New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1873-11-30

would not have been in Jail and the othe
hung before this9 Then, there is tn
Freedmen's Bureau, with defalcatiOn o
5O,OO0, which can not be traced; nobody
disgorges, and no one is punished. There
too, is the Vienna Exposition scandal bev
erages get the first places in our national
exhibition. until one might think we were
chiefly famous for our gin cocktails. brandy
sings and mint juleps.
| One OF our greatest perils is the consOll
dation of enormous wealth into gigantic
companies. Our railroads have been
| granted by the government hundreds O.
millions of dollars and millions Of acres O.
land, covering third of our domain, and
all the railroads in our land are owned OF
under the controlling influence of eight OF
| ten gigantic companies. We should moi
forget the great debt OF gratitude we owe
| our railroads, nor the great good they have
done us; but the railroads as a pslitica
| power are another thing.
| Ihey are more powerful than the slave
ollgarchy, which, for SO many years, ruled
our councils. We can understand what it
| means, when, IN Iowa or Kansas, they con
| tribute thousands of dollars to the election
expenses of United States Senator. When
corporations make Senators they own them.
| If our public morals are low, dear people
it is because you have allowed it. We are
properly represented, for private morals
are tainted, and you, pure minded, who
stay away from elections, must blame your
serves that you are not represented. Thieves
are now called detaulters and embezzlers.
and financial irregularities" are regretted.
We shall soon be obliged to expurgate
from our dictionaries the stern words our
fathers put in them. 1t was not just the
not steal;' "Thou shalt not commit adul-
terry He should have said, Thou shalt
not be financially irregular, nor commit a
social indiscretlon." When we misuse Ian
guage, our ideas are tangled; we need TO go
back and call things strongly and by their
right names. Our. dangerous classes are
not the ignorant. soul-trOdden emigrant,
nor the petty thieves and burglars of our
cities-no; but they who sit behind enor-
nous capital, in defiance of humanity and
its calls
OF these, chief is the liquor interest, and
those who, menacing law, control our Legis-
latures-laying their hands on the United
States Senate and Disappointing commerce
and business. Wealth is not dangerous.
but power is always. and must be carefully
watched and jealonsly restrained. Wealth
is Indispensable, and we must not drop
back into the poverty of the past Rich as
the world Is, 1t suffers more from its power
ty than from its wealth. We have barely
touched the resources of our great country,
and can scarcely imagine what we may do,
since science is now the handmade of in
dustry. We need not fear wealth. but only
its power by consolidation.
Thus far have spoken of those who have
scaled the heights of fortune; but ninety
three OF every hundred die poor, and only
seven leave property to be administered.
This is largely due to liquor, but many are
badly born-sent into this world poorly
made up. In Massachusetts has been es-
tabllshed, for four years, the bureau of
labor statistics. and their report shows that
the average yearly earnings of the laborer,
skilled and unskilled, in that Stare. is
SOIL 33. This is to buy all he or his family
needs. The love of drink, perhaps, induces
this in a measure, but we must recollect
that great poverty is a great provocative to
drunkenness. Think of the artisans COM
fortress home in our cities, with no stiInu-
lus, mental or moral; his overworked.
spiritless wife; his Sunday, when his poor
clothes, in these days OF dress and
pew rent, almost debar him from the
churches of God, and do not wonder
at his indulging in artificial stimulus.
Then, too, we must dread our illiteracy.
Why, IN my own State, Massachusetts,
~ AZ, over ten per cent our our population
over ten years of age, can neither read nor
write, while in the great United States more
the little kingdom Of Wurtemburg not a
soul above six years is there but can do
both. The Germans are far ahead of us in
this. A republic must have an educated
constituency. and we must fear this igno- |
rance. alas. Is on the increase. We find our |
aborlng men organizing, which is well, and |
though the jargons and misstatements of |
their societies are often weak and absurd. |
they are feeling their way up slowly. And |
m 1,xrn
Try, as their grievance, the extortions of |
he railroads; bat other causes are at work.
lt Is well that they are organizing. and |
hus tar they have cOunseled wisely and |
Urged slowly. Capitalists are beginning to
zee that the laborers are fighting battle
II life. In Europe it is smouldering fire.
eady to burst forth in fury at any moment;
tut here. where all have the vent of the bal
OF, nothing is to be feared save unwise
political action, which will remedy itself
And now of our women. We hear men
peak of being glad that they can support
heir wives; but we find they furnish them
imply with board and clothing in return +
or services as scamstress, nurse, laundry
laid, and cook, which they will admit are
valuable. All the wifes surplus earnings
o INTO the husbands pockets, where she is
lad to have them go. But she has a right
. complain of this word support Gail
|
1t is every woman's chief business to be
s useless as possible:" but she meant that
men Will make us seem useless let us
nley the pleasures, as well as the blame of
eng so. Women are not taught ANYTHING
money-making, and thousands are mar
ed to men for whom they don't care a
upper that they may get home
Among the White Mountains last sum !
Ter, L found as mattresses at the hotels
pI1rcr 1a1 Of ~. |
veraged from IS to SO per month: yonng
zen received from $50 to S25 per month for
DING the same and less work. The 10000
male teachers receive wages far below
lie males. In Washington the female 10Y
clerks receive 5000 for the same
rvices for which men receive $1,000, SIiO0
Id $500. it was thought Congress would
medy this evil, but they refused. and ;
Used their own salaries from $4,000 TO
900. Secretary Richardson has insulted =,
omen by saying they could not earn $500
sr annum: 7 have given you sombre
cture, and did SO intentionally.
Last summer, as l saw in the Western ;;
ountains the great stone face cut far I'D !
e cliffs by the finger of God, with its =,
eird aspect of painful longings, thought !
st SO has the great heart of humanity :
oked over the future when we shall be .
Others Amidst all this corruption and 9
mmotion l hear sweet voices of prophecy. :
1ese cries are mere incidentals. We NAV
'pe we are drifting to bright realization
. the cherished dreams Of philosophers
d poets in all time.
To day we need an infusion of manhood 7
nlch can not be bought of womanhood, +
a chance, which dare rebuke h
shonesty, and will not sell itself even foy 2
home. y
Ia 1876. in Phllad~lphia, Though we may a
a lower status than our Sa.hers dreamed 81
should, yet We may have nope S.es us a
We personal holiness and we will have a
tional holiness. Help, good people, and d
of good cheer, nor let our mothers and =
lighters falter.-Phitodeipj.i Ptsss q
celebrated observation-disclosures al,ao.. 81