Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1886-02-27
THE QUESTION OF THE NEAR fU'
TURE.

Enthusiasts upon the various phases
of our social or political life are apt to
advance their particular idea to the
front as the paramount issue OF the
hour. For instance, the prohibitlonlst
will insist that cataclysms are imml-
nent unless whisky is abolished; the
greenbacker a few years ago assured
US that paper money was the para
mount issue; and some silver advo-
Gates, to-day, say the same thing re-
gardiag the settlement Of the question
in which they are interested. These
matters are all interesting. The first is
a moral question that is advancing to-
ward solution. The second is settled.
The third will be settled in good time
and in accord with the best interests OF
the mass of the people.
But above all of these; overtowering
them in it's magnitude; and more i'm
perative in it's demand for immediate
settlement, is the labor question. 1t
is the burning question. 1t is not rele-
gated to Legislatures or congresses, but
is working in the entire body polite.
It does not concern the nihilist who
would destroy all government, or the
socialist who would elevate govern
ment into a despotism of which the sub
jects would be simply wards. 1t is
the honest laboring man who INDUCES
in neither of these vagaries; who is
willing to do a fair days work for a
fair days wages; and who having
earned his money desires to save it, to
build up a home, protect his one wife
and raise his children decently and in
the fear of God, that asks that his fair
days work shall bring him a fair days
wages, and that his employment shall
not be so precarious that his bare living
without debt or charity is an uncer-
tainty. We have from time to time
adverted to this subject, and it cannot
be too often spoken of or too generally
considered. A crisis In the settlement
of the question is at hand. 1t cannot
be pooh-poohed or ridiculed away.
The demagogue upon the one side who
desires to win the support of the capi-
talist and hence belittles it; or the
demagogue;upon the other side who
wishes to infame the minds of work
people in order to reap their applause,
may need little consideration; but the
earnest man, who loves his country and
his kind, whose Christianity is of the
sort that would have made him neigh
Dor to the man who fell among thieves,
will do well to pause and ponder the
signs of the times.
Capital for centuries has been per-
fecting organization; devising new
means for profit, and by the use of
superior intelligence placing itself up
on a vantage ground. So long as it
was master to man, as individuals, no
such great harm accrued, for being
close the one to another human SYM
pathies had their effect to produce
humane results. But in later years the
corporation has supplanted the indivi-
dual; first, because of its associated
strength; second, because of its limited
liability; and, third, because of the
value that lies In its soulless condition,
which makes of it q more memorable
instrument for the production of
profits. Let us illustrate: The president
of a railroad may be a humane, benevo.
lent, kind person. He would not think
of over tasking his gardener or coach
man, or even of over working his pet
horse. He would not abuse them; he
is kind to all of them even indulgent.
But the brakeman upon the road of
which he is an officer will be required
to work fourteen to sixteen hours a
day, until from sheer exhaustion he
will fall asleep beside a passing train
and failing to turn the switch permit a
following engine to run into and de-
molish it. This accident occurred, only
a few days ago, on n of our railroads.
Who was to blame7 Certainly not the
poor over-worked creature who proba-
bly, had not eaten a half dozen warm
meals in as many days, and who had
had insufficient time in which to re-
cuperate his wasted energies.
While from year to year the worker
has had his wages pared, pared, pared
down until there is not enough left for
necessities, colossal fortunes have been
accumulated by the men who mani
pulate the combinations of capital.
Here lies one irritant, and it cannot
he attributed to the meanness of envy
for the toiler who reads, and most Of
them read nowadays, cannot fail to
see that these hundreds of millions have
been largely produced by his muscle
and from unjust exactions from ship
pers. If he is fair, and he generally is
he will not say that capital should go
unrewarded, but he will say, that il
receives more than it's share of the
profits. The shipper-the public al
targets squeezed like an orange by
higher than necessary rates, and the
laborer is ground down until he car
barely live, while at the same time
fortunes hitherto unheard of are being
amassed by the Goulds and the Van
derbilts and the Huntingtons and thu
Depews. The sensible workingman ii
not a communist. He does not ask fol-
"a Divide He knows that would no
level up things for than a few
months. All that he wants is fair treat
ment. He sees that during the pas
fifty years inventive genius, principal,
from his own walk in life, has mul
tiplied productive capacity immeasura
bly,. A computation of the extent t,
which machinery has s%upplanted man
ual labor would prove startling. This
with other causes, has permanently, o
very nearly so, deprived, say 80 pc
cent. of humanity in the civilized world
of remunerative employment. Is thi
an over or an underestimate? Let hir
who will learn inquire. We think
is not an yer estimate. If this is tru
does it not present a problem deservin