Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1882-11-02
LABOR pIs1UKBANcEs IN FRANCE.

France is troubled once more by outbreaks
of the socialists These misguided people
adopt the methods of the communists Of
Paris and the nihilists of Russis. They do
not GEEK TO CONVINCE men, but TO DIVE them.
Their intention is by destroying property,
obstructing commerce, and taking life, to
intimidate the communicate alarm it to
| such a degree that it shall adopt aBd carry
out their plans foI the reconstruction Of the
principles upon which the social If Of civil
lizatiop is based. At the back of all lies the
wsges question. Men are laboring for the
bare subsistence their animal nature re-
guires, laboPing twelve hours a day, as
rule; sickness or accident bring them, their
wives and their little ores to the verge
OF starvation. Hopeless of improving their
condition, their lives are passed in mo-
notonous and .unrelieved toll and daily
struggles against the pFiyations OF poverty.
At the same time they see the capita list get
rich from the wealth their own labor pro-
duces, and they ask for more fair division
of what their own hands make, 50 that while
the employer gets fair profit, the laborer
may receive fair wages. We see 10 he Lyons
riots and violence the effects Of the pressure
of capital driving labor 10 The wall. The
long enduring sufferers catch feverisl coqr,
have, bit by bit, cut their wages down to the
point at which human beings can barely
live. How mistaken these unfortunate peo-
pie are in the methods tHey adopt is appa-
rent. They cannot increase their own wealth
by the destruction Of wealth. The TACT IS,
they are aiming at the Wild justice OF re-
veDge. If they cannot wiring fair play from
dynamite, burn their houses and destroy their
business establishments. We blame The
poor, misguided creatures, but what
Christian soul car withhold its profoundes
pity. We can see, too. that they are the
victims of palpable injustice. France has
weslth enough 10 keep all its citizens in com
fort. Every atom OF That wealth has beer /
created by the toll Oh the laborer, and the 4
laws should be 20 constructed as to favor the /
distribution. not tine accumulation Of wealth. /
Contrast the display, the gorgeGusness, the 4
lavish outlay, the splendor and Ii agRikeence |
Of Paris with the woe and hunger OF these /
poor men and women and children at Mont |
cesu les Minis, yhere the OUT break has |
taken place When country has wealth |
and yet Woodworking, sober, laY-observing |
citizens live from year to year in indulgence |
where fathers and mothers see their children
dwindle and die from insufficient food and
clothing, there is something wrong. Surely the
laborer ought 10 participate in what his cEn
hands produce. SUch tr1tks. however, fall
upon deaf ears The employer viii seize
opportunity to give the i6borer less wages
hat be may secure TO himself larger profits,
put he does so at the danger of such out
,reaSs 81 those OF Lyons and of the COM
nuuists ot Paris. The lower classes-driven
O despair, animSlized by hunger, impelled
~ the goading oil daily misefy-beeome
dangerous classes, and soldiers have to 6e
maintained to keep down those whom justice
md fair dealing would exslt 10 the dignity
# manhood. There is a lesson IN the coDse-
Iuences of reducing men to desperation, by
educing them to penury, that should
e learned by our own capital
ats. Americans will not endure with 1
he patient ~retchedness of the European
'orkmen. They are intelligent and know
Then they are treated uDjustly, and they can
hink and plan, and will not be wanting in
ourage to execute. Fearful would i. be 10
ave such men sgitated by the fierce feelings
4 the French socialist. Those who are
eady on every occasion TO reduce wages and
0 resist advance, would do well to take
teps that shall prevent the possibility OF a
ocial catastrophe among ourselves, for social
xigencies that every now and then convulse
Europe are making rapid strides toward our
wn land. u