The Labor enquirer., 1884-03-15
II Was Not Abolished by the ]
War Which Freed the
Blacks.
Capital, Aggregated in the Hands
Of aFew, is a Curse to Any
Community.
It Takes the Sunshine Out Of Life,
and Leaves Eternal Night
Of Toll.
Workers and Idlers. !.

workers ana 1dlers.
XIV.
The humanitarians Of the day are
seeking to aid the workingman by CIV
ing him cheap rent, cheap car fare to
and from his work, cheap clothing, cheap
food and all sorts of cheap things. And
to do this they crowd him and his family
in single room in the top of seven.
story building, without an elevator; they
give him stand-up seat on the platform
of a crowded car; they clothe him in
garments which will neither warm nor
wear; they feed him on black-bread and
butterine, ETC., etc. Possibly he does
live little cheaper; but very probably
no better than before
But what is the result2 Capital gives
labor what the master gave the slave
bare living. When workingman's
expenses decrease, his wages soon follow.
1t is SO the world over. The cheaper
workingman can live, the less wages he
gets. If he can live or exist on one
dollar day, that is exactly what his
wages will be. In some countries,
laborers live so cheaply that they receive
only what is equivalent to a few cents
day; and such would be the condition
here, if they could live on as little. The
humanitarian methed, therefore, is not
the proper one; for it results finally in
nothing save reduction of wages, and,
IN time, in b reduction Of the comforts
of the workingman. sf6ts2,..
The wages of labor, as long as capital
retains its present power, will be the
wages Of slavery. a
And the workingmen, as long as their
fates are SO completely. in the hands Of
their employers, will be really slaves.
<. -. XVI. i' s.
You may free the black race from its
bonds; you may abolish the bloody "cat-
ofnine-tails;" you may stop the buying
and selling of human beings; and yet
YOU have not abolished human slavery;
for the workingmen are to-day the
slaves of their employers; the poor are.
the slaves of the rich; and it is as inhu-
man system of human slavery as ever
disgraced the world. S. les4
Slavery consists in one individual hav-
ing power oyer another. To the extent
of such power, the weaker one is the
slave of the other. No slavery eyer ex-
listed except by the stronger exerting
his power to make the other subseryient
to his will; and whenever this is done, it
is human slavery, whether it be in Name
or in Egypt. II
The slaves of the south were fed and
clothed by the owners. They worked
such hours as the owners commanded.
The. owners reaped the results of their.
labor, except such portions as were ex-,
pended to supply them with food and
clothing. They lived in rows of huts.
To-day, the employers give the labor
ers barely the means of purchasing their
food and clothing. The employers die.
tate the hours which the laborers shall
work. The employers reap the result Of
their labor, except. that they give the
laborers just enough to permit them to
live. I..- f. :, 8
The long rows of small cottages, which
are considered luxury for the laboringI
men as compared with the pig-pen tene-t
ment houses which many live in, have q
painful resemblance to- and but family
disguise the slave hutsfof old. They are
not quite as bad, simply because the
white labores OF to-day has not yet be-
come quite as degraded as we're the black
slaves. '.
But the resemblance between the labor
of to-dayzthe labor which is the Great
ure of capital---and the slavery of the
past, is sufficient to cause thoughtful
people to pause. 1t is time to consider
whittier we are drifting. If 80 many of
4 our fellow!beings are SO near slavery, we
may well fear that they may reach the
name as we'll as the fact. v .7-f -
I " XVII. 81 o. .t
! The true wealth of society consists in
1.-THE accumulation of the useful products
Of labor in the hands Of the anen who
i produce them. This wealth makes So
ciety contented, strong and durable.
But when these products are accumulated
in the hands of few who have not pro-
Fduced them; when large portion Of the
products are unnecessary and mere luxu.
ries; and when the real producers, who
deserve all, really get nothing but bare
lexistenee; such condition makes soci-
ETY. discontented, weak and ready for
ldissolntion.
i Capital, when aggregated in the hands
of q few, is curse to any community or
country. 1t seldom produces good re-
suits; and for every blessing it imposes q
hundred curses. And any good that is
done by it can be better done by the
government. Its q nany-armed mon
ster whose hands are stretched out in all
/ directions to seize upon the homes oi
the poor, and take from them the right
|, to place on the earth, to place to eat
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