Weekly Chillicothe crisis. (Chillicothe, Livingston Co., Mo.) 1878-19??, 1880-09-09
THE TOILER'S HERITAGE.
Shall the Power of this Government Be
Welded 10 Cypress Those Who Estab-
lished 1t?

from the TACT that 1t IS Centcred III much
larger masses, it follows that very large
majority Of the people are not in posses
sion of that which they had earned. The
land is filled with want, destitution and
hunger. Men, women and children die
daily of starvation and privation, in this
land of beautiful production and exhaust.
less resources.
There IS a screw loose somewhere.
There is something radically wrong
There Is no lack of resource. The soil,
the forests, the mountains, the rivers and
the lakes, and the atmosphere are burst
ing with the fullness of undeveloped
blessings, for every need and luxury Of
men, while millions Of willing hands,
chained to the rock of enforced idleness,
are begging the privilege to pluck and eat.
There is no other land under heaven
where such unmeasured and immeasur-
able resources and elements of human
comfort and happiness, and so much will
ing and skilled productive force, are de.
barred from cooperation. The laboring
producing element Of this country. like
Iantalus, is starving in sight Of an abund-
ance Of bread, freezing III the midst of
fuel, and naked amid an over.productiCn
Of cloth. Out OF ten million votes, not to
exceed one million are independent OF
want, or some form OF destitutlon, still the
destitute nine tenthS, produce all the
wealth and luxuries enjoyed by the rich,
pay most Of the taxes, and bear the bulk
Of the great public burdens.
OF the nine millions, over half, embrac-
ing the hard working, toiling pack horses
OF society, the bone and sinue of industry,
the chief dependence OF enterprise, and
the off mule with dumb capital in the
team OF production-less fortunate even
than their four.toOted comp 2titors-toil on
through wearisome lives, upsupplied with
the simple needs OF nature. Like the OK
and the machine, they SOW and reap for
the garners Of the master. This is un-
natural. Ia no department of nature is
unrequited toll demanded or enforced.
In the morning of creation God said to
man. I'm the sweat Of thy face thou
shall eat bread" lfhc had designed that
one class should live off another, he would
have created u tenth man and said to him.
'ln the sweat Of thy poor neighbor's face
thou shalt eat drink and be merry" This
condition of society is the result OF class
legislation, and not OF the Divine plan. 1t
is one OF the ulcers of so.called civilization
upon which rests aristocracy and imper-
ial despotism, but rank poison to demo-
cratic and republican institutions. The
two cannot exist together. The social
fabric OF Europe is rotting and dceiying
Under its influence. Victor Hugo's illus
tration is appropriate.
an. Bonaparte has hi; three hundred
costly and useless horses; with the fruits
and vegetables Of the national parks,
castles and gardens, which were royal in
days of yorc, he overllows; he sad the
other day:-'All my carriages as Charles
V. said all my SPANS, and Peter the
Great said all my Russias. The nuptials
of Gamanche are at Elysee. The steaks
turn night and day before the bonires;
they consume there, their bills are pub.
lishel, they are the bulletins OF the new
empire. Six hundred and sixty pounds OF
meat day. A hundred and iOrty.nine
cooks like the Chateau dc Shocnbrun.
They drink, they elt, they laugh, they
banquet. One swlms IN all the abund-
ance, and IN all the drunkenness. But the
man Of the people, the poor day laborer
whose work mas failed; the workman in
rags, with naked feet, TO whom the sum
mer brings IL bread and the winter no
fuel; whose aged mother lies lanquishing
upon foul straw mattress; whose young
daughter prostitutes herself at the corner
Of the streets to live, whose little children
shlver with hunger, fever and cold in the
paltry lodging house in the FauOourg
Saint Marceau, in the garrets OF Rouen,
in the cellars O Lisle, does he think OF
tEeseP What becomes of these poor
wretches? What does he do for themP
Die, dog"
Here is picture for American labor!
There is o yolng Napoleon growing in
Wall street, and the day OF his banquet
ing and coronation is IN the near future.
Wealth is concentrating i'll the hands Of
the few, under the monopoly-sustaining
finance system now established, and
power is eliminating for the grand coup
d'etat. But all is not lost There is hope
yet, and it is well anchored. The toilcrs
have been robbed of their earnings, but
thank God they yet own the government.
The wealth Of the nation belongs to the
one million who toll not; but the machine.
ry, by and through which they have
wrenched it from the producers, belong to
those who have been robbed by ii. Do
the laborhg men, the down-trodden,
starved and impoverished victims OF legal
ized robbery realize that they own the
goose which has been laying golden eggs
for their oppressOrsp
Without the aid OF the government ma
chinery there would be no bondhoders,
bankers, mOnopolies or usurers to oppress
la6orers to-day, but men would be in pos
session OF the full fruits of their own labor.
That machinery has been used to enrich
the few at the expense oil the many and
although the favored few have controlled
and monopolized it for years they do not
own it. 1t belongs 10 the people. Every
citizen, no matter how poor or despised,
is a full shareholder in the government.
The majority of the stock is owned by the
laboring masses. 1t IS within their power
to take possession of it and direct its
forces and influence to their own building
up, instead Of allowing it to be used as
an engine for their destruction. 1t is a
legacy far more valuable than the wealth
of the million rich.
1t is legacy bearing the blood.seal Of
the revolution, which the laboring men of
America TO- day hold in trust for posterity.
1t has passed beyond their present con.
troll, but not beyond their right of posses
sion. They have entrusted it 10 the keep.
ing of politicians and political parties
that have betrayed them and passed it
over to moncyed oligarchy, whose de.
sign and purpose is TO confscate it and
convert it into an engine Of imperial des.
potism.
The laboring masses have one more op.
portunity to wrest it from the usurper's
grasp.
That opportunity will be the contest of
1880. But if political ties and partisan
bondage prove stronger than their patriot
ism, and their regard for home, family
and self interest, it may be the last, and
il the signs Of the times are not deceptive,
it will prove 80.
Upon the results Of that contest may
hang the destiny Of the republic and the
sovereignty of the people.
The antagonisms in society which are
the outgrowth of the financial and social
policies of both the old political parties,
cannot long exist without a decisive strug-
gle for mastery.
Either the money power must be crush
ed to powder, or it will crush the people.
1t must be wholly deprived Of govern
ment support, or, in self defense, it will
seize absolute sovereignty and subdue
all opposition by the right of might.
Now Is the time to act.
Every laboring man, every man who