The Labor enquirer., 1884-02-09

per cent is sufficient tor all the purposes
of the government. Now, what will the
government do with this immense addi-
tional sum-seven times as large as its
present revenues-which twill annually
receive? Of what use is it to the state ?
1t has been paid, not by the landlords,
but by the tenants and farmers of the
land. What will be done with it? Shall
it be distributed equally every year
among the people ? or among the poor :?
If so, it would encourage the incidence
at the expense of the industry of the
people. If man is annually to. receive
bounty from the state, he will have
less incentive to work. If farmer shall
see the product of his labor distributed
among those who have not earned it, he
will be discouraged in his industry, and
tempted to become a pauper with the
rest. Then who will do the labor of So
ciety? If the money be used to estab
lish and support great charitable institu-
tons. the effect will be the same for the
more charity we have, the less work ;
and the less honest, sWeat-producing
labor we have, the more need of charity.
The principle and motive of charity are
the finest part of our nature but the
effect in great communities is most per-
iniCious.
There is to-day national proprietor
ship of land and the people pay rent in
the form of tax therefor so that a
movement which has for its object ma
tional proprietorship of land, could effect
nothing.
And if, as has often been suggested,
there should be an equal division of land
among the people, the result, if beneficial
for a time, could not be lasting. In the
first place, the men from whom land
would be taken would have to be robbed
or paid. And then, in half century, or
even less, the indolent and unfortunate
would have lost their shares to the
shrewd, the industrious and the fortu-
nate and there would be the same old
condition of landlord and landless.
V.
What then is the true solution of the
question ? And why do the rich get
richer, and the poor get poorer, until the
end, which is always chaos? And how
can men be prevented from getting more
than they need, and thereby depriving
others of what they need? How can
the pleasures and burdens of life be
properly apportioned, without discour-
aging industry and frugality; and with
out encouraging incidence and prodigal-
ity? How may we preserve that equal
ity among men in respect to the means
for the enjoyment-of life, which is only
found in new communities, and then
soon lost, but which is absolutely essen
tial to the well-being of society and to
the strength and perpetuity of the ma
ton?
The true remedy should be one which
would explain and rectify all the social
and political agitations of our time.
The Nihilist in his struggle for consti-
tuition the Communist in his struggle
for equal distribution the Fenisn in his
struggle against landlordism the Labor
UNIONS in their struggle against capital;
the poor in their terrible struggle for ex-
istence-all should feel their grievances
removed and their wrongs redressed,
The true remedy would relieve the
poor and not wrong the rich. The la
borer who tolls ten or twelve hours day
to gain the bare means of existence,
would be relieved of part of his burden,
and given a chance for recreation and
education. The rich who are absolutely
suffering and going to seed from lack of
healthful occupation, whose appetites
and tastes are alike becoming depraved,
would be given chance to become con-
scientious and worthy members of soci-
ETY.. And the old combats of slave against
master, of servant against employer, of
tenant against landlord, of the poor
against the rich, would be forever ended.
The whole trouble originates in avery
simple source. The world has thus far
permitted man to make whatever use
he has chosen to make of his money or
property. 1t has permitted him to loan
money on condition that the borrower,
meanwhile, shall give certain portion
of the product of his labor toward the
support of leader and to that extent
the borrower is the servant and slave of
the lender. 1t has permitted man, be-
sides providing himself with home, to
expend his money in other houses and
lands, and to loan or rent them on con-
dition of the tenants giving him certain
portion of the product of their labor /;
and to that extent are they his servants
or his slaves. And tits because men are
thus enabled to make their money take
their places in the field of labor, and
earn money for them, that society Is
outraged. an ~' ~ .--
In other words, instead of man him.
self working to produce something which
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