The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1872-12-14
Capital and Labor.



rage RRd ~ LoHiN.
I,o>Nurl
The causes which produce bcgsarly pau
pers, and poInpons, swelling millIunaIres,
must be sought for elsewhere There Is
something decidedly rotten and corrupt IN
our society. A society which lives as the
generations roll away, and gives birth ~
no better results than educated grants,
gruveling in the lust of wealth, and lguur-
ant wages slaves. gruveling IN the slime of
lauperlsm, has lived To-" long. \ system
IT society from which flows nothing more
cummendable than this, must he mSelara-
~ connected with robbery, fraud, cor
ruptiUn must he thlckly incrusted with
the leprosy of dishonesty. How do these
men grow 81 wealthy. So rapidly How
Tan they do So, except by getting int"
their hands that to which they have no
Just claim, the earnings ut others And
what is the man who crows rich on your
labor and mine, while his own labor pro
duces nothing, but thief and a robher
The highWayman rohs by force, the tluef
by cunning or deXuerty, the modern capt.
ahst under the guise If law and social
custom but IN either case the practical
result is really and substantially the same.
II your labor Is worth five dollars per
day, but the employer, taking advantage
uf the fact that the actual necessities ~
each succeeding day Of your life compvls
you to toll. knowing you have no choice.
no alternative, forces you o. Sell your
labor for three dollars per day, nutWIth-
standing 1t is worth five, is he any the less
u rubher, any the less unjust than If he had
distracted the money directly from your
pocket No, sirs, he j. not. lie enrich
es himself on your toll. You are unlustly
wronsed, robbed, your children wronged,
robbed, simply that another and another's
children may riot in ill-gotten ldxury.
Now | ask you as candid men, IS not this
tse case a. it stands to-day Is it not a
px.rfiA it-, that the men who toll, and
~ at, ....a suffer, and produce most, are
least rewarded ! And is it not an equally
painful truth that the employers Of labor,
generally add to their capital, double and
treble it, until it assumes gigantic, plethur-
ic proportions, while the poor fellows who
caused the increase add nothing to their
scanty miserable store No, sir, they
add nothing to their stock of this world
goods and after enduring the fatigues,
the hardships, the burdens Of twenty
years Of muscular toll, they are still work
ingmen, depending on each days labor for
each days bread they are still forced by
stern, memorable necessity to face summer
scorching sun and winters piercing blasts
to keep wolfsh hunger from the door, they
are still necessitated 10 work, work work
ON, work ever They see no bright glim
nering star ahead, to cheer them on along
their weary way. On the contrary, they
are haunted and Swallowed by the terrible
Apprehension II unseen ills which may fall
upon them and find them unprepared.
Sickness may come upon them like thief
IN the night, and leave them and their lit
tie and loved ones unprOvided for 4; and
again there is that shuddering dread, that
terrible, certain to come evil, old age,
creeping On. slowly it may be, but Oh
God rs irrevocably as a decree Of fate.
Fellow uiQpneal, this may be a pain
full picture, hut il it not true Who will
deny il 7 Is there no remedy Is there
no lain in Gilead Must labor he for
e, - cha ne4 =. the rock Of PFivation, and,
Ike pIv urheus, have its vitals forever
glAawed ~ the vulture Of greed and avar
ice L M, airs God, in has infinite mercy,
forbid The triumph Of wrong will not
last, cannot last forever. The dawn of
a better, Purer and juster era is already at
hand. 1t is advancing upon us. The air
is pregnant with signs Of its approach.
The surging, swelling waves Of the advanc-
my Intelligence Of the nineteenth CENTURY,
win soon iIlums and brighten the dungeon
in which the mind of labor has been crop
ing So long, and rs soon as the general
II ind IF the industrial world eompTehends
the Just relations existing between labor
aud capital, the wage-toiler will have what
IN Justly due him or he will rend the very
yile Of the social world, and amidst the
falling runs of institutions founded ON
wrong and maintained through cor
ruption and fraud, he will sing
sound the loud timbrel DER miu'ry's dark ga
stern Justice has iriumpcd -LaboriS free"
it is not difficult matter to determine
how wealth and production have been 81
divided, that those whose labor produced
il receive 30 little ~ IL, while those whose
hands are unsoiled BY toll receive the lions
share Of it. The methods and cunning
devices are almost innumerable, but will
touch on but few Of them. Those most
affecting us at the present time should
claim our immediate attention.
The greatest evil, the one most protent-
Gus Of III eIren, that threatens our Perpet-
ual degradation and enslavement, is a cen
tralizing tendency Of capital Bank stock
and railroad and other corporate monOpO-
lies, have become so powerful as to control
all legislation, and direct it with an eye
singly to their own selfish ends The cen
tralization and combination Of capital has
become so alarming as to threaten the per
petuity of our Republican institutions and
the existence Of cur liberties To-day, for
instance, you hear Of the contemplation Of
new railroad which win benefit the pub
lie. tomorrow the State viii charter it,
and the people will be happy, but next
lay old lines will unite and buy up the
newly chartered road, and fares and freights
will be advanced on all roads in the ring.
A few years ago the merchants started a
new express TO compete with old ones and
reduce rates, but the old expresses coop
Grated, bought up the new ones, and now
rates are higher than before. Ire other
day all the pOrk-packers in the country
met at Cincinnati, and 6xed up combina-
ton to suit their business, and next winter
! poor man Who wishes to buy pork, must
pay the price sst BY the ring there Is no