, 1877-07-29

THE DANGEROUS GLASSES.
1t is time that we fully realized the fac
that We have in this country those who ma:
properly be called by this name. Too lon.
have we applied it only TO certain part 0
tile population of Great Britain and of th
countries of Europe. We have thought O
| the crowded inhabitants Of those lands, O.
t their ignorant peasanty, Of their densely
| populated cities, of their revolutionary pro
| pensities and Communistic doctrines, aud o1
| the grinding poverty which was at one enc
! of society, while tempting wealth and luxury
| were ut the other, aud wo have said that in
Europe they had cause to fear the dangerous
classes. But Of our own land we have said
Here is freedom; here isintelligence here
is abundant land for cultivation an owner
ship; here is sparse population; here
food is cheap, and wages are good ;
here self-support is easy, aud there are no
permanent paupers. We have no dangerous
classes in America. With rare exceptions,
we have only the law-abiding citizen, thu
honest farmer, the industrious mechanic
This is pleasing theory, fond conception );
and once it was fact, though it is such no
longer.
Circumstances have materially altered, and
the character of a portion Of our people has
largely changed. We have become a great
nation Of over forty millions, and although
our territory is immense, yet the fertile por-
tions are principally occupied, and the States
east of the Mississippi are even coming to
have, in many cases, dense population.
Not few number a million, while others
run up to two, three, and four millions,
For cheap land one must 70 west
of the first tier of States beyond the
Mississippi. Our large cities now approach
in size those of Europe. New York, Phila-
dc1phia, Boston, Chicago, Baltimore, Gin
cinnati, and St. Louis may fairly ba enumer
ated with London, Paris. Vienna, Berlin.
Hamburg, Liverpool, and Glasgow. We, too,
have our crowded tenement houses, and our
entire streets aud neigLborhoods occupiedby
paupers aud thieves. Immigration has
brought to our shores crowds of the worst AS
well as Of the better classes of foreigners, with
their Ignorance, their prejudices, their hatred |
Of the rich, and heirrevolutionary doctrines.
We now have the Communists on our own
soil, and can listen to their revilings of capi |
al and their exhortations to violence in |
saloons, on the street corners, nnd at occa-
'ional meetings on the public squares and in
hnGy halls. The War also bequeathed to us
multitude of rough characters, who became
OF violence, Injured to bloody
scenes, and fond of rowing, adventurous life.
The hard times have deprived many of recu-
ar employmt Mt, and made them despondent,
gloomy, and desperate. The city and the coun-
r. abound in tramps who have become &C.
'ustomed to an idle life of beggary, and
Who, after year or two of such experience,
low actually prefer it to steady and remu-
leratlve industry. They are ever on hand, |
eady for theft, or rape, or incendiarism, and
ometlmes for murder. In the city they
well the mobs, and in the country they
aake the fields and woods, aud even the
Dads, unsafe for females, whom they often
tack also in the farnl-houses when the men
re- absent Then, too, We have rough,
rutal class Of laborers, colliers, miners, and
abroad strikers, who organize as Molly
1aguiresr' and il various Il leagues" and
unions, to intimidate capital, aud to COM
81 employers to submit to the terms die
tied by their employees. AND, finally. the
rtremes OF wealth and poverty are now
be seen here as abroad; the rich growing ,
cher and the poor poorer,-a fact to teupt |
[sorder.
All these may be termed with propriety {
le dangerous classes. They are governed s
+ their passions; they are coarse in tastes '
I'd vicious in habits; they are ignorant and t
vengeful; they are readily influenced by c
10 worst class Of demagogues and rayolu. t
'nists, and are easily maddened by liquor.
aElng nothing to lose themselves, they ara i.
st the material for mobs, and are ready to c
in. in any outbreak which gives them a n
nse Of power over the decent part Of the u
and an opportunity to pillape ii
d destroy. The whole country has had D
ch an experience during the last week as u
show that common danger turks in all Sc
rts- Wherever the railroad men made A .,
tr1ke," whether on the Atlantic or Pacific tr
board, or in the interior, they were at di
g joined by thousands Of loafers, pau es
$, tramps, and roughs, ready for the is,
st desperate measures, These turned til
as if BY magic. They swarmed on
+ from the ground. They poured forth an
4 cellar and garnet, from field and lane. in
numbers, and omnipresence, and loath- Br
|eness they were like the frogs aud lice of tn.
Va