The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1869-09-18

ietao labor to earn nor wealth to purchase Il; In
siPrt, population, as Nautilus used to express
iVior whom there is no room at NATURES
o9ard while the fact was, that il, according to
hIt own theory, the products of The earth had
o3an equally divided there would have been
e'yough, and more than enough. Tor all that ever
cfne under bis notice as a surplus population,
t9be destroyed, as he further expressed il, nv
ice and misery
This surplus population, for under the exis
tug circumstances Of primogeniture and entail
III this country, there undoubtedly 10 a surplus
ptpula'ion, Nautilus imri ously attributed to the
Inevitable course of natures laws, unless pre-
vSnted by moral. restraint which under the
lsfWs Of prOmigeniture and entail, he never knew
n exist, except very feebly indeed and which
IL f.ct, under them never did other~ise exist
LIdeed, his whole argument, from first to last
Cpl proved th4t such surplus population Wal
Al i6cially made by Withholding from il il
etual share Of the actually existing earth's pro
Dice, which would be, if il we're Only procurable
bR il, more than sufficient TO sassain everybody
hen in such circumstances. namely, surrounded
bk Astounding wealth, will trust, 40 they ever
hive trusted, to their own abilities and good
Eftune'-as expressed by Adam Smith to obtain
Share of it-and will equally trust in their
p Pgeny doing the same. Dazzled by the sight
Of enormous landed wealth, and enormously
i,9lging the general affluence to be available &c
instead Of the limited portion they are only
a%e to procure, they 60 on increasing in nun
hrs Nithout regard TO their limited share Of
tlk enormous general wealth they see around
THIN, until a surplus population is brought into
existence, with all its vice, its misery, and ia
paelperism.
ft may be replied, that this is only saying
thet men, deceived by appearances which, little
Investigation would show them to be false, have
foklishly increased their numbers beyond the
mAabs of subsistence At their command, and in
dueed this surplus population. 10 which an
sWer. that it is the nature of mankind TO be SO
d. :, ived, and that the result oil primogeniture
aIh entail, the accumulation OF enormous landed
Whlth, operates as q lure BY which this surplus
POPULATION is, and always has been. engendered,
y kch is the accusation I make against these
labs.
FOR proof Of which it only need be adduced,
thkt wherever these laws exist, there Is sur
plbs population, and tnat conversely where they
dc¬ exist, or have been abolished, q surplus
POPULATION is unknown. Poverty there may be,
fox it is written, the poor shall never cease out
offthe land but not q surplus population.
en France, and the oIhef places where these
tidn.' Take France as a tP> er,ne. OF the whole;
thu country parts Of which abound with small
Ia ided proprietors. There is cuia.rd 600 JOO
ofithem, while 5000 landed prop.i' tors own
aIy Great Britain and Ireland, and IL We even
suppose this number to be doubted, the contrast
W III still be too great to admit doubt "a 70 the
cchclusion. These small landed proPrietOrs
hsse enough for their own subsistence, though
Individually no great amount of wealth. In
England they would be agricultural laborers, all
etkeped in poverty, and many OF them starving,
hsving no choice but to become pauPers or 70
st erve, in the midst of Astounding wealth, with
III palAliAl mansions, splendid parks, and helds
teknIing with human food.
Fine small landed prOprietors of France can
exhibit no palatsl man siOns, or the wealth which
b4Ongs only to the .accumulations OF large Lam
dbl prOprietors and therefore cannot deceive
themselves as to their future means Of subsis-
sttuce, and, as a natural result, do not bring into
existence a progeny which they know they
wIuld not be able to support. TIE very pow
erly,' as compared with England, which means
n&t the squalor OF an agricultural labOrers cot
tGee, or OF an Irish cabin, but simply the absense
ofBhoblemen's and genIlemens seats, With their
sE,endid parks, which the shallow visitors Of
+ knce from this country complain OF and ridi-
cuAe, is their very safeguard against the curse OF
surplus population
AThere is much force in this winters objec-
tikns to the law Of ''primOgeniture" but the
q me objections apply to accommodations BY
WY of corporations. Indeed these corPo-
rAe mOnopolies are, at the present time, the
mbre serious evil. Men may ole, and pri-
mbgeniture, if it does not become extinct
bIkaks eff into different lines but IN cOrpo-
ra:ions never. PrimOgenIture has no exis-
tetee in this country but corporations have,
aid the tendency to produce thereby an use
le,S surplus population is, at the present
tiRe, truly alarming. Besides the surplus
is but one form Of surplus
vi ich is created by it. "Surrlus produc-
tiSos," "surplus labor" and the whole cate
goly OF "surpIusses,'' CrIgIu1Iss from the
sahe course, to.wit the unnatural accumu=
la&ons Of mOnopolizIng laws, in th9shape
OfkbankiDg, railroad, express, Telegraph, in
and interest. By these lays there 10
al$ays surplus somewhere, and wretcbed-
ne l. and crime everywhere. Down with
thi Ice laws then, and butli mp justice in their
plkce, and ''surplus populations" ''surplus
productions" will only be known ss au in
blessing. The surplus will be in
thi hands of those who earn it, where i1
rilhtfully belongs.