The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1876-08-26
FROM ILLINOIS.
COLCHESTER. ILLS. Aug. l6. Is

Sttbl our fNcpuOllC. dTlOuS are Tile
names given to this power some call il
corruption" others ''extravagance, tut
all men who have given the subject even q
cursory examination, know it il not these.
1t is the accumulation Of the wealth Of the
country into the hands of the few, and the
effects that invariably follow such an
event
Viewed from an industrial, moral and
social tandpoint, our nation is in most
deplorable condition.
Everywhere over our broad and beauti-
full country comes the terrible wall of pow
erty and idleness
Yes, grim want is staring thousands of
honest men in the face, in this natures s.
gifted land, to-day. Crime is on the in
crease i'll fearful degree, and it seems as
If society was about to resolve into its ele-
ments.
But all men do not think we are in dan
ger. Oh, no Fogyism abounds in
America at the present time. This class
Of men called fogies are a very peculiar
class of persons indeed their minds con
tain no broad, cosmopolitan views Of life,
by no means their minds are dwarfed
they have everything resolved into CEN
tralized and localized ideas, corresponding
20 the small capacity of their meagre in
tellects. This class Of people don't have
much confidence, SO they tell us, in the
Labor Reform movement they call it by
such fancy names as "new-fangled ideas,
Communicate schemes, etc Inquire Of
them if they know the nature of the re-
suits desired to be accomplished by the
movement, and they will frankly admit
they do not and if they say they do, you
Will not have much difficulty in discover
ing they do not. But 1t q as always been
50 IN all ages and with all nds of reform
movements. There always was a large
number of the people who lived and died
in the embraces Of inherited ideas They
we're taught to believe that the standard
IT their fathers and mothers was perfect,
and hence must Ue the standard Of all fu-
ture generations, and they, never ques-
tioning the wisdom of their parents, but
taking it for granted it was true, thought
accordingly hence the evil. These kind
Of persons always think dead mems ideas
great deal better, upon any subject, than
live ones, and the longer a man has been
dead the better, according 10 their ideas,
his opinion is the more weight it should
have with the present generation. They
are always found sitting upon the dead
limbs Of the tree of knowledge, owl-hke,
hooting at the efforts Of the friends Of hui
man progress. We may, to borrow an ex-
preston, call it the ignorant past bullying
the enlightened present, and on this very
principle hangs all the evils which curse
our earth that is, in mems willingness to
put their trust in anything before they
have found it supported by a good, solid
foundation. All truths" observes
writer, may be classed under the heads :
|. Physical truth. 2. Moral truth. 3.
Intellectual truth. The first consists Of
facts as they exist in nature, and must be
verified by the testimony of the senses.
The second consists of our opinions with
regard to our moral obligations towards
our fellow-men, and must be tested by
our sense Of right and justice, and by their
practical utility in the world. The third
consists Of opinions which must be sane
ton by sound, logical reasoning" All
Of these truths might, with much force,
be applied to prove that labor must be
freed from the CALLING bondage it is suffer
ing IN now through the money power but
we will only use for a short time the
truths classified under the last two heads,
that is, intellectual and moral truths.
Now let us reason from analogy moment.
Did kiEgcraft ever step down off the throne
and prove to its subjects, by sound, logi-
cal reasoning, that any one had the right
to inherit the power OF controlling a ma
tionl No They always convinced them
by making an appeal to their inherited
ideas to their ignorance, and If that
failed they kept them subdued BY the
force Of arms, through fear Now, let us
turn our attention TO the great question
OF labor and capital now being agitated
throughout the length and breadth Of our
land, and see If they do not use about the
same kind of ''logic." Does the money
power or the money bought press try, by
sound logical reasoning, to convince us
that the system now in vogue Of giving to
spectators, gamblers, ct al, the greater
portion OF the products of labor, is rtqht
Never Do they try to prove that that
relic OF barbarian, gold, should still be
used al a medium of exchange, as money,
by the aforesaid means Not they. In
fact, they use anything and everything
but sound logical reasoning. They never
use even common sense ridicule and
abuse have been the principal weapons
used. Therefore we might say that as
neither of these can be admitted as an ar
gument (many learned (D men to the con-
trary Notwithstanding, we might safely
clam that so far as reason and logic are
concerned, the demands Of the industrial
masses are good and valid ones. With re-
gard to the moral truth of our position,
feel confident there is an abundance of
proof of that. According to our sense Of
justice and night, We believe that poverty,
more than any one thing, has tendency
to injure our fellow-men that it is the
leading cause Of intemperance, suicide,
and, in fact, almost all kind Of evils. We
need only glance at the annals Of crime
and see the increase Of all kinds Of crimes
since the depression of business, and the
consequential discharge of large number
Of employees, to see the truth of this !;
that is, that poverty produces more crime,
directly or indirectly, than any other one
cause. Well, when this question of in
dustrial emancipation and industrial serf-
dom is finally decided land it must be ul-
timately be decided on the side of labor,