The Labor enquirer., 1885-02-21

Is ~ a. 'Illllip ksl IA y y
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I - n n Is IA III III ~ ~ ~
1ksce ~ nsssr - !
- o. - d ths ovprsussd
3z opprsisn ~ = ssnsral
yer s time vken ths World vss =
l1h and H. number X poor md unean-
1 ploysd = Sxeet nsvsr ! tune wnsu
yiliniioe hSld sach ersnd poalibilitiea
and Jisldod : fittle.
People ii III ases have been oppressed
md have rebeIled; hsys been partially
succesfal q boen c4ushed into more ID.
iect slavery always in soma form ol
other haa justice pleaded for recognition
in the institutions Of man. But the
stzusgle has always taken personal OF
local form. Men have fought and died
for liberty perhaps but the immediate
grievance was some peculiarly Of their
own tune Or country. While one and
the same cause may have run, through
al ages and countries up to the present,
the fact has not been recognized Peo-
| pie haye rebelled because they felt the
dpect influence OF ! tyrant but did not
know their brothers Al over the world
we're suffering in PRECISELY the same way.
To-day We are beginning to know IL
The peculiarly new aspect Of the general
revolt is. that we are learning not to
fight individual tyrants, but tyranny it
self That We cannot gain liberty by
killing an oppressor, but rather by abol-
ishing systems Of oppression. And with
this knowledge comes q deeper sense Of
the universal brotherhood Of man; for
while we may groan under our own
special tyrants, we must unite in con-
demning what Is common grievance
with us all.
Men Individually are not on trial to-
day systems, customs, institutions are.
That this is true makes the situation a
momentous one, and very difficult to get
at. 1t is much easier to cut off the head
of corrupt king, than it is to grapple
with system or blow it out Of existence
with dynamite. So it Is easier to cut out
sore than it is to eradicate the disease
from the system bnt it must be done or
there is no cure.
All wars of the past have been for the
purpose of conquering and possessing
territory, or to fix more firmly power
already gained or, were revolts against
some particular tyrant or act of tyranny.
The people who could not kill their OPP
pressors have had the chance, more or
less remote, of trying some new country
and of making new conditions. Now we
are beginning to realize that there are
no new countries to flee to; that the cry
of the oppressed comes from every land,
and that the common people of empires,
kingdoms and republics alike, make the
one same sad complaint. Under every
government on the face of the earth
Poverty stalks grim and gaunt beside the
palaces Of Wealth. Whatever religion
prevails Want and Misery 60 hand in
hand mocking the seeming bliss of
Luxury and Power.
We can no longer lay the wretchedness
of one country to the tyranny of a car
that of another to its belief in a particu-
lar sort of god /; of another to its peculiar
geographical situation; we must look for
some underlying cause common to all of
them. And what is it that curses the
whole human race with its long train of
attendant evils, in every cline on Gods
but private property in the
means of lifeP
Once human beings were considered
private property. Long ago kings dealt
with their subjects e1actly as they
pleased, and if they were permitted to
ive.at all it was ayfavor from their SOW
sreign. Later on while there were some
limitations to ownership, human beings
we're bought and sold and hogged and
worked to death as private property.
Slowly society has struggled up to a
position where property rights" have
lad to recede, aud it now says regarding
human flesh and blood, "hands off," The
position. society takes in regard to what
s private property and what Is not,
marks its,stage of development towards
rue civilization. While land, the very
ouroe Of existence, can be bought, sold
md monopolized. while tools and
can be owned and locked up
~ individuals. while food, clothes and
helter can be boarded away from the
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