The Labor enquirer., 1883-07-28

heads which ache beneath the lollipop
of the student, and many q smutty face
is but the uncouth mask Of the philos-
opher.
L Yet, with all this improvement over
old methods and ideas; with all this
iconoclasm of mildewed dogmas, with
all this communism of thought, how
much advancement has been made
toward that true and only real civiliza-
ton, social equality?
In the palmy days of feudalism few
barons and princes owned all the prop
erty, and, fortifying themselves in castles,
resisted the seiges of other knights, or
went forth to make war upon an offend
ing neighbor while the masses, the
#"commonalty," bore the brunt of battle,
and slaughtered one anothers sby way OF
settling some petty dispute between two
powdered and curled nonentltles who
didn't know their letters, styled lords.
or in defense of the name of some fair
land often frail) creature called lady.
To-day the bulk Of the property and
privileges are in the hands of the few
land not the best in point of morality
and culture) members of society, and the
masses do their bidding and create the
wealth which they wantonly sqnander.
These lordlings of the Nineteenth cen
tury cut railroad rates and make war
upon each other in the board of trade
and on the race track; but the tolling
masses defray the expense; their sweat
and blood must wash out the feud;
their children must cry for bread if
millionaire comes off second best in a
ioust wherein dollars and stocks are the
weapons.
No feudal baron or even potentate of
the middle ages ever swayed more
potent power over his vassels than do
these money princes of the nineteenth
century. A Vanderbilt sits in his Fifth
avenue palace, and, with his hand upon
subtle lever, controls directly the des-
tiny of ten thousand people, and indi-
rectly as many millions; and when he
tires of this pastime, turns the task over
to some one else with profit to himself,
skips off to Europe to live in kingly
magnifcence upon the wealth wrung
from the blood of ten thousand people,
any one of whom is worthier than he.
A Gould, less fortunate in points Of
wealth and more ambitious for gain,
remains to squeeze out few more mil
lions. He is not satisfied with contrOll-
ing one third Of the railway systems of
the country, which he does. All the
railroads in the southwest belong to him;
a partner of his is. president ofthe Union
Pacific; he controls the great Wabash
system he owns line from the Hudson
river to Boston, and all that is necessary.
to complete an unbroken connection
from one boundary of the Republic to an
other with branches to every leading
city in the Union, is to get hold Of the
Delaware and Lackawanna, or Erie,
either of which is Just within his grasp.
He owns, in addition, all the elevated
roads in New York city; he controls the
entire telegraphic system of the country
which is the bulk of his power, as it
puts the press and the markets virtually
under his authority.
Besides this, he is interested in large
lines on the Mississippi in express COM
panies is heavy dealer in stock, and
owns over 81 100000 worth of real estate,
and still his appetite is unabated; while
fully twenty million people in this coun-
try pay rent for the bits of ground or
garret where they exc out an existence.
And still we call this an age of reason
and democracy, and look back with
horror at the clark ages" and this, tOo,
when the people have the power in their
own hands to remedy the evil. Can it
be charged that, in the midst of the
broadcast learning and cheap reading of
the age, this is due to ignorance Partly,
but not entirely. There are two other
causes to which we must look rather
than to ignorance; namely: lack of
courage and Indifference. That inborn
fear of the powers that be, or of question
ing the right of systems which possess
the quality ofantiquity and the indiffer
ence born of the superannuated and
idiotic proverb of "let we'll enough
alone" 1t is the possession of these
weaknesses, more than want of know
ing better, that has made the masses of
to-day the slaves of the few. Verify, |
feel like saying, with Mokanna:
"Ye would be dupes and victims, and ye
are.''
G. q. K. in The Spectator.