The Labor enquirer., 1884-12-20

hn wsee-roll. Who will take into his
service the men thrown out of employ
ment BY your fxiiure No one they
must walk the streetA and tho streets Of
= city do not grow the wherewithal to
support existence. They join trades
unions and secret societies that they
may talk their grievances oyer. but it.
will not stop at thinking. @Yon Cassius
has . lean and hungry look. He thinks
too much such men are dangerous.
The unemployed in this country are
likely to grow lean and hungry enough
in the winter chat is upon us, and, trust
Us, who have studied this subject care
fully, and know the history Of the labor
movement, they have long since begun
to think, and think in earnest. The
parson kept them in check for centuries,
telling them that they must do their
duty In their station, ETC., etc, but no
BODY believes the parson DOW, in this
respect, at any rate. Your clerks, your
factory hands are all eager to rise to
higher scale, and enjoy richer, fuller
life; il. they find themselves starving
just when the warehouses are overflow
ing with the wealth of labor, "over-
production" is an uncommonly poor ar
gument with which to meet their ques-
tions.
NJ, Sir, you are by no means alone !;
NOR is there the slightest reason why
you should endure your troubles alone,
excepta senseless, selfish pride. You
have but to stretch out your hands as a
sufferer anxious to end his suferings.
and there are thousands who will grasp
it; you have but to take the trouble of a
short investigation and you will find
that what you could never hope to do
singly, in concert with ten thousand
others can be easily accomplished. And
this is SO paipably to your own self
interest that the meanest intellect can
not fail to grasp it you may, however,
very probably be too fainthearted to re-
solve on action. We, for our part, can
show you only the road; the courage
for the journey you must supply your
SELF
Probably you have never studied the
industrial problem. You must. however,
as d thinking man, have taken some
note of the changing nature of the
times. If hundred meu were asked
what had beenlthe effect of the discoy-
cries of steam and electricity, upon the
business life of the community, surely
the answer in every case would be the
same: Thanks to them the day of
small enterprises is altogether past" Can
you deny it? If you cannot what is the
good of shutting your eyes to the fact,
unpleasant though it may be? The inn
provements that have, in reality, knit
the world into one community, inure al
most entirely to the benefit of the giant
capitals. The Northern Pacific Railroad
is completed, What is its first effect 2
Simply this, IT enables the great houses
in the east to undersell the Portland
merchant. You probably at times have
felt exceedingly indignant at the out
rageous fares and freights charged by
the Central Pacific railroad. Yes, un-
questionably the railroad is great lnsti,
tuition, and one that can only be of wide
public benefit when it is brought within
the reach of the humblest purse. Whats
however, would be the effect of lower
ing freights to such modest figure as
that, for instance, at which the govern
ment, if 1t were owner could carry
goods2 Can you doubt for moment
that, under our much vaunted competi-
tive system, the instantaneous result
would be to drive almost every business
house In the city to the wall? Can you
doubt that the millionaire houses in the
east would flood this coast with their
goods and undersell all our local estab-
lishments? Do not you see that at pres
ent the enormous charges imposed by
these sutocratic millionaires of ours are
your protective tariff We are not the
men to contradict you when you say
that these autocrats are danger to the
liberties of the country, we simply de-
sire to point out to you that they are the
outcome of the anarchy Of competition,
the sweet simplicity of the go-as-you-
please regime, and at present you are
indebted to them, outcome as they them
selves are of the competitive system, for
shielding you from the deadly competi-
ton of the east.
We desire to put this matter before
YOU in the plainest terms. to show you
what we, as critical outsiders. deem your
position to be, and then make clear to
you our own. In what has preceded we
have endeavored to show you that mod
ern progress, under our competitive sys-
tenn tends constantly towards the sup
nression of the smaller trad ssmen,
toward the merging of the minor in the
mammoth house; what we have hitherto
suggested by argument, we proceed to
support by the inexorable logic of facts.
For the week ending September 6. there
were l7s failures in the United States,
reported to Bradstreet's during the week
Aof't - .TEr :. II