The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1883-05-24
are extending the idea Of human equal
ity and brotherhood.

with conditions under which theil
fathers would have been contented. II
is in vain that they are told that theil
situation had been much improved; il
is in vain that it is pointed out to them
that comforts, amusements, opportun
tiles ore within their reach that Their
fathers would not have dreamed of
The having got SO much, only leads te
ask why they should not have more
Desire grows by what it feeds on. Man
is not like the OK. He has no fixed
standard of satisfaction. To arouse his
ambition, to educate him to new wants,
il as certain to make him dscontented
with his lot as to make that lot harder
We resign ourselves to what we think
cannot lie bcttered; but when we realize
that improvement is possible, then We
become restive. This is the explanation
of the paradox that DE Tocqueville
thought astonishing: that the masses
find their position the more intolerable
the more it is improved. They were
right who opposed popular education
on the ground that it would bring rev.
olution. The slave codes were wise
that prescribed pains and penalties fol
teaching bondsmcn to read.
But there is in the conditions of the
civilized world to-day something more
portentous than growing restiveness
under evils long endured. Everything
tends to awake the sense of natural
equality, to arouse the aspirations and
ambitions OF the masses, to excite q
keener and keener perception of the
gross injustice Of existing inequalities oi
privilege and wealth. Yet, mt the same
time, everything tends to the rapid and
monstrous increase Of these inequali-
ties. Never since great estates were
eating out the heart of Rome has the
world seen such enormous fortunes as
are now arising. And never more utter
proletarians. In the paper which con-
tanned many-column account of the
! Vanderbilt ball, with its gorgeous
dresses ard wealth of diamonds, with
its profusion Of roses, costing 81 each,
and its precious wines flowing like
| water, also read brief item telling
how, at q station house near by, thirty
nine persons-cighteen of them women
had sought shelter, and how they
Ntic ili iitd1ShSU Illo Coull tilt HtAt
morning and sent for six months to
prison. "The women" said the item,
"shrieked ard sobbed bitterly as they
were carried to prison." Christ was
born of a woman, and to Mary Magda-
lenc he turned iii tender blessing. But
such yermin have some of these human
creatures. made in Gods IMAGE, be-
come, that we shovel them G fl to prison
| without being too particular.
The railroad is new thing. 1t has
scarcely iegun it, work. Yet it has
already differentiated the man who
counts his income by millions every
month. ard the thousands of men glad
to work for him at from 80 cents to
Sl.50 day. Who shall set bounds,
under present tendencies, to the great
fortunes OF tho next gcnerotion2 Or tn
the corre'atives of these great fortunes,
the tramps?
Tho tendency Of all the inventions
and improvements SO wonderfully aug
menting productive power, is to con-
centrate enormous wealth in the hands
Of few, to make the condition of the
many more hopeless; to force into the
position of machines for the production
Of wealth they are not to enjoy, men
whose aspirations are being aroused.
Without single exception that l can
think of, the effect Of all modern indus
trial improvements is to production
upon large scale, to the minute di-
vision Of labor, to the giving to tho
possession of large capital IN overpow-
ering advantage. Even such inventions
as the telephone and the typewriter
tend to the concentration Of wealth, by
adding to the ease with which large
businesses can he managed, and lessen
ing limitations that aftera certain point
made further extension more difficult.
The tendency of the machine is in
everything not merely to place it out of
the power of the workman to become
his own employer, but to reduce him to
the position of a mere attendant or
feeder; to dispense with Judgment,
skill and brains, save in a few over
seers; to reduce all others to the mo-
notonous work of automa.ons. to which
there is no future save the same un-
VARYING round.
Under the old system Of handicraft,
the workman may have toilel hard and
long, but in his work he lad compan-
ionship, variety, the pleasure that
comes OF the exercise of creative skill,
the sense of seeing things growing un-
der his hand to finished form. He
worked in his own home or side by side
with his employer. Labor was light
cred by emulation, by gossip, by
laughter, by discussion. As'apprentice,
he looked forward t. becoming u jour-
newman: as journeyman, he looked
forward to becoming ma ter and TAX
ing an apprentice of his own. With a
few tools and little raw material he
was Independent. He dealt directly
with those who used the finished arti-
cles he produced. If he could not find
a market for money, he could find a
market in exchange. That terrible
dread-the dread OF having the oppor-
tunities of livelihood shut off; of find
ing himself utterly helpless to provide
for his family, never cast its shadow
over him.
Consider the blacksmith of the in
dustrial era now everywhere passing
or rather the "black and white smith, +"
for the finished workman worked i'm
steel rs we'll. The smithy stood by
roadside or street. Through its open
doors We're caught glimpses of nature
all that was passing could be seen.
Wayfarers stopped to inquire, neigh
bors to tell or hear the news, children
to see the hot iron glow and watch the
red sparks fly. Now the smith shod n
horse; now he put on Il wagon tire; now
he forged and tempered tool; again
he welded Il broken andiron, or beat out
with graceful art n crane for the deep
chimney-place; or, when there was
nothing else to do, he wrought iron
into nails.
Go now into one of those enormous
establishments covering acres and acres,
in which workmen by the thousand are
massed toga ther, and by the aid of
steam and machinery iron is converted
to its uses at fraction of the cost of
the old system. You cannot enter with
ont permission from the office, for over
each door you will find the sign, "Posi-
lively no atlmittance" LII you are per-