Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-05-01
THOUGHTS FOR WORKING MEN TO
CONSIDER

{ FROM tie La CI0sse democrat
We could not, if we would, close ouI
eyes to the fact that a great and startling
revolution has passed over the country
uprooting in its tread nearly all the an.
cient msxims and principles of the gov
4 eminent and bathing its heels in the
blood and tears of thousands and mil.
lions of helpless victims. This revolu'
ton, though, however great, is not yet
complete. There ia yet work for the
/ hearts and hands and heads Of our peo.
( pie. 1t is not the nature OF revolutions
! TO travel backward, and hence / have nc
hope that our people will be able to stay
( the storm and return to their ancient
mOoriDgs. The best that we can do is tC
/ direct its course as well as we can, and
evolve good, if we may, out of whAI
seems to be evil.
The changes which have occurred
necessitate others; and among them
none is more apparent to the eye Of an
I attentive observer than the necessity OF
/ readjusting our political and social sys-
/ tenn so as to secure to every one a fair
reward for his labor and no more. II il
be true that the sum of human labor
7 produces total of given amount, then
/ the unequal distribution Of it, whereby
I a few get millions and the many a bare
subsistence, involves a gross injustice
/ to some one: and the political system
I which allows it, is sadly out Of har-
mOny with the dictates Of Justice and
right. 1t certainly evinces a great
1 failure to adjust properly their respect
/ i've claims Of capital and labor. 1t is
I true thRtour constitutions provide against
| granting monopolies and prohibits class
/ legislation, and our legislators have
eYinced g cOmmendable jealousy upon
! the subject, yet with all that they have
not only been occasionally betrayed into
error impinging upon their constitutional
( inhibition bat have strangely enough en-
/ tirely overlooked the equally misehieV-
Gus and destructive mOnopOlies which
I grow out of accidental and fOrtuitous
| events, or result from the wakeful dill
genee and unseTupulous arts of avarice.
| These, while they are not the offspring
of injudicious legislative grants, are yet
/ fraught with all the evils that How from
I them.
Take, for example, the city of Bostcn
| or New York. A few men in each Of
| these cities ar6 orth from one to fifteen
or twenty millions of dollars. Who
does not know that this immense capital
! is constantly being used to depress or
| initiate the markets of the country, to
suit the views of these millionaires and
their friends, regardless of the claims of
honest industry and the cries of the
helpless poor2 They thus control the
labor Of the poor and dole out to them
and their helpless wives and children
just such subsistence as may suit their
own views and minister to their own
devilish cupidity. And let me ask, too,
| where is the legislative body that is
above tlse influence of such concentrated
power s.
Again, take the case of the sole owner
ship by one man Of q large district of
| farming land, or large number of
business and tenement houses in a city
| appeal to the experience of both coun-
try and city tenants to bear me out in
the assertion, that the earnings of the
tenant class, in a large majority of in
stances, are so reduced by exOrbitant
rents as to leave but small share to the
laborer and his family. And thus the
labOring millions, whose toll alone sWells
the sum of human products, are ground to
the earth to feed the pride and pamper the
luxury and arrogance of the cunning and
avarieious few. These evils are not con-
fined to small localities or isolated COM
munities their roots have struck deep
into our social and political systems and
millions drink the bitter cup to the dregs
without knowing the hand that mixed
it.
Is society always TO gr0sn under this
burden or shall we go earnestly to
work and remove it ? aud if the latter
how is it to be done To harmOnize
capital and labor by some method that
will curb the rapacity of the former, and
relieve the pains of the latter, is a ques-
ton that is just now attracting anew the
attention Of reformers in almost every
part Of the world, except our own.
Among the various schemes which ]
have seen suggested, none have struck
me with So much force, as the one which
has recently been proposed in England,
and that is to limit every mans private
! fortune to given sum. Now, without
| intending to indicate any sum as a given
| point to which persons might be con
! fined, / respectfully suggest that vast
| sum of human misery might be avoided
/ by a law prohibiting any ones private
| fortune exceeding the sum Of one hun.
| dred thousand dollars. Perhaps fifty
! thousand might be enough. The truth
/ is, no mans services TO the world are
worth more than the former sum and
/ very few are worth that much. 1t /:
enough for all purposes Of personal com,
! fort and the discharge of all social anC
relative duties. All E.yond that is 9
mere surplus to become the means o
oppression to others. I dare say thaf
there is not private fortune in the coun
try exceeding the first named sum tha
is not the fruits of proud OF cruel oppres
sion to others and in a majority of case,
of both. The evils of these overgrowE
fortunes weigh with deadening effec
upon the energies of the country. They
engender pride and arrogance. They
foster a feeling of indifference to thu
woes of our fellows and sufferings of tht
destitute. They block up the paths {,
/ fair competition by Others equally meri
torious but less fortunate than the own
ers, and in thousand different modes
paralyze the energies of the country
and increase the sum OF human misery
But I have written enough for on,
article, and enough, too, / hope, Il
awaken some abler pen than mine to thu
investigation which the importance O
the subject demands. Society owes it Il
itself-having ample means in its OWL
hands-to see that this great incubus il
| removed, taken off the energies of tn,
| people. Amid the hOwlings of the storm
Of revolution now sweeping over ths
world, let us be wise enough to seize upoT
one good at least, and thus bring CLEAN
of hope and Joy to the squalid homes o
the poor and hitherto helpless.
LAZARUS.