The anti-monopolist. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1874-1878, 1877-11-22

men growing prematurely old? What
is the cause of this fearful epidemic of
tiduciary faithlessness, of reckless
crime, of suicide, and of madness?
The resources of the country are
illimitable, and want-pinched millions
are struggling for an opportunity to
convert those resources into wealth.
Where lies the hindrance?
This is the living question Of the
hour. It is question that will not
down at the bidding of syndicates, or
Of senates, or of standing armies. It
must be met! Facts are proverbially
stubborn things, and two millions of
the most terrible facts that any ma
ton has ever had to deal with, are now
glooming in the garrets or wandering
at the rOad-sides of America. The
number is being constantly augment
ed, and under existing conditions it
will continue to do so until it shall
embrace almost the middle class of
the country.
All the burdens of the debt, and all
the burdens of government, rest on
industry. There is 10 other source of
wealth. nn
He who imagines that the present
stagnation had it's origin in mere
panic, and that its natual remedy will
therefore come with a restored conf
dence, altogether mistakes the real
nature of this crisis. Panic is a blast
that strikes commerce when every
sail is spread, and it's work ends with
the wreck of the bold and the reef of
the timid. The commander perishes,
but crew and cargo are saved, and the
community's chief loss results from
the enforced idleness which marks
the interim between the old venture
and the new career. This is no such
case. It is not the attrition Of storm
and tempest that cOnfronts us, but
the insiduous dry-rot of utter stagna-
ton. This stagnatiOn will be perm
nent, because it's causes are so. The
aggregate profits Of production are
less than sthe aggregate public bur-
dens, and with a constant diminutiOn
in the creative power, the load that
rests upon it must inevitably increase.
The compelling force of bonded debt
cannot be eluded. It is woven into
the very fabric Of our Industrial and
commercial policy. If the rewards Of
labor flowed directly from effort, and
if men could make a direct exchange
of their products, simple Industry
would at once force an outlet and lift
the pressure. BUTT is not so. Time
is factor in every department of
production, and the enormous econo-
my resulting from a division of labor
compels the employment of existing
methods. A mutual dependence
binds together every element Of the
industrial system, and that system
now lies writhing in the dust, with a
slip of parchment around it's throat
slip of parchment which nothing
but the simple faith of the suffering
victim transmutes into links of triple
steel
But will not economy afford relief!
Alas, no! OF all the panaceas that
imperialism has devised or ignorance
clutched at, that is the most illusory.
1t can only. aggravate the distress that
it seeks to asSuage. To diminish con-
sumption is to check production.
Trace the principle along it's inevita-
BILE course, and follow it to the bitter
end. First the elegances of life
would be given up, next the Injuries,
then the cooveniences, and finally
what we call the necessities. The
manufacturing arts would not merely
langnish, but thew Ewould absolutely
cease to exist. The schools. the
churches, all institutions of charity,
would pass away. Art, literature,
science, the amenities of social life.
everv triumph and every memorial of
civilization, would utterly perish.
Press the principle of economy to it's
frugal thrift, but naked savagery!
| Is there then no aid, no help, no
hopes Yes! There is a remedy that
will come at it's own appointed time
wild, .aimless, illogical-yet swift and
terrible as the winged lightning! But
we turn from that in horror. It's
lightest whisper would quell the
stouteSt heart and make the sternest
brow grow pale.
| The storm has not yet burst. and
the uncertain interim is ours. If the
oppressors of industry knew their per
il, they would throw off the brakes
with more alacrity than lone travellers
ever flung spoil to pursuing wolves.
But it seems fated that the abuse OF
| power should work it's own retribu.
ton. We recall no instance in which
a class has ever voluntarily yielded
one iota of its privileges at the behest
of public good. The holder of inert
wealth will smile at this thought. and
remind us that political economy does
not recognize the sentimental princi
pie of abstract justice-that it deals
only with tangible forces. We reply
that all property rests on q basi:
which is purely conventional, bu,
| that capital is vital power which car
vindicate its claims by its own inner.
ent strength. while bonded debt is q
mere fgment, existing only by the
peoples sufferance. On this. or or
any other paint. we will cheerfully
meet the economists, and freely yield
them space, in the columns of this pa
per. to give or take lesson in their
own science. The sole purposebf this
journal is a search for truth.
But we are requested to indicate a
remedy for the dead Jock that Daraly.