirmer’s translation of Max Stirner’s short introductory to “The Singular One and His Property” appears on page 2. “Anarchism and Government” runs on pages 4–5. Page 5 contains letters by H. J. Schirmer and Wm. Gilmour; page 6 contains William Gilmour’s “From Europe,” “More State Socialism,” and a book review; page 8 contains Chas. E. Nichols’s economic table, a reprinted report based on Thomas G. Shearman’s estimates, and several patent-medicine advertisements. The working page reports an approximate physical size, but Size is left blank pending direct measurement.
| Pg. | Item | Author |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Bee in the Flower. — poem | J. Wm. Lloyd |
| 1–6 | News of the Movement. — department | F. D. Tandy |
| 2 | The Reply.* — poem | William Walstein Gordak |
| 2 | I’ve Based My Cause ’Pon Nothing. — translation | Max Stirner; translated from the German by H. J. Schirmer |
| 2 | Don’t Tobacco Spit and Smoke Your Life Away. — advertisement | |
| 3 | Manahatta! — poem | J. Wm. Lloyd |
| 3 | A Question of Method. — article | F. D. Tandy |
| 3 | The Age of Thought 3 mos. 25c. — advertisement | |
| 3 | Everybody Says So. — advertisement | |
| 4 | [Publication and subscription information] — masthead | E. H. Fulton |
| 4 | Special Agents for This Paper. — directory | |
| 4 | Notices and Instructions. — department | |
| 4 | The Second Year. — publisher’s announcement | E. H. Fulton |
| 4–5 | Anarchism and Government. — article | |
| 5 | Letters to the Editor. — department | |
| 6 | Authority. — quotation | King Lear, Act iv., Scene 6. |
| 6 | From Europe. — article | William Gilmour |
| 6 | More State Socialism. — news brief | |
| 6 | Book and Periodical Review. — department | |
| 6 | To Cure Constipation Forever. — advertisement | |
| 7 | Compensation. — poem | Chas. E. Nichols |
| 7 | An Ignorant Editor. — editorial | |
| 7 | All Will See It Sometime. — department | |
| 7 | Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel. — quotation | Boswell’s Life of Johnson |
| 7 | How to Find Out. — advertisement | |
| 8 | Where Our Annual Product Goes. — economic table | Chas. E. Nichols |
| 8 | Candy Cathartic Cascarets. — advertisement | |
| 8 | To Cure Constipation Forever. — advertisement | |
| 8 | I have learned by much observation that nothing will satisfy a patriot but a place. — quotation | Junius |
| 8 | Educate Your Bowels With Cascarets. — advertisement | |
| 8 | [Bad laws and abuses of government] — editorial | |
| 8 | No-To-Bac for Fifty Cents. — advertisement | |
| 8 | How the People Are Exploited. — reprinted article | Thomas G. Shearman |
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