The Labor enquirer., 1883-12-22
DYsAnl,. is strong to-day at 4sc.
,ruDrrsa SOCIAL raoBLEMs.

On 6uuuay mofuluk luo AscSAs 1AouA
tain News contained an editorial which
was evidently intended by its
writer to annihilate the socialistic think
ers of the country, and it was so power
full in its diction that it was certainly not
thought by the limited thinkers whom
it represented that so.small fry as The
ESoU1RER would dare to array itself
against the masterpiece.
The News says "a great many self
selected friends of humanity in this
country seem to be greatly disturbed"
because of the extravaganza OF therecent
Vanderbilt ball. Right kind of the
Z News to inform US that the friends of
humanity are ''self-selected.p Some
foolish people might have fallen into the
erroneous idea that the friends of hui
manity were made by law, or that only
those who were chosen by the great
newspapers dared aspire to the position
of friend of humanity"
The cause of the News indignation
lies in the fact that few people have
seen fit to remind that while the Van
dsrbilt affair was wasting 100000 in ex-
travagant dissipation, there were thou
sands upon thousands of starving people
in the immediate vicinity of the blow
out. The News says these friends of
humanity" are "npt in the habit of study
ing the socialproblem with care" Here's
where the editor of the News shows his
ignorance. 1t is he who is mot In the
habit of studying the social problem with
care" and neither is he in the habit of
giving both sides of a question fair
hearing. III ..
If he fully understood the sentiments
and aims of the ''self-selected friends of
humanity" he would know that they
have no war to make, and are making
none, against Vanderbilt and his class
for lavishly throwing the money they
have away, but it is the fact that they
are able to throw it away, while thou
sands are starving for want of an incom-
parable fraction of it, that the humani-
-tarians of the world marvel at and object
to. .2
The vast accumulations of wealth in
the hands of the few, while thousands of
the country's deserving people have not
shelter or a crust, is the crying evil of
our times, and anything which attracts
attention of the humane to this state of
affairs is very likely to create comment.
Atrue distribution of wealth makes So
ciety contented, strong and lasting. But
when the products of labor are Iaccumu-
lated in the hands Of a few who have
not produced them; and when the real
producers get only barely enough to
maintain an existence, society naturally
becomes discontented, weak and ready
to be dissolved, or for revolutionary re.
formation. 81
The News attempts facetiousness, by
assuring the public that the extravaganza
of the Vanderbilt. ball would not be
likely to send any of the spend-thrifts
to the poor house. If it did there would
be little cause for complaint; but the
knowledge that few persons can waste
80 much of the products of labor and not
feelit, Is what puts the man who is "in
the habit of studying social problems
with care" to thinking.
The News economist also attempts a
bit of irony, BY asserting that the
money expended in the great ball
worked back through the channels of
trade to the working people of the coun-
try, and became a direct benefit to
them. This in itself is enough to show
that the editor of the News either knows
. nothing of the question, or lacks the
manhood to speak his mind. Probably
he has private information that the
wages of the working people of New
York were advanced because of the ex-
penditures ON the occasion in question.
The idea is absurd and indicative of
abject ignorance. Is there one pang
less in the suffering of the poor of the
world are there less paupers; have the
profits over the necessary expenses of
one workingman been increased Tor
rather created) by the great fete? If the
editor o., the News will study the ques-
+. ton with "care," he will learn that the
wages of the worker are barely commen-
! surate to his absolute wants, and that as
Y the expense of his living decreases his
wages are cut down, and are only ad-
vanced when it is necessary to meet the
increased cost of his absolute necessities
and preserve himself so as to be able to
work. This is the iron law of wages,
and any man can find proof of it every
day of his life.
/ fully agree with the editor of the
News that man has right to spend his
kown as he likes; but strike at the root
and say that no man has the right to be
! In possession of the fruits Of the toll OF
thousands while The thousands suffer in
wsnt hnd, therefore. | say that what