The Labor enquirer., 1885-02-21

Il sny other kons et s. d SIS &
Ehov y itByou' AalSls pey Il n f6szs'
self fte ii oresnixstton x whieh; W a. !
Fpsct : much whes Soa III 1rl 81
Tho xall b the areed p 6apitl
He hemmed and haNesf j spsll. ne III
wooden n-hesded peopls, Who hdk ths|
Ishrewdnees TO b successful knays1s N
conformity with asqneezed s6ul. but did
moi answer the question. Bat after !
short psnse, he pulled 1 fask of rotdRut
lopt Of his pocket. and offered It % me.
politely declined to deaden my Intel.
lect with what was the probable cause
Of the stnnting Of his, and while the Csp
tam tossed of double dose of the
poison, / SAID to the young man: ia
that what you creased your saw with
while saving wood to keep you from
starving ~ His wooden countenance
contracted grin of blissful simplicity,
which he probably would have called q
smile. but he said nothing such people
never do, though they talk for life
time.y
We'll, !" says the Captain, ITO return to-
the subject & don't take snv stock II Al
ttHis twaddle about the rights Of the.
Ilaboring man. He has just IS many
rights as anybody else, and he is just IS
we'll paid, in proportion to what he does,
as is any other man. Brains, my dear
sir, brains will come out on top, kick
and squirm as much as you will.n
Brains is physical term" said,
.and some monkeys have been known
to possess more in the avoirdupois than
great many men. It's the cultivation
of the brain, sir, that determines its SUI
periority and, as applied directly to
the subject we are discussing, / should
say, that those who have the opportuni-
ties for greater cultivation will develop
the greater knowledge and mental abil-
/ itY. Therefore, the son of a poor man,
no matter how much his brain may
weigh, if he be compelled to go into the
factory or mine early in life and remain
there all the time in struggling to feed
the body, cannot cope with the boy
whose father has the means to educate
him, feed his brain, and then start him
ON high plane in commercial or pro-
fessional life.'
.But there is an education which is
more useful and more powerful than
| that obtained from books-the educa-
ton obtained by rubbing against each
other in life, practical experience"
True" said, "and ] doubt not you
have had many men in your employ as
miners who knew more about conduct
| ing mine than you did, but because
they could not write their names, or cal
culate on paper the pitch of q vein, they
were sent underground to carry out with
pick and shovel the ideas you had stolen
from them and placed upon paper"
aOh, that's all bosh.' said newcomer
who had heard my last sentence. The
men Of brains are always bound to come
out on top; ability will always take the
front place, and It's right.p
@Then,n said I, ayou believe in that
cold, barbaric, piece of idiocy that the
fttest will survive 2"
.aYes; that's what do.''
"Hold on here" sang out an old gem
tleman sitting at my back, who had been
an interested listener to all that had
been said There is no sense in such
talk as that If believed the httest
would survive, whether I willed it or
not / shouldn't grunt and sweat in my
Icorn-feld cutting out the weeds, which.
| if left alone, would throttle my corn.
Are the weeds the fttest in this case 2"
mo, my good sir" said, "the weeds
are not the ittest; and neither are the
millions of hard toiling, human beasts Of
burden, who are stunted in their growth,
intellectually killed by an accursed sys-
tenn of oppression, the "unfttest.p The
poison vines and nettles of the compete
tive system, fostered by capitalism, have
grown over the gifts of the God of Nature
to these men; they have shut out the
sunlight of intelligence, crushed the as
pirations of youth, and finally at the end
of the season they topple down into the
soil. to follow the course of nature and
spring up again, a new generation, with
hopes and aspirations that will once
more be crushed back to dust; and so
on until hope is dead and we have a
generation of sapless weeds and lifeless
clods."
Yes,n said the Captain, "but what
about our free school system ?"
"Why talk to parents whose children
are compelled to toll by their sides in
factories and mines for bare subsist-
ence, about the beauties and benefits Of
free schools? AS well tell the man with