The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1870-06-11
/" FOOD FOR REFLECTION"

Tine reported massacre of the
Ishaelites in the Province of Roumania
having been called to the attention of
,t9e United States Senate. upon motion,
Ait--------A-'A- -----T-
thb President was called upon to trans
NIT such information he has in his pos
session relative thereto, to that body.
Pending the consideration of the
motion,
iMr. Sprague attributed the cause Of the massa-
cre to the fact that the Jews had obtained pos
81, ,sion of all the business, the lands, and the
ID ade of the country; that while one class OF
tke people were in poverty, without means OF
Business, there was on the other hand an eager,
money getting, trade monopolizing population.
iIt was this condition Of things that had
biought about the spectacle which the world
"a day contemplated. There was food for re-,
Fiction in this for the Senate and for our own
cbuntry.
Mr.. Sprague has well said that there
il food for reflection" in this matter,
= for the Senate, and for our own coun-
Try" The people are beginning to
dnquire why it is, that no matter how
Industrious or provident man be, if
he is dependent upon his daily labor,
he can no more than barely maintain
himself upon the wages of his labor,
while in the other hand, it matters
little how extravagant, or how useless
to community, he is who has money,
his store multiplies increasingly. In
countries where the spread of educa-
aion is prevented by monarchlal in
;huence, as in Roumania, it is not to be
iwondered at that the people have be-
'come incensed against those whom
they innocently deem the primary
:cause Of all their miseries. Such a
scOuLtry Is a good soil in which to
lgrow agrarianism. In our own coun-
ltry, it is more than possible that the
swide spread prejudices among the
ipoorer classes, in favor Of old, and in
deposition TO new usages, and their
seeming indifference to the dangerous
tendencies of existing laws and Gus
toms, may eliminate in similar
outrages, except the influence of the
National Labor Union be sufficient to
induce the people to peacefully and law
fully dislodge the monster usury, which
now exercises undisputed sway over
their present circumstances, and their
mundane destinies. 1t is a paradox
that we, and In that pronoun we in
clnde the misguided-both the wealthy
and the poor, the first by their
cupidity, the latter by their ignorance,
can so readily discern the horrors of
agrarianism, and yet are SO wilfully
blind to the virtues of the only plan by
which spread ofits doctrines may be
prevented. Here each succeeding
year is adding to the wealth of the
few, and multiplying the trials of the
many, and the power Of the few over
the many is being proportionately
increased while their tyrannous exac-
tons are becoming more and more
onerous and unbearable. Is it in rea-
son to suppose that time will not goad
the oppressed to violently strike off
their letters. Let it be remembered
that the physical strength Of the prac-
tically enslaved, compared with that Of
their taskmasters, is as ten to one.
Give to the latter the power of their
mercenary minions, and their accumu-
lated strength sinks into a pitiable in