St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1878-05-18
OPELOUsAS, SATURDAY, MAY 1s, 1878.
Comm unHSEEl.

1nucu more oAIcHSlFO olSHiuStSoiOh ChA1
the latter. Agrarianism means simpl.
q division of the public domain among
the poor. Several agrarian laws wer
enacted during the days Of ancien
Rome, but we are told that, !" not one o
all the Roman agrarian laws was eve
executed, and not one of them had tina
confscatory or leveling character, s.
frequently attributed to them. Not on
of these laws aimed at the equal divis
ion of landed property owned by indi
viduals in their own absolute right, O
intended any limitation upon such own
ership. Later times have, however
given this meaning to the name o
agrarian laws, and made them scare
crow for the rich"
Modern al-communism means al
and great deal more than aneien
agrarianism. It means banding to
gether, and military organization, o.
what are called the laboring classes, o1
the large cities, to regulate, by force il
necessary, the politics and business
.atfairs of the country, so as to conform
them to their own ideas of propriety.
The terrible history of French COM
munism is well known. The commu.
nistic spirit has been gradually increas.
ing in our large cities of the North, and
at an early day may give great trouble
to the country. The labor "strikes,'
the greatest of which was made by rail
road employees last year, are probably
the forerunners Of a greater and more
general movement of the dissatisfied
elements of society.
Poverty and wealth are the extremes
of mans material condition, that pre-
vail in all civilized or partly civilized
countries. 1t is only in the purely sav-
age state that we find equality in this
respect, were savage man and wild beast
have common inheritance which is not
changed through life. Poverty in civil
lied communities is the natural result of
the defects, vices, shortcomings, idle
ness, mistakes, misfortunes, extrava-
gance, bad management and want OF
capacity on the part of many of the hu-
man family; while wealth is generally
the result of their contraries. We mean
of course wealth that has been acquired
legitimately. The erroneous opinion OF
some is, that because the wealth of a
nation is confined to a comparatively
few, they have what belongs or should
belong to the many. IF wealth was a
natural production or natural element,
like air, fire, and water, to be partaken
of freely and enjoyed by all, without
price, this opinion would be correct
Then the few should not be allowed to
~monopolize the natural elements, that
exist without mans exertions for the
benefit of all, to the detriment of the
many. But when we pass mans savage
state, wealth is the production of in
dividuals and corporations, and they
should hold and be secured in their
productions.
Owing to the imperfections Of human
nature many will always be "hewers of
wood and drawers Of water" for the
few. To divide the wealth Of the few
among them, would simply be furnish
ing them with the means of riotous
living for q season, when they would
be reduced to their former condition.
A few such divisions would soon dissi-
pate the accumulated wealth of the
eldest and richest nation, and deprive
these who acquired it Of any disposi-
tion to acquire more. And thus we
would have return to the savage state
the natural result Of the enforcement
of the extreme principles of agrarian
communism.
We have not and probably viii not
come, in our day, to this extreme in
this country. But recent events and
the signs Of the times forecast trouble
at an early date between capital and
labor in our Northern cities. The la
bor strikes" are the n-guard of the
commune army. The communistic
spirit is caused to great extent by the
envious feeling engendered when Power
ty looks at Wealth. How often have
ldlers who wear away the seats Of their
hreeches at the street corners, waiting
for an invitation to drink, been heard
TO envy and even curse passers by
whose material condition was better
than their owns better because they
had lived differently. had managed
well. and been industrious and econoni-
cal. Such as these are good subjects
for the communistic political dema-
gogue.
The rail road strikesn that occurred
North last year benefited no one, but
they destroyed vast amounto of property
and many precious lives, besides the
insecurity caused which naturally
checks prosperity and makes hard times
still harder. These strikes' were TO |
prevent reduction of wages. we be-
lieye. As, owing to the hard times.
there had been general reduction in
prices of all kinds, throughout the
country. the railroads reduced the
wages OF their employees; the latter
and the strike and its at
tendant evils followed. The military
had to be called out to suppress ii.
can not be forced TO serve
for q price that does not suit them; and
the employer should not be compelled