The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1872-10-24
SOCIAL lAND INDUSTRIAL CHANGES.

England at this moment is in a social tran
sltlona state which, sooner or later, must
reach all communities of the same blood and
Oh similar customs, wantsaand rela tions. A
great many OF her people have suddenly wax
ed up to the fact that they are subject to GER
tain laws of political economy, of the exis-
tence of which they had before no susnicion.
and which even now they DO not pretend to
understand. Her great prosperity of la.e
years hasIraised her laboring population to a
condition unknown and unlocked for a rem.
Grafton back, and one of the first and newt.
able consequences of the improved state of
things is. with one class, certain dissatis-
faction, and demand tor still further i'm
provement in their, condition. More food,
more clothing, better houses, Sincrease of
comforts generally, and an appr zach to some
thing like luxury in living, have created a
taste and added to acknowledge which will not
be satisfied except with increased gratifca-
tons. The more prosperous of those, engaged
In mechanical pursuits first strike for higher
wages-noT, as some,people seem to suppose,
from sheer malevolence and indolence. de
sire to be paid much for doing little-but be-
cause the actual wants of their lives have in
creased, and need TO he satisfied. These more
skillful mechanics are followed by Others
less skillIul, till the movement fort. a. charger
return for labor reaches at elast the lowest
class in the scale-those whose labor is little
else thanfmere muscular force.
AS these demands of the laborer do, ia the
long run, make themselves heard, and
strikes, however costly the process, do final
~ attain their end, all seems smooth enough
to those engaged in them up to certain
POINT. When that is gained-say eight hours
OF work only, at imp-ovedlrates of wages
the mechanic, who has suffered not little to
obtain it, feels that for him and his good the
time has comesat last which shall make life a
good thing to have. But the inevitable law,
which he neither sees, nor thinks Of, nor un-
derstands, is memorable in it's demands, and
imposes its own terms upon him.
He has more to buy with, and he buys more.
Bat the more he buys the greater the de-
mand, and the greater the demand the great
er the production. The very state of things
which renders it possible for him to have
higher wages also makes it inevitable that
his food, his fuel, his clothing, all the necessi-
ties and luxuries ofzwhich his increased wag-
es were to buy 80 much more, shall them
selves be enhanced in price. For what he
has to buy, his wages 60 no further than
they went before. Nor is his discomfort re-
moved by the refectio that though his mon
ey, relative to what he has to buy with it, Is
as little as ever, yet as his wants are great.r
than before, and that he has the means TO
provide for these wants, his gain is positive.
He grumbles, nevertheless, as it is right
hat he should for the price of content is
that discomfort should always be in pursuit
IF it. The clumsy method he at once used
10 get what he believes 60 be his fan share Of
The growing prosperity of the world, gives
way to some wiser plan; Or, at least, must
give way to some new and better plan, if he
IS to take advantage of the changes of the
time, and raise himself in the social scale
Such is the fact at this moment in Great
Britain. The proletaire, SO far as material
means are concerned. is encroaching on the
class above it, and this material advancement
must eyitably carry with it intellectual, NOR
n and social improvement.
But there is another class, to which this
state of things has another aspect. These
people, in moderate and almost narrow cir
to whom has been granted the
prayer the prophet-''give me neither pow
rioboe
7enient for me''--haves reason to look with
apprehension upon tho enhanced cost of lily
ng which comes with the advance in the
price ofcoals, an meats and rents. Living
lpon fixed incomes which they have no
means of increasing, the general prosperity
S rather to their disadvantage. They have
10 more money than before, and that which
hey have buys less Than ever. Their class
tands still in the great social change, even
f it does not relatively recede in the en-
roaching advances of the class below it.
What is to become of them is serious ques-
ion, and one more easily answered by
vents than argum ents.
The number o persons in this country
vho answer 30 Sthis class is paratively
mall. The dividing lines, nevertheless, are
growing every year more distinct and posi-
i've, and the sanle question which is now agi-
ating the middle-class of England, is be-
coming of as mucl Importance to q large
lass in this coun ~, who, whatever we may
all them. are in much the same circumstal-
es with those o. limited means abroad
7. 7. Post.
Thirty years ago the WOODEN industries
we're nearly all located east of the Allega-
lies hnt at the r,re GO nt tinon they are scat