The Labor enquirer., 1883-08-04
pains and penalties for teaching bonds,

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But there is in the conditions of the
civilized world TO-DAY something more
portentious than a. a.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 a
keener and keener perception Of the
gross injustice Of existing inequalities of
privilege and wealth. Yet, at the same
time, everything tends to the rapid and
monstrous increase of these inequalities.
Never since great estates were eating out
the heart of Rome has the world seen
such enormous fortunes as now arising.
And never more utter proletarians. In
the paper which contained a manv-
column account of the Vanderbilt ball,
with its gorgeous dresses and its wealth
of diamonds, with its profusion of roses,
costing two dollars each, and its precious
wines flowing like water, | also read
brief item telling how, at station house
near by, thirty-nine persons-eighteen
of them wemen-had sought shelter, and
how they were all marched into the
court next morning and sent for six
months to prison. THE women" said
the item, "shrieked and sobbed bitterly
as they were carried to prison" Christ
was born of woman. And to Mary
Magdalen he turned in tender blessing
But such vermin have some Of these
human creatures made in Gods image.
become, that we must shovel them Oft to
prison without being too particular.
The railroad is a new thing. 1t has
scarcely begun its work. Yet it has al
ready differentiated the man who counts
his income by millions every month, and
the thousands of men glad to work for
him at from 80 cents to $50 day. Who
shall set bounds, under present tenden-
ces, to the great fortunes of the next
generation? Or to the correlativeS Of
these great fortunes, the tramps?
The tendency of all the inventions and
improvements so wonderfully augment
ing productive power, is to concentrate
enormous wealth in the hands of few
to make the condition of the many more
helpless to force into the position Of
machines for the production of wealth
they are not to enjoy, men whose asplra'
tions are being aroused. Without a
single exception that can think of, the
effect of all modern industrial improve
ments is to production upon a large
scale, to the minute division Of labor, to
the giving to the possession of large capt.
tai all overpoWering advantage. Even
such inventions as the telephone and
the typewriter tend to the concentration
of wealth, by adding to the ease with
which large business can be managed,
and Iessening limitation Mat after a
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 few Oyerseers; to
reduce all others to the mOnOtOnOus
work of automatons, to which there IS
no future save the same unvarYlng round.
Under the old system of handicraft,
the workman may have toiled hard and
long. but in his work he had companion
ship variety, the pleasure that comes of
the exercise Of creative skill, the sense
of seeing things grow under his hand to
finished form. He worked in his own
home or side by side with his employer
Labor was lightened by emulation, by
gossip. by laughter, by discussion. AS
apprentice he looked forward to becom-
ing journeyman, as journeyman he
looked forward to become master and
taking an apprentice of his own. With
few tools and little raw material he
was independent. He dealt directly
with those who used the finished articles
he produced. If he could not find a
market for money, he could find a mar
ket for exchange. That terrible dread
the dread of having the opportunities of
livelihood shut off, Of finding himself
utterly helpless to provide for his family,
never cast its shadow over him.
Go NOW into one Of those enormous