The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1882-05-18

OPPressions Of Univcrsrl CsnsoI-
iAaal0m.
loeorse Alfred Townsend IN The Cincinnati En-
quirer.l
The leading question in the public
mind Is whether our prosperity is TO end
very soon, and if there are any causes
tending toward collapse which might
DO affected by change Of conduct. !
talked to wealthy man who has made
a large fortune since the war in New
York, but who was in the South during
the Confedcracy and has kept a con-
sentative outlook while profiting by the
extraordinary developments and specu-
lations in the country. Being seated
with him at . social board, / led the
conversation mp TO the question, whether
he expected = crash, and, il SO, how
long it would be postponed. After hes
itating moment, he said
You perceive that it would not do
for me to be quoted A. saying anything
about q business reckoning day. On this
condition / will give you some d my
views. think We are liable within four
or five years, unless some craftsmanship
intervenes, Of which now sec but slight
probability, to have series Of troubles
in this country hardly less momentous
than the great rebellion. l look for >
direct outbreak between the laboring
class and the speculative class. There
are only those two classes in America,
strange rs it may appear to you" said
this wealthy man. "There is one class,
and by far the larger and moro powerful.
which has no idea Of epeculations, Of
combinations, OF consultations, and Of
the one hundred and one ways through
which vast amounts Of wealth are being
accumulated in the hands Of . smaller
vet considerable class of men. Theclass
which accumulates that wealth by other
means than labor, whether by patents,
by railroads, by stock gambling, BY
real-estate operations, by lobbying, or
in any way may name, is the specu-
lative element Of the country. 1t has
it's mind fixed only upon one thing, and
can sec nothing else. That object is the
gaining Of wealth rapidly, and there is
no limit to the amount of wealth it de-
sires. Successful in one thing, it un-
dertakes larger thing, and that leads
to another. The daring character Of
the American mind, whenever you
present to it chance to make money,
blinds it to all cautious and incidental
considerations. There is no longer any
confidence between the great laboring
class and the small speculative class.
The majority of our business men have
turned speculators and they do not pay
that same heed to the comfort and pride
of their employees that they did twenty
years ago. Hence the merchant, the
rich man, ID unconscious of the fact that
the man he employs no longer has any
love for him, beholding him with dis
proportional success in life, derived
from the exertions OF labor and with in
creasing indifference to the condition Of
his laborers.'
But do You mean" said 1, "that the
mercantile class is also the speculative
GLASS ?"
"Why, sir, there is hardly business
man in the country who is not leaving
his stool every honr or 80 to go and look
at the telegraph ticker and find how he
can make turn. Almost every hamlet
in the UnitedStates has one or more men
of that speculative disposition. The
support Of such q multitude has in.
creased the facilities for speculation.
Before the war, il man would corner
grain for the purpose Of preventing its
shipment, to work an entire change in
the price Of bread, he would not have
been associated with and might have
been mobbed. Now there is not sin
gle article OF consumption, from bread
to light, from transportation to luxuries,
that Is not subject to being corneredaDd
traded in by great multitude that new.
or expect TO handle the real property.
In all this speculative maneuvering your
laborer has no hand whatever. HI
stands beneath with his implements il
his hand, and observes that he has fewer
rights every year, and less privilege K
change his employer than formerly. HI
sees that the tendency Of this speculat
i've wealth is to make him a mere cipher
in the ideas Of capital and almost t.
limit his freedom"
.Give me an instance of that change
Of feeling among the laborers, said ].
"Well, take up any of the big rail
road consultations. We will take tin
Louisville and Nashville Company, fol
that comes Immediately under my oh
servation, rs / knew the railroads enter
ing into that system when they were
first devised, and from the moment the,
were bailt."
Here the gentleman took out Of hi
pocket On annual pass, and turning I.
the back of it read off the names o
fifteen different railroads. beside severa
branches, which composed the Louis
vile and Nashville.
"Now, sir" said he, "there was
time when an engineer, . conductor,
brakeman or road laborer on each o
these fifteen components Of this grea
consolidation could find work, il he wa
discharged from one Of them, on any Q
the other fourteen. II they cut hi
wages down between Louisville an,
Nashville, he could get work ON whol
" different railroad between Nashvill
and Chattanooga. Now he has bu
single chance, and il he is discharge
by the consolidation he has n
other railroad to turn to over q
area 500 miles in length and breadth
The same is the case with consolidation
all through the Southwest. To be di.
charged in Missouri is to be ont Of On
ployment in Texas. To lose yonr plac
as skilled laborer in California involve
your losing it in Colorado. Do you M
see, with the printing and reading +,
cilities in this country. that there mu,
be growing uneasiness in the minds (
the laboring classes as to what ultimate
II is to be their fate under this emo
NOUS alteration in our system Of societ
effected by speculation"
"Well, does that labor problem affet
the great bulk Of labor, which is ont j
the fields?"
II is liable to affect it just in thi
way: When you discharge your sklle
laborer, as you would have to do
there would be railroad panic or CO
lapse, i would come into competitio
with the unskilled labor of the coul
try, and thereby affect wages in til,
direction. Now / will show you no
there is liable t. be such a reductiC