The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1877-05-19
ny SYDNEY MYERS.

tha mast. and think about lne luluIe'
tbat NJ NAV make the best OF our
circumstances, and guide our steps III
our daily walk.
Ne must know and use what comes
10 ms from the past, and know and
avoid the mistakes Of those who nave
lived and I: bored before US.
The period between the sixth and SIX
.e.nth ceutur, between ancient home
INA tb. time III the Reformation, Is
called the Dark Ages, yet as Emerson
saws: These dark ages have gwen
Is tie feet on which we walk, the
eve. with which We see, the mari
ners compass and the tense, for our
microscope and telescope. 10 tins
period We are also indebted for printing,
glass. paper. and many other things
now deemed indispensable. From the
dark es We received the magma
charta, an the principles OF winch
are by no means practically applied;
Friar Roger Bacon, who was feared
and hated by the populace as one
leagued with Internal associates pro
duced from lis laboratory gunpoWder'
which enabled the ThraA to cope with
theiron-clad Knight, and finally gun
owpder abolished the feudal system.
SIN HUNDRED YEARS AGO
Friar Bacon. penetrating the future
even I'd Liverpool. New York, and Chl-
caco. predicted that the time would
come when ships would be propelled by
machinery faster than by many roWers,
needing ONLY a pilot 70 steer and that
carrie ras would also lie driven upon the
land hy the power of machinery faster
than any animal could run. He thus
recognized the possibilities of the
steamship and the railway. lie was
not a popular man in his day; he was
feared and hated AS a magician, and
one leagued with Satan by the lgno-
rant masses. ana was imprisoned and
prosecuted a. subverslonlst, and
4 dangerous character by his superl-
ors IN Otnce.
We are proud Of the nineteenth cen
turv. Of its achievements, Its progress.
1t is true, that We have
REALIZED BACoN's PREDICTION
in the steamship and the railroad.
", have improved the printing
press W that II can print and per
feet newspapers at the rate Of four
teen miles Of papers III an hour. we
have tl. electric telegraph, the sewing
machine, ana improved farming i'm
rIem hts. we no longer thresh out
wheat By beating it with two sticks
tied together with thong. We have
the s. am engine as our slave to do
cur painful labUr-Our toll.
We have machinery which, if placed
under society, would raise it to as high
grade : i've thousand jackscrews
placed under y great hotel in Chicago,
raised it w higher grade without pro
duciug any shock or disturbance OF
it, guests, or Interrupting its bust
nes. Much has been done IN the
nineteenth century; but for these
mechanical inventions which are most
conspicuous, and regarding which We
feel the most pride, we are indebted
to tie poor and obscure Hand
Workers
Great progress has been made in
the invention Of appliances for chang
ing tile raw material which nature
has supplied ~ with in inexhaustible
abundance, into things useful to man
into food, shelter, clothing, furniture,
aud means of instruction, and in the
means for transporting these pro-
ducts through space but correspond
ing progress has not been made in
improving the means of interchange
and proprietary distribution.
WE HAVE MADE LITTLE PROGRESS
in the improvement of civil govern
ment, either as to efficiency or economy.
We have vet to realize government
"of the people, for the people,
and by the people We now have
a government of the people by a |
class and for class. We do not all
realize that We are governed by an
oligarchy composed of professional
ottlce-holders and office seekers, that |
our elections are usually merely con
tests between two sections of this class, |
and the result merely a decision as to |
which section Of the ohgarchy shall |
govern, and enjoy the emoluments
arising from the control of govern |
ment.
Neither do We sufficiently realize
that government Of the people by the |
real representatives of all classes is
practicable, and that it, has been proved
to be practicable by many years expert
ence in another country.
PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION
by the preferential vote IS a system
under which the majority rules, but
under which the various interests,
opinions, and desires of all are
proportionately represented; a system
under which law-making bodies be-
come society in miniature, and laws
the accurate and orderly expression of
public opinion.
addressed the Illinois Farmers
Association one year ago on the sub
iect Of government and the possibilities
OF its Improvement. | shall not, there
fore. dwell upon that subject at this
time, further than IS necessary to illus
trate, the importance, in that connec
ton, of improving the physical, intel
lectual, and moral condition of the
units which compose the State, In or
der to improve the State.
LORD MACAUALEY,
in a letter to a gentleman who
was writing the life of Thomas JEFF
ferson, declared that he had no
sympathy for Mr.. Jetferson's views.
and had never expressed any, even
on the hastings; on the contrary,
he declared that he believed a govern