The Labor enquirer., 1885-04-25

extern3f conditions what tnoy snould
be, and these win give place to industry,
sobriety and virtue. 'siia i.5is s9.sa 4 y y
st. Simon Love is the fulfilling o.
the law Secure to every one opportu'
nifty |; let each do wAll4ssr hs6scan do
best; and the highest good to the whole
WILDE achieved and perpetuated. q
i Fourier. Society, as we find it, is or.
ganized rapacity. Half of It's force is
spent in repressing Of resisting the jeal-
ousies and rogueries of its members
We need to organize Universal Justice
based on Science. The true Eden lies
before, not behind US. We may SO pro-
vide that labor, now repulsive, shall be
attractive; while its efficiency in pro-
duction shall be increased by the. i'm
provement of machinery and the ex-
tended use of natural forces, so as to
secure abundance, education, and elegant
ID uxury to all. WHAT'S needed is to pro
vide all with homes, employment, in.
struction, good living, the most: effective
machinery, ETC., securing to
each the fair and full recompense of his
achievement and this can best be at
tained through the association Of some
400 or 500 families in common house
hold. and in, the ownership and cultiya.
tion Of common domain, say Of 1000
acres, or about one acre to each person
living thereon. ..:5I .,.,..,..-..,,,, :.
& I accept, unreseryedly, the views Of no
man, dead or living. THE master has
said it," was never conclusive with me
Even though / have found him right
nine times, I do not take his tenth prop,
osition on trust unless that also be
proved sound and rational, | reject it,
But I am convinced, after much study
and reflection, that. the Social Reformers
are right on many points, even. when
clearly wrong on others; and I deem
Fourier though in many respects
erratic, mistaken, visionary.-the most
suggestive and practical among them.
I accept nothing on his authority; for ]
find many of his ,speculations fantastic
erronenns. ard e,na "a v,swJ pqrnIelous
but on many points he commands my
unreseryed concurrence. Yet | prefer
to set forth my own Social creed rather
than his, even wherein mine was Dor.
rowed from his teachings; and mine is,
briefly, as follows:
I. believe that there need be, and
should be, no paupers who are not in
fantile, idiotic or disabled; and that civ
ilized society pays more for the support
of able bodied pauperism than the nee
essary cost of It's extirpation.
. II. I believe that they babble idly
and libel Providence who talk of surplus
labor, or the inadequacy Of capital to
supply employment to all who need it,
Labor is often most required and best
paid where capital is scarcest Gas was
shown in California in 1S49 SOY and
there is always-even in China-far more
work than hands, provided the ability to
devise and direct be not wanting. Where
labor stands idle, save in the presence Of
some great public calamity, there is a
demonstrated deficiency, not of capital,
but of brains.
III. I believe that the efficiency Of
human effort is enormously, -ruinously
diminished by what I term Social An
archy. That is to say 1--WE spend half
our energies in building fences and pro-
yiding safeguards against each others
roguery," while our labor is rendered in
efficient and inadequately productive By
bad management, imperfect Implements
a deficiency Of power (anlmal or steam J,
and the inability of our. producers to
command and WELD the most effective
machinery. 1t is quite within the truth
to estimate the annual product Of our
national industry at less than one-hali
what it might be, if better applied and
directed. .'T-
w. Ineficiency in production is par
alleled by waste in consumption. Insects
and vermin devour at least one fourth Of
the farmers harvests, which Inadequate
fertilizing and unskillful cultivation have
already reduced far below the proper
aggregate. A thousand cooks are re-
quired, and thousand fires maintained,
to prepare badly the food of a township,
when a dozen fires and hundred cooks
might do it far better, and with a vast
saving in quantity as well as improve
ment in quality, [I Judge that the cooks
of Paris would subsist 100000 persons
on the food consumed or wasted by
100000 in this city feeding them better
than they are now fed, and ,prolonging
their lives by an average Of five years.
". Youth should be season Of in
struction in industry and the useful arts
as well as in, letters and the sciences
mastered, BY their aid. Each child
should be trained to skill and efficiency
in productive labo9r, The hours Of e.1 chill, I:
dren should be alternately devoted tc
labor, study and recreation--say two
hoursp each before, and like allot
ment after, dinner each secular. day
Thus each child would grow an adept
not merely in letters, but in in artsT7-s arts I
skilfull worker as well as proficient il
the lessons of the school-room--able te
sl IEcon Concluded udta On Gn fourth p'ssl page IL
~ ',..I,~ .fe oIde atss soda,t II sf.la: