St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1878-05-18

| to pay more than suits MIN. ihls ques-
ton should, like everything else, be de-
cided by the law of supply and demand.
Those who will not serve for the price
offered, should find other occupation
| but it is wrong for them to organize,
take possession Of property that does
not belong to them, and bull-dose those
who are willing to work for the wages
offered. The very fact that sufficient
number can be employed to do the work
at reduced wages, if not deferred by
fear of death from their dissatisfied
companions, shows that the supply of
this class of laborers is greatly in ex-
cess of the demand, and that some of
them should seek other fields. In a
country like this where there is so much
unoccupied land, there is no necessity
for any branch of industry being over
crowded-there is always room in others.
There has been considerable talk late
" in the papers of the strikers" COM
munists, socialists, or whatever they
are, drilling in military organization, up
North. This can mean but one thing,
that their demands are to be enforced
by military power. Of course it is the
duty of the government to crush any
such movement. Communistic princi
pies, or any other kind, in the abstract,
amount to- nothing-anybody is at lib
ertv to entertain them; but the crime
consists in the forcible attempt to make
others practice or submit to them.
In conclusion we would observe that
the complaints Of many against the
rich giant corporations and companies
of the country, and rich men, is saw
ored with great deal Of injustice. 1t
may be a misfortune to the laboring
classes that they are the bone and sinew
of the country, and that the rich are the
flesh and fat that grow on the same;
but so it is, and these conditions can not
be changed. If the bones and sinews
are taken away the flesh will rot, and
what are they worth without the flesh
Nearly every millionaire of the land
begun life with nothing;i if they have
builded more wisely than those who
built not at all, who is to blameP Whose
wealth supplies the nation with the
"sinews of war;" when it's existence de-
pends on the same9 That of the rich of
course. Who build the ships, steam
boats, railroads, canals, that give en-
ployment to thousands Of people, and
beneftus all ? The rich of course. And
in times of great calamity, like the
Chicago fire, and the Shreveport cpl
demic, who furnish the means to relieve
the sufferers, but the rich? In the
Shreveport case the rich city of Boston
did the most. Look at what many rich
men have done in the way of great char
tiles, as Peabody, Girard, Vanderbilt,
and legion of others. All men are
not capable of acquiring wealth, nor of
using it properly after being acquired.
It is of course often abused and misused.
But this is no argument against its pos
session, but is one in favor Of men gen.
orally remaining as they are, whether
rich or poor, subject to the common
vicissitudes of life. We all find our
level, in this matter, as in everything
else and we generally acquire what we
are justly entitled to. The civilized world
is far better off and happier for the
wealth that it has, for the charities of
the rich far exceed the few evils of its
possession and change or increase Of
the number of stewards, to satisfy an
agrarian spirit, would only increase
these evils from few to many.