Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1878-07-10
PROBLEM IN PoxaTECAL ECON

Mr.. Thurlow Weed, in n conversation
with . Ttibsse reporter, hits the nail
upon the head in regard to the statesman
ship demanded by the times in this way;
The world cannot go backward. 1t must
move Forward, and society must adjust it
srlf tnrthc new order Of things. Something
must he discovered by political economists
~ Cosernment that will provide employ
ment for these unemployed multitudes.
These questions have not had the attention
81 statesmen or economists to q sufficient
extent. Men are still busy extending and
developing mechanical means and labor
saving expedients.
That is Just the point. Machinery has,
- Mr.. Weed says, been a great blessing in
nan ways, but it has been a curse in
many Others. We have put our Franken-
stein 1t work, and he is able to do SO much
work that millions Of men have become
.tramps,n and GUNNER and paupers.
The problem Of the hour is how to employ
the unemployed masses. Because one man
With { machine can make shoes or hats
enough y supply 400 mons wants, is no
reason why $50 persons should go hatless
and shoeless, and 100 persons remain idle
~three-quarters Of their time. Because i'm
provements in agricultural implements
mako it possible for five men to do the
work Of 100 in raising wheat and other
products, is no reason why a score Of men
should be permitted to starve, and the rest
be out II employment half their time.
supply and demand" will not solve this
problem. There is no hope from political
or the political economists. The
world has obtained from them all they
have to give.
We have now been threc-quarters Of a
century developing our resources, and as
No have gone on in the development Of
wealth, the condition Of the mass Of man
kind. instead Of improving, has gone on
raEroGrading. The time has come when,
Of looking for further develop
ment in the immediate future, our
Governors must endeavor to SO regulate
our wealth, to SO use our u of all
kinds, that the mass Of mankind may be
hcnetitted instead Of being cursed. We
will make q great mistake il we imagine
that the present popular discomfort is
causeless-that the labor agitation in Cali
fornia and in Pennsylvania is the outbreak
OF lawless passion and nothing more. 1t
is much more than this, though lawless-
ness has doubtless some part in the mat
ter. The fact is; as any n can see by
around him, the great increase of
wealth which this era Of invention has
brought to us has been of very Nttle benefit
to the working classes.s Many Of them are
almost unclothed in the midst of the appli-
ancc necessary to clothe three-quarters Of
the human race, and many are hungry in
the presence Of a harvest to feed and to
spare : population four times as numerous
IS our own. Soothing words about "its
'hsiag Al right in the future. are wasted
on hungry men. The ball is to-day. The
question sfrthe hour is how to regulate
the distribution Of our wealth that our
very richness shall not be . curse to the
great ma:scs d the people who will always
BE- compelled to support themselves and
their families by manual labor. How to
provide tho laborer with steady employ
ment is . problem to task u statesman
ship TO The utmost, and it is a problem
whose solution must be attempted in thu