The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1877-05-05
THE EUROPEAN SITUATION.

Unless appearances are utterly deceptive
unless diplomacy has some other signiti-
canoe and virtue than what II possessed IN
the days Of Tallyrand Europe is on the
its proportions, more far-reaching in its
consequences than any which the civilized
world has heretofore witnessed. Although
Russ a and Turkey are the chief factors on
the chess board, there is little doubt, no
matter how sincere or studied the desire
to avoid ii, that nearly every European
notisn vii ere long become involved in
the contest.
Bat We do not intend, in this article at
least tn express a sympathy Or prediction.
We propose to refer to the eroveling, dis
gushing hue and cry raised by large Por-
ton W the American press that war i'll
Turkey will benefit American commerce
aud manufactures and should therefore
be hailed with delight. Benefit American
commerce and manufactures, forsooth
Has II come to the pass that American or
any other manufactures can le benefited
hy the slaughter # hundreds Of thousands
II human beings What must be the
moral turpitude of any nation which clan
that It's recuperatIye energies can only be
aroused, aud the wheels of whose indus
tries can only be set in motion by a
reign If hell on earth. We find an increase
uf ten cents bushel IN wheat, or one or
tWo dollars per barrel in -four or pork
transforms cur o-called boards Of trade,
stock Jobber4 and gamblers. a mammon-
worshlpIng, labor robbing, Goddess crew,
INTO gang If providence INVOKING, heaven
duplicating sycophants, because a general
throat cutting will enable them to ply their
vacations with less risk and more profit
Aud yet these men have the shameless
etfruntery to claim that they lead the van
guard IN the worlds army Of progress.
Why the most brutal type Of the western
savage, whose barbarities they affect to
despise, who make night hideous with
their orgies because they have captured
an emigrant tram, and thereby added to
their stock Of, plunder, are comparative
christians IN comparison with these hbels
on humanity. They will talk by the hour
with parrot-ike naivete about the horrors
II the Bulgarian massacrcs, and head sub
lats IA. al h.. .TT ii
barLarIties, yet they will rub their hands
in glee, and shout themselves hoarse over
the prospect Of a war which threatens to
involve Europe ~ a general conhagration,
desolate thousands Of happy homes, and
bring into play all the dIaboiical energies
and enginery which hel-born, life-de-
stroying genius can invoke, simply because
such state Of affairs will assist them to
meet the requirements Of speculative
enterprise, enable some patent fraud to
furnish them with "coat of arms" re-
decorate carriage, or permit then addle-
Drained wives to purchase some gew CAV
which they can neither wear nor inteEl-
gently appreciate. And this is the acme
the fruits of a superior civilization
But even from this selfish standpoint
will the working classes in either the old
or new worlds eventually share these BEN
ehts BY no means. The mudsills Of
society will bear the brunt Of the contest,
and the mudsils of society will occupy
the same position when the bloody drama
has ended as they do at the present time.
Then blood will saturate and their bones
bleachen the soil; their wives and children
will be left defenceltss and alone and
their children and their childrens children
will help repay the debt, the national
blessing, which tie destruction of life
and property, the inevitable legacy of war,
has entailed. No matter whether the
Dardanelles remain lin the possession of
the Moslem or the Rus; whether the
cross or the crescent floats over the nina