The Labor enquirer., 1884-03-01

Indigestion, in the shape Of choice apo.
thegms,. labeled @Rspoblican govern.
ment,n afree institutons,p equality Of
man." and Ill that sort of rot, precisely
the same system that has cursed Europe
for ages, in which the many, who pro-
duce all and enjoy nothing, are slaves to
the few, who produce nothing and enjoy
all, is being fastened on Us.
We cannot fetch ourselves to under
stand that forms of government, like
forms of religion, are consequences, and
not causes of good and evil in = commu-
nifty. The government Of England, for
example, as a political machine. is far
more perfect than ours A citizen there
has all the political rights accorded us
here. And while in England the COM
munitY is being agitated by grave ques-
tions, whether they find q solution or
not, here we agitate nothing. The coun-
try, politically. is divided between two
hostile camps that differ only in name,
and fight only for the offices. lean see
that one, calling itself democracy. is the
organized ignorance Of the land, and the
other is the organized dishonesty. But,
let one or the other prevail the result
will be about the same.
What is it to me whether the chief ex-
ecutive is an old lady in petticoats,
mourning for her John Brown, or 8
fieshy gentleman, of tall hat and eigh-
teen pair of pantaloons, SO I have my
right of life, liberty and pursuit of hap
piness whatever that may be) secured
to me? But, we are beginning to. dis
cover that one may have all his political
rights, with an empty stomach and a
bare back. He may have all bis political
rights, while his family are starving, let
him labor ever so hard from daylight
until after dark He may carry all his
political rights into the poisoned hole of
a tenement house, where breath in sum-
mer is pestilence, and cruel cold In win
ter shakes the thin bones of his suffering
wife and degraded children.
What a comfort it is to him that he
carries into his shelterless hovel the
same rights precisely that the million
aire carries to his palace, where, under
frescoed ceilings, the gouty feet fall
noiseless on Turkish rugs and the per-
,fumed air is luxury, where the delicate
wife and healthy, happy children are
shielded against the heat Of summer and
the cold of winter by stone walls, with
gilt finish.
Now, dear John Swinton, if an equality
of political rights has, permitted this
cruel difference between classes, how are
you to find a remedy in the political
arena? Has your Hon. Lycurgus Leath-
lungs, NJ. G., any measure in his remark
able brain that, without disturbing the
millionaire in his luxury, will lift the
laborer into ordinary comfort2 Has he
any measure,at all? The difference is
not political al all? It lies in the un.
equal distribution of property that we
find is being made greater and more
burthensome under republic than IN
der monarchy. This, from our very
political equality, shuts US out from all
remedy.
However, am no reformer' I cannot
say that 1 even sympathize with the
starving laborer. He would not thank
me for my sympathy, and would resent
any offer of aid from me or you or my
friend C. N. B., who has discovered that
am "a man of thought" 1t is his by
right of discovery, 1 fear. The starving
laborer is a stupid fellow, or he would
not be a starving laborer. Were he to
know what hurts him, and say to his
class, "Come, let us 60 cut and
make an end of this" his trouble
would be at an end in three days
Capital is 80 sensitive that when labor
really shakes its burly fist at it, 1t lets &C
all hold and runs into hole.
One of the delusions that I see &c. N
B." cherishes, some of the canned fruit
from the tree of knowledge that we grow
dyspeptic over, is that knowledge il
power. What bosh it is, for it never
existed as power.