The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1872-06-15
LIFE AND LABOR.
ADD R e q ~
MIR, E. M. CHAMBERLIN,
OF BOSTON.
Befere the Masaaehasesas Labor Unlsn, at
MersieultaRal nall, May sssh, Is7s.
OF BOSTON,

| R 61A(0 \ O4NB
BeSere the Ma.AaeAasest Labor UaIsa, NJ
Mersieuls1Pal HALL, May sssh, Is7s.
THE PHYSICAL BASIS OF PROGRESS.
In looking back over the history of the
world, we notice that the progress of the
human race has not been uniform at all
times and in all places, but that now one
people, and now another run on in ad-
vance and that of the people themselves,
some division or other pushes forward
more vigorously than the rest to seize the
fruits Of higher civilization.
Humanity Ia not composed of hostile
factions, travelling on independently or in
opposite directions but like the corps of
great army, directed by single will, is
jOumeying ON to the same destination
the general advance being made up of the
movements of many columns, in the sue
ceases of each one Of which all mankind
will share.
Each individual of society requires
similar things for his satisfaction, so that
every one is striving TO obtain not that
alone which pleases himself, but for
what also will bring universal content
ment.
| Equally are the prime reasons of the
conduct of all of us the same, for they are
grounded In our very natures. Working
men, who form so large portion of the
community, can be actuated by no ground
motives differing from those controlling the
actions Of others, and whatever they do
must be in obedience to the common,
natural and irresistible impulses Of hu-
manity.
Primarily, their struggle is one for ex-
istence. To the very poor, who can
scarcely obtain enough to keep body and
soul together from day to day, this in
plain; but who In there that is not fighting
death, near or remotel 1t may be said
that the love of life In the mainspring of
our conduct, and the source of all our be-
hefs.
Whether we consider man 10 have been
created with his present faculties in mo-
ment of time, or to have emerged from
some lower order, the offspring of which
acquired and propagated in their successors
those peculiarities that enabled them better
to preserve their existence, he is, an now
constituted, impelled in whatever he does
by . regard for his self lf-preservation-by
the desire of prolonging his life to the ut
most extent possible.
Those who feel the best assured that,
after death, countless ages of the highest
JOY await them, put of their earthly exit to
the latest day.
Rather than tread the unfading Elysian
fields, q Roman would wander terrestrial
wilderness forever. The untold pleasures
of those gardens of perennial bloom that
await the coming Of the faithful follower Of
the prophet, are no temptation to a living
Mohammedan. The happy hunting grounds
where perpetual plenty il said to reign,
cannot induce the starving Indian to vol
UNFAIRLY quit his desert plain.
To all races Of men the tortures of life
are preferable to an absolute relief from
them and when suffering the most from
pain and disease, they make the most
strenuous exertions to preserve it. When
such repugnance to enter upon the pleasures
of an immortal life is SO universally ex-
hibited, who shall say that the thought Of
Immortality is not born of the universal
wish to remain here on earth forever
when, too, we notice that the idea becomes
more complex as the communities advance
in culture, and is entirely wanting among
the most degraded.
When the child first opens its eyes to the
light, its struggles for life begin, and it doe.
not cease them till the finger of deatl
closes its eyelids forever. Its whole exist
ence is tinctured with the idea of how il
can live. That idea is the parent of Ian
guage. The words of infant children arr
at first confined to the names of persons
and things that minister 10 their physicalne
cessities,
1t is only after men have risen from 4
primitive savage state, that they connect
subStantives by other parts of speech, Ol
indulge In abstract speculations, requiring
an extended vocabulary, that assist only
indirectly IN their support. Communities
are formed for mutual protection, and thiI
necessitates government and law. Indeed
from this universal primal impulse all pro
gress springs. individuals form the mass
and individual strivings constitute ths
total movement Of society that in constantly
evolving improvements in government
Law, the sciences, arts and trades, that in
some way or other give us better chance o
living. The individual can obtain the besI
prospects of living only by combination d
his powers with others. Individualisn
forces him into communism. The more
perfect In this communism, the more com
plete il indiHdualism.
| Ii N III ohktlknvouou bclubHucmH Una
leads men to combine their efforts ol
merge their energies for the common
good. At first, according to all supposi
ton, man grovelled out brief existenc,
alone, subsisting on such roots or worms a,
he chanced to find. Then with wooder
spear, perhaps, he, by hunting and fiAhing
added Something TO his scanty means O
subsistence and probable duration of life
Then as herdsman, Afterwards On farmer
and finally an merchant and manufactures
at each step entering into more intimat'
association with others than before
he still further increased his chances fol
life.
THE RxPRnATIoN on LIFE.
That the chances have increased seems Il
be evident. II We reflect upon the out
rageous exterminating warfare that tn,
most advanced of very ancient nation
waged, destroying the little children ant
cattle Of their enemies y. the horrible mas
sacres that barbariaps are guilty of-whol'
tribes, like the Hurons and nini in Amer
icA, wiped out; the terrible plaques anC
waiting epidemics that used TO desolate tn,
earth, but which have been stayed by Oh,
increased cleanliness Of mankind, and NOR,
perfect knowledge of the healing art tn,
great and general fAmines, which are now
from improvements in agriculture and in
the means Of transportation, rendered al
most impossible the Atrocities OF blood
thirsty tyranta, whose alaaghterings hav'