The Labor enquirer., 1885-12-05
q DENVER COLORADO, sATUKDAYs sDEcEMBER s 1885

rapid multiplication Of . large class out
nde who possess neither. The growth
Of this latter body not merely tends t
produce, but actually Is. the dissolution
Of the existing system Of things
1t is this thorough acceptance and be
lief in natural historical evolution thai
distinguishes Marx and Scientific Social
ism from the doctrines Of Utopian Com
mnnlsm and as well from the theses o
the few understanding economic quacki
who defend existent conditions. Moth
ing can in fact be more scientific thar
the belief that 1t is only possible te
change present misery into future hap
/ piness by observing vigorous conform
ityito the laws of development already
lin progress, by making use Of the forces
talready in operation and by advancing
with the slow moving tide instead d
yainlY attempting to beat back the ad-
yancing ocean in order to construct an
air castle on the shifting sands. With
fFhoreau, Marx believed in castles in the
air but the foundations should be laid
first, deep and strong, In the solid earth
nthis beliefof his regarding the ten
dency Of development he was far from
being alone. 1t may not be generally
known that John Stuart Mill believed
the same, and that Cairnes, the best es-
teemed of English capitalistic econo-
mists, now living. saw no other future.
He says: NJ 4e Es =t.- lt
"The fund available for those who live by
labor tends, in the progress of society. while
growing actually larger, to become con-
stantly smaller fraction of the entire national
wealth. If, then, the means Of any one class
of society are to be permanently limited to
| this fund, it is evident, assuming that the
progress of its members keeps pace with that
of the other classes, that its material condi-
| ton in relation TO theirs cannot but decline.
Now, as it would be futile to- expect, on the
L
| population, self.denial and prudence greater
than that actually practiced by the classes
above them, the circumstances OF whose life
are much more favorable than theirs for the
cultivation of these virtues, the conclusion
to which am brought is this, that unequal
as is the distribution of wealth already, the
tendency of industrial progression the sup
position that the present separation between
industrial classes is maintained-is towards
an inequality greater still. The rich will be
growing richer; and the poor, poorer. 1t
seems to me, apart altogether from the ques.
ton of the laborer's interest, that these are
not conditions which furnish solid basis for
progressive social state" - .&
The existence of natural law deyel-
oped from the conditions surrounding
our existing system of production, which
first creates class of disinherited slaves
of the machine, then year by year in
creases their numbers and at the same
time increases their poverty, is of itself
sufficient to forecast future society of
paupers and millionaires. And the
mere existence of such a society where a
few men have all and the great mass OF
the people have nothing, means Reyolu-
ton. 1t is not in human nature for men
to starve silently in droves upon droves
when they have the superior power of
numbers and can take from the hoarders
of wealth what is necessary for life.
To so guide and direct this tremendous
natural uprising so that as its result
property might be humanized and all
men be given Justlce,-to aid and assist
the birth of the Golden Age In the ira
vail OF which even now society groans,-
to act as Natures physician and assist
the new birth, rather than as the Quack
to stihe out the life of the child,-this
conception OF the duty of all wise and
brave men was the duty preached by
Marx.
1t is the sublime grandeur of this mis-
sion, the perfect knowledge of its truth
and Justice, that has given to the Social
ist propaganda the religious enthusiasm
and heroic force which animates no
other movement of the age. 1t is for
Truth and as Martyrs of Science, proph-
cts of the Future, that these apostles,
men and women, have filled Siberian
mines, have rotted in the dungeons Of
despotism, have from the barricades Of
Famine lifted up voice and arm saluting
death with smiles.
AS Leverrier, peering with ewes of sci
ence into the fathomless void beneath
the earth, beheld with prophetic eve the
future advent of the planet Neptune, &C
Marx, questioning the Future, saw amid
its clouds of Revolution the glimmering
Star of Dawn. Not by blind faith bu
by absolute knowledge of what WILL BE
do these new followers of the Gospel O
Man armor themselves against the sneer
the scof, the hand of brutal nower, witt
a fervor and faith unexampled in tn,
annals of the world.
BURNETTE g. HASKELL.
SAN Francisco, Nov. 20.
"Labor Unions Be D-dw
The superintendenC of the PinkertoI