Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1848-12-27
Social Changes in the United States.

] Among the many indications that exis
Of the approach of new age in the Unit
ed States, there is none that should excite
more alarm than the rapid advance Of SO.
cial inequality. Distinctions in society
are every year becoming more boldly pro-
nounced among US, the rich becoming rich
er and the poor poorer, as the wheels oI
time roll on, and as the Republic advances
in material strength and geographical ex.
tent. The old independent yeomanry oil
! The land-the men who fifty years since
gave liberal direction to the policy of our
government, and preserved freedom of per.
son and the liberty Of the press to the west.
ern worlds fast becoming extinct in the
Atlantic States, and is beingsreplaced by a
class somewhat resembling the forum pop.
ulace' Of Rome, and which is made, much
against its will and desires, to work out the
behests Of the great capitalists Of the land,
The men who control those vast corpora.
tions that have done SO much to increase
| the national wealth, and TO degrade the
people during the lasttwenty years. What.
ever may be the condition of the masses in
the new States, the fact is frightfully appa.
rent, that political inequality is fast vanish
ing from those formerly glorious commn-
mites by whom our national existence was
created, and whom nothing but Mammon
worship could have lastingly debased. We
are as yet in the beginning of this state of
affairs, but it is advancing to perfection, if
we may be permitted to use the word in
such connexion, with those rapid strides
that distinguish every movement, whether
for good or evil ends, that comes into be-
ing on this continent. The forming of
our rural population into manufacturing
places, where they have as little real liber-
ty as must ever fall to the lot Of men who
are enslaved by their necessities, is Destroy
ing independence of thought even; while
in our great commercial cities there are
Alsatias, or Courts of Miracles, that send
forth people who are in no respect socially
superior to the chifoners of Paris, or the
mud-lafks'' Of London. = Boston Times
There is much truth in the above. He
who judges of human happiness from the
multiplication Of railroads, canals, magnet
ic telegraphs, or other evidences Of wide
spread genius and developement of mechan-
ical power, judges specifically, indeed.
What is the condition of the masses US re-
CARDS competency of this worlds neces-
sites? This is the practical question of
the age. Do the mass ofour people pos
sess the necessaries of life now, with all
our boasted improvements alluded to, in
greater or less degree than they did quar-
ter or half century agoa In other words,
as we have increased in wealth and power,
have we not increased in poverty, also? Is
not the increased wealth of the Union be
coming more and more concentrated in the
hands of the few, and the many becoming
constantly poorer? There are but few can
did, intelligent minds, who will not, upon q
careful examination of the statistics of pow
ety and want, vice and crime. at the pres
ent day, throughout the civilized world,
come to the conclusion that the diseased
condition Of civilized communities is grow
ing worse. The spasmodic action Of the
suffering many is becoming more and more
violent. The cruel treatment of the pow
erful few to the toiling many, is constantly
becoming more aggravated. -a-
1t is, however, from widespread
kowledge ofthese troths,7 and the constant
inquiry for the appropriate remedy for ex-
isting evils, that the philanthropist has
hopes that q better time is near at hand.
Whatever may be the fate of the masses in
the old world, here, in America, at least,
we should guard against the necessity Of
forcible revolutions, by seizing upon the
right in this early period of our national
existence If we had no new lands for oul
people to flee to, we should, even now, fine
nearly the same degree of suffering in oul
compactly populated manufacturing towns
and cities, as we do in similar places in
Europe. Every facility for the occupa
ton Of our public lands should at once bt
granted.-N. Y Globe .o
r A Dutchman was relating his mar
; vellous escape from drowning when. thir
teen of his companions were lost by th'
upsetting of boat, and he only was saved
ssAnd how did you escape their fate?" ask
ed one of his hearers. 81 It'd not go into d
poat," was the Dutchman's placid answer
i-.5n% TbarA is GOLD in Texas too Th